"Have a seat," Paul said pointing to the chair he keeps by his desk. "What's the problem?"
"Well, simply put, I don't understand the motivation behind targeting Lana. I'm told they haze the weak and that lead us to think it was because of her medical exemption. The problem is, hazing her isn't going to reduce her fear of beast weapons and it will increase her fear of strong adults. Is there a way to find out what's going on?"
"Well, let's see," Paul said as he stared typing in the computer. "The person behind this is a major for the second years." He pulled up a hologram so Blaine could see what he was looking at.
The man had dark hair that was greying around his ears. His eyes looked menacing yet had crow's feet as though he spent a lot of time smiling or laughing. Under the image of his upper body, it said:
Major Angor Cruciatus,
Head of Discipline and Military Protocol, under Colonel Sanders, Second year students.
Age: 45.
"Does this man look familiar?" Paul asked.
Blaine shook his head, "no. I've never seen him before."
"Alright, I'll do some digging and let you know if I find anything. Make sure I'm in your friends list so you'll get a ding if I message you."
Blaine did so, "thank you, Paul. I really appreciate this."
"I appreciate you trusting me with something so… sensitive. I'll get to work right now." Paul turned to his computer as though Blaine had already left.
An hour after Paul had eaten Lana's food, he brought up his stats in his system.
[Intellect: 30
Strength: 8
Agility: 10
Vitality: 8 (+5)
HP: 10/10]
How long does this last? He decided to keep his stats up but then he remembered another notification he received while Blaine was there. He clicked notifications and there it was.
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Blaine Abel 30%]
He decided to check on the progress of two other quests:
[New Quest: Consume Lana's Sleep Tea 7 consecutive days: 5/7]
[EXPAND CULINARY HORIZONS: 7/30 dishes]
Paul smiled. His quests were progressing but he had not moved much with Lana. He needed to think of something to move closer to friendship. He was hoping this research would help both relationships.
Paul decided to spend as long as it took to get some answers. A friend would deserve it.
The next morning after Special PT, Lana sat in her room looking at the numbers of her team. Kattie was in the shower. The day's numbers in comparison to the first day looked promising. At breakfast, Lana asked Blaine if he was getting similar results.
"Actually, I was going to ask you that." He replied. "I have 2 that have not improved but the rest are getting results."
"Let me guess, the two who are a bit more round around the middle?"
Blaine nodded, "if they don't adjust their diet, they won't improve. Also, while I enjoy buying food for everyone, I think I'll only do that on Fridays after all the time you've spent healing so you can rest."
Lana nodded as she ate her bacon. The rest of the food really looked unappetizing.
"Kattie, since it's Saturday, we can take Sven to the park. I can get some real food. This is terrible."
She looked at her plate, "actually…" Lana went back up and got a plate full of bacon then hit the salad bar and got tomatoes and lettuce. She made 4 pieces of toast and spread some dressing on them and sat back down. She made two BLTs and ate happily.
Blaine grinned at her. "They have apple crepes up there, did you see?"
"Mmm yeah. They can keep them. Did you see any seasonings in them? Those poor apples. They should be offended."
Those are her table chuckled.
They were all walking toward her room when Blaine's watch beeped. He saw it was a message from Paul and he looked at it immediately.
[I have answers. Bring her and her protectors up here. Now is best.]
[On our way.]
Blaine stopped walking when he read this. Lana stopped when he did. He didn't display the message holographically.
"Dobin, Lana, Kattie and Chekof, I need you to come with me please," his voice in a serious tone.
He turned and headed toward the stairs. The rest followed. As they started heading up to the third floor, Almin, Alto, and Karlen looked at each other.
Karlen asked, "Can we come too? Maybe we can help with whatever this is?"
Blaine thought about it for a few seconds then shook his head. "I'm hoping this is nothing."
At room 2303, Lana went to scan her finger and the door beeped before she could. They were clearly expected. She looked at Blaine before pushing the door open.
"Hey Paul. Is something wrong or did you just want to meet my brother Dobin, Chekof and Kattie?"
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Dobin Plantwell 0%]
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Kattie Beastiary 0%]
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Chekof Starskiy 0%]
Paul nodded to each of them as Lana stated their names and gestured toward each.
