The Search

[Macy Deltine]

Macy walked quickly from the train station into the centre of Cardsdale. She heard Professor Gonzalez was going on up to the school, to have a look around, but Macy only wanted to go into the town to look for Steve. She still wasn't believing that he was run away, but he had told her before about him running away when he was in New York.
She carried her bags, while walking frantically into the village. Her heart was pumping faster now, as she knew all her surroundings, and could see the road in the distance that led up to their beloved school. The town hadn't changed much since she left, there were some Christmas decorations up in the shops. There was some ice on the Pigeon Fountain, but other from that, it all looked the same. There were a few people walking around the Square, but most people were in cafes and restaurants, as it was lunch time. She noticed some girls from the school near the window of the Heel-Toe, as if nothing had happened. But Steve was gone, and she had no idea where he was. But she didn't know what to do, she felt lost.
She heard some people coming out to the street, and turned around to see people from the school, and a few from the village coming out of a building that he recognised to be the SCR building. She saw Prof. Thandie among them, and also noticed Jude in the middle of them. She didn't know what they were doing, but she went over to them, so she could atleast walk back to the school with someone she knew.
She went over to them, and said a quiet, "Hey." She realised that her voice was broken, and she tried to get it back to normal, by coughing. She tried to say something else, but again, coughing didn't help her voice.

[Jude Dorrian]

"Who's that?"
Deron Miles was looking up; his cool blue eyes staring through the cold mist of the morning. His tone was suspicious, of course. He didn't seem to like newcomers; strangers seemed a sort of threat. Jude ignored him, staring determinedly forward at Jack and Olivia, who were talking about... something. He couldn't hear. The wind was a little deafening.
"Mr Dorrian, did you ask Miss Wright about other methods of giving Mr Ritzski his medication?"
Prof. Thandie appeared at his side, her cheeks pink, and lips pale. She was well wrapped up; tottering along in a large, padded coat with a long, wooley scarf that muffled her voice. Deron was close to them both, and turned, watching them keenly. Prof. Thandie, sharing Jude's distaste for the boy, leaned closer to Jude, speaking directly into his ear.
"Did you hear me, Mr Dorrian?"
"Yes," Jude nodded, also leaning toward Prof. Thandie. "Ingestion. He can take these pills."
"Oh." She looked a little disappointed. "Any other ways?"
"That's it," Jude said apologetically.
"What?" Deron interrupted loudly, smirking slightly. "No magical ways?"
Luckily, Jude was stopped from retorting by a cry of excitement from one of the people at the front of the group.
"Macy! Macy Deltine- look it's Macy!"
Now Jude looked up; and through the fog, he saw her coming forward. Deron's eyes widened, and he straightened up, telling Jude that he knew exactly who this was. Jude rolled his eyes, and began to move forward, pushing through the crowd. She must know. Why else would she back early?
Reaching them, Macy seemed a first glance composed, and she was certainly attempting to keep it that way. But then you saw her eyes. Her scared, worried eyes. And Jude felt a horrible pang of guilt about Steve. If only he'd-
No! Stop it, Jude, he told himself, for the hundredth time. It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have stopped it.
He couldn't have...
"Hey," she said softly, so softly Jude was certain he was one of only a few who heard it. Her voice was broken, and scared.
"Hey," Jude said, reaching her first. "Macy, I'm sorry, I- "
Prof. Thandie elbowed him out of the way. "Miss Deltine! Are you alright? I know you and Mr Ritzski are very good friends..."

