I think he showed me the map so I would understand that the land that had once been the largest human-controlled area in the world is gone forever. The people who still live in Cel-Romano will adapt to a simpler way of life or fade away as many did before them.

Business as usual, but nothing will be the same. I think you, better than I, understand that.

—Shady

CHAPTER 12

Moonsday, Messis 13

As he started up the stairs to Sissy’s apartment, Monty nodded to the Sanguinati who stood watch in the building’s front hall.

Yesterday his mother had shown up early, asking him to take her to the neighborhood Universal Temple, saying they should all spend a little time on Earthday thanking the guardian spirits for their blessings and asking them for the strength to meet coming challenges. When he suggested they take Sissy and the girls with them, Twyla told him to let Sierra have some room to think. She’d been a bit sharp with him, which had made him wonder if she’d spoken to Sissy that morning and already knew the response to that suggestion.

After visiting the temple, he had taken Twyla and Lizzy out for lunch. They met up with the Denbys, who also wanted a day away from the Courtyard. All of them went to a beach on Lake Etu where the children could look for shells and play at the water’s edge. They picked up pizzas from Hot Crust on the way home and spent the evening at the Denby residence playing board games.

There were no lights on in Sissy’s apartment when Monty watched Twyla cross Crowfield Avenue and go up to her efficiency apartment above the seamstress/tailor’s shop. He heard no footsteps overhead while Lizzy got ready for bed. But he hadn’t thought much about it since it was the girls’ bedtime and Sissy might have turned in early too. His mama had told him that morning that Sissy didn’t need anything. He had taken that to mean she had come to some arrangement with Tess and Nadine to supply Sissy and the girls with some food before all the Courtyard shops closed for Earthday.

But this was a new week, a new beginning. He had followed Simon’s orders and not given Sissy any food on Watersday, and he’d stayed away from the Courtyard most of yesterday. But the “no food” command didn’t apply now, so there was no reason he couldn’t buy breakfast for Sissy and his nieces before he went to work. Maybe, having been given a day to herself to consider her actions and the serious consequences, Sissy would really talk to him about what kept happening between her and Jimmy. Or if she wouldn’t talk to him, maybe he could convince her to talk to Theral MacDonald, who had gotten away from an abusive relationship.

He raised his hand to knock on Sissy’s door, then realized the door was ajar, as if someone had stepped out for a moment.

Monty pushed the door open a little ways. “Sissy?”

No answer. No sounds.

Monty pushed the door open all the way and wished he had his gun. He stepped inside, cautious, listening. “Sissy?”

No sign of struggle. What was left of a package of crackers sat on the kitchen table, along with an open jar of peanut butter. Crumbs on the dishes, milk residue in the glasses. Was this from last night or early this morning? Had he misunderstood and Sissy had been left for a whole day without food?

He looked in the bedrooms. No one there. He checked the bathroom. Then he checked closets and drawers and the medicine chest.

And then he rushed back down the stairs.

“My sister,” he said, wondering if the Sanguinati could sense how fast his heart was beating. “Did you see her last night or this morning?”

“I saw her just after daybreak on Earthday,” the Sanguinati replied. “She and her young left in a yellow taxi. They had luggage.”

“Didn’t you try to stop her?”

“Why would I?”

A grown woman leaving with her own children. No reason for anyone to stop her. After all, the Sanguinati was there to prevent anyone who wasn’t authorized from entering the building, not to detain someone who lived there. “I don’t suppose she said anything about where she was going?”

“No, but you could ask Vlad or Simon. They kept watch that night. They might know more.”

“Thank you. I will.” Monty returned to his apartment. Pulling aside the sheer curtains, he studied the Courtyard stores across the street. No lights on in Howling Good Reads. No lights in the front part of A Little Bite, but Nadine would be there by now, making the breads and pastries that would be offered for breakfast.

He checked his watch, then pulled out his mobile phone. He would call Captain Burke and . . . tell him what? This wasn’t a manhunt where every minute counted. No crime had been committed—at least none he knew about.

But his sister had packed up and left without a word to anyone.

He looked across the street to the efficiency apartment his mother had chosen to make her home.

Maybe Sissy had told someone. Maybe that explained his mama’s sharpness until they were away from the Courtyard—until he wouldn’t have reason to notice Sissy’s absence for a full day.

Monty reined in his impatience when he saw the untouched food on Lizzy’s plate. Breakfast had turned into a weird little power struggle, with Lizzy dawdling and dawdling until he pushed back hard because being late meant missing the bus and having to spend money on a taxi in order to get to the station reasonably close to the start of his shift. Burke was willing to give him more leeway than other officers because the constant interaction with the Courtyard was like being on call 24/7, but it wasn’t fair to other officers and certainly wasn’t fair to Kowalski, who was his partner and would wait for him.