The first thing I become aware of when I awake the following morning is the fact that Silas is no longer in bed with me. Groggy, I sit up in bed and see that light is streaming in through the window, and the sun is already high in the sky; it’s a Saturday, which means no classes, although activities have been fairly limited ever since the new security measures went into effect. Brow furrowing, I peer out the window to the clock--it’s almost eleven AM.
Slowly I get out of bed and get dressed out of my pajamas, wondering if maybe Silas has already woken up and gone to the bathroom. I take my time dressing, then return to sit on my bed for another few minutes while I wait for him to come back. It’s quiet in the dormitory, and I can hear the sounds of the other students beginning to move about. Still, nobody comes to my room, and after another spell of waiting, I pull out my phone and send Silas a quick text: Hey, where’d you go?
The message arrives but remains unread. Maybe he left his phone in my room…? But upon checking, I see that none of his stuff is here; he must have dressed and left. Sighing, I leave the room, glancing around at the other girls in the hallway as I make my way down to the common area. He might have gone down there to meet me, although why he wouldn’t wait for me, I have no idea. Maybe guys are just strange about these things.
The common room is bustling, but there’s no sign of the tall dragon shifter anywhere, and I begin to feel the first stirrings of unease. Silas still hasn’t opened my message. Not wanting to wait any longer, I approach the first boy who comes down from the dorms and ask, “Excuse me--did you happen to see Silas Aconite up there?”
“Silas?” The boy frowns. “Now that you mention it, no. He didn’t come to bed last night. Hey,” he adds jokingly, “maybe whatever got that Brody kid got him, too.”
I give him a thin smile but don’t laugh. Stop it, I tell myself. You’re just being paranoid.
Am I, though?
My worry only grows as I leave the dormitory building and begin to wander around the campus, asking the people I pass if they’ve seen Silas. Those who even know who he is tell me that they haven’t seen him since last night, and his dorm room is shut and locked. I make a sweep of the campus, eventually ending up in the academic building, and begin to prowl the halls, uneasy as I look for Silas. I send him a couple more texts as I go, both of which go unread. The academic building might as well be deserted on a day like this, and it soon becomes clear that I’m not going to find him here.
Feeling a lump forming in my throat, I wander back outside, scanning the quad once more for any sign of Silas. There’s none to be found. Horrible scenarios are already drifting through my mind, and all of them revolve around what he told me last night. Is it paranoid to wonder if someone saw him in Mrs. Fairbanks’ office? And what about his speculation that his parents were killed because of their suspicions? The campus suddenly doesn’t feel as safe as it once did, the tall doors and yawning corridors seeming to glare down at me everywhere I turn.
My feet are taking me in the direction of the faculty offices before I’m really even aware of it. I’m gripping my phone until my knuckles turn white, my eyes flitting in every direction as I go. I want--no, need--to talk to someone. It’s as I’m passing the registrar’s office that I notice Mrs. Fairbanks isn’t at her desk. Could she have stepped out for something? I pause at the door, peering in, my eyes drawn toward the large file cabinet in the back of the room. Could there be more information there that Silas didn’t see? Would it be worth looking to see if there’s something on my parents?
But a familiar voice snaps me out of it. “Millie? What are you doing in here?”
I turn around to see Samantha watching me from just outside the door. How long has she been there? “I, ah…” I swallow. “Listen, Samantha, I--” I lean in closer to her, and my eyes must betray my panic, since she looks a little taken aback at my expression. “I think Silas Aconite might be missing,” I tell her, the words sounding ridiculous even as I say them.
She frowns. “Why would you think that?”
“He wasn’t in the dorms today,” I say, talking quickly. “I’ve already looked everywhere on campus for him, and there’s been no sign of him anywhere. Everyone’s saying he didn’t come to bed last night.”
Samantha’s eyes dart up and to the left for just a moment before her expression softens and she chuckles. “It’s all right, Millie. Silas is fine.”
“Really?” I stare at her. “Where is he?”
“He was admitted to the infirmary earlier this morning,” Samantha replies. “Stomach problems, I think.”
I blink. Part of me wants to believe her, but the other part is hung up on her brief hesitation before she answered me. “Is he okay?”
“Yes, he’ll be fine,” Samantha says, giving me a thin smile. She doesn’t say anything else.
“Can I see him?”
“No,” she says, a little harshly. “Sorry, Millie,” she adds. “It’s against school rules.”
“Since when? I thought students were allowed to visit the infirmary.”
“They are, most of the time,” she replies. “But it’s our policy to keep students with unknown conditions isolated from the rest of the school.
