When Adori woke up the next day, it was clear entering the State of Unity had taken a lot of energy from her. Her body movements were all lackluster and also her long curvy hair, which she always made sure were tidy and neat, was all disheveled.
Even though she had slept for several hours and by no means was she sleep deprived, there were huge bags under her eyes which made her looked like she had burned the midnight oil—all for the sake of three kids she knew not too long ago.
When she entered their kitchen that morning—yawning and scratching her head—Emis, who was already present in the kitchen, made sure he let Adori knew of the state of her appearence.
"Wow, who's this dashing princess we have here?"
"Thanks," Adori muttered, her tone not as enthusiastic compared to Emis.
Truth be told, Adori had gotten used to this kind of behaviour from Emis. Whenever she was feeling out of sorts, the Yvelin had always been quick to make sure he let Adori knew how much he cherished her with his words laced with sarcasm.
Adori went around their kitchen looking for what she could prepare for breakfast. Though after a while, she concluded she needed to do some grocery shopping—which she definitely was not amped up for that morning.
She went through their leftovers next and sniffed them. The smell hadn't gone bad and the portion also seemed enough to satisfy their stomach. Adori nodded in satisfaction and started heating up their leftovers. However, the Yvelin beside her did not look so thrilled to be digging through the same soup he had the previous night.
"Aren't you going to make anything?" He asked, very much wanting Adori to change her mind.
"No, we don't have much to make," Adori replied with that same spiritless tone she used just moments before.
"But you went to the market yesterday!"
"I didn't buy much. There were too many things on my mind," Adori said and put a bowl of heated soup in front of Emis.
The Yvelin grimaced. "Be honest, are we poor now?"
Adori, for the first time since she woke up, looked at Emis with a defeated look in her eyes. "Kinda. You should get used to this."
Emis sighed but lowered his head to lick the soup. Thankfully, it was not as devious as it was the night before.
Leaving it overnight must have done the trick, he thought, relieved.
For a few seconds, they both had their breakfast in a quiet and serene atmosphere. Adori was deep in her thought while Emis was busy savouring the calmness in their home; though that was cut way too short for him to fully indulge in it.
"I'm going to the police station after breakfast. Can you look after the house today as well?" Adori asked after she finished her bowl.
"Sure, I don't mind," Emis replied while he peered at Adori with a questioning gaze. "Is it that serious?"
Adori bit her lips as she contemplated her answer. "It is, very much so," she started saying but stayed quiet for a moment. "I... When I heard those kids had gone missing yesterday, the first thought that entered my mind was the forest. But when I used Unity last night, the vision I saw did not seemed like a forest. It was like...like a small room—cramped and utterly dark. I saw a glimpse of Cale, Seren and Finn there, all tied up."
"So this is a case of kidnapping," Emis said, his tone conveying a hint of surprise.
Even though Emis was a Yvelin and Adori had used his Clairvoyance, he actually could not share the vision Adori had seen through him. This was the case with weaker Veyrathis.
Although stronger Veyrathis past the Ancient Stage usually did not have any problem sharing visions and thoughts with their Yvelari, this was not the case for Adori and Emis—who was still stuck in the Ancient Stage.
"That seems to be the most logical conclusion." Adori answered grimly.
"How are you going to relay this information to the police? You know revealing your bloodline is a quick and easy way to lose your head," Emis reminded Adori.
"I'm very aware of that," Adori said, bitterness evident in her voice.
Regardless of whether the normal citizens were aware of the existence of Veyrathis or not, Adori knew announcing her identity to someone will sooner or later reach the ears of some higher ups who would very much be conscious of them.
While the world was heading fast towards development and many acts of the past were let go for the sake of morality and peace, there was one thing—or certain people—that the world could not bear to forgive; those were the Veyrathis. The main reason for this was because of their actions during the Great War—some very long time ago.
Adori had always harboured very strong feelings toward this resentment of her people. In her mind, holding a grudge for a certain group of people this long not only made them look cowardly, but also utterly and disgustingly weak.
