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do more
to help but her mind was too frantic to hone in on Scarlet.
    “Is she in the
castle somewhere?” Caleb asked.
    Despite his best
attempts to hide it, Caitlin could hear the exasperation in his voice. She’d
led him to this place, forced him to jump from a plane, and now she couldn’t
even tell him whether she’d been right or not.
    She squeezed her
eyes shut and tried to calm her mind.
    “I think she
is,” she said finally. “I think she’s here somewhere.”
    “Then we
search,” Caleb replied.
    He turned to
leave but Caitlin grabbed his arm.
    “I’m scared,”
she said.
    “Of what we
might find?”
    She shook her
head.
    “No,” she said,
“of seeing the damage I’ve caused.”
    Caleb reached
out and squeezed her hand.
    They stepped
further into the castle. They walked carefully as the ground underfoot seemed
unstable. When Caleb suddenly stopped short, blocking Caitlin’s path with an
extended arm, she assumed there was some kind of obstacle ahead. But when she
craned her head to look over his shoulder, her mouth dropped open with
astonishment. A little way ahead of them were hundreds upon hundreds of men and
women. Some of them were flying, others hovering, and all were facing a man who
stood taller than any human Caitlin had ever seen. He was at least double the size
of a normal man. Half of his face was burned red raw.
    “What is he?”
Caitlin whispered to her husband.
    Caleb just shook
his head.
    Caitlin
shivered. Finding her daughter seemed more imperative now than ever before.
These strange people were disconcerting her, especially the giant man with his
disfigured face.
    “This way,”
Caleb said in a hushed tone to her.
    They crept away,
keeping as silent as possible, sticking to the shadows where the crowd would
not see them. Then Caitlin placed her hand on Caleb’s arm to stop him. He
looked back.
    “What is it?
What’s wrong?”
    “Scarlet,”
Caitlin said. “I can’t feel her anymore.”
    “You mean she’s
not here?” Caleb challenged her.
    Caitlin shrunk
back from the fury in his voice.
    “I think she’s
gone somewhere else,” she said quietly, feeling defeated and desperate. “I
could feel her before, right by the place where we came in, but the further
into the castle we go, the weaker it becomes. I think she left before we got
here. She got out the way we got in.”
    Caleb ran his
hands through his hair in exasperation.
    “I don’t believe
this,” he muttered under his breath.
    Just then, a
strong light beamed into the castle from the helicopter above. It was lowering
itself through the collapsed ceiling.
    “It’s attempting
to land!” Caleb cried incredulously.
    The crowd in the
great hall began to disperse, with people running and flying all over the
place.
    “We have to
leave,” Caitlin said to her husband.
    “I know,” he
replied. “But how?”
    “This way,”
Caitlin said, tugging on his arm.
    She led him across
the great hall. Thanks to the descending helicopter, none of the strange people
in the hall seemed to realize that the two figures racing across the room were
strangers. The helicopter blades were creating a mini tornado in the room,
whipping up plumes of smoke that added even more to the chaos.
    Caitlin and
Caleb burst out of the hall and into a gloomy corridor. The smoke was thick
here and the light dim. Together, Caitlin and Caleb ran the length of the
corridor until they reached a door. Caleb shoved it with his shoulder and it
opened at once, revealing to them the outside world.
    “Over there!”
Caitlin cried, surveying their surroundings.
    Caleb looked to
where she was pointing.
    Just ahead, down
some stone steps leading from the castle, was a small parking lot with enough
space for four or five vehicles. Amongst them was a motorcycle.
    They ran for the
bike. It hadn’t been locked up or secured in any way.
    It took several
attempts before he was able to kick the motor into life, but all at once the
engine roared and spewed out fumes.