I send another text, but again get no reply. Shit.
Could be something, could be nothing.
More likely to be something.
I press another button on my phone. “Max?”
“What’s happening, cuz?”
“I don’t know, but Ludo is AWOL. Can you try and track him?”
“Fuck! Bully! Where are you? I’m on my way.”
The shadows are long now. The light already going.
Bloomhower stays hovering around me as Max joins us within minutes.
“Can you do this?” I ask him.
“I can try. I don’t know his scent as well as Sparkles, and it would be a fuck sight easier if I could shift.”
Yeah.
Maybe it’s time.
“After dark,” I say. “That’s when we should all try to shift. My eagle eyes, your nose. Maybe we’ll get a lead.”
Max nods.
“But we leave Drakeward and Donovan out of this,” I add.
He looks at me quizzically for a moment then nods again. “Sure, if you think so. But for now, let me see if I can get Bully’s trail.” We both head to the basement.
The door is locked.
“I’ve got her key,” Bloomhower says. “We gave each other spares.”
“Good, thank you. Now you should go. We’ll be in touch.”
She looks like she wants to protest, but I shoo her away. “Don’t you have an assembly to get ready for?”
“Right. Let me know if you hear anything, please?”
“I will.”
Walking down the dangerous stairs, the air smells of Theo.
Lilac and morning dew.
—Where are you, Theo?—
I scream the question into my mind.
Silence.
“Gods, she smells good,” Max groans. “And Bully’s scent is all over down here. I got it locked-in.”
“Should we hit the tunnels?” I ask him.
