The SVE Club

27. Missing

Willow didn't turn up at school that day.

    All morning, Midas kept his eyes peeled for her. In algebra, seated with Nate and Rachel, he discussed their problem.

    "Nobody's seen her all day," Midas told them quietly. "But nobody ever sees her; she might as well be a ghost."

    Nate shook his head in amazement. "How do you find someone that was never really around to begin with?"

    "She's, what, a sophomore?" Rachel asked. "I can ask one of her classmates if she was absent from homeroom today."

    "Let's all ask around," Midas agreed. "We don't want to blow this out of proportion if she's just been here the whole time."

    "Who know?" Nate said. "Maybe we'll see her sneaking around the halls and this will all be over by lunch."

    However, by the time lunch rolled around, there was still no sign of the girl.

    Sam passed Midas' usual empty table, hesitated before moving on, not taking her seat across from him.

    "Where are you going, sidekick?" Midas called, his tone flat.

    Sam froze and turned around. "To eat?" she squeaked.

    "With who?"

    "My friends."

    Midas shrugged. "Okay. Go on, then."

    Sam nodded and began turning to leave. She stopped again.

    Midas frowned. "What is it? Are you staying or going?"

    Sam stared at Midas, puzzled. "You still want me to sit with you?"

    "I don't care, just sit somewhere. You're making people nervous," Midas said.

Sam mumbled something about having made plans and scooted away, talking to herself as she went.

Midas watched her go.

Ah, what's wrong with her now? he wondered.

<><><><><><><>

     "Any news on Willow?" Midas asked, breezing into B3 late as usual.

     The remaining members of the SVE club sat up straight, their attention on Midas.

     Midas waited for a moment. "I'm going to take your resounding silence as a no," he said. He pulled Willow's file out of his backpack, smoothing out the wrinkles. "We have her address. Her parents' phone numbers. It's a start."

    Mr. Lee, who was silently going over his binders in the corner, suddenly spoke up. "Did you steal that file from the office?"

    "Yes," Midas answered.

    "Are you aware that's a breach of student privacy?" Mr. Lee questioned.

    "Yeah," Midas responded.

    Mr. Lee nodded and gave a thumbs up. "Just checking," he said, returning to his notes.

    Rachel cleared her throat loudly. "So," she said. "What should we do? Call her parents? Visit her house?"

"Let's call first," Midas said. "I'm not talking, so who wants to do it?"

"I nominate Evan," Rachel declared.

Evan looked appalled. "Why me?" he asked.

Rachel shrugged. "Oh please, you're the most respectable person in the group, including Mr. Lee," she said. It was clear this was not a compliment.