Justin told me how my family had split up to look for me the next day. At my urging he agreed to wait in my room while I went out to find them. If he were there right next to me I'd rely on him too much. That, and I didn't think he had gotten much sleep on the armchair. Maybe now that my bed was free he could nap for awhile.

They had split up to search for me by birth order. That made it easier for me to approach them. If they did not recognize me and I could no longer hold their attention I could just move on to the next of my sisters. I dressed in pale blue, similar to the shade I had been wearing when I had left them.

First I found Marchina.

She was engaging a small crowd, telling her story. Her sister was missing, they had thought her dead but had gotten news that she was still alive. Please let her know if anyone had seen someone matching her description. There was another man whom she might be with, beautiful and blond. Had anyone seen him?

The crowd left, no one able to help. I stayed behind.

"Excuse me." I said.

She looked down at me, eyebrows carefully arched as she eyed me.

"Yes?"

"I might be able to help you."

Something flickered behind her powerful exterior. "You've seen her?" Her voice was steady, but noticeably heavier than it had been speaking to the crowd, coated in emotion I didn't know she was capable of.

For a moment a distant memory flashed through my mind. The only time I had seen my eldest sister cry. Fathers hand on her shoulder as he balanced a baby Septemera in his other hand. Her dress black, April and May huddled next to her, sobbing. I had stood there, watching. Too young to know what was going on, scared of my sibling's grief. Why hadn't I stood with them?

I shook my head. "Not the girl," I said, blinking the vision away. "But I think I saw the man you were talking about walking with someone who might've been the young woman near dusk last night."

She put a firm hand on my shoulder. "Are you sure?"

I stepped back a little, feeling the full force of her intensity. "I think so."

"Where?"

"The residential district, headed to the line of lodgings near the center."

Her stern, powerful, countenance cracked. Her smile was wobbly, looking near tears. "Thank you." She said, just barely keeping her voice from cracking.

For a moment her gaze lingered on my face, as if nearly latching on to something familiar. She gathered herself again, releasing my shoulder.

"Thank you." She said again, voice soft. "You know, you wear your hair similar to hers."

My chest hurt. Would she recognize me?

"To whose?" I asked.

She backed off, shaking her head. "Never mind. Thank you for the information miss. Thank you."

She turned and ran off, leaving me behind.

April was, unsurprisingly, in the artisan district. She was performing on the steps in front of her theater.

"For what woe's / can be permitted," She recited passionately, energy almost more angry than sorrowful though it seemed to be a lament, "to break our bonds / that which ties our sisterhood. / For what, / foul man, / shall you disappear with my love / my kin. / To tear from us / the light you promised to return-"

She did not stop, line after line tearing from her throat as she poured her soul across the steps. Though no hat lay before her, the audience tossed coins before her. She took no notice, eyes rimmed red with what seemed to be sorrowful rage. I could net tell if she were acting or if she truly felt so strongly.

It was a quarter of an hour before she stopped. I watched all the way through. At the end her words burned raw within her voice. "Shall I follow? / Bring me the rock / that I might break through my skin / see through her eyes / and bludgeon her stealer / and lay upon the steps / lay upon her ears / my regret." She paused dramatically, suddenly lifting her hands to the sky. "Take me to her! / Take me to her / be it a foul journey / or sorrowfully peaceful as Shalott. / Take me to her / and with her I shall stay."

The audience clapped through their tears, her emotion infective. I was crying too. She bowed, a couple tears of her own slipping out as she did. She stayed bowing as the crowd dispersed. I, and a few others, stayed behind. I stepped as near her as I dared. The performance wasn't truly over till she rose from her bows, it was an unspoken rule of her performances. Still she didn't rise.

Quietly, a little less than a whisper, I heard her murmur, "When I rise, Agustina will be there."

She came up from her bow and I stood in front of her. She sighed, giving a little half smile, and murmuring, "as if it would be that easy."

"That was wonderful," I said, getting her attention, "It brought me to tears. Is there a reason you're holding a free performance today miss Long?"

"Thank you. And yes, I'm trying to find my little sister. She's been missing for awhile, but we recently got word that she might be in town and I thought that my performance might catch her eye."

"How sweet," I said, "She's lucky to have such a loving sister. Why don't you describe her to me, perhaps I've seen her."

"I can do you one better." April turned around and rummaged through a satchel sitting on the steps behind her. She handed me a flyer. On it was a portrait of what I used to look like and Justin. "She might be with this man, so if you've seen either of them-"

"Oh," I said, feigning surprise. "I might recognize the man. Yes, I saw him walking to the residential district last night. He was with a young woman, though I didn't see her well enough to tell if she were your sister or not."

"That's more than enough." April said quickly, "Thanks so much." She grabbed the satchel, leaving the coins on the steps, and ran off.

Leaving me behind.

I found May quietly handing out flyers in the business district, having been deliberately placed near the doctors.

"Excuse me miss," She said softly as I walked up, "Would you have happened to see either of these people?"

She held out the same flyer April had shown me earlier. They must've been peeved at Justin, looking closer I saw that they had put the words 'Suspected Kidnapper' above his likeness.

"I might've seen the man yesterday." I said, handing the flyer back to her.

"Oh, no." She said. "Keep it, please. Just in case you see her. You said you saw the man yesterday? At what time?"

"Around dusk, heading with a young woman to the residential district."

"You did?" Her face lit up, her quiet countenance brightening, voice becoming louder. "What about the girl? Did she look like the one on the poster?"

"I-I don't know." I said taking a step back, I wasn't used to May being this forceful. "You look more similar to the picture even with your glasses than she did to me, I didn't see her well."

"I see." She said, backing off. She looked back up at me, raising her eyebrows a bit. "You know, you look a little like her as well, the way you wear your hair."

