I bite my lip as I walk into the hut to find no one but Mom, Dad, and Mrs. O' Brian.

"Hey Jill!" Mom calls. She glances behind me. "Where are the others?"

My eyes fall to the ground. I feel the way I do when I've lost one of my little sisters when I was on watch. Only this time, I've let Odette slip away.

Mom takes off the hat she was wearing and takes a step towards me. "Jillian Rose... Where are they?" she repeats, more stern this time.

"I thought they'd be here," I mumble.

"What? Weren't they up at the school this morning???" she demands.

"Yes, but Odette got upset and ran, Chris followed here and Odette said they were coming back here so she could calm down!" I ramble.

Dad and Mrs. O' Brian begin to pay attention to the conversation, worry lining their brows.

"Whatdoya mean she 'got upset?'" Mom asks.

I shift my gaze again, debating whether I should tell her the details or just glaze over the topic again.

"Do we get any signal around here?" Mom asks, getting frantic.

"Mom, of course not," I moan.

She grabs her phone anyway and opens it, desperate for anything now. Dad and Mrs. O' Brian watch her in stunned silence.

"What the...?" Mom says.

"What?" I ask, walking over to her and standing on my tiptoes to peer over her shoulder.

"Do you know about this?" She thrusts the phone at me. Her reminders are pulled up. It says:

Chris and I have a favor to run for one of the students. We'll be back in a week or less.
Odette

And that's all.

No hint of what this "favor" is. No hint as to where exactly they'll be.

I shake my head slowly, wracking my brain for what on planet earth she could be talking about. But there's nothing there. I have no idea.

Dad comes and grabs the phone from Mom. He studies it with furrowed eyebrows.

"Let's give them the week," he mutters.

"Tom!" Mom protests.

"What else would you have us do?? Where do you think they went Linda?"

Mom's eyes begin to water. "I don't know but if we just sit around and wait for a week..."

Dad purses his lips. He looks at Mom. Then he looks at Mrs. O' Brian. Then he looks back at me. He walks up to me and puts his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you sure that that's all you know?"

My body starts shaking with oncoming sobs. "Odette was worried about some girl that didn't show up at school today," I offer weakly.

This just gets Dad more confused. "Would that have anything to do with this?"

I shrug.

Mrs. O' Brian speaks up. "Did you see them all suited up earlier? Ya think someone in town knows?"

Dad doesn't answer. He walks out the door, off to find answers with Mom running after him.