~~~~~~~~~Iv's POV~~~~~~~~~

The sun had already set by the time we left the Northstar house, so we all decided to head home, with a message to let each other know we were still okay. With all that's happening, it's pretty obvious that no one is allowed outside in the dark.

Nor do people want to be outside.

So once again, I was in my room by myself, sketching whatever appeared in my head to distract myself from the events around. Writing and sketching was always my way to escape my reality, and these past few months were when I've needed those the most.

A little while later, there was a knock on my door, followed by my little sister Alyse peeking inside. "Hey Iv, can I come in?"

"Sure." I closed my sketchbook, placing it on my nightstand as she sat on my bed. "What's up?"

"So um.. I might've done a little bit of snooping through your phone-"

"You what?!"

"Let me finish. You're trying to search for the missing people..?"

I could see there was hope in her eyes, and I wasn't surprised, Alyse has always been a very optimistic girl. Letting out a sigh, I nodded. "Yeah, we can't wait any longer."

"Lola and Vic are helping, right?"

"Yeah, so are Gia, Sage, and N-" I bit my lip to stop myself from talking, she knew about the situations with him, and I knew she'd get all Therapist Alyse if I brought the name up.

She tilted her head, but her eyes soon lit up in realization. "Noah's there too?!"

"It's not a big deal, he lost someone too."

"I know, but it just surprised me since you're so angry at him."

"I'm not angry with him, I'm just-" I noticed Alyse giving me that 'Stop lying' look, making me let out a small growl. "Okay, I'm mad at him, so what? He's the one that left the group and started to ignore us."

"Did he ever say why?"

"No."

"Did you ever ask why?"

"He always avoided the topic back then."

"Has he tried to explain now?"

My mind quickly went to the conversation we had back at the gas station, how he tried to tell me something. However, he had gotten so nervous about it that the words wouldn't come out of his mouth.

And I only got mad at him for it..

Should I have waited instead..?

I quickly shook my head. "I don't see what this has to do with the investigation and stuff."

"I just wanted to ask if you had found anything."

"It's small, but a lead is a lead. We've got a small pattern, we still need much more though."

A bright smile crossed her face, hope glimmering in her eyes. "R-really?! There's a chance we may find Aiden after all..?!"

"Don't get so excited yet, we only just started today."

"I know, I know, but it's more than what we've been told for two months now.."

"I know that, Al.." I placed a kiss on her head. "But don't worry, we'll find everyone.. I promise.."

She gave me a tight hug before running out of the room, calling for mom. For another time, I was left alone in the emptiness of my room.

Then an idea crossed my mind.

It was something I had dreaded to do ever since my brother disappeared, but I had to investigate any possibility.

With a deep breath and a rapidly thumping hurt, I was out of my room as reached his bedroom door. Mom was the only one who entered this room now to keep it clean, but the rest of us would avoid this room as if it had poison inside.

But.. desperate times call for desperate measures..

Stopping my hand from trembling, I grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open, a sudden such of anxiety flowing through me.

His room was almost identical to the day he disappeared, as if he had never been gone in the first place. The bed neatly tended, his books all stacked on the shelf, not a single thing out of place.

Aiden was always a neat person, he hated seeing messy rooms and would clean more than my parents did. It didn't surprise me that the room was practically spotless.

But there had to be some clues in here.

Lidia's room had the earrings, which were her main source of power, just like Bill's hat. But unlike them, we didn't have anything of the sort. We didn't need an object to contain our magic, we didn't have enough to store away.

In her bedroom, Lidia's window was open when North went inside, but all of Aiden's possible exits were locked that day.

It was either we found more of that blue dust, or this case would lose all the patterns we gained.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Around half an hour went by of me searching around. I looked through every corner, every inch of underneath the bed, every shadow that crept inside the closet.

I found what I was looking for.

Deep in the corner of the closet, hidden under all the pairs of shoes, were tiny little shards of what I assumed to be glass. I had to move every pair of shoes that was in the area to make sure it wasn't just my mind playing tricks, and they were barely noticeable, but definitely there.

What made me certain this was important was the tiny specks of blue dust that glimmered on the glass.

It was confirmed, all the cases were somehow connected, one way or another!

Tomorrow I'll call the others, Ben should be able to examine this for fingerprints.

I was just overjoyed that we were actually getting somewhere..

Thanks for reading!!! 'Till next time!!!

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