"She's doing much better," the nurse said. "Thank goodness you two girls had been there, otherwise she might not have made it."

Dream and Savannah nodded.

Dream's dad pulled her to one side. "Dream, I--I don't know whether to be angry or proud of you. I can't believe you let yourself get lost in the woods. Yet, on the other hand--you rescued a girl. Without you, she would not have survived."

"I'm sorry, Dad," Dream said. "I won't ever wander around in the woods without checking my GPS every ten seconds," she muttered.

"You don't have to do that. Just be sure you know your way around. What if your phone had died? What would you do then?"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," Dream said.

The person Dream and Savannah had rescued had been identified as Lili Robinson, a sixteen year old who had been reported missing six months ago, when she was a sophomore at Pebblebrook Creek High. Dream guessed Lili was one of those missing students that Zac mentioned.

Savannah walked over to Dream, having talked to her parents. "You know what's really weird?" Savannah said. "The fact that she kept saying 'woods' when we found her."

Dream bit her lip, remembering what Zac had told her. But inside, she still had her doubts. It could have just been a coincidence, right? "Well, we did find her in the woods, so..."

"Oh. That's right," Savannah said. "Funny though, how the last name of the worst teacher at Pebblebrook Creek High is also Woods."

"Yeah. Funny," Dream said.

As Dream left with her dad, she saw a pair of eyes stare at her. She turned around to see a young hispanic woman, maybe in her early to mid twenties, leaning against the wall, looking at Dream with an intrigued expression on her face.

Dream shifted uncomfortably, quickly leaving the room. But she just couldn't get the woman off her mind.

---

When Dream got back to her room, it was already one in the morning. She debated telling Zac about the incidents that night. Finally, she decided she would tell him if his window was open. So, she opened the curtains, and lo and behold! Zac's window was open.

Here goes nothing, Dream thought, opening her window.

"Psst! Zac!"

Zac turned his head, looking up from his computer. "Oh. Hey."

"I have something important to tell you!"

Zac shrugged. "What?"

"It's about Mrs. Woods and the kidnapping situation!"

"If it's about how ridiculous it is, I don't want to hear it. I know what I'm doing, okay?"

"It's not, I swear," Dream said.

"Well," Zac said, leaning against the window. "I'm listening."

"I went on a nighttime stroll with Savannah in the forest," Dream said. "And we got lost. Which turned out to be a good thing, because there was a girl who happened to be drowning in a stream at the same time Savannah and I got there. And apparently that girl was a student at Pebblebrook Creek High who was reported missing last year."

Zac's eyes grew wide. "Oh, my. If we could somehow get information from her--"

"That's not it," Dream cut in. "When I pulled her out, she was saying..."

"What?" Zac said, growing attentive.

"She kept saying the word 'woods'."

Zac frowned. "Really?"

"You seem skeptical," Dream said.

"I'm not skeptical," Zac argued. "I'm intrigued. This is a step in the right direction."

"You realize that while this is a step in the right direction, it still proves nothing. We found the girl in the woods. She could have just gotten lost."

"Yeah," Zac said. "But now we have a lead. We should go to that same spot sometime."

Dream sighed. "Seriously, though? Imagine the trouble we'd get into for accusing a teacher of committing such serious crimes!"

"We won't get into trouble if it's true though," Zac said, smiling before closing his window.

Hmm, Dream thought. But the thing is, we don't know if it's true or not...

---

A/N

Here's Chapter 10 for you guys! I hope you enjoyed it!! 😃

So...a big reveal on who the girl from the previous chapter is. Do you think Zac was right and she was kidnapped by Mrs. Woods? Let me know your thoughts!

Don't forget to vote and comment! It means so much to me, and I try my best to respond to all comments!

We're currently at 427 reads and 117 votes so THANK YOU ALL! That's seriously so crazy, we might get 450 reads soon OMG! 

Next update will be on Wednesday! Stay tuned for that! 

💙, Stella Rose