(unedited)
I had to find you,
Tell you I need you,
Tell you I'll set you apart.
Tell me your secrets,
And ask me your questions,
Oh, let's go back to the start.
"The Scientist" -Coldplay
"Gone?" I repeated. "What do you mean gone?"
I had just seen Keira a couple hours ago, talking to Ashton in the kitchen. Speaking of which, where was he? Ashton, I mean. And Jacen? Nathan, Skylar, Vanessa and I were the only ones in the room. Jacen, Ashton and Keira all being absent at the same time made me uneasy.
"Just gone. She's not in the house, anywhere. She didn't leave a note, no one knows where she is, and she's not picking up her phone," he said, dragging a hand through his hair, which was already messy enough. Whether from waking up, or his distress, or a combination of both, I wasn't sure.
"Where are Jacen and Ashton?" I asked.
"Getting breakfast since we gave our chef a day off," Nathan replied. "But they said they hadn't seen her since we all went to sleep."
Liars.
Ashton and Jacen had both talked to her last night. Well, this morning, if you wanted to be technical about it. I wracked my mind, trying to remember if Keira had come back with Ashton. I couldn't remember if there had been two sets of footprints, or just one, I had been more focused on feigning sleep.
"We'll find her," I told him, sitting up. "She can't have just disappeared."
"Maybe I'm overreacting," he said. "But with what happened to Vanessa, and Skylar, I don't want to take my chances."
"What about the guards and cameras?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Nothing."
"Like she just disappeared?" This was making me more and more nervous by the minute. I still wasn't sure if Keira was behind it all, but her disappearing couldn't be good.
"They're not hard to avoid if you know where they are. Ash and I used to sneak out all the time without our parents knowing," he admitted.
"Who knows where they are?" There was still the possibility that Keira had disappeared by choice, but I didn't want to tell Nathan that. He looked so convinced that Keira would've told him or something if she was going to disappear, that telling him would be like drowning a kitten and enjoying it. Besides Keira could've been taken, and it wouldn't help to sit around thinking she had ran away or something.
"Our parents, the security company, all of us know..." he trailed off. If all of the Elite knew how to sneak out of the Sinclair's mansion without being detected, then that didn't rule any of them out in the case that Keira had been taken. If Keira knew, she could've disappeared as well, but why? I didn't know enough about her to make a guess. Nate might, but he seemed convinced that Keira had been taken.
"Do you think it's the same person who hurt Vanessa?" Nathan asked.
I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, the front door opened.
"Keira?" Nathan called, standing up.
"Just me, sorry to disappoint," Ashton replied, coming into view. He and Jacen both had large brown bags in their hands. "Still nothing?" The way he asked made me think he knew more than he was letting on. Maybe not that he had taken her, if Keira had been taken, but that he had an idea where she was but was playing dumb.
Nathan shook his head, then turned to me. "Come on, we're eating in the kitchen." He glanced at Vanessa and Skylar's sleeping forms. "It'll be a while before they wake up."
"I'll be right there," I told him. "I'm just gonna go freshen up."
I waited until they left the room, then kicked the blankets back and grabbed my jeans. I still didn't feel comfortable in just a t-shirt around the Elite. I ducked into the bathroom down the hall, slipped on my jeans, then glanced in the mirror. There were slight bags under my eyes and I was paler than usual, but it wasn't anything too bad. I combed my fingers through my hair, yanking out some of the knots, then went to rejoin the guys.
I left Ashton's t-shirt on since mine from yesterday was a little sweaty and smelled like carpet cleaner from a night on the floor.
Breakfast was fluffy pancakes slathered in syrup with small chunks of fruit on the side. Ashton handed me a Styrofoam box and a fork as I sat down next to him. "Do Skylar and Vanessa know?"
Nathan shook his head. "They haven't woken up yet."
Had he not been trying to wake all of us, when I woke up? He had been standing above me, so I had figured he had been trying to. If that was true, though, why hadn't he woken up Skylar and Vanessa as well?
"Were you trying to-?"
Another shake of head. "You just woke up when I was seeing who else was awake."
