There was no blood. No visible injuries.
But one of them had gotten to her.
I felt this realization hit Apollo as his rage permeated the room.
The girl whispered a trembling, “Papa.”
At the sound of her little scared voice, it happened.
I was suddenly on fire. Every inch of my skin blistering. My eyes burning. My brain boiling.
Without a thought, not even knowing what I intended to do, I tore my hand from Apollo’s and raced out of the room, down the hall, the stairs and out the opened front door, my heavy cloak billowing behind me.
I stopped in the snow, my cloak flying forward to wrap around me, and I counted.
Eight bodies.
I turned instantly to the man standing closest to me.
Gaston.
I stomped to him, wrapped my fist in his sweater and snapped, “Where are the other two?”
“Maddie—”
I beat his sweater into his chest, got up on my toes and screeched, “Where are the other two?”
His fingers began to curl on my biceps and he started, “Maybe we should—”
I pulled from him, moved blindly away and saw it.
Tracks and drag marks in the snow leading along the front of the house and around the corner.
I sprinted that way, following the tracks. I raced down the side of the house, into the back garden, past a pretty gazebo, a large greenhouse and into the forest beyond where I saw two torches lighting the outside of a small outbuilding.
Without hesitation, I ran to it and stormed in.
There was a man hanging by his hands from a hook. He was shirtless and bleeding profusely from a variety of wounds as well as a serious pummeling he took to his face.
Hans and Remi were standing close to him.
There was another man, also shirtless and bleeding, tied to a chair in the center of the space.
Derrik was standing behind him.
Laures was working him.
When I arrived, all the men looked to me in surprise and they kept their eyes on me when I stomped straight to the man in the chair, shoving past Laures and I bent, getting right in his face.
“What did you do to her?” I shrieked.
A hand came to rest on my shoulder and I heard Remi whisper, “Maddie.”
I shrugged it off and wrapped my gloved hand under the man’s jaw and shoved it back.
He grunted but I dropped my face back to his and screamed, “She’s just a little girl!” I got closer, my fingers curling deep into his flesh. “You monster! What did you do to her?”
“Mad—” Remi tried again but I whirled and shot past him.