After her incident, or rather, research mission, in the study, Nora made herself choke down a salad for lunch. Then she grabbed a notebook, her boots, and her jacket, and got the first bus over to Dreame Entertainment's headquarters. The bus ride was almost 40 minutes, giving her plenty of time to think things over.

She didn't want to cause havoc. Didn't want to make a scene. Didn't plan to go in and collect data or ask around. Rather, she wanted to visit the place that was her father's blood, sweat, and dreams.

She needed to be sure if it came down to it, this was a place she could let go of if she had to.

The bus stop was three blocks from the office building. Not far from the palace itself, Dreame Entertainment had an excellent location for its headquarters. She knew that meant the rent wasn't cheap – she'd heard her father mention that once or twice – but that the price was worth it.

Dreame's headquarters was only a few streets over from Cavenaugh Productions, Daxton Cavenaugh's office building. Because they were near the heart of the city, the foot traffic outside was steady, no matter the season.

Nora pushed her way through the Aces moseying along the sidewalk in their burly winter coats and stopped. The main entrance doors had a small cement courtyard that boasted iron table seating and a large fountain in the middle. Despite the cold weather, employees chatted with each other, mingling around the drained fountain as they returned from their lunch break. Their words were clouds on the winter breeze.

Nora's reflection in the tall glass entrance windows stared back at her as she pushed through the revolving door.

The main lobby was a minimalist reception area with dark tiled flooring and a gray circle reception desk in the middle. In all the years Dreame Entertainment had been in this building, the lobby hadn't changed.

Neither had the receptionist. Nora stepped up to the counter.

Mrs. Bensen's face broke out into a smile. "Nora, I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?"

It was hard not to match the grin on the middle-aged woman's face. Nora let her own happiness at seeing Mrs. Bensen peek out. "I'm okay."

"You've grown so much," Mrs. Bensen turned to the younger blonde girl next to her. "Vienna, this is Nora Davis. Nora, this is Vienna."

Vienna couldn't have been much past her early twenties. She wore her hair in a perfectly coiffed bun, her red blazer beautifully pressed. "It's lovely to meet you, Nora."

If Vienna recognized Nora's last name, she didn't show it.

"Vienna is training with me these next few weeks," Mrs. Bensen explained.

Nora's smile dropped. "Is that...are you leaving Dreame?"

Mrs. Bensen reached forward and squeezed the hand Nora rested on the top of the desk. "I'm afraid so. My daughter just had twins, and I'd like to spend some extended time with the grandkids."

"Oh." Nora swallowed hard. "Congratulations to your daughter, Mrs. Bensen."

"Thank you, dear."

"I'd be lying if I said I won't miss you greatly. You've always been great for Dreame, and amazing to our family."

It had been Mrs. Bensen that had stopped by in the days after her father's death. Mrs. Bensen had brought over casseroles and stepped up to help out with planning the funeral. She was also the only person to pull a teenager aside during her father's funeral proceedings and check on how she was doing.

Mrs. Bensen's smile softened. "The Davis' have always been great to me and mine. I...I miss your father more every day," she gestured around Nora's frame, "especially when I see how lovely you've grown up. Your father would be proud of you."

Her saliva thickened and it took her a moment before she croaked out, "yeah."

"Are you here to see Ms. Matthews?" Mrs. Bensen asked.

Nora scratched underneath the arm of her black glasses. "Actually, I wanted to just...be here for a little. Is that alright?"

Mrs. Bensen gave Nora a soft, understanding smile. "You are more than welcome to. I can't give you access to the offices, but you're welcome to the open spaces – the cafeteria, the lobby, and the artist gallery."

Nora nodded. "That would be great."

Mrs. Bensen brought out a clipboard. "I'll need you to sign in."

Nora scribbled down her name, the date, and time. She left the sign out time blank, then handed it back to Mrs. Bensen. "Thank you."

"Of course. We'll see you when you're done, honey."

She swallowed, nodded at Vienna, and tried to form what she hoped was a smile on her face. Then she headed off to the artist gallery.

