CHAPTER 51

The dew was still present on the ground as he drove through the forest roads in the early morning in his car. Staring straight ahead, Beta Elijah clenched the wheel until the bone showed signs of stress of the events that occurred in the last few days.

They were so close to overthrowing Ema and freeing the pack and-uniting Bruce with Amelia. Few more figures there still waiting to be positioned. When the small and completely isolated cabin to which he had brought Amelia came into view, in Elijah’s heart there was excitement at the same time as with anxiety.

He had not informed her of their intention to confront Ema with the belief that she would be a better off to stay as far away as she could from danger till the very end. But now that it had become very worst, they had to pull her into the picture as well.

Elijah dropped the car keys on the dashboard before getting out and walking slowly towards the cabin, intensifying the alertness of his organs of sensation. Something felt. . . off. There, that stilled air and that eerie lack of noise were most oppressive.

There was no silent songs that twitted on the hills, trees or the shrubs, nor any small animals leaping around bushes. It was as if the whole forest was holding it’s breath. “Amelia?” Elijah exclaimed the moment he reached the door.

There was no response. Elijah attempted to open the door- his heart rate ever pounding. It opened with a light push, on the handle it unlocked. That clear and serious tone of the sound became a bell ringing in his head as he entered. The cabin was empty. Of removing not only any sign of Amelia, but any proof that she had ever been in that place.

The bed was crispy neat with fresh linen, the kitchenette very clean. No invisible clean clothes on the hangers within the closet, no coat or wallet on the bedside table. She was as if never existed and he was happy with the life he is leading now. ‘Amelia!’ Elijah shouted, the sound coming out thick and stiff in his throat. He charged through the small space anxiously looking for anything that would give hint on what transpired. But there was nothing. This time, Elijah reached out his hand and took out his phone nervously calling Bruce. 


 “Elijah” Bruce said with a lot of stress and concern evident in his voice. "What's wrong?" 

 

 ‘She’s gone,’ Elijah replied, his words almost a whisper, Amelia. She is not present. The cabin is deserted, and it seems as if Amelia was never even present in the cabin. 



For a second or two, you could feel the other person at the opposing end of the line freeze. Then Bruce's voice, low and dangerous: ‘Where is she? ‘What do you mean she’s gone?’ Aghast,

 

 “I don’t know,” Elijah said, raking a hand through his hair to maneuver it into the slicked back style he preferred. “It gives me terrible pause the fact that there’s no indication of a fight, there’s no tail leading anywhere or any evidence; it is as if she disappeared out of thin air. ” 

 

 "That's impossible," Bruce growled. It was more of a demand; ‘She has to be somewhere, use the locator spell…’ 

 

 Elijah sighed and shut his eyes expecting a terrible feeling in his stomach. ”We cannot Abby. The cloaking spell that Morgana did… Amelia is invisible to all magical tracking even our own. ” 

 

 This brought silence which could be heard a pin drop in the room. Bruce was seething and trembling with fear, anger and anxiety, Elijah could hear it in his voice over the phone. 

 

 Finally Bruce found his voice, ‘I’m on my way,’ he said and hung up, his voice drowned in a myriad of emotions. But Elijah still touched the arm of the chair before he could stop himself: “Don’t touch anything,” he said to whoever might be listening. 

 

 When the call was over, Elijah dropped unto the wall, his head spinning. How could this have happened? He had followed every plan and detail to the letter, so how could he be caught now? This cabin was magical warded, to ensure that no one but the rightful owner could get in. Originally, one should not be able to spot it or even get inside without leaving any traces of the crime committed. 

 

 Elijah went around the cabin and within the next one hour, he checked every crevice possible for a sign of her. But there was nothing. No shattered vases, no smell of books and dust, no trace that something went wrong in this sphere. It was as if she had been wiped out of the geographical reality, as if nobody had ever bothered to remember she had ever been on this world, let alone had lived in it. 

 

 Bruce came in looking like his temper and fear of what was to happen to him were held in check by a thread. “Talk to me,” he snapped the moment he got out of his car. Literally, down to the minutest element. 


 Elijah told a story of his finding, the search that did not yield any positive outcome, the forest that was so extremely still. The Federation rep grew wary as Bruce stared at him, his voice getting more enraged as he said his words. 

 

 ‘You are not making sense,’ Bruce said pacing before the cabin. The words seem to read, That is why, if Ema had found her, there would be indicators of a struggle; Amelia would not have left willingly. 

 

 ‘And if it were Ema, said Elijah, ‘Why did they take all of Amelia’s things? Why wipe the cabin so well?’ 

 



At that Bruce ceased to pace back and forth and looked at Elijah with the mute, pretty desperation. “Can she walk out by her own? Perhaps, she felt endangered and escaped? 

 

 Bruce watched Elijah in silence and the latter nodded his head from side to side negatively. “I do not think so. Amelia understand how important is not to be seen. And if she run, why she clean every thing?! Why leave no trace and no note?!” 

 

 The two men sank into a silence once more and although neither spoke, both were filled with anxiety and its consequences. The trees around them appeared to draw closer, like they and the forest itself were expecting responses that would never manifest. 

 

 For a moment there was silence and then Bruce spoke, his tone grim yet barely controlled, “We have to stop there. ” This is what I think: ‘We must not let Ema know that there is something wrong with the business, if she has something to do with this then we cannot defeat her. ’ 

 

 Elijah gave a jerky nod to his Alpha, but for the first time in his life, the idea of going back to the pack house in Silence and pretending as if everything were just fine, as if Amelia was not kidnapped and God knows what else happened to her, disgusted him. “That being said, what is the plan for dealing with Ema we have come up with? Shall we execute it?” 

 

 Bruce's jaw clenched. “We have to”, she said, perhaps this is our only opportunity to get to the truth, “If Ema is involved, we must push her to corner”. 

 

Elijah glanced at the deserted cabin. Giving a shiver down his spine, a gnarling idea struck him like a bolt of lightning. What if this was the price that Morgana had been speaking about all this while? What did it cost the cloaking spell which appeared to be so mighty? 

 

 He dismissed the thought immediately as he did not want to ponder about the possibilities. They would find Amelia. They had to. 

 

 The silence was heavy during the drive back to the pack house – it was as if they both were deep in their minds. Bruce sat facing the window with the seriousness of his face shown that he was really worried and determined. Elijah wracked his brain trying, attempting to recall any overlooked aspect from the previous couple of weeks. 

 

 When they get to the pack house, Bruce glanced at Elijah. Those had been the instructions given on this day of their incident; “Not a word of this to anyone,” he said, his voice low and hostile. He just nods and puts on an air of nonchalance, “We keep on with the operation as if there was no shift in plan. Clear?” 



Elijah nodded, Amelia went missing – not to mention, keeping it from their friends – was the last thing he wanted to do. But he agreed with the need for it. The danger was that if word spread that Amelia was missing, suddenly all their well thought out plans would be affected.