The Legend of Silver and Gold Book Two The Old Ones

The next morning, Carver was driving Tora back to Tora’s home. Carver was surprised that he hadn’t received a call from Cassidy yet. Tora must have gotten his address from Cassidy but that didn’t explain why Cassidy hadn’t contacted him yet about her daughter.

Carver looked at Tora. The young girl was reading her book. “You really must like reading about the adventure your mom had.” He said to the girl.

Tora looked at Carver. “Not just my mom’s adventures.” She reminded him. “Skye, Nichallo, Elizabeth and you also had these adventures. Your dad is Neptune!” Tora sounded pretty excited as she said that. “The guy who inspired the Roman sea god.”

Carver smiled a little. Maybe seeing Cassidy and the others again wouldn’t be too bad after all.

“What happened to Skye?” Tora asked. “I noticed that she wasn’t at your apartment last night. I thought you two were married.” Tora had noticed that Carver’s small apartment lacked a woman’s touch to it. Her mom hadn’t told her anything about it but Tora was curious.

Carver sighed. “I rather not talk about it.” He told Tora before he looked at her. Noticing Tora was still looking at him, he shook his head. “Let’s just say not everyone get’s a happy ending and just leave it at that.” He didn’t want to shatter the girl’s excitement and ruin her favorite book.

Tora could tell that Carver was keeping a secret from her. She had a feeling that her mom and the others didn’t know what had happened to Skye. She looked ahead. “I know what it’s like not to get a happy ending.” She said softly as tears came to her eyes. “My dad bailed on my mom and me. Guessing you didn’t know that since you were never around the last few years.”

Carver immediately felt guilty once he heard that. He had never meant to stop staying in touch with the others. He realized that what had happened to Skye must have had an effect on the others. After all, Skye and Cassidy had been like sisters and Nichallo had been Skye’s adopted father. Elizabeth, even though she had never put a label on it, had been like Skye’s aunt.

The two reached a red light.

“Why don’t you tell me why your mom had sent you to get me last night.” He told Tora in an attempt to cheer the girl up. There had to be a reason that Tora had shown up at her home so late at night. He knew that Cassidy would tell him once he showed up at her place.

“It’s complicated.” Tora replied. “She didn’t exactly send me.” Tora wasn’t sure how to explain what had happened the night before. She didn’t understand it herself.

Carver groaned. “Great. So basically your mom has no idea where you went last night.” He said. “Call her right now and let her know.” He didn’t want to get charged with kidnapping when he was just a victim of a little girl lying.

The light turned green. Carver quickly made a left turn before oncoming traffic could start moving. Seeing how it was New York City and everyone did it, Carver knew no one would really complain about his driving.

“I can’t call her.” Tora told Carver.

“What do you mean?” Carver demanded. “Why can’t you call her?” He didn’t like where this conversation was going. “Did you run away?” He had half a mind to call the police but decided not to. The last thing he wanted was his old friend to get in trouble with the law. He didn’t even know what had happened to Cassidy. “You need to tell me everything you know right now.” He told Tora.

“Last night, I came home from ballet practice. The lights were off and there was no sign of my mom anywhere. Ever since her book deal and she became a celebrity writer, Mom’s been able to be at home when I show up. I thought at first she had just gone out to run a few errands or that she had gone to her literary agent but her car was still in the parking garage.” Tora explained. “I waited a few hours in case she had started dating again. When she didn’t show up at nine, I got worried. It isn’t like her to be out that late without letting me know what was going on.”

Carver frowned. “How did you know where I lived then?” He asked.

“I found your address on a paper in my mom’s address book. Old fashion I know but after everything that my mom had gone through as a kid, old fashion was normal at our home. I took a picture of your address and found my way to you.” Tora said, finishing her story.

Carver thought about what Tora had told him. It didn’t make sense to him. The Cassidy he knew wouldn’t just disappear without a trace. Sure he had stopped talking to his friend but he knew about Cassidy being a famous author. He hated to admit it but Tora might have been right about Cassidy and Nichallo needing his help. That was when he realized something.

“What makes you think that Nichallo needs help too?” He asked Tora. “You only told me about your mom missing. That doesn’t explain what you said about Nichallo needing help.”

To his surprise, Tora shivered. It looked like Tora was scared about that. “Mom and I went to Nichallo’s shop a few days ago.” She said. “The police were there. It looked like someone had broken in. The windows were shattered, most of the shelves had been toppled to the ground. That was just from what my mom and I saw from the other side of the police tape outside of the building.”

Carver didn’t like what he was hearing. In all of his years of knowing Nichallo, he couldn’t think of anyone who could attack Nichallo and make the immortal disappear.

“Did you try Elizabeth?” He asked Tora. He hoped that nothing bad had happened to his other immortal friend. If something bad had happened to the immortal warrior who could take on an entire army of necromancers on her own, he didn’t know what chances he had against whatever it was that had taken out Cassidy and Nichallo.

“Mom called her yesterday before school but I don’t know what Elizabeth said.” Tora replied. “For all I know, Elizabeth is at her home or at her martial arts school.”

