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"And now?"

"Twenty-nine."

"Recovering?"

"Slowly."

Professor Neris looks toward the grey grass. "Naturally?"

"We don't know." Of course.

Nyra arrives with Cassian. Cassian looks like he ran the entire way. Nyra probably did. They stop when they see the claw marks. Cassian goes quiet. Nyra's face loses all color. "Dragon?"

I nod. "Theryn." Cassian closes his eyes. He knows her. Everyone does. Not personally. Enough. She was impossible not to notice. Nyra moves immediately toward the evidence table. Work first. Grief later. I recognize it because I do the same thing.

"What time?" She asks.

"Twenty-three fifty-eight."

Her expression changes. "Again?"

"Again."

She looks toward Rhyven. "Exact?"

"Bond timestamp." Eddy answers this time. Nyra looks at him. Softens. Then writes. No questions she doesn't need.

Cassian approaches the edge of the depleted ground.

Stops. His head tilts. Professor Vayne notices. "Anything?" Cassian doesn't answer. He closes his eyes. Listens. The way he did in Mara's pantry. The way he did at Aelindra's site. Only this time his whole body stiffens.

"Cassian." Nyra. He opens his eyes. Takes one step backward.

"What?" I ask.

He looks at the claw marks. Then at me. "It's huge." Silence.

"The gap?" Vayne asks.

Cassian nods. "I thought Aelindra's was bad." He rubs both arms. "This is..." He stops.

"Different?" Nyra asks.

"No." He swallows. "The same." A pause. "Just bigger." Of course. A dragon carries more magic. More presence. More everything. The absence left behind matches the size of what was taken. My stomach twists.

Professor Neris looks toward the ward specialists. "Measure the siren edge against magical depletion."

Nyra immediately writes that too. Rhyven doesn't move. But his attention sharpens.

"Why?" Neris answers.

"If the emotional severance radius and magical depletion radius correlate..."

Cassian finishes. "Then they're the same event."

"Potentially." Nyra says automatically. Professor Neris gives her the faintest approving look.

They test it. Slowly. Cassian walks the perimeter. Stops when the strange absence becomes noticeable. Ward specialists mark the point. Again. Another direction. Again. The measurements aren't identical.