Page 108 of Mystery in the Mountains

Bridget followed her in as she made her way back to the kitchen.

“Abe, it’s Bridget, not Asher.”

“Okay, I’ll go check some spots. Meet you at your house.”

He hung up the phone, and Sunny couldn’t help the fear pulsing through her.

“Sunny, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Asher is missing, and I can feel that it’s bad. I don’t know how to explain it, but I can just tell.”

Her panic was creeping up and clouding her thoughts. What am I going to do? Where could he be?

She was spiraling.

“Breathe,” Bridget said in a soft, soothing voice.

Sunny stopped and took a deep breath, followed by another. Another deep breath, and the spiral was sundowning. But something was still incredibly wrong.

“Can you feel where he is?”

Sunny closed her eyes, trying to sense Asher. She shook her head.

“Try again. Ye have yer connection to him. He is yer mate. That connection should be strong enough to find him.”

Sunny nodded and tried again.

“Ye need to be calm, lass. Focused.”

Sunny had a thought. Maybe it was time. She walked past Bridget, who followed her. She stopped in front of her mother’s parlor. The doors were shut, but it was almost like she could feel the magic emanating out of it. Slowly, she slid the pocket door open, revealing her mother’s space.

She walked in, closed her eyes, and let her hands trace over the shelf. She didn’t know what she was looking for, but there had to be something.

“That’s it, love. Listen carefully,” Bridget encouraged behind her.

Sunny walked around the room, her eyes shut, trying to take it all in.

Please, help me find Asher.

At that moment, smoke filled the room—only it wasn’t smoke. It was dust. Then she heard a beeping out the window that sounded like a large truck backing up. She ran to the window and pulled back the curtain—only she didn’t find her yard.

She found a construction site. The name on the sign was blurry, but the name on the trailer, she could read plain as day. VenDeer Construction.

She peered out the window, trying to look into the trailer. She couldn’t see anything, but she knew he was in there.

Then she heard a voice that made her sick say, “I’ll call the boss.”

She didn’t know what was happening, but they were running out of time.

Then, as if on cue, music started playing. The radio started blaring “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” but this time, there was something else. Somewhere, she heard a small familiar tune. Then she spied her mother’s music box sitting on the mantle right next to a picture of her and her mother. It had popped open and was playing “You Are My Sunshine.”

She walked over to the music box and found a little key inside. She picked it up. What was this to? It looked like it was to a cash box . . . or a lock box.

“I think I know where this goes to.”

First, Sunny turned off the blaring radio before making her way upstairs with Bridget on her heels. She made her way down the hallway and opened the door to her father’s office. This had to be it. Her eyes scanned the shelf, looking for the lockbox.

She found it and quickly made her way over. She slid the key into the lock and twisted. It popped open with ease. Her body pulsed with adrenaline and magic. There was a sense that what she was going to find would change everything.

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