[Macy Deltine]

Macy gazed at Prof. Thandie. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Steve, you know." She said, giving a faint smile. She felt strange, having even the vice principle knowing about her friendship with Steve, but they were two known characters in the school. "I, eh, met a new teacher on the train, Professor Gonzalez.." She said to the teacher.
"Oh, yes, Professor Gonzalez, she's in Water Control, right?" Prof. Thandie asked, smiling. Macy nodded and looked over the group. They were all standing there, shivering, inpatient to start moving. She felt something by her leg, and looked down to find her companion, Gypsy, as her usual form of a small black cat. Macy then felt slightly relieved, seeing Gypsy. She scooped her up, and held her close to her body, feeling the cat's heart beat on her's.
"We are on our way to search for Mr Ritzski, actually, if you would like to join us.." Prof. Thandie said, trying to get Macy's attention off the cat in her arms.
"Yes...yes, I want to find him." She said, setting Gypsy on the ground. Gypsy rubbed against her legs again, so Macy picked her up, letting her change into a ferret, and wrap herself around Macy's neck. Prof. Thandie smiled and nodded, and started to lead the group on, through the town. They all seemed as if they all knew what they were doing, they split into groups and were beginning to head off into different directions. She headed over to the group that Jude was in, and recognised two other people to also be in the school, and the other boy from Cardsdale- the one that Parmida almost killed. She smiled at them, and went towards Jude. She stared at her feet, as she began to walk in time with them.
"How are you?" She asked, still staring at her feet. Gypsy shivered around her neck, and Macy stroked her tail. She felt strange, being back in Cardsdale, but knowing that she had to look for one of her best friends.

[Jude Dorrian]

"Not good," Jude admitted. "I was with Steve when he first..." He trailed off, biting his lip. How much of this did Macy actually know? How much did she want to know...? "Macy, I-"
"Macy Deltine, Head of the Academics?" Deron was in Jude's way, staring at Macy with a mixture of awe and respect. "I'm Deron Miles, it's great to finally meet you!" He shoved his hand in her face, and Jude felt his eyes rolling automatically.
Deron Miles... Deron Miles... What Kira saw in him, Jude hadn't understood until now. The guy was sarcastic, patronizing... but from the way he beamed at Macy, Jude cottoned on immediately. What was the attraction of Kira to him?
Maybe genuine feeling was there... but no doubt her being Head of the Spies was a massive motivator. The thought made Jude recoil slightly, and he hoped it wasn't true. He hated the idea of his friend just being 'the girlfriend with benefits'.

[Macy Deltine]

Macy shook Deron's hand awkwardly, and was taken back by how...up-front he was. She remembered back to the camping trip, to when Parmida held him by his neck, and then Kira, burning them. Infact, Kira hadn't mentioned him recently. Macy then turned her thoughts back to the task at hand. He's out there, you know it.
She could feel that he was close, and just wanted to find him. Who knew where he could be? He had talked about how he had run away, when he was back in New York, and he'd never go too far.
"How, eh, long have you been searching?" She asked, feeling slightly anxious to start looking for him.

[Jude Dorrian]

"Since Boxing Day," Jude said miserably. "Macy, I'm sorry. I was there when he... when he escaped. I should've tried to chase after him, and bring him back but I..."
But he what?
He didn't really have an excuse.
But something about Steve running off towards the horizon had made him feel reckless. He'd felt Steve's desire for freedom, because Jude knew the alternative was... Will.
And as much respect as he had for her... she'd made a mistake.
And Jude hated the idea of Steve having to go through it again.
Even now, that was why the medication in his bag felt like such a horrible burden. Oh, Jude knew, sure that Steve had to be given this. Of course he did. But he resented that fact. He hated that Steve needed this.
He supposed that's why he let him run...
... Steve deserved to have a taste of freedom, even if Jude's decision had been ill-judged.
But how could he justify that to Macy of all people?
"Don't worry," Deron said importantly. "We're making really good progress! We've searched this village very thoroughly- however, we may need to send some Spies out to check the enemy camps."

[Macy Deltine]

Macy didn't say anything to them, just thinking about how long Jude said he'd been gone. Why had no-one told her about it? She was just pleased that she had decided to come home early.
"No, I don't think he'd be with them. No-one can pin him down." She said, smiling, and quoting from one of her favourite songs. "So, um, how does the searching work?" She asked. She wanted to help, but she didn't want to mess up, if they had a system. Gypsy jumped down from her shoulder, and changed into an unusual form, of a tiger. Macy felt slightly surprised at her, but then felt powerful with a fierce looking tiger by her side.
"Do we just...look?" She asked, feeling slightly stupid asking. It was usually a joke through the other Groups, when an Academic asked what to do.

