When the city shifts back to what it should be, Kate runs through a certain list of priorities. Checking the state of the clinic, checking for the staff who aren't on the expeditions. Checking for her friends who aren't, as well. A slow process - slower, perhaps, than she would normally make it, savouring each familiar thing that had been missing in the last few days, devouring something from one of the shops with no hesitation.
(Jo really did have the right idea with all that stockpiling, but Kate was an entire island away from her home even if she'd tried it.)
Her journey takes her to the north island, to guard HQ, and she barely thinks twice about the lack of Henry's presence when she gets there. It's dismissed as he's somewhere else. In the training grounds, or at the armoury or a guardpost. Maybe he's doing the exact thing she is, hunting down others. It's almost shrugged off until she wanders to the training grounds and they're empty. The armoury, too. When she finally checks her phone and sees the complete absence of his name, her heart is the proverbial stone sinking in her stomach.
Of all the people—
Why is it, no matter how familiar she is with the Door's random approach to who comes and goes from this city, she never truly expects some of them? How could Henry be here so long and then gone in the blink of an eye? Her eyes skim the names once more, and the only relief is that she doesn't notice any other familiar ones having vanished.
Which means Carlisle is here, somewhere. And she needs to find him.
His apartment turns up nothing, and instead, she makes her way to the part of the island which contains the park — or what's left of it. Feet wander without much aim around the now bare expanse of land, and it's almost poetic that she'd find him in the memorial garden now of all times.
Though the stark shift of the colour of his hair, having seemed faded for a long time and now a completely colourless grey, and the blinding white of whatever small parts of exposed skin there are, they don't give her a chance to quip anything close to what her first thought is.
Can a heart be a stone in the base of your stomach and a knot in your throat at the same time?
"Carlisle?"
The alarm barely keeps itself out of her voice, and she almost chokes on his name.
memorial garden
(Jo really did have the right idea with all that stockpiling, but Kate was an entire island away from her home even if she'd tried it.)
Her journey takes her to the north island, to guard HQ, and she barely thinks twice about the lack of Henry's presence when she gets there. It's dismissed as he's somewhere else. In the training grounds, or at the armoury or a guardpost. Maybe he's doing the exact thing she is, hunting down others. It's almost shrugged off until she wanders to the training grounds and they're empty. The armoury, too. When she finally checks her phone and sees the complete absence of his name, her heart is the proverbial stone sinking in her stomach.
Of all the people—
Why is it, no matter how familiar she is with the Door's random approach to who comes and goes from this city, she never truly expects some of them? How could Henry be here so long and then gone in the blink of an eye? Her eyes skim the names once more, and the only relief is that she doesn't notice any other familiar ones having vanished.
Which means Carlisle is here, somewhere. And she needs to find him.
His apartment turns up nothing, and instead, she makes her way to the part of the island which contains the park — or what's left of it. Feet wander without much aim around the now bare expanse of land, and it's almost poetic that she'd find him in the memorial garden now of all times.
Though the stark shift of the colour of his hair, having seemed faded for a long time and now a completely colourless grey, and the blinding white of whatever small parts of exposed skin there are, they don't give her a chance to quip anything close to what her first thought is.
Can a heart be a stone in the base of your stomach and a knot in your throat at the same time?
"Carlisle?"
The alarm barely keeps itself out of her voice, and she almost chokes on his name.