Under the Stars (a lunar chronicles Modern AU)

Chapter Thirteen: But It's Better If You Do

They didn't go back to school that night and didn't phone in to say why. They ate in silence, and when Cress woke up she went straight to her computer, and from what Scarlet could see she was searching the addresses of the nearest asylums in the area and hacking in to see if Winter was there.

There was nothing.

Scarlet huddled up next to Cress on her bed, watching as she slammed down her laptops lid in frustration.

"I just..." she put her hand to her forehead and gave Scarlet an exasperated look.

"I know," Scarlet said, though she really didn't. She didn't know Winter and had never lost anyone close to her as far as her memory was concerned. All she could think to do was pull Cress in for a hug, and she seemed happy to receive it.

"What do we do now?" Iko asked, resting her head in her hands, she'd been trying to get Cinder to talk after she ran away when they got back to the hotel, but had returned with no luck. Cress was tracking her phone to make sure she didn't wander too far.

"We accept out defeat and go home?" Thorne suggested, scooping up the scraps of noodles left in the silver tins.

"No," Cress protested, "we keep looking."

"And what's wasting our money on the road and you missing school going to help?" he asked, leaving Cress defenceless, so Scarlet hugged her closer as she hid her face from the rest of their group.

"Thorne's right, we should go home tonight," Iko said, and Scarlet pretended she couldn't feel Cress' tears running down her arm.

"Someone needs to find Cinder first," Thorne said, leaning back in a way that suggested it was going to be him.

"I've already tried," Iko said.

"I'll go," Kai offered, getting to his feet and looking over to Scarlet and Cress. The other girl didn't seem intent on moving, so Scarlet did her best to understand what was going on on Cress' screen, and told Kai to the best of her ability where Cinder was.

He left within seconds, and the room was plunged into silence again.

---

Cinder didn't know where she was anymore. She'd been walking for hours, and even now her thoughts hadn't cleared.

How, HOW could they do something like that to Winter, to Winter Hayle! She was the sweetest, kindest girl anyone could ever know. Just because she didn't think entirely like everyone else didn't mean she needed to be locked away! For god's sake it's not like she was hurting anyone. How could they! How, how, HOW!

"Cinder," she heard someone say. She turned to see Kai behind her, and it was then that she released she'd been ramming her head against a tree, making a complete fool of herself in public. If anyone should be locked away it was her!

"How did you find me?" she asked in a whisper, and Kai had moved close enough by then to hear.

"I could hear your stomach rumbling from the hotel," he said, leaning against the tree she'd been attacking with her forehead.

"I'm not hungry," she lied.

"Yes you are," Kai argued, taking her hand, "and it's getting cold, you should come back to the hotel soon, we're going back to school later."

Cinder sighed and leaned against him, surprised at how she un-awkward it was. God, she barely knew this boy, but he was still here, helping her through it all, by her side when she'd gotten herself in such a state. Iko had tried to get her to return earlier, but she was still too upset, though her presence helped. She and Cress were the only ones besides Cinder who knew how this felt and she'd pushed them away when they were upset too, what sort of a friend was she?