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Dan realized he probably should have offered Will something sooner. His tavern hadn’t opened yet and he was already failing as a host. He reached for Will’s favorite sipping whiskey without asking.

“So,” Will said, accepting the glass. “The mission.”

“Right.” Dan leaned against the bar. “How bad was it?”

“Well.” Will turned the glass in his hands. “You were right about where we were going. The mission’s objective was to save magical texts from the Library of Alexandria.”

“I knew it!” Dan smiled a half smile. He noticed some plaster dust on the bar.

“What nobody, except possibly Granny Luna, knew was that it wasn’t just me and Zani on the mission. We had company. Amrita Berman came along for the ride.”

“The director?” Dan looked around for a cloth to clean up the plaster. “Whatever for?”

“I don’t know. Society business? Maybe she wanted to check up on me? I’m just the porter. She didn’t tell us her reasons. And Buffalo Westabrook came along with her, which was weird. But I didn’t question it because when Buffalo Westabrook decides he’s going somewhere, you don’t really want to get in the way.” Will made a face and held up both hands.

Dan made a sound that was vaguely sympathetic and found the cloth he’d been using on the bar.

“So, all four of us went back to 48 BCE. We wanted to get to the library at its peak, just before the fires. Everything was going great, until suddenly it wasn’t. There was an incident. Amrita was kidnapped. It all happened so fast. And then, wouldn’t you know it, Buffalo shifted and went charging after her.” Will stopped. His voice was smaller. “And then it was just me and Zani again.”

“Right,” Dan said. He was preoccupied, dragging the cloth along the underside of the shelf, checking for rough edges, catching the spots he’d missed while sanding. “That sounds really rough, Will.”

“Uh… yeah.” Will exhaled. “It is. It’s really, really rough, Dan. We’re headed back on Samhain to look for them.”

Something in the way his voice caught made Dan slow down and look up.

“So, you’re going to miss the opening of The Wildernest?”

Dan knew he’d misspoken the moment the words were out. Obviously, the opening of his tavern was not going to be Will’s top priority right now. But Will was kinder in his response than he had to be.

“Afraid so.” Will took a drink. “Sorry about that. I know the timing is terrible, but we need to take advantage of the ley line strength around the holiday.”

“Don’t worry about the opening.” Dan waved a hand. “The Wildernest will still be here when you all get back.”

“I am worried about it. I wanted to be here.” Will set the glass down. “I’m also worried about something else. I need to tell Maida about Buffalo before I go.”

This time the shakiness in Will’s voice made Dan stop what he was doing. He dropped the cloth on the bar and looked up at his friend, understanding dawning just a little too late that this episode was not just the midpoint of another one of Will’s colorful stories.

Will was staring off into the middle distance, not looking at him. The standard joke he’d been about to make about calling the place The Dandy Lion instead of The Wildernest, wasn’t there. There was just Will sitting cross legged on the bar, gripping his glass of whiskey with both hands like it was the only thing holding him together.

“Will?” Dan said tentatively. “Are you okay?”

“No.” Will stared down into the glass.

“Maida doesn’t know her dad’s missing yet?”

“Not really. He told her he’d be away on a remote site for a while, but I think she’s starting to worry. And there’s been rumblings at the Society about the director being unreachable as well. This is bad, Dan. So bad. And it’s all my fault.”

“How? How is this your fault?” Dan asked. But he knew the question was pointless. Of course Will was blaming himself.

“Porters aren’t supposed to leave passengers behind. It’s the first rule of portal traveling. Zani and I have been racking our brains trying to figure out how to go back and find them so we wouldn’t have to tell anyone what happened, and how serious it is.” Will admitted. “Especially Maida. I hate to stress her out like that. We were hoping to come back with them right away and then tell her the whole story over a very large drink.” He picked up the glass again. “But it’s been three weeks now and we still don’t have any great leads on their whereabouts. The period in which we left them is not exactly a peaceful one and either one of them could be anywhere in the Mediterranean by now. Two needles in a haystack. Zani thinks our original plan isn’t viable anymore.”

Dan frowned. Much as he hated to agree with that statement, he knew the history and knew it was true. “Zani’s probably right.”

“Zani is almost always right. It’s one of her more irritating qualities.” Will rubbed a knuckle along his brow. He looked at Dan then. “Buffalo’s always been the closest thing to a father to me, you know. Since I was small. And I don’t know how I’m going to look Maida in the face and tell her I don’t know where he is.”

An image of Dan’s own father flashed in his mind. Face hard, distracted, absent. He set that aside, because it wasn’t relevant. Buffalo was nothing like his dad.

“I know how much he means to you,” Dan acknowledged. “He’s a good man. He’s helped a lot of people. Including me.”