Gone (Gone #1) (2 page)

"Liar. You'd have to know my password."

"Ducky256."

She gasped. "How did you know that? I never told you."

"You didn't have to. You told me enough. Ducky is the pet ferret you got not too long ago. After your cat died, right? Snowflake, right? And 256 is your student number at school. You gave me everything I needed without even knowing it. From there, it was easy to figure out your various passwords. I had to ask innocent enough questions, and it all came together." He looked at her again, raising his bushy eyebrows.

"I don't believe you went into my house. You're just saying that."

He tossed a small, framed picture at her. She picked it up and stared at it. It was a picture of her family. She had looked at that very picture before she sneaked out. He
had
been there. Had he seen her looking at it?

"But, why? Why me?" And then, the question too terrifying to ask: what did he plan to do with her?

"That's a long story. I'm going to save that for later. Now really isn't the time."

Macy took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. If she was going to get away, she had to think clearly. She knew that much. Maybe he was lying about the child locks. She would try to unlock it again when they stopped. If it opened, she would run before he knew what had happened.

"Can you tell me something? You must have a good reason. I mean, really. You spent hours and hours chatting and texting with me. Did you choose me for a reason, or was I the only girl who would talk to you?"

"It was you. I actually tried a few different personas until I found one you paid any attention to. For whatever reason, you liked Jared."

"But why? What's so special about me?" Macy asked.

"You look exactly like her. It took me a long time to find you. I spent weeks online looking for someone close to her age who looks exactly like her. I almost gave up, thinking it was impossible, but then I found your profile picture. I actually couldn't believe it. You look so much like her, you could be her."

"Her? Who her?"

"My Heather."

"What happened to Heather? Where is she?"

"You ask too many questions. You need to stop."

"But you—"

"See this?" He held up a flashlight as long as his arm.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I told you no more questions." He swung it and hit Macy on the side of her head.

Everything went black.

Gone

Alyssa Mercer finished putting on the final touches of mascara, and then stood back to look at herself before nodding in approval. She looked good, and she knew it. She was going to make everyone at the gym jealous again. No one ever thought she could be the mom of two teenagers, and that's the way she liked it. When she was out with them, she was often taken for their sister.

She picked up her curling iron and perfected a couple of curls before returning to the bedroom. Her eyes fell on the clock. She'd still have time to stop for a skinny latte before working out. Pulling her workout shoes from under her bed, she slipped them on and went into the hall.

The house was quiet. The kids were probably still sleeping. They would sleep into the afternoon if she or her husband didn't wake them. As she passed Macy's room, she could smell the ferret cage. Why had she let Macy talk her into getting the thing? It was cute, but if they didn't keep the cage clean it got smelly fast. Alyssa was going to have to tell her—again—that they would get rid of Ducky if Macy didn't keep it up.

Going down the stairs, she tripped over a pair of pants and grumbled under her breath. She had followed the books since they were little, teaching them the value of chores as toddlers. It never stuck. As they got older, it even seemed to backfire. Alyssa picked up the pants and threw them to the top of the stairs.

She readjusted her black and purple velour pants and went to the kitchen. Smoothie bags filled the fridge, and Alyssa emptied one into the blender, with some fat-free milk and fresh bananas. As it blended, she went over everything she needed to do that day.

When it was ready she poured it into a glass, leaned against the counter, and drank her breakfast. She set the empty glass in the sink, turned around, and nearly bumped into her thirteen-year-old.

"Alex, what are you doing?"

He looked disoriented. Probably because he was awake before noon. His brown, wavy hair stuck out in twenty directions and for some reason, he looked pale. Alex looked up at her, and looking into his eyes Alyssa knew something was wrong.

"What's going on?"

He blinked a few times. "Have you seen Macy's wall?"

"No. Why? Did I miss a personality quiz?" The joke sounded weak, even to her.

He pulled his tablet from his bathrobe pocket and held the screen up to her face. She took it from him and looked at his news feed, not seeing anything important. "Tell Charlie he needs to watch his language."

Alex took the tablet and looked at it. He looked like he was going to be sick. "No, Mom, it got pushed down." He scrolled down and pointed to his sister's latest status update.

Alyssa's heart sped up as she read it. "Is that some kind of joke?"

"She's not in her room." He stared at her so intently, it felt like he was looking right through her.

Without a word, Alyssa ran past Alex and back upstairs, bursting through Macy's door. It looked like her daughter was in bed. She ran to the bed and pulled away the blankets. Several large stuffed animals lay strategically to look like Macy was there. How long had she been gone?

Her heart and mind were both racing. She looked around the room for any clues. Macy's laptop was on her desk. Alyssa sat down, feeling light-headed. She opened the laptop and turned it on.

It didn't start up like it should. It took too long. Then it prompted her to set up the computer. Had Macy erased everything? She couldn't have. She wasn't technologically inclined. She was always asking Alyssa for help with it.

"It's true?"

Alyssa turned around to see Alex standing in the doorway, looking ill. "She couldn't have gone far," Alyssa said. "She's probably just mad because we won't let her date."

She cursed her husband under her breath. She and Chad had argued over that point countless times. Alyssa had never even convinced him to let Macy go on group dates. He didn't want boys anywhere near her. She had told him that Macy would rebel.

She had told him. Alyssa buried her face into her hands, feeling dizzy.

"I'm going to get Dad."