When her dad first rented the large office building downtown for Dreame Entertainment, he'd been so excited to show Nora and her mother the space. At that time, the building was nothing more than a shell. There were no plants, no artistic pieces evenly spaced along the walls, no television screens in the hallways flashing artists signed under Dreame. There hadn't even been a reception desk. Her father had his wife's fingers threaded through his own and Nora's little palm in his other hand as he'd led them through the empty building. He'd talked so fast that day, his steps light as he explained what would go where and what the final vision would look like. He'd even let Nora run around in one of the empty carpeted office suites upstairs.

Nora remembered the elevator taking them up, up, up and she'd thought it'd never stop. That it would take them years to get up fifteen floors. And when he'd showed her the floor-to-ceiling glass windows in his empty office, she'd pressed her sticky peanut butter and jelly hands to the window, her breath pooling in the glass as she stared down a million miles to the ground. The people looked like ants below them.

She'd been in love. Her mother had never taken her eyes from her father. Nora giggled right along with her mother when her father scooped her mother up and twirled her around. "This is what we've been working for," he'd said.

"What you've been working for," her mother had corrected. "I'm proud of you, baby."

"Dreame's going to reach the stars," her dad grinned.

Nora's boots were quiet against the carpeted floor as she made her way down a side hallway. The memory made her heart constrict in her chest.

The hallway branched off from the main lobby and opened up into a separate, gallery room that was one of Dreame's biggest marketing pieces. The building covered one full block, and another side entrance was accessible off 7th street. This side entrance opened right into the artist gallery. It was open to the public, welcoming anyone who wanted to come in.

Although the room wasn't much smaller than the main lobby, it was packed to the brim with everything Dreame. Couples wandered between the tall display pieces and a few kids giggled as they followed behind a mother ushering them along.

Nora stopped at the first plaque on a dark granite stand right by the doors. A bronze version of her father grinned back at her. Next to him was a snippet of the tale of Dreame – how the idea came about, where the company started (in her parent's tiny basement before they'd moved), and ended with Dreame's company motto. Dreame brings the stars to you.

Nora traced a finger over the words, feeling the cold brass under her fingertip. She took a deep breath and moved through the gallery. Katherine Slater – one of Dreame's top-charting artists – played softly over the speakers, barely heard between the laughter and conversations of the people visiting.

"Look, there's Drew Leonard!"

"Mom, I can't find Yolanda Hargrove."

Each artist was a part of the story of Dreame. And while other production companies put their focus and effort into marketing, creating music, and building platforms for their artists, Dreame's approach was different. Once an artist signed and debuted their first album under Dreame, they became a part of the Dreame family. Each artist eventually got their own plaque. They got to be a part of Dreame's story.

Nora's feet stopped in front of Katherine Slater's plaque. Unlike the brass one in front, hers and the other artists were silver pieces – pieces to be brought down so that awards and celebrations could be added as their piece of the story grew. Around the large plaque was snippets of magazines and news articles sandwiched between thin glass to preserve them.

She'd spent so many hours here in the gallery, watching as new plaques and artists appeared. Grinning as her father proudly showed her a new artists' work or the Musetunes chart at the back of the hall highlighting Dreame's highest trending artists.

Before, this was a place of joy – the glory of her father's endless days and numerous hours at the office.

Now, these pieces of metal seemed to have found their way in her lungs.

Looking up at Katherine's dark skin and beautiful bright smile in one of the articles, Nora sucked in a shaky breath. These pieces were symbolic. More than something cool to look at. These were artists living their lives, successful in their careers, and enjoying the possibilities that came with respect and adoring fans. They were her father's hard work.

Could she let this go?

"My number jumped up last night," a girl said.

"Really?"

"Yeah—" A shoulder collided with Nora's. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Nora mumbled, trying not to look up. Her vision was watery.

She hadn't intended to cry in public today.

"You okay?"

She waved off the young girl. "You're fine. No worries." She waited until the girl and her friend left, then made her way back to the front, to her father's face.

