After Sonak stormed out, I turo the others and ented with a raised eyebrow, “Even for a redhead, that was excessive.”

  Al’s brow furrowed in fusion as he tilted his head slightly. “What is the corretioween his hair color and his as?” he asked, looking genuinely puzzled.

  I chuckled lightly, trying to ease the tension. “Oh, there is a sensus that redheads are temperamental.”

  Mahya rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “That was not temperamental but pin stupid,” she ented, shaking her head in disbelief.

  “Yeah … I don’t think that was a redhead trait. That was a Sonak trait,” I said.

  Al’s face remained serious as he leaned forward. “Are we still itted to carrying out the pn?”

  I sighed deeply and ran a hand through my hair. “Yeah,” I said, exhaling. “Idiot or no idiot, they’re still holding a Traveler captive, and we o get him out.”

  Al houghtfully. “Uhose circumstances, I require a secluded location to coct the sleeping potion.”

  “Why secluded?” I asked.

  Al’s expression turned grave. “As soon as I initiate the brewing procedure, those in close proximity will bee drowsy and fall into a deep sleep.”

  Mahya’s eyes widened with surprise. “Really? It’s that strong?”

  “Yes,” Al firmed, his tone proud and desding at the same time. It impressed me he even mahat.

  “How secluded?” I asked. “Give me a distance measurement that the potion won’t have an effect.”

  “A distance of fifty meters away from the closest person should be adequate,” he replied with certainty. “Additionally, the location should possess the necessary facilities for brewing substantial amounts.”

  “Pots and stuff, or only gas burners?” I asked,

  “Only gas.”

  “How long do you need?”

  “A week should suffice,” he said firmly.

  I looked online for pces to rent or sell outside of Vegas, but close enough that we wouldn’t have a problem getting there, and found a diner for sale on Iate 15, ten miles from Vegas. After meeting with the owner, I re for two weeks. When I told him it was for a cooking seminar, I had to pay extra to cover potential damages, but it was worth it. The location erfect—secluded, with no people around, but close enough for our needs.

  Al informed us he would o stay on site to babysit the potion, so after dropping him off and arranging a fortable sleeping space for him, I returo the hotel and started a research projeline about the Nellis Air Force Base.

  First, we o get on the base and scout where they kept the Traveler. Mahya thought she found a potential solution to this problem. It turned out that public tours or unity events allowed limited access to the base.

  I called the Public Affairs Office (PAO) tister but found it wouldn’t work. They did offer tours, but those tours involved a background cheot a good idea for us.

  “Mahya, I don’t think we risk the official tour route,” I groaned, sinking deeper into the couch with slumped shoulders. “They want a background check. That’s a hard pass.”

  She sighed. “Yeah, I felt it was too good to be true. But we ’t just give up. There has to be another way.”

  “What if we sneak on the base?” I suggested. “We turn invisible, sneak past the guards, and start the search by the Gate. He has to be nearby, right? It just makes sense.”

  She nodded slowly, sidering it. “It’s risky as hell, but it could work. If we feel the Gate, we should be able to feel him too.”

  “Yeah, that’s our best option.”

  “And if their fanti-magic field affects us?” she asked, a worried look crossing her face.

  Rubbing my , I po. “I don’t think it covers the entire base. We’ll go in uhe cover of night, and the sed we feel any magiterference, we back up.”

  With a nod of agreement, we geared up for our mission. After renting a car, we drove to the base to look for a pce to park and start our scouting mission.

  That night, uhe cloak of darkness, Mahya and I ninja-sneaked our way into Nellis Air Force Base, ting on our invisibility spell to keep us off the guards’ radar. The air was tense as we skulked through the shadows, dodging security patrols and surveilnce cameras, just in case. I felt like James Bond in a spy movie, sneaking into a Nazi base to gather information.

  Startihe Gate, where we figured the Traveler would most likely be, we bed every nook and y—buildings, ste units, and pces we probably shouldn’t have been. But found nothing. There were a lot of guards outside on patrol, but with our invisibility, we could navigate around them. To be on the safe side, we didn’t approach the actual building with the Gate. Those soldiers worked around an active Gate and caught a Traveler, so we didn’t want to risk it.

  “Any luck?” I asked Mahya mentally as we scoured yet another building.

  “Nothing.”

  We kept at it, cheg every hiding spot we could think of—hangars, offices, eveer edges of the base. We used our speed to the max to get from one pce to ahe base was enormous. Hours slipped by as hope dwindled with each empty spot we turned up.

  “We’ve been everywhere. I don’t get it,” Mahya’s mental voice sounded disappointed.

  It was really frustrating. “I’m stumped, too. But we ’t throw iowel just yet. Let’s do one more sweep through the main plex.”

