Hilda's point of view:

All everyone could think to do was go to Lorelei's house to see if she or Mihn knew anyone that could help. We knew he had ties around all parts of America and not just Washington. Maybe he had some resources that could help us find my daughter. God, I prayed and prayed that he could do something to help us.

What I didn't understand is why she ran away and didn't tell anyone why. I knew now that she was in trouble with the Klan. But why did she refrain from letting anyone know? I would have at least expected her to let Flynn know so he could help her. Why did my baby think to leave so quickly? I could have done something, could have taken her somewhere where she was safe until I could deal with it. I was always there to help her. Why is my baby gone?

Jack held my hand as we went up the elevator to her apartment. We knocked on the door crazily and Mihn came to answer quickly. He seemed to know exactly why we were here, so he let us in without any questions. We stormed in and Lorelei greeted us with Evelyn in her arms.

"Did you find her?" Lorelei asked, her eyes obviously red and dry from crying previously. Mihn wasn't crying, he was still and stoic. He always was in times of stress. I didn't understand how him, and sometimes Jack, could do that. To always remain so calm, it must have taken quite the amount of practise.

"No, we have no idea where to even look. Would you have any idea?" Flynn asked. I took a seat in the armchair in her living room as I crossed my arms around my chest. I was distraught, to have Elora away from me like this. Why, I had a right mind to kill any one of those KKK members. They thought people were scared of them, well, they have never encountered an angry mother looking for her child.

"Not a chance. We've been calling up places. Rebekka doesn't know, and Rein hasn't seen her since he left for Portland. We asked grandpa and grandma, she isn't there either. Who else is there for her to go to besides me and Carina? And I know for a fact she isn't there otherwise Peter would've called to let us know she was alright," Lorelei explained. She was just as unrested and worried as I was. I had never seen her so frightened for something. Maybe it was motherhood kicking in and giving her some more of the feminine compassion she never used to acknowledge.

"Well, where else could she be? If she isn't with that Klan, then she must be in some washed up hotel without any idea what to do next," Emmaleigh replied. I took a breath to try and calm myself down, and when I turned my head to Jack I sensed something. There was something on his mind that he was doing his best to hide. I stepped off the chair and walked closer to him.

"Jack? Is there something you want to say?" I asked. Jack looked up at me and breathed. He was giving me that look. A look that I only recognized as one he and I shared when something was only gravely wrong. He knew something, he knew what was happening in some way. Whether he knew the whereabouts of Elora was unknown, however, he did know something that could potentially help.

"I didn't mean for this to happen. I had no idea it would amount to this," Jack replied. His eyes were down and he had this expression of regret in his face. Had he said something to her that kept her from keeping her senses? I doubted he would do anything like that. Jack was a smart man who knew what he was doing in times like this. He would know what to do if she spoke to him about what happened.

"You didn't mean for what to happen?" Lorelei asked. For a second I forgot that everyone was there. Every time I stared at Jack it took me away from reality. It gave me this solitude that I wished for on a daily basis, and I always received it. Yet, now, the situation was too dark to relish in it.

"She came to talk to me. She got a call from one of the members, saying they were going to get her. I was stupid to tell her to stay here. I told her to stay at home and to let me deal with it. I didn't know she would leave," he said. My heart seemed to have stopped when he said these words to me. How could he have told her to stay there when she was in apparent danger? He was smarter than that, why did he say those things to her? Why didn't he tell me what happened?!

"Why didn't you tell me?" I said as I felt tears beginning to well within my green eyes. Everyone behind us was silent as Jack and I stood in front of each other, watching and waiting for something to happen.

"I didn't---I don't know," he replied. He was quiet, almost whispering. I felt the first tear trickle down my cheek and drag down my skin. He was part of the reason my baby was taken away from me.

"If you'd of just told her to go somewhere, to Lorelei's, to Carina's, wherever, we wouldn't be in this mess. Why didn't you tell her to do that? Now she's gone," I said, feeling all the anger and disappointment building up inside me as I realized my baby was away from me and I had no way of finding her, and that her father was part of the reason she even decided to run off. I felt myself heating up, felt myself run into this rage that I had no idea I had.

"Hilda, baby, I'm sorry," he said as he tried to come closer. I backed away from him as he took a step. I didn't want him near me while I was getting like this.

