"Professor Zachary, something is wrong," Lucas almost shouted as he burst into Z's office. He knew the science teacher had a free period before lunch. Lucas was skipping Physics to speak to him now, but he didn't care. He couldn't just sit there and watch people disappear any longer. Besides, everyone else is missing class today.

Professor Zachary stood and adjusted his glasses. "What is it, Lucas?"

"People are disappearing. I've counted at least twelve students that haven't been in class today. I haven't seen them anywhere." He rattled off the names of the students he knew were gone. "And what's worse is no one seems to remember them or notice that they're gone except me."

Professor Z tilted his head to one side and studied Lucas's anxious expression.

Lucas sighed. "You don't remember any of them either, do you?"

Professor Zachary shook his head. "No, Lucas, I don't."

Lucas sank weakly into the nearest chair and put his head in his hands. "You think I'm making this up, don't you."

Professor Zachary pulled his chair up next to Lucas and looked at him with concern. "I know sometimes you...see things, or think you see things...things that other people don't see..."

"Like the wooly mammoth in the pool," Lucas finished bitterly.

Professor Zachary looked to the side. "Well, there is that."

"Z, I'm not making this up. I didn't just imagine a dozen people with separate personalities. I'm not a liar."

The teacher nodded. "I know you're not, Lucas." He stood and regarded his pupil thoughtfully. "If you say something is going on, then I believe you. Why don't you gather the rest of the Science Club for a meeting during lunch? They haven't...disappeared, right?"

Lucas shook his head. "Not yet."

"Good." He patted Lucas on the shoulder comfortingly. "We'll get to the bottom of this, just like we always do."

-

Lucas somehow managed to sit through the rest of his Physics class, though his mind wasn't on the lesson. Z's words had not comforted him. It had not occurred to him before then that his friends might disappear, too. He had to admit, it wasn't so bad not having Stu around. But if Corrine or Josie or Marshall disappeared, what would he do? How would I get them back?

He wasn't surprised to see half the Physics class was gone. He kept looking around, trying to catch the moment when a classmate disappeared, but he never saw anything. Yet, by the end of class, three people that had been there before were gone.

Where did they go? People just don't vanish! Well, anywhere but Black Hole High, people don't just vanish. It was true he had seen people go into the wormhole and disappear. But that was always accompanied by swirling lights and a lot of wind. If the wormhole were sucking people away in the middle of class, surely he (and everyone else) would've noticed.

And Marshall had become invisible once. Maybe his classmates were losing their ability to reflect light. But that didn't explain why no one else remembered them.

With a sinking feeling, Lucas made his way down the hall to the cafeteria. Stepping inside, he paused, momentarily stunned.

At least half of the student body was gone. The cafeteria was usually jammed full at this time. Now, less than half of the tables were full. It's getting worse.

Lucas felt relieved when he saw Marshall wave him over to their table. Corrine, Josie, Marshall, and Vaughn were all accounted for. For now.

"Guys, we're having another Science Club meeting. Now." He grabbed his friends' lunch trays and dumped the contents of each into the trash can. "Come on."

"Hey! I wasn't finished with that!" Marshall complained.

"Lucas, are you crazy? Besides, we just had a meeting last night," Josie said.

Lucas sighed and looked at each person seriously. "I don't know. I may be crazy. But something is wrong, very wrong. People are disappearing. I'm the only one who remembers them. And I'm afraid you guys may be next."

The other club members looked at each other. They knew when Lucas had an idea in his head, he wouldn't let it go easily. "All right," Josie sighed, speaking for the whole group. "Let's go to Z's office." They filed out of the cafeteria, Marshall looking longingly at a classmate's lunch as he passed.

-

"OK, Lucas," Professor Zachary said. The Science Club was once again gathered inside his office, albeit reluctantly. "You have the floor. Tell us exactly what happened."

Lucas leaned against Z's desk and thought back over the events of the morning. "I guess it started when I noticed that Stu Kubiak was absent in first period. I mentioned it to Marshall, and he didn't know who I was talking about."

"Who's Stu Kubiak?" Vaughn asked. The others looked confused as well.

"Exactly," Lucas sighed. "Each class, I've noticed more and more people gone. I told you their names, Z, and you didn't recognize them either." He passed a piece of paper over to his friends. "I wrote down all the names of the students I know are gone. There may be more. Tell me if you recognize any of them."

Each member read through the list, then looked up at Lucas and shook their head. "I've never heard of these people," Corrine added. The others all nodded.

Lucas took the paper back and studied it thoughtfully. "I didn't just imagine all these people!"

"No one is saying that you did," Professor Zachary said quickly.

"Can you show us some proof that these people existed and went to school here?" Corrine asked.

Lucas thought for a moment. "The yearbook!" He grabbed last year's copy from Professor Z's bookshelf. The others gathered around as he flipped through the pages once, then twice.

"I don't believe it," he said softly. There were no pictures of Stu, Katie, or any of the others. Stu was not listed among the ranks of the football team. There was no mention of any of the students on Lucas's list. It was as if the student body had been reduced by half.

"They're not in there, are they?" Corrine asked gently. Lucas just shook his head, unable to hide his disappointment.

Z walked over and stood directly in front of Lucas. "Let's think back a little farther. Did anything…unusual happen last night? Or yesterday?"

Lucas frowned. "Well, there was the Science Club meeting last night. You all remember how that went."

"Right," Vaughn said. "You tried to use that device to open the wormhole, and it blew up. Sorry," he added quickly as Lucas glared at him.

"Is that what this is about, Lucas?" Josie asked. "You're mad about what happened, or didn't happen, yesterday?"

