He looked down to see Evangeline falling away from him like a kite with a snapped string. "Evangeline!" Finn screamed. Then, without a moment''s hesitation, he released his grip on the branch and leaped after her. On the clifftop, the sound from below pierced Soren''s heart. He was frantically trying to saw through Poppy''s rope with a knife, but his hands began to shake violently. "What was that?" he yelled. "Finn! How is Evangeline?" He roared, but after a few seconds of deafening silence, no response came. "Mr. Fawkes," Gregory said, his eyes red and his voice choked with emotion. "Mr. Lockridge and Miss Whitmore... they both fell."


    Soren''s hands trembled even more violently.


    With a surge of desperate strength, he sliced through thest of Poppy''s rope.


    The coarse material scraped her skin, making her cry out in pain, but this time Soren didn''t seem to hear.


    He roughly yanked the rope free and raced to the edge of the cliff. "The rope! We have the rope, Finn! Bring Evangeline up!" he screamed, throwing the rope down into the void.


    But just like before, it dangled uselessly. After ten agonizing seconds, there was still no movement. "Evangeline! Talk to me! I know you''re alive! Yell something, tell me where you are! Finn!" he bellowed, his eyes wild and bloodshot.


    When only silence answered him, panic seized Sorenpletely.


    Without thinking, he shoved one end of the rope into Gregory''s hands. "Here! Tie this to a tree!" As he spoke, he grabbed the middle of the rope and prepared to go over the edge himself. She wasn''t dead! She couldn''t have died so easily! She must have been caught on a ledge somewhere! He had to find her himself.


    As Soren gripped the rope to jump, Gregory lunged forward, wrapping his arms tightly around his waist. "Mr. Fawkes, it''s too dangerous!"


    The other bodyguards rushed over, and together they managed to drag a struggling Soren back to safety. He fought against them with all his might eyes bloodshot as he roared like a madman. "Get off me! All of you, get off me! Evangeline! EVANGELINE!"


    He screamed until his voice was raw and broken, but the abyss offered no reply.


    "Find her!" he finally rasped, his voice a shattered wreck. "All of you, go find her! She''s alive, I know she''s alive!"


    Gregory stared at his boss''spletely unhinged state.


    He''d never heard Soren curse before not even in the most heated business dealings He had never seen him so frantic, so utterly lost. It was the first time.  fo


    For some reason, a lump formed in Gregory''s throat, and tears streamed down his face.


    He had seen the height. He knew the chances of surviving a fall like that were almost zero. Just a few


    moments ago, Evangeline had a chance. Finn had caught her. If only they had gotten the rope to them in time, they both could have lived. At that thought, Gregory instinctively nced over at Poppy who was now huddled on the ground, trembling. He had seen it clearly. When Evangeline fell, Finn hadn''t lost his grip; he still had a long section of rope in his hand.


    That meant Finn hadn''t let go. Evangeline had freed herself.


    He knew the knots binding her had been secure; if it had been a dead knot, she


    never could have done it.