Wyatt pushed past Samuel, who grabbed at his jacket.
“Wyatt? Where are you—”
“I…excuse me.” He didn’t wait for Samuel’s response, just pushed through the crowd to the spot where Saal had vanished. There were still faint plumes of smoke, but no one around him seemed to have noticed, too busy laughing and talking and draining the champagne from their glasses.
“Did you see…” But no one was listening either.
He made his way to the door, forcing his way out against the entering crowd, but on the busy sidewalk, he couldn’t see him anywhere.
Wyatt needed to go home. He turned, nearly colliding with Vanessa.
“What’s wrong? You need to get back inside.”
“I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
“Please.” Wyatt felt a panic welling up inside him. “I need to grab a cab. I need…I need to borrow a few bucks. It’s an emergency.”
Vanessa glared at him, but after a moment, her look of frustration melted away, replaced by something else.
“Okay, kid.” The posh accent was gone and she dug into the bag tied around her wrist, handing him a credit card. “Don’t make me regret this.”