Taken - part 4

Hi! Thanks for visiting my blog :) This is part four of a little story I'm writing. For anyone who is new here, I would recommend you start at part one and work your way through. Happy reading!

I try to get ahead of Max, but he grips my arm more tightly, forcing me to stay behind him. I look around in horror as we move into the house. Everything is wrecked. It looks as though there has been a serious struggle here. Despite everything, I can't help smiling a bit. Of course there was a struggle. Sarah wouldn't have gone down without a fight.
We find her lying on the floor.
"Sarah!" I run to her and kneel down, praying that she's not dead. "Sarah?" I shake her shoulders gently. Max is checking the rest of the house, making sure no one else is here, I guess.
"Halie?" Sarah looks blearily up at me, and I sigh in relief. She's alive.
"What happened?"
"You were attacked," I start to explain, but Sarah suddenly cringes, looking at something behind me. I spin around, but see only Max.
"Who are you?" Sarah demands. "What are you doing in my house?"
The look on Max's face has my insides feeling like lead. "She knew you, didn't she?"
He nods dismally.
"Sarah, your memories have been erased," I say. "We got here too late..." I proceed to explain what we think has happened. She takes it worse than I did, and it takes Max about ten minutes to persuade her that he is my husband. I'm not that helpful, seeing I don't remember him myself.
As I talk, Max goes to the kitchen to make Sarah tea. He's obviously been here before; he knows where everything is.
"So what do we do now?" she asks fearfully.
"Well, I think if they wanted us dead, we'd be dead," I say slowly, thinking about what to do next for the first time since we found her. "It's Max who's in danger now - as well as anyone you've talked to since yesterday. Only you don't remember who you talked to..."
"Halie, come here a moment."
I gratefully remove myself from Sarah's frightened gaze.
"Look," Max says. "This is Sarah's writing."
The note was obviously scrawled in great haste, and it is barely legible. I squint, trying to make out the words.
King's wizard Haen, b -
I can't make out what it says after b. The pencil mark runs down the paper, as though Sarah was violently pulled away as she was writing it.
"She tried to leave a message," I say softly. "She must have known they would take her memories, or kill her."
"If this is anything to do with Haen, we're in trouble."
"Who is he?"
Max's face falls. "You've met him - I guess I forgot it was from after the point where they took memories from. He's one of the king's most powerful wizards, as well as one of the most respected. If he's involved in something dangerous, you can bet it's something we don't want to be involved in."
"Yet we're already involved," I say. "That must be what we saw - Sarah and I must have stumbled on something secret. Haen is trying to erase our memories of what we saw."
"It must be really awful for him to go to such lengths," Max says. "I don't know of any enemy so powerful that he would have to erase memories to keep us safe from them."
"Well, I think we need to find out -"
"Halie? Is everything ok?"
"Yes, it's fine," I call to Sarah. "Don't say a word to her," I hiss quickly before she comes in. "I don't want her in any more danger."
Max only has time to nod before Sarah is entering the room. Max hands her a cooling cup of tea wordlessly. She gives him a slightly spooked look and retreats back into the lounge.
"Sarah, I'm going to take you to my sister's place," I say, following her. "You shouldn't be alone, not after a big shock like this. Max and I have something to do," I explain in response to her confused look.
It doesn't take long to get Sarah moving - she is in a hurry to leave the scene behind. We walk quickly to Marie's house. My sister has always represented a bit of sanity in an insane world. When I knock on the door, she opens almost at once.
"Halie! Oh, I haven't seen you in ages. Please come in! Max, Sarah, come."
By the shocked look Sarah gives Marie, I think she wasn't sure whether to believe that we all know Max, and is a little surprised when Marie confirms it for her.
"We can't stay, Mar," I say regretfully. "It's sort of urgent, but we need you to look after Sarah. Max and I need to do something."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Sarah will explain," I say, already withdrawing. Whatever is chasing us, I don't want it near my sister.
"Wait, Halie -"
I turn to see her concerned face peering between Max and me.
"Something is different between the two of you. What happened to you?"
"Sarah will explain," I repeat shortly. "I'm sorry, Marie, I have to go."
Max and I hurry back down the path, trusting that Marie will take care of Sarah.
"So if you're thinking what I'm thinking, we have a journey ahead of us," Max says under his breath, watching passers-by suspiciously. .
"Yes," I agree. "If we want to find out what this whole mess is about, we need to find Haen."
"You know it will be dangerous."
"Not as dangerous as sitting here clueless," I point out.
"True," Max says. "We find Haen, then. Let's go."

To be continued