"So what are we going to do about Keira?" I asked, when an uncomfortable silence fell. I cut a piece of pancake and put it in my mouth, chewing slowly as I glanced around the table. Jacen shrugged and shoved the last piece of his breakfast in his mouth, then stood up and walked out of the room. I watched him leave. "Okay, then..."
"He's hungover," Nathan said as if it explained everything. "I have a couple ideas of where Keira might have gone."
I glanced at him. "I thought you thought she was taken."
"Doesn't hurt to check," he replied. "You can come with me and Jace, if you want. Otherwise everyone else is going to school."
I looked at Ashton, eyebrow raised. Ashton Sinclair? Sitting out by going to school? Yeah, it didn't sound like him to be learning how to properly criticize Jane Eyre when his brother's girlfriend was missing. But I wasn't sure I could ask him that in front of Nathan. "Are you not going to tell Skylar and Vanessa about it?" I asked, instead.
"Not unless we can't find her," Nathan replied.
"I'm okay with either one. But I need to stop at my house to grab a new shirt," I said, glancing down at Ashton's t-shirt.
Ashton smirked. "I'll have you know that's designer."
"Good for you," I told him. "But I don't want to look like I'm taking the walk of shame, when we didn't do anything."
"You can probably borrow something of Vanessa's. I'll get you something, she's left some clothes behind before," Nathan said, getting up. He dumped his Styrofoam take out box in a trash can under the sink and washed his hands, then walked out of the kitchen, leaving Ashton and I alone.
"Can you go with Nate? Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid?" Ashton asked, lowering his voice a little.
I speared a strawberry and glanced up at him. "You don't trust your brother now?"
"You shouldn't be the one to lecture me about trusting people," he replied, raising an eyebrow.
Okay, he has a point there. "Touché."
"I trust him," Ashton said after half a moment of silence. "But he doesn't know everything, and I don't want him making rash decisions."
I snorted. "See, if you actually decided to tell people things for once, you wouldn't have this problem." He frowned at me, but didn't respond.
I went back to eating my breakfast. I bit into the strawberry, wincing slightly as the sticky juices started dripping. The syrup on the pancakes had already made everything sticky enough. I flicked out my tongue, catching the juices before they could slip off the strawberry.
"Stop doing that," Ashton said.
I gaped at him. "I'm eating a strawberry!"
"Eat it normally," he replied as I popped the last half in my mouth.
It took me a couple seconds to chew and swallow. "Sorry, I didn't know there was an innormal way to eat a strawberry."
"I leave you guys alone for two minutes and you're arguing about strawberries?" Nathan asked, walking in the room. He tossed me the bundle of fabric in his hands. "And I don't think innormal is a word, Elena."
"Ashton was criticizing me on how to eat a strawberry," I protested.
Nathan glanced at his brother, a slight, almost knowing, smirk on his face, then turned back to me. "So, made up your mind on where you're going?"
"School or a day with hungover Jacen. Hard decision," I teased.
"She's going with you," Ashton interrupted. "Maybe she can keep Jace in line."
Nathan snorted. "Good luck with that. I'll go find him."
"I should go change," I said, holding up the loose, black top Nathan had given me. I hadn't finished all of my breakfast, but I was really in the mood for eating if Ashton was going to criticize how I bit things. Besides, all that was really left was a couple small pieces of syrup-drenched pancake.
Ashton sighed. "I'll go wake up Sky and Vanessa."
I waited until Nathan had left the room before grabbing Ashton's arm, stopping him from leaving as well. "You're not actually planning on staying at school, are you?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I might."
Liar.
"I heard you talking to Keira," I admitted.
He rolled his eyes, and glanced up at the ceiling in exasperation. "I should've known."
I ignored him. "You know where she is, don't you?"
He sighed. "I have an idea."
"Then why don't you tell Nathan?" I asked. He was letting his brother basically have an ill-disguised panic attack over his missing girlfriend.
Ashton shook his head. "I'm hoping that I'm wrong."
â¡ the trouble with love â¡
"I didn't know you and Ashton had gotten so close," Jacen said.
I glanced back at him. "What?"
We were currently parked outside a small, quiet diner a little outside of town. It was the second place Nathan had stopped at, he said it was where he and Keira went whenever they wanted to get away from everyone.
