Sentry of the Arcane: Befall

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Sophie

Luckily, Laurel doesn't ask any questions when Fitz and I ask for some Advil. Instead, she smiles and pulls us into her room, giggling happily. After Laurel gives the male Percipient the medicine, the female Altruistic pushes him into Benen's room and closes the connecting door loudly. Turning around to me, Laurel smirks evilly and says, "Spill it."

I step back in shock. "I-" My voice trails off, and I don't know what to say anymore. Instead, I transmit to Fitz, Laurel's asking me about what happened. What do I say?

Um... Fitz pauses, thinking of something. After a moment, he continues, Tell her that I stared at the computer screen for so long that I got a massive headache. It's... a "variation" of the truth.

Nodding, I repeat his reply to the female Altruistic. I can feel myself tensing more as I wait for any sort of response from Laurel. After what feels like an eternity, she smiles a humongous grin at me. Dread pools into my stomach when I realize that Laurel's giving me one of her sly smirks, one I haven't seen in awhile. "Laurel..?" I ask tentatively.

The female Altruistic widens her sly smirk. "Yes..?" she asks innocently, drawing the word out.

"What do you want to ask me?" I question her, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

Laurel shrugs as if she doesn't know what I'm talking about. Even still, the female Altruistic motions for me to come with her to the connecting door. "What do you think they're talking about?" she asks, reminding me of Audrey and her nosiness.

"I don't know since I'm not them," I say, internally hoping that she'd leave it at that.

Unfortunately, Laurel decides to open the connecting door and drag me inside her respective partner's room. We both watch as Benen and Fitz leave the room with Donovan. Somehow, they don't hear the two of us entering the room rather loudly, in my opinion.

Once the door closes, I frown and face Laurel. "Where do you think they're going?" I ask, wondering whether I should transmit to Fitz or not.

Laurel giggles as we go back to her room. "Now look who's wondering what they're doing," she remarks teasingly. She laughs more when I roll my eyes at her antics.

Sighing, I shake my head. "I'm going to try to transmit to Fitz," I announce before closing my eyes. Fitz? And I'm met with silence. I try to reach the male Percipient again. And I don't get a response. Mentally cursing the silence, I turn to look at Laurel. "I think he's ignoring my transmits," I tell her, my lips weighing down even more.

"What makes you say that?" the female Altruistic asks.

"He hasn't replied. At all," I add for emphasization. "It's like you're shouting for someone else, but you're all alone. It's not a good feeling."

"So let's go look for them," she says as if the answer was there the entire time.

"But-" I stop when I realize that there isn't a problem with looking for them. Nodding in agreement, the two of us exit Benen's room and walk to the the elevator area. Glancing over at the female Altruistic, I ask, "You have any idea where they may be?"

Laurel shrugs. "Maybe they're hiding in the conference room," she voices "And maybe the same

thing as last year might happen."

As we go down to the ground floor, I feel my cheeks burning as I remember how we failed at trying to spy on the boys' investigation. And then how they caught us after Laurel and I started laughing at Audrey's blushing face.

The female Altruistic smiles at me. "That may happen again, you know..."

Blushing more, I shake my head. "No time to talk about that," I say a bit too quickly. Stepping out of the elevator, I look around to find the ground floor deserted. I suddenly see Steven and Caroline walking towards us and wave them over. "Pardon me, but have you seen Fitz?" I ask when they're within earshot.

Caroline and Steven exchange a knowing smirk. The chemist then look at me. "Are you looking for Fitz specifically?" she asks smugly.

I straighten up considerably, my blush from moments before returning to my cheeks for some reason. "Well, he hasn't been replying to my transmits," I begin. "And, um. I don't know where he is."

Laurel then smirks more. "Is there more to it?" she asks unhelpfully, laughing with the couple. "You know, because you like him?"

"Laurel..!" I manage to squeak out before my cheeks turn a dark red. My face is so flushed that I'm sure that I just put cherries to shame. "That is not..! I- you..! Ugh...!" I stammer out before facepalming. After a moment of blushing madly, I take a deep breath and say, "I don't know- I'm awfully curious on where they went all of a sudden. But I became more worried when he didn't transmit back to me."

Steven smiles at my answer. "I don't think I ever saw them come down here," he says.

At those words, I force myself to not show my disappointment. Nodding in comprehension, I say, "Well, thank you anyways." After the two scientists leave, Laurel and I get back into the elevator. "Let's go to Donovan's room instead," I suggest to the female Altruistic. "We could also ask if Audrey knows anything."

Laurel nods. "That's sounds like a great idea!"

Somehow, Audrey's waiting for us when we step out of the elevator onto the seventh level. The female Sovereign crosses her arms in front of her and says, "I can't find Donovan anywhere. I'm guessing you can't find your man or partner or whatever?"

I raise an eyebrow at her "names" for Fitz, but nod in agreement in anyways. "We actually saw the three of them leave Benen's room," I admit, not missing how Audrey's eyes widen to their full capacity at that. "They're not in the conference room, or here."

"So that leaves Fitz's room!" Laurel interjects happily. Smiling, she drags us inside the elevator again. "If they're not there, where else would they be- am I right?" the female Altruistic asks the two of us.

I force myself not to think of that possibility. Where would they be if they aren't in his room? I shudder, grateful that no one notices.

The three of us then exit the elevator and stroll towards my room. I immediately open my door with my key card. Running inside, I open the connecting door and storm inside the male Percipient's room. "Fitz?" I call out, my voice threatening to break underneath all of the emotions on top of that one word. Walking around his room, I say his name a few more times, not noticing when Laurel and Audrey enter the room as well.

I then open his balcony door again and stare out towards the horizon, absentmindedly taking in the vibrant sunset. "Where can he be?" I whisper to myself, lowering my head. Sighing in defeat, I wearily look up and watch as the sun disappears and the sky becomes darker.

...

It's past midnight, but I can't sleep. Not when the boys have suddenly disappeared without a trace. It leaves such a bad feeling in my stomach.

Groaning after another minute of relentless tossing and turning, I jump out of bed. Knowing that I just have to check Fitz's room again, I turn on my room's light and walk towards the connecting door. Yawning, I open the door to see nothing.

Just... nothing.

I rub my eye sleepily as I wonder where he is. He couldn't have disappeared that quickly and that quietly. I feel another yawn escaping my lips before my legs give out from my drowsiness. My tiredness numbs the pain that I should've felt when I collapsed onto the floor, but I know that I'll feel the pain in the morning.

Remembering Fitz, I force myself to keep my eyes open and slowly stand on my knees. "Fitz..." I whisper. Suddenly, my sleepiness washes over me like a tsunami and I fall onto the ground again. My eyes closing involuntarily, I transmit as a last-ditch effort before I fall asleep, Where are you..?

But I still don't get a reply.