Stuck in a Cabin (with you)

A Very Unexpected Help

"Hello, Alya? Sorry to disturb you, dear. Can I talk to Marinette, please?" Alya's eyes grew wide when she answered the phone. Lila had just gone to the toilet and this was the first time she could look at her messages or pick up her calls.

"I'm sorry, Madame Cheng, I haven't seen her at all. I've been working on the history project all afternoon with Lila!"

Sabine gasped. "Oh, that's very weird, dear. Marinette said that she was joining you and the girls at lake Daumesnil, to skate. She left hours ago."

Alya's heart started pounding as a knot twisted her insides. "I haven't spoken to Marinette today." She put the phone in loudspeaker and went to check her messages. "Last time I spoke to her was last night, to say sorry that I hadn't been paired with her for the project."

"This is really weird," said Sabine. Her voice seemed to crack. "I have been trying to get in touch with Marinette for hours and her phone's always been off. The storm is getting worse and..." Alya heard Sabine sniffling. "I can't help being worried."

The brunette walked to the window and looked outside. The snow had picked up really badly and the view was one of the most spectacularly beautiful she had ever seen. But also spectacularly scary, thinking that her best friend was somewhere out there, with no phone, and had been out for hours. What was going on, Marinette? Where was she?

"Don't worry Madame Cheng. I will call the girls and see if Marinette is with one of them. Maybe she thought I was going to be there with them. I'll call you back."

Sabine sighed, "Thank you, Alya," she said before hanging up.

Alya was dialling Mylène's number when Lila came out of the toilet.

"Is everything okay?" inquired the Italian brunette. Alya nodded and signed to be quiet with her free hand.

"Mylène? Hi, it's Alya. Have you by any chance had any news of Marinette?" The second she mentioned Marinette's name, Alya noticed that Lila's lips curled into a smirk that didn't bode any good, but the young reporter chose to park the thought and carry on with her conversation, especially when she heard the answer.

"No. I've been working at the history project with Ivan, all afternoon. Is she okay?"

The knot twisting Alya's inside grew more painful. "Thank you. Don't worry it's okay. Maybe she's at Juleka's."

"I don't think so," said Mylène, "Jules and Rose were going to work on the project too this afternoon. Alix and Max were also doing the same. And Luka is busy with his dad, so she can't be with him either."

"She told her mom that she was going with me and the girls to the lake," said Alya, her voice now cracking with worry, her hand reaching her nape and starting to scratch it anxiously. "It's so unusual of her to lie, especially to her mother."

"Now you're worrying me," said Mylène. "I have definitely not heard anything from her all day since we left school."

Alya sighed. "Okay, don't worry, leave it to me. I'll call Nino to see if he knows anything and maybe check on Adrien, although it's unlikely she would be with him."

"Nah, that would be a miracle," said Mylène from the other side of the phone.

"Indeed." Alya hung up the phone and sighed, closing her eyes and resting her forehead on the wooden frame of her window.

"What's happening, Alya? Can it not wait? We need to finish the project!" came Lila's voice from behind her.

Alya didn't know why, but Lila's tone of voice as she said that made her insides twist again. "No, it can't wait, sorry. Maybe it's better if you go home, Lila, I will be busy for a while on the phone." She was starting to dial Nino's number when Lila spoke again,