My heart slams against my ribcage as I think about my best friend Lila. She's gone. Kidnapped and every tick of the clock feels like a hammer blow to my already fragile composure.
"Emma, what's happening?" I whisper to myself, my voice scarcely above a breath as if speaking louder might confirm the reality I'm desperate to deny. But the chilling emptiness of her apartment is answered enough. After I looked at her bedroom, it looked like there was a struggle. A fight Lila didn't win.
Panic seizes me, clawing up my throat and threatening to choke me with its icy fingers. She's always been there, the one constant in my life, my rock. And now she needs me, and I don't know what to do.
"Think, Emma," I urge myself, my voice cracking under the strain. Every second wasted is a second longer Li
