• Peter and Celica ascended the staircase, and to Celica's relief, the lights were on that time. Instead of getting off at the ground floor, they continued up the staircase to where Michael has said Amos was. As they climbed, Celica realized that he still didn't know that his house was a wreck and that he would be forced to find a new one.

    At the top, there was only one door, directly past the top stair. Peter pushed it open, and beyond it was a large bedroom. The wall to their left was made entirely of windows. It was abnormally chilly in the room, and some loose objects were blowing around lazily, as though being pushed by wind.

    Celica had thought the panes of glass in the window were simply very clean and clear, but as she stepped inside, broken glass crunched under her feet. There was a drafty breeze carrying around the room.

    Now that she had begun noticing things gone wrong, she became more aware of several broken objects lying around the floor, including a smashed pair of glasses which Celica had seen Amos wearing. Whoever did this must have done it while everyone was downstairs, when they wouldn't be able to hear.

    "Someone's broken in," Peter said cautiously, moving very slowly through the room. "I don't see Amos anywhere." He leaned down and picked up the glasses and examined them briefly. "Definitely Amos's. But where could he have possibly gone?"

    A horrifying thought struck Celica. "He couldn't have jumped out the window, could he?" Peter froze for a few seconds, contemplating the idea.

    "No, look, the glass fell in, if he had jumped, the glass would be outside." He looked a bit relieved by the logic, though, as if he had been jostled by the notion.

    "Should we tell Michael?" Celica asked tentatively.

    "No, not yet. I don't totally trust him." His voice was still very soft, as though he were afraid of being overheard. "I'm not sure if I can ever trust him."

    She felt a mix of relief and tension at these words. She was glad that she wasn't the only one with suspicions about Michael, but it also meant that he was definitely someone to avoid. "Where do we go now, then?" Celica asked. She had only seen two places in this whole universe, and now both of them were pretty much off limits to them.

    "I was wondering that myself, actually. I figure we should visit some friends of mine. They live a bit far from here, but I know we can trust them. They were friends of Amos's. I know they'll help us find him." He scratched his short, messy brown hair and then pocketed the glasses.

    "Do you know of anyone who would do this? Amos is an old man, what use could someone have for kidnapping him?"

    Peter looked very serious, his head hung a little bit, and his hair fell over his eyes. "I have a pretty big hunch. I think it might be a group called 'P.O.C.C." but I'd rather not make any assumptions just yet."

    "But why not? If we look for them first, it might help us find Amos faster!" Celica was growing impatient.

    "Because if I'm right, Amos is in deep trouble."