***
Cassie stared up at her ceiling as she lay on her bed. She put her phone down after checking the time for at least the hundredth time in the last half hour. She had helped her mom cook dinner, helped with the dishes, and even done a load of laundry in hopes of keeping her mind off of Trik and his whereabouts. Now she had nothing left to do. She picked up her phone again and looked at it, 9:01. One minute later than the last time she had checked. In a fit of frustration, she threw her phone across her room, but instead of the thud she expected to hear as the phone hit the wall, she heard a voice instead.
“A little upset?”
Cassie shot up out of her bed.
“Syndra?” Her words came out breathless as she tried to calm her beating heart.
“Last I checked,” the elf said as she held out Cass
