Lost Change

Chapter 61

I searched through the city for a while. Everything looked so different from this high in the air. I had to circle back a few times, and I had to hover near the ground several times to try and remember the paths we had taken on walks, but I finally found the apartment building.

I landed outside the window to the living room and tried to peek in, but the shades inside had been pulled closed. That... made sense, I guess. I had been the one to look out of them most of the time, especially in the mornings. With me gone, she might just like having them closed. Still, that wasn't a problem. I tapped on the glass and sang out loudly. "Minna?"

I settled onto the thin railing around the walkway and waited a few minutes, but there was no answer. I tried again at the bedroom window, then at the kitchen window, but there was still no answer. The shade blocking my view into the apartment stayed exactly where it was.

I frowned and tried to think. It wasn't that late... on this day of the week Minna used to have a shuttle route, but she usually wouldn't leave for it until later in the day than this, and she hadn't done those in weeks. Unless somebody had come over she should be in the living room, watching the weather and tapping away at her tablet. And even if she was doing something in that office room in the back, she should still have been able to hear me at the bedroom window. Shouldn't she? Had she gotten her job back, and been given a different schedule? Maybe somebody else had been moved to cover her shift when she was fired, and now she had to take whatever was available?

Or had she just gone out? Decided to spend the day at Arlia's house, or at her brother's? Maybe even gone to the park to play with them? Had we just passed each other?

That wasn't a problem. Now that I had decided to rejoin Minna, I was practically bursting with excitement at seeing her again, especially after so long apart, but I could wait for her to get back.

I wanted to wait for her from inside the house though. There was still a chance she was actually inside and just hadn't heard me, and I would hate to wait all day for no reason.

I swooped down to the ground. It took a bit of hunting - those stupid cleaning robots had cleared away most of the obvious options - but I managed to find a nice sized rock. I flew back up to the window and tossed the rock at the glass...

I squawked in surprise and slipped to the side as the rock bounced off the glass and flew back at me.

Hmph. I guess the Kymari are better at making glass than humans were.

I fluttered down onto the small ledge and squinted at the glass. The sturdy window didn't even have a crack.

I sighed... then grinned. I started whistling the 'Mission Impossible' theme and brought my claw up to the window, scratching a circle over it with the razor-sharp nail.

When it was done I took a deep breath... and unleashed a stream of fire at the window.

Most of the glass simply ignored the intense heat - the Kymari were good at building things - but the flaw from my scratches gave me the opening I needed. The edges began to darken from the heat, then tiny cracks spread outwards... then there was a snapping sound as the circle of glass fell into the building. I squeezed through the narrow hole in the window and pushed the shade out of the way, then trilled out another excited "Minna!" to the living room.

I hovered by the window and stared at the room in shock. No...

Everything was gone.

The end table by the window that had held the cage, and then later the bowl of sand. The couch. The screen, the stand it rested on, the table in the center of the room.

Even the dead plant.

It was all gone...

I flew into the dining room, then the kitchen. They were just as empty. No table. None of the bowls, none of the silverware, none of the cups. The cabinets were empty. No food left in any of the bins.

I flew back to the living room, then down the other hall. The bathroom had been stripped. The office room was bare. The bedroom...

I settled down to the carpet, spreading out my wings and sprawling on the ground. I could still smell Minna here, could still feel that strange association of the sunburst berries that her scent always brought to mind, so I knew I was in the right house... I was in her bedroom...

But other than scents and memories, the bedroom was just as empty as the rest of the house.

I had taken too long.

My friend was gone.