“We’ll go to her after we check your home and stop by Nichallo’s shop.” Carver told Tora. “We’ll use the back door once we’re at the shop though. The police will have the front door still taped off most likely.”

A half hour later, the two entered Tora’s home. Carver noticed that nothing stood out in the main living room area. It looked like a normal family home. He closed his eyes as he thought about what Nichallo had taught him about using magic years before. He hadn’t used his magic for so long. He hoped that he hadn’t lost his powers.

Carver opened his eyes to reveal a sea blue glow. He looked around the living room. Now that he was using magic to see, he didn’t like what he was seeing. There was what looked like two large long black stripes that went from the center of the room to the window doors that led to the balcony.

Carver looked at the hallway that led to the bedrooms. He noticed that it looked like several smaller long stripes went to one of the bedroom doors from where the large two stripes were. “Tora, who’s bedroom is that?” He asked, pointing at the bedroom door.

Tora looked at the door. She wasn’t sure what Carver was seeing. Her mom had never taught her how to use any types of magic. “That’s my mom’s door.” She replied. “Why? Do you see something.”

Carver’s eyes returned to normal. He noticed what looked like scratches on the walls, like something had been dragged out of the room. “Did you go in there at all last night?” He asked. He had to know what Tora saw before he went in.

Tora shook her head. “I waited out here for my mom.” She replied. She wondered if she should have looked in there. Seeing how Carver was acting, she was worried.

“Okay, this is what we’re going to do.” Carver told Tora. With his eyes on Cassidy’s door, he took his phone out and handed it to the girl. “You’re to leave the apartment and stay in the hallway. I’m going to go to your mom’s room to see if there are any clues as to what could have happened to your mom. Now if you hear screaming or see anything coming out of the door that isn’t normal, you are to run as fast as you can to somewhere safe and call Elizabeth on my phone. She’s my emergency contact so you won’t need to get through the password. Call her and have her come straight away to get you.”

Carver wasn’t sure if there was any safe place if Cassidy had been dragged out of her bedroom. He looked at Tora. He could tell that she was scared. “It’ll be okay.” He told her. Tora wasn’t his child but he was going to protect her like a father should.

Tora looked at him. “Please come back.” She said in a soft voice before she ran out of the apartment.

Carver looked at Cassidy’s bedroom door. He took a breath. “Time to find out what happened to you Cassidy.” He said. He slowly walked up to the door. He could feel his heart beating. He hadn’t felt this nervous since that fateful day. He didn’t hear anything coming from the room. He was sure that if there was someone in there, they would have come out or knew that he was coming in.

His eyes glowed again. Carver pushed the door open, expecting to find the creator of those stripes on the ground. Instead, his eyes widened and stopped glowing. Cassidy’s bedroom had been destroyed. The bed had been smashed in the middle and the sheets were shredded. The dressers were in pieces on the floor with clothes mixed in. The worst part was seeing what looked like dry blood that had stained the carpeted floor.

Carver took a step back before he looked at the door frame. There were what looked like scratches all over. Almost like something had clawed it way in. “What happened here Cassidy?” Carver asked quietly. He noticed that the window was closed. Wondering if there were any clues outside that could help him find Cassidy, he went to the window. He opened it and looked outside. It looked like a normal street. He noticed that there was a park on the other side.

Carver’s eyes began to glow. All because it looked normal did not mean that there wasn’t anything strange going on. He saw the two large stripes go from the building, across the road and into the park where they disappeared into the trees.

Carver was about to turn away when he saw it. Just hidden between two trees was what looked like a tree that did not belong. Whereas the trees around it had brown wood, this one had white wood with black markings all over. It looked like the tree only had two branches that went down along the sides of it. Carver heard a soft growl before he saw the tree move. His eyes widened but kept glowing. He realized that the tree wasn’t just a tree as it came out of hiding. Instead of branches full of leaves, it had what looked like a face carved near the top. On top of the thing was what looked like a fancy black hat made of wood.

The tree thing growled again and raised a branch, not a branch but an arm. It pointed at Carver.

Carver stumbled back. He wasn’t sure what he was seeing but he knew that it wasn’t normal. If he had to take a guess, the tree thing was behind the abduction of Cassidy. He wasn’t sure what the thing was but it seemed aware of who he was. He went back to the window and looked at the park. To his horror, the tree thing was gone.

Carver closed the window and locked it. He wasn’t sure if the lock would keep the tree thing from getting in but he didn’t want to stick around. He ran out of Cassidy’s bedroom and into the living room. He looked at the window door. He saw what looked like branches or roots starting to curl over the railing out on the balcony. “Not today.” Carver said, certain that the tree thing could hear him.

Carver left the apartment and joined Tora. “We need to go now.” He said in an urgent voice.

“What did you find?” Tora asked as the two ran down the hallway. “What happened to my mom?” She could tell that something had Carver spooked. “Please tell me what happened.”

The two slowly stopped walking as they heard a loud growl coming from behind them. They both turned and saw what looked like branches or roots coming out of the edges of the door to Cassidy’s home.

“We need to go now!” Carver shouted.