"So… where the hell were you, man?" Derek crossed his arms and gave Aestrea a sideways look.
James nodded beside him. "Yeah, you vanished after all that chaos. Took your sweet time, too."
At their words, both Maria and Mia turned their heads, curious. Their grips on Aestrea's arms stayed firm, but their eyes were full of questions now.
Aestrea let out a small breath and scratched the back of his neck.
"I left a tracker on someone… a guy named Ethan."
Derek raised an eyebrow.
"Ethan? Who's that?"
"A friend from the Royal Academy," Aestrea said simply. "We're not super close or anything, but we've fought together before."
Maria and Mia listened closely, still holding onto him, though a bit more loosely now.
"The tracker I put on him flared up like crazy," Aestrea continued. "Which meant something was wrong, so I rushed over to him."
He sighed and lowered his hand from his neck. "When I got there, I saw the whole hero group down, almost crying because Ethan was poisoned."
