Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.

-Jorge Luis Borges

-==OOO==-

Jonny looked up at the 10-story monolith that was his freshman dorm. "I've seen friendlier prisons."

Benton laughed. "It's not the mansion, I'll give you that! But the facilities here are quite modern. You'll be fine."

Jonny nodded. Shouldering the huge bag that had been Race's Navy seabag, he took a deep breath. Come on, he told himself. I am 18-years old, I've survived supervillains and near misses with the end of the world, and this is what I've been waiting for. I am not scared of college. I am not.

Even so, he wished he'd agreed to move in one at a time rather than splitting up. A few blocks away, Race was helping Jessie find her room and haul in her stuff, while all the way across campus, Hadji was getting settled in his own new living space. Jonny still felt bad that his dad wasn't able to be in two places at once, even if Hadji did have the next best thing to the man who had adopted him or Race who had helped raise them both – Blair was with him.

Jonny wondered if Jessie and Hadji were getting the same weird looks he was. There weren't a whole lot of new students starting in January, so their trunks of stuff stood out. At least Jonny could be grateful neither Jessie nor Hadji had sharp enough hearing to have to ignore the wondering comments. That, at least, was something Jonny could spare his brother; Doctor Benton Quest was well-known in general and something of a scientific celebrity at Rainier, so Jonny was probably getting quadruple the attention compared to the others. Hadji was going to have it tough enough already and probably didn't need the whispers about his father along with everything else.

But still, even if this was more efficient, even if it spared Jessie and Hadji the curious onlookers drawn by the presence of Doctor Quest, Jonny still wished they were doing this together. It felt so strange to be taking this step without Jessie on one side and Hadji at his other.

He couldn't help it. Jonny stretched out his Sentinel hearing, trying to hone in on his Guide. The campus wasn't more than a couple of miles across…if he could only filter out the thousands of people between them…

"Don't even think about it," came a sudden voice right beside his ear.

Jonny jumped, almost tipping over when he upset the weight of the heavy seabag.

"Don't you dare start practicing listening for Hadji when we have all this stuff to carry," his father admonished him with a smile. "And remember not to do it without someone acting as a safety net until you get practiced with it. I know better than to forbid you from it altogether."

Jonny smiled ruefully. "But it's okay if I do it later?"

Benton nodded. "Of course. I can't really expect you not to hone in on him or Jessie. But wait until we're inside at least." Privately, Benton would have preferred that his three children were in closer quarters, even the same building, and not just to ease the instinctive worry of his Sentinel son. They would all feel better if they were together as they always had been. But this was not something he could prevent happening at least for now. Besides, Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji should probably learn to live separate lives – as separate as they would allow, anyway – so that they could establish themselves as individuals. That would be hard enough for Jonny and Hadji as Sentinel and Guide as it was; Benton was not about to make waves with the university to ensure they were roommates or something.

Though, he mused to himself, the chance that anything could actually part those boys is so unlikely I'm not sure we have a small enough number for it yet. But they need the opportunity to let it happen or to refuse it.

"Come on, son," Benton grabbed the handle of the large trunk on wheels he had purchased for just this day. "Let's go find your room."

"The welcome packet says I'm in 605," Jonny said. "I hope there's an elevator."

There was, and it was a fairly quick ride, though they were crammed in with other students returning from winter break. Many students had a suitcase or a bulging backpack, but none had parents. Jonny tried to ignore the stares some more.

The sixth floor that greeted Jonny and Benton was bright and colorful. The walls of the corridors were covered with stout tile which had become one massive canvas like a giant white-board for creative or simply bored students. Outside each room, it appeared the inhabitants had decorated their living spaces, and Jonny learned a lot about his floormates just from their depictions. Some rooms had very minimal drawings around them, or a lopsided representation. Some rooms showed day-and-night sorts of opposites with the wall on one side of the door done in rainbow cheerful images while the other side looked like the inside of a sinister cave. Many students who had already arrived were out in the hall, scribbling with dry-erase markers to update their works of art. And the walls served as message-boards as well. Jonny passed reminders to clean up the floor kitchen and lounge, not to smoke even in the rooms, to study and sleep (the words "remember to sleep" were everywhere), and many students used a spot near their doors to proclaim their whereabouts. "Gone to lunch" or "Back on Tuesday at 4pm" or "Out with the guys – Ben, where the hell are you?" were the immediate neighbors to Jonny's door labeled 605.

