Free Blooms of Consequence (Dusk Gate Chronicles Book 4) by Breeana Puttroff Page A

remembering the night before. “If we go talk to everyone there, we’re not going to be able to leave and go searching for her. Someone will stop us, try to calm us down, tell us something stupid like everything’s going to be okay, or they’ve got it under control. I’m not going to do that. I’m going to go and find her. Now.”
    Thomas was silent for a long moment. William could see him deliberating what he was going to say.
    “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to go off completely on our own,” he finally said.
    “What, Thomas? Since when are you afraid of jumping into the action?” William was surprised at the twinge of irritation that tightened his chest.
    Thomas looked over at Linnea for several seconds before he turned back to face William. Linnea didn’t look nearly as shocked at her brother’s departure from his usual adventurous spirit as he would have expected her to. In fact, she stared intently down at her hands as Thomas spoke.
    “You’re right, Will. Half a cycle ago, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. Really, I probably wouldn’t have even waited until it was light out – I’d have talked you into sneaking out of the castle in the middle of the night to go searching for her. Half a cycle ago I didn’t know better. I wouldn’t have stopped to think about how that would affect everyone else – to wake up this morning, not only worrying about Quinn, but then finding us missing too.”
    William’s heart sank guiltily. “Sure, Thomas. Get all mature on me now.” Linnea and Thomas followed him in silence as he turned Skittles and headed down the hill toward the camp.
    With Quinn missing, security in the camp was intense now. Several guards patrolled the area; one was just heading back down from a trip to the well. None of them spoke to William as he led his siblings over to the clinic.
    It should have been a relief that when he walked into the clinic and there were no patients – only Jacob, sound asleep on a cot, and Nathaniel who opened his eyes and sat up at the slight noise of them walking in.
    He should have been very grateful that the empty clinic meant that there were no serious injuries, that the citizens of his kingdom were healthy and well. But he couldn’t bring himself to be happy about that. Instead, he felt stupid for having insisted that he come out here, for bringing Quinn with him where she wasn’t safe. They would have managed just fine without him, and she would be in the castle right now, with him.
    Nathaniel clearly hadn’t slept at all. He looked even more exhausted and distraught than William felt – it even appeared that he had been crying.
    William looked down at the floor. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, as moisture pooled in his own eyes. “I should have listened to you – should have made her listen.”
    He heard Linnea swallow loudly behind him.
    Nathaniel didn’t answer, he just stood and walked over to William and put his arms around him, hugging him tight to his chest.
    “We’re going to find her,” Thomas said, after several minutes when Nathaniel had finally released his hold. “We’re going to find her today. Right now. What’s going on with the search?”
     
    *          *          *
    Quinn woke up drenched in sweat from the morning sun hitting the eastern wall of the tent where she’d been sleeping. She could tell from the angle of the light that it was still early, but she was surprised that she’d slept so long – that she’d slept at all actually. And, somehow, she’d not only slept, but had actually managed to dream.
    Of course, she’d been exhausted. They hadn’t walked too much farther after she’d hurt herself – maybe only twenty minutes or so, but it had felt like forever.
     By the time they reached some kind of camp, tents gathered around a clearing, her entire body was aching, and she felt like she might collapse at any moment. 
    The man led her to the first tent they encountered, a large