Trapped in her bedroom, Nora thumped her head against the wooden door. Exhaustion pulled at every muscle and the meaty part of her fist ached from pounding on the door.

She'd been in here for the last two hours. Outside, the orange sky melded into a deep blue. If the window wasn't so high, or against the flat siding of the house, she'd have considered opening it and escaping that way. But there was nothing out there – no gutters, no trellis, no roofing – to keep her from plummeting to the ground. She would break her leg if she jumped out that way.

At this point, that might be her only way out. She hadn't heard even a whisper of movement on the other side of the door. The rest of the house was as silent as ever.

No one was coming by to let her out anytime soon.

❆❆❆

"Eli!"

The next day, Eli slammed his locker closed and put his cell phone in his back pocket. He'd been checking it, almost obsessively, all morning. Whether he was waiting for a text, a message board post, or a call, he wasn't sure. But his phone was painfully silent through his first-period class. Then his second. Then his third. Between classes he checked his notifications, scouring the messages pouring in, looking for that same profile.

"Eli!"

He was tired of waiting. The worry was now a solid brick in the pit of his stomach.

One day, he'd told her. It'd been a day and a half at this point. All he'd promised Nora was that he'd wait a day. Well, he'd done his waiting. Now, he was free to intervene.

"Eli, can I talk to you for a second?" Ariel asked as she appeared at his side.

Eli maneuvered around a small group of girls huddled in the hallway. "Sure," he muttered.

Ariel chattered next to him – something about another party at her house this weekend, and about the freckle on her elbow she was worried about. Eli only half listened. Most of his attention was on the Jostlin students bustling around him.

As he walked, a flame of anger grew in his stomach.

"I moved up to 1059 yesterday!"

"Katherine Slater is at 148 now—"

"Why are you doing that? Make a Scholar do it for you."

"The new Anonymous song debuted at number 1."

Eli's feet froze. Next to him, Ariel cut herself off, her eyebrows coming together. "Eli?"

"This school is ridiculous," he muttered to himself. Everything was numbers now. All about the numbers. Who was higher. Who dropped over the weekend. At what point had their generation stopped loving music for the music? Why did the ranking always come into play?

Not just rankings—when people talked about songs, it was all about the faces. The singers. Other than Daxton Cavenaugh, who was young, their generation didn't know too many songwriters. No one asked about the people behind the songs. The writers, the producers, the composers, the arrangers. While a lot of the artists had a hand in their music or even produced it themselves, there were plenty of people behind the scenes no one talked about.

Not even him.

A part of him wondered if maybe people were afraid to admit they'd had help. Or that maybe they simply wanted to take all the credit.

Eli's lip curled. He turned to Ariel, "Ariel, you write and produce your own songs, right?"

The "of course" that escaped her was instantaneous. And an obvious lie.

Eli kept walking. Further down the hallway, he spotted a familiar soft-featured face and brown hair with blonde highlights.

Felicity.

"I need to go," Eli said. He left before Ariel could respond.

Eli strolled down the hallway in Felicity's direction, his eyes locked onto that familiar hair. She walked in front of him with another female student he couldn't quite identify by the back of the head.

He quickened his pace. "Felicity," he called out.

Felicity glanced over her shoulder and did a double-take when she noticed him. An easy, welcoming smile curled her lips as he stopped in front of her. Next to her, Celine beamed at him.

Their matching grins only made his gut churn. "Celine, can I talk to Felicity for a moment?"

"Uh, sure," Celine's smile dropped just slightly as Felicity nodded.

Without a word, Eli marched down and around the corner to the school's cafeteria. Felicity followed close behind, Markos at her heels.

Because it was between the early periods, the Jostlin cafeteria was mostly empty. Only the school lunch staff bustled in and out of the kitchen as they stocked, prepped, and cooked for the upcoming lunch hours.

The cafeteria itself was more of a large atrium, with vaulted glass ceilings. School posters tastefully dotted along the walls – everything from silver and blue banners for the Winter Showcase down to bright yellow ads for piano lessons. Eli found a quiet spot in a patch of sunlight streaming in from the glass above and stopped.

"How is Nora doing?" he asked without preamble.

Felicity's expression dropped. "I'm sorry?"

Instead of repeating his question – he knew damn well Felicity heard him – he kept on. "I haven't heard from her in a few...days," he said. "Is she alright?"

Felicity tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her frown deepening. "She's fine," Felicity said, picking her shoulders up and dropping them. "Is this really what you wanted to talk about?"

Eli's lips thinned as he scrutinized the girl in front of him. Despite all he now knew, the girl in front of him still came off gentle and welcoming. He wondered how he could've been blind for so long. And why his brain still told him there was some sort of kindness in Felicity Matthews.

But then he thought of Nora. Quiet, strong Nora Davis who managed to find the piano in a house of intoxicated teenagers. Nora Davis who somehow wrote songs for 7 different artists. Nora Davis who still found time to brighten his day, every day.

Nora Davis, who couldn't keep her grades up because she'd been too busy writing, producing, and arranging songs for his friends.

No, there was no kindness in the girl in front of him.

His hand fisted. "I know about the songs, Felicity. I know Nora's been writing songs for you. Cut the innocent act and be honest with me."

He wasn't sure how he expected Felicity to react to his words, but when her eyes turned shiny, he knew that was not it. "Oh, Eli," Felicity said. Somehow her voice shook. "She's got you under her spell too."

