Panic, exhaustion, struggling, and the overwhelming need for help. Blare through the bond they made a couple of days ago.

It’s an agonizing thing to feel when the past few days have been coated in a leftover softness.

It’s especially worrying when the blaring stops abruptly. Like someone cut fishing line while it was taught.

The silence was like a slap in the face.

Eve can feel her brain firing on all cylinders. Where is everyone? She needs to know that everyone is safe, so she can rule out what that was.

“Where are you?” She asks over their bond, gritted teeth almost seething. Eve is gripping the bus armrests like their the only thing keeping her from falling over.

“Kaitlynn is driving me today,” Oakley states quickly. He sounds just as worried as she feels, but seems to be going through what they know, like she is.

“In a Taxi, did everyone else feel that?” Noah states next, her voice wavering a little, quiet at the end.

“Yes, we did…Will?” She affirms Noah’s worries, waiting for Will to answer.

But he doesn’t.

It’s nothing but silence when they try to speak to him.

Nothing but silence when they try to reach out to him.

“I thought I saw him miss the bus, but I don’t know where he went after that.” Eve pondered.

“Maybe he tried walking to school?” Oakley added, brainstorming out loud. Trying to get thoughts out there. “That was him, right? That–, those feelings.” Noah seemed to spiral enough for all of them.

“Y–, Yeah. Don’t panic, Noah, we need to help him. We can’t panic right now.”

Eve tried to speak confidently for all of them, stabilizing Noah, and leading them to some sort of plan. If she could figure one out.

“Eve’s right, we need to meet and figure out what to do. It won’t help us to panic.” Oakley reasoned, words stabilizing as he stumbles over affirmation. Okay, so we meet. Where? Their on their way to school, where could they possibly meet?

“Meet in the Library during lunch.” Eve almost ordered. “We’re going to school? What if-.” Noah barked, cut off.

“I get how you feel, Noah, but we don’t have any idea where he is right now. Let’s think about it during lunch, and then figure it out.” Oakley placated, soothing Noah’s worries enough to get them to school.

The large campus, looming over them, felt largely haunting, seeing as the sky had taken to clouding over when they got there.

Eve dropping out of the bus, Noah climbing out of her taxi, and Oakley sliding out of Kaitlyn's car. They convene in front of the school.

“Let’s go.” Oakley tilts his head at the school, pointedly. Inside wasn’t much better, a sort of sickly feeling rolling over, not from anything the staff or teachers do, just a sharp and bubbling feeling forming in their stomachs.

Suspicions are climbing at an apex. But they still have classes, so they can’t dwell on them for too long.

Teachers drone on, and Eve tries to take notes, but she can’t focus over the silence in her head.

If she could, she’d put a speaker to her ear and play metronome, so maybe Will would take a hint and at least show them his heart is beating. That he’s alive. Maybe then she wouldn’t take subpar notes during math class. Or stare at the wall during history class.

Eveline can imagine that Noah and Oakley aren’t doing any better than she is. She feels like it’s her fault something happened. She doesn’t know why or what even happened, but she feels like she could have stopped it somehow.

Maybe if she asked the bus driver to stop for a second. He would be sitting next to her, falling asleep at his desk.

Lunch finally arrives after the fourth period. Students shuffling out of rooms at random, forming their groups, and talking happily to each other.

Eve can’t stand their faces, blissfully unaware of what’s going on. She doesn’t linger for long, walking off to the library immediately. Weaving through bodies as she wades her way to the empty book-filled place.

Sitting down at the large white table, hands steepled as she thinks. Seconds pass, as Noah and Oakley drop down in a similar fashion.

Oakley looked focused, and Noah more composed than she was sounding on the drive here. “I have an Idea…” She starts, it’s not a bad one, depending on how much they want to trust authorities.

“What is it? I’ll do anything.” Oakley meets her eyes. Noah nods, her eyebrows knitted together.

“We consolidate our… evidence, and call my dad.” She huffed out gruffly.

“Your dad? The commissioner? Are you sure he’ll help us?” Noah questioned, understandably untrusting. Adults who take advantage of students who dont look at the lease are why this all started, anyway.

“Yes, I didn’t want to bother them before, but I trust them; we need their help.” Eveline's voice wavered; she never wanted to cause them any trouble, but it seemed like it was inevitable.

They can’t do this without the police. They had gathered evidence, hopefully enough for immediate action. “Okay, we trust you.” Oakley gave a sharp nod, looking into her eyes again with a determined glint. She broke eye contact to fish her phone out of her pocket. Her hands had small tremors as she pressed the call button.

Beep. Beep. Bee-. The line picked up.

“Hey, honey, what’s up?” You don’t usually call during lunch.” The comforting timbre of her dad’s voice swept over her, doing a little to calm her nerves.

“Dad, I need help. You missed so much. We found a teddy bear in the teacher's office, which had a tape containing gory footage in it. Don’t ask how I know.

We have evidence of our headmaster being involved with it, and the architect of the school being complacent and withholding knowledge about the school building structure.

Specifically, a basement.

Will got targeted by some pure wolves, no, it’s not just a boy’s being boys thing. Will went missing on his way to school today. We bonded, and we could feel the panic from when we think he was kidnapped. Dad, please help.” She let out a big exhale as she unloaded all of that.

“Oh, Oh wow.

Honey, I’m so sorry you had to go through that.

I’m going to need to verify your evidence. I’m on my way, this’ll be categorized as an anonymous tip,

I’m bringing you’re mom.” Before Eve could protest, he hung up. She rolls her eyes and stands up, keeping her hands pressed flat to the table.

“Is your mom a tough subject?” Noah asked with a little apprehension. Probably noticing how she stuttered at the mention.

