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Gunter scoffed. “Wait until I’m on top of a deadline and Ravi sneaks in to prank me. Then you’ll see how ‘nice’ I am.”
“Ravi’s fun, though. I bet his pranks are awesome.”
Gunter stopped and pointed one finger in warning at Nikki. “You are forbidden from following his example. The clan already has two troublemakers, we don’t need three.” Naturally, he ruined the effect by lightly booping the tip of Nikki’s nose with his finger. The action startled himself as much as it obviously did Nikki. Where had the boop come from? Why had the boop come out? Gunter never booped anyone. Hadn’t done a single boop in his entire life.
But Nikki was so delighted with the gesture, grin stretching from ear to ear, that Gunter immediately felt justified.
Boops were fine. Good. Yeah, fine. No need to overthink it. He shook it off and looked both ways up the narrow street. “Alright, where to from here. Zahur?”
“I’m just picking up a lot of traffic back and forth,” the earth dragon admitted. “Lots of feet and vehicles going every direction. Nothing clear enough for me to pick up. Let’s walk where Nikki thinks they escaped.”
“Okay.”
They kept walking. Gunter saw signs of hasty escape in the oddments—clothing torn and trashed, splintered glass spell bottles, broken personal effects. So much waste, but that was standard in this kind of quick evacuation. Gunter could still remember similar moments he’d lived through in the war.
“So much trash on the streets,” Zahur noted. “If I were more scent-oriented, I’d have a field day with this.”
“Same. But we dragons aren’t exactly bloodhounds, more’s the pity.”
“Tell me about it.”
Nikki popped his head out to look up at Zahur. “Zahur, if I can find one of the main garages, would that be the best starting point for you? Can you track vehicles?”
“I can. Why, do you know where one is?”
“I’ve got a good idea. It’s where I was brought in from.”
“Good, then let’s try there first.”
Nikki led the way—still holding onto Gunter’s hand. Gunter allowed this due to the uneasiness still tightening Nikki’s slender shoulders. Being here no doubt brought a lot of bad memories back.
Lisette had already talked to Gunter once about getting Nikki some therapy. With a good health clinic in Sonthofen, it would be easy to arrange, and Nikki without question needed someone to talk to after everything that had happened. Why Lisette would speak to Gunter about this, he had no idea. Sure, Nikki seemed to have latched on to him as a safe haven. And didn’t really leave Gunter’s workspace without him. But that didn’t mean Nikki was his responsibility, either. This entire arrangement was only temporary until Nikki grew more comfortable at Burkhard around the various dragons and mages.
He’d pointed that out, being perfectly logical about the whole thing.
Lisette had looked at him as if he’d said the stupidest thing she’d heard all year. But she also hadn’t explained what he’d said to make her react so. All she’d said in the end was to discuss it with Nikki.
Gunter hadn’t. Or hadn’t yet. How did you even bring that up in casual conversation, anyway?
Right now, if Nikki needed to hold Gunter’s hand to keep their nerve up, then they could hold it to their heart’s content.
“Is that…a cellphone?” Nikki turned their head a little sideways. “Under that plastic bag, there.”
Zahur went ahead to look, bending and removing the bag. “It is. Pretty busted, though.”
“Grab it anyway,” Gunter said. “I’ve seen Cassie and Cameron both repair things I thought beyond hope. What we consider broken and what they consider broken are two very different things.”
“You really think they can get something off this?” Nikki gestured to the phone with a doubtful look.
Gunter patiently explained, “Cameron has a master’s in engineering. He’s brilliant with technology. Cassie is a computer programmer who’s just as intelligent, if not more. Between the two of them, they make tech bow and call them master. I don’t know how much that phone will give up, but I can guarantee they’ll get something off it.”
“Oh.” Nikki stared at the phone as it went into Zahur’s pocket and seemed to absorb this information. They shrugged, then tugged them all back into motion, their eyes sweeping the area carefully before leading them around a corner and farther into the desolate area.
“Say, Gunter.” Zahur gestured around them, his rueful smile in high contrast to his ebony skin. “You ever see that old American show The Twilight Zone?”
“Oh, sure.” Gunter looked around and realized what he was getting at. “It does feel like we’re on one of the programs.”
“Doesn’t it? I keep waiting for ghosts to pop out.”
The surroundings did have the spooky, eerie feeling.
Nikki pointed ahead. “There’s the garage.”
It looked the part, if not very large, from the front. A six-car arrangement with faded black rolling doors, the brick facing seeming to have had better days. No doubt the extreme cold in this area had damaged it over time. Not to mention the explosions during the battle.
