Chapter One

Richard Jones was missing. Well, Richard Jones among seven other students. It had not been confirmed that he was actually missing but no one knew of his whereabouts either. According to Henry, Richard's roommate, they had both slept in their dorm rooms but when he woke up Richard was nowhere to be found. The same was said for the other seven students.

Preston Preparatory Academy was the most popular school on Landgema Island. Landgema Island is a large island and continent located between Europe and South America.

There were twelve cities in Landgema Island and each city has a top school but Preston Prep topped all the schools.

The school was highly populated by children who came from wealthy homes and the minority came on scholarship.

Many wished to attend the school because of its top quality education; however, the school was not as pleasing as it seemed to be on the outside.

The students who attended Preston Prep had learnt that not all that glittered was gold.

The school had been a haven just the previous year but the new school year brought shocks to the students.

In just the first week of schooling two students had gone missing. They were in their fourth week and the missing students had not returned.

The teachers were worse. They had not even noticed that the students were not around, as though they did not know.

The headmaster was the worst of them all. He would go to each class and take the attendance himself but he would not bother to ask where the absent students were and why they had not reported for classes in weeks.

Esther yawned as she made her way to her locker. She was a smart student but studies, coupled with her duties as the school's Vice Student President, wore her out.

The school had two students that would be in charge of everything concerning the students. If the students had any complaint, they would take it to the Student Presidents who would in turn take it to the headmaster after they held a meeting discussing how serious the complaint was.

Esther was the Vice Student President but she did not feel like he held any power whatsoever. No student in the school respected her. They acted kind in front of her but gossiped about her behind her back. She wondered why the headmaster had elected her into the power in the first place.

Maybe the disrespect had to do with her having dark skin. Esther was the only black girl in the school.

She was originally from Mamar. Mamar was a city in Landgema that was notable for its black people. There were very few white people in Mamar.

Esther's parents had migrated to Saint Liane before she was even born because her father had received a great job opportunity.

He had long passed away but she still thought of him from time to time.

Esther opened the locker and retrieved her Geography textbooks from it.

"I wish we could elect a new Vice Student President," a girl from behind Esther scoffed.

"Yeah," the girl's friend agreed. "She's practically useless. Dexter does all the work and all she does is sit and stare."

Esther slammed her locker shut and turned around to look at the girls.

The girls were standing, holding their books in their hands and looking at her in shock. They did not realise that everyone within five feet of them could hear their conversation.

"O-oh, Esther," the first girl, a brunette named Ivy, stammered.

Esther ignored her and made her way to her classroom. She did, however, hear Ivy make another statement about her.

"See. She can't even stand up for herself. What a coward. That's why she couldn't even stop her friend from killing himself."

Esther shook her head to get rid of Ivy's words as she entered her classroom.

"You're... two minutes early, Brown," Mr. Mack, her Geography teacher, stated as he checked the time on his wrist watch. "Your classmates wait until the last second before they get into my class."

"I had nothing else to do, Sir, so I came straight to class," Esther chose to sit at a desk in the front of the classroom.

"Not even friends to talk to?" Mr. Mack asked.

Esther shook her head, "No."

Her only friend was in a different class, so they barely spoke in between classes.

"I was just like you when I was younger," Mr. Mack said as he brought out a folded map of Landgema from his briefcase. "No one wanted to be my friend because I was overweight and dug my nose for gold every single day. They used to call me Booger Boy."

Not much had changed since then. Mr. Mack was heavily obese and he still picked his nose when he thought that no one was watching.

"One minute left," Mr. Mack said. "Let me go and wash my hands first."

Mr. Mack walked out of the classroom and a little while later another student walked in. It was Ezekiel, Esther's classmate.

He sat on the desk to her right and placed his books on the desk, "Morning, Esther."

"Morning, Zeke," Esther greeted back.

"Have you heard the latest news?" Ezekiel asked.

The news of all happenings in the school was posted on the Students' News Website by the president of the Press Club. Esther did not have a phone, so did not keep herself updated with the news of the school. She acquired most of her information from Korah, her friend.

The students were allowed to have electronics but they were not allowed to contact their parents unless something serious happened. In the case that something serious happened, the headmaster would be the one to call the parents.

It was a silly rule but the rule was hard to break because of the school's location.

