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one has even mentioned him
to me.
    “Nope. He must
be last week’s news. All I’m hearing about is how Ebbodine has run
off to live with some guy she met on the weekend … among other
theories.” He raises his eyebrows at the stupidity of others.
    It is really
annoying how these events are keeping everyone entertained around
here. I seriously want to ditch school for the day but I’m worried
that Dad will find out and I just can’t deal with that again.
    “Want to get
out of here?” Drew is looking at me with hopeful eyes, he doesn’t
want to be here just as much and I can’t resist the offer to
escape.
     
    ***
     
    Drew and I walk
down Ebbodine’s extremely long drive way. I thought for sure Drew
wouldn’t have wanted to accompany me to Ebb’s house when I
mentioned I wanted to come here, but he claims anything to distract
him from thinking about Jax, he’s up for. I don’t know if this will
distract him too much, my best friend is missing and his is
dead.
    I want to see
her mother and offer to help in any way I can. I should have been
there for her.
    “Allira?” The
front door swings open and there stands Ebbodine’s mum looking
tired and weary, she obviously hasn’t slept in days. I run up the
porch stairs and throw my arms around her.
    “I am so
sorry!” Words cannot express how sorry I am. I start to tear up and
I know there is no way I can hold them back. “I only found out this
morning, I can’t believe it.”
    “Neither can I
Allira, neither can I.” She notices that I’m not alone, “Who’s
this?” she asks, looking at Drew.
    “This is Drew,
he goes to school with us. I am really sorry I haven’t come by
sooner but I only found out this morning. Is there any news about
what could have happened to her?” Please say yes, please say
yes.
    “Not yet honey.
There are still a few more theories the police are working on,” she
says.
    “Theories?”
Drew asks. Maybe he really is desperate for a distraction.
    “Well there are
three. Come inside and we can talk about it over a cup of tea.”
    We follow her
in and take a seat at their dining room table; a table I have sat
and had many meals at over the last three years. It feels so weird
not having Ebb here with me. Her mum starts talking while she makes
the tea.
    “The first one
is she has gone to the Institute.” She looks back at me with
curious eyes, like she is awaiting my response. “But by the look on
your face Allira, you don’t know of any defect Ebbodine might
have?”
    I shake my head
in response, “No, she wasn’t Defective. Well, she never talked to
me about it anyway.”
    “Me either, but
you know how teenagers are with keeping secrets from their parents,
I thought she might have just been hiding it from me,” she sighs.
“I’m sure if Ebbodine did have a defect she would have told you,” I
try to reassure her.
    I don’t think
Ebb is Defective anyway, someone who loves so much drama, always
attracting attention to herself would not be Defective. It’s the
ones who lay low and are practically invisible you should be
suspicious of, like my brother. Surely she doesn’t have a
defect.
    “The second
theory?” I ask, as she places a cup of tea down in front of me.
    “She has just
run off for some week-long, party escapade. I love my daughter,
don’t get me wrong, but it does sound like something she would do.
Plus I have to hope for this option because I don’t like where the
other two lead.”
    “What’s the
last one?” I ask.
    I want to say
that Ebbodine would never go on a week-long ‘party escapade’
without me, or without telling her mum where she is going to be,
even if where she says she is going is a lie. But if her mum wants
to hold on to the hope that Ebbodine will walk in the door any
moment hung over and sleep deprived, I don’t want to be the one to
deflate that hope.
    She puts the
tea down in front of us and grabs hold of my hand, “I don’t want to
tell you the third option, it’s too