"It should be open," Benton said, following his son and distinctly smirking at Jonny's clear embarrassment at certain words that he felt odd reading in his father's presence.

"There's someone already here," Jonny said before he touched the doorknob. He shifted his shoulders and opened the door. "Um, hi?"

"Hey," came a surprisingly low voice. The room was rectangular, with beds on either wall and the desks face-to-face in the middle against the windows. Unpacking on the right-hand side was a young man easily a head and shoulders taller than Jonny. "You my roommate?"

"Yeah," Jonny said, striding in and claiming the other bed. "I'm Jonny Quest." Then, glancing back, "This is my dad."

"Nice to meet you," the huge stranger nodded. "I'm Eric Faulk. Lucky to have a roommate who didn't already take over during the first semester. I thought for sure I'd get here and there wouldn't be anything but a corner set aside for me." He smiled good-naturedly.

"You're starting a term early, too?" Jonny asked.

Eric shook his head. "Late."

"Oh." Jonny didn't have anything to say to that without sounding nosy, so he focused on opening his duffel to dig out his sheets.

"You got more than that?" Eric asked, pointing to the big trunk being rolled by Doctor Quest. "Need help hauling it up?"

"Not really," Jonny shrugged. He was used to traveling light, and besides, he had another room in Cascade already up at the SELF lodge. "Thanks though."

"No problem."

"So, Eric," Benton said, moving to talk and giving his son a few minutes to sort out his belongings, "do you know what you'll be studying yet?"

A light of challenge lit in Eric's eyes. "Econ and business."

"Cool!" Jonny enthused genuinely as he threw his favorite pillow on the bed. He could also tell that Eric, looking more like a couple of football players piled into one giant, expected to be treated like a dumb jock just because he looked like one. Jonny was usually on the other end of that – being treated like a weakling because he wasn't huge – and felt a sudden affinity for him.

"Excellent choice," Benton approved. "Maybe you'll be able to teach Jonny a few things."

"Dad!" Jonny protested with more attitude than actual offense.

Eric laughed. "Not gonna be teaching anybody yet, but I'll let you know." He looked to his new roommate. "What about you? Got a major yet?"

"Uh, not really," Jonny hesitated.

"You'll figure it out," Benton said. Then his phone beeped in his pocket and he drew it out. "Ah, Race just sent us a message. He says he and Jess are just about done if you want to meet up with them and go check on Hadji."

"Oh. Um…" Jonny turned to look at Eric. On the one hand, he absolutely, positively wanted to go check out where Jessie was living and what her roommate was like and, more urgently to the Sentinel, what Hadji's place was like and if he was going to be okay. But he also hated to run out on a guy he'd just met with whom he'd be living for half a year.

"Already got friends here?" Eric asked.

"Yeah. We all started at the same time," Jonny explained.

Eric nodded. Jonny felt instinctively drawn to open his senses on this new person, so he did, quickly sweeping his roommate with his enhanced sight, smell, and hearing. With months of intensive practice, he sorted the unimportant (generic shampoo and deodorant, slightly damp clothing from being outside, ate probably a power bar for lunch) from the more telling. Eric smelled…isolated. If Jonny scented his father, he'd pick up himself and Race and Jessie and Hadji and Bandit and maybe even a hint of Jim and Blair with whom they'd exchanged handshakes at the airport and shared breakfast that morning. But no smell of others clung to Eric as if he hadn't come into close contact with anyone in a while. And though he was showing a neutral, uninterested expression, his heart-beat was not as steady as it had been.

Jonny made a decision. "Come with us. It's not like you won't see tons of Jess and Hadji anyway since we're practically always together, so you can meet them now if you want. Unless you'd rather finish unpacking?"

Eric's smile made his enormously broad face suddenly look his age. "Nah, the stuff can wait. I'd love to get out of here."

"It's raining," Benton pointed out with a small smile at his son's judgment.

"Then I better lend you an umbrella," Jonny smiled at his new friend.

