Electracademy

Chapter 31

  Isa makes a little sound from across the our room. I look up from my archery guide. "What is it?" I ask her.
 
"Search party came back." She says not looking up from her studying.
 
I put the book on my lap and slip a bookmark in it. I have pretty much stopped asking Isa how she knows this stuff. She basically just listens to peoples thoughts all the time. It's kind of awesome and a little bit unsettling at the same time. "A search party for what?"
 
"Vandailia." She answers.
 
I scramble off my bed and rush over to her. "What? Did they find her?"
 
Isa pauses for a second to monitor thoughts. "Doesn't seem like it."
 
I sigh a little. I can only imagine Owen, eager to find Vandailia.
"Is Owen there?" I ask Isa.
 
"No." She says, sounding slightly suprised. "Gimmie a second." Isa says holding up a finger. I know that Isa is scanning to school for his thoughts. Somehow, she can match thoughts to the people they come from. Sometimes I don't realize sometimes how powerful Isa is.
 
"That's odd." Isa says, frowning slightly. "He's in the North Tower."
 
I furrow my brows in confusion. I don't think I've ever heard about the North Tower. "Where's that?" I ask.
 
"Oh," Isa says. "I forgot you were still new here. The North Tower is the old astronomy tower. Not many kids took that class. It was an extracurricular. One day, one of the telescopes exploded, injuring some people and destroying the room. Nobody goes up there anymore."
 
"Where is this tower?" I ask.
 
"Open your mind and I will direct you." Isa says, tapping her head.
 
I shrug on a jacket and as I prepare to leave. As a second thought I grab my bow and quiver.
 
 

I feel a chilly draft as I travel up the winding staircase. My foot shakes a loose stair as I climb. All the time of disuse has not done good for this lonely tower. I let my hands brush the cold walls beside. I feel slightly cramped in the tiny stairwell.
 
Finally I reach the top of the steps. I find myself in a small open room. Two of the walls are massive balconies, which let in the cold evening wind. The sky now is dark, since it gets dark early in the late fall. It's a clear, cloudless night the stars twinkling brightly.
 
Then I see Owen. He's sitting on the edge of the balcony, his legs dangling over the edge. The moonlight glints of his bow, lying beside him. The light of the crescent moon illuminates his silhouette. He is gazing up at the moon. His shape sighs. "What do you want,Carly?"
 
I'm startled to hear him speak to me for a moment. I guess that's what I get for trying to sneak up on a werewolf.
 
"Oh,um I just thought you might want to know that a search party came back." I stammer.
 
Owen huffs, still not looking at me. "Yeah...I know." His voice breaks when he speaks. His gaze shifts to look at the endless Canadian woods below us. When he speaks I have to strain to listen. "Why haven't they found her? Where is she?"
 
"I don't know." I say softly, walking towards him. That's when I notice he is holding a piece of paper. "What's that?" I ask.
 
"I found it in her room." Owen mutters handing me the paper. It's half a sheet of notebook paper. Four lines are scribbled in Vandailia's scratch.
 
          I hear her voice in the mornin' hour she calls me
          My radio reminds of my home far away
          Drivin' down the road I get a feeling
          That I shoulda' been home yesterday, yesterday

   "Do you know what this is?" I ask Owen.
  
He shrugs. "Some kind of song lyrics, I think. Alice told me there is this song Vandailia constantly hums. This is probably it."
  
I hand the slip of paper back to Owen. I dont know any song that these lyrics match up to. Owen stares down at the words and I can tell he doesnt want to talk anymore. Once again, I leave Owen to his thoughts and head down the stairs.
 

 
Vandailia gazed over the edge of the rock at the view. She was on a rocky bluff on the edge of a mountain not far from the academy. She gazed at the view for a long time. For a second she was reminded of the mountains at her home. A familiar tune came to mind and Vandailia started humming.
 
She layed on her back on the rock. She gazed at the stars. The same stars she could see from her home. She dearly missed her home and wanted to go back. Take me home... She thought along with humming to the song. She echoed that thought like a mantra to the skies. Country Roads, Take me home...