The school was located an hour from civilian life and a deep forest surrounded it. The forest made it hard for them to get phone service and call anyone who was not in the school premises.

"What news?" Esther asked.

"About Richard Jones," Ezekiel whispered. "He has gone missing."

Esther knew Richard Jones because he was her classmate. He was genuinely one of the nicest and shyest person she had ever met.

"Another student has gone missing?" Esther asked. "Wasn't it just last week that two other students went missing?"

Ezekiel nodded his head, "It is crazy isn't it?"

"How are we so sure that Richard actually went missing?" Esther asked.

"He was nowhere to be found, even though he slept in his room last night, and no one has seen him since then," Ezekiel replied.

Esther ran a hand through her curly black hair and sunk her back into her seat.

"Why don't you tell Principal Winter about this?" Ezekiel asked. "It seems like he really does not know about anything that's going on. If this goes on, I'll ask my parents to take me to another school."

Esther nodded her head, "I'll try to talk to Dexter about it."

Ezekiel sighed a deep sigh, "Whatever you say, Vice Student President."

Mr. Mack walked back into the classroom. The bell rung almost as soon as he entered the classroom and more students walked into the classroom and took their seats.

Esther did not know what to think of Preston Prep anymore. Preston Prep had been her dream school ever since she was in Year Five. In Year Ten, three years back, Esther had received the opportunity to learn at Preston Prep through a scholarship. However, she was not sure that she wanted to stay at Preston Prep anymore.

She was tired of the gossip and plastic faces, and she also did not want to be the next person to go missing. She did wonder, however, what on earth was going on in the school. Was there a secret project that only the eight missing students were aware of?

---

Jackson couldn't believe that he was late for class again. Okay, he could believe it but he had a good reason to be late. He slept late the previous night because he was playing video games on his phone.

That did not sound like a good excuse but with a little tweaking here and there, he was sure he could get away with it.

He did not bother to bathe but rather just brushed his teeth and changed into his school uniform; a white dress shirt, blue trousers, and a blue coat with a blue and white striped necktie. The uniform was the same for the girls, except they wore blue skirts. The school uniform was mandatory.

He grabbed his bag from his study desk, a desk he rarely used, and rushed out of his dorm room, not bothering to dress his bed. He was not only late for class but he also missed breakfast. He was certain that he'd also missed the checking of attendance by the headmaster.

He was thirteen minutes late to his first class of the day: Biology.

Just why did he have to be late for Biology? Miss Greene was a no nonsense teacher and Jackson swore that she had a sixth sense. He had no idea what the sixth sense was but he was sure that she had one.

Jackson made his way to his classroom and peeked into the room through the open space of the door. When Miss Greene turned around Jackson slowly opened the door and tried to sneak to his seat.

"Mr. Wicket, where do you think you are going?" Miss Greene's sharp voice made her sound sterner than it actually was.

"To my seat, Miss," Jackson replied.

He mentally pinched himself for answering her question with sass.

"Just take a look at yourself," Miss Greene gave him a head-to-toe look. "Your hair is all over the place, your shirt is not ironed and not tucked in, and you are wearing the wrong school shoes. Trainers are not part of the school dress code unless it is sports time!"

Jackson looked at his feet and discovered that all she had said about him was true.

He laughed nervously, "I'm sorry, Ma'am. I stayed up late studying Biology, so that I could pass your class."

"What sort of a flimsy excuse is that?" Miss Greene asked and turned to the class. "How many of you stay up studying?"

More than half of the class raised their hands.

Miss Greene turned back to Jackson, "I'm giving you one day of detention. Besides, studying is not a good excuse because I know the lights are turned off at ten-thirty P.M."

"But, Miss, I used the desk la-"

"Fine, two days. Say any more and I'll make it three."

With a grunt Jackson went to his seat. How could he face this sort of humiliation in front of the entire class? He was a member of the football team. A member, not the captain, but he was sure he still famous. He could not be insulted in front of everyone.

Jackson let out a groan and looked at Korah who was seated at the front of the class, just a few desks away from where he was seated.

Korah was Jackson's roommate but he despised him. He wondered why Korah had not woken him up from sleep when the boy knew that he would be late.

