The Missing

in her throat. Rage burned red inside her, chasing away the fear, and it was like she had taken a step outside of her body. She could see the ugly, violent scene unfolding like she was watching some movie playing out before her, instead of having it happen. She could hear her harsh, strangled breaths; she could see how Lee knelt in front of her, holding her wrists in one of his hands and using the other to keep her face pressed into the sandy earth. She gagged on it. She could feel the grit and the sand in her mouth as clearly as she could feel Joey’s hungry, excited pants as he bent back over her. She could see his bony white butt, too, as he bent low and fought to spread her thighs, struggling with her swimsuit.

    Everything inside of her stilled. Everything stopped and then slowly, like some slumbering monster, she felt it wake inside her: something powerful and potent surging, and life resumed its normal pace. But she didn’t feel Joey on top of her anymore. He was no longer trying to pry her thighs apart, and he was no longer laughing. Instead, he toppled off of her, his hands digging at his throat.

    She could feel his throat, almost like she had her hands wrapped around it, and she felt his hands like he was trying to claw her away. Except they were no longer touching. The only hands on hers were Lee’s. Lee was too drunk to realize something was wrong. All he knew was that she was there half-naked, and he was horny. He pounced on her as Taige shoved up onto her hands and knees, choking on the sand and half-numb with shock. Confused, numb, and terrified, she felt that power in her. It was almost like somebody else had control, and that somebody else was trying to choke the life from Joey.

    Tighter and tighter, the power wrapped itself around Joey’s throat. His pulse started to stutter, and his eyes rolled back in his head.

    Lee pressed his wet mouth to her shoulder, and the power snapped, rushing back to her, ready to seek out another target. Off to the side, Joey sucked air, and he snarled, “Little whore!” Something hit her in the head, and pain bloomed red like a flower inside her skull. Everything grayed, and Taige sagged to the ground.

    “Get the fuck off, Lee. First time’s mine.” Once more, life took on that surreal quality. She could hear them speaking, feel hands shoving and pulling at her, but she couldn’t move to fight them off, couldn’t even find the energy to care.

    They flipped her over. Hot hands touched her breasts, pinched and squeezed. A heavy weight crushed into her again, pressing her into the ground. She could feel them jerking at her swimsuit, hear them swearing.

    She groaned and tried to lift her arms, tried to shove them away. Joey pulled back his hand and punched her, hard and fast. “Stupid cunt,” he muttered. “Shut up and be still.”

    At that point, Taige didn’t have much choice. Little black dots swarmed in on her, and as she tripped into the darkness, she was even a little happy he’d hit her. She didn’t want to be awake when they—

    The weight pressing her into the ground disappeared. Just suddenly gone. Voices rose and fell. She heard something crack, then a scream, followed by a weird, whimpering grunt. Angry voices. She tried to sit up, tried to get to her feet and run. She rolled to her side, tried to push her weight up, but couldn’t. Her body felt like leaden weights, and her legs felt watery. Try as she might, Taige just couldn’t move.

    She lay there, hardly able to breathe, as somebody came near. She flinched, and to her shock, she whimpered. Then hands closed around her arms, and she was still unable to move, although all she wanted to do was fight, kick, and scream.

    But the hands just rolled her over, one arm sliding behind her shoulders, and then a gentle hand brushed her hair back. She heard a voice, deep and soothing, speaking to her. Taige forced her eyes to open. In the faint moonlight, she saw a face, vaguely familiar. His lips moved, forming words, but she didn’t hear a word he said as the gray cloud swarming at the edges of her brain finally moved in, and everything went black.

    WHEN she closed those strange, misty gray eyes, Cullen had one brief moment of panic. Terror, fury, and helplessness had him shaking as he tapped her cheek and tried to wake her up.

    Her head lolled to the side, and she lay in his arms as limp as a dishrag. Her chest rose and fell with slow, shallow breaths, but he was still terrified. Even