"Don't touch me. You took her away from me," I said as I took small and upset breathes, "you took my baby away from me!" I didn't mean to scream so loudly, but I had no other way of expressing myself right now. I was so undeniably enraged that all I could think to do was scream at the top of my lungs to let him know how much I blamed him.

"Hilda! Please don't shout at me, you know I never wanted this," he said to me. He was trying so hard to reason with me but he didn't know that it was futile. I felt like I was making my way down the path of insanity. All I had in my mind was an all-American rage that just wouldn't quit. I didn't want to be mad at him, he was my husband, he did everything for me and beyond. But I couldn't help but flare at him with all my anger.

"My baby is gone!" I screamed as all the tears fell from my eyes and I plunged for him, trying to attack. I didn't know why I felt the need to do it, I don't know what came over me. I was just lucky that Flynn and Mihn went to hold me down as I pushed to keep going. Both men were just too strong for my small frame. I was still crying though as I kicked at the floor to try and get free. Jack was just standing there, unknowing of what to do and how to react. All I could see in his face was the fear I had brought on when I lunged for him.

"Alright, calm down. Come on, let's get you to a room so you can get some rest. It's alright Hilda, I've got you," Flynn said to me as he and my son-in-law held me back. After a few seconds I felt my body start to weaken and my eyes begin to tire. My vision was becoming nothing more than black tunnels slowly closing in on me. It wasn't long before I suddenly collapsed and it all went black.

•••

Flynn's point of view:

Whatever had gotten into Hilda had gotten into her good. After Mihn and I brought her into Lorelei's bedroom and she fainted, we were all nervous. It was worse when she woke up and she was hysterical and screaming for Elora to come back. That was nothing compared to the condition Jack was in at the moment. After Hilda had said all those terrible things to him, he wasn't the same. He stormed out of the place and we didn't hear him come back in at all that day. Now, we were approaching the eight o'clock mark and he still wasn't back inside. I had a feeling I would have to go and deal with it myself.

Eventually, about five minutes later, I told the girls and Mihn that I was going to look for Jack. They nodded and remained silent as they all sat in the living room. Lorelei was slowly and quietly rocking Evelyn to sleep for the night. Mihn was sitting next to Emmaleigh on the sofa as they held their hands together in nothingness. I didn't want to be there to see how long something like that would last.

I crossed the hallways of the apartment building and made my way to the door of the elevator. When I made my way to the lobby floor, I found Jack there. He didn't wander far, it would seem, or he had come back from doing so. He was sitting on one of the benches with a can of beer in his hand that he mist definitely didn't have before. I sighed as quietly as I could and walked over to where he was sitting. He looked up at me as I stood before him, waiting for Jack to say something.

"Were you asked to come and find me?" He asked. I took a seat next to him on the other side of the bench. I was busy trying to generate what I was going to say in my mind, which made me take a few seconds to reply.

"No, I wanted to make sure everything was alright and you weren't in trouble. That would just make the day worse for Hilda," I replied. Jack sighed and took a swig of the beer in his hand. His breathe smelled a little of it, which told me that wasn't his first can of the night.

"Why would it matter to her? The girl hates me right now," he replied. I could tell this was just as damaging to him as it was for Hilda. To think that two people ran so dependently on the emotions of each other was insane to me in the best way possible. At times it seemed like the most horrible thing in the world, but at least you always had unity. I wished that I had something like that, and maybe I would if I found Elora in time. My guess was she was safe at this point, but we were running out of time.

"She could never hate you. She's just having a hard time right now. Give her space and she will be fine. None of this is your fault, Jack, I promise. There was nothing you could do," I explained to him, and I sincerely believed it. Elora would have left anyway, and that was what was tearing me up inside. I just wished she would have told me so I could have helped her as much as I humanely could. Elora had no idea what lengths I would go to make sure she was safe.

"No, it's not totally my fault, but partly it is. What if I had just told her to go and stay with one of her sisters until I could clear it up? Then we would've at least known where she was and that she was safe with someone. Now we have no idea where she is, and that was because I was reckless with her and she knew it. Elora is anything but stupid," he replied. I didn't want to outright admit it to him, but I thought he had a point with what he said. He did do those things, but that didn't amount to much. I was still under the impression she would've done her best to run off to make sure she was alright for a while. No matter how screwed up the idea is, Elora always means well in some way or another.

