The cold knot in Stefan's stomach hadn't left since the blackout. Every second without Ruby felt like a clock ticking down toward something he didn't want to name.
Though he'd left Ethan and officer Dylan Walter to check the cameras so he could search ahead, he didn't know where to start.
He stood and rubbed his head, wondering if his helplessness was going to cost Ruby her life but just before he could start feeling helpless, a thought flashed through his mind and he immediately led Rayna to where it had all started.
Once they got there, Stefan's eyes scanned every corner, every shadow, as if she might just step out of one.
"We'll start here. If she disappeared right from here then they might not have taken her too far," he said, his voice clipped. "Ask those nurses where the storage rooms and abandoned wards around here are. She could be locked in one of them."
