Forest Lake

Chapter 20

Mason POV

I needed to talk to Emma alone. I could tell that something was bothering her. She looked worried and sad. She was biting her lower lip constantly, and I could tell that she was completely lost in thought.

I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but I couldn’t do that in a lecture hall full of students, teachers, and cops.

I leaned toward her so no one else could hear what I was about to say.

“I love you, Emma.” I whispered, hoping that hearing it would stop the sadness and worry.

She turned her head toward me and smiled. The sadness didn’t leave her eyes, though. My heart clenched painfully. What happened? Why was she sad?

“I love you too.” she said quietly.

“Settle down, please.” I heard the principal’s voice, making me look away from Emma.

He was standing behind the desk, surrounded by cops. Some of them were in uniform, others were not. I guessed they were the detectives.

The chatter in the room died down, and we were all waiting for him to start talking.

“Thank you all for coming.” the principal continued. “We will keep this short so that you can go back to your classes as soon as possible.”

The principal cleared his throat and looked down at the papers in his hand.

“The school will remain open.” he said, confirming what we already knew. “We are doing everything we can to find the missing girls and the person who took them. I am asking you to be careful. Always walk in groups or in pairs. Lock up your dorm rooms when you leave them and while you are inside. We will be stopping all the parties. The garden will remain closed until further notice. I will now let detective Peters say a few words. Please save all of your questions for later.”

The principal stepped aside, and the detective took his place behind the desk. He was a big man in his mid-fifties with dark eyes and gray hair.

“Hello.” the detective said. “My name is Joshua Peters and I am the lead detective in this case. I will be short because there isn’t much I can share with you.”

The detective took the reading glasses out of his pocket and put them on. He glanced down at the papers on the desk.

“Daisy Lee and Annie Miller are still missing.” he said, looking back up at us. “Right now we can’t share anything else. We have been looking into the notes the kidnapper left, and we believe that he has a specific target on his mind. We believe that he is just using these girls as substitutes for his final target.”

The whispers and murmurs filled the room. I gripped Emma’s hand tighter. She won’t be alone for a minute from now on. If that fucker has someone specific on mind and he is using girls as practice, that means that he is not done kidnapping them.

“Unfortunately, we don’t know who that target is.” the detective continued, ignoring the whispers around him. “The kidnapper didn’t leave a clue in the notes that he left. The only thing we know is that he refers to her as his “doll”. At the moment, we are not sure why he is calling her that.”

The detective air-quoted the word “doll”.

My stomach twisted, and I pulled Emma closer.

Quiet gasps filled the room.

“Your principal decided not to close the school down.” the detective continued, and I could tell he disagreed with the principal’s decision. “That means we have to be extra careful. We can’t allow him to take anyone else. Our police officers will be stationed around the school building and around the school grounds. All parties are forbidden from now on. Everyone boarding the ferryboat to and from the island will be thoroughly checked. We will stop this person, but we need your help to do that. Any suspicious activity should be reported immediately. Please don’t take this situation lightly.”

The detective stopped talking, giving us all a stern look. The room was completely silent.

“Are there any questions?” the principal asked, looking around the room.

Our geography teacher, Ms. Martinez, raised her hand.

“Yes, Ramona?” the principal nodded.

“Are there any patterns?” she asked. “Is he choosing specific girls?”

The principal glanced at detective Peters, who sighed and scratched his beard. He probably didn't want to share that information.

“The girls who were kidnapped don’t have much in common.” the detective said. “The only thing we noticed was the color of their eyes.”

I tried to remember what eye color Annie had, but I never paid much attention to it.

Jax glanced nervously at Emma, making me furrow my eyebrows in confusion. Why was he looking at her?

“All the girls had blue eyes.” the detective added, making my stomach twist.

Emma has blue eyes.

Everyone in the room looked at the blue-eyed girls with a nervous expression. Some of them wrapped their arms around the girls, leaning in and whispering something in their ears.

I wrapped my arms around Emma’s waist and lifted her up with ease. She gasped quietly, and her eyes widened. I placed her on my lap and wrapped my arms around her.

Chris placed a hand on her thigh, making me glare at him. Why the fuck was he touching her?

Jax and Hazel looked at her nervously.

I looked back up at the detective, ignoring Chris’ mistake for now. The detective was looking around the room with a stern look on his face.

“I know you are worried.” he said. “But we won’t let him take anyone else. We can’t be sure that the blue eyes are really a pattern, so I ask all girls to be careful, no matter their eye color.”

The detective looked at the principal and nodded. That was all he wanted to say. He stepped away, whispering something to one of the cops.

The principal stepped back behind the desk.

“That would be all.” he said, gathering the papers. “Please come to us if you see, hear, or know anything that could be useful in finding the missing girls.”

The principal left the lecture hall, followed by the cops and the teachers. All of them were talking quietly among themselves.

The students started getting up and leaving as well. I stayed seated, waiting for everyone else to leave. I didn’t want to get caught in the crowd.

I glanced down and saw that Chris’ hand was still on Emma’s thigh. Anger flared up in me.

Oh, he and I are going to talk.

I grabbed his hand, trying to be gentle to not hurt Emma, and moved it away. He looked at me with wide eyes. Did he think I wouldn’t notice?

“Holy shit.” Jax mumbled, staring in front of himself.

No one noticed Chris’ and my interaction. Not even Emma. She was lost in thought.

“We have to take care of Emma.” Hazel mumbled, looking worriedly at my sister.

“You heard the principal, Elly.” Jax said, turning to look at her. “They are not sure about the eyes. You have to be careful too.”

“Elly?” Hazel asked him, smirking.

“It’s obvious that we are hanging out now.” Jax said, rolling his eyes. “I’m not wasting my time saying your long-ass name all the time.”

“Long-ass name?!” Hazel exclaimed. “It’s five letters!”

I chuckled. I think that Jax likes Hazel. He always kind of did. Especially after she rejected him when he tried to fuck her. Despite everything, Jax hates easy girls. He just uses them for fun. He would never fall in love with them or date them. Hazel was a different story, though.

“Come on, let’s go.” Chris sighed, rolling his eyes. “We are going to be late for class.”

We stood up and started walking out of the lecture hall and toward our classroom. I held Emma’s hand in mine. I had no intention of letting her hand go, not even for a second.

I looked down at her and my heart clenched painfully. She looked so sad and hurt that I just wanted to hug her and take her pain away. I couldn’t do that, though. Not now. We had to go to class.

“We are going to talk about whatever has been bothering you later.” I told her, bending over to her height so the others couldn’t hear us. “I can see that you are sad and hurt. I need you to tell me why, so that I can do something about it.”

“I’m fine, Mason.” Emma said quietly.

“Don’t lie to me.” I said, caressing her cheek softly. “I know that something is wrong and you need to tell me what it is.”

Emma gulped and nodded. “Okay.”

“We will talk after class.” I said, taking her hand in mine and pulling her toward the classroom.

Whatever it is, I am going to fix it. Nothing and no one can hurt her. Nothing and no one can make her sad. She is mine to take care of and I will protect her.