Turning toward Lana, "I wish I could say this was a social call. Your friend Blaine came to me with some concerns last night. I have been up until now researching and digging. It turns out every year, five students, well sometimes more, sometimes less, go missing. They are then deemed killed on the next portal outing. I cannot find any record which tells me where they go. The one who orchestrates the missing students is Major Cruciatus. The only thing the students seem to have in common is they are unique."
Lana's eyes were instantly alarmed. "Dobin needs all the earth ability books or he will hit their radar!"
Paul nodded and turned back to his computer. "How many do you have right now, Dobin?"
"Just the first one."
Paul nodded. He resumed typing and a box appeared on his receiver station. He resumed typing again, and eventually, a second box appeared. He then pointed to the boxes.
"Those are for you, Dobin."
Dobin looked curious and got the boxes and opened them. He collapsed to the ground as he pulled out book after book. Between the two boxes, he now had level two through level 10.
Lana looked astonished then looked back at Paul.
"I can never pay you back for this, it's too much!"
"If he stands out, he gets wrapped up in this, correct?"
Lana nodded.
"Keep the books here but he can study gradually. He'll get stronger under their noses."
"But the number on his watch."
"You know I can handle that. He isn't on their radar yet. You are. Interesting how you are the one in danger but your brother was the first one you thought of."
"How do we protect her?" Dobin and Blaine both asked at the same time.
"For now, all we can do is observe. We don't know enough to act. The vanishing happens around March each year. I would suggest getting stronger but not show your full progress. It might save you in the end."
"How are we going to observe?" Chekof asked.
"Leave that to me." Paul said.
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Lana Plantwell 70%]
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Blaine Abel 45%]
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Dobin Plantwell 15%]
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Kattie Beastiary 5%]
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Chekof Starskiy 5%]
Paul smiled brightly as messages entered his field of vision.
"Dobin, give me your watch for a second."
Dobin did so. Paul picked up a tool and made some adjustments. "It says 3 but you have not read the level 2 book?"
Dobin nodded.
"Interesting." Paul finished his adjustments and handed the watch back. "As you complete each book, hold your thumb here and it will change the number. It should display 2 right now. I reset it. If anyone asks, say you thought the watch was faulty and tested yourself. You had the watch replaced."
Dobin took his watch back and put it back on with shaky hands. "Why would you go through all this effort for us?"
Paul smiled, "have you ever eaten your sister's cooking?"
Dobin chuckled, "of course!"
"She's a very special person and everyone in this room is aware of that. We need to protect her."
Dobin nodded. "I knew she was a good cook but never thought it would garner her this much support…"
Paul chuckled, "that apple pie alone could stop a war!"
Dobin laughed.
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Dobin Plantwell 25%]
"If you guys don't mind. I think I'd like a nap now," Paul said as a cue to get his guess to leave.
"Chekof, could you wait here for a sec?" Lana asked.
Blaine gave a look of disapproval, wanting to stay, too. "We'll be out in a second," she said to him.
Blaine walked out but with a huge frown on his face, eye twitching.
"Hold up, the door isn't closed.," Paul said as he sent an oomlaut over to fix it.
"Okay, it's closed. What did you need to add."
"Chekof's nose is super sensitive. He said I don't smell like a human." She looked at Chekof, "This would mean Dobin shouldn't either."
Chekof nodded.
"Dobin said on our birthday he felt stronger. That was when the watch went to 3. What if the watch is cuing off our species energy rather than our ability energy? I always called plants my ability but Dobin can do something new now." She showed Paul the dagger.
Paul took the dagger from her and examined it with his loupe. It was pure diamond. He said as much.
"Keep that hidden," he said as he handed it back to her.
She nodded.
"Tell him not to do that in front of outsiders."
"I will." Lana nodded.
"Can I get a blood sample from you, Lana?" Paul asked.
She nodded and allowed him to fill a tube with her blood.
"If there's nothing else, we should allow you to rest. Do you want me to bring you sleep tea right now?"
Paul shook his head, "you just handed me a blood sample. How can I sleep now!" He grinned and shooed them from his room.
**********************************
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