Treasure Hunt

                                    

                                          
Somehow, our plan is really simple yet really genius. During lunch, Eli will tell Emi that Simon needs to meet her in their room, but quickly, before the next challenge starts. He will bring her back to his room to 'wait for Simon' while I search her room. In order to keep Simon, Maya, and Eric away from the dorm area, Cassie will be in the dining hall, baiting them with questions. I will have 15 minutes to search and then I get the hell out of there, because Eli and Cassie will end their distractions. The plan is risky, but I feel confident in it.
It doesn't take long for me to get into the room. They didn't even leave it locked. I quietly press open the door. I go straight for Maya's bed, pulling it out from the wall. There's nothing behind it, so I check Emi's bed. Still nothing.
I search the dressers and bathroom and bags and every single cupboard, waiting to find something -anything- that would indicate the phone is here.
I check my watch and see that I have six minutes until Eli and Cassie halt their distractions. I need to move quicker. I look around the rest of the room, and then get an idea, inspired by the one and only Fang himself. I go into their bathroom and pull the cover off the top of the toilet, revealing a small, waterproof pouch wrapped in plastic and sealed into a container. Jackpot.
I pull it out quickly and don't even think twice about getting back to my room. I put the cover back on the toilet, make sure the room looks untouched, and sprint back to my dorm, locking it the second I get inside. I scrub my hands as clean as possible.
Fang taught me that the water in the top part of the toilet is clean, so clean, you could drink it, but still grosses people out because it is still part of a toilet. Makes it the perfect place for hiding things.
Cassie and Eli returning to the room causes me to nearly jump out of my skin.
"So? Don't keep us waiting, did you find anything?" Eli asks.
"I found this cute package, nice and waterproofed, hidden in the toilet." I keep working away at unwrapping it over the sink. Soon enough, I've reached the bottom, and I'm holding my cell phone.
"No way. Absolutely no fucking way." Cassie says.
"So it's confirmed. They were in your room and stole the phone." Eli says. "Isn't that enough to go to Cheryl with and get them in trouble?"
"What are we going to tell Cheryl, that they stole a phone I illegally have? If they go down we go down too."
"More importantly, I'm going to see if anybody contacted me." I put the password in and it shows the same lock screen as before. A dark red background with a black rose in the middle. I open Signal and see one message from Carly.
"Call me when you can." I say out loud.
"That's it?" Cassie says. "Just, call me?"
"Yup. There's nothing else on here."
"I guess you should just call her then." Cassie adds.
"Aren't they in school right now?" Eli asks.
"Yeah, like Carly cares about school." I respond, already done dialing her number. I hold the phone close to my ear. It rings for a few moments before someone picks up.
"Hello? Carly?" I say into the phone.
"Tori? Oh my god what took you so long to call?"
"Some other people here stole the phone and I just got it back. Have you figured out anything else?"
"Yeah, actually. So we did some digging into Fang's room and found a burner phone that only had one call on it to a pre-dialed number. When we called it, this guy picked up and basically asked if we were calling for Alexis so we just went along with it and then-"
"Wait." I cut her off. "Did you just say it connected to someone who asked if you were calling for someone named Alexis?"
"Yes."
"What else do you know about this Alexis person?"
"Well if you'd let me finish, they said she was on leave for another five weeks." Five weeks. That's how much time there is left in the Test.
"Did they say where she went? Or why she's gone?"
"Nope. But if you would just let me finish, they said that they can still make offerings while she's on leave. They offered a one week stay in exchange for a new member. We accepted the offer and agreed to meet at the meetup point in one week, because that gives us enough time to find a 'new member' or whatever that is."
"One week stay? New member? What the hell are they talking about?"
"I have absolutely no idea. But that's all we've found out lately."
"Were you able to google the number?"
"Nope. It was a burner phone. We were never able to see what the phone number was." I take a breath. "Do you have any information that connects that to the Test?"
"There was the girl named Alexis but she got voted off the Test at the beginning, until I swear I saw her in this room. Which is why I don't know that I believe that she actually got sent home. And if the people on the phone said Alexis is gone for five weeks, which is exactly how much time is left in the Test, there's no doubt a connection."
"I gotta go in a sec but we'll keep snooping here." Carly says. "And for the love of god, don't let someone take that phone again. Actually keep it secure and text me if you get any updates."
"Carly, be careful." I emphasize.
"Same to you." She hangs up the phone.