Max

Irun my finger around my collar. It feels unnecessarily tight as I stand in the antiseptic smelling waiting room. The door bursts open and Peter rushes in.

"Is she okay?" he fires out.

"Who?"

"Vikki!" he cries. "That's why you're at the clinic, surely?"

"Not Vikki. She's fine. I told her to go ahead with the moving. It's my librarian, Olly. He is unwell," I reply dully.

Peter gives me a quizzical look. "I didn't think basilisks could get sick," he says, delving into his document bag.

Peter knows Olly. I wouldn't say the pair of them hit it off, but they tolerate each other.

"No, neither do I, but he is sick, and I had to bring him here," I growl.

"I brought the papers anyway." Peter lays them out in front of me. "Get them signed, and I'll get them biked over to the solicitors. Everyone is screaming for this merger to go through."

"Makes a change," I say through gritted teeth as I start working my way through the myriad of contracts, some with multiple points marked for my signature.

"That's strange," Peter says, his phone at his ear. "It's engaged."

"What's engaged?"

"Vikki's phone."

"There's no mobile signal at her house, that's probably why. She's out in the middle of nowhere."

"I'm not ringing her mobile." Peter gives me a longsuffering stare. "Because I know she doesn't get a signal, I'm ringing her landline."

"Maybe she cancelled it," I say absently, signing in another three places.

"Then I would get a single tone, not an engaged tone," Peter says, exasperated. "I only wanted to check on her because I know you'd forget."

I growl under my breath at his insolence.

"Vikki knows I'm thinking about her. I've been busy. She understands," I retort, signing the last two pages with a flourish and giving him my full attention.

Peter looks worried.

"Tavvick is with her," I say as my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it free. "See, this is him calling." I hold up the screen for him to see before answering the video call.

I should have known my security orc would have ways around the lack of mobile signal.

"Tavvick? How's the move?" I say, looking into his green tusked face.

"Boss, she's gone."Tavvick says.

I feel my world crumble at those three words. My legs give way and I sit with a thump.

"Gone?"

"Yeah. The place is empty. There's no sign of her," Tavvick says. "I called Neville, and he said she told him to go and she'd get a lift back with me."

"Mr. Horenson?" A white coated goblin doctor is at the door to the waiting room.

My entire being is pulled in different directions. I look up at Peter, helpless.

"Go be with Olly," Peter says, taking the phone from my hand. "Tavvick and I have got this." He gives me a supportive smile.

I get to my feet, feeling woozy but taking in a deep breath. "Fine," I say, squaring my shoulders. "It's all going to be fine."

I follow the doctor through the clinic's sterile corridors until we reach a private room.

"He needs rest. His heart has been damaged in the past and he's not been looking after himself as he should. Basilisks need water and the dark."

"It's my fault. I've not been checking on his needs," I mutter.

"He'll be absolutely fine after a period of rest," she says. "You can see him, but he can't have visitors for long." She opens the door and I walk into the darkness.

In the dim light, I can make out the gloom of a tank and a shape at the bottom. I make my way over to it and gently tap on the glass.

Olly moves sinuously up to the surface.

"How are you, old friend?"

"Did you find Vikki?" he asks bluntly.

"Yes, yes." I pat his damp hand, clutching the side of the tank. "She's fine and she wants you to get well."

I tuck my terror down inside me. If Vee has gone, why has she gone? What is happening?

This morning, my world was perfect. This evening, it's falling apart.

"That's good," Olly hisses, his eyes closing as he slips back into his tank. "She's the best thing that ever happened to us."