UPRISE

027

When Noah wakes up, bright and early the next morning, he runs to the room where Edison last slept. Inside, there is an empty bed.

So, Noah checks the study, and then the library, and then the greenhouse, and every other location that he can think of in the house. His footsteps wake up the others, who get dressed and make their way down to the front foyer.

Noah finally stops, panting, staring up at them.

"What's wrong?" Jasmine asks, taking a step forward towards him.

"He's... he's gone," Noah continues to get a hold on his breathing, forcing his body upright. "Edison... he's... he's just disappeared. He must've left."

So, the nine of them agree to search the house together. With all of them, it still takes fifteen minutes to comb through the entire space, checking balconies and under beds and in closets. They even scan the outside through the gigantic glass windows in the greenhouse.

Eventually, they reconvene in a lounge so that they can all sit down.

"Maybe he's gone to town?" Harper suggests, as he scratches his head. "I mean, that Thatcher guy did say something about going to town."

"What could he possibly need from town?" Corbin asks.

"Girls," Pluto laughs. She elbows Noah, trying to get him to smile. Obviously, it does not do much but deepen his confusion. "Trust me. Our boy Eddy is probably just checking in with a few friends. We'd do that too if one of us was unconscious for like ten hours."

"Maybe he'll come back with a bunch of friends and force us out," Wren suggests. He looks over at Reagan's panicked face and offers a soft shrug. What, is Wren supposed to be dishonest? It's probably what he would do if he found ten pretty-much strangers living in his house.

"No, Edison wanted to meet with me," Noah insists. Rinn notices that last night's sleep didn't do much to help his appearance. Noah is still wearing the clothes they came in, actually, while all of the others have already tapped half of a wardrobe. "Why would he just run to Thatcher for help?"

"I don't like Thatcher," Corbin tells the others.

"Oh hush, you don't like anybody." Pluto points out. "Although, I also didn't like Thatcher."

"Connery seemed nice," Rinn points out, leaning forward. A loose strand of hair falls in her face, so she tucks it back. "He did, like, save me and all."

Jasmine does remember that, although she would rather not think about the murky depths that threatened Rinn. Instead, she wonders if this house is full of secret passages and if Edison is caught in one of them. That boy is undoubtedly concussed and really couldn't have gotten very far. All of the houses here are a decent ways away.

Although, she has been wrong before.

"We could look again," Jasmine suggests. When Corbin furrows his brow at her, she shrugs. "Third time's the charm and all of that. We could make it more systematic, so that if he somehow happens to be slipping through the house, we might be able to find him."

"We aren't playing hide-and-go-seek with this guy," Pluto laughs. "That's how white people die in horror movies."

Reagan's legs begin to bounce where he is sitting. He can't stand to think of Edison, hiding in the house. He could have a knife. He could be waiting to get one of them alone, and then kill them. It could be any of them, at any time, and Reagan would have no way of stopping it. "Do you guys think he is dangerous?"