The sound of the door banging open again echoes through the library, and I tuck the book under my arm as we all head to see who has come looking for us.
“Guys!” River calls.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Raiden asks, as we come out of the stacks and find a harried-looking River.
“Is Neith with you?”
I shake my head as worry instantly churns my stomach, “No, I haven’t seen her since she went off to tell Mael and the kelpies that we were going.” I look at my watch, “That was a couple of hours ago.”
River runs a hand through his hair, “Shit. That means that no one’s seen her since she went to do that. We’d better tell the others.”
He pulls out his phone and sends a group message.
“She could be with one of them?” Griff suggests.
River shakes his head, “Reed is in the gym, Coen is flying because portals make him twitchy, Van and Doc are in the office getting all of the files that we need, and you guys are here.”
“Shit,” Raiden curses.
“Let me check the wards to see if she’s gone out, or if anyone has come in,” I say.
My magic is already doing what I’ve asked it to do, and it only takes me a couple of moments to have my answer.
“I’m going to assume from your expression that no one has gone in or out of the wards?” River asks.
I shake my head, “Nope. Everything is exactly as it should be.”
“Did you call her?” Griff asks River, his phone already in his hand.
River nods, “Yep, no answer. It just kept ringing.”
The doors open again, and the others all come in looking as worried as we are.
Van looks around at everyone, “No one has seen her since she went to the kelpie lake?”
Everyone shakes their heads that they haven’t.
“I thought she was packing,” Reed says, with a worried frown.
Evander nods and does what he does best, switches into leader mode, “Coen and Griff, you go and fly over the kelpie lake and see if you can see her, see if you can get the kelpies to tell you how long ago she was there, or even if they’ve seen her today. River head out into the woods and see if you can scent her. Reed and Raiden search the house. The rest of us can fan out in differentdirections through the woods. There are enough of us that we should find her in no time.”
“Let’s go,” Coen adds. “Everyone, stay in contact and keep each other updated regularly in the group chat. Hopefully, we’re going to find her pretty quickly.”
“Agreed,” Reed replies.
We all head out of the library, and I put my book by the front door as I grab my jacket and head outside.
The weather is awful, and for a second, I wonder if it’s her that’s causing it, but it doesn’t feel magical, and it was pretty awful when she headed out earlier, so I’m pretty sure that this is natural.
Normally, we wouldn’t split up, but this is our land, and it should be safe, although Neith is missing, so it can’t be as safe as it should be.
Why does this sort of shit keep happening?
Heading into the woods, I pull my hood up and reach out with my magic. I’m hoping that it’s going to find her and that she’s going to be okay. It’s not like Neith to just disappear, not without telling someone that she was going somewhere.
I carry on walking for about ten minutes before my phone buzzes, and I pull it out of my pocket, trying to shield it from the worst of the rain, which is somehow just as soaking as it was when I wasn’t under the canopy of the trees.
Coen:She’s not at the kelpie lake, and none of the kelpies are responding.
