The Vanishing Runners

Twenty kilometers into the marathon, the runners were spread out along Tromsø's coastal route. Polly flew above the winding course, staying close to Astrid while watching Mikkel, who ran fifty meters ahead. The midnight sun made everything look golden.

"How's your breathing?" Polly called down to Astrid.

"Better than I expected," she replied. "But this endless daylight is confusing. I don't know if we've been running for minutes or hours."

Suddenly, Polly saw something strange. A woman in a purple running shirt left the marked course and disappeared behind some birch trees. The movement looked too deliberate, too secretive.

"Did you see that?" Polly asked.

"See what?"

"Purple shirt, ahead of us. She just left the course."

Then another runner did the same thing. A man in yellow turned into the trees. Then another runner. And another.

"That's five runners in one minute," Polly said, worried. "All going the same way."

Mikkel had noticed too. He slowed down so Astrid could catch up. "Something's wrong," he said. "I know this route. There's nothing back there except forest and an old Wehrmacht bunker from the war."

"A bunker?" Astrid asked, surprised.

"It's abandoned. Sometimes local kids explore it, but..." He stopped talking as two more runners turned into the trees.

Polly's instincts told her this wasn't normal. "I'm going to look," she announced, flying toward the trees.

In the forest, the light was different. Darker. She followed the footprints in the moss until she found the concrete bunker, half-covered by plants.

What she saw made her feathers stand up with fear.

Twelve runners stood in a semicircle, staring at the bunker's entrance. Their faces were blank. They swayed slightly, like they were listening to music only they could hear. The woman in purple was among them.

"Hello?" Polly called. "Are you okay?"

None of them answered. None of them even looked at her.

Polly flew back quickly and found Astrid and Mikkel with a race official.

"Seven runners are missing," the official was saying.

"They're not missing," Polly said, landing on Astrid's shoulder. "They're at the old bunker. But something's very wrong. They're just standing there like they're in a trance."

The official's face went pale. He grabbed his radio and started speaking rapidly in Norwegian.

Another runner suddenly left the course, heading for the trees. Mikkel ran after him.

"Mikkel, no!" Astrid shouted, but he was already gone.

Astrid looked torn between staying and following.

"Go," Polly said. "I'll make sure help comes."

Astrid nodded and ran into the forest. Polly watched her disappear into the strange twilight. The midnight sun suddenly felt less wonderful and more frightening, like an eye watching something that couldn't be explained.