I laughed. "That's a complement to be sure miss, for the pictures pretty, but I look nigh like it."

"Still," May said, stepping towards me, "I feel like it's a sign. Your words must be true. Thank you for them."

She walked off as quickly as her lungs would permit and I wondered why she wasn't using the wheelchair. Oh well, she was gone.

She had left me behind.

Junis was making rounds in the area just outside the palace, practically assaulting anyone who looked like they knew anything. Before I saw her I ran into Cinderella. I explained what had happened since I had seen her last and she congratulated me, promising to visit Justin and I with fairy-god-mother as soon as she could.

When she left me I turned and found Junis towering over me. She firmly took hold of my shoulders and looked hard into my face.

"You're not her." She said after a minuet. "From the back I thought so, but your face is completely different."

"Um, who am I not?" I asked, feeling a little shaken.

"My little sis." She said as casually as if she had only lost sight of a cousin she was supposed to keep an eye on. "She ran off with some guy and now I gotta find her."

I blushed. She might spend a little too much time around the knights, but then, who was I to tell her what to do? Still, I did wish she thought a little bit more about the way she phrased things.

She saw my expression and sighed, scratching up near her ponytail. "Well, she didn't run off with him in that way or anything. Geez. This is why talking to other girls is hard, I don't see why I can't just hang out with the other knights all the– never mind. Hey, you haven't happened to see either of these two people have you?"

She shoved the flyer I had seen twice already into my face.

I batted it back.

"I might've seen the man as I was heading home last night. He was with some girl, I didn't see her face though."

"Really?" At once her partially annoyed expression melted into one of genuine relief. She grabbed my hands, looking me brightly in the face. "Where did you see them?"

"By the apartments in the residential district-"

"Perfect." She let me go, running off. "If he laid a single finger on her I'll-"

She was gone.

She had left me behind.

Julianna was in the governors district, pacing the line of buildings between the council house and capital library. She found me before I found her.

She tapped my shoulder and I whirled around, surprised. She blinked and stepped back.

"I'm sorry for startling you. If you don't mind could you take a look at this flyer?"

She handed me my third flyer of the day.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'm looking for my sister. I'm actually more interested in if you've seen a guy like this though." She tapped the picture of Justin.

"Why him instead of your sister?" I asked looking back up at her.

"I have reason to believe that my sister has been disguised in some fashion," to herself she muttered, "especially after Jacques account of what Justin did yesterday." She shook herself and turned her attention back to me. "From what I understand It's quite possible she's disguised herself as a red head or something in such manner. It's much simpler to find the man she's likely with instead."

"How do you know he's not in disguise as well?"

She looked me dead in the eye, pushing up her glasses. "He's not. That, at least, I'm sure of. So, have you seen either of them?"

I glanced back down at the paper and nodded. "I think I saw the man walking with a young woman last night, though I didn't see her clearly."

"Are you positive?"

"Pretty, it's not often a guy who looks like that walks by anyway. It was in the residential district."

"Where? Did you see what building they entered?" Her voice was no longer calm, her expression becoming frazzled.

I took a step back. "Oh, uh, they were going in the direction of the line of rented lodgings near the center-"

"You didn't see what building they entered?"

I shook my head no and she rubbed her temple.

"Never mind, that's enough. Thanks for the help." She bobbed a curtsy and ran off.

Leaving me behind.

I found Septemera last. She was grabbing every person who passed by, desperately drilling them before leaving them behind, bedazzled by her passion. Others had been moved to join her, handing out fliers as people passed by. As only Septemera could do.

I came up behind her, tapping her shoulder and making her jump.

"Eek!" She squealed turning to me. "Don't do that, you just about gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry," I said, putting my hands up and taking a step back. "I was just wondering, what's going on here?"

"Oh that." She smiled brightly, taking my hands – presumably so I couldn't run away. "Everyone here is helping me look for my older sister, she's been missing for a long while but we got our first lead in a long time. Please, could you help us look for her?"

"I'm sorry," I said, nearly biting my own tongue. I couldn't help look for myself. I wasn't trying to fool anyone. "I can't help you look."

Her expression became as serious as I had ever seen it. This must've been how she had convinced the others. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"I am."

She let my hand go and looked down, biting her lip and clenching her hands. "I'm sorry." She said. "I know it's not fair of me to ask complete strangers for help, I just, we were so close. I can't move on until I find her. I've never felt stuck like this before, for so long before, this is finally my chance to move forward."

I gave a small smile that she didn't see.

"Hey now." I said leaning forward, giving her head a little pat. "Chin up. If you're looking down you'll never find who you're looking for. All you'll find are feet, not faces."

She looked back up at me and my smile broadened. She was my one and only little sister after all, even if we were only a year or two apart.

"There now," I said, as she steeled herself, finally facing the world, no longer forcing herself to be energetic and chipper in her search. "Now you can see the faces around you."

"You're right." She said quietly, taking a deep breath. "You're right. Thank you."

"You're welcome." I said standing back and puffing out my chest a little. "Now then, I can't help you search but perhaps I've seen the person you're looking for around. Do you have a description?"

She showed me a flyer.

"I haven't seen her-" I said.

"Oh," Septemera said, downcast. "For some reason I thought you-"

"But," I said, "I think I saw the man last night."

She perked up. "You did?"

"Yeah, he was walking with a young woman, though I didn't see her face."

"Where?"

"The residential-"

"The residential district?" She interrupted. "Really? Thank you!"

She bounced her way through a curtsy and ran off.

Once again, I was left behind.

They had all left me behind.

FUN FACT: This is one of two extra long chapters, the other one being the very last chapter. I'm not actually sure which one is longer to be honest. Thanks for reading!