[Jude Dorrian]

"Pretty much." Deron looked sheepish, as though she was accusing him of something.
"Come on, we'll look about the estates today," Jude said. "There's lots of little alleys and stuff. We haven't explored them all fully yet."
"Would you like to join us?" Deron asked Macy, still painfully over eager. Quite contrary to the other day, when he called Steve a... what was it?
"What a crazy, stupid, jumped-up kid! He should've had the brains to take his meds so that we wouldn't be wasting our time!"
Ohohoho. That's how you got a death threat from Macy.

[Macy Deltine]

Macy smiled and nodded. She wind has died down a little, and people were beginning to come into the streets. "We should get started, I guess.." She said, lifting up her bags that she had set of the ground to rest, as she talked to them. The other people in the group were looking slightly bored or annoyed, at them just standing there. "So, um, the estates direction?" She asked, starting to walk. "And I'm sorry for intruding.." She said, feeling slightly bad. But all she wanted was to find Steve.
The group began to move across the square, and Macy looked nervously ino the windows of the shops. She knew that he wouldn't be in any of them, but she was looking in them, anyway.
They walked past the Cardsdale Hotel, bringing back memories of that night. She moved her eyes away from it, over to the Knight Pub. There was a small alley way down the side of it, and looked empty, except for some bins. Her eyes moved on, down the roads that led up to the school, and the other one that led out the fields, where Macy and Jude went riding.
"Um, where should we start?" She asked, nervously. She wasn't too sure about what they were meant to do, and she didn't want to look like a fool doing something strange.

[Jude Dorrian]

Jude glanced around at them all. "We should split up. We can cover more ground." He paused. "Macy, you can come with me if y'all like... I know this area quite well now."
Deron shot him a sort of half-annoyed, half-suspicious glance, as though Jude was up to no good.
"You can come with me too, if you like," Deron said to her. "I live around here. I know some places he's pretty likely to be hiding out."
This display was making Jude feel sort of sick.

[Macy Deltine]

Macy looked at her feet, not really wanting to go with Deron too much, as she had only met him. "Um, the three of us can go together, and the rest can go as a group, I guess." She said, looking up and tilting her head slightly. Her eyes kept drifting to the alley-way by the Knight Pub, but she kept pushing it out of her mind. "Look in more realistic places, Macy." She felt herself say, and she looked around the square. Surely they had already checked in the alley-way. Also, her mind started to replay in her head what Deron said "...we may need to send some Spies out to check the enemy camps.".
No, he couldn't have been taken. He couldn't. He was stronger than Macy, they wouldn't be able to hold him. She turned back around, so she was facing the direction of the Estates. She began to walk at a slow pace, but didn't feel like she should leave the Square.
"It's his birthday next month, you know." she said quietly, to whoever was listening. "I don't know what to get him.." She realised that she was just saying random things out loud and should be quiet. She smiled at the two of them, but felt that the smile was forced. She really wanted to do was lye on the ground, still. But she couldn't. She had to find him. Meanwhile, her mind kept wonering back the alley-way...

[Jude Dorrian]

A half an hour of searching later, and all conversation between the three... two friends and their acquaintance had been cut down to a minimum. The only time words were really exchanged was to give a dull cry of, "Nothing here," or "Should we try round there next?" All the novelty of the search had died on the first day, and by this stage, Jude was thoroughly sick of this. Any hope or optimism he'd started off with had dried up now; and in its place, was an annoying, cynical little voice with Deron's face.
Deron did try to talk to Macy; sort of a lot, but she was so distracted, Deron soon gave up. His enthusiasm too had dried up; and soon, the novelty of Macy had worn off, and soon he was eyeing her bitterly and apparently wondering why on earth such a prestigious person would be wasting their time looking for someone like Steve.
"Doesn't she think he's a pathetic waste of space?" Deron hissed finally to Jude, as Macy was further down one of the alleys. "Why would she look for him? People like her shouldn't care about him!"
"Y'all don't know him," Jude retorted fiercely. "So you should just shut up."
Deron's eyes narrowed, but he made no response.
"Any luck, Macy?" Jude called dully.

