The wipers swiped frantically at the windshield, but there was so much rain it did little good. Lenore wondered if it was even safe for them to be on the road in this weather. The small creek that ran through town had swollen to a raging river and the neighbouring streets were now half submerged, forcing her mother to take a roundabout route to the school.

Lenore's thoughts were still spiralling. Maybe that's what happened to Victor—his basement got flooded and he was too busy helping his mom that he forgot to call. She checked her phone. Victor still hadn't read her message. Or maybe he dropped his phone in a puddle. Or maybe he...

She wondered if he'd be at school. Would she be able to stir up the courage to talk to him? There had to be a reasonable explanation for why he didn't come this morning.

He wouldn't have just ghosted her...

Right?

As they drove, her mother kept looking over at her. Lenore pretended she didn't notice. She had an inkling that her mother wanted to ask questions, and Lenore wasn't interested in getting into it, least of all with her mother. And anyway, with the awful weather, she wished her mom would keep her eyes on the road.

As soon as her mother pulled up to the drop-off point, Lenore released her seatbelt.

"Thanks for the ride," she said, hopping out.

Her mother didn't respond.

She looked back at her, ready to slam the door, and her mother was studying her, her icy eyes intent as they focused on her features. Lenore felt like her mother's gaze could reach past her face and comb right through her thoughts. It sent a shiver up her back. She averted her eyes and shrugged, trying to shake off the strange feeling.

"Call me if you need a ride after school," her mother said. "Or if the weather gets worse and they cancel class." Her gaze finally left Lenore and fixed on the angry dark sky overhead.

"Doubt they'll do that," Lenore said. Looking over the parking lots, it seemed most people were already there. The school was notorious for staying open, come hell... or literal high water.

"Well, either way. If you want to come home, just call," her mother offered, her voice softer this time.

Lenore was surprised her mother was suggesting that after making such a big deal about her absences.

"I'll keep that in mind," she said and slammed the door.

Her mother didn't pull away until Lenore had stepped through the doors of the school.

Inside, it seemed that more than the weather had cast a cloud over her classmates. Everyone seemed on edge, their eyes nervously darting around as if they were fearful of being watched. Their gazes caught on her as she passed by like it was her first day all over again.

She hurried off. She needed to stop by her locker anyway. And, if she was lucky, maybe Victor would be there, too. Maybe he was waiting for her...

At least, she hoped so. She hoped he had a perfectly ordinary explanation for why he hadn't come for her this morning. Maybe his car had broken down and he was so sorry, he'd insist on making it up to her in some way. Maybe he—

As she turned the corner, she stopped dead.

There were police gathered in the hallway by her locker.

Lenore shrank against the wall.

What the hell are the cops doing here?

One of them, a tall, burly man with close-cropped hair, noticed her and narrowed his stare. Lenore swallowed and darted away, back around the corner.

If you had to list out all the people in Eden that didn't like her family, the cops would be at the top. They had set their sights on her Aunt Alice soon after the Harris twins went missing, but after she disappeared, too... They—and the rest of the town—turned their ire on the remaining members of her family.

Lenore, fortunately, had been too young at the time to be really dragged into their investigation, but she remembered the fearful tension that took hold of the house every time they showed up to ask more questions.

It had been years ago, but the feeling was still as fresh as if it were yesterday. She shuddered, trying to loosen the anxiety that had wrapped itself around her chest. She was overreacting.

And anyway, she tried to convince herself, why would they be here for her? These were small-town cops, hardly the proactive kind. The Harris case had long since gone cold and she had been too young to remember much anyway. It was more likely they were here for some assembly she'd forgotten about, or—

The bell rang overhead. Lenore swore under her breath. She still needed her books from her locker. She had left them there yesterday, but there was no way she was going to walk past the cops to go get them.

Cursing again, she ran off, empty-handed.

Her first class of the day was History, another class she shared with Victor. She hoped she'd run into him there and she might get a chance to speak with him before class started.

