Nita opened her bedroom door, sank onto her bed, and began to think.
Dairine had been missing for hours at a time three times over the past five days. Nita had noticed a paper on her little sister's desk, identifying obscure symbols in the Speech, with the Sunstone next to it. The pup tent Dairine had used during the war had been open on the basement wall, and when Nita went inside, she had found the green dress Dairine had worn on Wellakh lying on an old armchair. Why haven't I seen this before? Nita wondered now, mentally cursing herself. She's trying to find him. Roshaun.
Her next thought was, She's going to get herself killed.
But what, really, could Nita do about it? There was practically no way she could stop Dairine, who was, though less experienced, much more powerful than her. None of her friends could, either. Not Kit. He was recovering from Ponch's departure. Not Ronan. He was still getting used to living without the Champion again. S'reee was working with the dolphins, a territorial dispute, and she couldn't be spared. Filif and Sker'ret—well, they both sort of kind of lived on different PLANETS.
Carmela, though...
Kit's sister had dropped a lot of her interest in all things wizard since the war. Nita guessed it was because Mela had at last seen the bad sides of the Art—the side filled with sadness, loss, fear, and pain. It had overwhelmed Nita at first, too, but she had worked with magic enough to know that it was worth it.
But maybe Carmela could help her think of something. She was one of the most creative people Nita had ever met, after all.
Nita grabbed her wizard's manual off her bedside table. "Message Kit Rodriguez for me, please."
Message? came the silent response.
Nita bit her lip. "Tell him... Tell him, 'I'm coming over in a few minutes. Let me know if Carmela's not there.'"
In a few seconds, the manual told her, Message successfully sent.
"Perfect," grinned Nita, getting to her feet. She was going to Kit's.