There was a knock at the door.
"Lunch is in five minutes, sir." Adrian's voice came through the wood.
Ryan sat up and ran a hand through his hair.
The third floor corridor was quiet. The afternoon light came in through a narrow window at the far end, falling across the floorboards in a single pale strip. Everything else was in shadow.
Ryan walked down the strip.
Ryan slowed without meaning to as he passed the black door.
He looked at it, and walked past.
The bracelet flickered for a moment.
A faint pulse, too quick for Ryan to notice.
He turned the corner and went down the stairs.
Eleanor's door opened just as he reached the landing.
She gave him a nod in greeting, then fell into step beside him, book already in hand, apparently having decided that the time between her room and the dining room was not to be wasted. They passed the library together.
The staircase brought them down into the entrance hall, and then through the corridor that brought them to the dining room.
