She walked down to the assigned gate, took a seat, and resumed reading the hook she had begun the night before. It was titled “The Spiritual Child.” and it was written by Simon Lawrence. She was drawn to the book for several reasons-first, because it made frequent reference to the writing of Robert Coles, and to his book The Spiritual Life of Children in particular, which she had read for a class in psychology last semester and enjoyed immensely, and second, because she was on her way to find John Ross, who was working for Lawrence at Fresh Start, and she wanted to know something about the thinking of flee man with whom a failed Knight of the Word would ally himself Of course, it might be that this was only a job for Ross and nothing more, but Nest didn’t think so. That didn’t sound like John Ross. He wasn’t the sort to take a job indiscriminately. After abandoning his service to the Word, he would want to find something he felt strongly about to commit to.
In any case, she had whiled away the time reading Simon Lawrence, the airplane still hadn’t shown, the weather had begun to deteriorate with the approach of a heavy thunderstorm, and the departure time had been pushed back yet again- Growing concerned that she might not get out at all, Nest had gone up to the gate agent and asked what the chances were that the flight might not leave. The agent said she didn’t know. Nest retraced her steps to customer service and asked the agent on duty if she could transfer to another flight. The agent looked doubtful until Nest explained that a close friend was dying, and she needed to get to Seattle right away if she was to be of any comfort to him It was close enough to the truth that she didn’t feel too bad about saying it, and it got her a seat on a flight to Denver connecting on to Seattle.
The flight had left a little after five, she was in Denver by six forty-five, mountain time, and back on a second plane to Seattle by seven-fifty. The flight up took another tyro hours and something, and it was approaching ten o’clock Pacific time before the plane touched down at Sea-Tac. Nest disembarked carrying her bag, walked outside to the taxi stand, and caught a ride downtown. Her driver was Pakistani or East Indian, a Sikh perhaps, wearing one of those turbans, and he didn’t have much to say. She still hadn’t seen a sign of Ariel, and she was beginning to worry. She could fund her way around the city, locate John Ross, and make her pitch alone if she had to, but she would feel better having someone she could turn to for advice if she came up against a problem. She was already composing what she would say to Ross. She was wondering as well why he would pay any attention to her, the Lady’s assurances notwithstanding.
She Missed Pick terribly. She hadn’t thought their separation would be so bad, but it was. He had been with her almost constantly from the time she was six years old; he was her best friend. She had been able to leave him to go off to school, but Northwestern University was only a three-hour drive from Hopewell and it didn’t feel so far away. She supposed her grandfather’s death contributed to her discomfort as well; Pick was the last link to her childhood, and she didn’t like leaving him behind. It was also the first tune she had done anything involving the magic without him. Whatever the reason, not having him there made her decidedly uneasy.
The taxi driver had taken her to the Alexis Hotel, where she had booked a room the night before by phone. The Alexis was situated right at the north end of Pioneer Square, not far from the offices of Fresh Start. It was the best hotel in the area, and Nest had decided from the start that if she was going to travel to a strange city, she wanted to stay in a good place. She had been able to get a favourable rate on a standard room for the two-night stopover she had planned. She checked in at the front clerk, took the elevator to her room, dropped her bag on the bed, and looked around restlessly.