“What?” he asks, sitting up abruptly.

“It’s night outside,” she says, “and they haven’t returned yet.”

Coming awake quickly, he stands up and looks around, Jiron and Tinok are nowhere in the room. “How long have they been gone?” he asks worriedly.

“Several hours,” Cassie replies from where she stands behind Delia. “He said they would be back before it got dark. I’m worried.”

Concerned himself, James says, “Let me take a look outside and see if I can tell what’s going on.”

“Be careful,” Cassie warns.

“I will,” he assures her. “I’ll just stick my head out and see what the situation is like outside.”

The girls accompany him over to the passage and watch as he makes his way through the rubble to the stairway.

The passage is fairly choked with debris, he can’t believe they managed to drag him through here unconscious after the battle. At the stairs, he has to step carefully so as not to dislodge any of the rocks and stones, the entire area seems very unstable.

Nearing the top, he begins to see the starlight being filtered through the bushes that have overgrown the entrance. He reaches the top of the stairs and slowly and cautiously, peers through the bushes to see what’s going on outside.

He looks around and discovers that the bushes are located within a corner of a city park, that’s wedged in among several buildings. It’s not much more than a small grassy area with trees, where the people could take their ease from the worries of the day.

With only the stars above for light, James can’t make out much more than vague shadows, but it doesn’t look as if there’s anyone around. He remains there scanning the area for several minutes before returning back down to the room.

“Didn’t see them out there,” he tells the girls as he leaves the passage.

“What are we going to do?” Cassie asks, fear in her eyes.

“I’m sure they’re okay,” Delia states with conviction. “They know the area and Jiron is good at evading people when he wants too. Besides, they may have had to take a longer route to get back, or hole up and wait until they can once again move without being seen.”