Only Shadows

Chapter 2

Izzy

"I need your help," Izzy said, bursting into the library study room. She dropped her backpack on the floor with a thud and collapsed into a chair.

Caleb barely looked up from his Calculus textbook. "I know," he said, scribbling down an equation in his notebook. "That's why you're here, isn't it? It's kind of the point."

"Not that kind of help," she said."It's not about math. You're... you know a lot about computers, right?"

Caleb looked up and ran a hand through his unruly brown hair. He sighed. "I'm not changing a grade if that's what you're after. I'm here to help you study, not cheat."

"Who's cheating, and how can I get in on it?" Brie asked, appearing with a grin. "Though you should've closed the door if you're trying to keep it quiet." She kicked it shut behind her.

"No one is cheating!" Caleb said.

"Yet," Brie said with a laugh as she slid into the seat beside Izzy. "What's up?"

Of course Brie would show up early for the first time ever since Izzy needed to talk to Caleb alone. It's not that she didn't like Brie. She just didn't know her all that well. Brie was friendly and fun, always wanting to joke around. She was pretty, too, in a sporty kind of way, with her dark chin-length hair that looked so perfectly layered and sloppy that it just had to be an expensive cut. Izzy started working with them a couple weeks ago after her math grade took an immediate nosedive at the start of the school year.

"No one is cheating," Izzy reasserted. She took a breath to say something but then hesitated.

"Then what's the emergency?" Caleb asked. He removed his glasses and cleaned the lens with the edge of his dark blue shirt. "What do you need help with? Is there another test tomorrow? Because I've prepared a unit review for you guys, so don't stress out about it."

He slid his glasses back on as Brie groaned.

"Is there a test tomorrow? God, I am so dead. I hate Algebra 2," she said.

"There's no test," Izzy said. "At least, I don't think so?" She wouldn't have known anyway, since she'd been so distracted all day. Her mind raced, replaying the events from last night over and over again. What happened after she ran off? She hadn't heard a word from James or Austin. She kept texting and calling their phones, but her texts went unread, and the calls straight to voicemail.

After returning home, she'd pulled up the live stream recording on her phone. The end was terrifying, shaky and loud with all the wind and the screaming. The lights flashed on and off before they just vanished right as the feed cut off. And that face in the darkness... she didn't even want to think about it. What happened to them? For all she knew, they could be in real danger, and here she was, lounging around in a wood-paneled library study room, having a tutoring lesson after school like everything was totally fine.

"Neither of you know? Seriously?" Caleb's voice cut through her racing thoughts. "Give me that syllabus," he said to Brie.

"Just let me find it first," she said. She dug through her bag, yanking papers, books, and clothing free while tossing them all into a messy pile.

"How do you find anything in there?" Caleb asked.

"Leave me alone," Brie said, dropping a rainbow flip-flop on the table. "You do things your way, and I'll do things mine."

Caleb picked up the flip-flop. "Really?"

Brie snatched it back. "Thank God! I've been looking for that."

"That's exactly my point," Caleb said with a sigh. "Your biggest problem is disorganization, not your low math grade."

"My parents would disagree-"