Myka awoke early the next morning when Leena opened her bedroom door and peeked in. She squinted at Leena and rubbed one eye.
"Where's Pete?" Leena whispered, and pointed at the couch.
Myka rose up on one elbow and glanced over at the couch. Claudia was asleep, curled up in a blanket, hugging her collection of picture frames. But instead of red, her hair was now jet-black.
Claudia dyed all her hair black. Not a good sign, she thought. She looked back at Leena worriedly.
Soft snoring startled them. They looked over toward another corner of her bedroom.
Near the wall that ran along the hallway, Pete lay sleeping on the floor, on the edge of the rug, with his pillow and blanket.
Leena nodded tiredly and closed the door.
As soon as Myka's head rested on the pillow again, she was asleep.
Much later, Myka awoke to the pleasing aroma of bacon. She turned over to look at Pete, but the floor was empty. She found a piece of paper folded in half, propped up on her nightstand.
Pete had written a note: "I'm in the kitchen helping Leena." That was Pete-speak for: "I will eat all the food myself."
Claudia was sound asleep on the couch.
Myka squinted at the sunlight from the window. The sun shines, like it was an ordinary day. I wonder if we'll ever have an ordinary day again, she thought. Probably not. After all, we're Warehouse agents. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. Better get going. I have a puzzle to solve.
After Myka dressed, she went downstairs, hoping to find some food Pete left untouched.
In the kitchen, Leena stood beside the counter, finishing the last bite of eggs from her plate.
"I saved you some bacon." Leena pointed to a plate on top of the stove covered with aluminum foil. "I stashed a bit for Claudia, too. Or I can make more. We have plenty of eggs. The bowls of fruit are in the fridge."
Myka picked up her still-warm plate and uncovered the bacon with one scrambled egg. "Mmm, thank you," she said. "So Pete's already downstairs? How does he seem today?"
Leena handed her a fork. "For his breakfast plate, Pete took a small helping of eggs and only a few strips of bacon. That worries me."
"Me, too," she said. "I wonder how the black-haired Claudia will act today."
"Claudia's anger is greater than what I sensed when she first came to Warehouse 13," Leena said. "But considering all that happened yesterday, and the day before, it's a wonder any of us are even functional." She frowned. "Oh, Pete's also feeling superstitious."
"Superstitious? What do you mean?" Myka took a bottle of water off the kitchen counter.
"Pete figured he couldn't eat breakfast in the Meeting Room. He said it might be disrespectful, because that's where Mrs. Frederic died," Leena said. "He decided he could eat out on the back patio. To avoid walking through the Meeting Room, Pete went out the front door and walked all the way around the B&B to the patio."
Myka glanced around the kitchen. "Is that why you're in here? Are you superstitious about the Meeting Room, too?"
"Not superstitious. But I can't stop remembering Mrs. Frederic's sudden death right here in our house," Leena said.
"Eww, I hadn't thought of that," Myka said. "Sorry."
As she glanced around, some brightly-colored plastic caught her eye. Three large water guns were stacked on top of the refrigerator.
She pointed. "Are those Pete's toys?"
"A month ago, Pete bought Super Soakers for himself and Claudia and Steve. They planned to have water-gun fights," Leena said. "This morning, Pete asked me to donate them to the Univille Thrift Store. He worried if Claudia saw the water guns, they would make her sad. I'm going to stash them in the garage for now."
"We're in bad shape, aren't we?" Myka asked. "Claudia's devastated. Pete's so traumatized he wants to drink again. Artie's lost everything, except us. You saw people die, right here in our house. Do you think we'll ever recover?"
Leena studied Myka's face. Myka could not read her expression.
"Time will tell," Leena said slowly, her eyebrow furrowed in thought.
Myka wondered what Leena could see in her aura, but she decided she didn't want to know. "I'll go check on Pete. Thank you for the breakfast," she said. "Oh wait. Where is Artie?"
"He went into town to meet Mr. Kosan," Leena said. "What do you think their meeting means?"
"I think it means the Regents are going to be as unhelpful now as they were before we lost the Warehouse," Myka said bitterly.
As Myka walked through the B&B toward the French doors, she saw Pete sitting outside on one of the patio chairs.
Pete said we take one day at a time. Sitting on the patio in the sunlight is good, she reassured herself. Eating food is good. So far, so good.
Myka stepped onto the patio and sat in a chair facing him. She tried to smile. "Hey, partner. Thanks for not eating all the bacon."
Pete nodded as he sipped his coffee.
"Artie skipped out completely," he said. "That's why there's some left for you. He went to meet with Kosan. I'm not so sure they were going to eat breakfast. You know Artie will be cranky if he doesn't eat."
Myka glanced at the patio table. Pete's breakfast plate had two strips of bacon and only one scrambled egg, apparently untouched.
"No matter how cranky Artie is when he gets back, he's going to tell us everything he and Kosan talked about," she said. "We're not going to be kept in the dark again. Not when we're working on a case."
"We're not on a case," he said slowly. He shrugged. "The Warehouse is gone."
Myka watched him take a drink from his coffee cup. He sat still, with no sign of his hyperactive energy. He's not acting like my partner, Pete.
"I was thinking about the Pocketwatch Artifact, and the case of the missing Warehouse," she said.
Pete's eyes got watery. "The Warehouse isn't missing, Myka. It's gone," he said hoarsely.
Myka bit her lip. She didn't want to push Pete too soon, or cause him any more pain.
On the other hand, she wanted to take the next step toward saving Warehouse 13.
The Pocketwatch is our only option. The sooner we start, the better. But I need him to be on board with this. I need my partner.
"You're right. The Warehouse is gone," she said. "Getting the Warehouse back will require a huge amount of effort. But we have to start somewhere. We figure out how this disaster happened, and figure out a way to fix it. We use the Pocketwatch to travel back in time and save the Warehouse."
Pete squinted at the backyard. "I can't see that happening right now. I see a big crater where the Warehouse is supposed to be. I see lots of smoke, and everything is gone. Maybe, in a week or so, the big picture will look different."
She stared down at her plate of food, hiding her tears of disappointment.
Pete quietly drank more coffee.
I should have left Pete alone to eat his breakfast in peace. This sense of urgency is mine, not his.
Myka stood up to leave the patio. "Speaking of things looking different, Claudia dyed her hair jet black," she said. "Guess I'd better go wake her, to make sure she eats something."
As she stood there, Myka felt wobbly again.
Another tremor? She turned to look at her water bottle on the patio table. The liquid in the container sloshed gently.
"Do you feel that? Like something is shaking?" Pete glanced around the patio.
"Yes, it's a tremor, an aftershock," she said. The shaking sensation lasted only a few moments. Myka exhaled in relief.
Pete shrugged and took another drink of coffee. "Hey, I drew some of those pictures you asked for," he said. "They're upstairs in my room."
Myka picked up her water bottle. "Thanks, Pete. See you later."
Inside the B&B, Myka told Leena how depressed Pete seemed.
Leena planned to keep Pete occupied with activity. They would continue the clean-up around the B&B and start some repairs.
Myka took a plate of food for Claudia, and several bottles of water, and went upstairs.