“Shit.” The guy runs his hand through his white blonde hair. “Not to stoke the drama or whatever, but the rumor is that he got the hell out of here with Beattie. No one even knew they were seeing each other or whatever, but it’s been a couple of days and no one has seen either of them.”
More missing weavers. Why didn’t Madame mention this earlier?
The theory about her having something to do with all this comes back into my mind, although… what Leif and this random girl have to do with her plan to seduce Soren, I have no clue.
“Beattie is a student here?” Echo asks.
“Yeah, sixth year destiny weaver. She graduates in a couple of months, so I dunno what the fuck she was thinking.”
“And… no one has any idea where the two of them might have gone?”
“Nah, they just got up and left a few nights ago. Someone must have seen them sneaking off or something, although I don’t know why Beattie didn’t, like, use her power to hop them out from her bedroom.”
Echo shakes her head distractedly, biting her lip so hard I want to smooth my thumb over it and kiss it better.
Not the time.
Head in the game, Brogan, not in your pants.
“She wouldn’t have been able to. You can only hop in and out from the entrance of the academy. But you said this happened a few days ago?”
“Uh huh.” He yawns widely, clearly done with the mini interrogation and he barely waits for Echo to thank him before slamming the door shut to return to his nap.
“You think they left the same night he called you?” Soren asks.
Echo nods. “It sounds like it. He must have called with information or maybe he knew where Wren was. He might even have known where Camellia was too since he seemed to notice she wasn’t around way quicker than the rest of us.”
“But you weren’t able to talk to him?”
She shakes her head, blowing hair out of her eyes. “I was distracted by everything going down with Finn. What if… what if he had an idea where they are, and once he realized I wasn’t able to help transport him, he found someone else who could?”
“But neither she nor Beattie have been seen since.”
“Right. Which means either he was wrong and he’s still searching, or they’re wherever Wren and probably Camellia are.”
“Or that guy was right, and he found a pretty girl and got himself distracted,” I offer, ignoring the scowl Soren shoots my way.
Since when did I become the Debbie Downer or the voice of dissent? Still, I find myself unable to keep my damn mouth shut, even though I know my next words will cause Echo’s shoulders to slump once again and we’ll have to return home defeated.
“Even if you’re right and Leif found out where they are and went after them, we don’t know where he went.”
To my surprise, she grins up at me. “That’s true. But I know how we can find out.”
22
Echo
They’re here.
Holy meatballs, we actually found them.
One quick return to the garden and a call to Camellia’s tech friend, the same one that got her the list of their customers, and we could locate Leif’s last location before his phone went dead.
And here he is, looking exhausted and miserable, sitting on a bench outside a vaguely familiar apartment building on the edges of a human city.
He’s alone.
“What the hell happened to you?” Brogan asks and Leif jumps like he didn’t even hear our approach. His face is gray, and he looks like he hasn’t slept in days and, in fact, has spent a lot of time on this bench.