[Macy Deltine]

Macy walked back to the boys, her eyes washed over with a strange mix of fear and frozen tears. She couldn't cry properly, as her body would freeze her tears before they left her eyes, but when she was really sad, she could unfreeze them, and cry normally. But she was in public, and her hard exterior would protect her, for now.
"Any luck, Macy?" She heard an American voice ask her, which seemed like it was a distance away from her, but they were actually nearby.
She shook her head, her eyes fixed on the ground. She was feeling so tired, and just wanted to just lye down on the ground and sleep. Maybe Steve was actually still back at the school? Maybe they were all just playing a joke on her? She started to feel angry at them, for doing this to her.
She looked at Deron, and then at Jude, and began to feel like she could punch them, for doing this to her. Tricking her. Making a fool of her. Then she realised what was happening to her, her hair. The tips were turning black. She surpressed the anger in her, trying to make her hair go back to normal.
"Is this real?" She asked quietly, wanting to make sure that they weren't tricking her. She just wanted to go back to the school and lye down on her bed. She shook her head, trying to act like she hadn't asked the question. She turned around and started to walk quickly back to the centre of the town, not looking back to see if the others were following her.

[Jude Dorrian]

Oh, perfect, where's she going now?
Jude, looking almost comically panicked, sped off after her, talking in a low, comforting voice. Deron felt himself snort. Like that would work. The girl seemed just about as unhinged as her...
What was he to her anyway?
Even now, after the SCR and everything else, Deron had very little knowledge of the inner-workings of Orchid Hill. Sure, he had Kira, but her descriptions were always so... vague. Even now, he didn't think she really understood just how much more he wanted to know. He hungered after knowledge of Orchid Hill- after the school were so many blessed people went...
Half of them didn't even know how bloody lucky they were.
Groaning at this fact, Deron turned his back on the retreating pair, following the familiar route around the alleys. He'd walked these streets so many times as a kid, it felt weird to be doing it on a search for some crazy kid.
Some crazy kid with the multi-coloured hair.
Steve...
Deron remembered him well. Kira might not talk about it much, but Deron always thought about his time with the students, at the camping trip. He always thought about the power show, and jealously wondered what it would have been like if he had been taking part in it too... The boy Steve always stood out clearly in his mind; not just because of his amazing, kaleidescope hair... but because he could blow up things.
Explosions. That's a power Deron would love. But in the hands of this kid... it seemed a waste! And dangerous too- obviously, this kid was prone to crazy kinds of fits. Who knows what this kid could do when he really lost control?
The thought chilled him, and for that, he was surprised. Usually, things didn't have that effect on him.
Of course, Deron snorted, he couldn't talk. As the Texas oaf had pointed out, Deron didn't know Steve. Bull. Deron knew him perfectly well.
Steve was volatile. Steve was a threat. Steve needed to be kept under control, because he was dangerous.
Huh! Orchid Hill's secret weapon? What a shame it was now on the loose...
Deron felt the pills in his pocket, and grimaced as he retreated further and further back into the dark alleys...

[Macy Deltine]

Macy sat down on the edge of the Pigeon Fountian, feeling very tired. She dipped to finger in the running water, soon freezing the entire fountain. She sighed, and turned around, looking over the Square. It was empty and silent, except from some laughter coming from the cafe, and the horn of the train in the distance. She tried to find Deron, but he wasn't to be seen. Maybe back home? Macy had no idea what was going on in his head, but at this point, she didn't care. She was tired, and was still carrying her bags from the train. She wanted to be back in her dorm with Will, Kira and Madeleine. She wanted Steve to be in his usual spot in the corner of the Common Room, exploding things.
Macy tilted her head back, looking up at the dull, cloudy sky, and felt the splash of the water from the fountain melting, and starting to flow as normal.
"Oh, I want to go back home." She said, standing up and feeling as if she was going to turn around and head up to the school. Maybe Steve would be in his normal spot in the Common Room.