  We retraced our steps, hitting up all the key spots with fresh determination. As the sky began to break with dawn, we had to admit defeat.

  “He’s either not here, or we ’t sense him because of the field,” I admitted relutly.

  “We’ll find anle. We have to.”

  We left with heavy hearts, ghosting out of there under our invisibility spell, slipping bato the darkroup and e up with a new pn.

  When I woke up in the evening, I sat on the baly drinking coffee, with my mind going round and round, trying to find a solution. Suddenly, all my hair flopped forward and covered my face.

  “I have to get a haircut. My hair already reached the middle of my back,” I thought to myself a a giggle in the air. It wasn’t a sound but a feeling of mischievous glee.

  Smiling, I sent a feeling of greetings to the wind. She ruffled my hair again in every dire. I tio drink my coffee and suddenly froze, getting a crazy idea.

  “Mahya,” I called, and when she came over, I said. “I think I have an idea. It might be a bit unventional, but it could work.”

  “What?”

  “What if I ask the wind to look for the Traveler? Air is everywhere, and no field stop it.”

  She looked at me like I was off the rails for a few seds, then said, “It’s worth a try. If yoing crazy, at least we’ll get something out of it.”

  I stuy to her, and she started ughing out loud.

  “We’ll have to do it he base so I direct the wind where to look, and you’ll have to watch over me so I won’t lose myself pletely or start h. I don’t think I do this with a split mind. Last time, I felt the split prevented me from fully eg with the wind. I think that for such a plex task, I’ll have to ect with her pletely.”

  “What do you mean h?”

  “Remember I fell into the water?” She nodded, so I tinued, “It happened because I got pletely lost in the wind and started h. The boat kept going, and I got left behind.”

  She looked at me wide-eyed and said, “When you said you ran into a little problem, I thought you lost awareness of where you were and fell into the water. Are you telling me you fly now?”

  “ly. I did hover, but it was for a few seds, and I had no trol.”

  She didn’t look vinced, but didn’t press the issue.

  We returo the same parking spot from the night before, left the car, and crept towards the base again. I found a good pce to settle down. Mahya held me by the shoulders so I wouldn’t start h, and I spread my seo feel the wind, the air.

  I felt the mana in the air a myself sink deeper and deeper into the feeling. I kept reminding myself in the bay mind, “Don’t lose yourself pletely; you have a mission.” I felt the e between us form, and I allowed myself to ect more while fighting not to lose my train of thought. As I neared plete e, with the st remnants of self-awareness, I unicated to the wind a sense of searg, significe, loss, and friendship. I drew inspiration from my feelings for Lis, that feeling of close friendship, ahat feeling, again with a sense of loss. And then again, the feeling of searg, to locate what I had lost. During all this time, I tried to establish an area for the feeling, the area of ??the base. As if to tell her this is where I lost what I was looking for. Then I sehe feeling of a Traveler. That particur and unmistakable feeling of a Traveler. I repeated this sequehree times until I felt sent from her.

  I sat there in a semi-trance while ected to the wind, and only Mahya’s hands kept me ected to the here and now. After an unknown time, I got a strong feeling from the wind of disappoi and a sequenotions that I couldn’t interpret. I sent her a sense of fusion, and again, I received a feeling of disappoi, emptiness, a desire to help me, and again a feeling of disappoi and sadness.

  This time, I uood; she couldn’t find the Traveler a sad that she couldn’t help me. I sent her a feeling of love, friendship, appreciation, and thanks. I sent the sequence repeatedly, with an underline of, it’s okay, you helped me a lot. After some time, I felt the giggle again. She realized I wasn’t disappointed, caressed my cheek with a gust of wind, ruffled my hair for the st time, and the e between us broke.

  “He’s not on the base,” I said quietly to Mahya.

  “You’re sure?”

  “Positive. The wind was sad she couldn’t help me; she would have found him if he was here.”

  I felt her shake her head, and she mumbled, “Wizards are crazy, the whole lot of them.”

  I pushed her pyfully. “Don’t say that. My crazy is handy.”

  She put her fio her lips and hissed, “Shhhh.” Switg to a mental speech, she said, “Let’s get out of here before they discover us.”

  We started towards the car, and both stopped in our tracks. We felt a Traveler. After a moment, it was clear it was Sonak, not the Traveler we were looking for.

  “Should we tact him?” Mahya asked me mentally, soundihahusiastic.

  “No. I’m not going to babysit his temper.” I sent her forcefully. It might have been too forceful. She was invisible, but I still felt her wince.

  Whe to the hotel, I pyed checkers with Rue for a few hours, my mind going in circles as I tried to figure out where they could have moved him. I was so preoccupied that Rue won all the rounds without cheating.

  After a while, I let it be and stop thinking about it. There was no point in driving myself crazy. We would start a new searorrow.