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I’m not sure what the worst is… I won’t let myself think about it.
I should’ve stayed with them. The words repeat in my head, berating me. I assume they will until I lay eyes on her again. Until I know I’m panicking for nothing and she’s totally fine.
Because she will be, of course.
Totally fine.
She has to be.
When I reach Florence’s door, I knock on it louder than I intend to. After a few seconds, I knock again. “Florence?” I call against the wood, trying not to be too loud in the shared hallway.
I hear movement inside, and relief swims through my stomach. When the door opens, Florence stands in front of me with one eye squeezed shut, her dark hair standing in every direction. She inhales sleepily through her nose. “Yeah?”
“Is she here?”
She blinks slowly, obviously trying to understand what I’m saying. “She?Mae?”
“Yes, is Mae here with you?”
“No.” She gives a small laugh, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. “Why would she be?”
“Because I can’t find her.”
Her hands drop down and her head pulls back. “What do you mean you can’t find her?”
“Exactly what I said. I woke up this morning, and she wasn’t in our room. I can’t get a hold of her.”
“That’s impossible. Did you check the bathroom? Maybe she took a shower or—”
“No. Of course I checked the bathroom. She’s not there. She’s not anywhere. When did you see her last?”
“She… She was…” She shakes her head, thinking.
Behind her, Patton appears, looking equally tired. “What’s going on?”
“She was walking back to her room,” Florence says, ignoring him. “She walked me to my door and waved good night.”
“When was that?” I demand.
“What happened?” Patton asks again, pulling the door open wider.
“Around three this morning,” she says softly. “You’resureshe’s not in your room?”
“It’s not like it’s a jungle in there, Florence. I checked everywhere she could be.”
“Wait… What are we talking about? Mae’s missing?” Patton asks, catching up finally.
Florence looks at him, biting her bottom lip. “But she can’t be… She can’t bemissing, missing. Maybe she went for a coffee or something. Or breakfast. Maybe she was trying to get enough signal to call her parents.”
“I tried to call her. I sent her a message through the app. Was she drunk when you got back?” I swallow, fighting back bitter tears as I refuse to ask what I really want to know.Was she drunk and alone when you left her? Did you leave her to the wolves?
“She’d had a few drinks, but she wasn’tdrunk.Mae doesn’t get drunk. Blake, you have to know I wouldn’t have left her if I thought it wasn’t safe. She only had to go down the hall a little bit. She’d had less to drink than I had—”
“How can you be sure of that if you were drunk?”
“I wasn’t drunk!” she shouts.
“Guys!” Patton cries, holding out a hand between us to silence the impending argument. “None of this matters. If she’s missing, we need to report it. They need to search the ship before…” He swallows, meeting my eyes. “They need to search for her. You should go back to your room and call your steward.”
