Page 201 of Elven Crown

She hadn’t taken three steps into the common room, though, before the heavy slap of urgently running footsteps echoed from another branching hallway on the opposite side.

A second later, Leonard barreled through the archway, his eyes wide in terror and his hair sticking up in all directions as if he’d just woken up.

But the panic already on his face didn’t look like he’d gotten any sleep yet tonight.

“Hey, has anyone seen Nyx?” he shouted without even stopping to see who was in the room.

The conversations died down again while the operatives turned to look athimthis time.

“Seriously!” the mage shouted. “Where’s Nyx? Has anyone seen her?”

A heavy sigh came from the far end of the room by Bor’s service window, shut down for the night. Zida shuffled forward with a packaged snack clenched in her gnarled hands, having helped herself to Bor’s “Get It Yourselves.”

Rebecca hadn’t even noticed the healer hadn’t returned to the infirmary.

“Relax, mage,” Zida grumbled. “She’s in a recovery bed, where she’s supposed to be. I put her there myself.”

Leonard’s eyes widened even more when they centered on the healer, and he shook his head. “No, she’s not.”

“What do you mean she’s not?” Zida snapped. “You calling me a liar?”

“I’m not calling you anything,” he said, staggering toward the healer as he gestured with a hand in the general direction of the infirmary down the hall. “I’m saying she’sgone!”

A stunned silence overtook the common room before Rebecca turned around to meet Maxwell’s gaze.

His wide silver eyes reflected the same concern she felt.

After the state Nyx had been in when she’d returned from the transport team’s ambush, she wouldn’t have been able to get out of bed herself. Something was wrong.

With a frustrated growl, Zida tossed the GIY into the open bin where Bor set them out every night, then hobbled at a surprising speed toward Leonard. Her beady eyes swept across the common room, and when her gaze settled on Rowan, she pointed a gnarled finger at him. “I swear, if I find out you had anything to do with this, I don’t carewhatthe Thon-Da’al says. I’m taking care of you myself. Move it, mage. Let’s go!”

As she and Leonard headed down the hall, Rowan chuckled and spread his arms. “I swear I didn’t do anything to that bubbly little katari.”

Rebecca pointed at him. “You stay here.”

“For how long?”

“However long you want. Or go to bed, for all I care. Justdon’tfollow me.”

Then she took off across the common room to catch up with Zida and Leonard.

She didn’t have to look back to know Maxwell was close on her heels.

Of course he would want to see this for himself too. He’d been one of the first to talk to Nyx when she’d returned from that ambush. Maybe even the one who’d saved her life, bringing her straight to Zida. There was no reason for Nyx to be anywhere but in a recovery bed, yet here they were, with one more inexplicable last-minute emergency on their hands.

She and Maxwell raced down the hall into the residential wing, and neither of them said a word. They caught up with Leonard and Zida before those two had even reached the infirmary, so they were all there together to inspect such an odd disappearance.

If Leonard was telling the truth.

Based on what she’d seen of the mage and the katari together, Rebecca didn’t think he had it in him to lie about something like this. The chances of him being responsible for it were non-existent.

Zida reached the door first, threw it open, and barreled inside, followed by Rebecca and the others. The healer shuffled toward the third recovery bed forming the rows of them in the front room, then stopped short and froze.

All the beds were empty. Rebecca saw it the moment she stepped through the door, and that shouldn’t have been possible.

Hissing through her toothless gums, Zida whirled on Leonard. “What did you do with her?”

“This wasn’tme!” He threw up both hands in surrender. “She’s supposed to be here!”

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