granted until Derrick took Joy. It was worse than Kitty’s kidnapping ten years ago. At least, we had been able to sense her. With Joy, my power blindly reached out for her and came back empty. It was like she didn’t exist.
“The proxy could have taken you both, but he only took Joy?” August asked, brows furrowing. “If she’s been with the proxy the entire time, it means Joy was his target from the beginning.” August paced back and forth.
“Do you sense Joy?” I asked.
“No,” August clipped out. Roaring, he picked up a huge chunk of a burning wall and threw it.
The helicopters shining a light down on us didn’t faze him one bit as he continued to throw debris.
“This is where I felt Joy last,” Barron said as he arrived with Gwendolyn. He tucked her against his side as he watched. August stopped his rage when he spotted Barron. One brother gritted his teeth while the other breathed heavily. No words were needed. Their sagging shoulders spoke volumes.
Failure.
We lost Joy. We’d been unable to find Harvest, so how would we locate Joy? My throat tightened, and I sucked in a breath. I can’t. With shaking fingers, I covered my face and bawled. I let down Joy.
Shepherd planted a soft kiss on my forehead and wrapped his arms around me.
“Prudence,” said Sebastian as he faded in. He wiped my tears. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“It’s my fault. I couldn’t save her. I was the only one near—”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find her,” August interjected.
“How?” Maureen appeared, glaring as she materialized her twin blades and hacked away at the moaning dead creatures. “If she’s with Harvest already, we won’t find her. Whoever shields him from our senses is really good at it.”
“Maureen,” warned Barron. His red essence steadily flowed around him.
Gwendolyn touched his shoulder. “Barron, your sister needs you to keep it together.”
As we spoke, more helicopters appeared. Water sprayed down and dampened us. Fire trucks echoed in the distance, and a man’s voice spoke over a loudspeaker, “We need everyone to drop your weapons…” He kept on and on, but no one gave a damn. No doubt live footage of us had spread through the various TV networks.
“Let’s split up and start looking. We won’t stop until every spot has been checked,” Sebastian said. “Grim’s searching with Mom and Kitty. We can’t reach Payne. He left us when our powers disappeared, so maybe he’s searching for Joy.”
I hesitated at the mention of Payne before I finally said, “No, I think maybe we should look for Payne, too. He’s been a little strange.”
“Yeah,” Sebastian sighed. “It was kind of hard to miss him walking around like a giant flame.”
“I hate this!” Maureen sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. “I shouldn’t have spoken like that about finding Joy. I’m just…”
Scared. I understood my sister all too well. Because just like that, we lost one of us.
____
We searched the City of the Dead first. Our senses were the sharpest right in the middle of purgatory. The Underworld was where the Devil belonged. As the lines kept blurring, I wondered if maybe the Devil worked with Harvest to bring us down. In the end, there would be us and them. And our side was losing.
It took twenty-four hours to search the city. No scent or sense of our sister Joy. One hour was plenty for one proxy to make his way to Harvest and let him know our powers were failing.
In the twenty-fifth hour, we split up into groups. Dad sent out all his Reapers to the human world and the Underworld to search for Joy.
____
On the third day of our search, as demon activity increased, souls began stockpiling in the human world. Whispers from the City of the Dead spoke of portal chips being distributed to demons. The action created an even bigger ruckus in the human realm. The humans were learning of demons. Their future was in peril. Although mortal, knowledge made them capable of defending themselves.
I wiped my brow as I ran through a cave in the Underworld. Footfalls thumped heavily behind me. He’s right on my ass. No matter how fast or far I ran, Shepherd kept up. A low and pleasant hum stirred within my veins. Every fiber within me came to life, and my skin tingled. Not now, I begged.
My fatigued and stressed body worked double time to keep up, making it more difficult to ignore my soulmate’s insistent demands. But I couldn’t stop. No sleep. No food.