sorry, short... chapter thingie... I'll write more soon!

Chapter 60~Anna

School was incredibly boring, and it made me wonder if it had always been this dull, and I'd only just realised, or if I had once actually been interested. I wasn't entirely sure that I was bothered. I didn't talk at all today, either, which was a bit unlike me (ok, a lot unlike me) and both Emma and Dan both tried to get me to 'snap out of it' but I just couldn't. All I could think about was what might've happened to Arron. I shivered again, and immediately regretted it. 5 pairs of worried eyes turned at once to me.

"Are you ok, Anna, are you cold or something?" Dan asked.

I shook my head. I didn't think I was cold. Or was I? My head hurt from thinking too much, and I could barely keep my eyes open, but I didn't say anything; I didn't want to talk, and I didn't want to make them worried. I was making them worried anyway, I knew, because I wasn't talking. I felt hollow inside, just like I had done ever since I'd ran out onto the empty street. Where was Arron? What was happening to him? I shivered again, involuntarily, and mentally cursed myself as it attracted the attention of my friends and family.

"I'm gonna get a blanket," Dan announced, getting up, and I wanted to snap at him that I wasn't cold and why couldn't he just leave me the freaking hell alone? But I couldn't, and just like before, my anger and sorrow seemed to give way to nothingness.

Dan came back over to our spot on the floor, holding my duvet. He wrapped it round me, and I immediately felt warmer. Maybe I was cold... I thought to myself. I felt overwhelmingly tired, now that I was warm again, and I leaned on Dan's shoulder as I closed my eyes. I'll just rest for a few seconds, I thought, just one or two...

I fell asleep almost immediately, but it wasn't peaceful. I dreamt of Arron being tortured, or killed, and I was terrified that it was actually real, that Arron was dead right now. I woke up in the dark, screaming, and felt Emma trying to calm me down.

"It's ok, Anna, everything's fine, calm down, you're safe, everything's fine," She muttered. I wanted to scream at her that Arron wasn't fine, and he was missing, he wasn't safe, even if we were, but I couldn't.

After a few minutes, I calmed down enough to look around, and saw that Dan, Andrew and Elizabeth were camping out on the floor of our room.

Dan smiled half-heartedly, "Slumber party," He explained, and I blushed.

Great, I had woke up screaming in front of everyone then, hadn't I? But I was too tired to care. I flopped back onto my bed and fell asleep again instantly.

I must have better dreams this time, because when I woke up, I wasn't screaming, and it was light outside. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked around the room. Everyone else was still asleep, so I had the room to myself. I got up and got dressed quickly into my school uniform, but a glance at my watch told me it was barely 6 o'clock. I sighed and opened the door. I may as well go do something now that I'm up, I reasoned, and headed downstairs.

No one on any of the other floors was awake either, so I went out into the garden and sat down on the small bench there. I looked around the garden and sighed, not 2 days ago, we were messing round with Arron out here, I thought. Where did he go? What happened to him? A sudden rustling from the bushes to the left of me alerted me that there was someone here. I stood up.

"Who's there?" I shouted, my nervousness forcing me into talking. What creepy weirdo hides in bushes at 6 o'clock in the morning? The bushes rustled again, and Jeremy stepped out.

"What. The. Hell. Jeremy?" I demanded, "Why are you in our garden?"

I started to back up to the door; I had that stupid uneasy feeling again.

Jeremy shrugged and looked apologetic, "Sorry, I just had to come here," He told me.

"Why? I don't know you at all, and you're trespassing in the orphanage garden. I should go get one of the staff," I told him, turning to go back inside.

"Wait! Anna," He called after me, "This is important! You need to come with me now!"

I turned back, sceptical, "Why do I need to go anywhere near you?"

"I know that you really don't want to come with me, but trust me, please, this is about your father,"

I didn't have a choice really, did I? I had to go.

Chapter 61~Emma

Dan shook me awake in the morning, a worried frown creasing his forehead. I groaned and sat up. Everyone but Gabby was up now. I looked around again, and noticed Anna's empty bed.

"What's happened now?" I snapped.

"It's Anna," Andrew replied.

"Oh, wow, I realised," I growled sarcastically, then felt like a moody cow. I took a deep breath, "Sorry," I muttered.

Andrew smiled back grimly, "Not your fault. It's early, we're all stressed,"

Dan looked around again then scowled, "I'm gonna go tell Jennifer. Someone has too," He grimaced and headed out of the door.

I looked at the others, "Could she not have just gone outside to get some fresh air or something?"

Andrew shook his head, "I don't think so, at 6 o'clock in the morning?"

"So what has happened then?" I asked.

"We don't know, Emma," Elizabeth sighed, "I wish we did,"

Jennifer and Dan came back then, and we all turned to them. Jennifer looked around the room carefully, then back to us, "Did anyone hear someone moving around in the night? Did Anna get up at all? Is there a specific time she was here, and then wasn't?" She demanded.

Andrew, Dan and I shook our heads, but Elizabeth spoke up.

"Well... I went downstairs because I thought I heard someone outside, but I couldn't see anyone outside, and Anna was still here then," She told Jennifer.

