Professor Layton: Conundrum of the Vanishing

Chapter Seven

Byrne heard a thumping noise behind him, making him turn. He gasped upon seeing Foliis lying on the ground. "Foliis!" Byrne cried out. He ran to her side and picked her up, cradling her bridal style. "Foliis! Wake up! Talk to me! Please, tell me that you're still okay, Foli!!"

Lucy crouched down next to Foliis and Byrne. She wrapped her hand around Foliis' wrist and checked for a pulse. "She's still alive," Lucy told Byrne, which eased some of his worries. "You don't need to worry about her dying. She's still breathing as of right now."

"Yeah. As of right now, she's okay," whispered Byrne. He hugged Foliis tightly. "We need to put this mystery on hold. We need to figure out what's going on with Foliis."

"We can't only be worried about Foliis, you know!" Roman cried out. "Faith just passed out too! Maybe they're caused by the same thing since they're siblings!"

"You really think that just because their siblings who passed out at the same time that the incidents are linked?" Chloe asked, scoffing. "That's ridiculous. You all are much stupider than I ever would have expected, and I came in here thinking you'd be stupid."

"U-um..." Byrne looked around before his eyes locked on the small girl that was Minori. "F-Fey just fell unconscious as well..."

Byrne realized that Minori was right. Fey was lying on the ground, his face still and unmoving. "I guess that Roman was right... These have to be linked. There's no way that all three of these are individual incidents. It's just not possible."

"This is wild," Sofia whispered. "We're only an hour into this mess and three people are already unconscious and unresponsive. Soon enough, our high school shenanigans will have a body count. Perfect. Absolutely perfect."

"Stop quoting movies from the eighties and start helping us take these guys inside," Landry declared. They crouched down and picked up Faith with ease. Roman looked a little bit uneasy and unhappy (and a tad jealous, though Byrne thought that this was just his imagination) at seeing Landry carry Faith, but he allowed the older teen to do it regardless.

"A-after we get inside... There's something I want to ask you about, Landry..." Caj said as she held Talia's hand. Byrne was starting to figure that Caj was a lesbian, or at least bisexual, something he felt he should have seen way bfore that moment.

Byrne shrugged it off when Landry spoke. "Alright. Fine," they replied, walking inside while carrying Faith. Quinton followed behind while carrying the red haired Fey. Byrne rose to his feet and trailed after them all while carrying Foliis.

His foot struck a small pebble as he walked inside. Byrne looked down to see a small rock glowing pink. He dashed inside and set Foliis down on the couch before running back outside so that he could check out the rock.

The rock had a few patterns of darker pink and a small amount of teal and blue veins running through it. Byrne leaned over and picked it up. The stone had a few jagged edges along with a small glow. Byrne cupped the rock in his hands and stared through a crack in his fingers. "It's glowing for sure..." Byrne whispered. He stared at it for a few seconds, not sure of what he was supposed to do with a glowing rock he found in the garden of a stranger.

Byrne found a pocket in his jacket and opened it. He dropped the rock in and zipped the pocket up once again to make sure that the stone wouldn't fall out. Byrne then walked back into the building. He would have to talk to the others about it later on should it come up in conversation.

Byrne walked in as Caj was taking a seat on the couch next to Faith. She looked up at Landry with those striking blue eyes of hers. "That choker you're wearing... Also your bracelet... Can I see them?" Caj asked, staring at Landry's choker.

Landry raised an eyebrow. "I suppose there's no harm in letting you check them out. They're just pieces of jewelry," they muttered. They raised their hands to the back of their neck and unclasped the chocker. They dropped it into Caj's waiting fingers. "Here you go, tiny."

Caj smiled up at Landry. "Thank you," she said, not understanding or not caring that Landry had called her short. Caj removed her own necklace and held it next to the choker. Landry removed their bracelet and handed it to Caj as well.

All of them seemed to glow in reaction to one another, making Caj and Byrne gasp in sync. "Why are they glowing?" Byrne asked, staring at the pink and teal stones as they glowed.

"I think that they're all pieces of Azran technology," Caj replied. "You see, all pieces of Azran technology are pink or blue. In the case of my necklace, pink, and in Landry's stuff, blue. They glow when near each other, even after all this time..."

"Look!" Scarlet exclaimed, pointing to Foliis' neck. "Her neck is glowing a little bit too!"

"Why do you think that is?" Misa asked curiously.

Casey, Scarlet, Lucy, Byrne, and Caj all shared a secret frown. The others stared in confusion for a moment or two but didn't say anything. That is, until Jean spoke. "Faith and Fey's necks are glowing too," he said.

Everybody realized that he was right. Foliis, Faith, and Fey's necks were glowing just like the necklace, choker, and bracelet were. Byrne reached into his pocket and pulled out his small pink stone. He held it out for Caj to see. Caj nodded in silence to indicate that this was in fact a piece of Azran technology. "They didn't glow when together in Psylias..." whispered Caj.

"What does that mean?" Casey asked.

"It means that something here must have gone seriously wrong, and it all has to do with Azran tecnology," Caj declared.

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