Twobble shook his head quickly. “Not yet.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why not?”
“Because the moment you tell him, he’ll go after them.”
“And you don’t think we should?”
“I think we should be smart about it,” he said, stepping closer. “Gideon is already on edge. Skonk knew that. That’s why he went alone. We need to hash this out before we tell the others.”
“Alone?” I repeated, my voice rising slightly. “He went alone into Shadowick with Gideon, who is being hunted by the Priestess, who is preparing dungeons and starting rituals, and you think that counts as being smart?”
Twobble winced. “When you say it like that, it sounds less strategic. And in all fairness, we have absolutely no idea where they went, and I doubt it’s actually Shadowick, not if he’s trying to hide.”
“It sounds reckless.”
He didn’t disagree.
I turned back toward the window again. Gideon wouldn’t go somewhere obvious.
He wouldn’t stay anywhere long.
And Skonk… Skonk would keep up, probably better than anyone else could.
That thought didn’t comfort me the way it should have.
It just made everything feel more complicated.
“There has to be a reason,” I said quietly. “Gideon wouldn’t just vanish without some kind of plan.”
Twobble nodded slowly. “He always has a plan.”
“Then we need to figure out where that plan is taking him.”
Silence settled between us again, heavier this time, filled with all the things we didn’t know and all the ways this could go wrong.
And then, almost without thinking, I said, “Luna.”
Twobble blinked. “The yarn shop?”
“Yes.”
He tilted his head. “You think she knows where Gideon went?”
“I think she knows things she doesn’t always say out loud,” I replied, already moving toward the door. “And if Gideon passed through anywhere near Stonewick, there’s a chance she felt it.”
“Or saw it,” Twobble added, hopping off the table to follow me. “Or knitted some magic into a scarf and forgot to mention it.”
I paused just long enough to glance back at him. “That’s not reassuring.”
“It’s honest.”
I reached for my coat, pulling it on as the chill from outside seeped in through the cracks around the door, carrying the crisp, early-evening air that always seemed chillier when something was off.
“I need to go now,” I said.
“What about the others?” Twobble asked. “Keegan’s going to notice you’re gone.”
“I’ll tell him when I get back,” I said, though I knew exactly how that conversation would go, and I didn’t have time for it, not when the pieces were shifting this quickly.