"It is not a spell—" he all but growled.

"I warned you!" Felicity curled the slim hardback book she had tight to her chest. "I told you she lies. She can't help it – it's something that runs in her side of the family, I guess. I'm sorry for anything she's told you. I'll – I'll fix it, I promise."

Heat snaked up his spine, over his shoulder, to curl around his ears. "You must think I'm completely stupid," he said through the pounding in his ears. How long? How long had Nora had no one in her corner fighting for her? Since her father died? "I'd ask you why you'd make her write for you, but I'm afraid the answer might make me feel even worse."

Felicity wiped a knuckle under her eye. "Eli, whatever she's told you, she's—"

Eli stepped swiftly into Felicity's space, somewhat satisfied when she blinked in surprise. He pointed a finger at her, "She's one of the best people I've ever met," he curled his lip, "and neither you nor any of the other artists are fit to be in the same room with her."

And with those words, he pulled away, leaving Felicity in the cafeteria.

He needed to get out of there before he did something he truly regretted.

❆❆❆

After school, Eli burst into Jackson's office, Lizzie close at his heels.

Avery stood up as they entered. "Eli, Lizzie, how can I help you?"

Lizzie pointed to Jackson's closed door. "Is he available?"

Avery nodded. "He just got off a call." She checked her watch. "His next one isn't until 4:30. I'll let him know you're here."

Avery disappeared behind Jackson's door, only to reappear a minute later. She gestured the two of them inside. "Can I get you both something to drink?"

Eli always thought it weird when Avery, his future sister-in-law, acted like staff. Despite Jackson's discussions with her, it seemed she still hadn't dropped the habit. She was a nurturer through and through. Both he and Lizzie gave her a smile. "No, thank you, Avery," Eli said.

Jackson was busy at the computer as they entered and didn't look up, "Dinnertime already? I have one more call."

Lizzie sat on the sofa against the wall, her hands clutched together between her knees. "It's not dinnertime yet. But I'll have Avery grab you when it's ready. "

Eli crossed his arms over his chest. He had so much adrenaline flowing through his body he felt supercharged, his body humming. "I want to report someone missing. What are my first steps?"

On the couch, Lizzie's breath caught. "Eli—"

Jackson stopped and pulled his attention away from the computer. "Is this about Nora?"

"Yes."

Jackson looked over Eli's shoulder at Lizzie, then back to Eli. He sighed. "I have a team doing a background check. They'll go through general details – look for anything abnormal."

"I haven't seen Nora in two days. That's not abnormal enough?"

Jackson's lips thinned. His voice was careful as he said, "her family has not reported her missing."

"Her family wouldn't even know she was missing if she was," Eli said through gritted teeth.

The look Jackson gave him was sympathetic at best. Eli loved his brother – he really did – but his brother lived and breathed by the Sarian laws. He was the Sarian laws. And more often than not, that fact alone often gave their family a hard time. Everything had to be done by the book. No exceptions.

"If I call her guardian," Jackson asked, "will she tell me Nora is at home?"

Eli's hand curled at his side.

Jackson's gaze was heavy as it swept over Eli. Whatever he spotted in Eli's tense frame had him nodding. "The most I can do is have an officer stop in to do a well-being check."

"What about the records?" Lizzie asked. "Have your teams found anything?"

Jackson shook his head. "They've only done a surface level search at this point." His brother stood, his expression sorrowful. "I believe you when you say Nora might be in trouble, Eli. And if she is, we will get her out of there. But right now, my hands are tied. Until I have something, there's not much I can do."

His body felt stiff as he slowly nodded his head. He knew if Jackson thought Nora was in any physical danger, he'd get a team dispatched immediately. Right now, without any evidence other than Eli's word, he couldn't send out officers – who were paid by the Sarian government – to collect Nora.

Still, something in his gut screamed at him. "Promise me you'll keep looking," Eli said, "and that you'll tell me the moment you find something."

"I will."

His entire body felt stiff as he nodded. Jackson would do what he could on his end. Meanwhile, Eli would do what he could on the other end.

Hang in there, Nora.

❆❆❆

Nora's hands shook as she opened her tiny bedroom window. Her hunger was real – so much so it brought nausea and made her hands shake. Other than a few mints she'd found at the bottom of one of her desk drawers, she hadn't eaten all day.

The crisp night air hit her skin. She sucked it in greedily as if somehow it would fill her stomach. Instead, her stomach rumbled.

She glanced through the screen at the snow-covered yard below her window. Part of her considered tying her bedsheets together and using them as a rope to scale down the side of the house. But the fear that it wouldn't work stopped her. The only thing she had solid enough in her room to anchor it to would be her bed frame – but the frame was a light, thin iron. It was designed to be easily moveable, and wouldn't work as a solid anchor. It would only drag along the floor until it hit the wall.

Day two. Maybe Mallory would come let her out first thing tomorrow morning. At some point, she would have to open the door anyway – especially if she wanted Nora to write songs for Felicity.

Throat scratchy, Nora pulled back the covers of her bed and laid down. When her father passed, she'd curled up into a ball with the sheets pulled up high so that only her eyes and nose peeked out. She did the same now, her vision watering.

She needed help. If morning came, and Mallory didn't let her out...just how long would she be trapped in here?

I need help, Eli, she sent the thought out into the universe. Then she wrapped her arms around her knees and tried to find sleep.