"How did this happen?" Sophie asks, pacing like I was doing before she came. "Wait- how did you get the poster? She lives in Oregon... And when did this happen?!"

"How- I don't know," I admit. "And the poster was just on my desk when I woke up. I can't help but wonder if someone broke into my room... again." I think back to how I had to read the actual poster at least three times to realize that this wasn't a prank, but reality.

Sophie's eyes widen. "What if they did?!" she exclaims, stopping in her tracks. "But why would someone take their time to give us a 'Missing People' poster..? It doesn't make much sense..."

"...unless someone wants us to find Leila," I conclude, looking at the female Percipient. "But that now gives us something else to worry about- who do we think will want to find Leila?" Before either of us know it, the two of us are pacing around my room, trying to come up with as many possibilities as we can.

"Her husband and daughter are dead," Sophie recalls, furrowing her eyebrows. "And I don't think she has any grandchildren of her own, does she?"

"No, she doesn't," I coincide. "And Susan's also dead, and she's the only witness at Fitton and Arien's wedding..." Suddenly, my voice trails off as I'm hit with a wave of realization. Stopping abruptly, I turn around to face Sophie again. "Fitton... It must be him!" I shout. "He's alive, related to Leila...!"

"That makes sense!" Sophie agrees. Suddenly, she frowns slightly and furrows her eyebrows again. Before I can ask, she says, "Sorry- I just realized that I didn't get to read it completely. Can I..?" Her voice trails off as she points at the poster on my desk.

I shake my head. "Go right ahead," I tell her, walking over to it myself as well. Leila Leroy, I think to myself. Last seen on October 21st leaving her house by camera. Last seen wearing some jeans and a plain shirt. Call police or 911 if she's spotted.

"Huh," Sophie says, breaking the silence. "I would've thought that with Jacob and Fitton, they'd list at least a few more things about her, you know?"

I shrug. "Who know?" I ask helplessly. Sighing, I say, "More problems are flung towards us, yet we don't have enough answers for all of those problems." Before Sophie can say anything, though, I absentmindedly mumble, "We should probably tell the others... before they find out some other reason."

Silent, Sophie nods and picks the poster up, looking over it one final time. Her brown eyes meet mine momentarily before we both look away, letting the newfound silence envelope the two of us as we go downstairs.

Inside, I'm not surprised to see the Sovereigns and Altruistics already sitting in their respective seats around the conference room table. "Took you long enough," Donovan scoffs, crossing his arms. Too many thoughts are racing in my already-drained mind, so I just ignore him.

"Hey... are you alright?" Benen asks me when I sit down. "You look... tired."

"You're spot on," I tell him wearily. "I really am. But apparently, none of us are going to get some well-deserved rest for awhile..." In a louder voice, I ask everyone, "Remember Leila?"

"Arien's mother," Sophie adds for clarification, glancing over at me for a moment.

When everyone nods, Donovan suddenly asks, "Is it about how she's missing?"

My eyes widen. "How do you know?!" I ask, my surprise prominent. Donovan merely furrows his eyebrows, and I can answer my own question, "You also found a 'Missing People' poster in your room, didn't you..?"

"Is that what the paper was?" Benen asks, frowning. "I didn't know what it was, so I didn't touch it. Is that bad?"

I shake my head. "Quite the opposite," I say. "Good instincts. But now..." I lean back in my chair and look up at the ceiling. "We have Jacob and a missing Leila to worry about."

"That's weird..." Sophie muses. "Why did you three get posters but we didn't..?" She taps her chin in thought. I don't think that this was some sheer coincidence, she transmits to me.

I nod. I don't think it ever was, I say, sighing verbally. And if this all was on purpose, which it most likely was, I doubt you three would be left behind without messing with you guys as well... Out loud, I say, "We'll have to do some more research on Leila. This time, we need to find as much as we can about her disappearance."

Everyone nods at my words. "We should meet in my room tomorrow morning," Sophie suggests. "Before breakfast. Then we won't have to worry about Mr. Wallace. Sound good?" she asks, looking at us. When we all nod, the female Percipient then says, "Then what are we waiting for..? Let's start right now."

...

It's been so long since I've gone downstairs again that the sun has already set. Instead of being a normal person and doing normal things, I'm furiously typing into a computer, trying to find information about the missing mother of a dead daughter and a criminal son-in-law. She surely has some messed up family members, I think to myself bitterly. Stifling yet another yawn, I rake a hand through my hair before staring at the screen again, despite my now-pounding headache.

Suddenly, I hear some knocking on the connecting door. When I open it, I force myself to not appear as drowsy as I actually feel. Even still, Sophie touches my cheek, frowning sympathetically. "You look more tired than I've ever seen you," she comments sadly.

"You should've seen me at the hideout," I mumble, closing my eyes and leaning into her hand. "Did you find anything..?" I ask after a moment, my sleepiness slurring my English just a tad.

