Page 124 of Seeking Shadows

“Dad.” My voice is an urgent whisper. “Dad, wake up.”

He stirs with a sleepy mumble, cracking open one eye. “Zane… what’s wrong, champ?”

I grip his arm harder. “It’s Kyle,” I say, breathless. “He ran away. With Cole. I saw them.” My voice wobbles. “They looked scared.”

The change in him is instant.

His eyes snap open, all traces of sleep gone. He sits up in one swift motion. “What?”

I swallow, my heart hammering. “They went out the back. I saw them, Dad.”

For a moment, he just stares at me. Then he’s moving—throwing on a shirt, his actions sharp, efficient. He doesn’t ask me to go back to bed. He doesn’t say anything at all.

He just leaves.

I stand frozen, small and helpless, watching as he disappears down the same hallway Kyle and Cole had slipped through minutes ago.

A terrible feeling twists in my chest.

Something is wrong.

I should run after him.

But I don’t.

I stay.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

And he never comes back.

I've spent so much time away from Austin that going back feels almost unnatural, even after Amber's death.

Everything is still as I left it—the same scent of dust and tires lingering in the air, the same tree at the end of the street that I used to climb—but the people are different.

Four years ago, when I tried to return, I would have said that everyone had moved on while I remained stuck in the past. But now, I realize that's no longer the case. I, too, have changed.

I glance at my reflection in the car's side mirror. My curly blonde hair is still dry from a month of temporary dye.

My gaze shifts to the worn jacket draped over the passenger seat—the one my dad made for me when I was little, the one Kyle insisted on swapping for a larger version when I turned eighteen.

I hesitate, debating whether to put it on.

Whether I even belong in Evermore anymore.

It’s just Kyle’s house—nothing to stress about.

It’s a nice house, by the way.

I can picture Liam growing up here, happy. The thought melts me a little, makes me take those final steps toward the door.

Before I can knock, the door swings open.

“Zane! You came!”

---