Jackson was too angry to focus his attention on Miss Greene's class. He kept his eyes on Korah, burning holes in the back of his head through his eyes. Jackson wished he had lasers shooting out of his eyes, so that he could harm Korah from where he was seated. Unfortunately, he was just as powerful as the nine years olds in the school who only had the power to attract bullies.

The lesson came to an end after a dreadful forty minutes. Miss Greene concluded the lesson with a research assignment.

Jackson took note of the assignment and waited until Miss Greene left the class to confront his roommate.

Miss Greene had barely walked out of the classroom when the students returned to being their noisy selves. They packed up their books and just as they stood up to leave Jackson's voice made them their heads in his direction.

"You jerk!"

Korah looked at Jackson in irritation. Why couldn't the fool just leave him for once?

Korah gently placed his books back on his desk and waited patiently for the drama to begin.

Jackson stormed to where Korah was standing and grabbed him by the collar of his neatly ironed shirt.

"Why didn't you wake me up, brat?"

"I-I-I'm sorry but am I your personal alarm?" Korah asked.

That was the drama that Jackson wanted and Korah was freely serving it to him. He needed to start charging Jackson for all the beatings he got.

His words seemed to please their classmates as they gathered around the two of them, their second period class long forgotten.

Korah saw someone shut the door from the corner of his eye. Of course no one wanted a teacher to find them. They would be sent to the headmaster's office and no one wanted to be on Principal Winter's bad side.

"Whoa, the nerd speaks!" Jackson heard a male classmate say.

He chuckled and let go of Korah's collar. He straightened the collar and patted Korah's shoulders. Korah did not predict what came next coming. Jackson punched him with all his might, making him fall to the ground.

Korah lay on the floor shaking in fear and shock. He touched the side of his mouth that had been punched and felt blood. His lower lip was bleeding.

He knew that Jackson was going to hit him but he had not expected it to be right at that moment.

Jackson grabbed Korah's books from his desk and threw them at him.

"Since you chose to make me late for class, you might as well do my assignments for me," Jackson said.

Korah stood up from the floor. He picked his books one-by-one and placed them back onto his desk. He then looked at Jackson, "I want to talk to you."

"What did you say?" Jackson asked with a smirk.

"I said that I need to speak with you," Korah said and looked around the classroom, all eyes were on them, "privately. I need to speak with you privately."

Jackson looked around the classroom as well and nodded, "Fine."

Jackson walked out of the classroom and Korah followed him into the boys' restroom.

As they passed through the halls, the eyes of the other students were on them.

Korah could hear their unasked questions; what is Jackson Wicket doing with someone like Korah Barden? What did Korah do now? Is there going to be a fight?

"What do you want us to speak about?" Jackson asked once he entered the restroom. Korah made sure to shut the door behind him.

"Why do you treat me like this?" Korah asked angrily.

"How do you mean?" Jackson asked indifferently, picking the dirt out of his nails.

"Like the dirt under your shoes!" Korah yelled. "For how long do I have to endure all your beatings and insults?"

Jackson took menacing steps towards him and grabbed his shirt collar. It seemed like he had a personal attachment to the shirt. Korah was willing to give it to him as long as he left him alone.

"That is what you are," Jackson spat. "You are nothing but the dirt under my shoes. You are a father thief. You and your mother broke my family apart."

"How is your father's infidelity my fault?" Korah asked.

"Maybe if you weren't conceived my parents would still be together," Jackson replied.

Korah shook his head, "Anyway, that's besides what I actually came to talk to you about.

"What now? Do you want to reveal to the world that you're not Korah Barden, but Korah Wicket?" Jackson asked, throwing Korah to the ground using his collar. "Do you also want to ruin my father's political career by revealing to the world that you're my father's illegitimate son? Do you want to tell the world that my father was having an affair and ended up getting his mistress pregnant?"

"I have no business with that man whatsoever and I do not want to be recognized as his son. I will never call him my father," Korah said.

"Then what is your issue?" Jackson asked.

Korah stood up from the ground and dusted his trousers, "Richard is missing."

"What?" Jackson asked, hoping he had heard wrong.

"Richard Jones, our cousin, is missing," Korah repeated. "He slept in his dorm room last night but when his roommate woke up, Richard was no longer there and there hasn't been any trace of him since then."

Jackson grabbed Korah's collar once more. Korah groaned.