Lucas looked hurt. "Yeah, Josie, that's it," he said sarcastically. "I invented 100 people to get back at you guys for laughing at me." He held up his hands. "You got me!"

"No one is suggesting that, Lucas," Professor Z said quickly, noting the tension in the room.

"Yes they are. People are disappearing and I'm trying to stop it and my own friends don't believe me." Lucas's voice rose steadily in pitch and his face became flushed with frustration.

"I believe you," Vaughn said quietly.

The Science Club members all turned in surprise at this voice behind them. No one was more surprised than Lucas.

"You do?" he asked.

Vaughn shrugged. "Well, with all the strange things that have happened here, we shouldn't be that surprised. I don't know if people are really disappearing or not, but if Lucas says something isn't right, we should check it out."

Lucas was momentarily taken aback. "Thanks, Vaughn," he finally managed to say.

The other members looked at each other and nodded. "OK, so what do we do now?" Marshall asked.

The bell rang at that point, startling them all.

"At this point, you go to class," Professor Z said kindly but firmly. He held up his hand to silence Lucas's protest before it began. "I'm sorry, but you have obligations to your classes. Everybody keep your eyes open and brainstorm, and report to me immediately if anything else happens."

Lucas followed his friends out the door dejectedly, knowing there was no point in arguing with Z when he was in "teacher mode." In the hall, Marshall placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You're not going to class, are you?"

Lucas shook his head.

"All right," Marshall agreed. "So, where do we start snooping?

-

By afternoon's end, Lucas and Marshall had searched every square inch of the school and its grounds looking for strange anomalies or missing students. They had found neither. Lucas insisted that they stick together, so it was nearly dark before they finished the search.

They had discovered that the rooms previously inhabited by the missing students were now completely empty. No clothes, books, personal effects; nothing to indicate anyone had every lived there.

"Nothing," Lucas groaned as he collapsed into a chair in the lounge. "I don't understand it."

"Yeah, it's weird," Marshall agreed.

Something about his response sounded half-hearted to Lucas. He stared critically at his best friend. "You don't believe me, do you?"

Marshall shrugged. "It's not that, I just… don't remember any of these people. You're the only one who does. It makes me think maybe…something is wrong…you know, with you, not us."

He expected an angry response, but instead Lucas sighed and leaned back heavily against the couch. "Maybe there is something wrong with me," he said. "Maybe I'm going crazy."

Marshall stood. "Well, I know I'm going to go crazy if I don't get something to eat soon. My lunch was interrupted, you know. Let's get some supper before we do anything else." He led a dejected Lucas down the hall to the cafeteria.

If Lucas had been surprised by what he saw in the cafeteria at lunchtime, he was completely horrified now. He stood in the doorway for a full minute, frozen with shock.

Josie and Corrine sat at a table waiting for them. They looked up and nodded as Marshall and Lucas entered the room.

There was no one else there.

"Lucas?" Corrine asked. "Is something wrong?"

Lucas just stared at his three friends, apparently now the only three people enrolled in Blake Holsey High besides himself. "Wrong?" He crossed the room in quick strides and stared down at the table. "Yeah, I'd say something is definitely wrong!"

"What?" Josie asked impatiently. "Are you still worried that people are disappearing?"

Lucas blinked a few times and shook his head, trying to compose himself. It suddenly dawned on him that none of his friends saw anything unusual about this situation. A giggle rose up in his throat, then another and another, until he was having a fit of full-blown hysterical laughter. Marshall, Josie, and Corrine exchanged worried glances.

"This," Lucas gasped when he managed to catch his breath, "this all makes sense to you, doesn't it?"

"WHAT makes sense, Lucas? If you're talking about the way you're acting today, then I'd say that's definitely a no," Josie said.

"This whole situation! You, me, Corrine, and Marshall. The only students in this huge school. No principal, no lunch lady, no teachers! Nothing about this seems remotely strange to you, does it!"

"We've never needed teachers before," Marshall said, shrugging.

"No teachers," Lucas repeated softly. "You mean…Professor Z…"

"We don't have Professors, Lucas," Josie said.

Lucas looked around the room. He knew a search of the school would be futile; Z was gone and no one remembered him. He was still reeling from the shock when another thought hit him.

"Where's Vaughn?"

"Vaughn?" Josie asked.

"Vaughn. Vaughn Pearson. Captain of the football team, has his own room, his father is quite possibly a mad scientist." He looked Josie directly in the eyes. "You've had a crush on him for months. How could you just forget him like that?"

"Arrrgh, that's IT! You've been doing this all day, Lucas. We tried to go along with it, but you can't just keep making people up! Game over, OK!" Josie stood abruptly and turned to Corrine. "I'm going to the bathroom. Wanna come with?"

"Sure," Corrine said, glancing apologetically at Lucas.

"Josie!" Lucas said. "Please, please don't go. You won't come back."

"That's ridiculous, Lucas. I don't even know what to say to you anymore." She turned on her heal and marched towards the door, dragging Corrine with her.

"Wait!" But she was already out of the door.

Lucas wanted to run after her, but he knew it was futile. Josie was gone, or would be in a few moments. He couldn't save her. Why hadn't he told her how important she was to him before?

Marshall was sitting at the table, looking at Lucas expectantly. "Well? You going to eat or not?"

Lucas just stared at him. "It's just you and me now, isn't it?"

Marshall nodded, looking confused. "Of course. Who else would be here?"

Lucas sat down wearily, elbows on the table head in his hands. "You'll be gone soon too, Marshall," he said, more to himself than to his friend. "Maybe if I stick with you, I can catch the exact moment you disappear, and figure out where you go…Marshall?"

He raised his head, but saw no one there.

Lucas's mouth was suddenly dry. "Marshall?"

He looked around. There was no one.

He was completely alone.