Chapter 5
Following Shadows

The trumpet notes haunted Alyssa all night.

Three notes.

Pause.

Three more notes.

Simple.

Deliberate.

Almost like a signal.

By breakfast the next morning, she had replayed the sound in her head at least a hundred times.

And she still had no idea what it meant.

When she arrived at band camp, Jake was already waiting.

That should have been impossible.

Jake Reynolds was never early.

Ever.

Yet there he stood beside the band room doors.

Pacing.

Looking nervous.

"You heard it too, right?" he asked immediately.

"The trumpet?"

Jake nodded.

"It wasn't my imagination."

"No."

"It was real."

Alyssa glanced around.

"So where did it come from?"

Jake pointed toward the stadium.

"That's what we're finding out."

A few minutes later, Mia and Tyler joined them.

The four gathered near the edge of the parking lot.

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Finally Tyler broke the silence.

"We're really doing this?"

"We're really doing this," Alyssa said.

Jake grinned.

"The Detective Squad rides again."

"No."

"Still workshopping the name."

They began walking.

The stadium stood quiet in the early morning light.

Beyond it stretched an area few students ever visited.

An old maintenance road.

Several storage sheds.

A chain-link fence.

And a cluster of trees bordering the back of campus.

Normally there would have been no reason to go there.

Today was different.

The four followed the narrow road.

Every shadow seemed suspicious.

Every sound seemed important.

The mystery had changed the way they saw everything.

After several minutes they reached the first storage building.

The door was locked.

Jake peeked through a dusty window.

"Mops."

"What?"

"Mops. Lots of mops."

"Excellent detective work."

"Thank you."

The second shed proved equally disappointing.

Lawn equipment.

Paint cans.

Nothing unusual.

The third building contained folding chairs.

Hundreds of them.

Tyler frowned.

"Nothing."

Mia wasn't convinced.

"Keep looking."

They continued deeper into the property.

Soon the sounds of the school faded behind them.

The band room disappeared from view.

Even the stadium was partially hidden by trees.

Alyssa felt a strange sensation.

As though they had stepped into a forgotten corner of campus.

A place most students didn't know existed.

Then Jake stopped.

"Wait."

The others turned.

"What?"

Jake pointed downward.

Near the edge of the maintenance road was a footprint.

Not unusual.

Except for one thing.

The ground had been muddy after a storm earlier that week.

And this footprint was fresh.

Very fresh.

Tyler crouched beside it.

The tread pattern looked familiar.

Too familiar.

His eyes widened.

"I know this shoe."

The others looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

Tyler swallowed.

"Ethan wears these."

Silence.

Nobody spoke.

Tyler pointed.

"That pattern. The little triangle design."

He looked up.

"I've seen it a hundred times."

Alyssa's heart began racing.

For the first time, they weren't following rumors.

They weren't following theories.

They were following evidence.

Real evidence.

Mia pulled out her notebook.

The footprint pointed toward the trees.

Toward an area no student ever entered.

The four exchanged looks.

Then followed it.

The path was barely visible.

More of a trail than a walkway.

Branches brushed against their shoulders.

Leaves crunched beneath their shoes.

The farther they walked, the quieter the world became.

Then Jake froze.

"What is that?"

Ahead, hanging from a low tree branch, was something shiny.

Alyssa approached carefully.

It was a ribbon.

Purple and silver.

The school's colors.

Tied neatly around the branch.

Tyler stared.

"Ethan tied ribbons like that."

"How do you know?"

"He used them to mark drill changes during leadership camp."

Mia wrote something in her notebook.

Another clue.

Another sign.

Another breadcrumb.

The trail continued.

Twenty yards later they found another ribbon.

Then another.

Then another.

Each one leading deeper into the trees.

Almost like arrows.

Almost like someone wanted them to follow.

Jake looked uncomfortable.

"Okay."

Nobody answered.

"This officially feels like a mystery novel."

Alyssa had to admit he was right.

The ribbons couldn't be accidental.

Someone had placed them here.

Deliberately.

The question was whether that someone was Ethan.

Or someone else.

Suddenly Mia stopped walking.

Her eyes narrowed.

"There."

The others followed her gaze.

Ahead stood a weathered wooden sign.

Half hidden by vines.

Its paint had almost completely faded away.

Alyssa stepped closer.

The words were barely readable.

But they were still there.

The four students stared.

The sign read:

WALTON VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL BAND ARCHIVE

Nobody spoke.

Tyler's mouth slowly fell open.

Jake blinked twice.

"What is a Band Archive?"

Alyssa shook her head.

"I've never heard of it."

Mia carefully brushed dirt away from the sign.

The lettering looked old.

Very old.

Decades old.

And judging by the weeds surrounding it, nobody had visited in years.

The four students stood silently.

The mystery suddenly felt much larger than a missing drum major.

Much larger than a backpack.

Much larger than a strange note.

Somewhere ahead was a place connected to the history of their band.

A place Ethan somehow knew about.

A place he may have wanted them to find.

Then a breeze drifted through the trees.

And with it came the sound.

Three trumpet notes.

Closer than ever before.

The students froze.

The notes seemed to come from somewhere beyond the sign.

Somewhere deeper in the woods.

Somewhere hidden.

Jake slowly looked at the others.

"Tell me we're going."

Alyssa looked toward the dark trail ahead.

Toward the unknown.

Toward whatever Ethan had discovered.

Then she nodded.

"We're going."

And together, the four students stepped past the forgotten sign and into the shadows beyond.