The man’s eyes bugged out. Laughing, Leana handed Yuki to the man, who immediately began to fumble. Yuki, being patient, waited for him to secure his hold. “Am I doing this right?” Theo asked no one in particular.
Zoe took pity on the man. It was obvious he had never held a child before in his life. Which made her wonder about Gage’s upbringing.
She adjusted his hold, so Yuki sat easily on his forearm. “There.”
“You have my thanks,” he replied, staring at Yuki, who stared right back.
Simon shook his head and winked at Ame, who giggled. Watching the easy way Simon and Leana handled Ame, she realized that these two probably played a huge role in raising Gage. It made her feel better to know there had been some warmth in his life.
Yuki reached up and placed his tiny hand on Theo’s cheek. “Will you findchichiue?”
“Chichiuemeans father,” she said, translating the words.
Theo straightened. “Of course, I will. You do not have to worry about a thing.”
Theo handed Yuki back over to Leana and strode over to Aiden. “What is being done to find my son?”
Leana shook her head. “Never,ever, have I seen him like this.”
Simon shrugged. “Better late than never, I suppose.”
Together they carried the boys over to Meryn’s table. Sebastian was waiting on them with two smaller bowls of pudding for the boys. After the boys were seated, Sebastian handed each of them a spoon.
Zoe sat when Magnus, Simon, and Leana returned to the meeting with Aiden. She then turned to Meryn. “What are you working on?”
Meryn looked up. “How come you’re not over there getting an update from Aiden?”
Zoe frowned. “Why would I go over there when obviously you will know something first?”
Sebastian chuckled, then covered his mouth with his fist and coughed.
Meryn grinned. “See, you get me.”
“Anything?” Zoe asked, pointing to the laptop.
Meryn shook her head. “I don’t see anything on the message boards from the city residents. I posted there when I knew we were heading this way. In addition to the warriors, the people of Noctem Falls are looking too. All I’ve seen so far are posts asking about the random rumbling they heard earlier.”
Zoe sighed, sat back, and looked around. Up in the corner, near the high ceiling, she spotted a camera. “Meryn, could the cameras have caught anything?”
Meryn looked up sharply, her eyes wide. “I lurves you right now.” Her fingers began moving fervently.
A small man with white-blond hair and a gigantic warrior walked over. “Avery, I need to be over there to get orders,” the warrior protested, pointing to the crowd around Aiden.
“Warrick, you can go. I, on the other hand, will be gettingmyorders from Meryn,” Avery countered.
Warrick sighed. “I’m not leaving you alone with this crazy quartet.”
Nigel, Neil, and Pip wiggled their fingers at the warrior.
Zoe stared. Avery was an older, anglo version of her boys. All white hair and blue eyes.
“Meryn, please give me something to do to help,” Avery begged.
“Shush a second,” Meryn ordered, her eyes tracking something on the screen.
Avery nodded and waited.
She clicked, then clicked again. Zoe stood and walked around to see what she was doing.