Eden's Gate

Chapter 13: The Teacher's Lounge

While the teacher's theoretically had break rooms on each of the 5 floors of the school building, it was the one on the first floor that was the biggest and referred to as a lounge. The four had quietly made their way to it, not disturbing any of the other first floor classes, and sure enough it was, at the moment, empty.

Kaitlyn knew Clifton's vision would be reliable. He couldn't tell them what they'd find there, but if he said there was something in this room, they'd find it. And if it said that the best time to check this room was now, well that was a good thing too.

She had never been in this room before, it was strictly off limits to the students, and in fact she had never seen the inside. So when she opened the door to see a long and large room with a pair of stretched silver tables, dotted with chairs. 3 couches were placed seemingly at random against the wall, and in the far corner was a counter space with a sink, a microwave, and even a stove top. This counter ended in a rounded fridge painted green. It made her think of the 1960s.

"So what are we looking for?" Richard asked.

"Not sure," Clifton admitted, "but there's definitely something in here. Let's look around."

Kaitlyn walked over to the table, where a stack of papers lay scattered. She pushed them apart to get a better look at all of them without disrupting the order. It was all just papers from the highschool. A test they had taken that a teacher had graded and then left here from reason.

"Edelweiss would probably tell us not to be here," she thought aloud.

"Probably," Richard agreed, "but she's not here right now, is she?"

His voice was full of a sour note. Katiyln frowned. He wasn't wrong, but the truth bothered her.

"It's up to us to save her, and if she can't reach us, then we have to find her." Clifton said.

"That's a good point," Kaitlyn realized. "If she's alive we should be able to scry where she is right? Maybe even send her a message? Sense where she is?"

"She's probably at the hospital," Richard pointed out, "she still needs to recover. A head injury usually isn't something they just let you go for."

Taylor looked up and their eyes glowed a bright amber. They looked around in every direction, beforing fixing on something and focusing. A moment later, they dimmed, and Taylor had a perplexed expression on their face.

"That's weird..." they said.

"What? What did you find?" Kaitlyn squeezed Mr. Lepus' hand tight.

"So I can't scry the hospital. It's too far away and unfamiliar, and I guess I'm too inexperienced. I'm not sure where to begin looking for her there, and I can't sense through a scry. I'm sorry. But, it definitely feels like she's in the school? It's kinda spooky. It's like she's here and not here at the same time. Shouldn't she still be at the hospital, recovering?"

Richard scratched his chin, "that is weird. You're sure that you're not just picking up on her psychometric stuff?"

"Residue," Clifton corrected.

"I mean I guess it could be," Taylor said, "she was a very powerful telepath. It's possible she just...left a lot of it and I'm not used to what it feels like. But no, it...I'm pretty sure it's different."

"Is." Kaitlyn stammered out.

Taylor looked at her confused, "Huh?"

"She is a very powerful telepath."

Taylor gave a smile and nodded, "Yeah, is. That's what I meant. Bloody hell, that's on me."

Clifton suddenly let out an "Ah-ha!"