Blacktail Deer Plateau I search for someone who hides

"Gunnar, then," she said slowly, finding that the other word was a little too strange for her tongue. She was wholly English, having descended from the American DeMonte family, and therefore foreign words were not only a mouthful, but almost impossible for her to pronounce properly. "We looked for her, but her trail let to a dead end. We have no idea where she went."

How Junior had managed such a disappearing act was truly miraculous. If Saena'd been a little more levelheaded at the time, she would have mentioned the hidden cave at the back of Pied's den and suspected Junior had gone that way. It hadn't crossed her mind and still didn't, though. Junior's scent had ended before the den, anyway, at least as far as any of them could tell. The girl had vanished, like she'd grown wings and flown away.

"I wish I could tell you where she might have gone, but she never gave any indication she was going to leave. She just... left." Maybe, like Atticus, Junior had crawled off somewhere to die of her injuries. Saena swallowed that bitter, painful thought. "It's okay," she said when Gunnar apologized, "you didn't know she was gone and it isn't your fault. She's been gone for a few weeks. I just wish she'd said something first." Especially because she was pretty sick, she silently added. She could have given advice, maybe, but it was Junior who would've given the best advice. The girl was stubborn and wild, but she probably had better advice than Saena did.