340: MYSTERIOUS FIGURE

The air in the abandoned building hung heavy with dust motes dancing in a sliver of sunlight that pierced a boarded-up window. Isa crouched behind a skeletal metal desk and clutched her phone, its screen reflecting a pale sliver of her worried face. Her thumb hovered over Madison's contact, the dial button pulsing with a silent urgency. "Come on, pick up," Isa muttered, her voice barely a whisper against the building's creaking silence. Taking a deep breath, she hit the call. The phone pressed cool against her ear, and the dial tone was a maddeningly chipper counterpoint to the pounding in her chest. One ring. Two. Isa's heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs. Just as she was about to give up, a voice laced with amusement drifted through the receiver. "Hey, dear! It took you long enough." A surge of relief washed over Isa, momentarily erasing the knot of tension in her gut. "Madison, thank goodness! You wouldn't believe where I am." "Spill it, drama queen." Madison's laug