Briar Preparatory Academy

Unexpected Journey

Kate POV

I burst into my dorm room in a hurried frenzy.

"Okay, find something with her DNA on it..." I say to Preston, my voice trailing off.

"Like what?!" He says back, sounding exasperated.

"I don't know! A piece of hair or something." I say, tapping my fingers on my hi\ps.

"Oh yeah, because finding hair is the easiest thing on the planet, Kate." He pauses. "ARE YOU INSANE?! It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack!"

I bolt into the bathroom, searching frantically. We have to find something with her DNA, get packed, and get out of here before any of the administration finds us. Seth is MIA, so he can't do anything for us right now. I start going through the drawers when I pull out a hairbrush. Perfect. All I need is one strand of hair, and I can input it into the machine and track her anywhere.

"I got it!" I call to Preston, "You go find Seth and pack! Meet me back here!" I say, nodding my head as I pluck a hair from the brush and insert it into the tracker.

"So. Where we going, boss?" Preston asks me with a lopsided grin.

I glance down at the device as a white screen with three black dots in the top left corner begin to flash on and off. I hold my breath, praying to God that this works. "I don't know yet. The DNA tracker doesn't show you a physical map, it gives you coordinates," I say, "You have to apply the coordinates to a different type of GPS yourself."

"Why is it like that?" Preston has come to stand behind me, looking over my shoulder at the device.

"Coordinates are harder to figure out, but if you have the right training then you can find the location. We already have that training." I move my index finger between me and Preston, keeping my eyes glued to the tracker. "When this device was invented, engineers that were working for the government thought that it was a good idea to keep it in coordinate form so it would be more complicated for enemies to figure out. Coordinates can mean different things to different people. Luckily, whatever coordinates pop up here are only useful for one reason: to find Celeste. It's sort of like a win win situation."

Preston mutters an oh. Finally, the tracker's light flashes green and a series of numbers appear on the display screen. I breathe a sigh of relief and immediately go sit at my desk, where my laptop is hidden in the bottom drawer. I pull it out and open my software used for tracking codes of any sort. Behind me, I hear another person burst through the door. I don't care to look up, but I can hear the heavy breathing. "How the heck did you get back here so fast?" Preston says.

"Lockharte intercepted me and Jones on the way to... well, wherever we were going. The dude literally asked why Jones was keeping me up past curfew and told me to go to bed. Jones looked like he was about to explode he was so pissed. It was great." Despite my efforts, I roll my eyes as I listen to Seth. I type in the coordinates on the tracker and wait as the screen loads. A map of the USA pops up on my screen and a red dot hovers over the state New Hampshire. I let out a little cry of relief and look at the text below the map. "This is weird." I mutter. I hear both boys shuffle to stand behind my chair.

"Woah," Seth says, "How did you find the place that fast?"

"I created software that takes in any type of location form and analyzes it."

"You made your own software?" Preston looks at me with raised eyebrows. I nod my head, my eyes still focused on the screen. When neither of them respond, I look up at them.