“You need to talk to me about something?” Grant said, massaging his head.. “Can we go sit down somewhere?”

Rhett scratched at his chin. “Yeah, I suppose in the middle of this field wouldn’t be the best place.”

The two stumbled their way out of the fields and back into the village. Grant had trouble keeping his balance and he fell a couple times, Rhett did as well while trying to keep Grant from falling even more.

Rhett invited him into his trailer and they made their way inside his messy home. They stepped into his kitchen and Grant noticed the empty alcohol bottles and scraps of paper scattered all over his kitchen table.

“What are all these papers for?” Grant asked as he carefully positioned himself and sat on the chair before the table.

“These are what I want to talk to you about,” Rhett said and also sat.

Rhett explained his whole situation to Grant as he listened in in confusion.

“So, you think it’s a possibility your sister was abducted and taken to Lyros and you think maybe my brother’s disappearance has a chance at being related to this?”

“It’s a long shot, but I think it’s possible. Well, it’s the only clue I really have besides this other “clue” which is just too stupid to believe. Although, I finally managed to ask Kale about things today. He denied everything, but the way he responded, I feel as if he knows something. But, I can’t see him being responsible for it.” Rhett dropped his head down in dissatisfaction. “I didn’t get the chance to speak to Ambri about it yet… I did plan on it though.”

Grant looked on, perplexed. “I really can’t see anyone here doing anything like that. Abducting children? Really? I know I am not the type to trust people that easily, but, everyone has done such great things for all of us, y’know? Even if Ambri can be a bit troublesome.”

Rhett sighed. “Yeah… I know, but I can’t take any chances. Have you seen anything here that really cements an idea of abnormality in your head? I guess we have the vulthos, but those are just animals.”

Grant looked down at his finger. Should he open up about everything that happened tonight? Rhett seemed desperate to tell Grant everything about him, perhaps it would only be right to return the favor. He looked around the room, panning from side to side as he made up his mind.

“Yeah. There is one thing very strange.” Grant held out his hand.

“What’s that?”

“Me.”

Rhett laughed. “Oh come on, I thought you were being serious.”

“I am.” Grant tried his hardest to flex his hand, forcing tension throughout his fingers. He tried so hard his breathing turned ragged.

“Grant, what are you—” Rhett stopped speaking, as his mouth was left agape.

The blade protruded from his finger once more. Grant’s breathing was erratic. He felt once again, like a monster.

“It wasn’t on purpose… This just started happening last night… But I stabbed that man tonight...” Tears fell from Grant’s eyes as his body started to twitch. “Rhett, I don’t know what’s happening.” 

Rhett didn’t say a word. Only swallowed. His fingers shook as he scattered through a bunch of papers.

“It’s just as strong as that lion’s claw that I showed you guys... I think I might go to the doctor after the ceremony. I can’t keep living like this.”

Rhett pulled out a sheet of paper. “You can’t go. At least not according to this.” He held out a sheet of paper that said “human experimentation.” “All of us at Shelpo thought this was a joke. One of the newer investigators came across someone who apparently grew wings and flew into the sky before his eyes. Apparently that person told him stories of people being abducted and experimented on. It sounded unbelievable… It still does.”

Rhett leaned in and looked at the blade in Grant’s finger.

“But, if you can do this… Who is to say wings aren’t such a wild idea?” Rhett said, his body shaking. “The one thing I refused to believe…”

Grant’s face was stern. “I could have killed that man today.” Grant’s mind still mostly focused on the pain he caused. He couldn’t escape it.

“I know, but it wasn’t your fault. And he is going to be okay. If anything, because of this discovery, I know for a fact something is being hidden here. This could lead to people being saved, Grant!” Rhett’s eyes glowed with determination under the kitchen light. “I really didn’t want to believe that human experimentation was happening here. Yet, that was the only reason I was able to come here in the first place. My coworker filed that unbelievable report and I took advantage of it, just believing I could find real evidence here about my sister... Who would have thought the report we all laughed at would be true...”

