The words left her before she could stop them, but that didn’t make them any less true. Her sleepless night had given her time to mull over the hours she’d spent in the archives, specifically all the missing children she’d tried to convince herself weren’t a cause for concern, despite her gut telling her otherwise.
“I’m listening,”Meera said, settling her weight back in her heels.
Viri hesitated, not having planned to say anything yet. “It’s probably nothing.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
It was enough of a command that Viri blew out a breath and shared, “Something happened in the archives yesterday.”
Meera blinked in surprise—and disbelief.“Now I know you’re lying.”
The dry retort coaxed a reluctant smile out of Viri. “I didn’t say it was somethingexciting. Just…something.”
Meera’s attention sharpened.“Go on.”
As succinctly as she could, Viri told her mentor about her sorting task, explaining the color and number allocations and the growing pile of red threes, especially in the last six months.
“Like I said, it could be nothing,” Viri repeated. “Thornton was adamant that the Nox have looked into all the cases, but something he said came back to me overnight, and I can’t get it out of my head.”
Meera’s face was impossible to read, as it had been the whole time Viri had been talking.“Tell me.”
“He said that for every case, the Nox ‘either resolved it or ran out of leads,’ ” Viri recounted. “Those are two very different outcomes.”
“They are,”Meera agreed, still giving nothing away, though there was a furrow in her brow.“Did he say anything else?”
“Only that the disappearances can’t be connected to reapers, because reapers don’t abduct kids, they kill them outright.” Viri scratched her jaw. “He’s not wrong.”
“But you’re still worried?”Meera asked.
Viri looked down at the mat, uncertain. “I don’t know. Maybe? I know the Nox are always diligent, just as I know those kids are probably all back with their families, their cases closed. But I have this—thisfeelingI can’t shake.”
“Your instincts have never failed you before,”Meera stated, her mental voice filled with reproach.“Don’t start doubting them now.”
Viri’s eyes shot back up. “What are you saying?”
“Are you a hunter or not?”Meera sent her an arched look.“Most of your job is investigation. So, investigate.”
“But—my punishment—the archives—”
“You have breaks, don’t you? And there’s always after hours.”
“Do you think there’s something in this?” Viri’s stomach flipped at the thought.
Meera considered her reply.“Normally, I would say no. If there was a concern, surely Darik and I would be aware of it.”She shuffled her feet, her leather boots leaving indents on the spongy mat.“But I chose you as my protégé for a reason, Viri. I trust your intuition. So look into this, if only to give us both peace of mind that there’s nothing to worry about.”
Viri nodded, heartened by her mentor’s belief in her and relieved to have a plan, even if it—hopefully—led to nothing.
Agreeing to keep Meera informed, Viri left the sparring chambers to freshen up and visit her favorite bakery for breakfast before heading to the archives. The ellixen wards wreaked havoc on her fatigued body, making her stumble after Thornton to her office, the mountains of paperwork waiting for her seeming even higher than yesterday.
With a sigh, Viri got to work, her hours passing much as they had the previous day, with the only difference being the plummeting feeling she experienced whenever she found a new red three from the last six months. She soon became jittery enough that she took an early lunch to follow Meera’s advice, using her break to visit two of the addresses on the files—where both families quickly confirmed their children were safe and sound. False alarms, the parents claimed, embarrassed that they’d bothered the Nox for no reason.
Viri felt a weight lift off her shoulders. She knew better thanto give up after checking only two addresses, but it was nevertheless reassuring.
The next day continued in the same way: training, filing, and visiting more families, all of whom reported that their children were no longer missing. Viri even met some of the kids, witnessing for herself that they were alive and well.
By the third day—Viri’s fourth in the archives—she’d checked on twelve different families spread across the undercity, uppercity, and inside Mount Tembris, and all their children were fine. Viri almost abandoned her mission, and would have, if not for the continually growing pile of red threes—and if not for what happened on her fourth day of investigations.
Because that was when she visited another family during her lunch break, one whose eleven-year-old daughter had gone missing over a month ago…and still hadn’t been found.
