Zane apparently wasn't an easy guy to find. Nya's mood was souring even before trying for maybe the tenth time to look for him and failing yet again.
"He's a sophomore, but he's never in the sophomore lounge. He's a figure-skater, but he doesn't hang out in the athletics department. He isn't even ever in the cafe or any of the fast food restaurants on campus. Are we sure he exists?" Nya complained, plopping down on Kai's bed beside him.
Kai laughed and tried to ruffle her hair.
She swatted his hand away. "Not in the mood. This is too annoying. All I want is to see him."
"How romantic," Lloyd said with an exaggerated sigh from Kai's other side, not even looking up from his video game.
"Is he all you can think about?" Kai asked.
Nya shot them both a foul glare.
Kai laughed again, and Lloyd didn't even notice, too absorbed in his game.
"I didn't want to be, like, mean to him," Nya complained. "So I want to apologize or something, let him know we do want him to help us with the ice rink mission. But he's nowhere to be found! He's basically fictional!"
"Or maybe he's just nowhere to be found for you," Lloyd suggested.
"Thank you, Lloyd, that's what I've been saying," Nya said sarcastically.
Lloyd paused his game and looked up. "No, I mean, what if it's because you don't know where to look? What if someone else does know where to look?"
"Like who?" Nya asked.
"Like him," Kai said, jerking his chin toward the door.
Now that Nya was listening, she could hear pounding footsteps heading toward the dorm room.
"That's actually a good idea," Lloyd said.
"You don't have to sound surprised about it," Kai snorted.
"No, but it's good," Lloyd said. "Cole was the one who knew Zane before this whole thing started. Maybe he knows more about Zane than we do."
"It's worth a shot," Nya said.
Cole strolled into the room, heaving his book bag onto his bed and waving. "Oh, sibling party time, huh? Am I interrupting?"
"No, you're just what we need," Nya said.
"Flattery will get you everywhere," Cole said jokingly. "Keep it coming."
"If you needed to find Zane, where would you look?" Nya asked.
Cole paused. He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I'd start with the library. I feel like he's always coming to practices from there, arms full of books and stuff."
"The library," Nya repeated. "Okay, I'll try it."
The next time she was by the library, Nya headed into the lines of bookshelves instead of just skimming by the front desk and asking for what she needed. Every few minutes, she stumbled upon a small nook filled with some comfy chairs, or a couch and an end table, or several desks. Most of the nooks were taken, but as she continued going in, fewer and fewer people were there. When she reached the end of one line of bookshelves, she tried the next, and about ten bookshelf lines in, right at the back by the windows, where almost no sounds could be heard and where basically nobody was, there he was.
Zane was seated at a desk, scribbling furiously with a pencil, going back and forth between at least three different pieces of paper.
"Hey," Nya said, relieved to have finally found him.
Zane bobbed his head but didn't look up.
That was fair, Nya figured. He didn't really know her.
She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for how the meeting went."
Zane nodded again, still working away on his papers.
"I bet you want to know why I acted like that. I'd like to know too, to be honest," Nya said with a half-self-deprecating laugh. "I don't know, I didn't mean to be mean, but I guess it came out that way, and I'm sorry. We'd still like you to come to the meetings. We'd be grateful for your help."
Zane kept on nodding and writing.
"What do you think?" Nya asked. When Zane still didn't say anything, annoyance twinged through her. "Hey. Zane."
Zane didn't look up.
"Do you even-" Nya began, trying not to sound angry and probably failing, as she stepped closer.
Then she saw it. Or, really, she saw them. Two wires snaked their way out of Zane's ears and joined together before falling down past the table.
Headphones. He was wearing headphones again.
"Oh," Nya said, feeling silly and a little guilty. "Right. Just like at lunch."
Reaching out a tentative hand, Nya brushed her fingers lightly across Zane's shoulder.
Zane jolted backward, shoulders flying up by his ears. He yanked his headphones out and looked around wildly.
"Hey," Nya said slowly, not entirely sure what was happening. "I just wanted to say sorry for last time. And, well, I guess the time or times before too. I wasn't trying to be a jerk or anything. Are we good?"
Zane stared past her, wide-eyed and clearly taken aback.
Nya shifted uncomfortably. She didn't feel like her apologizing would be that surprising. She repeated, "Are we good?"
"Good," Zane said quickly, shoving his papers together sloppily and standing up. "Yes. It is fine. I must- I need to go."
A moment later, he was gone.
Confusion rushed through Nya, accompanied by not a small amount of anger. After a few seconds, though, both emotions were overcome by a different one: curiosity.
What just happened?
Why had it just happened?
How could she keep it from happening again?
"Okay," Nya said to herself. "It's time to figure out what's up here. As of this moment, Mission Fact Finder is now a go."