Wren looked around at the wreckage of what they’d left.
“Anything,” he said. “Anything that feels out of place.”
“Like a gigantic cat with a bird on its head?” Heir called out, and they all snapped their heads toward him, only to find him looking at Sable standing just a bit away, Blu perched on top of his head.
“BLU!” Wren called, rushing toward him.
He dropped to his knees in front of them both, resting his forehead against Sable’s and letting Blu peck through his hair. Wren gave him the signal to talk and Blu seemed confused only for a moment.
“Wren!” Blu screeched, hopping up onto his head and finding his way to his ear. “No more!”
“No more what, Blu?” Wren asked.
“When did he talk?” Ash exclaimed. “Did I miss the memo?”
“Bad man!” Blu said, jumping up and down on Wren’s shoulder. “No more!”
The image came back clearly to him, of Blu sitting on Kellan’s shoulder as Wren was going under. Of him desperately trying to call him back and stop him from taking Blu.
“No more, Blu,” Wren said, seething inside. “I will make sure to find him and end him.”
Blu nipped at his shoulder before fluttering away and landing just behind Sable, looking back at Wren expectantly.
“Here!” he said, stomping on the ground until Wren got up and joined him.
He found Blu standing on a pile of seeds, dark and absolutely out of place on the busted concrete in front of the warehouse. Seeds Wren knew better than anyone. His favorite snack. Something he always had on him. And something Teddy used to carry around in case Wren ran out.
Had he been…had he been carrying them around again? For him?
All the strength and determination flooded out of him and he finally broke. He dropped to his knees, palms on the ground and head hanging down between his shoulders as he cried.
“I love you,” he said into the dirty ground, scrambling to pick all the seeds up as if leaving a single one meant leaving parts of Teddy there to be stomped under cruel feet. “I love you so much. I promise I’ll find you.”
“Wren!” Blu called again and Wren lifted his head to see Saint walking a distance away.
“Seeds,” Saint said, picking one up.
Wren gathered the ones in his hands and shoved them into his pockets as he walked over. Another little pile.
“HERE!” Blu screeched, sending them all scurrying after him.
Another pile of seeds next to a set of tire tracks.
“He left us a trail,” Wren said, chest seizing with how much he missed Teddy.
“Smart man,” Ash said.
“He is the best of us,” Wren said, leading their little ragtag group forward, following a trail that got smaller and smaller, hoping against hope that Teddy had enough to lead them to where he was.
Chapter 22
Wren
“Are youreallysure the suit is necessary?” Hart asked reasonably as they walked, leaves and sticks crunching under his expensive loafers and grating on Wren’s frayed nerves.
Echo nodded their bulbous head frantically. “Very necessary. There might be unknown contagions connected to this drug,” they said, voice muffled by their suit.
Wren watched Black stride over and peel the corner of the hood up to say, “What kind of contagions?”
