White Rabbit

Chapter 26: Missed Messages and Missing

ESSENCE

"It was fun," I say as Reece and I walk back towards the house, "Today was, I mean."

"Mhm," Reece nods and runs a hand through his blond hair as we walk side by side along the sidewalk, street lights occasionally flashing and cars passing by every so often, spraying water onto the side of the curb from puddles that lay pooled next to grates as they slowly drain down them, "Yeah. I guess."

I sigh at his aloofness and Reece's attention gets drawn back down to his watch, which buzzes.

"What now?" Reece raises a brow slightly and presses one of the side buttons on his watch, projecting a hologram into the air and displaying that he has thirty-nine missed messages.

"Wow," I raise my eyebrows and Reece frowns slightly, becoming worried as he opens them.

39 Missed Messages -->

KTS (12:43 P.M.) -- Jace came over and Clattonia brought him down to the training room to watch me, Juniper, Caliber, and Labyrinth.

KTS (12:44 P.M.) -- Wanna hurry back with Essence and do a 2v2 with Clattonia and Jace whenever we're finished? Could be good practice.

Juniper (12:58 P.M.) -- I'm examining the items you brought back from Aiko's. I just finished training though, so it could be a while until I find out more about them, but Caliber is helping me.

KTS (13:21 P.M.) -- Clattonia just ran out of the building? We were talking before she got a phone call and after she hung up she grabbed her jacket and sprinted outside.

KTS (13:21 P.M.) -- I'd hurry. She didn't seem happy and I don't know where she went.

34 Missed Messages -->

"Come on," Reece grabs my arm after closing his messages and sprints down the sidewalk, dragging me along with him.

"Woah, wait!" I scramble to keep up with him at first, considering I'm still stumbling from his initial pull, "Reece!"

Reece's great sword materializes from thin air piece by piece and once it's fully there he swings it through the open air, forming a time portal similar to the one that he carried me through whenever we first met. He pulls me through it and whenever we land on the other side I notice that we're back at the house as Reece closes the portal. Reece takes off in a sprint towards the front door and I follow him, watching as he bursts through the door.

"Where is she?" Reece calls out urgently once he's inside and I step inside behind him.

"Where is who?" Lucian asks as he exits the kitchen with a cookie being shoved in his mouth.

"Clattonia," Reece says, "Lucian, where is Clattonia?"

"I don't know," Lucian says and raises a brow slightly, "Katsuro left a few minutes ago saying that he'd be back, but I don't know where Clattonia went."

"Is everyone else still here?" Reece asks.

"Yeah, except for Valentina, Kai, and Simon. They're still out on their mission," Lucian explains and glances down at Reece's great sword, "What's going on?"

"Lucian, can you go train Essence?" Reece asks, "I have to go find out where Clattonia and Katsuro went."

"What?" I raise my eyebrows in surprise, "But--"

"I know I said I'd train you whenever we got back, but I have to go find them. Something urgent must have happened," Reece says to me.

"No," I say firmly and Reece's eyebrows go up slightly, "I'm coming with you."

"You can't--" Reece starts.

"I said no," I narrow my eyes slightly at him and ball my hands into fists, "I'm going with you whether you like it or not and you can't tell me otherwise."

"Wow," Lucian whistles, "That's gutsy."

Reece stays silent for a few moments, watching me as he ponders what to say.

"Fine," Reece says after a short while, "You can come with, but do not do anything stupid or I'm sending you right back here."

"Well," Lucian starts, "If she's going, then I'm going."

Reece nods and sheaths his sword on his back and the three of us head outside in search of Katsuro and Clattonia.

"Are you sure you don't have any idea where they could have gone?" Reece asks as we run down the streets.

"I'm not sure," Lucian shakes his head, "Logically speaking, I'm assuming that Katsuro went looking for Clattonia, worried for her well being, considering she never runs off. Whatever happened must have been important to set her off like that, like you said."

Beside us, an aura of black energy appears and Aeryn lands beside us, running along with us and grinning.

"You didn't think you could have all the fun without me, did you?" Aeryn sing-songs.

"How did you even know what was going on?" Lucian scoffs.

"Please, I'm a princess. How could I not know? And that's precious coming from you, Know-It-All-Blondie," Aeryn says in a smug manner.

"How wonderful of you to grace us with your presence, your highness," Lucian mutters under his breath.

"Just don't cause any trouble," Reece sighs and Aeryn nods and smirks while saluting and running next to us, "You're very valuable to us, but you sometimes get out of hand and start things that don't need to be started."

"I know," Aeryn smirks once more and Lucian and Reece sigh simultaneously.

I glance at Aeryn out of the corner of my eye and wearily wonder if bringing her along is such a good idea from what I've seen, but the more the merrier, I suppose.

"We'll find them faster if we split up," Reece says, "Lucian, you go with Aeryn. Essence will come with me."

"Come on, peasant," Aeryn snaps at Lucian.

"Dammit, why did I get stuck with--" Lucian gets cut off as Aeryn grabs him by the back of the collar of his shirt and drags him around the corner of the sidewalk to the right, almost choking him in the process as she runs off with him.

Reece and I continue running straight, looking both ways for traffic before crossing the road, our feet splashing through puddles. I glance over at Reece and notice how his jaw seems clenched and his expression is slightly grim and stern mixed with seriousness, which makes me wonder just how much he's worrying deep inside that he isn't expressing. It almost makes me want to reach out and touch him to comfort him in some and any way that I'm able, even if it's just a fleeting, gentle touch to let him know that everything will be okay. But I can't, because I don't know if it will. And I really hope that it will, because for the first time in a long time, I feel like I've found a home.