I need to do what's best for me, she told her dad quietly. That may mean giving up Dreame.

Her dad's bronze grin never wavered. The longer she stared, the more she thought she saw a sort of sadness in her father's fake eyes. As if it were slowly molding into the vision of her father before he died.

It was while she was staring at the entrance piece to the artist's gallery in her father's company headquarters that she realized.

Her father was gone. He was never going to come back. And all she could do now was move forward.

I've spent the last few years thinking I was never enough for you. She thought. I'm starting to realize that I should've been more focused on being enough for myself.

She stepped back. I love you, Dad.

❆❆❆

After school that day, Eli rang Nora's doorbell. He hadn't been there since the two of them completed their chemistry project. Despite that, he could still find his way to the house easily. He was familiar with the neighborhood - it was only a few blocks over from Ariel's house.

The tall dark wooden door stayed closed. He adjusted the maroon beanie on his head and rang the doorbell again. Even through the heavy door, the echo of the bell reached his ears.

Nothing.

His lips thinned. He peered into the octagonal window inset on the door, but the glass was a combination of smaller, angled pieces that distorted any image on the other side. He rang the bell again.

Markos had left the car idling in the drive and now stepped out behind his shoulder. "No one's home," he said in a low tone.

He hadn't quite expected Mallory, Felicity's mother, to be home. If she worked at Dreame, especially in a higher position, then she wouldn't be home until at least 5 pm. Felicity was social enough that he'd expected her to be out with friends or maybe working on her music in a studio somewhere.

But Nora...well, he'd expected her to be home.

He and Markos waited another 15 minutes before Eli decided he'd have to come back around another time to check on Nora. He could reach out to Felicity and ask where Nora was, but every time he thought about reaching out to Felicity, Nora's warning came back to him.

Be careful around Felicity.

Eli sighed and buried his hands deeper into his thick navy winter coat. "Unless you're into a little bit of breaking and entering, Markos, we're going to have to come back later."

Markos was silent behind him.

"Yeah," Eli said mostly to himself. "B&E sounds like a lot of work." Still, something close to worry threaded itself through his breastbone. If he thought Nora was in danger, he'd have absolutely had Markos help him get inside. But right now he didn't have enough details to warrant any illegal activity. She could very well just have a bad cold or flu and be dead asleep in her room right now.

Markos drove him back to the palace. Once they went through the rear gate, and in through the staff entrance, Eli parted ways with his bodyguard and headed over to the south wing and up the stairs towards Jackson's office.

Avery, Jackson's assistant and fiancé, glanced up at him once the main door opened. "Eli, how was school?"

He shrugged, "Same as ever." He gestured with his chin at Jackson's empty desk. "Is Jackson around today?"

Avery shook her head, "he's out training with one of his teams. Would you like me to have him find you when he gets back?"

Eli curled his lips around his teeth. "No, that's okay." He wasn't quite sure what he was doing here in Jackson's office in the first place. A part of him thought he could ask Jackson what their options were for finding a missing girl.

Except, what if she wasn't even missing?

"It's stupid," he muttered. "Thanks, Avery."

Avery pushed up her black glasses – glasses that looked painfully similar to the large frames Nora wore. "Eli, I know we don't talk too much, but...well, my door is always open if you need."

Eli had to smile. Avery was so soft. So approachable. She was the softness to his brother's strict, unrelenting nature. "I know. Thank you, Avery."

After leaving his brother's office, Eli wandered the wide, overly decorated hallways of the palace for a while. He hated the feeling churning in his gut, this weird mixture of worry and adrenaline. Without anywhere to expend his energy, it only made him nauseous.

He'd found a bouncy ball in the inner pocket of his coat earlier on the ride back to the palace. His thumb traced over the rainbow colors. When he and Nora had gone to Grammon's a few weeks back, he'd bought it in one of the little toy and candy dispensers by the door. Nora told him to keep it – that he probably had a beanie in each of the same colors. He'd told her he'd take it home and find out.

He sighed and sat against the wall in the great hallway, the palace gardens staring at him from out in the cold. He bounced the ball against the other wall.

