Tory and I hid in the hallway of his apartment building and talked about what went down. We were trying to stay low-key in case the cops or Miguel’s gang were after us, but Tory couldn’t contain the satisfaction of finally awakening his ability.

“But did you see me out there, bro?” he exulted. We dapped and bumped shoulders, smiling and laughing loudly. “Those were abilities of video game characters. I’m freakin’ lit.”

“Yeah, bro. You gonna have to hold it down for us until I get another pair of headphones. With my mom out of work, I don’t know when that’s gonna be.”

He placed his hand on my shoulder. “I got’chu. Don’t worry.”

“Why were you at the scene, anyway?” I had to ask. “Like, you know I appreciate you being there and saving my life, but I told you back in class how real it was gonna get. You could’ve died.”

He sat down on the hallway stairs and leaned back, appearing in deep thought before saying, “I couldn’t let you get hurt, bro. You know when my house got broken into the night I lost my parents, I froze. I didn’t protect my family. So fast forward to now and thinkin’ ‘bout that, I had to do somethin’.”

I sat next to him. “That moment still in your head, huh?”

He looked at me and nodded. “I go through it just like you, bro. Fightin’ demons and all that. And I remember my brother coming into my room a few days later to tell me he took care of the guys who broke in—that I didn’t need to worry about them anymore. After that, though, I started gettin’ into fights with bullies at school. You remember them days, right?”

“You mean when you put that dude to sleep for stealing a kid’s phone?” I recalled, smiling. “Yeah, I remember that.”

He laughed. “Wild times. I was always so mad at the world until I started to channel that energy into video games. Playin’ online gave me a whole different outlook on life. Like it changed me for the better. And I try to understand those who do bad stuff for survival, but people like Miguel who do evil things just for the fun of it…they make me so angry. You know what I mean?”

I looked at him and said, “A hundred percent.” And that’s when it hit me. “Let’s use our powers to clean up this place. We can stop the violence and separate the good people from the bad, ‘cause not every gang member doin’ dirt out here is a bad person.”

“You right, and I agree. Yeah, let’s make some changes. Positive vibes only, bro. We can do this.”

We nodded in agreement. Our goal was set.

After some time of talking about the future, I looked down the staircase out of caution. We were on the floor below Tory’s apartment. “Aight, everything looks clear,” I told him. “I’m gonna head home.”

“Cool. Be safe.”

We dapped before going our separate ways. Thoughts of Ashanti came to mind with wonders of why she wasn’t in school. I needed to check on her, but my momma came first. I had to head home and see if she was doing alright.

After exiting Tory’s apartment building and walking into the complex, I opened my front door and was hit with a surprise: Ashanti’s mother was sitting at the living room table with my mom, both with a look of defeat.

“Um, hey. Everything okay?”

“No,” my mom answered me. “Ashanti didn’t come home from school and isn’t answering her cell phone. Her mother came here because she figured Ashanti was with you and Tory.”

“So, she did leave out in the morning.” My thoughts slithered out before I addressed the two of them. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t see her in school today. I thought maybe she stayed home or somethin’—to rest from her injuries and all that.”

My words caused Ashanti’s mother to look away in more distress. She must’ve been thinking the worst.

“Have you contacted local authorities for assistance?” my mom asked her.

She was hesitant to respond, but replied with, “I have.” She then got out of her seat and said, “Well, thank you both for everything. Please let me know if you hear from her.”

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She left out of the house in a hurry, leaving me and my mom perplexed. It was obvious to me that she didn’t reach out to the police for help. She wouldn’t wanna bring attention to herself and her daughter.

“I’m gonna hit up some people to see if they saw her,” I told my mom, heading toward my room.

“Wait,” she called out, stopping me in my tracks. “Why are your clothes so dirty?”

Damn.

“I was, um, playing football with the guys.”

Her brows raised in doubt. “Zayn Campbell, the only things you’ve ever played were music and video games. Suddenly now you play football?”

I hunched my shoulders with a grin and said, “I’m switchin’ it up,” before escaping into my room and shutting the door. She’d go crazy if she knew what really happened.

Opening my laptop, my immediate plan was to browse through the social media pages of Gold Eagle Academy students and contact them regarding Ashanti. It was awkward to say the least; most of these people I’ve never talked to in my life, which is why I messaged Tory to help out by having him ask about her whereabouts as well. He was way more popular than me.

