Ranger X’s lips pinched together like I was finally getting the severity of it.
“Under normal circumstances, we keep select gates open to allow travel between communities,” Ranger X said. “But they’ve all gone down and are completely non-functional. We are—literally—an island unto ourselves now.”
I cursed under my breath. “How are we going to get Silas back then, even if wedofind him?”
“We don’t know where he is,” Ranger X said. “It’s possible he could exist somewhere within our wards...on a different time or plane entirely.”
“My mind can’t keep up,” I said.
“Traveling by pixie dust is unstable,” Ranger X said. “It takes a powerful person to manipulate it.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Someone with the power to intercept travel via pixie dust may have the power to manipulate time or dimension. It’s impossible to know where he is. We must find him, but we’re on our own.”
“How do we do that?” I repeated.
“Lily asked me to give you this.” Ranger X handed over a beefy, leatherbound book that sent up a wave of dust as it hit the table in front of me. “Gus pulled it out of storage, said you might be able to make sense of it.”
I studied the six-inch thick text. “Yeah. That’s gonna take me a while, even if I could understand it.”
“Then get to work,” Ranger X said. “I need to speak to Atlas. In private.”
Two hours later, and I had nothing.
Atlas and Ranger X had retired to the garden cottage to do some discussing of private business, and I’d lost track of how long they’d been out there because my attention had fallen to the manuscript before me.
Millie kept the teacup next to me brimming with a concoction that I swore was helping my concentration, but I didn’t stop to ask what was in it. Occasionally, she’d sit next to me, but she never lasted long—always leaping up to putter around the kitchen and fix some snacks or sandwiches that mostly went uneaten.
I sighed, turning yet another page of the book. Millie sat next to me, poured me more tea.
“I don’t know what they expect of me.” I glanced over my shoulder to where Atlas and X were still speaking in the courtyard, their heads together in an intense discussion. “I’ve been here just a few days and have barely had any time to breathe, let alone digest everything I’ve learned.”
Millie patted my hand sympathetically. “Have a sandwich. You must be starving.”
I realized she wasn’t wrong, so I helped myself to a tiny sandwich and sipped my tea, slumping back against the chair. “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”
“Nobody has,” she said. “This is unprecedented.”
I polished off the sandwich and dunked a raw sugar cube into my tea, gave it a swirl with a little spoon and watched it disintegrate.
“May I offer you some advice?” Millie asked hesitantly.
“Please,” I nearly begged.
“Some magic can be learned and taught. It can be improved upon and finessed. But other magic, the really good stuff, is more inherent.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“You’re looking at this very clinically. Studious.” Millie nodded toward the book. “What if you listened to your instincts instead of trying to excavate an answer?”
“I’ve been excavating answers my whole life,” I said. “It’s what I do, pretty much. Medical school and all that.”
“Exactly. You’ve had to be perfect for everyone around you for your whole life. What if you let that all go and focused on your natural instincts?”
My expression felt very, very blank as I stared at Millie.
“Why did you want to become a doctor?” Millie prompted, when I clearly wasn’t getting it. “Your father’s some big doctor, isn’t he? Silas told me.”
