~CELINE~

I woke up to silence.

Not the peaceful kind of silence that came with a sleeping house, but the wrong kind. The kind that made my mother's instincts scream in alarm.

Ceasar's bed was empty.

I bolted upright, my heart hammering against my ribs as I stumbled toward his small bedroom in our staff quarters. The dinosaur sheets were cold, undisturbed. His favorite stuffed elephant sat abandoned on the pillow.

"Ceasar?" I called out, my voice cracking. "Baby, where are ...