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“Alexa! Leave the guys alone,” Eamon growls. He doesn’t usually make things easier for us. This is a surprise. “Grab a drink and chill. You know they’re our masters of ceremonies. They have a job to do.”

Even he knows better than to call her names. Alexa has been showing her true colors lately, and everyone feels the shift. The school’s hierarchy has been set in stone for a long time, but Alexa is bucking it with her firm grip on the theater kids. After all, she kidnapped Noor out of her own damn bed.

Her parents are going to lose their minds. My mind can’t stop moving at a million miles an hour, and I’m imagining all the consequences if we can’t find Noor alive. The fear of not only my future going down the toilet but also Noor’s being cut short is giving me gurgly bubble guts.

I may shit myself at some point tonight.

“Duty calls,” I growl. I’m an asshole on a good day and no one blinks as they go back to having a good time.

Ciaran disentangles himself from Alexa and pushes her gently toward her friends before walking away with us. He blows out a breath in frustration once we’re out of the clearing, and we keep our steps even. There’s nothing to see here.

Just the protectors of your fun doing our damn job.

“Please let there be water down there,” he whispers as if in prayer. We haven’t prayed to a god in a long time. Life has a way of biting you in the ass when you have too much faith outside of yourself.

I may get on my knees and join Ciaran if it’ll help. I simply don’t know if there’s any god who will be able to fix what we’ve broken.

There are giggles and moans in the forest as we pass students enjoying themselves. They know to stay within the barriers we’ve marked. They’re much safer than Noor was.

“We won’t know until we get there,” Alastair grunts. “Take the shortcut on the left here.”

I go where I’m told, my hands fists in fear and anger. I’m having a difficult time keeping my shit together.

“I wish I’d dragged her further away from the edge,” I rasp, my voice a mangled mess.

“I can’t believe she’s pregnant with my baby,” Alastair confesses. It’s barely audible, but I nod in agreement. The holes in our thoughts resemble Swiss cheese, they seem to be falling out of our mouths without a filter. “I want any part of her I can have, guys. I don’t know how the fuck I’m going to manage a baby and a girlfriend…”

“Hey. Wait. What?” I ask, gaping at him. “You don’t get to keep her because you fucked a baby in her.”

“None of this matters if she’s dead,” Ciaran says tonelessly, catching himself when he slips onto the path down the cliff. “We do everything together, Alastair. Don’t forget that. It’s not your baby but ours. We did this together, despite who fucked her pussy first.”

“There are too many hypotheticals. We can’t assume shit. That’s how we got ourselves into this mess,” I remind them. “Who remembered to bring a fucking flashlight?”

“I took it out of Alexa’s pocket. I don’t know how much it’ll help,” Ciaran mutters, lifting it up as he turns it on. The single light reflects oddly against the fog, creating an even eerier appearance as we begin moving faster down the path. “Am I the only one whose mind is racing?”

“Nope. I’m just as bad. We look for her, we don’t jump to any conclusions. That’s all,” I growl.

“Yeah. Fuck, you’re right,” Alastair whispers. His face reflects what mine must look like: scared as fuck.

The three of us breathe a sigh of relief as water greets us at the bottom of the path. There are no other sounds, and I rip my shirt off to begin looking for her.

“She could be unconscious,” I growl, leaving the rest of my clothing behind as I wade into the water.

“Save the light,” Alastair grunts to Ciaran, following me as he also undresses. The flashlight doesn’t do much to help with the heavy fog anyway and I dive to the bottom of the basin, flailing my arms in an attempt to find her by touch.

The inky darkness beneath the surface of the water isn’t doing us any favors.

I don’t know how much time has passed since we were all together on the cliff. It could be minutes or an hour. I don’t have the energy to check my watch when I need to concentrate on looking for her. It didn’t feel like very long, but still…

I remain under even when my lungs burn, pushing myself to continue even after I’m out of oxygen.

Come on, come on, please!

I kick to the surface when I feel lightheaded, knowing the last thing we need is for me to pass out.

“Anything?” I ask on a gasp.

“No,” Alastair says before going back under. We try to cover the entire basin until the moon finally slides from behind a thick cloud to cut a swath of light on us.