"No," Sophie says softly. "But I'm also guessing that you didn't find anything?"

I groan softly, shaking my head. "No... they just had the same information that we already have," I complain sleepily.

"Have you slept at all?" she asks me. I can hear her gasp softly when I shake my head again. "Then go to sleep," she gently instructs me when I open my eyes.

Stepping back, I wearily shake my head. "I need to continue searching," I try to tell her as I move towards my computer. "We're not going to go anywhere by taking breaks."

"And we're not going to go anywhere by being half-asleep and trying to look up things," the female Percipient argues calmly. Sophie then walks over to close my laptop before turning to me. Pointing to my bed, she says, "Go to bed." She then pauses, pointing to my closet, "But before, change."

I can't help but smirk as I make my way over to my walk-in closet. Chuckling sheepishly, I ask jokingly, "Anything else in my schedule that needs to be done?"

Sophie laughs as well. "Yeah, sleeping," she says, raising an eyebrow playfully before leaving into her room. I can hear her laughing still and smile more myself. Feeling slightly less tired from the joking, I still get ready for the night.

Of course, once my head hits the pillow, I'm out like a light.

...

A few more nights pass. Yet again, we're stuck in the same dilemma as before- not finding any information.

Once again, it's way into the night and I haven't gone to sleep again. This time, I notice that my head's pounding slightly and my vision blurring a bit from staring at my laptop for so long. Stretching for a few moments, I close my laptop and change into my pajamas before Sophie can come in like before and coerce me out of staying up all night to do some research.

Finally ready to go to bed, I'm about to turn my lights off when I have a feeling to go check on Sophie. I frown momentarily, wondering whether this is just my instinct or something that comes with have telepathic abilities. Even still, I turn on my heel to the connecting.

I lightly knock on the door and wait patiently for a response of some sort. When I don't receive one, I furrow my eyebrows and slowly open the door, cringing slightly at how loud the door is.

And once I actually find Sophie, I can't help but let my smile dance across my face.

Her blonde hair covering her hair ever so slightly, I see Sophie moving her head ever so slightly to be comfortable while she's sleeping. Her laptop's still open, I realize as I walk over to the female Percipient's desk. After trying to clean up her workspace as quietly as I can, I gently pick Sophie up bridal style and place her in her bed. Making sure that she's comfortable, I slowly place her covers on top of the sleeping Percipient before turning off her light.

Closing the connecting door, I walk to my bedroom door and turn off my own door, using the dim light of the full moon to guide me back to my bed for a good night's rest.

...

The next day, I'm attempting to search up Leila again. After finding no general information of Leila's disappearance, I decide to look up some specific information.

Namely, where she was last seen.

I first type in "Leila Leroy", only to find myself skimming through a biography of her. I glance at the date and realize that it was posted recently, most likely after the murder of Arien. Sighing when I don't find anything, I try searching up "Leila Leroy- disappearance".

Even still, another dead end.

I place my head in my hands and groan. After a few nights of finding absolutely nothing, I decide to take a break from this fruitless research. Lifting my head up again, I look at the screen and begrudgingly place my fingers on the keyboard yet again. I frown in thought over what I should search up next. Deciding that I don't want to do some more research on Leila, I type in "Jacob Graham- Court Date".

My eyes widen when I see that Jacob's court date is in four days. Obviously surprised, I read through the article. "Jacob Grahams, murderer of Michelle and David Grahams, is still silent when it comes to his opinions about his court date," I read out loud. "If found guilty, Grahams could be charged with two counts of first-degree murder and may face a sentence in prison, which the possibility of parole or the death sentence.

"Surprisingly, Grahams has been described as being nonchalant about the entire ordeal. Instead, he talks about a woman named... Leila Leroy?!" I shout, jumping up. Shaking my head in disbelief, I continue reading. "Jacob said that Leila was talking so quickly that he couldn't completely understand her. Eventually, she gave up on him and left. Unfortunately, Grahams wasn't too keen on sharing whatever he could nitpick from Leroy's rant. Even after all of the news outlets have been bugging him nonstop, Grahams remains silent until his court date."

My eyes still wide, I almost slam my laptop closed before rushing to the connecting door. Forgetting to knock, I swing the door open to see Sophie look up from her computer, confused. "What's wrong?" she asks when I come over to her. "Did something else happen?"

"No- well, yes-" I begin to say. Shaking my head, I ask, "You know how Jacob's going to be in court in a few days?"

Sophie nods.

"Well, it's in four days," I tell her. When her eyes widen, I add, "And we need to visit him before then."

At this, the female Percipient pales considerably. "Wait- why?!" she stammers, standing up and backing away slightly. "What importance does he have now?"

"For starters, he talked again," I say, stepping forward. "And secondly, he's our main witness."

"Witness to who?" A second of silence passes between us as most before the female Percipient finds the answer to her own question. "Leila..? But, how?"

"He said so."