Nen Feaster; Part 2: The Cat's Journey

Chapter 12: Stop Watch

Nef went to Reid's room the next morning. She knocked on the door and was met with Reid saying, "Come in." Nef walked in and saw Reid with Eli's journal and a blank replica. He had them both opened to the same page. His nen was engulfing both of them. Nef could see ink faintly appearing on the replica, creating a copy of the original. "Hey. The replica is working just fine." Reid said. He moved aside so Nef could get a full view.

"How does this work?" Nef asked.

"The writing and diagrams will appear in the same order that they're written. I started on the page about Vert. I figured it would be important to know what this 'Phase Two,' thing is. Vert's page was the least damaged, so it'll take the least amount of time." Reid said.

"How long?" Nef asked.

"The undamaged text will be done by today, but the burned parts could take four days, maybe a week to complete."

"Okay... contact us as you find any useful information."

"I will. I'm hopeful about this. It should be done pretty quickly. Your boyfriend had some pretty good handwriting for someone from an island in the middle of nowhere." Reid said, which caused Nef's ears to stick straight up as she got very tense.

"You... you read the journal?" Nef asked.

"I wanted to see if I could piece together any clues about his ability... it, uh... it wasn't my place, I'm sorry."

"You... you'd better be. Just, please, focus on the pages about Myriad."

"Okay." Reid said.

Nef looked out the window at the other end of the room and began thinking. "You... you'd call him my boyfriend?" Nef asked.

"It may not have been 'official,' but it's obvious this guy cared about you, way more than just as a friend." Reid said.

"How do you know?" Nef asked. The reason she was denying it was because she didn't want to know just how much Eli loved her. She felt it would make the pain worse.

"Come here." Reid said as he waved Nef over. As Nef walked over, Reid opened up Eli's journal to one of the pages that had a drawing of Nef on it. It was the drawing of her sitting on the balcony railing at the palace, looking out at the stars. "Look at this drawing. Look at all of the details he put in. Every star has a twinkle, the moon has so many dimensions, and the detail on you is so precise, so specific and specially drawn that it looks like your drawing could come to life."

"He was just... good at drawing." Reid flipped to an earlier drawing. It was a drawing of the palace courtyard and the trees.

"These trees and the courtyard barely have any details at all. He skipped this one to draw yours, and the same goes for several other drawings. The only other drawing with the same amount of detail is this one of Misha."

"Misha..." Nef said, almost too softly for Reid to hear.

"Eli cared a whole helluva lot about you... there's no denying it."

"That... doesn't make me feel any better." Nef said.

"I know it doesn't, but... it'll help you focus. If you ever feel like stopping, like you can't go on anymore... remember how much this boy cared about you."

Nef looked at Eli's journal and thought about this. "You're right... thank you, Mr. Reid." She said.

"Good... now, there's a guy that Raymond hired to look into finding strong nen sources. He's already found something, and he wants to meet in private." Reid said.

"Okay. Send me the address and I'll head over there." Nef said.

"You sure you don't want to wait for the others?"