“Without this happening to me, there is no way I would have believed it either,” Grant said, words slurring. “There is one more thing I thought of recently. I think Kale might be similar to me.”

“Yeah, I’ve just deduced that myself. His gloves, perhaps he has claws that come and go too. But what about his mask? Is that part really due to his illness?”

“Who knows,” Grant said. “So, what do you plan on doing now?”

“I’m not sure, but I think this all connects to the cats and lions somehow. Well, for sure the lions… and the cats started liking you recently, right? Maybe that had to be because of this too, I would assume?”

“Well, no, my claws didn’t start until yesterday.”

“Hmm, do you have any idea why this all even happened?”

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently, but I found that lion claw attached to a rock under my mattress. Before I showed you guys the claw, I cut open the rock as well as my skin on accident, and some kind of liquid dispersed from the rock and leaked into the cut. That’s the only thing that even makes a little bit of sense.”

Rhett started scribbling words down onto paper. “Who could have placed that claw and rock there in the first place?”

“Well, Kale was in my house before I found it… But, there were other people living in my trailer before me who left all their furniture, right? Maybe it was them.” Grant rested his thumb against his chin as he stared at his personal dagger.

“Well, I guess we don’t have much else to look into if we don’t know the source of this “power,” so to speak. But it seems highly likely it would have come from Lyros.” Rhett set down his pen as he appeared to take in the facts around him. He took in a deep breath. “Ugh I can finally confirm that my coworker’s human experimentation claim was somewhat true now, as much as it disgusts me. That was the only kidnapping rumor with “evidence” we had, even though I had heard rumors of kidnappings here myself, Shelpo wouldn’t allow me to visit only based on stories.”

“What kind of kidnapping stories did you hear of…?” Grant swallowed.

“I’ve heard about kids that had gone missing over the past ten years and were never found which matched with the other claim, but the other claim never specified kids. Lyros was always the subject of these rumors, although they were baseless claims, no real evidence ever came to light. I’m sure in Nha-Stop you saw the cat statues that people made because they felt bad for accusing everyone here of those atrocities, right? No one dared accuse this place of anything else again because of that incident, even to this day.”

Grant’s eyebrows furled. “Still though, you think this could involve the case with my brother and your sister?”

“Well, in the last few minutes I have come up with more concrete reasoning that this could be the case than previously. It’s because my sister was taken along with her guardian. And if the reports of that person with wings now can seem plausible, and you now have indestructible lion claws. Doesn’t it sound like people are trying to experiment by crossing animal and human DNA? And there’s no way that lion claw should have been that strong right? Perhaps not only crossing DNA, but restructuring the very being of human and animal. The fact Lyros is so obsessed with cats makes this really convenient as well, or maybe I’m just making everything seem this way.” Rhett rambled on and on with a crazy look in his eyes.

“So you think your sister and her tortoise were experimented on?” Grant looked horrified.

“It’s a possibility.” Rhett looked down.

“Then what about my brother? We had no connections to animals.”

“According to the report from our rookie investigator, they took people and experimented on them and figured out which blood type, among other criteria worked best with their injections. Apparently some people died, and others remained stuck as guinea pigs, locked up somewhere.”

Grant looked nervous. “Yeah, but that still doesn’t give a clear picture of why you think my brother was taken to a place like that.”

“Grant. Let me say it like this. Your brother, if successful in the experiment, would be of a very similar genetic makeup to you right? They wouldn’t try to abduct just strangers if they knew the whereabouts of potential successful experiments, correct? And how did you end up here? What were the odds of you coming here? No one just comes to Lyros! Right?! For what reason would you want to come to this place?!” Rhett seemed to be going mad.

Grant gulped. “My coworker, Jack... Lars’s son... told me this was a cheap place to live, if I wanted to get away. He said Lars would help with—”

Anger flourished within Rhett. “...Lars and Jack! Father and son! This is a scheme they must have planned… Why have I wasted all this time, surely there was other evidence pointing to this!”