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((Triple Wednesday -- Page 3 of 3))
Hector wondered if Zeff was going to explain about the advanced technique like he said he would, but Hector also didn’t want to bother the man while he was working. It seemed like the coating was giving him a hard time. No doubt, it was soul-strengthened, and it might’ve even been more than just a simple coating, too. From what Hector could see within the small holes that Zeff was making, there appeared to be more of the shiny black element inside the warehouse.

Quite a bit more.

Had Leo just filled all the warehouses entirely?

Well. Why wouldn’t he have? Considering how apparently durable this material was, such a tactic would have probably immobilized all of the Rainlord servants, with the exception of maybe Melchor Blackburn. Maybe.

But that reminded Hector of the problem of airflow. The Scarf couldn’t sense any air movement in or out of these warehouses, so what about all of the non-servant Rainlords? How were they breathing? Sure, almost all of them had been sleeping in climate-controlled pods, which had their own oxygen supply, but would that be enough? From what he knew, those oxygen supplies were meant for emergency usage only, not as a means of sustaining them for several days. The Undercrust had plenty of breathable air already--if you discounted the fact that it was hot enough to melt your lungs.

Moreover, the Rainlords would’ve been captured sometime after arriving Capaporo, and unless Hector was remembering wrong, that must have been about four or five days ago now.

Thinking about all of that was enough to make him nervous. Had this Leo guy taken the well-being of the non-servants into account? Or was he a thoughtless idiot? Or worse, was he just another callous monster like Geoffrey or Ivan?

Should he bring it up, he wondered? He doubted that Zeff could work any faster than he already was, so maybe that was a bad idea. Maybe it would just cause needless concern or make Zeff do something reckless.

Agh.

He decided to mention it to Garovel privately. It took a little while to explain everything he was worried about.

The reaper decided to go ahead and bring it up publicly.

The subject caused a noticeable pause in Zeff’s work before the man began resuming without a single word spoken.

Voreese consulted with Roman silently and then provided everyone with the relieving information that Leo had checked on the captives yesterday to ensure they were well. Roman had even used the opportunity to speak with a young boy named Marcos.

Apparently, Marcos was not terribly upset by the fact that he was not allowed to leave, having told Roman that he was “used to it by now.”

That put a smile on Hector’s face.

The group seemed to relax somewhat after that. Obviously, they were still on a rescue mission, but it was good to know for certain that the captives really were unharmed, especially after the fiasco on the train.