Monster Like You

Chapter 24

As soon as he entered the meeting room, where Kiaran, Elsdon, and I were already sitting this time, but without Sincere, Gervase darkened the usually transparent walls and door, and with a sharp movement pulled out a chair at the head of the table. Slapping the folder in front of him, he also nervously opened it, pulled out a small stack of papers and threw it to us.

"This is Rea's report, she will come and explain everything now," he said and immediately asked: "Has Nathaniel been in contact with any of you?"

Kiaran and I shook our heads in unison and for some reason looked at Elsdon.

"Oh, come on," he waved away. "I will be the last person he will turn to for help."

"And the CLEC can't find him either," Kiaran pointed out. "Looks like he hasn't checked into the hotel. Perhaps he has some place where he can wait out."

"Wait, what?" Gervase rubbed his forehead wearily. "Even though we don't know what's going on, we have a lot of information. What can he know?"

"Or has he been kidnapped after all?" Kiaran made a new suggestion. "Maybe there were more than three attackers?"

"According to the recordings from various street surveillance cameras, no vehicles drove up to his house and did not leave him," I noticed, since it was me who was instructed to find and study the recordings. "Only a few random passers-by got into the frame. One of which, most likely, was Nathaniel. This is a quiet area, at such an early... or very late hour, it depends on how you look at it, there is almost no life there.»

"Could a magician have been with them?" Gervase looked at Elsdon questioningly. "Then no vehicles would be needed."

"I'm sure you'd like that very much," Elsdon chuckled. His gaze seemed unusually cold to me for a moment, but he immediately blinked, instantly becoming a darling again. "I have to disappoint. Magicians have nothing to do with it. Firstly, the house in which Nathaniel lives is of good ones, there is protection from magical portals installed there. Secondly, there is no magic trace. Neither to the entrance nor to the exit. So the portal was not opened there."

"Even North shamans?" I asked, just in case. It was impossible to exclude the possibility that their magic was different from the usual Elsdon and his experts.

He really thought for a moment, but then confidently shook his head.

"I don't think there is a difference. Even if the magic was different, we would have felt it."

"Then most likely no one kidnapped Nathaniel," Gervase summed up. "He dealt with the attackers and left himself. We need to focus on finding him. You know him better than anyone," he looked at Kiaran and me again. "Where can he be? Does he have any connections that you managed to find out about during the conversation?"

"He used to say he didn't have any friends," Kiaran shook his head.

"Maybe we should focus on finding those who wanted to kidnap Nathaniel, not him?" I suggested.

"Nathaniel is more important," Gervase disagreed.

"Why? If he's hidden so well, then our search will only lead these people to him. If we don't find out who they are, we won't be able to protect him."

"Vet, I understand that you still have a strong emotional attachment to Nathaniel," Gervase said softly, "but I have to think not only about his safety, but also about ensuring that no one gets hurt at his hands."

"He's not dangerous."

"He's already got four dead bodies on his conscience," Kiaran recalled.

"It was self-defense!"