-==OOO==-

By dinner-time, it was quite a crowd who found themselves piling into a local pizzeria. Jonny, Benton, and Eric had met up with Race and Jessie and her new roommate, Lai, before heading across campus to join Hadji and Blair. They'd arrived not long before Simon Banks appeared with Daryl, who was also moving in today. Hadji had two roommates, but neither had been interested in joining the party, in spite of the amiable way Blair chatted with one. So the nine of them had made for Daryl's favorite spot near the university.

Pulling up to the place about ten minutes late, Jim could have located his tribe by his Guide's voice alone, but the racket that whole crew made when lumped together was loud enough even to turn the heads of non-Sentinels. He carefully dialed down his hearing before entering the restaurant, eyes unerringly spotting his people taking up an entire corner.

"Jim!" Blair waved him over. "We saved you some Alfredo veggie pizza!"

"Sandburg, you're going to be walking home in the rain if that's true," he grumbled as he settled in.

Simon laughed. "Some of these jokers tried, but Jonny and I swiped some of the real stuff for you," he handed over a plate with several pieces of meat-lovers' pizza.

"Good to know who's got my back," Jim eyed the guilty-looking Blair, Jessie, and Benton. As he munched, though, he nudged Race Bannon sitting on his other side. The table talk was turning to class registration and it was a competition of loud chatter, more than enough to cover his soft words. "Break it down for me."

Race nodded, turning to the welcome-packet folder he'd kept for himself, though the pages it was stuffed with were quite different from those received by the students. Thanks to their friends at the DHS, he had a complete file on each of these strangers who would be dangerously close to the kids. In a voice much softer than a whisper, he began to summarize; only the pair of Sentinels would have been able to tell he wasn't just reading to himself.

"Jonny's roommate is Eric Faulk, age 20. He was a boxer and made a couple of runs at the Olympics before a bad hit in the ring gave him a career-ending concussion. Also known to practice MMA fighting. Clean arrest record, parents divorced and largely out of the picture. Got a scholarship to Rainier with a good GED score and strong recommendations from teammates and coaches."

Jim looked over the kid and could see the distinctive remains of injuries particularly around the face and knuckles that showed him how hard and how often the kid had boxed.

"Jessie's is Lai Gardner, age 19, daughter of a Chinese diplomat and a British national. Benton knows her mom from international circles – she's one of the good guys though she isn't in on SELF. Her dad was an English Lit teacher and took up Lai's schooling when they were moving around. She spent the last semester traveling around Europe and Africa before starting late and she's already made it clear she wants to follow her mom into political science." He smirked. "She's a real spitfire."

Jim took in the girl's black-brown dreadlocks, her knit sweater that looked almost exactly like one Blair had at the loft, and the big stone jewelry around her neck. But where the Jim before Blair Sandburg might have written her off as a granola hippie, Sentinel Jim caught her sharp intellect and how she seemed almost able to recite the course catalog from memory in her lilting British accent. He nodded at Race – he could see why the man was comfortable with this choice for his daughter.

"Hadji's situation is a little different," Race continued. "He's had a lot more formal education than the average freshman because of his studies with Benton, and he's almost got enough credits to graduate already. So the university put him in a suite with a couple of guys in the accelerated Master's program." He paused and nodded towards Blair. "It was kind of his idea I think. One's an anthropology major who is also working as a TA for the year named Christian Reese, and, seriously, it's like I met Blair from ten years earlier but even more so. Clean record, nothing odd in the background check. Age 24."

Jim imagined the kid he'd first met, jamming to really loud rock and grinning like the whole world was sunshine and candy even in the face of a stoic cop, and hid a smile.

"The other guy is a history major named Otto Bohn, age 25. He didn't talk much when we met him, but his file's clean. He's done a lot of field research and volunteering with elderly veterans, but there's not much else about him that stands out. Except he's got absolutely no sense of humor about his name." Race looked up. "Jonny tried teasing him and it didn't go over well."

Jim shrugged. He didn't care if every kid on the list was a total stick-in-the-mud as long as they weren't liable to hurt his tribe. Then he noticed Simon scowling.

"What about Daryl?" he whispered to Race.

