out of the bedroom.
“Are you done?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright, I’m going in. Wait, are you about to eat that? Why do you like that stuff?”
“How can you like something called “Sky Pebble’s? The
cereal looks like asteroids - it’s so cliché.”
“Yeah but Nest Crunch turns to mush as soon as you pour the milk.”
“I love mushy cereal.”
He sighs and shakes his head sadly.
“There’s no teaching good taste.”
I copy his head movement.
“You don’t know what you’re missing.”
I grin at him as I pour my cereal. He rolls his eyes and walks into the bathroom.
“Yeah, I’m missing mush.”
He mutters it, but I still hear. I roll my eyes and grab the
Almondmilk out of the fridge. I pour a liberal amount because I like my cereal to swim. I grab the remote and plop down on the couch to put on the news. I’ve been out of touch for a while. I flip to the news channel. Nothing really exciting. Someone’s exotic bird was stolen, some woman tried to fly-walk her cat, a girl was missing…I choke on my cereal. It’s Raven! I turn the news channel up louder and the reporter is talking about a girl named Raven Drave who went missing from Valor Town two days ago. There’s been no sign of her since yesterday morning. Her face pops up on the screen. Then mine does and the reporter says that, “another teen who was in fact a friend with Raven went missing weeks ago. The authorities think that there may be a connection between the two disappearances. Sky Patrol doesn’t have any leads, anyone with information on any of the two missing girls should contact the missing person’s hotline at …”
What does this mean? Why is Raven missing? Mocha walks out of the shower.
“Mocha! Raven is missing!”
“Who’s Raven?”
“One of my best friends? The twin?”
“Oh, oh yeah, Raven. What do you mean missing?”
“I mean she’s missing. Gone, it was on the news. It can’t be a coincidence, her missing so close to this gala.”
“Why would they take Raven?”
I know just who he means. Only they would’ve done it.
“I don’t know…to send me a message? To convince me its better to go home?”
“That would make sense…Ash, if you found out that she had Raven would you give up and go home to save her?”
“Yes! In a heartbeat.”
“Your mother probably knows that. We need to tell Ginger.”
“What about Raven? ”
“I don’t know…we’ll figure it out when after we talk to
Ginger.”
He walks over to the phone and dials her number.
“Hello?”
“Ginger, it’s me Mocha. There’s a situation.”
Chapter 33: PLAN
OBSIDIAN
“Today’s not going to be easy, Ive.”
“I know.”
“We have to work hard not to…slip up.”
“I understand Ob, I’m not three.”
We’re standing outside the doors of the school. We got here early to go over our plan.
“This thing is at seven, and we don’t have much time after we get out of school to get ready.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“Forge a note saying you have to leave at about two from your mother.”
She winces.
“We have to do it Ivory. It’s necessary.”
“I realize that, but it doesn’t make it go down any easier. If we get through this, I’m going to have a lot to explain, and I’m going to have to lie about that too.”
“I know and I’m sorry Ivory. I’m just going to skip my last
period so that we can leave together. At about six, we should meet up at the park again. This event is in Skyview and it’s a long flight. We can talk over everything one last time, then leave at six thirty.”
“That’s the plan?”
“It’s the only one I’ve got.”
“I feel like you just figured it out right now.”
“I did.”
“Ob - You saw the news this morning?”
“Yeah.”
“What are you going to tell them?”
She gestures toward the building.
“I’ll have to say that I don’t know where she is, but that she was upset about Ash and might have tried to find her.”
“Who do you think leaked her disappearance?’
“Pepper. It’s her own petty revenge for me pushing her off of my porch yesterday.”
“You pushed her off your porch? She must have been pissed. I wished I could’ve seen her face.”
I grin.
“It was priceless. So I’m guessing none of you liked her?”
“Bramble did. Persimmon didn’t mind her, but that’s only
because she’s Persimmon – you could cut off both of her wings and she would still think you were her friend.”
I laugh. It’s mean, but true.
“I wonder why Sangria goes out with her.”
Ivory shrugs.
“Every bread has its cheese.”
“Eloquent words of wisdom.”
“Not really, my grandfather used to say that to my mom and she