The Destiny Detour

Missing

Rosaliy

The next morning, the castle was emptying out the remainder of its Baysellian guests and Sorceress trainees. Rosaliy tried not to seem too eager to get them out the door, but she was relieved for the respite. After one more day of this chaos, Rosiliy should be off to visit her own family. She had not seen her brother in six moons. He would probably be a full length taller now.

Despite her eagerness, she felt torn. Maybe she should stay until Sorceress Issabeth was found. She would be of little use here, though. Talyrin, Dmitri, Athena, and Cedric were sure to come back with solid information concerning Issabeth today. Alexander was about to go mad waiting for news and pretending like he was not going mad from waiting for news.

Seeing the girls off had been tough. After the disastrous trip the older Sorceress trainees had endured, many of the young magical hopefuls had been scared away from returning after harvest break to train at Crystal Palace. Rosaliy wished Athena had been there to smooth things over; Sorceress Athena had such a sense of calm and control. Of course, the invitation was always open and the girls might still change their minds, but this looked to be a meager year for Sorceress hopefuls. Rosaliy was sure once Sorceress Issabeth was found and the mysterious threat was identified, things would go back to normal.

Normal. Now that was a funny word.

At least all the extra activity had allowed her to brush off Matias. No, she absolutely did not have time to hear him blather about himself, she told him in between talks with the families. He wanted to tell her something about Drake, but although she wanted to hear what he had to say, she did not want to hear what he had to say from him. Drake would be gone with his friend soon, anyway, and Alexander was too distracted to care about the non-results of her investigation thusfar.

In the midst of her hurricane of thoughts, she was nearly blown over by Chandra.

"Rose!"

Rosaliy was about to get a job.

"The royal siblings weren't yet up when I checked in on them this morning, and I didn't have the heart to wake them early after everything they've been through. They would make such an adorable send-off party. Would you pop your head in and nudge them in this direction?"

It was not a real question, because Chandra was long gone before Rosaliy might have given an answer. She zipped up to the Naxturaen wing to fetch them.

"Good morning," Rosaliy said cheerily, breezing into their room. "Would you like to come downstairs and see off the Baysellians?"

The sleeping children did not stir, which was odd for them, but the last few days had been particularly trying. They would be up all night if they slept the day away, and Chandra was not to be trifled with, so Rosaliy threw open their curtains. The light of a beautiful late morning streamed in on their room. A pink plant in the corner stretched out its leaves, but the children remained in their beds, eyes closed, breathing rhythmically, hands folded on their chests like a painting in a storybook.

"Wake up, sleepyheads," she tried again, reaching down to tousle Taurin's hair.

Her hand went straight through the boy's head, and he evaporated. Rosaliy staggered backward a step, and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Her thoughts were just the beginnings of thoughts:

How could—?

Who—?

Where—?

What was—?

She squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them. One whole thought at a time.

The children were not in their room. These were reflections, hollow images. Why? Where were the real children?