Thud! Thud! Thud! Urgent knocking suddenly sounded outside the door.
"What is it?"
In the pitch-black bedroom, Isobel, still wrapped in Albert's arms amid the lingering afterglow of their passion, asked in a lowered voice. Being interrupted during an intimate moment was undoubtedly unpleasant.
"Something important must have happened."
Albert kissed his wife lightly on the forehead, pushed aside the sheets, and sat up. At his beckoning, the cloak on the rack by the wall flew through the darkness and draped itself casually over him. Albert picked up his wand from beside the bedside table, walked to the door, and reached for the handle.
There was no one outside.
His gaze dropped to the Metal Book on the floor.
"What happened?"
Isobel's slightly uneasy voice came from behind him. Since they had moved onto this ship, they had never encountered an emergency like this.
"A member of the Association has suddenly disappeared."
Albert picked up the Communication Bookmark and glanced at its contents. His tone was exceptionally calm, as though someone going missing were nothing more than a trivial matter.
"Missing? Was he a traitor?"
Isobel was greatly surprised. She knew all too well how much Albert had given to the Defence Association.
"No. There's an eighty-percent chance his father got him into this mess."
Albert sighed softly. After handing the Communication Bookmark to Isobel's outstretched hand from beneath the blankets, he summoned an atlas with a wave of his wand. He intended to use Tracking Magic to directly pinpoint Kevin Thompson's approximate location.
In just a few minutes, Albert found Kevin Thompson's name on the map, but his location was far from ideal.
"His father got him into this mess?"
After reading the contents of the Communication Bookmark, Isobel suddenly fell silent.
"His father got him into this mess.