Ghost Bird | ✔

Twelve

What's this? Oh, yes. My sixth update today...

Vote and comment! (Especially you silent readers...)

***

I quickly stir the rice, scraping the wooden spoon along the bottom of the pot to make sure that none of the grains of rice stick to it. Returning to the vegetables, I chop them quickly. Absently, I wonder what carrots taste like before quickly dismissing the thought. The more I think about it, the more I will want to try one. If I try one, Mother will punish me.

Ignoring the smells of the food, I spice the food basing it off of scent. I have an incredible sense of smell, something that comes in handy especially since I am not allowed to taste the food as I cook. The few cookbooks that I have highly recommend tasting your food as you go so that you can adjust it accordingly, but I can't do that, now can I?

Finishing up cooking the food, I put the rice and vegetables on a plate for Mother and bring it up to her. A part of me hopes that Mother will start being more tidy and organized in her newly cleaned room. The other part of me knows that it will never happen. Mother is stuck in her ways.

Nervously, I knock softly on her door and pad into the bedroom silently.

"Y-Your food is ready," I announce quietly.

"Well, bring it here already," Mother orders, not even bothering looking away from the television in her room.

I keep my eyes on the food, but I can hear the television blaring behind me.

"World famous singer, Ghost Bird, is being searched by an unnamed team," A woman states in what I assume is a professional sounding voice. "They are not disclosing much information for the safety of the investigation, but they do claim to have the best interests in mind for her and that they wish to only bring her to safety. More on this later. We will be back in a moment after this quick break."

The voice goes away and is replaced by an obnoxiously loud commercial set to upbeat music.

I wonder who Ghost Bird is. Whoever she is, I'm sure she feels very lucky to have an entire team of people looking for her and looking out for her. I hope that someday, just maybe, someone will come and search for me.

***

Silas

Scrolling through my phone, it all the sudden starts chiming so much it sounds like a song. At the same time, I hear the same with my brothers' phones.

"What's going on, Vic?" I ask, turning around in my seat to look at Victor who is sitting in the backseat of North's jeep, just as confused as me.

Victor tucks his phone away and pulls out a laptop.

"I'm not sure..." Victor trails off as his slender fingers fly over his keyboard.

"Woah," Sean says, looking through his phone.

As I figure it out, I return to my phone.

"Alright!" North booms, startling us all and making me grateful that I am not the one driving. If I had been driving while he yelled, I probably would've crashed the car and killed us all. "Somebody explain what's going on!"

"Sorry, brother," I tell him in Greek, a language easier for both of us. "Everyone is responding to our posts all at once. Victor, right now, is trying to figure out the reason why the sudden rush."

"Thanks," North grunts out.

I merely nod in response even though he is focused on the road—thankfully—and can't see me.

"Here it is!" Victor exclaims.

This time North jumps slightly with us and the jeep swerves a little.

"WATCH THE ROAD!!" Sean shrieks, but his shout only causes North to swerve again.

"WATCH THE DAMN YELLING!!!" North roars right back as he rights the car. "I'm blaming you, Victor!"

"Sorry," Victor apologizes hastily. "But I just found out why the replies are all pouring in now."

"So fast?" Sean remarks.

Victor gives him a pointed look.

"I am a tech genius, you know."

Sean raises his hands in surrender, "I didn't mean anything by it, sorry."

All of us are losing our tempers from the mission. It is causing us to be increasingly grumpy. To combat it and stay getting along, we are working on quickly apologizing and being slower to anger.

"What did you find?" I ask, reminding them of the task at hand.

"The world news just informed people of our mission and our asking for help," Victor explains before quickly adding, "They basically just rephrased our posts, there are no further details; they probably don't know more themselves."

"So more people are wanting to help us?" Sean asks excitedly, running a hand through his curly blond hair.

"Yes, although I feel as if WarriorInLight's reply is the more important one," Victor says slowly.

"I agree," I insert. "Something about them seemed as if they knew who Ghost is, but was worried to give details."

"This isn't safe!" North booms. "Why wouldn't he give us details? She must be in a terrible situation!"

"We already know that we need to rescue her," Sean replies.

I add, although more gently, "Yes, and we are doing all that we can. We replied to them and are now just waiting for them to respond."

Victor softly says, "The move is theirs."

***

Wil

I was most definitely surprised to see that they had run something about the investigation on the news. Quickly I opened up a new tab to see exactly what they had said. Sure enough, the reporter had stated that none of their information came from the team directly.

That means they are still wanting to remain anonymous. But is it because they are trying to hide foul intentions, or is it because they are trying to keep the details of an Academy mission secret?

I open up the fan page and see that they responded and actually fairly soon after I had.

I cannot disclose much, but my team and I plan on making sure she is okay and, if not, getting her to a safe place where she will be okay.

Instantly, I feel safer and more confident that it is, indeed, an Academy team. Under the same username, WarriorInLight, an acronym for my name, I type out,

Blobfish.

If they really are Academy, they will respond accordingly. I don't know too much about the Academy, but I do know that random is their code.

All I have to do now is wait.

The move is theirs.