Alyssa nodded, not even looking up. She had to do something. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and called Macy's number. She would tell Macy that the age restriction was lifted. Who cared what Chad wanted? She had to get her baby back.

The call went straight to voice mail. She listened to the entire message, feeling a small sense of relief at hearing her daughter's voice. She ended the call, doubtful that Macy would get the message if she had turned her phone off. Alyssa found Zoey's number and called. Zoey was Macy's best friend. She would know what was going on.

"Hello?" Zoey sounded half-asleep.

"Zoey, this is Macy's Mom."

"Mrs. Mercer? What's up?"

"Have you talked with Macy?"

"Uh…no. Why?"

Alyssa took a deep breath. "Did she say anything to you about running away?"

"What? No. Oh, crap. This is bad."

"Yes, this is very bad. Anything you know will help. Don't worry about getting her into trouble. We need to find her. That's the only thing that matters."

"I'm guessing you didn't know about her date last night."

"Her what?"

Zoey sighed. "She was getting together with a guy she met online."

The room shrank around Alyssa. "What…?"

"Yeah. Jared something. Wait. Hold on. He messaged me on online, asking some questions about her. Let me look."

Alyssa took several deep breaths as she listened to the rustling sounds of Zoey on the other end of the line. Things were going from bad to worse.

"I can't find his message, Mrs. Mercer. Wait a minute. Oh, I see the problem. He deactivated his account. I can still see the messages, but his name's gone, and there's no picture. I wish I could remember his last name. Is Macy going to be okay?"

"I hope so. Listen, Zoey, if you hear anything else, or think of anything, call me back. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll see if I can find anything else."

"Thanks. Bye."

"Bye, Mrs. Mercer. I'll do anything to help find her."

Alyssa nodded, knowing, and not caring, that Zoey couldn't see her. She opened the app on her phone and went to her daughter's profile, searching for clues.

Awake

The ground beneath Macy bumped up and down, waking her. She looked around, her head pounding, and reached for the side of her head. A tender bump stuck out near her forehead. The last thing she remembered was going into the truck with the madman who had pretended to be Jared.

She rolled to the side of the truck, slamming her already-sore head as they took a sharp turn. On all fours, she crawled to the back of the truck to see if she could unlock it. Everything was sealed tight. Not that she was surprised, given how much effort the guy had gone to with everything else.

The two of them had spent hours and hours messaging and texting. "Jared" had always seemed so interested in her, like she was special. But all he really wanted was to figure out her passwords. She wanted to kick herself; her parents had told her countless times not to give out personal information online. She had thought Jared was safe, but she had obviously been wrong.

Macy went to the sides of the truck, feeling around for anything she could open. She searched every single inch of the truck bed and canopy. It was no use; he had made sure everything was locked. All she found was a blanket, folded up and tucked into a corner.

Where was he taking her? And who was Heather? That name seemed important to him. Maybe if Macy could figure out why, she could figure out a way to escape.

The truck stopped, and the engine cut. Her stomach rumbled, and Macy realized how hungry she was. She hadn't eaten anything since lunch, and who knew how long ago that had been? She'd been planning to eat with Jared, who didn't even exist. She leaned against the corner of the walls.

Minutes ticked by as she waited. She shivered and grabbed the blanket, wrapping it around herself. It had the light scent of a girl's perfume.

As she started to doze, a loud click snapped her back to reality. The door of the canopy opened and the madman looked in. "Good. You're awake. I got some food. You'd better eat it because we're not stopping again for a while." He threw a wrapped hamburger at her. "I know you're vegan, but that's what you're getting. Eat it or go hungry."

He lowered the canopy door.

"Wait! Where are we going?"

"You'll find out soon enough." The door slammed, and Macy heard the lock slide into place.

She stared at the hamburger, sitting on the blanket. She hadn't eaten meat in more than six months, but her stomach roared, begging her to eat the greasy, dead animal.

The irony didn't escape her. Macy had gone vegan to lose weight, tired of everyone calling her "Muffin-top Macy." She'd lost the weight, but the name had stuck. That's what had led her to seek a boyfriend online. Now, here she was.

She wouldn't let the psycho win. She wasn't going to eat his burger. He might have poisoned it, anyway, or slipped something in to make her more agreeable.

She'd show him. If he saw she couldn't be controlled that easily, maybe he would give up and let her go. She had skipped meals plenty of times. When she first went vegan, her parents hadn't taken her seriously and continued to serve meat-filled meals.

Once they figured out that she would starve herself if that's what it took, they changed their minds—and Macy's diet.

She threw the burger across the truck. She wasn't going to eat it. If nothing else, it would take off a little more weight.

She leaned her head against the wall of the truck bed, tired and scared. There was no getting away yet, she knew that. So she let herself fall asleep again, thinking that at least she might be rested when the time came to escape.

The truck went over a large bump, waking her. How long had she been asleep this time? She could smell the cold hamburger. It permeated the entire truck bed. Her stomach rumbled again, but it twisted at the same time. As hungry as she was, the burger was the last thing she wanted to eat.

Pulling the perfumed blanket up close to her chin, she wanted to go back to sleep. No, what she wanted was to go back in time and never talk to "Jared" in the first place. Why had she been so stupid? Why hadn't she changed her passwords more often? She'd always heard how important that was.

Before long, boredom struck. It felt strange to be bored when she could be killed any moment, but the waiting was the worst part. Waiting wasn't her strong suit—but really, was it anyone's?