“You felt it?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

“As did you. Have you any sense what it is?”

The Jedi cocked a single brow. “Maybe. The chancellor’s son. When did you last see him?”

Stellan scanned the small group. Indeera was right. Kip Soh had been with them as they approached the gardens but was now nowhere to be seen, and neither was the mayor’s boy. Stellan didn’t know his name. Star’s breath. They were supposed to be watching the chancellor’s party. How had they missed it?

Stellan reached out to Bell, who was talking to Rhil Dairo as her cam droid captured footage of Soh and Yovet, nudging the Padawan to subtly attract his attention. Bell glanced over and, noticing Stellan’s expression, made his excuses to the reporter and walked over to join them, Ember at his feet. Stellan was already on the comm to Coordinator Ra-oon, who was scrolling back through security footage at his request in the administration building.

“Aha,” Ra-oon said as she found something. “The sneaky so-and-sos.”

“What is it?”

“The boys followed you into the garden but ducked out when they thought no one was looking.”

“Heading where?”

“I’m not sure. They disappeared into the crowd. They’re not showing up on any of the feeds.”

“How is that possible?”

“Do you know how many people we have in the park, Council Member? I can have Idrax Snat put a call out for them?”

“Is there a problem?” Stellan looked up to see that Norel Quo had spotted the group of Jedi huddled together and had come to investigate.

“The chancellor’s son seems to have absconded,” Stokes said before Stellan could interject, alarm immediately flashing across the aide’s face as he looked around in near panic.

“Kitrep? Gone?”

“I am sure there is an innocuous explanation,” Stellan said quickly. “He appears to be with the mayor’s son.”

“Jom,” Bell offered helpfully. “Jom Lariin.”

“You were talking to them last night, weren’t you?” Stellan asked.

“Yes. Kitrep wasn’t enjoying being in the public eye, at least at first.”

“I know the feeling,” Stellan said, glancing up at Rhil’s cam droid, which had spun around in their direction.

“Did they mention their plans for this morning?”

Bell laughed. “They didn’t mention sneaking away, if that’s what you mean, and they certainly wouldn’t have told me. Jom did mention he was looking forward to touring the Innovator, though.”

“The official tour isn’t until this afternoon,” Quo pointed out.

“Perhaps they decided to go early,” Indeera suggested.

“They’ll be lucky,” Samera chimed in over the comm. “The queues are already around the block. That ship is the star of the show.”

“But the chancellor’s son isn’t exactly another visitor standing in line.” Stellan looked down at the VIP pass clipped to Quo’s belt. “I assume Kitrep has one of those?”