Maeve froze for a moment, looked around the room, then turned her gaze back to their faces.
"Dorothea came back?"
"Yes, a little later than we did. She had a lot of work, but most of it was paperwork, so she simply brought it into her room." Maeve had heard about this. Dorothea had been bringing her work back lately, only coming out for meals and otherwise locking herself in her room to work.
According to her, she felt more relaxed here.
It seemed today had been no different.
"After Flora found she couldn't get out, she and I tried all sorts of things, but nothing worked. We made quite a racket, yet Dorothea never came out."
"That was when I felt something was wrong, so Flora and I went to check."
Simon explained, his voice hesitant, as though he were avoiding something, afraid to bring it up.
"She... you know how she always locks her door when she's working. Flora and I knocked for ages, but she never opened it. We shouted, too, but there was no answer."
"We felt something was wrong, so Flora smashed the door down."
"Thankfully, that door could be broken, so we were able to get inside and see what..."
"Inside..."
Simon swallowed.
"Dorothea wasn't inside. The window was properly closed, even locked. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was as though..."
"As though she'd vanished into thin air. After locking herself in her room, she'd simply disappeared."
"And..."
Simon's voice grew heavy. "On the desk, among the open documents, I found fragments."
"Fragments of the Monocle."
Maeve instantly felt as though she had plunged into icy water.
"Then that means..."
"Yes, something has very likely happened to Dorothea... This house might not merely be keeping us trapped here harmlessly. It may harbor