Race cringed. In that same undertone, he answered, "Well, looks like Daryl got the short end of the stick. The guy's not dangerous, but he's no good. Marchello D'Amore has already been through two roommates this year – both the freshmen they put with him asked for a transfer. Plus he's got a little history with vandalism and that sort of thing. Seems like he's a real jerk and he's only 18." He looked up. "Good thing Daryl's got these guys."

Jim watched the young people interact and had to agree with that statement. The three Quests, plus Daryl, seemed fairly comfortable with Lai and Eric. If nothing else, that would give Daryl someplace to turn if he got in over his head with his own roommate. And Blair would be watching out for him, too.

Jim was suddenly glad that SELF was still little more than an elaborate cabin in the woods with really good security. He wanted the kids to have a while in this world, get the real college experience, before all of a sudden Jonny and Jessie and Hadji would be pulling double-duty not only as students but as some of the only locals the inbound Sentinels could count on. Benton and Race would be staying up at the lodge while the Sentinels "got settled" which, realistically, could take months, but it was Jim and Blair to whom they would look. Benton and Race and Simon meant well, but these Sentinels trusted only their own. And before long that would include Jonny and Hadji, too, even if the kids weren't going to be part of the Council. But the ship full of Sentinels wouldn't arrive for at least another month if not two, so that bought a precious few weeks for the kids to be just that – kids.

But just then Hadji and Jonny looked up from whatever was under discussion and, as their eyes met, Jim could feel it, that tugging, instinctive rightness. He couldn't help but reach over to sling an arm around Blair.

They may be just kids, he thought to himself, but I think they have become a Sentinel and a Guide first.

-==OOO==-

"I can't…believe you…Jonny Quest!" Jessie panted. "You were supposed…to meet me…10 minutes ago. It's only been…two weeks! How are you…already…late?"

"Yell later!" he called back. Jonny careened around the corner of a building, his feet sliding in the wet, slushy mud. It took a wild skid and windmilling his arms to keep from crashing into the building's stone steps. Instead, he turned the momentum of his almost-fall into a lateral leap over a massive puddle and back onto the sidewalk, where he darted through other students, most of whom were in a rush too, if not for class, then to get out of the freezing rain. Jonny hit the back door of the anthropology building only a few steps ahead of Jessie, and they both dove into the warm and dry stairwell.

Jonny was about to charge up the steps but his Guide's voice reached him from somewhere within Hargrove Hall – it took no effort for Jonny to hear when he'd been listening for Hadji at least passively all morning. "Do not worry, my friend. Blair has not yet arrived to give his lecture. He stopped to visit someone in the department office just a moment ago. You have a minute or two to catch your breath."

Jonny grinned and leaned on the wall, wiping water out of his eyes. Jessie was about to sprint on but she caught his sudden ease and drew the correct conclusion. She pulled off her soaked knit hat and shook out her hair. "I take it Hadji is delaying Blair again."

"He never does it intentionally," Jonny defended him even as he began up the stairs at a more normal pace. "They just get talking, and especially with all the Guide stuff they're writing down for when we need it, they get caught up. Knowing Hadj, he always reminds Blair with exactly five minutes to go, and Blair just wants to finish one more thing."

Jessie laughed. "You're probably right."

They entered the lecture hall in which Blair was giving his Anthropology 101 course, still shaking water from everywhere. Other students looked just as wet and cold, and a few with whom Jessie and Jonny had become friendly in the first few classes grinned ruefully. Daryl pulled a dry towel from where he'd kept one in his backpack – a neat trick Jim taught him years ago – and passed it to Jessie who sighed blissfully as she ran it over her face and hands. Jonny had just gotten into his chair and pulled off his own sodden coat when Blair burst in the door at the front of the room.

"Happy Monday morning in beautiful Cascade!" he said with a bright grin. "How're your first papers coming? Okay? Still due on Friday even if the campus drowns," he waved outside. "Now, onto today's subject…"

In the presence of another Guide plus Jessie to keep an eye on him, Jonny felt safe enough to stretch out his hearing, quickly pinpointing Hadji in what had become one of his favorite spots – a small alcove with a padded bench that looked out over most of the campus. It was high on the fourth floor, and so overlooked by most students who only ever passed through the first few levels of the building. But it was the perfect spot on a Monday morning for Hadji to sit after his own early start to either begin on homework or meditate while he waited for the Anthro 101 class to end, after which Jessie, Jonny, Hadji, Daryl, and Blair would often meet for lunch along with any of the students who tended to flock around Blair like so many geese. Knowing Hadji was close reassured Jonny enough for him to draw back most of his awareness, even if he kept a part of his hearing fixed on that familiar heart-beat and the steady rhythm of Hadji's resting breathing.

