The Host of Hyperion

Chapter 9 - Elisabeth

How had we missed it? How had we, everyone in Dorm F, missed it? How had I missed it, when she had been sleeping right across from me?

Kylie was gone that morning. No trace at all. Her sheets slightly rumpled, and her suitcase still snuggled under her bed. The only thing that morning that was missing was the actual person.

I don't remember much about our search for her that morning, except for the part of me frantically shaking Kennedy awake, which also woke everyone else up because of my shouting.

. . .

"What in the bloody hell...?" she had moaned groggily until she had sat up and saw the empty bed. Her face was white, and her scarred hands reached for her mouth.

"She's gone Kennedy, she's gone! I don't know where she went but she's not there-" Kennedy cut me off.

"Hold up." she said, sitting up, "Did you hear anything at all? Maybe she got up for a snack...?"

"That's the thing! I didn't hear anything Kennedy, anything! Usually, I always do but not this time. I have never slept that heavy before in my life," I said, worry and fear etched into every inch of my face.

"Bloody hell." Kennedy repeated, "She's gone...are we next?"

"I-I don't know..." My hands shook as I said this.

"Good Lord." Kennedy ran her hands through her highlighted hair nervously, "I heard these sounds....like whale noises and screams in a faraway background....I-I'm scared. We were right, Elisabeth. We were so God-damned right...."

"I know. That's what's scaring me," I started pacing in front of where she sat, "If we were right about this, then that means not only are we in danger, but everyone else in this Dorm is."

"Wait." Kennedy looked at me in surprise, "Where is Sarah? I saw her leave while you were shaking the bloody organs out of me."

I ignored her jab and questioned, "You did?! Which direction was she heading in?!"

Kennedy thought hard.

"Dunno....seemed like she was in a hurry...

She cut off, looking at me in horror.

"What? What is it?"

"Holy shit..." her mouth slowly drifted open, "Did she have something to do with Kylie being gone?"

I raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean by that?"

"Think about it." she moved her hands wildly as she talked, "She has never even raised an eyebrow at the disappearance of like,  forty kids, even though she was well aware of them when we switched dorms. She...she probably stole your document we got from Mr. Martinez's office, too! And-and...blimey! She's got our Greek definition book too! She wasn't in our dorm when you saw it missing--!  She has got to know something!"

"You have a point, but what proof do we have that can support that? If we just go outright and accuse her then that could be catastrophic" I said, silently sitting onto the floor, resting my head onto my hand and tapping my other fingers on the floor in thought.

Kennedy's gaze fell to the trunk under Sarah's bed.

"I've got an idea." she smirked slightly.

Standing up, she bent down and opened her own trunk and rummaged through it. She emerged triumphant with two serpentine daggers, dark steel hilts wrapped with black leather with strange writings etched in. the blades themselves were ivory and iron. She grinned.

"Here we go!"

I blanched slightly, "Okay... There's our evidence."

She shook her head smiling, "No, these aren't the evidence..."