This story was inspired by a very short piece by Suguelya about them playing hide and seek. And then, it ran away from me. Enjoy!

Prologue

A boom echoed through the lower quarter, but Yuri went right back to talking as soon as it faded. "So anyway, this monster was basically the size of a house."

"No way." Flynn sprawled in the weeds in the empty lot. It was too hot to bring his limbs closer to his body, even with the scant shade provided by their fort. "No monster can be that big."

"Can too! The knight said he saw it in the forest north of here but none of his brigade were willing to go after it."

"My dad never saw anything like that."

"I bet they're really rare so of course he wouldn't of."

"Hm…. maybe." It was too hot to argue. The summer sun locked Zaphias in a scorching oven that left Flynn melting into the grass. There was no relief to be found at home, where the thin wooden walls left them cold in the winter and broiling in the summer, and they could only splash in the fountain for so long before someone yelled at them for playing in the drinking water. As for the river, well, it had a high enough percentage of mud and filth the rest of the year when the heat wasn't evaporating all the water it had left. This had to be the pinnacle of the summer, though. There was no way it could get hotter than this.

Another boom thundered through the lower quarter. The heat made it especially loud, since so few people were on the streets making noise.

Yuri sat up on his elbow. "What do you think the mages are up to?"

"A blastia that can change the weather," Flynn said hopefully. He was certain that in all his nine years, it had never been this hot. Mom said he just didn't remember previous summers well, but Flynn was stubbornly sure this was the worst.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to be going well with all those booms."

No one knew for sure what the mages were up to. All anyone had been told was that a bunch of researchers from Aspio were performing highly delicate tests and needed direct supervision from the Knighthood. They'd been given a building to experiment in, which was in the lower quarter because - according to Hanks - if it blew up down here, who cared?

"Maybe the booms are on purpose. Maybe they're making like a big cannon or something for Alexei."

"That would be so cool." Yuri whistled. He'd learned to do that only this summer and liked to find any excuse to do so. Considering Flynn couldn't seem to get the hang of it, rubbing it in Flynn's face was a valid excuse at any time. "We should check it out."

"They won't let us in. It's private." There were even knights on duty guarding the entrance. Maybe it really was a weapon for Alexei and that's why he was so concerned about secrecy.

"So we should sneak in."

"We'd get in trouble!"

"You're so lame."

"Am not."

"Are too." Yuri got to his knees and crawled across the fort. He pounced on Flynn, pinning his shoulders to the dry ground. "We should go!"

"Ugh, Yuri get off. It's too hot to fight."

Yuri glared at him for a moment, and then heaved a sigh and flopped to the ground next to him. "What do you want to do then? We can't just lie here forever."

"I dunno." All the things they'd usually like to do involved physical activity and all Flynn's energy was leaking out with his sweat. They needed to play a game where they could have fun but also just sit quietly in the shade thinking cool thoughts. "How 'bout hide and seek?"

"That's boring."

"You just say that because I'm better at it than you."

"Nu-uh."

"Yeah-huh."

"I'm way better."

"I always find you. You always hide in the same spots."

"I do not!"

"Do too!" Flynn crossed his arms and smirked. "And then you try to find me but you suck at it." Then he moved his arms off his chest when that became unbearable.

Yuri clambered to his feet. "Ok, let's play then. I'll hide first. I'll hide in a really smart place this time."

"Fine." Flynn dragged himself upright and scooted to lean against the brick wall enclosing the empty lot. He rubbed sweat from his forehead and said, "I'll start counting. Go hide." He closed his eyes, feeling the heat sear into his eyelids. "One… two… three…." Yuri's foot steps darted away from the lot.

Years from now, Flynn would still think about that sound. The crunch of dying weeds and the scuff of dry dirt as Yuri ran out of the lot and out of Flynn's life.

Flynn looked for him, of course. After he reached one-hundred, he hopped up and strolled out of the lot to begin the hunt. He looked in all the usual spots, but true to his word, Yuri had hidden really well this time. He wasn't in the tree by the river or in the barrel by the blacksmith. Flynn searched under stalls in the market and under piles of debris in alleys. After an age, he even looked inside buildings, even though they'd long agreed those were off limits.

Flynn searched for hours. By the end he didn't even want to play anymore and shouted Yuri's name through the neighbourhood. The sun finally going down brought relief from the heat but spiked his worry. When his mom came home from work, she joined him in the search with a worried look. As the night grew darker, more residents of the lower quarter took to the streets to help with the hunt. Yuri's name rang through the neighbourhood as they called for him. Late at night, Flynn's mom insisted he go to bed. Yuri would show up tomorrow, she assured him. Everything would be all right.

Yuri didn't show up the next day, though. Or the day after that. On the third day, Flynn spotted Hanks and some of the men standing by the edge of the river with grim faces and long poles, searching the riverbed for something. On the fourth day, he kept seeing grown-ups talking in hushed voices and clamming up when he drew near. On the fifth day, people stopped reassuring him that his friend would show up any day now.

For a few weeks that summer, Yuri Lowell dominated the gossip throughout the lower quarter. People who hadn't even known him had their interests piqued by the bizarreness of the disappearance. But as the weeks trudged on through the heat wave, not a single clue turned up to fuel the mystery. Interest waned. The search dwindled off. People had their own lives to worry about.

By the time the leaves changed, Yuri Lowell had become little more than a tragic curiosity to lower quarter. One day, a boy had run off to hide and he was never found again.