Ellora's Sun

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ok this chapter is extra long, but it flows so it had to be in one haha. Enjoy!
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Stefan's POV

Stefan was normally a pretty heavy sleeper. It took a lot to wake him up once he was asleep. But when he fell asleep with Adelaide in his bed, every sense in his body was on high alert. She had fallen asleep while he was talking, and it took him a minute to realize she was no longer listening. Stefan didn't mind, though. He tucked her under the covers, turning off the lights so she could sleep peacefully.

He stayed by her side until her drifted off to sleep himself. Even then, he woke up nearly every hour to check on her and make sure she was still there. Eventually, he managed to stay asleep for two hours straight. But he was woken abruptly by the sound of the front door shutting. It was quiet, but it was enough to wake him from light sleep. Stefan rolled over, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he instinctually moved his hand to the other side of the bed to check on Adelaide. His breath stopped when he didn't feel her warmth in the bed next to him.

Stefan bolted out of bed, waving a hand in the air to turn the lights on. He ran into the bathroom to check for her there, but found no trace of her. When he got back to his room, he noticed the pajamas she had been wearing in a pile on the floor. Her sneakers were gone as well. Stefan cursed under his breath, pulling open the bedroom door and racing into the other room.

The living room lights clicked on, and he heard a chorus of groans from Lorenzo and Christoph. But as soon as they sat up, they saw the look of panic on Stefan's face. Christoph made eye contact with him across the room, and he was out of bed in seconds.

"What happened?"

"She's gone." Stefan answered, but couldn't offer anymore information than that. He started to look around the living room for any clues as to where she went. He knew immediately why she had left, but he needed to find out where she went.

"Where the fuck did she go?" Christoph shouted angrily. Stefan ignored his anger, moving towards the living room windows to search the area. Lorenzo said nothing, but followed suit and began to look for clues.

"I don't know, but I'm assuming they managed to get a message to her and asked her to come alone. And she listened, because she doesn't want them to hurt James," Stefan explained as Christoph followed him around, "we just have to figure out where they told her to go."

"And how are we going to figure that out?" Christoph scoffed, his face red as he ran a hand through his hair. He paced the living room, unable to focus or think in his state of worry. Stefan glanced at him briefly before going back to searching for clues.

"She left us a clue." Stefan stated, digging through the TV stand for anything unusual. He hated that Adelaide had chosen to go alone, but he understood her decision. He would have done the same thing if it had been his sister's life at risk.

"How do you know that?" Christoph asked in an annoyed voice, standing too close to Stefan as he moved to go to the kitchen. Stefan didn't answer or spare him a glance before pushing past him and into the kitchen. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew Adelaide would leave a clue. She was too smart to go there completely alone.

When he saw the laptop on the kitchen counter, Stefan knew it wasn't right. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at it. He knew he hadn't left it there, and he certainly knew he hadn't left it open. He crossed the kitchen in one stride, grabbing the laptop aggressively and groaning when he saw that it had run out of battery.

Stefan scrambled in a nearby drawer to find the right cord, and hurried to plug the laptop into the wall. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for it to come on, his eyes wandering to the pad that was sitting next to the laptop. He noticed the slight indention of letters where someone had written a note and taken it with them. This had to be her clue.