They Are Gone

All morning, Rose couldn't shake off the bad feeling she'd had since watching Ethan and Andrew depart for town. Though Sam's lesson was highly interesting and helpful—teaching them how to care for different wounds such as blisters and burns—she couldn't concentrate. This resulted in Sam, whom she had teamed up with, having to demonstrate the techniques repeatedly.

"I'm sorry," she apologized after her sixth attempt at wrapping the gauze.

Thankfully, Sam wasn't annoyed or angry in the slightest. "You're not here," he simply stated.

"Mm. I'm worried about my brother." It was already lunchtime, and they hadn't returned yet. Logically speaking, this was to be expected. With only the two of them, there was no way they could be as quick in procuring and packing the supplies as when there were four. And still...

"Then let's stop here for today. It doesn't make much sense to continue if you can't focus."

He stood up and started putting away his materials, letting Luke and Heather know they were finished for the day. Their reactions were starkly different. While Luke seemed disappointed, Heather could barely conceal her relief. With Andrew absent, she felt the training was a waste of time, and she was freezing again. Still, she tried her utmost to feign disappointment, hurriedly heading towards the farmhouse after a brief "Thank you, until tomorrow!"

As Sam departed, Luke approached Rose. "Are you okay?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

Rose hesitated before shaking her head slightly. "I can't shake this feeling that something's wrong," she admitted.

"You mean with Ethan and Andrew?"

"Mhm."

Luke, ever the vigilant guard puppy, offered a practical suggestion: "Why don't you check where they are?"

"Oh, right! Why didn't I think of that?" Rose exclaimed. The previous evening, everyone—except for Mr. and Mrs. Kepler and Aunt Betty, who dismissed such "modern nonsense"—had added their destinations to the tracking app at her suggestion.

With trembling fingers, Rose navigated to the app on her phone. As the screen loaded, she held her breath, hoping to see the familiar dots indicating Ethan and Andrew's locations. Her face paled when the map displayed a "No signal available" message.

Were they out of range?

Thankfully, she could still see their previous movements, tracing back to the last tracked location. To her surprise, they hadn't gone to Torrine as they'd said, but to a different town called Bren. 

Why the lie?

Feeling increasingly uneasy, Rose hesitated before opening the portal tracking app, hoping she was just being paranoid. Surely, she was mistaken.

She zoomed in on the map, focusing on their area until only the surrounding towns were visible.

Rose's scalp tingled and her blood ran cold. At the exact location where the GPS tracker had last recorded them, a portal had been sighted. It had appeared approximately five hours ago—coinciding with the time their signal had been lost.

They were gone! They'd entered a portal!

Rose's mind raced as panic set in. How could they have done this without telling her? She had to find a way to bring them back, but she felt utterly helpless. With trembling hands, she clutched her phone, desperately hoping for a signal to return.

She turned to Luke, who had been watching over her shoulder. "We need to bring them back," she said, her voice filled with determination.

Luke nodded, his face set. "What's the plan?" he asked, ready to help.

Rose took a deep breath, steadying herself. "We need to get to Bren as fast as possible. I'll drive us there." Luckily, she had her car keys with her, so there was no need to enter the farmhouse. 

"Let's go, we don't have a moment to lose."

If the tracking app was accurate, they had already spent more than five hours inside that portal—far too long for them not to have encountered problems. She could only pray that they were unharmed.

They didn't even go inside to inform the Keplers, instead immediately entering the car and driving off. Luke simply sent them a message, saying they had also decided to head into town for more supplies. They would probably get an earful upon their return, but that was now secondary.

On the way, Rose couldn't help but talk to Luke, perhaps to ease her tense nerves and keep her mind from conjuring horrible scenarios about her brother's fate. "It's a good thing we didn't train our abilities yet today. My spirit force pool is full, so we can activate our abilities if necessary. How about yours?" she asked, glancing at Luke.

"I'm good too," he affirmed.

Rose now regretted not telling her brother about her ability. Maybe the situation would have been different if she had. Perhaps he would have considered taking her along, even if the chances were slim. He hadn't even taken Luke, whose fire ability might have been considerably helpful.

Why on earth had they entered a portal alone?

It wasn't like her brother or Andrew to do something so reckless. They were always cautious. Could it all be a horrible coincidence? But then why had they ended up in Bren when they clearly said they were going to Torrine?

Rose couldn't make sense of it.

But for now, it didn't matter. What counted was reaching them as quickly as possible.

With that thought, she pressed the accelerator, increasing their speed.