Jonny had settled into taking notes happily, enjoying his friend's lecture and increasingly admiring his genuine gift for teaching with every day he spent in the far more tedious courses on his schedule (he had managed to test out of a language requirement and the 100 level computer science, but the required American Lit class was driving him crazy) when he stiffened. Hadji's heart-rate had increased and now his Guide was on the move.

Blair, mid-lecture, saw Jonny tense. He watched all his students, of course, but he kept a special eye on Jessie, Jonny, and Daryl. So when the Sentinel started showing classic listening posture, Blair took note. Thus he was not totally surprised when the door behind him opened after a quiet knock.

"Forgive me, Doctor Sandburg," came Hadji's gentle, polite tone. The Guides' eyes met and Hadji unerringly passed a message of urgency to his friend. "Could you please spare a moment to discuss something?"

Blair's throat tightened and he nodded. He turned back to his class. "Okay. As good a time as any for an exercise. Break into pairs or small groups and come up with one issue of cultural bias at work in the reading from the weekend. Be ready to get called on." Then he retreated.

Jessie quickly scooted her chair to Jonny, cutting off anyone else and using her positioning to clearly state that they would be working as a twosome. Pulling out her notebook, she took advantage the confusion of shifting desks and the beginning babble of discussion to say quietly, "Go ahead and listen in. I'll cover for you. Just don't zone on me."

Jonny flashed her a thumbs up. Then he cast out his hearing once more.

"What's going on?" Blair was asking.

"I'm sorry to pull you out of your class," came a voice Jonny took a moment to place – it was Chris, one of Hadji's roommates. "But…I was wondering if you had seen Mark Peterson yet this semester?"

"Mark? No, I haven't."

"Oh god," and then there was the sound of someone sitting heavily.

"I will continue," came Hadji's soothing voice as he, too, sat. "Just regain your composure." Jonny could hear the slide of skin over fabric and felt pretty sure his Guide was rubbing Chris's back.

"What is it?" Blair's voice and his heart-rate notched up with stress.

"Chris received a call late last night from a woman who identified herself as the mother of Mark Peterson. She was rather frantic. From what I understand, her son was supposed to return home for winter break but sent her a last-minute email saying he would be remaining on campus. However, she had not heard from him since that time, and Chris has been unable to locate him."

"Is there any chance he dropped out?" Blair asked, and Jonny could hear the increasing worry in his voice.

"No way," Chris said. "We were all set to start up a TA support group in the Anthro department, help each other out since we've never done it before. And he would have told me if he wasn't coming back. He would."

"Chris," Blair said gently. The bench creaked with the weight of a third person. "Chris, is there something…?"

"We…he asked me out," Chris managed after a minute. "We were supposed to have our first date tonight. He…he'd been planning it since before winter break."

"Okay," Blair said, infusing his words with a practiced, warm calm that could steady the worst of shot nerves. "It's going to be all right. I'll put in a call to my partner right now. Maybe somebody reported something." There was a pause, then a deep breath. "I can't promise this is going to end well, Chris, but we'll find answers."

Chris gave a shaky reply, and Hadji took over comforting him while Blair rose to make the call. Jonny felt a hand on his forearm and snapped back to the classroom.

"What is it?" Jessie asked.

"Nothing good," he said. "Chris's boyfriend is missing."

"Oh god," Jessie winced. "Is Blair calling Jim?"

"Yep."

"Will they be able to do anything?" Jessie knew plenty about police procedure, and while a kid going missing might not be big news, it ought to engender at least something of a response. But, in her experience, that might end up being too little, too late.

"If they're not," Jonny said blazingly, "we'll do something." Nobody disappears from this campus on my watch, he thought fiercely. Cascade was Jim's territory for sure. But Rainier, where Blair was, where Hadji was, that was Jonny's own territory and he vowed to defend it.

So caught up in their troubles were the pair, neither noticed the gaze fixed on them from across the room.