Mira’s bass hung heavy against her hip, strap digging into her shoulder, but she didn't care. 

Demian & Qishi looked at her, a brief look of surprise at her gritty bass solo.

Mira stood at the edge of the stage, her heart hammering too fast to calm. Demian lifted a hand in thanks, Qi Shi bowed dramatically, and the crowd cheered like they’d been waiting for this song their whole lives.

They hadn’t been waiting for her. 

But it still felt good.

She leaned into the mic. “Thank you for staying with us tonight,” she said. “We’ll see you again soon.”

She stepped back as the lights dimmed. The crowd's roar still rang in her ears when a commotion broke out near the back.

"Please! You don't understand-" The words came ragged, desperate. "They disappeared! The sea takes what it wants!"

Mira turned. Near the back of the crowd, a man struggled against two security guards. One eye wild, the other hidden behind a faded patch. His coat hung loose on his frame, salt-stained at the cuffs.

"Get him out of here," someone muttered.

"He's harmless," another voice said. "Just the old sailor from the docks. Rambling again."

The guards dragged him toward the street. As he passed beneath a streetlamp, his good eye found Mira's. For a moment the noise faded, the congratulations, the flash of cameras. Just her and this stranger, connected by something she couldn't name.

"They're gone," he said, not shouting now. "They disappeared!”

Then the guards pushed him around the corner, and the moment broke.

"Mira!" A fan thrust a Sharpie toward her, grinning ear to ear. "Can you sign my-"

She signed, accepting handshakes and praise while her mind circled back to the sailor's words. They disappeared. She scanned the dispersing crowd for Evan, for Joseph. For Qi Shi, who'd slipped away right after the set ended.

"Have you seen Evan?" she asked Demian.

He was lighting a cigarette, hands steady despite the adrenaline. "Last I saw, he was photographing near the café."

"And Joseph?"

"With him, probably." He exhaled smoke. "Why? You worried about what the crazy old man said?"

"No." Yes, Demian knows her too well, "I just want to make sure everyone's accounted for."

She found Qi Shi near the equipment cases, packing her sticks with mechanical precision. "You okay?"

"Fine." Qi Shi didn't look up. "Tired, I’m going home."

"Have you seen Evan? Or Joseph?"

"Not since the set." Qi Shi finally met her eyes. Something flickered there-exhaustion, or something else. "I'm sure they're around."

Mira nodded, but the knot in her stomach tightened.

The celebration swallowed the moment whole.

Wanda appeared almost immediately, arms crossed, expression unreadable. Her police jacket was tied around her waist, radio clipped to her belt despite being off duty.

Behind her, Mira caught sight of her sister finishing a phone call.

“You’re saying some people disappeared near the bridge again?” Wanda frowned. “How many this time?... No, don’t release anything until I get the report. I’ll call you later.”

She ended the call and looked at Mira.

“Good set.”

Mira blinked.

Wanda shrugged. “Shouldn’t you thank me? I’m the reason you’re allowed to stay this late.”

Mira snorted.

“Thanks. Though our parents only listen to you because you do everything they want.”

Wanda rolled her eyes. The familiar irritation settled between them. Then Mira looked around.

No Evan.

No Joseph.

Not even Qi Shi.

“I’m going to check on Evan and Joseph.”

Wanda frowned.

“Now?”

“They left early.”

“Did they text you?”

“No.”

Wanda’s expression sharpened immediately.

“How long ago?”

“I don’t know. Maybe thirty minutes.”

“That’s not enough time to file a missing person report.”

“I know.”

Wanda studied her for a moment.

“But it’s enough time for me to be concerned.”

Mira looked away.

“And you want me to—”

“Stop following me,” Mira said, gentler than she intended. “Please.”

Wanda sighed.

“Fine. Don’t take forever.”

“I’ll go with Demian if I have to” Mira responded quickly.

“Mira” Wanda spoke quietly “he is not a suitable guy for you”

“Don't tell me what to do.” Mira left hurriedly

She searched the crowd. The café. The narrow alley behind the stage where equipment cables snaked through puddles.. She checked her phone-no messages, no missed calls.

The café's back door stood open. She stepped inside, boots squeaking on the wet floor. The kitchen was empty, one mug in the sink. The main room held only abandoned chairs, tables still holding the ghost shapes of cups and elbows.

The room suddenly felt smaller.

She tried calling Joseph and Evan.

No signal.

The sea crashed outside.

On the floor near the counter, something blue caught the lamplight.

Mira knelt. Small, leather-bound, the color of deep water. It’s that book again.

She reached for it.

The cover was warm. Not from the room-warm like skin, like breath. She almost dropped it. Instead she opened to a random page and found handwriting she didn't recognize, words in a language she couldn't read, diagrams that made her head ache if she stared too long.

Mira stood, clutching the volume to her chest. She glanced at Evan’s camera lying beside the register. After a moment’s hesitation, she picked it up.The last photographs filled the screen. She swiped at the pictures “Okay,” she whispered. “Okay, okay…”

The stage, the crowd and Her.

A woman with dark hair, It’s that odd woman with a scar, she was in the audience but left. 

The same woman Mira met before. “I’m a big fan of you Mira”

The sea's rhythm through the open door sounded less like waves and more like something breathing.

For a second, Mira almost took the book straight to Wanda.

Wanda would know what to do. she's been working with the police for awhile, She always knew what to do.

But how was she supposed to explain a warm leather book, a woman with a scar, and a sailor talking about the sea taking people?

So she said nothing.

Instead, she grabbed the book and hurried outside. She needed to find that sailor.

Demian found her ten minutes later, standing at the corner where the guards had dragged the old man away. The street was empty. A cat watched from a windowsill, eyes reflecting orange lamplight.

"You disappeared, who are you looking for now?" he said.

"The sailor"

He laughed, but it died when she didn't join in. "Mira, he's a drunk. A local joke. My grandfather used to buy him coffee when he had bad dreams, that's how long he's been around."

"He knows something."

"He knows how to get attention." Demian stepped closer. 

"What's going on? You look like you've seen a ghost."

She almost told him. The words gathered behind her teeth: Evan and Joseph are gone. I found a book that shouldn't exist. A man with one eye told me they disappeared, and now I can't find them.

“Evan and Joseph are missing.”

The humor vanished from his face.

“What?”

“I can’t find them.”

He glanced toward the dark café.

The sea wind picked up.

Mira tightened her grip on the book.

“I’m going to find that sailor.”

“Now? It’s almost midnight.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have to go alone.”

“I wasn’t asking.”

A corner of his mouth twitched despite the tension.

“Good. Because I’m coming with you.”

Something in his voice had changed, she couldn't convince him otherwise, so she didn’t argue back.

They walked toward the docks, where the old sailors drank and the streetlights ended, and Mira tried not to think about what she would find.