𝓞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝓗𝐮𝗺𝐚𝐧

Chapter #6 - Joley

Chapter #6 - Joley

A million questions flooded her head. "No one? Where did they go? Where does their registry pendants say they are? Has anyone tried hailing them?"

"I don't know details, just that your parents— and a few other people, I think— just... disappeared, registry pendants left where they last were. The imparters say they're out of range."

"Who else?" Walt asked.

Axel listed some names, but it was hard for Joley to focus. She found her mind drifting to a moment from when she was eight, when she had leaped to Iridasia— her house— from Walt and Axel's (Mistmeare), only to find her parents weren't there. She had been terrified; sobbing, imagining the worst case scenario.

But then, eventually, her parents leaped back home. Joley's dad explained that her mom had accidentally taken limbium, and there was no imparter immediately nearby, so they had to rush to the physician Elwin. "She Fostered it," he had teased.

It was an incident that had been easily resolved, but it still stuck with her. The shock that they were gone. The fear that they wouldn't come back. That maybe there were still people in the Lost Cities who were, for some reason, out to get them.

And now, those fears somehow felt really real.

Shoving it all aside, she announced, "This... this must be a mistake. Does Fitz know? Maybe he can try reaching out to Mom telepathically."

"That's a good idea." Biana and Dex came out from the back area of Slurps And Burps. The twins' mom continued, "But in the meantime, you're welcome to stay with us. The store's closing up now, after all."

Joley smiled, grateful that they'd be willing to do that.

She just hoped it wouldn't be for too long.

***

"Any luck?"

Joley leaned over a desk at Mistmeare, where Walt and Axel were working on the "Great Eye Color Mixeroo," as they had dubbed it. But her mind was elsewhere.

"Well, we so far just have all the shades of blue mixed," Axel explained, clearly not sharing her same worry. He was probably right. Everything was gonna be fine. "But we're about to add the colors that might be more reactive. Who knows? Maybe we'll make something that could even dissolve alkahest." He said it jokingly, miming an explosion.

Somehow, she doubted that. Then again, Joley had learned never to underestimate the brothers' inherited alchemy skills.

Meanwhile, her inherited alchemy skills were less than great. So she went down the glittering staircase, amused at some of the unique gadgets within the different rooms. Eventually she reached an uninhabited hallway (there was a clock on the wall that appeared to be run on something that couldn't be natural), deciding to make better use of her time. She pulled out her imparter—

"Show me Talia Valencia."

Talia's tanned face appeared on screen, then it blacked out again and some rustling was heard, until finally she was visible again.

She kept her voice low. "Sorry. Gosh, it's hard to work these things. You don't happen to have a Weird Elf Technology instruction manual, do you?"

"You get used to it," Joley replied with a smile. It occurred to her for the first time that, that day, Talia had become more than a human she was recruiting. She had become a friend.

"Wait, where are you?"

"Oh, yeah, Mr. Ale— Tiergan, I mean— wasn't at the HRP building and nobody knew where he was, so Amy took me home." Her voice got even quieter.

"As far as my mom thinks, I was at school all day and stayed a few hours later to study. I... I'm still not sure what to tell her." Talia's eyes widened like she realized she was focusing on the wrong thing. "Where's your mom? When Amy called her..."

"I know. My parents are missing."

"Oh." The sadness and fear that crept in Talia's tone really caught Joley off guard. She didn't even know her parents, why did she sound so concerned? Then it hit her.

Her dad.

Taken.

Missing.

Dead.

The human girl took in a deep, slow inhale. "I have a question for you. It... it was elves, wasn't it?"

Joley froze.

There was no point denying it.

She nodded.

"Was he part of the HRP? Is that how you knew?"

Nodded again.

They were silent for a moment. A kind of loud silence— unspoken words cascading both of their heads.

"I actually think I know what to tell my mom. Thanks, Joley. Call me tomorrow with updates on this whole HRP thing?" The small nod at the end told her that that wasn't the only thing Talia wanted updates on.

"Will do." She winked, "And I'll look into that manual."