By the time they walked back into the hall, Lucas already knew something was off, and not in the usual way. It wasn't the room this time. It was him. That quiet instinct that had been sharpening over the last few days wasn't warning him about what was coming. It was just… waiting. That bothered him more than anything else they'd dealt with so far, because at least before, there had been a direction to the pressure. Now it felt like standing in a place where the ground hadn't decided what it wanted to be yet.
Tomas noticed it too, even if he couldn't explain it. He didn't joke when they walked in. He didn't complain either. He just looked around, slower than usual, like he was trying to find something familiar and coming up short. "Feels empty," he said quietly, like saying it louder might make it worse.
Lucas nodded once. "Yeah."
"Not like no one's here," Tomas added. "Just… like something's missing."
