Taken in the Night

The morning sun rose without warmth, spilling a dull, hesitant light across Ares’ mansion. Inside, silence lay over the house like a curtain, thick, breathless, wrong. Tessa stood frozen in the center of the living room, her phone hanging uselessly in her hand as the words replayed, sharp and violent, carving themselves into her mind.

“They’re gone.”

The voice had been shaking. One of the school officials. Confused. Terrified. Struggling to understand how four ...