"H-have you seen Ghost or Ila around?" I manage to spit out, my entire body shaking despite the blankets lazily draped on my shoulders. Eclipse and I are perched on either sides of my bed. My fingers are laced in hers; she intently stares at me.

"Sweets, I don't know who Ila is," Eclipse reminds me soothingly.

"She's my friend. Short-- really short. Doesn't even reach my shoulders-- really pretty. Big, dark eyes, light brown hair, bleached at the ends... Kinda dark skin. Like milk chocolate," I try to describe my life-long friend, even if it is in choppy sentences.

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen her. Should we go look for her?" All I can do is nod.

Almost immediately, Eclipse is off in the air ducts, looking for Cody. I figured he could help look around the level for them. Meanwhile, Whisper and I are climbing through my room's window into the room next to mine. It's the easiest way to get to Ila's room. We used to be right next to each other, but a while back, an Asian girl was moved to our hall. For whatever reason, Ila had to move rooms. The Asian girl probably hates that Ila, Ghost, and I are always climbing back and forth between her room, but she never told us to take down our horizontal ladder suspended a foot from the ceiling. Luckily, she's not here right now.

"Come on, you're supposed to be flexible," I hiss at the boy appropriately named Whisper. I'm already making my way across our wooden ladder made from a disassembled dresser, but he's still trying to fit through the opening in the brick wall separating the two rooms.

He rolls his eyes, "More flexible than Eclipse. That's not very hard. Can you help me out?" I have to lean closer to actually hear him. 

I grab his hands, and yank him through the window and out on the ladder. "Come on, let's keep going."

He glances down nervously, and I glare at him. "If you're afraid of heights, you shouldn't be, do you see how far down you'd be falling? These are small rooms, Silent."

"You know, I don't have to help you," he reminds me. I don't respond, instead I continue across.

It feels like longer than it actually is, but we finally both reach the window leading into Ila's room. What I don't see in her room is more frightening than what is.