"Day three without Ollie, huh?" Cleo asked Bernie with half-lidded eyes, waiting for him to tie his bike up near the school entrance. Looking up at her, he gave her a short, sad nod. "Yep," he replied, popping the p. "I'm actually starting to miss him a little. Yeah, it's been a nice and quiet weekend and my stress is at an all-time low, but I miss all of the weird stuff that he used to do. Y'know, shoving pencils up his nose, slinging potato chips across chicken alfredo..."

"Remember when he got that same pencil stuck up his nose?" Cleo snickered. Bernie finished securing his bike, walking with her to the doors.

"Oh, yeah! That..that was pretty disturbing, a-actually."

"Way to suck the fun out of things, Bern," Cleo deadpanned, yanking the strings of her friend's hoodie. "I wonder where he's been, though. Maybe he just wanted some alone time. I don't know. We shouldn't be so down, though, we can always visit him."

"Ollie? Wanting alone time? In some alternate universe," Bernie loosened his hoodie, sending Cleo a small glare. "And I tried to visit him Sunday, several times. Every time I went, nobody was home."

"Oooh, spoopy," Cleo said in a ghostly voice, wiggling her fingers. "Or maybe it's just because you keep going at the worst times?"

"It's not that! I went in the morning, 6 in the morning, and nobody answers!"

"I wonder why..."

"But I also went in the afternoon. Pyper answered the door, and she said that Ollie must've gone out somewhere!"

"Okay, and perhaps he-"

"Buuut, how is that possible if his bike was outside?"

"Bernie, you know that Ollie can walk, right? W-with his legs?"

"Cleo, I'm being serious! I tried again yesterday morning, but nobody was there. Ms. Allen's car was gone, so she must've gone to take Pyper to school. But Ollie's bike was still there!"

"He could be sick."

"Then why would she leave him all alone?"

"Good point...Bern, how about we go over there after school?" She suggested, masking her growing worry. "That should be a good time."

"Oh...you sure? There were a lot of police cars going down the road yesterday. Like, tons of them."

They arrived at their lockers after greeting VP Magna- he was unsurprisingly grouchy as always- and grabbed their supplies. There was a buff horse creature doodled on Cleo's locker, and she rolled her eyes. Looks like Beard Boy was trying to flirt with her once again. Now, she could see why Ollie found these things so annoying. It was sweet that all of this was for her, but didn't she know how tedious the drawings were to scrub off? She'd speak to him later if she got the chance, she'd tell him to knock it off. For now, she focused on Bernie. "Jeez, dude, you're so wishy-washy! I saw them too, though. Must've been some huge crime if that many cops had to come. But hey, whatever it was, it can't scare a couple of ankle-biters like us, right?" she winked with a smile.

"I guess?"

"So, we're going?"

"Aye...fine."

The streets look pretty safe to me, Bern. It's just as quiet as it always been."

Hauling a two-ton backpack on her shoulders, Cleo walked down the street to their friend's house. Bernie was failing miserably at being stealthy, hiding behind signs and small dumpsters.

"I think it was just a false alarm or something tiny. Like, they might've caught some guy mooning their elderly neighbor." she went on.

"Really, Cleo?"

What, like you could do any better?" the girl challenged.

"Drunk hobo recking havoc," Bernie smirked.

"Delusional stalker coming after his ex."

"Nice, nice...a bunch of trespassers."

"A misunderstanding with a nerf gun."

"A guy who was thinking about taking a dive."

"Bernie, what the hell?!" Cleo looked at Bernie in shock. "Christ, that was dark!"

"Sorry..."

They ended the conversation on an uncomfortable note. Crime talk wasn't a very good subject right now, was it?

"They aren't going to be here, just telling you now," the blond tried to predict as they neared the stairs.

"No way, the car's right there," Cleo said, eyeing the blue vehicle on the curb. "I think we might end up lucky this time around."

She knocked on the door five times before perching on a step. "They have to be awake. I don't know a single person who sleeps at 4:00...other than that weird short kid in our class."

"C-Cleo?"

Pyper creaked open the door, wincing from being exposed to the sunlight after spending several hours in darkness. Bernie looked slightly offended by his ignored presence. Cleo was about to give Pyper her usual, bouncy greeting until she saw dried tears on the girl's cheek. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Ollie's gone." she came out with it right away. She mumbled it quietly, thinking that it might somehow soften the blow. The small breeze that had been blowing coincidentally stopped right at this moment.

"I'm sorry...what?!" Cleo laughed meekly, itching her head as she shared a worried glance with Bernie.

"Ollie's g-gone. He's missing. T-the cops went out to look for him last night, and they still haven't found anything."

"Oh, gawd...Pyper, t-that's not funny," Bernie paled, thinking back to the hoards of police cars that he had seen last night.

"I'm not joking, Bernie! Why would I kid about that?! That's why Mom called your parents, a-and yours too!" she pointed at Cleo. "She thought that Ollie had skipped school yesterday since we got a call at the school and that he went to go hide at one of your houses. He...he wasn't there either, obviously, so she called the police. We still haven't got a single word back from them."

