Before I could give in to the urge to deliver a few bloody noses for the things people were saying about Owen, I headed for the green room to talk to Merlin and get to the bottom of this. With any luck, I might also be able to get to Idris. His neck was skinny enough for me to wrap my hands around it.
I ran into Rod on the way there. “He’s not—?”
I shook my head.
He sighed heavily. “I’ve already tried his cell phone, but there’s no answer.”
“Rod, is it true?”
Groaning, he rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. I never heard anyone say anything. I do know that when he started school, James and Gloria asked me to keep an eye on him, and they wanted me to tell them if anything happened. I always thought it was because he needed someone to look out for him. He was so small when he was young, and you know how shy he is. But I guess it could have been because they had to keep tabs on him.”
“So he had jailers instead of parents? And a magical marshal instead of a best friend?” I said, my voice verging on an outraged screech. “No wonder he’s so screwed up.”
“Our friendship was always real,” Rod insisted, his voice strong and firm. “I never faked that. He’s my best friend and might as well be my little brother, and since he’s in trouble, I think we have better things to do than argue.”
I shook my head wearily. “Sorry. I think priority one is finding Owen. I already checked with the dragons. Do you think he might go talk to James and Gloria?”
“I doubt it. When he’s upset, he withdraws. He doesn’t go talk to anyone.”
“Imagine what he must be feeling,” I whispered, tears of sympathy welling in my eyes.
“Okay, you give this place a once-over in case he’s lurking, and I’ll make a few phone calls, then we’ll meet back here and figure out where to go next,” Rod said, sounding crisp and businesslike.
I nodded and ran off, though I didn’t expect to find Owen anywhere in the vicinity of the tents. While I checked the perimeter of the conference area, Sam flew up to me and landed nearby. “I guess you’re lookin’ for Palmer,” he said.
“Yeah, have you seen him?”
“Sorry, no. And not a sign of Idris, either. He vanished in all the commotion—which was probably his plan all along. You think the kid’s okay?”
“He’s not okay. He’s in shock and he’s alone,” I said. Why didn’t he wait for me? I wondered. I would have been willing to vanish with him.
Sam came along when I went back to meet Rod. “Anything?” Rod asked me.
“Not a sign.”
“I called James and Gloria to give them a heads up, but they’d already got the word. They haven’t heard from him. James offered to come to the city, but I told them to stay put for now. I’m still not getting an answer on his cell or his home phone.”
“Can you track his cell phone?” I asked. “He did something magical to that phone, so maybe you guys can find it.”
“Let me check.” Rod made another phone call, then came back to me. “Got it. Let’s go.”
“I’m comin’ with,” Sam said, flying alongside us as we ran from the tents.
It was still daylight, and this was the longest day of the year. At least we wouldn’t have to search in the dark for a few more hours. “The phone’s in the park, so he may have found a private place to think,” Rod said. He pointed the way so Sam could fly ahead, and then we reached a secluded spot in the Ramble, where a cell phone lay abandoned on the ground.
“There goes that idea,” I said, kneeling to pick up the phone. I checked the missed calls list, and it was full. Everyone was calling him. No wonder he’d ditched the phone. I turned it off and put it in my pocket.
Rod swore and kicked a rock. “Now what?”
“You’ve known him longer than I have. Where’s he likely to go if he needs to think? Does he have any favorite places or places where he feels safe?”
Rod ran his hands through his hair the way Owen usually did when he was thinking. “You mean other than home? That’s where he usually feels safest. Let’s see, I know that sometimes when he needs to clear his head, he goes up to the park around the Cloisters. And there’s the stadium. I don’t think there’s a game tonight, though.”
“I’ll go up there,” Sam offered. “I can stop by the cathedral along the way and get a few gargoyles to help.” He took off, soaring uptown.