"If you love my shirt that much just tell me you want it?" Korah asked. Jackson, however, did not let go.

"If this is some sick joke, then I'm telling you that it's not funny. Richard is my family and one of my best friends. Don't make such stupid jokes," Jackson said through gritted teeth.

Korah pushed Jackson away, "I'm not lying! The news is circulating around the school like a wild fire. Check the Students' News Website on your phone. Richard is missing."

With his lips quivering Jackson dropped to the ground. Tears filled his eyes and they dropped onto the floor, one after the other. He knew that students in the school were going missing but he'd never thought that his friend and family would be one of them.

Korah stood still for a few minutes, staring at his half-brother. He really did not know what to do. He did not know how to console people he did not care much for.

Korah squatted beside Jackson.

"Are you alright, Jackson?" Korah asked.

"Do I look okay to you?!" Jackson yelled. "I swore to Richard's mother that I would protect him! But where is he? I forgot about him and did not even know that my own cousin was missing! What do I do? What should I tell Aunt Kimberly? I was the one who forced her to bring Richard and Martha to Preston Prep."

Korah stood up and brought out a handkerchief from the pocket of his suit, "Wipe your tears. I'm going to report this to the Student Presidents. They have to take this case to the principal. Enough is enough."

Jackson accepted the handkerchief and used it to wipe his tears.

"Oh, and, Korah," Jackson called out to Korah before he could leave.

"Yes, Jackson?" Korah questioned as he turned his head to face Jackson.

Jackson stood up and dusted his jeans with the handkerchief before handing it back to Korah.

"This never happened," Jackson said.

"Do you mean the tears you shed?" Korah asked, fighting a smirk.

"If I hear about it elsewhere you're dead," Jackson said and walked out of the restroom.

---

The room was full of anarchy. The commotion was one that even the Student Presidents found hard to control. This had to be their least successful meeting ever.

"Everyone, keep quiet!" The Student President, Dexter Paige shouted in a commanding tone.

It took quite a while but everyone quieted down.

A meeting had been held comprising the Student President, the Vice Student President and the Dorm Supervisors. The meeting was held weekly, but this week's meeting had started out on a bad note.

"Let us act like civilized people," Dexter said. "I know that the school has a lot of problems but let us act orderly and calm down."

Dexter was seventeen years of age and quite tall. He was the Student President and a leading politician's son. His jet black hair was neatly combed back and his mud brown eyes that once held life were dull. He was always smartly dressed and it was no surprise that he was elected as the school's Student President. His voice also had a deep commanding tone that no one could deny.

Andrew, one of the Dorm Supervisors of the male dorms stood up and banged his fists on the desk. "Civilized? Orderly? Calm down? Are you serious? Eight students are missing and the teachers haven't even addressed us on the matter! How do you expect us to calm down? We only know about this because of the school website that is run by the students in the Press Club! School only started four weeks ago and eight students have gone missing! Eight!"

Dexter licked his lips and stood up from his chair, "If the teachers haven't addressed us on the matter, then I suppose that they know where the missing students are. Maybe they have been sent out of school for bad behaviour, or taken to other schools to participate in inter-school events."

"If that were the case then we'd have been informed about it during assembly!" Andrew yelled. "I suggest we take this matter to the principal."

His proposal came with murmurs of approval from the rest of the students in the meeting room.

They were in a large room that was reserved for such meetings called the Meeting Room. The room was meant for only the students who held power in the school. In the middle of the room was a large round table and they sat on the chairs that surrounded the table. There were a total of eighteen dorm wards; nine for the girls and nine for the boys. There were twenty rooms in each dorm ward and two or three students occupied each room. There was a Dorm Supervisor in charge of each dorm ward; nine boys and nine girls. They were all present at the meeting.

The dorm wards were divided by the grades of each student. A student in Year Five would stay in the dorm ward labeled 'Year 5' depending on the sex of that student. The Dorm Supervisors had their own separate rooms.

"We are not taking this matter anywhere. This matter stays in this room," Dexter said and placed his hands in the pocket of his trousers. "If there are no more matters then the meeting has ended, you may all leave the room."

Full of anger, the Dorm Supervisors left the room with their notebooks, and banged the door shut behind them. Esther remained glued to her seat.