The two stared at each other with wide-eyed, horrified expressions. So many questions raced through their heads right now. How? How could he be missing? Just a week ago, Ollie was seemingly having the best week of his life. Every day, he came to school with a huge grin, he was actually paying attention in class, and he was doing pretty well keeping his grades up. They didn't see a single frown come from him that entire week. And now, just like that, he was gone. When exactly did he go missing? It could've happened yesterday, yes, but what about Sunday? Or Saturday? And to think, he could've been in danger those two days, and all the while they were sleeping the weekend away. That explained his absence today. That's why they hadn't seen him at all that weekend. The two felt guilty; if they had kept an eye on Ollie or perhaps spent time with him, he'd still be here. If they got taken away with him, then at least they would've been together.

"Oh, Pyper..."

Cleo ran over to console her, putting all of her sympathies into the hug as best as she could. "Pyper, I'm so sorry! We should've come over as soon as we saw those cars, we could've helped!"

Bernie was taken aback by the news, news he didn't expect at all on a seemingly normal day. With a shaky voice, he walked over to the girls. "Pyper? Are y-you guys okay?"

Cleo reluctantly let go of Pyper, who was surprisingly dried-eyed during the entire hug, so she could answer.

"Mom's scared out of her mind. I heard her crying in the kitchen this morning. She...she didn't sleep, none of us did. CW's trying to be really positive and all, but he's scared to - you can see it in his eyes if you look hard enough, really. And the worst part is that Mom's so scared, she won't even let me leave the house, she won't let me help either! I mean, yeah, I get that I'm a kid and all, but I'm not that clueless...the police aren't even doing that good of a job, to tell you the truth. They're taking too long..."

"Are you okay?" Bernie asked again.

"Me? Um...y-yeah. I'm okay...a little," her smile faltered. "Not really...um, I know I may sound calm and whatnot, and I may look calm...but I'm not. I'm freaking out too...of course I'm freaking out, duh. M-my brother's missing. For all we know, he could've been missing for days...or maybe even longer."

Her heart clenched as last night's concerns washed back over her.

It could be too late.

She shook her head to clear the thought. No, just no. She couldn't think like that, not anymore. She had a plan, didn't she?

It was an unfinished plan...but a plan nonetheless.

"We're really sorry, Pyper," Bernie sighed, wrapping his arm around her. "You're really strong, keeping your cool at a time like this, even if you're scared. Is...is there anything we can do?"

"Yes, actually," Pyper gave a small, clever smile at the blonde. "I need your help, alright, tons of it...because I got a plan!"

She received questioning stares from the two adolescents.

"You do?" Cleo asked.

"If the police don't find Ollie by tonight - as soon as the sun goes down - then we're gonna find him ourselves. You guys, me, and CW. We'll do what they can't. We'll search the entire town, even further if we have to," she said confidently. "I don't have everything planned out, like how I'm gonna leave the house without Mom knowing or the places we'll start out with, but I'll get there, I promise. So...can you help me? Please?"

Sucking in wind through clenched teeth, Cleo winced. Pyper was serious, and had full intentions of going through with the plan. Her face read it all. And as much as she wanted to do something, the same could be said for Bernie, she also didn't want to make any rash choices. What if Ollie was found tonight? What if their own parents had heard about the emergency and wouldn't allow them to leave either? And she said that she didn't plan everything out, yet she still expected to have everything together by night- which was only a few hours away. She was uncertain about it all. Glancing at Bernie, she knew that he shared the same concerns.

"W-what's wrong?" Pyper frowned at their silence and expressions.

"Well, Pyper, this is a good plan, a really good plan, but..."

A but. Her spirits were lowered quickly. "The answer's no, isn't it?" she mumbled, chuckling bitterly. "That's fine, just great. I'll just do it myself."

"No, no, wait!" Cleo rushed, grabbing her shirt to stop the girl from storming back inside. "That's not what I was going to say, I swear! I understand where you're coming from, but...we should wait."

Behind her, Bernie nodded in agreement.

"Wait?!" Pyper shouted in disbelief. "We've been waiting for almost an entire day, Cleo, and nothing's happened!"

"You can't rush into these things, Pyper. This is serious," Bernie advised. "You said that you don't have everything together, right?"

"I'll figure it out!"

"I know you will, but there's no way you can do it by nightfall."

Pyper's anger abated when she realized that the nerd's point...was actually pretty valid. (Although, she still believed that she could string everything together, even with such a small time limit.)

Her lack of words encouraged the boy to continue. "These things take time. Somebody as smart as you should know that. If you just slap something together, we aren't going to get any further than those officers. We probably won't get anywhere at all. Now, I'm all in on helping, but you have to promise that you'll be patient and think this through."

They couldn't wait, though. Couldn't they see that? Waiting should be the last thing they needed to do. Ollie could be dying at this very moment. Why, why couldn't they get that? She didn't agree with this, not in the slightest. But she knew that saying yes was the only way she could get these two on board. If she was going to a search party, she was going to need all of the help she could get- despite her huge bluff. Slowly, she put out her hand.

"Deal...and don't compliment me ever again."

"We're going to find him, Pyper," Bernie's smile widened as he shook her hand. "No matter what."

"Thanks..."

"Now that we're all on the same page," Cleo said, clearing her throat professionally. "Let's disgust this plan. The sooner, the better.