calling, merciless as always.
We jumped out of bed and slipped into our silky robes. Sofia opened the door, welcoming Esme, Tristan, and Amal into our lounge. Candles still flickered over the fireplace, which was all the light we’d left burning overnight. I would’ve pulled the curtains open to welcome the sunlight, but only Amal and I would’ve been able to enjoy it. It reminded me of why we were here in the first place, and suddenly the thought didn’t seem that bad anymore. Soon enough, we’d all be able to enjoy sunny mornings.
“Morning!” Sofia greeted them, but the looks on their faces struck me hard.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Where’s Nethissis?”
Esme sighed. “We don’t know. She wasn’t in her room.”
“Well, maybe she’s out for a stroll,” Sofia suggested, though her smile was already fading.
“That’s not all,” Tristan said. “We need to talk. There’s something going on here, and it’s more complex and fractured than we originally thought.”
I invited them to sit down and spent the better part of an hour listening to their accounts of yesterday, learning about the Black Fever’s unexpected return and the Darklings’ attack in the process. By the time Tristan and Esme were done, I genuinely and wholeheartedly regretted getting out of bed. This was not how I’d planned to start the day.
Our progress with the day-walking protein was going to be slow, by default, given the work Amal had to put into it. For us to deal with the Black Fever and murderous Darklings and who knew what else the Aeternae had been keeping to themselves… well, it just didn’t feel right. On top of that, I had a nagging feeling that these troubles were only the beginning.
“I mean, where do we draw the line, Derek?” Esme asked. I’d tuned out, and I hadn’t caught the first part of her statement.
“What do you mean?” I replied, rubbing my face, hoping I was still stuck in that nasty dream which I no longer remembered—I only remembered the uneasy feeling that it had left me with.
“I know the core objective of this mission is to get the day-walking protein,” Esme said, “but what about everything else? We said we’d help them with the Black Fever, too, but… last night, Tristan got caught in the crossfire of a Darkling conflict. Where do we stop being explorers, and where do we begin being GASP agents again?”
“Frankly, I’m worried about Nethissis,” Amal murmured, her orange eyes wide and so expressive, she nearly broke my heart. “It’s not like her to vanish like this. Last night, she went out in snake form to search this place. She would’ve checked in with us, at least. She would’ve said she found nothing… or whatever.”
“Amal has a point,” Esme said, adding to her previous argument. “If something happened to Nethissis, then the Aeternae are involved, and we need to do something about it.”
This was quickly devolving into something far worse than anything I could’ve dreamed. We had to be careful with how we proceeded. As nervous as Nethissis’s absence made me feel, I couldn’t disregard the protocol we’d set up for this place. Pacing the room, I listened as Sofia and the crew exchanged impressions and assumptions.
It didn’t take long for me to reach a conclusion.
“Listen, we can’t go out guns blazing,” I said. “Whatever we do, we must be cautious and diplomatic. These are Aeternae, and their existence is extremely important to us. We won’t jump to conclusions, because they’ve been nothing but kind and welcoming. Reserved, sure… but they haven’t done anything to hurt us.”
Sofia nodded. “Derek is right. We cannot fault all of them for something we have yet to investigate. Have you tried Telluris with Nethissis?”
“Of course,” Amal said. “I can’t even feel her.”
“We’ll certainly help them with the Black Fever,” I replied, looking at her. “I suppose you won’t have a problem with that?”
She shook her head. “No. But I could really use Nethi’s help for this,” she said. “We need to find her, Derek. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“We’ll start our search right away,” I concluded, keeping many other concerns at bay. Nethissis going missing was big and troublesome enough as it was. My heart couldn’t deal with more for the time being, at least not until we got her back, safe and sound. “We’ll report this to the golden guards, and Danika and Acheron, as well. We’ll let everyone know she’s missing.”
Tristan frowned. “We can use a tracking spell,” he said.
“True, but we need to see their reactions, before anything else,” I replied. “You and Esme are right. We need to know who we’re dealing with.”
Amal got up. “I’ll go fetch the ingredients from her room,” she said. “I know she left her backpack behind, because she went out in snake form.”
“We’ll meet you back here,” Sofia said, walking her out. As soon as she shut the door and turned around, she let a deep sigh roll out. “Derek… what are we going to do?”
Glancing at Tristan and Esme, I knew I couldn’t let them down. I couldn’t let any of them down. I stopped by the fireplace, watching the flames die in the candle stumps, one by one.
“We take this one step at a time,” I said. “First, we find Nethissis. Then, we deal with everything else.”