Disclaimer: You know I don't own MR.
I had the first watch that night. I sat there for a few hours staring out into the darkness listening for anything unusual, or maybe even Ella's return. I still couldn't believe that she was gone. It seemed like she was just here one moment and then gone the next. And nobody has a clue what happened to her. Did she run away? Did the School kidnap her? If they did, why did they choose her? What if I never saw her again? Nothing was clear anymore.
When my watch was over I went over to Fang and tapped him on the shoulder. He woke up silently and stood up. I started to walk over to where I would sleep but he grabbed my shoulder. He gave me a glance and I knew he wanted to talk. We walked without a sound to a nearby tree and leaned against it. We still had a clear view of the sleeping flock.
"Is it time to move on?" I asked quietly.
"I think so," he whispered.
"Well, where else are we supposed to look? Do you think she's at the School?"
A moment passed as we both pondered the possibilities. "Maybe," he said. "I hate to say this, but I think they took her because she wasn't meant to be one of us. I think Jeb created Ella and Dr. Martinez without the rest of the whitecoats knowing."
"How would they not know?" I wondered. "I really don't think it's an easy process to turn regular old humans into genetic hybrids."
"Maybe Jeb is manipulating them. Maybe you're not the only one with a Voice."
I hate to say it, but the boy made a good point.
"Huh, I had never thought about that," I said. "I always thought that I was the only one."
"Well maybe if you weren't so selfish you'd think about someone other than yourself," he said with a smirk.
I shoved him and we continued to discuss the issue at hand. We both agreed that there was a reason that they took Ella, and only Ella. There also had to be a reason of why they didn't try to fight us as usual when they took her. I eventually went back to sleep and before I knew it, the sun was up and it was time for a new day.
I stretched and sat up. Iggy was the only other one up, since he had the third watch. Iggy could hear that I was up so he woke Gazzy and Fang. I got Angel and Nudge awake.
For a minute, I had no idea anything was wrong. I was so used to having there be just the six of us, that it took a moment for me to be aware of what had happened. My mother. She was gone. That makes two members of the flock gone in 24 hours, folks. This was really making me mad. I finally find blood relatives of mine and they just take them away. Just like that. I'm tired of the School controlling my life, I want to be in control. Wow, how's that for emotional. But it was time to get back to reality. Once we had all been awoken by this new horrifying fact, it was time to figure all of this out.
"Did you hear anything during your watch?" I had asked Fang. He shook his head. He had heard just as much as I did.
"Iggy?"
"Do you really think that I would have left you in your beauty sleep if I heard your mother being KIDNAPPED?!" He said. My gosh, what had gotten into him lately?
"We're all having a hard time dealing with this," I mumbled. I was afraid to say too much or I'd burst out into tears in front of the whole flock and I certainly didn't need that.
"So, she was kidnapped so silently that even the kid with the best hearing in the world didn't hear," Fang tried to reason.
"Maybe they didn't kidnap either of them, maybe they both ran away," Gazzy said.
"Why would they run away?" Nudge asked. I was coming closer and closer to tears.
"Well, sometimes it just gets hard, you know…Being on the run and always worrying if we're gonna see another day or not. We don't have house and we never have food…" Gazzy said. My little trooper was breaking down. This was just too much.
I had to get out of here.