He'd hated waiting. Always had. As a kid, he'd cried when the cooks made him wait for his after-school snacks, or when he'd played baseball with some of the staff and they told him he needed to wait for his turn to bat. This waiting was arguably worse – he felt oddly...lost. And while his gut told him something was wrong, was he really sure? Or was he just making things out of nothing? He'd done that plenty of times before.

"...know that, but I'm sure Daxton wouldn't mind waiting a while to get married. He just wants you to be comfortable."

He'd have to be deaf not to recognize his sister Lizzie's voice further down the hall. He bounced the ball again.

And again.

And again.

Someone else snorted. "Daxton would put a stamp on my forehead if he could get away with it. One of the producers the other day started flirting..." A snicker, "You should've seen his face."

Kamree Philips.

"If I could've been there—" Lizzie broke off, looking down at him "Eli?"

"Hey," Eli bounced the ball again.

Lizzie crouched in front of him. "Why so grumpy?"

"Not grumpy."

Lizzie eyed him, then brought her hand up and spaced her finger and thumb an inch apart. "Just a little, right, Ree?"

"You do have your mopey face on," Kamree said. When he looked up at her, she shrugged.

Eli's gaze hopped between the two of them. "You both spend way too much time together."

"You're not the first to say so." Lizzie patted his knee. "Come on, let's grab a hot chocolate."

"I don't need it."

"Too bad." Lizzie grabbed his hand and yanked him up. "Let's go."

The kitchen staff had mugs of still steaming hot chocolate in the parlor waiting for them. On the small coffee table, two extra white mugs rested next to a large carafe. A tray sat next to it, small bowls of sprinkles, marshmallows, chocolate shavings, and graham crackers on it.

Eli grabbed an extra mug and filled it almost to the brim while Kamree and Lizzie scooped toppings on theirs. Lizzie sat back in her chair and blew over the top of her cup. "Now that I have sugar I'm all set." Her gaze stopped on Eli, intent. "Spill it, little bro."

Eli frowned at Lizzie, a nonchalant Kamree, and then down at his hot chocolate. "You always butter me up with nice things before the interrogations."

Kamree laughed.

"I should've learned by now," he muttered mostly to himself.

"You have..." Lizzie peered down at her cup and took a sip, "maybe three more sips to spill it before I get snippy."

Eli turned to Kamree. "You're friends with this monster?"

Kamree raised a brow. "I always crack before she gets to this point. I admire your strength, young one."

Eli sighed and sat back in his chair. His mug slightly burned his fingertips and he adjusted it so he could hold it without burning himself. It took him a lot longer to form the words than he wanted. "I'm just worried is all."

"Worried?" Lizzie set her cup down on the edge of the table and leaned forward. "About school?"

Eli slowly shook his head. "No."

A different light entered Lizzie's eyes. "Is this about Nora?"

Eli stayed quiet.

Kamree frowned at Lizzie, "Nora?"

Lizzie shifted to sit cross-legged in her chair, the red in her hair bright in the light. "She's this super cute, quiet girl in Eli's Chemistry class." Lizzie leaned towards Kamree and loudly whispered, "The only girl he's ever brought home."

"Nora," Kamree frowned. "Isn't that the girl we were supposed to have lunch with?"

Eli slowly slid lower into his chair. Maybe if he slithered to the floor, he could crawl to the door and slip right out.

"What?" Lizzie's eyebrows went up. She looked wide-eyed at Eli and repeated, "what?"

Kamree nodded. "Eli mentioned Nora was a big fan of Daxton's. It was cute."

Lizzie had never been more attentive to a conversation than right here in this moment. ""Supposed to"?" she asked, her voice loud. "What happened?"

Kamree looked to Eli, but there was no way he was sharing. He pulled at the collar of his white school shirt. Why was it so hot in this parlor?

And why the hell had he followed Lizzie? He could be bouncing a ball against a wall right now and moping. That sounded like a lot more fun.

When he didn't answer, Kamree frowned. "She didn't show up. Felicity did."

