"Yeah." Nick's brow knits together, the worry that someone he cares for -- Rey, Maketh, Glacius -- will just up and vanish one day, not a trace left behind as they're pulled back through the Door and thrust into their own worlds. That might not be so bad, for some, but for others...

Well, they'll cross that bridge if they come to it. No sense in worrying about it now. Not when there are plenty of other things that raise concerns.

"I noticed you're out more often than usual these days," he starts, keeping the tentativeness from his tone as he edges toward a subject that's been on his mind: that phone call from Muscovy, and what the boy told him. "I figured you might be trying to pick up the slack left by the folks who've disappeared."