The Polder Quarter was as quiet as my house had been when I had awoken and found Lena gone, something I found disturbing given the activity it normally would have had at this hour. Several warriors were stationed along the easternmost wall near the main entrance, and there was a pair of humans lingering near the infirmary, likely visiting an ill loved one. There was no sign of Lena.

I bypassed the humans and strode directly to the warriors. Upon seeing me, their eyebrows lifted, and they looked between one another in confusion.

“Chief,” the first said. He was a young warrior by the name of Tezik, very capable and eager to learn, though with perhaps a bit too much desire to be on my good side. “We were told you would be at the Capital indefinitely.”

“Lena and Isabelle, two of your colonists,” I demanded, ignoring his words. “In which shanty do they reside?”

They looked at each other again, and Hoq—the burliest of the three—replied. “We do not know most of the colonists by name, Chief.”

“Which shanty has Xam been visiting every day?” I snapped impatiently.

There was an expression of uncertainty on each of their faces, and I could feel my panic returning in droves.

“I am sure you are aware of the Novai attacks,” I spat out, speaking so rapidly my words nearly ran into one another. “One of the girls has been in the Capital with me. The other was brought back here. Where is she?”

“We do not know, Chief,” Tezik said apologetically. “But we heard about the attacks, and we know one of the women works in a separate shanty. I believe it is to the north, shared with several other humans who practice similar trades.” He lifted an arm and pointed in the appropriate direction.

I twisted my neck as if expecting to see Lena’s name in big letters somewhere and nodded once. “Thank you,” I said dismissively, taking off at a trot almost instantly.

The section of the colony that served as a series of offices and general commercial buildings was referred to as The Hall, and I was certain Lena’s place of work would be located within it. I hastened down the hardened dirt path, whipping my eyes from left to right to read every single sign I passed. There was a grocer, a craft store of sorts, something called a chiropractor, and an odd triangular symbol with the words “Psychic Healing” painted beneath. And then I saw what I was looking for.

LENA DEVEREAUX, LIFE COACH

The shanty behind her sign was as dark as the rest around it, but I would leave no stone unturned. I trotted up the steps, as it was lifted on a stilt-supported platform for when the flooding season turned the ground into a shallow wading pool and wrapped my hand around the knob. The door opened without complaint.

Inside it was simple and clean, much like I would have expected a place of Lena’s to be. A basic desk with an accompanying chair sat squarely in the center of the room, and two doorways led into separate spaces that each hosted desks of their own. One of the spaces was decorated with posters of human insides scattered about the walls, and a plaque on the wall boasted something about alternative medicine. The other space was very clearly Lena’s. Books with titles like “Finding Your Gift” and “YOU Are the Reason” were stacked neatly on top of the desk, and several shelves with hundreds of more books were placed up against the wall. Her name was printed on a small marker facing me, and a plaque similar to the other in the previous room hung behind her chair.

Yet, there was no Lena, nor was there any sign she had recently been here.

Dejected and beginning to feel a level of desperation I had never imagined possible, I left the office and returned to the Quarter’s entrance where my three warriors were still gathered. They had been silent when I had first approached them, but now they were talking rapidly amongst themselves, their hands gesturing and their tongues clacking. I walked up without hesitation, and they fell silent.

“She was not there,” I said. “I must find out which shanty is hers. Where is Xam?”

“He is patrolling the Novai camp tonight,” Tezik informed me.

“And Qula?”

“Also patrolling the camp, Chief,” Hoq chimed in.

I groaned loudly, but my groan was almost instantly washed out by another sound, a sound I had not heard in what felt like months. It was an ear-piercing, hair-raising, skin-prickling screech. There was not just one, though, but many, and they split through the air like blades through fresh meat.

The warriors stiffened the moment the noise cut into our conversation, and they hoisted their gaar’kons to their chests. I already had mine drawn, but I, too, raised it in tandem with an eyebrow.

“They have been like this since the two went missing,” Tezik explained in response to my silent question. “Screaming every night, never yelling anything coherent, just yelling.”

“Not like this,” Hoq corrected, jerking his head backward in the direction of the Novai camp. “This is different. This sounds like they are preparing for war or performing a sinister ritual.”

At that moment, I was completely broken in half as to what I should do. Part of me just wanted to go from shanty to shanty, awakening the residents and demanding to know if Lena was inside. The other part of me had an awful feeling, the same feeling I had felt when I had awoken to find Lena missing from her bed, and I felt an urge to go to the Novai camp. Perhaps they had found her. Perhaps it was her capture that had them in such a riotous uproar.

“Stay here,” I ordered the warriors. “Do not leave your post unless to defend the colony.”

Hoq understood what I was planning to do immediately. “Perhaps you will need support, Chief.”

“If Xam and Qula are patrolling the camp, I have enough support,” I told him, though I felt a twinge of gratitude for his concern.

Another round of screeches plunged into my ears, and I sprinted from the colony into the darkness with my gaar’kon ready to fire.