"This is a serious matter, you know," Esther told Dexter.

Dexter turned his head to face her, "I know."

"I suggest we take it to the principal."

"And who exactly are you, Esther Brown?" Dexter asked with a smirk on his face. "You are only a vice. I am the student in charge of taking matters to the principal while you're just a girl who was elected as Vice Student President by mistake. If you're finished then you might as well get out of here."

Boiling in anger, Esther stood up from her seat, grabbed her documents off the table, and stormed out of the room.

She knew that nothing she said could change Dexter's mind. He never listened to her. Esther, however, was still determined to find the missing students and she was not going to let Dexter's words hold her back.

She spent the entire night thinking of how she was going to go find the missing students without anyone finding out about her plans. Her thoughts then went back to Andrew in the Meeting Room. He seemed very serious and passionate about the matter. Maybe she could talk to him and encourage him to join her in her journey to find the missing students.

With her plans for the following day confirmed, Esther drifted off to sleep.

Esther did not have the opportunity to talk to Andrew until lunch time the following afternoon. She and Andrew were in different classes and they were not friends, so it was hard to speak with him.

At lunch time she made her way to Andrew's class. Most of the students were already in the cafeteria but some were still taking down notes from the boards in their classrooms.

Andrew was not in his classroom but there were two girls standing by the door of the classroom.

"Good afternoon," Esther greeted, taking them by surprise. Esther rarely spoke to anyone, especially not to those who were not in her class.

She wasn't comfortable with anyone who was not her friend. She was not going to open up to anyone because they would go behind her back. Her decision to involve Andrew in her plans was a huge milestone when it came to her talking to strangers.

"Good afternoon, Esther," they replied.

"Do you know where Andrew is?" Esther asked. "Is he in the cafeteria?"

"He went to the school library," one of the girls answered. "He's been in a bad mood since yesterday and he blows off steam at the library."

"Thank you," Esther replied and walked off to the library.

She entered the library quietly and found Andrew seated on his own at a desk behind some book shelves. He was reading a Physics Textbook. He had earphones plugged into his ears and Esther concluded that he was listening to music.

Esther dropped her books onto the desk and that attracted his attention. He looked at her and removed one of the earphones from his ear.

"Yes, Vice Student President?" Andrew asked.

Esther leaned in closer to him and looked around to make sure that no one was in the library with them. She then whispered, "I agree with you about reporting the matter to the principal."

Andrew closed the textbook and leaned in as well, "Then why don't you go and report it? After all, you are the Vice Student President. This has to be the most authoritative you've been since you were placed into power."

"I risk myself being demoted if I go to the principal without Dexter Paige's permission," Esther sighed, taking a seat.

"Well, what do you suppose that we do?" Andrew asked. "We can't possibly turn a blind eye to this issue. I wonder if our parents even know about this. The school website is only available to the students."

"I think that we should take matters into our own hands," Esther said. "I think that we should find out what happened to our missing school mates."

"I'm listening," Andrew said.

"I think that we should search for them ourselves. It seems that the teachers have not been informed about the missing students, or if they have, they simply don't care."

Andrew nodded his head eagerly, "I agree. I'm in."

"If you guys are doing this then I want in too," a girl walked up from behind one of the shelves.

Andrew and Esther turned their heads to look at the person who had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"L-Lisa?" Esther stammered.

Lisa was cheerleader and a girlfriend to the infamous jock, Jackson Wicket. She was of an average height with brown hair and green eyes. Lisa was the Dorm Supervisor for the females in Year Thirteen and Esther knew her for that reason.

Andrew and Esther stood up in shock.

"You scared us," Andrew said. "How did you know that we were here?"

"I kept my eyes on Esther," Lisa replied. "I knew that there was no hope in Dexter, so I hoped to corner Esther and force her to take the matter to the principal but I like this plan better."

"Did you say that you wanted in?" Esther asked.

"Yes. I want in. Something weird is going on in the school and it's no longer safe. We need to find out what's going on in the school," Lisa explained herself.

Esther nodded her head, "The more the merrier. However, this is only between the three of us. We should be completely careful so as to not get in trouble with the school authorities. We shall formally start our investigations tomorrow."

"Whatever you say, Vice Student President," Andrew smiled.

"I never thought I would see this side of you," Lisa said.