Life After Death

Corryn: chasing a shapeshifter

I woke up again, but this time without Nick. Gawain was staring at me curiously and I realized that I was standing upright and I was back in Donlin.

"Were you asleep?" he questioned.

"I sleep occasionally," I told him. "Also my bed is comfortable. Can you send me back to the Torninc; I need to talk to Quinn and Mikaela."

"Why?"

"Because Arthur disappeared last night," I replied. "And Lancelot is a bit hysterical and I calmed him down, but I promised I would help look for his brother."

"I was going to have you watch Lunete, but I'll send you back," he said. "Find my brother, okay?"

He muttered something, and I had a ball of magic sitting in my chest. Before I could say thank you, he sent me to the dining room where Lancelot was pacing back and forth with a furrowed brow.

"They're not up yet," he told me, apparently not noticing that I had simply appeared. "It's almost seven and they're not up yet."

"Lancelot, calm down." I seated myself in the chair from last night and gestured for him to do the same. Reluctantly he sat and more tea appeared in front of him. He took the cup and stared into the steam once more.

I felt like we hadn't made any progress since last night, but I supposed that was the problem. He wanted to find his brother, and no one else even knew yet.

"I couldn't sleep," he said, though that much I guessed on my own. "So I went down to the library; I was hoping to find what she was talking about, but I didn't find anything. I'm not surprised; I was too tired to be reading words that made sense."

"I don't suppose you checked their beds again; see if they slipped back in?"

"I did," Lancelot replied. "No sign of them. Nothing was taken, but that's not surprising as Arthur is a shape shifter."

He sunk into his chair. "I'm really worried about him."

We sat there for nearly a half hour; Lancelot drank more tea and I just watched him. Ryon passed us heading into the kitchen, but Lancelot did nothing more than inquire if he had seen his brother. Ryon hadn't.

Finally, Mikaela and Quinn made it down to the dining room, and their frantic son pounced on them. The whole story came tumbled out of him in fragmented sentences, and neither parent looked prepared to deal with the crisis at hand.

"Arthur is gone?" Mikaela repeated.

Ryon came out with a pot of coffee and took Lancelot's teapot away. Just as well, the boy didn't need any more.

Lancelot nodded. "Will you please tell Juliet so we can find them?"

"Them?" Quinn asked.

"Larachime and Arthur are gone," I confirmed. "They have been so since around midnight. There's no sign of them."

The news woke up Mikaela and Quinn much better than coffee would and Mikaela reached for her ring.

"Was there anything in his bed, or her room?"

"It looked like they were never there," Lancelot told him. "Honest."

Mikaela turned back to us, looking grim. "Juliet and Parsifal are on their way. Also, Corryn, do you have magic?"

I looked down at my chest, which was glowing slightly. "Gawain summoned me back home this morning, gave me magic and told me to go find his brother."

"Good." Quinn sighed and looked back up the stairs. "I'll go get properly dressed. Hold off Juliet until I'm back down."

Mikaela watched her husband go, and then poured herself a mug of coffee. "Lancelot?"