“Of course,” Arlo said. “Anything for Nik.”
Grateful that Arlo was there to help, River let the door shut behind her. They had no time to waste.
It should’ve takenone hour to reach the last known location of Nikhail’s phone.
Instead, it took them three.
It was the middle of the day, and everyone and their mother seemed to be clogging up the city streets. Even the side streets were busy.
The longer they sat in Arlo’s black sedan, the more impatient River became. She tapped her foot on the ground and hugged her arms around herself. Her skin was itchy, as if it didn’t exactly fit on her frame. Her magic coursed through her veins, and it was not quiet or calm. There was a storm within her, growing louder with every passing moment.
Even the change in scenery, the cityscape giving way to the sandy desert that was commonplace in the Southern Region, didn’t calm River’s unease.
By the time the chipper GPS voice announced that they’d reached their destination, confusion and dread were mingling in River’s gut. She wasn’t sure where they’d been going, but whatever she’d been expecting, it hadn’t beenthis.
This was… strange.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” River asked Arlo, breaking the silence that had settled between them since they left the city behind.
The water fae gripped the steering wheel. “Yes. This is the location Corporal Rune sent.”
“I see,” River murmured, staring out the window.
Interrupting the endless stretch of desert was an abandoned gas station that doubled as a diner. It was so run-down, River couldn’t imagine it ever having been anything but. The sign was peeling and illegible. The windows that weren’t boarded up were broken. A “closed” sign hung at an angle, as if it had given up. Even the asphalt showed signs of age, with large cracks running through it.
River unbuckled her seat belt as the vehicle slowed. Arlo parked the car, and before they could say anything—or caution River to stay in the vehicle—she was already stepping out.
Warm, humid air wrapped around her as she stood on the broken, sandy pavement, a frown tugging on her lips.
“What were you doing here, Nik?” she mumbled, the question more for herself than anything else.
River chewed on her lip, trying to see past the vast quantities of sand in search of a clue. Where had they gone next?
People didn’t just vanish into thin air, and yet, there didn’t seem to be any sign of where Nikhail and his team had gone. No tire tracks, no evidence of life at all. She wouldn’t have even known the air fae had been here if Corporal Rune hadn’t told them.
Feeling like a character in one of those detective TV shows that always seemed to be playing in the hospital break room, River slowly walked the perimeter.
If the front of the gas station looked like no one had been there for a decade, the back looked like a dump. Tables with cracked legs were piled on top of each other, along with stacks of chairs and a broken vending machine. There was a door, but she jiggled the handle, and it didn’t budge.
A tumbleweed blew past, bumbling along as if it didn’t have a care in the world. As if it had no idea that the man who held River’s heart was missing, and she was in a state of panic, standing here and trying to figure out what to do.
River laughed as another tumbleweed followed suit, because it was either do that or cry. And tears were pricking at the edge of her vision, begging her to set them free. Breaking down would be so easy, and maybe at another time, she would’ve let the tears flow, but she kept them back.
She had to stay strong for Nikhail.
“River!” Arlo shouted. “Come here.”
River hurried back to the front of the building. Arlo was crouched in front of the door, examining the lock.
“What did you find?” she asked as she made her way over.
“I’m not sure. The lock is broken, though, and the knob doesn’t look as dirty as everything else.”
Arlo twisted their fingers, a dagger of ice materializing in their left hand, and they pulled their gun with their right.
“Arm yourself,” the water fae ordered. “We don’t know what we’ll find inside.”
River reached within herself and drew from her well of power. Her magic came to her as easily as breathing, and a blade formed in her right hand. She shivered as the ice touched her palm.