I close the door to my bedroom before the three of us walk towards the elevator. Audrey looks at Laurel suspiciously. "He can't be serious, can he?" the female Sovereign asks the Altruistic. "I mean- we freaking saw him leave with the two..!" She groans in annoyance as the three of us get into the elevator.

"I'm not lying!" Laurel retorts, looking at Audrey. "I asked him like five times before coming to you guys. It's so weird, but I'm glad he's back..!"

I don't say anything, but I can't help but agree with Audrey. We saw all three of them leave Benen's room before mysteriously disappearing, so I can see why it's rather queer that not only does Benen come back, but he also doesn't remember where he disappeared to. "Do you think I'd be able to search his memories?" I ask, turning to the two girls.

Laurel ponders it silently. But before the female Altruistic can say anything in response, Audrey jumps in. "You definitely should! We need to know where they went!"

"And what about Benen?" Laurel counters. "He honestly doesn't remember!"

I hold my hands up to silence the Sovereign and Altruistic's bickering. When both of them look at me expectantly, I take a deep breath. "I believe that Benen doesn't remember anything," I begin. When Laurel smiles widely, I add, "But I also think that I should check his memories. I also believe that Benen didn't forget these memories by accident."

"So someone could've intentionally erased those memories," Audrey says after a moment of silence. "Uh... wow. Okay then. That... makes sense."

"Yeah," Laurel echoes. Smiling at me, the female Altruistic says, "If that's the case, we should get going! Benen's memories won't check themselves!" Determination noticeable in her expression, Laurel grabs both of our hands and drags us to her room. After quickly unlocking the door, she ushers us in and opens the connecting door.

Before I go in, I ask, "Shouldn't you close your door, Laurel?"

Laurel shrugs. "I don't think there's anyone who'd come in here," the female Altruistic admits nonchalantly. I want to bring up Mr. Wallace, but Laurel's already dragging me into Benen's room.

At the sight of the three of us, Benen quickly jumps up from his bed. Hugging Laurel, he says, "You guys took a long time. I almost began to think that you left like Donovan and Fitz."

Audrey raises an eyebrow in suspicion. Coughing softly to get my attention, she gives me a wary glance before tilting her head towards the male Altruistic.

Shaking my head at her, I turn to Benen. "Benen, I need for you to do a favor for me," I say calmly. "Is that alright with you?" Benen nods, and I continue. "I'm just going to check your memories, since we don't know what happened either." In my head, I wonder, How am I going to this?

I then remember how I entered Fitz's mind to submerge the memory by touching his temples. Doing the same, I try to think of ways that I can bring specific memories up as I enter Benen's mind. Maybe if I transmit a memory of Fitz or Donovan, I suggest to myself. I'm about to share the most recent memory of both and Donovan when I realize that it not only shows Benen that Fitz can withstand the pain of one tzanion, it also shows Donovan talking about his technological powers.

Pushing that memory aside, I look for other memories that may help. I finally decide on sending my memory of our latest sleepover- him and Donovan having a pillow fight as Fitz looks at me. When the actual memory is projected in front of me, I transmit, You remember this, don't you?

Yeah... Benen thinks. Before I can reply, multiple images of Donovan and Fitz are shown as if they're on a roll of film. Although I can't hear what they're saying, I quickly recognize Susan's corpse, Fitz and me after the male Percipient catches me, and others. I also see him and Donovan having a pillow fight from his perspective, and the three boys in different areas.

But the memory of them leaving is gone.

Severing my connection to the male Altruistic, I step back a few paces and gesture for the two girls to follow me. Lowering my voice to a whisper, I say hastily, "I looked at the memories of him while he's with Donovan and Fitz. And I couldn't find the memory of him leaving with the two."

"So his memories were erased?" Laurel asks. She glances over at Benen sympathetically, who merely waves at her happily, a large grin on his face. Her eyes welling with tears, Laurel turns back to the two of us. I place a hand on her shoulder gently, my expression full of concern and pity. Sighing, the female Altruistic says, "I'm not worried about him and the memories, Sophie. I'm worried about the two of you. Can you keep this calm charade up for much longer?"

Audrey tenses considerably. I don't even have to look at Audrey to know that she has the same answer as me. "No..." I finally admit after a few moments of silence. "I don't think we can, but we don't really have a choice now, do we?"

Audrey scoffs. "No kidding," she remarks bitterly. After glaring at her feet, the Sovereign looks up at me. "Wait- we saw the three of them leave, right?"

As I stare at her like she's an idiot, Laurel nods. "Yeah," she says, confused. "Why?"

"And you know how to give memories to someone, right?" Audrey asks.

I furrow my eyebrows. "Well," I begin. "It's kind of like I'm projecting the image, and then other memories appear that are related to the memory or the things in the memory-"

Audrey waves her hand dismissively. "Too much smart mind stuff I don't get," the female Sovereign says absentmindedly. "So go do whatever the heck you just said.," Audrey commands, shoving me towards the male Altruistic.

Sighing, I glare at Audrey, who merely waves at me with a mischievous grin on her face. Turning to face Benen again, I place my fingers to his temples and enter his mind. I'm just going to send you a memory, I say. Try to find anything that's relatable to the memory I'm going to show you. After I find the memory of him leaving the room with Donovan and Fitz.

But this time, before I can see the slideshow of memories, my connection to his head is severed abruptly. My fingers burning as if I touched a hot piece of metal, I step away from the male Altruistic's head. I'm about to ask what happened when Benen suddenly says, "I don't think it worked, since I still can't remember anything worth noting." Yawning, he adds, "It's pretty early to be awake. Why don't we try again later?"

Audrey frowns noticeably, but I give Benen a gentle smile. "Of course," I tell him as the three of us make our way to the connecting door. "Good night, Benen."

"Good night, Sophie." He then plants a chaise kiss on Laurel's cheek, making her blush profusely. "Good night, Laurel," he adds, smiling down at her.

Giggling softly, Laurel bids him farewell as she twirls a piece of hair around her finger in embarrassment. Once in her room, Laurel opens her bedroom door and wishes us a good night, closing the door after the female Sovereign and I begin to walk down the hallway.

As Audrey and I split up and go in separate elevators, I find myself frowning at how much my fingers burned after I sent the memory. For some reason, my mind keeps going back to Laurel and me talking with each other before entering Benen's room. Why am I thinking about that specific moment? I think to myself.

After I get out of the elevator, though, it finally clicks.

Laurel left her bedroom door open, and she didn't close it. The female Altruistic stayed with us throughout the mind-reading.

So who closed the door? And how did I not hear it?