Jennifer looked up, "Has anyone checked outside, to see if there is any sign of someone coming and going again?"

Everyone shook their heads. "I'll go check," I volunteered.

"No. Dan and Elizabeth can," Jennifer snapped before I could move.

I frowned, "But-"

"Think about it, Emma. Arron and Anna have gone missing, it wouldn't be a good thing for you to be alone right now," Jennifer pointed out.

"Which is why I'll go with Dan and Andrew," I insisted, "And anyway, if my sister's left any sort of sign, I'm more likely to notice it than those two,"

Jennifer sighed and waved us out of the room. We headed downstairs and to the front door, but when Andrew tried to open it, it was locked.

I frowned, "How did she get out if the doors were locked?"

"Maybe not all of the doors were locked," Dan muttered darkly, and turned around, "We haven't checked the back door yet.

We headed over to the back room and walked inside. The door was wide open.

"Wow, I'm thinking; big clue over here, guys," I muttered, and we walked outside. Dan and Andrew stood closer to me instinctively, and, suddenly, I was grateful for their presence; there was barely any light out here, and, although it was enough to see by, it gave the whole area a kind of tense and scary atmosphere, you know, like in the horror movies, where the main character's creeping through an abandoned house, or something, and they keep hearing spooky noises.

We looked around the small patio, but no clue with a massive arrow and a sign saying "She went that way!" appeared. Just as I was about to give up, Andrew pointed to out left.

"Let me have a closer look at those bushes," He muttered, and I stared at him quizzically. What did he expect to find in a freaking bush? We headed over and Andrew inspected the bush for a couple of minutes, nodding his head. Finally, he stood up.

"What's so interesting about the bush?" I asked, bursting with curiosity.

Andrew pointed to one part of it. Several branches were snapped in half, and it looked pretty squashed, like someone had been sitting on it. The, silently, he pushed the branches back enough for me to see several footprints. I looked up at him and frowned, "So?" I asked, "Anna and Gabby were playing in the bushes last week; it could've been them,"

Dan shook his head, as he began to understand what Andrew meant, "No, if it had been from Anna and Gabby messing around, there would have been a lot more branches snapped off, and there would have been more than one set of footprints. Whoever was here, knows something about Anna,"

"Great, we've got to chase down a freak who hides in bushes and then demand he, or, she tells us all they know about what happened to Anna, brilliant,"

"Actually, Emma, you won't be chasing them down," Jennifer's voice interrupted my complaining. The three of us whirled around to see Jennifer, Elizabeth and a very pale Gabby.

"Why not?" I demanded.

"Because Meryl's ordered that you be taken to CHERUB immediately," She answered.

Dan let out a relieved breath, "She agreed to then?" He asked Jennifer, and she nodded.

"I managed to convince her,"

Gabby stared from Jennifer, to Elizabeth, to Dan, to Andrew, to me, "Why do I get the feeling that you guys know something I don't?" She asked.

I shook my head, I might know about CHERUB, but I hadn't got a clue what was going on. "Major confusion, sis, I have no idea what they're going on about... apart from the whole CHERUB thing." I turned to Jennifer, "Isn't Meryl the one with the account that Anna hacked into?"

Jennifer nodded, "Yes, she is,"

Andrew stepped up, "But if the person that took Anna is who I think it is, then they already know about CHERUB," He told Jennifer.

I looked from Andrew to Jennifer, "Wait, so who here actually knows about CHERUB?" I asked, at the same time that Jennifer demanded, "What do you mean, 'already knows about CHERUB'? Have you forgotten to mention something?"

My question got ignored, and Dan and Andrew shifted uncomfortably. Eventually Dan spoke up, "Well, yesterday, Jeremy gave us a few subtle hints,"

"You mean what happened in the lunch hall?" I asked, remembering their aghast faces from yesterday, but, once again, Jennifer cut me off, "What do you mean a few subtle hints, Dan? Out with it, right now!"

"He came up and asked how Arron was, and then mocked our 'little crime-busting agency' before warning us that we wouldn't always be able to look after Anna Emma and Gabby,"

"Wait, what? Whose protecting us? From what? What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On?" I almost screamed.

Once again, I was ignored by everyone as Jennifer glared at Dan, "And, you just forgot to mention it?"

Andrew cut in, "We were busy trying to keep an eye on them all. Remember the last time Dan tried to slip in and update you? Arron went missing! We didn't want to risk it, and we told ourselves we would just wait until we thought the three of them were safe before we told you!"

This time, I didn't wait for Jennifer to cut me off. I stepped into the middle of their little triangle and turned to face Andrew and Dan, "What is going on?"

Dan looked down at his feet, "We're not supposed to tell you,"

"Uh huh? Really? Well that's just great, isn't it? 'Cos for all I know, if I even go to the freaking toilet, I'm gonna get kidnapped!"

"It doesn't matter right now!" Jennifer snapped, pushing us all into the house, "what matters right now is that you guys get to CHERUB campus as quickly as possible,"

"Why should we?" I snapped, glaring at her.

"Because if you don't, then there's every possibility that you'll be killed,"

Well, that sure as hell got me moving.