Episode 10: Disappearance

            Moira groaned as she sat up. She had stayed up way too late talking to Toby online the night before. She had wanted to go to his room to see him, but she didn’t want to make her team any madder than they already were. Luckily, Toby had understood about the whole thing with Will. She had been worried that he might get mad, but he seemed to get that she hadn’t wanted Will to kiss her. He had actually laughed when she told him that she kicked Will.

            They were staying in a suite, which was a nice change from the tiny two bed hotel rooms they had previously inhabited. Moira stretched, relishing in the fact that she hadn’t had to share a bed with Lily this time—Lily who was currently storming into her room, her face as white as a sheet.

            “What’s wrong?” Moira asked. She immediately sensed that it wasn’t a good time to yell at Lily for bothering her.

            “Jesse’s gone,” Lily informed her. “So is Will.”

            “What do you mean gone?”

            Adrian came up behind Lily. “They’re gone. We searched the whole room. No sign of them. The beds don’t even look slept in.”

            Moira crawled out of bed and wandered into the front room of the suite, the other two following her like lost puppy dogs. She glanced around the room and spotted a manila envelope propped up on the table behind the couch. She crossed the room and picked it up. “Um, hello? Didn’t you notice this?” she asked, waving it in the air.

            Adrian and Lily both shook their heads. She rolled her eyes at them and ripped open the envelope, spilling the contents onto the table. There was a DVD and quite a few maps.

            She popped the DVD into the hotel room’s player and turned on the TV. Chance Cagney immediately appeared on the screen.

            “Aloha Promethiads! I trust you’re enjoying your little stay in paradise. I’m sure you’re wondering where your teammates are this morning. You see, the Hunters rounded up anyone who left the room. I hope you still have your gear from your trip to the desert, because you’re going to need some of it. Now, grab your maps and head on out. You wouldn’t want to see your teammates laid out on a stretcher, would you?”

            The screen went blank and they faced each other. Lily started crying. “Are they going to die?”

            “Not if we get there soon, Lil,” Adrian said. He headed into his room and upended his bag, dumping the contents onto his bed. He sifted through them and stuck a compass, a water bottle, a first aid kit and a tube of sunscreen into his bag. He came back into the front room and started shoving maps in with the other items. “Get dressed,” he ordered the girls.

            Lily and Moira silently headed for their respective rooms to change. “Don’t forget your water bottles,” Adrian called after them. “I have a feeling it’s going to get hot.”

TO BE CONTINUED . . . 

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