Alister Family pov
The Alister mansion, usually a bastion of calm sophistication, now hummed with a nervous energy. The unanswered phone calls echoed through the halls, a constant, nagging reminder of Nyara's continued silence.
Naomi Alister paced the living room, her hands clasped tightly, her face etched with worry. "She's not answering," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I'm so worried. What if… what if her mental health has finally broken? What if she's completely shut down?"
Isaiah Alister, his expression grim, placed a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder. "We'll find her, Naomi. We have to. We have the resources, the connections."
"But it's been months!" Naomi cried, her voice laced with desperation. "Months, and we still can't locate her. With all the money, magical tools, and crystals we have, we still can't find our daughter."
Amir Alister, his brow furrowed in concentration, sat in the library, surrounded by an array of shimmering magical stones. He held a large, pulsating crystal in his hands, its light casting an eerie glow across his face. "I'm trying, Mother," he said, his voice strained. "But it's like she's… shielded. There's a barrier, something blocking my connection. I can't pinpoint her location."
Zaila Alister, her expression troubled, sat in her room, phone pressed to her ear. She had crossed a line, a line she had sworn never to cross. She had always respected Nyara's need for space, but this time, her worry outweighed her respect for her sister's privacy.
"Halle, have you heard from Nyara?" she asked, her voice tight.
"Oh, hey Zaila," Halle replied, her voice casual. "Yeah, she's fine. Just been busy with artwork and stuff."
Zaila hung up, a sense of unease settling over her. She dialed Sarai's number. "Sarai, have you heard from Nyara?"
"Yeah, we had a girls' sleepover at her place," Sarai replied, her voice cheerful.
"You know where she's staying?" Zaila asked, her voice urgent. "Please, Sarai, I'm worried about her."
"Oops, gotta go!" Sarai said, her voice suddenly strained. "Nyara's fine, just busy. Bye!" She hung up, leaving Zaila staring at the phone in disbelief.
Zaila's mind raced. She had to find Nyara. She remembered that Halle and Sarai had been in S City recently. She decided to track their phone locations during their time there, hoping one of them would lead her to Nyara's apartment.
Hours passed, and Zaila's frustration grew. Halle and Sarai's phone locations showed them all over S City, from shopping malls to restaurants to parks. They had covered a lot of ground.
"They were everywhere," Zaila muttered, her voice laced with frustration. "This is useless." She knew Nyara was hiding something. She just had to find out what it was.
Zaila leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples, her eyes scanning the map of S City displayed on her computer screen. The tangled web of Halle and Sarai's movements seemed to mock her efforts. She had even tried to use a low-level tracking spell, a subtle nudge to highlight any locations where they had spent extended periods, but even that yielded nothing.
"They must have been incredibly careful," she murmured, her voice laced with a mixture of frustration and grudging admiration. "Or Nyara is even more adept at hiding than I thought."
A wave of guilt washed over her. She knew Nyara valued her privacy, but the constant worry gnawed at her. It wasn't just the unanswered calls; it was the feeling that something was deeply wrong. Nyara had always been reserved, but this level of isolation was unprecedented.
She considered contacting the authorities, but she knew that would only escalate the situation. The Alister family's influence was vast, but it also attracted unwanted attention. Publicly involving the police would only draw more scrutiny, potentially putting Nyara in even greater danger.
"There has to be another way," she muttered, her eyes scanning the map again. She zoomed in on specific areas, searching for any patterns, any anomalies. She even ran a facial recognition scan on the security camera footage from various locations Halle and Sarai had visited, hoping to catch a glimpse of Nyara.
The results were the same: nothing. Nyara was a ghost, a phantom, completely untraceable.
Naomi entered the room, her face etched with worry. "Any luck, Zaila?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Zaila shook her head, her expression grim. "Nothing, Mother. They were incredibly thorough. It's like she vanished into thin air."
Naomi's eyes filled with tears. "I don't understand," she whispered. "Why won't she talk to us? What's she hiding?"
Zaila placed a comforting hand on her mother's shoulder. "We'll find her, Mother," she said, her voice filled with a determination she didn't quite feel. "We won't give up."
She returned to her computer, her eyes fixed on the map of S City. She knew that Nyara was out there, somewhere, and she wouldn't rest until she found her.