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"Goddamnit," Sadie cursed.
"I don't understand," Lewis said. "Avel kidnapped Etta?"
"He used her to get here," Sadie explained. "You can swap places with people through the weak spots if you have something connected to them. Avel said he met her at an art group, and she gave him a picture. He must have used it as the tether, to get to Stonebridge."
Lewis' eyes widened. He glanced out of the window where Avel had escaped from, shaking his head. "How awful for her," he murmured.
Baz had been pacing the length of the room, storms rolling in his eyes. "We're wasting time," he said. "We need to find Avel before he disappears. No way in hell am I letting that slimy bastard get away with this."
Lewis looked up at him. "It's probably too late to catch him now. Besides, he was using magic earlier." He still said the word magic cautiously, like he couldn't quite bring himself to commit to it. "We've got no answer for that."
"I don't care."
"Well, you should. If Etta really is in Eseran, then we can still bring her back. We should be focusing on that, not wasting our time with Avel." Lewis looked down at the crumpled map on the floor and sighed. "It was clever of you to figure it out, but I do wish you'd waited until we'd found out where the Gate was."
"That's it?" Baz rounded on him. "We just found out that guy trapped Etta in another fucking world and that's all you've got to say?"
Lewis blinked. "Of course, I'm annoyed," he said, carefully. "But beating someone up won't change the situation. If we want to help Etta, we need to find the Gate. That's all there is too it."
It was a good point. But Baz wouldn't listen to reason when he was riled up. Sadie could see how this conversation was going to end, and it wasn't pretty. She quickly stepped between them, hand on Baz's chest to halt his advance.
"You're right," she said, with a pointed glance at Baz. "But I think we need some time to cool off first. Let's pick this up tomorrow, when we've all thought about what we should do next."
Lewis frowned, shooting a wary glance at Baz. "If you say so," he said.
"Come on," she said. "Let's go for a walk."
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