“Well, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it,” Alex gaped at the pristine room of the apartment.

  “Zayd! Are you here?” called Emily. “I am here with Alex to do a welfare check. Your team said you haven’t shown up since your review.” Emily looked at Alex and stepped into the apartment.

  “Zayd? It's me Alex. Are you ok?” Alex asked, following Emily’s lead. No one answered. Emily and Alex slowly made their way deeper into the apartment as they checked the bedrooms, bathrooms, balcony. Until meeting each other back in the living room.

  “This is so weird. It's like he was never here,” Emily frowned

  “Are you sure we are in the right room?” Alex asked.

  “Yes, I double checked before I grabbed the key,”she said, her brow still furrowed.

  “Then where is he?” Alex pondered as he looked at the untouched apartment.

  “This is very concerning. I am going to have to dig into this. I have nothing that says he should not be here in this apartment,” Emily uttered.

  “There has to be something here. Let’s snoop around,” Alex suggested.

  “Normally I would never, but in this case it may be a good idea,” she nodded. They split up and started looking through everything. Opening all the cabinets and drawers. Checking the vents. Flipping the mattress and couches. Everything they could think of. Meeting back in the living room after their searches.

  “I found nothing. Not one thing out of place or unusual,” Alex said. “You?”

  “Same, except for this,” she said holding up a scrap of paper, “it’s your name.”

  “My name?” Alex questioned, taking the scrap from her and examining it. “Why would he have my name on something?”

  “I’m not sure what any of this means. It is very concerning though.” Emily said, frowning.

  “Come on, let's get out of here. I’m not sure what else we can do here,” Alex suggested.

  “Sure, I’ll drop you back off at the lab and go look into this,” Emily said, her brow still furrowed. They rode back to the lab building in silence. Alex hopped off the cart and gave Emily a small wave before darting into the building. He swiped his badge and entered the lab room.

  “Is he alright?” asked the concerned voice of Evalyn. The others looked to Alex for an answer.

  “I honestly don't know. The apartment looks like no one has been staying there,” Alex confessed.

  “What?! How can that be?” exclaimed Siddiq.

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  “Not sure. Emily said that per the records he should be there. There is nothing saying he is anywhere else or that he has left the campus. We looked through everything and there was nothing to suggest he was ever there,” Alex answered, keeping the scrap with his name on it to himself.

  “Okay, this is really strange then,” Reshma murmured as he crossed his left arm across his chest and stroked his chin with his right hand.

  “This is frightening. How can someone just vanish from the campus!?” Evalyn wailed. Reshma approached, her putting an arm around her shoulder to try and soothe her.

  “I’m sure Emily will figure it out and let us know what she finds. I mean, if he is the one that sabotaged the machine it would make sense that he would disappear, doesn't it? We ended up fixing the machine and getting a good review. Also, now we know it was possibly him that did it. If it were me, I wouldn't want to show my face again, especially knowing the possible repercussions,” Alex admitted.

  “Yeah, I guess that is true,” Siddiq admitted, his shoulders slumped.

  “Let’s run some experiments and maybe call it early for the day,” Reshma suggested. The others nodded and began to gather the materials to start some experiments. The atmosphere was glum and after a few hours Reshma suggested they call it for the day.

  Alex closed the door to his apartment, leaning against it for a minute. I am so tired, he thought, yawning. Looking at the time, he yawned again. I could get a couple hours of sleep before I go to the clearing tonight. Nodding to himself, he walked to his bedroom and flopped across his bed. Alex heard himself snore before falling into a deep sleep.

  THUMP!

  “Ow!” he cried out as he looked up at the ceiling from the floor of his room, rubbing his head. Alex rolled over and crawled back up to his bed, sitting on the edge. “Oh man, I slept so long,” he moaned, looking at the clock. “It’s too late to go out there now.” Alex stretched and got up going to his kitchen to make a snack.

  “Never go wrong with a PB&J,” he smiled sitting at his table. As he ate he thumbed through his notebook going over his experiment results. “I’m getting stronger, but I don't know that this is going to be enough.” Sighing Alex finished his sandwich and cleaned up. Sitting in his living room, he looked at the container of materials. Flexing his hands, he concentrated his thoughts. Come to me. To his surprise his hands began to glow and the material from the bag began to float making its way towards him. Alex gasped as it settled before him on the table.

  “Whoa,” he said as he gaped at his table now covered in dirt. “Have I always been able to do that? I just have never tried, I guess. This is so cool.” Alex flexed his fingers, “Alright. Go back to the container.” His hands began to glow again as the material began to float and move back to the container in the corner. Alex chortled, slapping his hands on the arms of his chair in excitement.

  Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Okay let's do that again, he thought to himself. Relaxing his mind he opened his senses to the room. Keeping his eyes closed he called, “Come to me.” After a moment he opened his eyes and gasped. “What in the..” his thought trailed as he reached into the pile of dirt and picked up a pewter dragon figure.

  “How did you get in here?” he asked, turning it over in his fingers. Alex placed it back on the pile and sat back. Taking a deep breath, he kept his eyes open as he willed the material to return to where it was, except for the dragon. “Well why didn't you go back to your shelf?” he asked, perplexed. To his amazement the dragon took flight and returned to the shelf it was supposed to be on.

  As the glow of his hands died down, Alex sat stunned, staring at the little figurine. He sat staring for what felt like hours as his brain tried to compute the new possibilities of his powers. I thought I could only change the density, but I can also move it. Not just dirt but other materials too? What are these abilities? I have to be stronger. I think I can save the world. Nodding to himself and flooded with adrenaline Alex grabbed his backpack and headed into the woods.