Message in a Bottle

~2~

*Kota*

Something was going on with Luke. He snuck out of my room thirty minutes ago and hadn't returned. I slid my new glasses on and let myself out without waking the others. I checked the kitchen first, thinking he'd gotten hungry, but the lights were out and everything seemed undisturbed. I moved to check for him in the living room when I heard Max whine softly. I turned to the garage and found Luke crying quietly with my furry friend curled up in his lap. He had some papers clenched in his hands, and when he looked up at me, the bleakness in his eyes had me reaching for my phone. We were going to need backup for whatever had happened.

"Kota," Luke rasped. "We've got to help her." He shoved the papers into my hand frantically, knocking Max out of his lap as he jumped to his feet. "She's in danger! We've got to get her out of there!"

I put a hand on his arm, trying to calm him, and channeled Mr. Blackbourne as best as I could. "Luke. Take a breath and explain what's going on. We'll fix whatever has you so upset, but you need to explain it to me first."

I watched as his panic melted away and was replaced by patented Luke Taylor determination.

"Read that." He motioned to the pages in my hand. "I found them in a bottle on the beach this afternoon, and we need to help her."

I looked down at the notes and frowned. I read through them quickly and felt Luke's urgency spark within me.

What if we're too late?

"Luke, wake them up," I waved toward my room. "I'm calling a family meeting just as soon as I talk to Mr. Blackbourne." He nodded and darted up the stairs.

I pulled up the emergency app and sent out a small prayer that this message in a bottle wasn't from too long ago.

***

We assembled at Nate's house, since his dad was out of town this week, and my brothers were in various stages of dress.

Gabe was wearing a pair of plaid boxers with an old white undershirt, and his hair was sticking out all over. Nate and North were both bare chested, wearing their pajama pants and nothing else, and oddly enough, Luke was more dressed than any of them. He had on his full set pj's that my mom had gotten him for his birthday, the light blue ones with dancing pink bunnies on them, as well as unlaced hiking boots. Silas was dressed like me, barefoot, but with a tee and sweatpants, and Vic was wearing his pajama pants and a v-neck shirt with slippers. Doc was wearing purple scrubs, as he'd come straight from doing rounds, and Mr. Blackbourne was in a suit, though he'd forgone the tie.

I read the letters to them and the room was silent for a beat.

"Mr. Morgan, can you find any information for us?" Once Mr. Blackbourne had broken the silence, everyone jumped in.

"What kind of shit is this?" Gabe grumbled, taking the papers from me and sitting beside Vic on the couch. They started pulling up data almost immediately, and the rest of us, though anxious for answers, turned to Mr. B for the next steps.

"We need to acknowledge that this letter may be decades old." That silenced us and he met each of our gazes. "We may not find this Miss Sorensen, or we may be too late. I want you to be prepared for that possibility."

"I've found the school," Vic interrupted. "It's everything she said and more." He typed for a moment and then spoke up again. "I've only found one Sorensen in their records, her sister, Marie, but she's still enrolled, so the letter can't be that old."

The tension in the room was palpable, and we waited, hoping that Victor could find some evidence of this girl.

"She might not be in their system," Silas said softly. "She wrote that her birth certificate was a fake, so maybe she's a ghost."

Silas's observation made my skin crawl, and I feared what could happen to someone like her in a place like that.

"What about the father?" Doc yawned from the other side of the room. "Does the school have his contact information in their records?"

Vic tapped at his keys for another moment before yanking his hands away as though the laptop had shocked him. His face went hard, and his usually contained temper simmered just below the surface.

"What have you found, Mr. Morgan?" Mr. Blackbourne ordered more than asked.

Vic's jaw clenched, and he pointed off toward Nate's bedroom. "He's here," he growled, his extended arm shaking slightly. "On Sunnyvale court."

All of our eyes followed his finger line and North stormed for the door.

"Freeze, Mr. Taylor," Mr. Blackbourne shouted just as North was reaching for the doorknob. "We will not burst blindly into this. Sit. Down."

North tromped to his chair and huffed as he crossed his arms and collapsed into the seat.

"We will find our Miss Sorensen, but we will not forget ourselves or our training. We are Academy, and we will go in with a plan."

***