The Twenty Seven

Chapter 10

It's what feels like the longest morning yet as the girls awake, each with various aches and pains from their odd sleeping positions. Es gets up first, stumbling her way to first the kitchen and then to the bathroom, bringing out a bottle of pills and tossing it to the center of the den.

Once everyone else is settled around the dining table, Nes starts her meeting. In Crann, once they were fully established as the Twenty Seven, it was customary for the Prim to open each day with an agenda. It could include everything from parties to training, as well as their current assignment.

"We never had a chance to decide where we're going from here," She begins. "I didn't find anything talking to the farmer. His story checks out."

"Miss Young was very upset when I asked if she had anything to do with the kidnappings; she's the bus driver, too." Ei plays with her eggs. They're not as good as usual today and she's not sure if she'll be able to finish her plate. "I don't know if she could have done it or anything, but I don't think we can rule her out."

"Crazy Benji can't talk, so I got nothing out of him," Ty says. She pauses, waving her fork around. "Though, there was a doctor there. Dr. Laghari. She seemed nice enough, but it was just a weird place. And there were some scratches on a door, too."

When she doesn't continue, Nes sighs. "So? Did she tell you why they were there?"

"She said that someone there has a relative with a dog."

"How many people live there?" Es asks. "Now that I think about it, I haven't seen too many dogs around here." Ty shrugs. "Well, how many people did you see?"

"Just Crazy Benji and Dr. Laghari. All the doors were shut."

"It's probably one of those two, then," Eira says. "But I don't know what else we can get out of them by just talking. If we use that Toch--"

"Not a chance," Ty says. "I'm not risking these people turning on us. If you find something that just has to go on us, maybe, but other than that," she trails off, looking to Nes, who nods.

"We'll leave it be for now. Actually, I've been thinking; maybe we should leave this whole investigation for a while. It's Thursday, we still have a few more days until the next one is set to happen," Nes says.

"You really think they'll still try something? With us here?" Ty sighs. "Great. What do you suggest we do in the meantime?"

Es takes out the list, laying it on the table. "How about we split up and tackle some of the other things? Nes, you could help drum up a storm to stop the drought, couldn't you?"

"With some help from Eira, yes. Though she's the only one who can take care of the graveyard situation."

"Ghosts?" Eira asks, not believing the words on the page. "That's an actual thing?"

Ty grins. "I'll come with you. I haven't been in a good fight for a while, now."

Eira's head whips around to look at Nes. "We fight ghosts? How does that even work?"

"It's something we've covered in training. And now that we have a Tochais, it's something we can try out. I can drop the two of you off. Es--"

"The foxes, yeah." She gives the others a sad smile. "You've got to love population control."

--

Eira's backpack is heavier than it's been since freshman year of college. She considers giving Ty a strength Toch and having her carry it, but reasons against it. If she wanted to be one of them, she was going to have to toughen up. Throwing it into the back of the car, she gets in with the others. "When should I give you the Toch, Nes? How long do they last?"