CHAPTER SEVEN

Help...

     The plea was so quiet, Ryan wondered if he had imagined it. Then he heard it again. Ryan... Set!

     "Panya." He said aloud.

     "What is it?" Dean asked, immediately looking up.

     "I hear her. She's calling for help."

     "Where the hell is she?"

     "I don't think she knows."

     "Daughter..." Shannon whispered. "He's right. I hear her, too."

     Ryan tried to follow her energy. What he saw he immediately wished he could erase. "She's hurt," he reported. She's being attacked, he added silently. He had to get to her. He couldn't just let someone hurt her like that.

     Shannon grabbed her head and let out a scream before passing out. "What the hell just happened?" Mark asked.

     "She got pulled in too deep," Ryan replied. "She'll be fine."

     "Is Panya conscious?" Olivia asked.

     "Yes." He wished she wasn't. More than anything he wanted to make this stop.

     He stood up. "I need a minute," he said. He rushed into the kitchen. Olivia was right behind him.

     "What aren't you telling us?" She asked.

     He almost lied to her but thought better of it. "It's Djer. Somehow, he escaped... He's got her..."

     "Ryan... How bad is it?"

     "About as bad as it can get without any of them being dead."

     Olivia looked angry. Ryan saw Ma'at flash in her eyes. As soon as it happened, it stopped and she shook her head. "Dean is going to go insane."

     "Do we really have to tell him this? I don't think she would want him to know the details. I don't think she meant for me to know the details."

     "We at least have to tell him she's with Djer. Oh Gods... We need to tell Josie and her mother first! If he's somehow escaped, they're in danger, too."

     "I'll talk to Josie. Can you handle her mom? I don't do parents."

     "Okay. And then we'll tackle Dean, Zane, and Shannon who are all probably going to hit a blind rage over this."

     Ryan left the kitchen and without a word ascended the stairs. He arrived at Jonathan's room and knew that's where Josie would be. He knocked on the door. There was no answer, so he opened it.

     Josie was asleep and about as bundled in blankets as a person could get. He hated having to wake her. He almost didn't do it.

     Josie woke up before he could actually wake her himself. She looked at him in confusion and asked, "Ryan? Why are you in here?"

     "We need to talk, Josie. Something's happened," he replied.

     "What is it? Is it Jonathan? Is he okay? Is he...? Please don't tell me he's not okay."

     "Don't panic, it's not about Jonathan. I know he's with Panya and Alyxx, but that's it." He decided not to add that he suspected Jonathan was badly injured. She didn't need that stress on top of everything else.

     "Then what is it?"

     "This is about your father."

     Josie stiffened. "What about him?"

     "He escaped, Josie. He's with the people who have them."

     Josie shook her head. "Nope. I'm having another nightmare. I keep having nightmares that he escapes and comes after me and mom and Jessie. It's just another bad dream."

     "Josie, listen to me. You're awake. This isn't a dream. I'm sorry."

     Josie began shaking. "I can't do this right now."

     "I know. I'm sorry. You needed to know."    

     Please... There it was again. She was whispering a prayer for help and, to his surprise, it was addressed to him.

     Jonathan is dying, Panya thought. Alyxx is lost in her own head. I cannot get them both out of here alone.

     I'll find you, Ryan swore. I don't care what it takes. I'm going to get you out of there. All of you.

     "Ryan? I asked you a question." Josie interrupted his thoughts.

     "Sorry," he said. "I'm randomly hearing Panya. The connection is really shaky though."

     "Is she okay? Oh Gods, my dad... Did he hurt her?"

     Ryan started to deny it but then he saw the look in her eyes. She desperately needed to know what was happening. She was half in shock but trying to function and lying to her would not help.

     "Yes," he admitted.

     To his surprise, Josie did not start crying. Instead, she looked furious. "That son of a bitch!" She declared. "When I see him, I will cast a hex of one thousand frogs upon him!"

     Ryan would have been amused had he not known she was dead serious. "We'll get him," he promised.

     "Tell me the truth, Ryan. Is Jonathan okay?"

     "He's... alive. I don't know much else."

     "What about Alyxx?"

     "I'm not sure. Panya said she's lost in her mind... I'm guessing she's catatonic?"

     "Alyxx isn't the going catatonic type."

     "Everyone has a breaking point. I guess she hit hers."

     The rage on Josie's face was actually becoming frightening. "If he hurts any of them again, so help me, he'll learn what it means to have the full wrath of a deity on his hands!"

     Joanna rushed in then. She pulled Josie into her arms. Josie almost fought her but stopped herself. Ryan stepped back from them.

     "We have to go somewhere safe," Jo said. "You, me, and Jessie. We have to get away for a while."

     "No." Josie said the one word very firmly. She sounded like Zane giving one of his warnings. He was mildly impressed.

     Jo must have been, too, because she paused. "Baby, we aren't safe. Your father-"

     "I know. Ryan told me. I'm not running away from this, Mom. I'm a Goddess and I can damn well handle him myself. You and Jessie should go, though. You'll be safer."

     "If you think I'm leaving you, you're bloody mental."

     "I guess I need to see the men in white coats then. You're going."

     "Josie, I'm the mum, remember?"

     "And I'm the Goddess, and in this kind of situation, Goddess trumps all. I'll be okay, Mom. Please go be safe."

     Jo clearly knew her daughter. "Stay here. Do not go anywhere alone. And if you see your father, run."

     "I will. I won't. And I'll run if I see Dad... After I kill him."

     Josie hugged her mother goodbye. "Go, Mom. I love you. Tell Jessie I love her, too, even though she hates me," she said.

     Jo couldn't find the words. She simply squeezed her daughter's shoulders a final time before leaving the room.

     "You did good," Ryan told her.

     "Yeah. Now let's find that son of a bitch and finish this."