They hit the sitting room door at the same time.
Empty.
Aelara stood in the doorframe and looked at the window seat where Lyra had been, the two chairs where Caelum had stood, the small table with the breakfast things Rhea had brought up an hour ago. Everything exactly where it had been. Nothing overturned, nothing broken, no sign of anything except two children who were no longer in the room they had been told to stay in.
She hit the bond hard.
Lyra came back immediately present, clear, not distressed. Somewhere close. Moving.
"They're in the building," she said.
Vaelor was already in the corridor calling for the guard rotation in a voice that was completely level and somehow more alarming for it. Two guards appeared from the south junction. He gave them a room designation and a description and they moved without asking questions, which was what years of working for someone like him produced.
Aelara followed the bond thread.