As she stepped inside the classroom, she scanned the rows for Victor's usual seat and her shoulders sank when she realised he wasn't there. Another flurry of anxiety rose up, and Lenore did her best to shove it down as she hurried to her usual spot.

Once seated, she turned and watched the door for Victor, hardly noticing the other students until a few took their seats nearby.

"What do you think the cops are here for?" one of them asked his friend in the spot beside Lenore.

Lenore perked up. So, the other students were just as confused by the cop's arrival as she was, then. Guess there isn't an assembly...

She kept her eyes on the door but left her ears open.

"Probably an illicit student-teacher relationship," his friend replied with a dopey laugh. "Cougars are super hot right now."

A third kid snorted. "Don't be dumb. The only cougars 'round Eden are the ones that sometimes pass through the woods."

"You think it's drugs?" the first one said, a low-voiced boy with hooded eyes. "I-I mean, I bought some weed from Reese last week..."

"They don't care about weed anymore, man," the third kid said.

"Maaaaybe," the second guy drawled, "they finally found the bodies of the Harris dudes."

Lenore winced. They shouldn't joke about that.

"Gross, dude," the third one said. "And even if they did, why would they stop by the highschool? There's nothing related to the crime here anymore."

"Well," the low-voiced one countered. "Not nothing."

The trio went quiet, and Lenore could bet they were looking in her direction. She did her best to pretend like she hadn't heard and kept her eyes on the door.

Their History teacher, Mr Patterson, waltzed in. He slammed and locked the door behind him as the second bell rang. Judging by the sour look on his face, he was in no mood to tolerate tardiness—he was notorious for not tolerating late people.

But with the door locked, Lenore finally turned around to face the front. She checked Victor's empty seat again as if there was a chance he could've slipped past her. He had not. His seat was still empty.

And, Lenore noticed for the first time, so was Fiona's.

Lenore hadn't been watching for her, but now another pang shot through her. If there was no Victor, she had thought she might be able to talk to Fiona... But both of them being absent worried her. Her mind tumbled down the rabbit hole of possibilities.

Maybe the car Victor had mentioned was Fiona's, and they were both going to pick her up. If something happened to the car, that would explain why they were both—

Her skin went cold as she imagined all the things that could happen to their car in bad weather. It started with a flat tire, or a dead battery, and led all the way to the haunting image of a lonely cross on the side of the road, underneath Eden's welcome sign...

Mr Patterson stepped in front of the class. He looked positively miserable. His shoulders were all hunched up and he still wore that twisted-up scowl. Lenore was sure he was about to launch into one of his lectures on proper behaviour in class or something. But he did not speak. He looked like he was struggling with it, opening and closing his mouth. As he lingered before them, Lenore realised there was something else in the deep furrows of his face.

The class quieted down on its own as each of them realised there was something heavy weighing on the shoulders of their usually stern teacher.

"What's eating him?" the guy next to her asked his friends.

"C-Class," Mr Patterson began, at last, wringing his hands against his oxblood sweater. "You may have noticed that the... the police are here at the school today."

There was some murmur of confirmation.

"It is of utmost importance that you cooperate with them," Mr Patterson continued, for a moment regaining his usual iron disposition, "because they are investigating a very serious matter."

"What are they investigating?" one of the kids near Lenore shouted.

Mr Patterson shot a razor-sharp glare in the kid's direction—he hated outbursts, too—but it didn't stay long. He looked conflicted for a moment like he wasn't sure what details he was meant to share just yet.

A chill had settled over Lenore. Her mind was racing with possibilities, but there was one theory, the one she dreaded the most, that burrowed in and made its home in her head.

It wasn't...

It couldn't be...

Mr Patterson swallowed and muttered something to himself that sounded like, "...they'll find out soon enough." Then he cleared his throat and straightened up.

"They're investigating the disappearance of..." he began again, his usually steady voice shaking as he spoke, "Victor Lockwood."