“Besides, how would he get her out of here without attracting anyone’s attention? I’m pretty sure Noelle wouldn’t just go with him. She’d probably scream her lungs out and put up a fight.”

“But what if she couldn’t?” I asked. Tears were stinging in my eyes for the second time that day. “Maybe he had something against her. We don’t know a thing about him or their relationship. If she really was hiding from him here, he must have some kind of power over her.”

Jasper lifted his hand to his mouth, nervously chewing on his thumbnail. “What are we going to do now?”

“We . . . we need to get help,” I said, trying to pull myself together, shake off the fear that was digging its icy fingers into my skin. “We should tell Mrs. Whitworth or the police.”

“I don’t think the police can do anything yet. Noelle has barely been missing an hour, she could be anywhere. They won’t act on just our suspicion and this little note. And if we tel Mrs. Whitworth, she’ll just tell us to wait until the police find her.” He was silent for a moment. “If we don’t tell her anything, we’ll be able to go out and try to find Noelle on our own, but if we go to Whitworth, she’ll make sure we stay put.”

“But how are we even going to try to find her?” I frantically asked. “We don’t have any clue besides his name, and it isn’t even unique. There are thousands of Kyle Turners.”

Jasper was silent for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and turned to look at me. “I think I know who could help us. We should call Seth.”

“Okay,” I quickly said. “Do you want to, or—”

“Maybe it’s best if you talk to him.”

I nodded. My hands were shaking a little as I dialed his number and put the phone on speaker, waiting for him to answer. I was already fearing he wouldn’t pick up when the beeping on the other end of the line finally stopped.

“Evelyn?” Seth asked in a voice that was probably supposed to sound cheerful. “It’s barely been a few hours. Missing me so much already?”

“Seth,” I quietly said. “I need your help.”

“With what?” Seth immediately sounded much more alert. “Is everything all right?”

“It’s Noelle. She’s . . . she’s gone,” I whispered. Fear slid its hands up to my throat, wrapped around it, squeezing tighter with every image that entered my mind. Noelle unconscious.

Noelle hurt. Noelle in danger, alone, even though she was supposed to be here with me right now, safe.

“Are you sure? What happened?” Seth asked incredulously over the loud sound of a train driving past him.

Noelle, who had spent the last few days terrified and who hadn’t told me why. Noelle, who maybe would be here now if I had pressed more, if I had made her talk to me that night on the football field or any night after that, if I hadn’t been so easily distracted with a kiss here or a touch there, so desperate to believe everything was going to be fine. This isn’t one of your bloody romance novels, Seth’s voice echoed in my head again.