Jacen and I had decided to stay in the car. Me, because I had a feeling we wouldn't find Keira at any of Nathan's locations. Why Jacen had stayed behind, I didn't know. Possibly for the same reason as me, or something similar, but I hadn't asked him.
"He left you to babysit me and Nate," he explained. "It means he trusts you."
âHe treats me like I'm two," I told him. And last time I checked, he was still annoyed that I didn't trust him. Of course, I didn't tell Jacen this, though.
"Trusting someone isn't telling them everything," he said.
I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said deep stuff isn't for you."
"It's not," he replied, and left it at that, turning to stare out the window. I checked my phone. Nathan had been gone for two minutes now.
"Why didn't you go in with Nathan?" I asked.
He shrugged. "We're not going to find Keira here."
So I guessed right, then. I raised an eyebrow. "How are you so sure about that?"
"She's not going to be at any of the places we go." He said, twisting around to give me a hard look. "Nate doesn't know my sister as well as he thinks he does."
I blinked. "I think you're a little too involved in your sister's relationship."
He shook his head. "They're not gonna work."
"It looks like they're working fine to me," I pointed out. Keira and Nathan were around each other constantly. And Nathan had looked genuinely distressed when he found out Keira was gone. And, according to Skylar -I was beginning to think maybe everyone in the Elite was a little too involved in Nathan and Keira's relationship- their sex life was fine too, as awkward knowing that might've been.
"They got together when I was in grade eight. I would say I've had more than enough time to judge," he said.
Before I could respond, Nathan came back out. Without Keira. He got in the car, and before either of us could ask, shook his head. Jacen shot me a knowing look. The quick drive to the next place was silent.
"Last place," Nathan announced as he pulled the car to a stop next to a park. "Are you guys staying in the car?"
I glanced back at Jacen, then shook my head. "I'll come with you," I said, getting out of the car.
"We just have to do a quick loop of the trail." He sounded disappointed, like he already knew Keira wouldn't be there. I felt the urge to ask about him and Keira, but I didn't. Despite what Ashton, Kaden and Devon may have all thought, I knew when to draw the line.
"You okay?" I asked, instead, even though it was a pretty stupid question.
He shook his head. "I feel like I should know where she is," he replied. "She's been my girlfriend for four years."
"You don't what happened. Maybe she was taken," I said. He gave me a somewhat doubtful look. I guess he had started to lose hope in that theory for some reason. "It's not like Jacen's offering very many ideas either."
He sighed. "Between me, him and Ash, we should be able to figure out where she is."
"Ashton?" I repeated. "Why Ashton?"
He glanced at me. "He was Keira's friend first." His phone buzzed. He checked the caller ID and shot me an amused look. It was a little forced, and tired, but there was still a hint of a smile on his face. "Speak of the devil."
"I wouldn't be surprised if Ashton ruled the underworld," I muttered. With how many people he liked to keep in the dark, and all the secrets he kept...
Nathan rolled his eyes at me, then picked up. "Hey, Ash. Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
He listened for a moment. "You found her?"
I had a feeling Keira hadn't been at school, and that Ashton wasn't at school at the moment, despite what Nathan thought.
"What? Why are you there? Why is she there?"
Yeah, I'm almost positive he's not talking about Blaire Academy...
"For what?" A short pause. "And they believed her? Why would Keira kill someone?"
What? My head snapped up, and I turned to stare at Nathan, but he didn't notice, seeming thoroughly distracted by the phone call. He paced around, his back to me, occasionally yanking a hand through his hair. He was obviously distressed, which was understandable. Keira had killed someone? Why? When? How?
"Okay, we'll be there soon." He hung up, then turned to face me.
"What happened?" I asked, hesitantly, not liking the part-confused, part-frustrated expression on his face.
"They're at the police station," he said. "They have Keira in custody."
"What?"
Keira had killed someone... And gotten caught? Who had she killed in the first place? And when? This morning? A long time ago, and people had just found out now? Why would she kill someone?
Does it have something to do with Kaden and Ashton's case?
Nathan looked away. "She confessed to killing Olivia."
-- â¡ --
Teaser: "Did Keira actually kill Olivia?"
QotC: Nathan or Ashton? Which one do you like better? Trust more?