"Jack, you can't think like that or we'll never find her. I don't want the KKK to catch up with her, which means we have to work fast. I'm sure you know this already. You're her father, and you need to be her protector as well. I can't do it alone," I replied. Elora had many people on her side that would fight for her, but she was mine to protect, she was mine to care for. Jack was her father and he lay on the same spectrum as I did when it came to saving Elora. Both of us would die for that girl in a split second if we had to.

"I know I have to protect her, I've been doing it since she was born. My kids and my wife are the only people that I would kill and die for. I don't really care what happens or how someone else feels about it. My little girl isn't getting tortured by some redneck extremist. Not a chance in hell, and certainly not while I'm around," Jack replied. So he knew what he had to do, and Hilda being this way just took him away from it. He had to work within the balance of his wife and his children, and I could only suppose that was hard sometimes.

"Hilda will get better. Everything will work out in the end. This is just the initial shock, and it's best to just get it over with. Believe me, I know exactly how this goes," I replied. He sighed and nodded his head as he put down the can and ran his fingers through his thick and dark hair. Maybe it was best for me to try and talk to Hilda now that Jack was slowly coming back to his senses?

"Alright. I'll be up in a minute. Can you just give me some time to think?" Jack asked. I nodded and patted his back as I stood from the bench. I told him that I was always there to talk, and then I went back to the elevator as I watched him remain on the bench.

I came up to the floor of Lorelei's place and went back inside. There, all three of them were still in the living room. It was Evelyn that was no longer inside, which meant she must have fallen asleep while I was gone. All of them looked at me as I walked in. I was really getting tired of all the eyes that travelled to me when I walked into a room.

"Did you find him?" Emmaleigh asked. I nodded as I took a remaining seat in the living room with everyone else. I had the ambition to talk to Hilda in a minute, but I would inform them before I did.

"Yes, I did. He's in the lobby, getting some air right now. He'll be up in a minute. Right now I've got to talk to Hilda. She doing alright?" I asked. Lorelei sighed and shook her head as she remained silent. Mihn put his arm around her to comfort her as best as he could. Emmaleigh's dark brown eyes went to me and stared.

"She's not screaming anymore. She's just quiet now, she won't say a word. I didn't think something like this would do that much to her. What if she never bounces back?" Emmaleigh replied. I shook my head and gently placed my hand on her arm to console her. I hate to see her, a good and caring woman, worry about something like this. She was much to young to be wandering about it like it was all her responsibility.

"Hilda will bounce back. She's strong, even more than me and Jack or Mihn combined. She just needs some time to gather herself. That's why I'm going to go and talk to her," I explained. Nobody at that couch replied as I stood from it and made my way to her room.

I opened the door to see her lying on the bed, covered in the blankets and sheets. She seemed to be asleep to me but when I came closer I found that she was just vegetative with her eyes wide open. It was a little frightening to see something like that. I hadn't seen a face like that since the Vietnam prisoners, and those guys were shellshocked from war and horrors presented upon them. It was a heavy thing to think that she could become quite the same if Elora was never found. I wished I could've known that's how my mother would be if I went missing. She wouldn't have been rendered catatonic just to hear the words that I was gone. In fact, she probably wouldn't notice until it was too late.

Her eyes didn't move even as I went to her and stood at her bedside. I kneeled down to the floor and watched her as her eyes looked dead. She didn't even look at me and I was right there in front of her. "Hilda, it's me, Flynn. Are you feeling alright?" I didn't know why I asked that. I already knew the answer quite well.

"I want my baby back," she whispered. I sighed and moved my hand to hers, holding it like soft porcelain in my hand. She had hands so soft that a baby wouldn't be able to beat it. I was asking myself silently all the time if she was an angel brought down to the earth from heaven itself. I had this devotion to Hilda that no one ever had with me, because she was more of a mother to me than any woman in this world. If she wanted her child back, she would get it.

"I'm going to get her back. I promise. I won't rest until she's found. If it's the last thing I do, I'll find her. I don't care who has to die. Elora is coming back here. Now."