Roll call moved alphabetically.

I wasn't paying particular attention until the pause.

"Dune, Lyra."

Nothing.

Soren's aide checked the list. Called again. "Dune, Lyra."

The silence that followed had a specific quality to it. Not the ordinary quiet of someone distracted or late. Something heavier. The kind of quiet that the students around the gap could feel without being told why.

I looked sideways down the Solas row to where Val stood.

She had gone the color of the stone wall behind ...