Chapter 313:Hope
Ravenna put the phone away.
"That’s what I’ve been telling you but you wouldn’t believe be."
Shawn shook his head.
"Unbelievable."
"What is?"
"He actually did it."
Ravenna frowned.
"Did what?"
Shawn looked at her.
"Never mind, that’s for another day. Let’s get back to the matter at hand."
The brief amusement disappeared almost immediately. Shawn took out his phone.
"I’ll call Grandfather."
Ravenna’s heart jumped.
"Will he help?"
"If Silver is really trapped in Death Row Valley, Grandfather will turn the entire place upside down if that’s what it takes. He’s a family talent afterall."
’Hopefully’
Ravenna stared at him, her eyes visibly lighting up. For the first time since leaving the observation center, those words sounded like an actual promise of action.
Shawn searched for the number.
"I don’t know why nobody contacted us already, it’s ridiculous."
Ravenna shook her head.
"Silver didn’t want his family interfering with everything he did so..."
Shawn sighed.
"Of course he didn’t. Everyone in the family wants independence, funny."
He pressed call.
Ravenna watched.
The phone rang a few times but nobody answered. Shawn frowned. Ravenna’s hope immediately wavered.
"Try again."
"Calm down... I was going to."
He called. They waited but again, no one answered. Shawn’s frown deepened.
"That’s strange."
Ravenna looked at him.
"Does he normally answer?"
"Usually, or someone around him does. It never rongs a second time, especially since I’m the one calling."
Shawn ended the call. He tried another number, still no answer. His expression became more serious.
Ravenna’s stomach tightened.
"What does that mean?"
"Probably nothing."
"You don’t sound like you believe that."
Shawn looked at her.
"It means I need to make some calls."
Ravenna immediately stepped closer.
"Then I’ll stay."
"No."
She frowned.
"I’m not leaving."
"Ravenna."
"I’m not going home while..."
"Listen to me." Shawn’s voice wasn’t harsh, but it was firm enough to stop her. "You’ve already done what you came here to do."
Ravenna stared at him.
"You found me, told me where Silver is, and gave me the name of the group that abandoned him, the location, the beast rank, and the observation center involved."
He held up his phone.
"Now I need to start contacting people."
Ravenna’s jaw tightened.
"I can help."
"You can help by being somewhere I can find you when I need more information."
Shawn glanced toward Mallory and Antony.
"You’re staying together?"
Mallory nodded.
"We have a house on the eastern side."
"Good, that’s a relief." Shawn looked back at Ravenna. "Go home."
She immediately shook her head.
"Shawn..."
"I’ll keep trying Grandfather."
He spoke before she could argue.
"I also know people here who can start checking what happened in Death Row Valley. If the Association has an official mission record, there’ll be documentation somewhere. I want to know exactly who Larry is, who the other Rank Fours were, and why they took two Rank Twos that deep without a Rank Five escort."
Antony’s expression became serious.
Shawn continued.
"And if I can’t reach Grandfather, I’ll find another way to contact the family."
Ravenna stared at him.
"How long?"
"I don’t know."
"That’s not good enough."
"I know." Shawn’s expression softened slightly. "But I’m not going to lie to you just to make you feel better."
Ravenna fell silent.
"I can’t promise Silver will be out tomorrow." Shawn looked directly at her. "I can promise I’m not ignoring this."
That was enough to make Ravenna’s resistance weaken. Shawn put his phone away.
"If Silver is alive down there, then every hour matters. I understand that."
Ravenna nodded slowly.
"Call me."
"I will."
"Even if you don’t find anything."
"I’ll call."
"And if your grandfather answers..."
"You’ll know."
Ravenna hesitated.
Then she unlocked her phone and exchanged contact information with him.
Shawn saved the number.
He looked at the name for a second.
Ravenna Arkland
Then he added another word.
Silver.
Ravenna noticed but didn’t comment. Shawn put the phone away.
"Go home."
This time, Ravenna didn’t argue. She turned toward Mallory and Antony. Mallory immediately joined her. Antony pushed himself away from the tree.
They began walking back toward the main entrance. Ravenna managed several steps before stopping.
She turned.
Shawn was already looking at his phone again.
"Shawn."
He looked up.
Ravenna hesitated, then she said quietly, "Please bring him back."
Shawn stared at her, pity concealed in his gaze.The desperation in those words was different from everything else she had said.
Shawn slowly nodded.
"Don’t worry, I’m going to do everything I can. Silver is my cousin after all"
Ravenna held his gaze for another moment before turning away.
Shawn watched the three of them leave. His eyes remained on Ravenna longer than the others.
Silver’s fiancée.
He still couldn’t believe it.
His younger cousin had somehow managed to disappear from his life long enough to get engaged without telling him, travel across multiple sanctuaries, reach Rank Two, enter Death Row Valley, and apparently become the kind of idiot who stayed behind to distract a Rank Six beast while everyone else escaped.
Shawn rubbed his forehead.
"You absolute idiot."
Then he looked down at his phone. The amusement vanished.
He called his grandfather again. The call rang but no one answer.
Shawn’s frown deepened.
He ended it, then immediately began searching through his contacts.
If Grandfather wasn’t answering, he would call someone else. Maybe an uncle, a family representative, an Association contact; just someone.
He would find out exactly what had happened in Death Row Valley.
And if Ravenna’s story was accurate, Larry and every Contractor who had deliberately abandoned Silver had created a much larger problem for themselves than they realized.
Farther away, Ravenna glanced down at the tracker in her hand as she walked beside Mallory.
The screen remained empty but something had changed. Yesterday, she had been alone with a promise that rescue might take weeks.
Now Shawn knew.
Silver’s family would soon know.
For the first time, Ravenna felt as though she had finally done something that might actually bring him home.