My Guitar Buddy (A One Direction & Emblem3 Fan Fiction)

Chapter 29

Niall's POV

"Give me the phone, Keaton," I snapped.

He held it out hesitantly; Louis snatched it from his palm and gave it to me. I hit the re-dial button, but once again I got the same damn message: "Sorry, the number you are calling has been disconnected. Please hang up to--"

I hung up, cutting the message off. "The number's been disconnected."

"Then she must've used a pay phone," Louis said.

"No, it said the number has been disconnected," I said, frustrated. Then my eyes popped open.

"What?" Louis asked. 

I glanced down at my iPhone, hit Settings, and selected Privacy. There was an option I hadn't really paid attention to in a long time. (Note: there is no such thing on a real iPhone.) Calls. I pressed that, and a few more options came up. Number, Caller ID, and Disconnect.

"There we go," I said bitterly, looking down. "They disconnected their own phones to prevent people from tracing them."

"But they still work?" Zayn asked, confused.

"For them," Louis said, realizing. "They can make calls, but we can't call them back."

"So I guess they're gone," Keaton mumbled, his eyes full of worry.

"I don't think they want to be seen," Zayn said quietly.

"But why?" I whispered. "Sierra's gone."

"I can't answer that," Zayn whispered. "I don't think anyone can."

We stared out in silence.

I glanced down at my phone again, pressed Skylar's contact information, and pressed her number. A pop-up popped onto the screen.

Would you like to reconnect this contact?

Yes, or no?

Hell, yes. I needed to talk to her one last time.

I pushed yes, then called her again.

I held the phone to my ear, breathing heavily, praying that she would pick up and this would work.

"Hello?"

Skylar's POV

"Hello?" I asked into the phone, confused. El and I were still on the train, and we'd just left Fort Wayne, Indiana, with non-stop service to Chicago, Illinois.

"Skylar," Niall's voice was flooded with relief.

But horror washed through me. "How--" I stammered.

"Did I manage to call you?" he asked. "You were smart. But you taught me the exact same thing. It just took a while to remember."

I flamed, embarrassed. 

"Where are you?" Niall whispered. "Please come home. Lou and I miss you two."

"What about Sierra?" I asked.

"She's gone," Niall said. "Once you two left, Liam whipped out a recording and played it for Harry, a recording of the conversation that Sierra'd had with you two about using Harry."

"And he never showed Harry beforehand?" I asked, my voice rising.

"Sky--" Eleanor cut herself off again. "Rachel, shush."

I glared at her. "Be quiet for a moment, Jess. Niall?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I never thought about it, because the moment I tried to call you, I couldn't, I couldn't reach you at all, then I passed out and now I'm in the hospital. We're all very worried about you."