Unfortunately, after two or so hours of questioning the whole damn school, we got nothing. Zero results. No leads, and no idea of what to do next. We couldn’t even go outside and search for her because Miguel and his boys were probably looking for us. Hell, even the cops might have been on the lookout.

There were no options.

“Dammit,” I muttered, failing backwards on top of my black sheets and looking up at the white ceiling. A heap of air exhaled from my mouth as my legs hung off the bed, swinging back and forth in frustration. I was eager to do something—anything just to find her.

I started to doze off until it hit me: “Ciara.” My upper body shot up to grab my laptop and go to Ashanti’s social media page. I browsed through her list of followers until I came across Ciara, who I messaged right away regarding Ashanti’s location.

I prayed for an instant reply, and thankfully, my wish came true. She texted my cell number, which I had left in her inbox.

Hi, can we video chat?

My heart raced a bit as I texted back, Yea no problem.

The video call started, and the look of worry in her eyes through her glasses immediately snatched my attention and never let go. “Hi, nice to meet, uh, see you,” she said, trying to force a smile through her apprehension.

“Yeah, same. So uh, have you heard from Ashanti today?”

“I have,” she confirmed. “Early this mornin’. I’ve actually been searchin’ for you through her list of followers ‘cause she told me you’re filled in on everything that’s been happenin’, but I couldn’t find you.”

I scratched the back of my head and looked away. “Yeah, we didn’t follow each other yet.”

“Oh, that’s okay. So anyway, we were video chattin’ while she was walkin’ to school when I noticed she started to pick up her pace. I asked if she was in a hurry, and she said yeah, but then she started runnin’ in a panic, so I knew somethin’ was wrong. She eventually dropped her phone and the call ended. That was the last I heard from her.”

Dammit.

The most logical assumption was that she got caught by those men in black suits. Regardless, Ashanti’s strong. She’d never give up without a fight.

“Would she still be on the run?” I wondered out loud before looking back at my phone. “What all do you know about the men after her?”

“I know they’re a part of a government organization that kidnaps and kills people with magical abilities, especially those who have been involved with creatures called Shadows. They’re very secretive and discreet, so they’re not gonna cause a scene by snatchin’ her up in broad daylight. They’d most likely hold her hostage somewhere until nighttime, and then bring her to their base of operations, wherever that may be.”

I sighed. “We’ve gotta do somethin’. She’s out there somewhere, and I need to save her.”

She nodded, appearing concerned. “I know. I’ll investigate further into this group and see if there’s more I can find. Please keep me updated, Zayn.”

“Definitely. Thanks, Ciara.”

Hearing what they might do to Ashanti, I couldn’t sit inside any longer. I had to go out and search for her despite who might be looking for me. Thankfully, my mom was in her room across from mine with the door closed, so I was able to sneak by and avoid having to come up with some story for why I was leaving out on a school night.

Unfortunately, I was spotted outside my home by none other than Lorenzo—or Mr. Payne, who walked over to me from Ashanti’s house with his hands in the pants pockets of his dark brown suit. His Shadow wasn’t present, but that didn’t make the sudden confrontation any less nerve-racking.

“Zayn, correct? And where might you be going at this hour?”

Something told me there was no point in lying. “To find Ashanti, sir. I’m sure you know she’s missin’.”

His mouth narrowed at my response. “Right. I see. Zayn, you don’t need to concern yourself with that matter. My associates already found her, and I was just on my way to pick her up.”

His words caught me off guard—so much that I paused for a few seconds to reply, “Hold on, where is she? And by associates, you mean the goons who work for you, don’t you? You operate most of the gang activity that goes on around here.”

Maybe that wasn’t the best response, because his heavy sigh as he looked to the ground caused me to back away in fear. I wasn’t sure if he was gonna hit me or retaliate with his Shadow somehow.

“Come on,” he simply said, walking to his car while gesturing his hand for me to follow.

“Nah, I ain’t goin’ nowhere with you.”

He got into the driver seat of his car and closed the door before lowering the window and replying, “You want to be there when we free Ashanti from our suppressors, am I right? Then come along before it’s too late.”

Our suppressors? What the hell?

With hesitation, I got in the passenger seat of his car and strapped the seat belt on. We took off with haste soon after, uncertain of what’s to come once we reached our destination.