Ready? I asked Cory and Cas, as I waited to turn around.

Yeah, they thought back.

I turned to see them both in their flight suits and smoothed mine down subconsciously.

“Okay, so we call the Guardians, Chal and Leo then go to breakfast?”

The others nodded and we dropped onto my bed, pulling our screens closer.

“Gem, you call the Guardians and report Peggy being missing. Cory, you try Chal. Call and send a ping. He should have gotten back to us by now, this isn’t normal for him. I’ll try Leo once you’re both done.”

Gem lifted her arm and typed on her wrist monitor, pulling up the Emergency Assistance number we’d called before. I held my breath, hoping we wouldn’t get the same person who we spoke to when we reported what was happening on Irision. They were useless.

“Hello, Emergency Assistance. How may I help you?” It was a woman’s voice this time.

They had the same polite, crisp manner as the man from before though.

“Hello, this is Gemini of crew 761. I need to report the disappearance of a member of our crew. Pegasus.”

“Ah, I see. And how long has she been missing?”

Gem glanced up at the time above the door before looking back down.

“A few hours, I think.”

The woman on the other end of the line laughed. The tinkling noise set my nerves on edge.

“Well, I hardly think that’s cause to call us! I’m sure she’ll reappear in just a few hours.”

Anger brewed on Gem’s face.

“No, she wouldn’t just go without telling us!”

The woman sighed audibly.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

The woman paused and I could hear her slowly typing on a screen.

“Are you going to do anything?” Gem demanded, her voice worried as the woman finished typing.

The woman’s voice soured.

“I’m made a note of that situation. Nothing more is necessary.”

Gem looked at me, at a loss for words. I shrugged, not sure what else we could do.

“Will that be all or do you have an actual emergency to report?”

Just hang up, Gem. They aren’t going to help. I thought sadly.

I’d expected them not to but it was still disappointing.

“That’s all.” Gem said flatly, hanging up without waiting for an answer.

I shook my head to clear it and took a deep, steadying breath.

“Well… That went as expected. Let’s try Chal now.” I said, looking at Cory.

He nodded and dialled on his monitor.

We waited anxiously for Chal to pick up but it just continued to ring. He always answered or it went to a messaging service. It never just rung. I waited to hear the usual “Captain Sammer’s” welcome but none came.

What do we do? Cory thought over the noise of the line trilling.

Hang up. If he was there, he’d have answered by now. Send him a message explaining the situation. That’s all we can do. My heart felt heavy with loss.

He’ll get back to us… If he can…Gem thought, picking at the skin around her nails.

“Okay. I’ll try Leo.”

My voice sounded strange to my ears. I felt so distant from what was happening. Grief was threatening to overpower me but I couldn’t let it. If there was a chance I could get the rest of my crew to safety, I had to take it. There had to be more I could do.

My hand trembled as it hovered over Leo’s name and I clicked it, waiting for her to answer. Her call had scared me but she could help. She had to be able to help. We couldn’t be alone.

The dreaded beeping filled the room.

“She’s gone too. It’s saying the user cannot be found.”

“Fuck!” Slipped out of Cas’ mouth and he dropped his head into his hands.

There was no one else who could help us.

“I’m going to call my dad.”

My head whipped up and I stared at Cas.

“If he’s to blame for all of this, he’ll have some answers. He’ll… He has to do something.” His voice was desperate.

“Okay,” I whispered.

My mouth was dry as I watched him reluctantly click on his dad’s ping. It rang once before stopped, a message appearing on Cas’ screen. I couldn’t read it from where I was sitting but the look of disbelief and confusion that came over his face worried me.

“What?” I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

“He’s… He’s blocked me.”

Cas tapped a different name with the same result, then another one.

He choked out a laugh but he looked incredulous.

“My whole family’s blocked me. Katie and Jack… Why would they block me?” He sounded so young and broken.

I didn’t even know he had his sibling’s details.

“Did you try your mom?” Gem asked gently.

Cas shook his head.

“I couldn’t get hers. I only managed to get theirs by hacking their school system. I wanted to talk to them after what happened…”

I reached out and squeezed Cas’ arm but he didn’t look up from his monitor.

“Okay,” I forced myself to take a deep breath, “Okay. We’ll go to the canteen, have some food and pretend everything is normal. Then, we go to Frida and run. We’ll stash our bags in one of the hatches round the back of the canteen where no one goes and then come through the main doors so everyone sees us. Okay?”

I glanced around at my crew, meeting their eyes. They all looked heartbroken but we needed to keep going. We needed to pretend everything was normal so that no one knew we were running. We couldn’t risk the Council being called and us being imprisoned or anything again.

“Okay,” Gem whispered almost silent, rolling her shoulders back.

“No retreat,” I held my fist out to the middle of the bed.

It felt weird without Peggy but eventually, everyone put their hand in.

“No surrender.”

It was noticeably more subdue and quiet than normal but it gave me some hope. I honestly believed we could still escape at that point. What an idiot I was.

Chal, if we somehow got you captured and killed too… I’m so sorry. Fuck, I don’t even know what to say. It seems like I’m always writing these messages and everyone is suffering because of us. I hope you’re okay. It might be too late but… send us a message or something. Please. If someone else reads this and they know Chal or find him one day, can you tell him thanks from us?