"Felicity?" Lizzie echoed. "who's that?"

"Felicity Matthews," Kamree supplied. "Her stepsister, right?"

Wordless, and somehow hoping a giant bird would crash through the window and scoop him off, he nodded.

"You invited Nora to lunch with Kamree and Daxton without me?" Lizzie shook her head and picked up a small marshmallow from the tray. "I'm going to need more sugar. Why didn't Nora come?"

Eli worked his jaw and stared into his mug. "She didn't want to."

Lizzie frowned. "Did you tell her Daxton would be there?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise."

When he glanced back up, he was surprised to find Kamree looking at him oddly. He frowned. Did he have hot chocolate on his upper lip? He wiped a hand across his lips. "What?"

Kamree opened her mouth, hesitated, then asked, "Did Felicity tell you Nora didn't want to come?"

Eli's eyebrows pulled together. "Yes."

"Interesting."

Lizzie frowned between the two of them. "I'm missing something."

Kamree blinked and shook her head, her dark hair fanning over her shoulder, "I'm sorry. I'm being stupid. Did something happen after lunch, Eli?"

"Not really, but..." he blinked, trying to come back to the conversation. His mind had locked on Kamree's question about Felicity and wouldn't let go. "she asked for space the other day."

Lizzie winced. "That's not necessarily a bad sign," she said, "she might just be going through things."

Kamree nodded, "I know when I have a lot going on, I just want some space to get organized."

"Maybe. She hasn't been at school for the past two days," he said. "I'm worried."

"Is she sick?"

Eli shrugged, "I don't know. Her best friend hasn't seen her either. She's not answering her phone."

Lizzie frowned. "She's not...missing, is she?"

Eli pressed his lips together. "I don't think so. But it's not like Nora to miss school."

Lizzie scooted forward in her chair. "Okay, well we'll just have to find someone who can confirm she's okay first. That way we know for sure she's just being quiet and not hurt for any reason."

Kamree nodded. "If not her best friend, who else would know where Nora's at?"

His gut soured. "Felicity."

Lizzie gestured at Eli, "Let's call her."

"Now?"

"Why not? School's out."

Kamree smirked into her mug.

Eli took a deep breath and pulled his phone from his pocket. He thought about telling Lizzie that Nora warned him away from Felicity. But what harm was one phone call? He found her contact in his cell and dialed, putting the phone on speaker.

It rang.

And rang.

Halfway through the third ring, she picked up, "Eli?"

He didn't have the time nor the want to play the small talk game, so he jumped straight into it. "Have you seen Nora?"

"Nora?" Even through the phone, he could hear the frown in Felicity's voice. "No, I haven't seen her. I'm at the studio right now."

Eli glanced at Lizzie who shrugged. "Is she sick?"

Felicity's laugh was like diamonds hitting the phone. "No, she's not sick."

If she wasn't sick, then why wasn't she at school? Was she that determined to avoid him? "She wasn't in school today, so I thought..." he trailed off.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you," Felicity mumbled something away from the phone, then came back. "Nora lost her scholarship. She won't be coming back to Jostlin."

The blood in his veins turned to ice. "Lost her scholarship?" There was no way. This was Nora. She breathed school. "But her grades—"

"It wasn't just the grades, Eli," Felicity said, somewhat soft. "I'm sorry, I know you enjoyed having her in your classes." Barely a breath later, "Hey, a few of us are getting together tonight at Ariel's. Will you be there?"

He'd gotten three different invitations earlier today. "No, I have some work to do."

Lizzie raised a brow.

"I'll talk to you later." He hung up and set his mug on the table. Then stood. "Something's wrong," he told Lizzie and Kamree.

"How do you know?" Kamree asked.

His hand fisted at his side. Whatever the hell was going on, he was going to find out. "Because Nora lives for Jostlin Academy. She wouldn't let anything get in the way of her schooling." Not even a lanky senior with wild, heavy locks and a love for hats.

Lizzie tilted her head back to finish off her hot chocolate, then stood. "What do you need us to do?"