Verspri panted with every step, Isaac repeatedly yelling Dryda's name. Verspri shook his head. If she wasn't responding telepathically, why would she respond out loud?
"Maybe we should split up," Kwayo called out, and they all came to a stop in the hallway intersection.
"How about we don't?" Verspri said.
"What?" Kwayo furrowed his eyebrows.
"The last time that we," he motioned to Tamy and Kessa, since they stood closest, "split up, we thought we'd been trapped in some tunnels. So how about we don't split up."
"Okay," Kwayo said. He fell silent, and Verspri felt him trying to reach out through their thoughts again. He also felt the wall between Dryda and the rest of them.
"Hold up," Bella said, swiveling around, "where are Treble and the others?"
Verspri frowned. He had briefly noticed some other people in that classroom, but hadn't given it much thought.
"Uh oh," Manuel said. "Do you think the guards attacked them?"
"Why would they stay long enough to let that happen?" Zillie asked. "We all ran out of there together."
"Somebody had to help Maro," Kwayo said.
Tago groaned, running his hands down his face. "So now Dryda's missing, and they all got recaptured, and we're not splitting up?"
Verspri hesitated, meeting Kwayo's gaze. Okay, maybe we should split up.
"Alright," Kwayo announced. "We'll go look for Dryda, and you guys go back and find Treble and the others."
Verspri grinned slightly at the fact that no one needed an explanation of who "we" and "you guys" were.
"Come on," Kwayo motioned, and everyone with him broke off down the widest hall.
"Why do we have to go and fight people?" Razón muttered. "What am I going to do, hit them with my fists?"
"That's what I do," Tamy tossed her hair dramatically. "It works pretty well."
Razón glared at her. "Not all of us have super-strength."
"Just hurry up," Tara interrupted, leading the way down the hall. "What if they're actually in trouble?"
Razón sighed dramatically, but they all started running.
***
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Ana squinted into the sky, fretfully waiting for the barrier to flicker back into place. Dryda? She asked again. What is going on?
A vague feeling radiated through their telepathic bond, and Ana knit her eyebrows together. Why was Dryda sending hope?
The ghost town's barriers went back up. The sky shifted a slightly deeper shade of cyan, and Dryda's feelings suddenly cut off.
