James' POV

"You know, maybe if you didn't run like a little bitch, you would have won the game." Mason Ryans says and he shoulder bumps me on the way to the locker room and Alex snorts beside me. "You we're apart of that team too, Alex." He says and that shuts my unloyal Beta up quick.

I laugh at both of them as I make my way to my locker and began to get undressed, my body present here but my mind a million miles away as I try to figure out an answer to my problem. A body bumps into me and I turn to see Alex frowning at me with a curious expression. "What's wrong?" He asked me clearly worried that it has something to do with our discussion yesterday but I shake my head and give him a tired smile.

"Nothing just wondering what I can do for Cody today. His anxiety was acting up this morning so I had to bribe him with the surprise to get him to come to school. Thing is, I don't even know what the surprise is going to be." I tell him with a grown banging my head gets to open lock a door that's in my hand.

"See, I would help, however I'm not good at planning dates and I don't want Cody coming after me for planning a bad one." He says before giving me a pat on the shoulder that's supposed to be comforting but it only makes me smack it away on slight annoyance.

" Asshole." I throw at him as he turns around to get undressed himself not wanting to spend the day in the stinky gym clothes at that we just played three games of basketball in. Two of which I won but of course, Ryans is only going to pick on the one I didn't.

"Bastard." He replies sweetly and I throw my damp shirt at him as Ryans comes over to give his advice.

" Okay, I don't know Cody as well as you do, though I wish I did." He starts with a dreamy expression and both Alex and I raise our hands to deliver a slap to the back of his head at the words spoken about Cody making him laugh and throw his hands up before he continues. "Does he like stuffed animals?" He asked me and I have to think back before I remember his little stuffed bear that he likes to have in bed with us.

       "Yeah but he already has a teddy bear." I tell him but before I can even get the whole sentence out of my mouth he's shaking his head at me with an amused smirk.

       "No, no, no. This is different. This is personal.  This will have you in bed for the rest of today into tomorrow." He tells me wrapping his arm around my shoulder before moving his hand in front of us like a vision. "What you do is take him to that Build-A-Bear place in the mall. Then you get your voice on the little button piece that goes inside and you name it after whenever name he has aside for your future kids." He tells me and I raise my eyebrows at him in disbelief.

        "That doesn't work." Alex says with a roll of his eyes and Ryans only scoffs before shoving him while he tried to put on his jeans, making Alex stumble before falling on his ass.

       "Tell that to the ten trips I've taken to the workshop, Alex." He says to my Beta I laugh at their antics before coughing into my hand.

        "Whore." I push out between the fake coughs and Alex laughs as he gets up form his position on the floor. I smile at our friend innocently before I grab my book bag from my locker. "Okay. That's a plan then. I'll look up the closest one." I tell them and they nod before going off to their own lockers to bicker some more.

       I tug on my t-shirt and my jeans before I look at my bag and unzip it, expecting you see my phone on top of my books as always, but it's missing. I frown to myself as I rummage through the bag, knowing I wouldn't put it anywhere else, but not seeing it where it belongs.

      I scrunch up  my face in confusion as I look in my locker and check all my pockets that I have and still coming up empty. Deciding that my friends are trying to play a prank on me, I make my way towards Alex's locker where the two of them are getting dressed. "Hey, have one of you see my phone?" I asked two of them and they turn towards me with frowning faces and shake their head in confusion.

       "No. It's not in your book bag?" Alex asked me and just by the look on his face I can tell that he didn't have anything to do with it. I turn my attention towards Ryans, my attitude starting to get the best of me before I hold out my hand in his direction.

        "Give it back. I have to check up on Cody and find the place, dude." I tell him even as a sneaking terrifying suspicion begins to creep up my spine. it's not exactly a scary feeling but rather a suspenseful one that's telling me that something isn't right that goes beyond my missing phone.

       "I don't have it James. Use Alex's phone to call yours." He says and we both quickly agree before Alex pulls out his own device and punches in my numbers before placing the call. It begins to ring and everyone stands still for a second until we begin to hear my phone going off somewhere in the locker room. The three of us move between the bodies of our other classmates until we get to where the sound is originating from looking between the three of us in surprise and confusion when we find it in the trashcan near the door.

       "How the fuck did it get here?" I asked to myself this sinking feeling that something is wrong only growing as more time goes on.

       " I don't know man but something doesn't feel right. Like a bad energy has been around here." Ryans says and I don't ignore it as some people would. Since he's a fairy, he's good at reading energy and auras around people, and if he says that something isn't right then I should definitely be terrified.

        "I need to check on Cody." I say aloud and I feel Alex's breath hitches in fear the same as mine well we both realize that something could be very very wrong. I pick my device up out of the rummage and instead of cleaning it, not having the patience, I instead open my phone in order to get to me and Cody's messages.

      I clicked on the texting app in my eyes furrow in fear when I see the last text that was sent from my phone that was never typed for me. "Alex, someone told Cody to meet me in the dark room from my phone." I tell him lowly, and my mind is trying to catch up with what my mouth is saying as if I'm in a state of shock.

        'We need to get to that room, James. Now!' Sloan tells me, my wolf having listening the whole time. His yelling propels me to take action and leaving all of my shit in the locker room I begin racing towards the entrance Alex and Ryans on my tail.

       I'm grateful that the bell hasn't rung yet as we race through the hallways trying our best to get towards the dark room that's on the other side of the school. We passed a few teachers who try their best to stop us and ask what's wrong, but I don't have time to answer meaningless questions, instead weaving around them as best I can. In three minutes flat we're across campus and making our way towards the door on the left.

      Holding my breath I open up the door and walk inside only to find the room empty. But the enticing smell of honey sunshine is still flowing through the room.

      But the smell isn't as fresh as I hoped.

      I feel Alex and Ryans move around me to head deeper into the room to look around for clues, but I rely on my conscious to reach out to Cody is hoping to get a response. I feel around his mind and conscious but I get nothing in return,  too similar to Jessica's to give me any sense of relief.

       I feel myself begin to panic at the lack of response from my Mate and a sinking feeling that's buried itself in my stomach.

      "James, you might want to come see this." Alex says from behind me and I turn around and go towards him even if my body feels like I'm moving through water. My mental state is trashed, still in the feeling of shock as I think about my sweet little bean being taken from right beneath my nose. I make my way over to Alex I'll look at where his gaze is stuck  and I almost swallow my tongue when I see the pictures hung up on the strings above us.

      Every single one is of Cody in all types of different places and clothes. Some of them I remember from the threat that we got a few weeks ago. Some of them are new.

      As I begin to feel anger and panic wash over me in waves I began to realize that while we were only going day by day, whoever this asshole is, was in for the long run.

~~~~~~~~~
Who do you guys thing it is? Is it Jessica? Is it just the father? Or could it be someone else? I think I like Ryans. He's funny and cute.

Thoughts?

Comments?

QOTD: What kind of Faerie would you want to be?