Where Fires Dare to Burn

Chapter 11 - Friend, Family, Enemy

None of them made it to class the next day.

Luke was so exhausted he didn't bother setting an alarm, and neither did Kenny. They'd arrived at the campus close to one in the morning after giving Sheriff Nalen a full accounting of their activities the previous night. Although there didn't seem to be any suspicion on the students themselves, Luke still did not enjoy being firmly on Nalen's radar now. The three of them were dropped off with explicit instructions not to discuss the night's events with any other students – not while the investigation was still ongoing.

By the time they got back to their rooms Luke could barely muster the energy to care. Despite their tiredness, however, when he'd finally collapsed into bed it took him two more hours to finally drift off to sleep, his mind running in overdrive with everything they'd seen.

Sleep did eventually come though, and neither he nor Kenny had the willpower to set any kind of alarm. They could deal with the missed seminars and lectures later. The sun rose and they remained blissfully ignorant.

That is, until someone started banging on their door.

Luke's mood quickly turned to the murderous as he was wrenched back to reality. He blinked, wincing as the sudden noise cut right through his ears. He pressed his hands over his eyes with a groan. From the bed on the other side of the room Kenny clamped a pillow down over his face and let out a muffled yell of frustration.

The knocking didn't stop.

"Damn it," Luke cursed, kicking the covers off and rolling unsteadily out of bed.

"You know, we're good people," Kenny exclaimed, tossing his pillow aside irately. "I thought we did the right thing last night? Good Samaritans all, right? So why are we being punished?"

"Take it up with whoever's out there," Luke muttered, struggling into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

"Kenny? Luke? You guys in there?!"

They looked at each other in surprise. The muffled voice belong to Kyan.

"Of all the people who ought to know better." Kenny finally gathered the strength to tumble out of his own bed and wrestle some clothes on.

"Yeah, gimme a second, man," Luke called. Pausing to unleash an immense yawn, he stumbled sleepily over to the door and pulled it open.

Light spilled in. Kenny let out a garbled yell of protest, shielding his eyes with one hand. Luke had to blink several times before he could focus properly on Kyan's tall frame standing in the doorway.

"Kyan," he groaned. "What is it?"

"Sorry, guys, I know." Kyan stepped inside, glancing around. "You really haven't seen it have you?"

"We've been sleeping," Kenny retorted. "Why, what's going on?"

"That girl we found – it's all over the news."

Luke felt blood drain from his face. "What?"

"I thought Nalen was keeping this quiet!" Kenny blurted. "He told us to keep our mouths shut!"

"I know, I know." Kyan looked at them both. "You guys didn't ... say anything did you?"

"When would we have told anyone anything? We've been here since we got back!"

"Well, someone did!"

Luke drummed his fingers against his thigh in thought. "What about that guy we ran into out there? Vergne or something?"

"DeVergne," Kenny corrected.

"What about him?"

"Well, I mean that was pretty weird him being on that stretch of road at that exact time, don't you think?"