Page 31 of Sy

“They’re trained medics,” he muttered, more to himself than Ashley. “They know their duty. They wouldn’t just leave unless?—”

“Unless what?” Her voice cracked slightly. “Unless something happened to them?”

He placed his hand over hers where it still gripped his arm, trying to project a confidence he didn’t entirely feel. “We’ll find them. They have to be somewhere in the garrison.” But even as he said it, he wondered if he was trying to convince Ashley or himself.

Search. Now.The Rage voice left no room for argument, and for once, Sy was in complete agreement. They needed to find those kids before…

He cut that thought off before it could fully form. No point in borrowing trouble. First, they needed information. Someone must have seen something. His gaze settled on the medics working nearby, recognizing faces, calculating who might have been here longest.

Her fingers dug deeper into his arm. “Sy, please. We have to find my daughter.”

The fear in her voice made his chest ache. He’d promised to protect them both, and now Lila was missing. He’d failed them. Failed her.

Focus,the Rage voice growled.Find them first. Blame later.

Right. Focus. They needed to start asking questions, and they needed to do it now.

“Zeke!” Sy’s voice carried across the hall as he spotted the medic working on a female engineer’s leg. He guided her through the chaos, careful to keep his pace measured for her injury.

Zeke didn’t look up from his work, his massive hands steady as he manipulated the broken bone. “Whatever it is, it’ll have to wait. I’m setting this.”

The engineer bit back a cry, her knuckles white where she gripped the makeshift table. Sy almost stepped back—almost—but her fear radiated beside him like a physical force.

“The teens,” he pressed. “Kal and Tor. Have you seen them?”

A grunt came from Zeke as he continued working. “Earlier. Few hours ago.” He paused, concentrating on a particularly delicate movement. “Said something about the lower levels.”

The scrape of boots behind them made Sy turn. Kraath stood there, covered in dust, his massive frame blocking the light from one of the wall sconces. Something about his appearance set off warning bells in his mind.

“The containment fences are secure,” Kraath announced, though no one had asked. Dust fell from his clothes as he moved closer, and Sy frowned. The old feral containment fences were nowhere near where the rescue work was happening. Why had Kraath been out there? And since when did he know anything about engineering?

Wrong,the Rage voice growled.Something’s wrong.

But before Sy could pursue that thought, Kraath continued, “There are cave entrances down in the lower levels, beneath the basement.” His eyes fixed on Sy with an intensity that seemed forced. “If the teens went down there…”

The implications hit him like a physical blow. The earthquake. The caves. The teens could be trapped down there, buried under who knew how much rock.

Ashley’s sharp intake of breath beside him said she’d reached the same conclusion. “Lila,” she whispered, her voice breaking on her daughter’s name.

Move,the Rage voice demanded.Now.

He pushed aside his suspicions about Kraath. They didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was finding those kids before… His mind shied away from completing that thought.

“How do we get down there?” he demanded, already calculating the fastest route to the lower levels. Time was critical now. If there had been a cave-in…

“The old maintenance shaft,” Kraath replied too quickly. “Near the south storage rooms. It leads directly to?—”

“I know where it is,” Sy cut him off. Something about Kraath’s eagerness felt wrong, but he couldn’t focus on that now. The teens—and Lila—needed help. Everything else could wait.

He turned to her, seeing his own fear reflected in her eyes. “We’ll find them,” he promised, meaning it with every fiber of his being. “We’ll bring her back.”

She straightened, pushing aside her own pain. “Then let’s go.”

“You can’t beserious about going down there.” Sy’s voice cut through the bustle of the garrison’s main hall, drawing Ashley’s attention away from the map she’d been studying. “You’re injured.”

Her fingers tightened on the edge of the wooden table, her knuckles whitening as she fought to keep her voice level. Aroundthem, the hall hummed with activity… people rushing back and forth along with the murmur of soft conversations as people were treated.

“I’m fine,” she said, straightening to her full height despite the twinge in her leg. The injury was minor—a deep scrape from falling debris during the quake, nothing more. “We need everyone who can help, and I’m more than capable.”

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