Mahogany and Teakwood

Chapter 36: Astilbe

how to get to hadestown

you'll have to take the long way down

Less than ten minutes after the call, a jittery Virgil and a groggy, puffy-eyed Roman found themselves in Kate and Rosa's room. Kate took the van to fetch Patton; Rosa stayed behind with the boys, handing them both protein bars and starting the coffee maker.

"I'm sure it's fine," she commented as the coffee brewed.

"Do you really believe that?" Roman asked dryly.

Rosa shrugged. "I have to say it, regardless."

Virgil took a bite of his bar, too keyed up to even taste it. Logan is gone, his sleep-deprived brain kept repeating, over and over. Logan is gone.

The door opened, revealing a grim-faced Kate and a rumpled Patton.

Virgil didn't think; he seized his friend in a hug. Patton trembled like a leaf and looked like he'd thrown his clothes on in the dark. He hadn't even bothered with his beloved cat hoodie. Roman came over and wrapped his arms around them both, adding his warm, vibrant presence to the cuddle pile. For a moment, fights and feelings and time apart didn't matter. They were just three friends, desperately finding comfort in each other.

"All right, let's think this through," Kate said when they broke apart. "Patton, are you sure he isn't just out on a late-night grocery run or whatever?"

"At 3AM?" Rosa handed Kate a steaming paper cup.

Patton shook his head. "He wouldn't just disappear for food without telling me, and he wouldn't ignore his phone."

Virgil accepted his coffee and took a grateful sip; it was awful, but it was caffeine.

"Just to be sure, let's all ring his number one more time," Kate suggested.

They did, taking turns, but the calls went straight to voicemail.

"Do you think your Deceit is onto us?" Rosa said solemnly. "Could he have been kidnapped?"

Virgil hadn't even thought of that, and from the wide-eyed look Roman shot him, neither had he. Patton, though, shook his head again.

"Logan would have put up a fight, which I would have heard. Plus, I don't think a kidnapper would have bothered with his coat, glasses, and phone."

"Could he have been thralled?" Kate asked.

"Half-faery," Rosa and Patton said simultaneously, and Patton chuckled.

"Logan has enough fae blood that he's pretty much impossible to thrall, except maybe by a really strong Court Fae," he explained.

"Let's assume for a moment that Deceit does know we're coming." Roman rubbed his chin.

"We don't know anything—" Virgil cut in.

"Can I finish?" Roman eyed him with a flat glare.

Virgil sarcastically raised his hands in surrender.

"If Deceit knows about the mission, then he knows we're coming for Rapunzel." Roman leaned forward. "If he wanted to stop us, why kidnap Logan, instead of someone from the rescue team? Why not Rosa?"

"Let him try," Rosa muttered, earning a grin from her wife.

"He's already got one Founder," Virgil said. "Let's not push our luck."

But Roman had a point. Nobody in Smile particularly liked or even knew Logan other than the people in this room. If Deceit had wanted to demoralize them, he should have taken one of their leaders. Which meant, logically, that Logan had gone somewhere on his own.