“No, she’s just going to lecture me.” Eve stood up fully, rifling through the box of evidence, setting it on the table, and sorting it from far-fetched to concrete.

The teddy bear from hell sat at the far right, settled next to Oakley and Noah’s hard-found recordings, and printed out Pictures of family secrets.

Will’s bruises were printed out and put in a small black binder next to them. Smaller pieces of evidence are to the left of those.

It takes about half an hour before the door to the library bursts open. Noah and Oakley turn to see who came in.

Conner Dean, the sweet-looking man, fast walks over, flanked by a slightly angry, but concerned Bella Dean.

“I know what you’re both thinking, but please help.” She pleads before they get closer, or try to lecture her. Whatever anger could be on their person seems to leave surface expression for now, as the focus.

High up, policemen tend to have that ability. The compartmentalization of feelings stored away for later.

It feels like hours of trudging through heavy mud as they go through each article of evidence, big and small. Some are inconsequential, and other’s heavily related to important figures.

Conner and Bella give small sympathetic glances over the three as they view the evidence. Oakley watches their movements quietly. slightly untrusting in case they tamper with the evidence.

While Noah just holds Eve’s hand as a lifeline, hopeful but scared. Huddled together, they hope this is enough reason to look around.

With bated breath, their stomachs roil as Eve’s mom stares, disturbed at the footage in the teddy bear, Eve’s dad turning the teddy bear over, finding the dried bloodstains on its paw.

Hard expressions and small grunts of displeasure swim around.

“It’s pretty damning. I’m calling.” Bella huffed out and stepped outside the library.

Leaving Conner alone by the evidence table. He sighed, side-stepped the table, and held his arms out as he walked over to them.

Enveloping them in a large hug. Something about it broke Eve’s resolve, soft tears rolling down her face at the contact. “It’s okay now.”

Her dad comforted them, the warmth easing whatever emotions that had taken over their lives.

Suspicion, evidence, and the need to scrutinize every action everyone in their lives has ever done before, forgotten for a few minutes.

Nothing could undo what they’ve had to do, investigations? What investigations? Teens shouldn’t have to read into every action anyone does around them. Trust issues breed enough in regular cesspools of hormones.

Mixing death in does nothing but breed fear. Dread and exhaustion hang on every sentence someone says. Dictating whether you’re a criminal or a class clown, based on context only.

It’s tiring, and it isn’t fun. But they’ve had to make it funny, make it silly, so it doesn’t haunt them. So it doesn’t squeeze the life out of what should be the best days of their life, what was before they found that damn teddy bear.

What does it matter that Will found it? What does it matter that they couldn’t ignore it? It shouldn’t have been there.

Their senior should still be alive, maybe in college by now. Finding better friends or new hobbies. Not 6 feet under, immortalized as some fucked up myth.

It makes Eve so mad. Not just mad, furious. Life can go so quickly.

The only hope she has, riding on Will being alive. Refusing to slow down or process until they have some sort of answer, or until Will is right in front of her. Safe, and unharmed.

They part, shoulders drooping, small tears falling for some, tired sunken eyes blinking for others.

“I don’t want to promise anything, but we will try.” Her father puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it firmly. He gave Eve a look of comfort, then let his hand drop from her shoulder.

Conner walked back over to the table and leaned against the door frame, his arms crossed. Waiting for Eve’s mom to come back from her call. His tail swaying in agitation, different from what he conveyed emotionally to them. Somehow still comforting.

Eventually, Eve’s mom returns, sighing as she pauses in the middle of the room. “Schools out, Your Headmaster is a Murderer, and Police are going to have to bust open the basement.” She states, matter-of-factly, as she sets her arms on her hips.

“He’s not a hostage, so we can’t get SWAT, but this could easily go south, so we need everyone out of the building.” She adds, putting the evidence back in the box, but not setting it back down. Holding it to her side.

“Come with us to the car, you’re bonded, so you might be able to help us communicate with him.” Eve’s dad reasoned.

“That, and I know you aren’t going to willingly go home.” Conner walked over to them, corralling them out of the library, but letting them grab their things before allowing him to lead them.

None of them wanted to speak, words dying in their mouth as they went, telling students to go home as they walked down the halls.

When they pass by the front desk, quick spikes of pain flash through their brains. Fear, pain, and a dazed sort of listing projecting all at once, like a dam breaking.

Eve has to sit in one of the chairs for a second, the pain leaving white streaks along her brain.

Noah and Oakley aren’t faring any better than her, wincing with hands over each other's eyes and head. It takes them longer to realize Will woke up than she'd like.

“He’s awake.” Eve blinked. Her dad snapped his head over to them, realizing the situation.

Finishing his conversation with the Ladies, he pulls them up and out of the building. Taking long strides and very close to just dragging them out.

He opens the trunk of his SUV and sets the three of them on the lip of the back of it, handing them a blanket and some water. Her dad pulls her face to his chest as he side-hugs her.

For as busy as they usually are, they’re there for her when she needs them. She just has to call. And it’s not like she can be upset about that, they have jobs, they help people, it’s just–.

Sometimes that’s not enough. Not enough to have to call when you want to see your dad, or to talk with mom. She could never fault them for that, when they care about her so much.

They try, and she can feel them be awkward about trying not to hug her friends. Consent and all, but with the bond, she can tell they need a hug too.

“Hug them too, Dad.” She points at the miserable bodies to the left of her. The corpses look at her incredulously, scoffing before getting it, and opening their arms for a hug.

Eveline's dad, looking pleased, gives them each a bear-sized hug. Eve’s senses, for as shot as they are at the moment, can sense a pseudo-adoption coming on. To be joked about at a later date, when they aren’t witnesses.