Page 44 of The Outcast
“That’s the spirit.” I smiled and looked to the door for the hundredth time, preparing myself to see Sparrow walk in any minute.
When she didn’t, I returned to my omelet. I dug my fork into a large piece and saw Indiana watching me over the rim of his coffee mug.
“Say, Banni, how come you look like shit this morning? Our night here was supposed to be restful relaxation. You look like you haven’t slept at all.”
I shrugged and glanced at the door again. Still nothing.
“Who are you waiting for?” Indiana narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice. “Did you even sleep in your own room last night?”
“Yes, of course.” I took a big bite of omelet and placed both elbows on the table.
“Hmm… I met Allan in the hallway around seven this morning. He said that he’d been out running, but now I wonder if he was with you.”
“He wasn’t. Have you seen Sparrow this morning?”
“No, I thought about checking earlier, but Aubri always accuses me of being overprotective. It’s strange though since Sparrow is usually a morning person.” Still holding his coffee mug in his hand, Indiana pushed his chair back and stood up. “I’ll just check up on her.”
“You do that.”
Indiana had stressed several times that he didn’t want me seducing any of the women here in the Northlands. They wouldn’t understand my resistance to commitment, and I could potentially break someone’s heart.
Taking another forkful of omelet, I thought about my own heart and how poorly I’d slept last night. Sparrow had asked me if I was in love with her, and her question had made me toss and turn all night trying to understand why I couldn’t stop thinking about her and why it bothered me when she flirted with Shiva.
I was still eating when Indiana returned. “Sparrow wasn’t in her room.”
Aubri looked up from two seats down the table where she sat talking with Shiva, Bianca, and Franklin. “Did you knock hard enough? Maybe she was sleeping.”
“I knocked and called for her. Listen up, everyone, did any of you see Sparrow yet?”
“No. I was the first to come down for breakfast,” Bianca said.
“Maybe she went for a run,” Allan suggested.
“Let me call her,” Aubri said but I was already on my feet.
“Banni, see if you can find someone who can open the door to her room,” Aubri instructed.
I found a service-bot by the entrance to the inn and demanded that it let me into Sparrow’s room. When it explained that it was against protocol and would require approval from management, I lost my patience and jogged down the hallway to her room. “Sparrow, are you in there?” My knuckles hammered against the white door. “Answer me!”
There was no answer.
Hammering my fist on the door, I raised my voice. “Sparrow, do you hear me? I’m counting to three and then I’m coming in. 1. 2. 3.” Taking a step back, I prepared to break down the door when I heard a voice behind me.
“Do you want me to do it?”
Looking over my shoulder, I saw Aubri and Indiana come walking down the hallway. “Aubri, did Sparrow answer when you called her?”
“No.” Aubri’s expression was as worried as mine. “But we have tracking on each other and it says that she’s in her room.”
Indiana was bigger than me, but I was fueled with adrenaline and worry for Sparrow so instead of waiting for him to knock down the door as he had offered, I threw my shoulder against it. On the second try the door opened and we all entered.
“She’s not here,” Aubri said and opened the door to the bathroom. “Where the fuck is she?”
Picking up a pillow on the bed, I pondered out loud, “Why is her cover gone?”
“Her bag is gone too but her book and her wristband are here. Sparrow would never go anywhere without her wristband. What the fuck is going on?”
An eerie thought made the hair on my neck stand up. “Did any of you see Keith?”