"You better be careful while you stay there," Emis told her.
Being a Yvelin, Emis had lived for a very long time. He was a very old being, ancient in fact. Maybe it was because of this that he showed Adori a very warm expression unlike his usual self, the kind grandparents used to give their grandkids when they were being difficult.
"Yeah, I will," Adori said as she got up to clean both of their bowls.
***
When Rebek opened their door to see Adori standing in front, she was a bit taken aback by her appearance. Although Rebek herself did not looked much better, it was still a surprise for her to witness Adori looking so ragged and disheveled.
"My, Adori, haven't you slept last night?" Rebek asked.
"I could ask the same to you," Adori promptly replied, her voice still as lifeless as before.
The two women stared each other for a while and suddenly, they broke into a smile.
"Yeah, yeah, you're right. Just wait a second, I'll be ready in a blink." Rebek quickly went inside the house and just as she said, she came out again not too long after.
"Tobias wanted to go instead but I insisted," she told Adori as they both walked to the police station.
The walk was a bit long as Rebek's house resided in the farther west of Ime Island while the station was on the eastern side. As they both were walking, Adori kept talking to Rebek about the situation while secretly adding little bits of the information only she knew.
"...Like you said, the chances of them going inside the forest is low. What if they got into a really bad incident and got..."
Rebek sharply turned her head towards Adori, her bloodshot eyes goggling the latter. "What are you implying?"
"Well, I mean, you did tell me that Cale had promised not to go near the forest again and as far as I'm aware, he's an honest kid. So what if this was a totally different thing—like something which we don't even want to think about...like a kidnapping." Adori peered at Rebek, praying she got what she was trying to say without panicking.
Rebek covered her mouth and suddenly stood still in the middle of the road. "W-What? My boy? But who would...who..."
Adori quickly comforted Rebek. However, she continued to pry for answers from Rebek which she needed to know to locate the kids.
"When you were searching for Cale last night, on which locations did you look for him?"
Rebek took a deep breath before she answered. "The port, marketplace, the residential area, around the forest..."
"Okay, okay, that's good enough. We'll tell the police what we both know and please mention to them about the locations you searched and just to be sure, tell them to look for them in those locations again."
Adori silently prayed that the police would listen to both of them. Although she knew she could have gone to the station herself and report the missing kids, she knew having Rebek by her side would up the chances of the police taking them seriously.
In addition, having Rebek convinced about the situation of the kids would get things moving faster, Adori was sure.
Also, having the police look at the places Rebek had previously searched was really crucial in order to find the kids. Since Adori had seen them all tied up in a small room, she honestly believed that they were being held in one of the places Rebek had just mentioned.
They couldn't have gone far. Not when they were to hide three kids while the whole island was looking for them.
I hope they are okay, Adori thought.
Looking at her side, Rebek was still sniffing to herself. From what she was being told, Tobias, Cale's father, was looking for the kids around the forest along with his friends. In Adori's mind, it was only a matter of time that they will find the kids.
Although the station was a bit far off from Rebek's house, they seemed to arrive there in no time. Maybe having their thoughts completely occupied by the disappearance must have done the trick for them to shorten such distance.
As they entered the station, Rebek and Adori were both taken aback to see that they were not the first to arrive there. No, in fact, all the families and relatives of Seren and Finn were there, present in the station.
They made up for quite a crowd inside, as the station was not that big in the first place. It looked as though they were telling—threatening?—the polices from every corner of the room, saying their own personal opinions about the disappearance.
Their gathering gave the impression to Adori that they were trying to push the police into doing something they had already made up their minds to.
An opinion?
Just as one of them was about to shout to one of the police about his nephew's missing case, another one of them noticed the presence of both Rebek and Adori.
"There comes the bitch!" He shouted, shocking both Adori and Rebek.
The final verdict.
Adori promptly knew what they were on about.