Forbidden Knots (Shadow Duet #1)

21. TWENTY ONE

TWENTY ONE

Shadow

A loud knock hit the door, jolting me awake. My eyes went wide, and I instinctively reached for Thalia, but she wasn’t there. My eyebrows knitted in confusion as I got to my feet.

"Storm," I whispered, but there was no answer. I walked towards the bathroom, noticing her wet clothes on the floor.

She wasn’t here. She left.

Another loud bang echoed through the house, making my eyes widen further. Anger surged through me as I stormed out of the bedroom and downstairs to the front door. I opened it aggressively, not even registering that I was completely naked. Standing in front of me was Christian, his face a mixture of confusion, worry, and anger. He still wore his carnival clothes, the mask in his hands. I leaned against the door frame, still not realizing the full extent of my exposure.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked, scanning his face.

"I came to check on Sophie," he mumbled, avoiding my eyes and shifting his gaze around. "We had this... misunderstanding, and she ran away."

I grabbed him by his collar, pinning him against the wall, my whole body leaning against him. "What the fuck did you do?"

"N-nothing," he stammered, trying to move away from me.

"I swear to God, if something happened to her," I raised my voice, "I will squeeze the life out of you."

"Tristan," Chiara shouted behind me, hitting me with her heel. "Let him go."

I rolled my eyes, seeing her. I still didn't know if Thalia was inside the house or if she had completely left, and I didn’t want her to see Chiara. My heart pounded against my chest. If I could, I would have launched them both as far away as possible, just so I could be with Thalia. But that would make me no better than them.

"Why are you naked?" Chiara asked, her tone mocking. "Don’t tell me you believe in a full moon?"

Christian chuckled, and it finally registered that I was completely bare in front of them. I grabbed a beer bottle from the table and positioned it in front of my crotch.

"Better?" I asked her.

"Much," she squinted her eyes. "Did you see Thalia around here?"

My eyes widened. "Thalia?"

"She ran this way. I think she finally lost it," she chuckled, circling her finger near her temple.

"Go away," I said, trying to close the door.

But Christian's concerned face stopped me. "Chiara, was Sophie with you?"

"Yeah, but she went back to see you," she said. "She cried and mentioned this fucked-up dream she had."

A chill ran down my spine, making my body feel like it had been struck by lightning. The beer bottle fell from my hand, shattering into millions of pieces as I sprinted upstairs to Sophie's bedroom. At this point, I didn’t care if they saw me naked; I just needed her to be there.

The last time she had this dream, she tried to kill herself, and she almost did. I rushed back to my bedroom, grabbed a pair of jeans from the closet, and pulled on a black shirt. Walking outside, I put on my shoes, still moving frantically, as I looked at Chiara and Christian standing at the door, their faces pale.

"We have to find her," I said, words filtering through my teeth. "NOW!" I shouted, exiting the house and closing the door behind me.

I forgot about the whole night, about Thalia, our passionate encounter, the sheets that bore witness to our sins. My main focus was only on Sophie.

"What's going on?" Chiara asked.

Christian looked at me, and I could tell he knew what I was thinking. I knew Sophie must have told him her thoughts; otherwise, a big bad guy like him wouldn't knock at the door to face me. His pale face showed he truly cared for her, and that gave me hope that maybe all was good. But my gut feeling, while my intestines were spinning in circles, knew something happened. Something bad. Something I couldn't control.

"She went this way," Chiara pointed as we walked towards the town. "Tristan, what's going on?" she asked, but I couldn't answer her.

Christian shook his head, and we walked, our steps becoming faster as we headed towards the woods of pine trees.

"Sophie," I shouted.

" Amore ," Christian shouted after me.

My gut now almost reached my throat, making me want to puke after I heard him call her his love.

"Can we cut the bullshit and you call her by her name, S-O-P-H-I-E," I spelled it for him.

"Fuck off, Tristan," he brushed past me and walked deeper into the woods.

"What the fuck is your issue?" Chiara said. "He is worried sick."

"Sorry," I said, gesturing with my hand for her to walk in front of me.

"Sophie," I heard Christian shouting in the distance.

Then, silent steps behind us, and the crunch of branches. Chiara jumped behind me, stifling a scream. "Show your face."

But no one did—just a small rat walking its way.

I could hear her heart beating, her eyes wide open, and for the first time, I saw her like this. I turned around, her arms wrapped against my body, and her head now on my chest. "I'm scared," she whispered.

My eyes closed, my mind racing with thoughts of how Sophie must have felt. How scared she was, and I wasn't able to help her. I let my ego and my fear of losing Thalia cloud my judgment, and in the fear of losing Thalia, I lost Sophie. And she was nowhere to be found.

In the woods, in this darkness, the only source of light was the moonlight and our frantic echoes with Sophie's name on our lips.

"Where are you, Sophie?" I mumbled, "Where are you?"