Varian was still reading over the letter and bumping into people. Rudigger was at his feet, trying to move him away from people. Varian was still muttering the letter under his breath.
I just don't understand, Varian thought What injury could cause something like this?
Varian suddenly bumped into a tall man. The man stared down at him in disgust.
"Watch where you're going!" He yelled.
"SORRY SIR!" Varian yelled back and scurried off, hunching over and clutching the paper to his chest.
"Isn't that the kid who attacked Corana a while back? Ya know, the one with the robots?" The tall man's shorter friend whispered to him just loud enough for Varian to hear.
Varian slouched down further and frowned, walking a bit faster.
"Yeah, I always knew that kid was a bad apple. He's still bothering people to this day, like always." The tall man said loudly so Varian would hear.
Varian just walked a bit faster and bit his lip. Ruddiger chirped at him in concern.
"Cmon, let's go home Ruddiger." Varian said. Ruddiger followed behind him. Varian kept walking but suddenly stopped. He had almost forgotten to tell the old woman that lived in that house that her pipe was leaky.
Varian went up to knock on her door. "I can't believe I almost forgot! A leaky pipe is a big deal ya know!" Varian said to Ruddiger. The raccoon just rolled his eyes. Varian knocked on the door and the old woman opened the door.
"Oh hello there! What do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" The old lady said. Varian smiled at her.
"Hi! I was walking past your house this morning and I heard a dripping sound from behind your house, I think you might have a leaky pipe." Varian said. The old woman frowned.
"Oh dear, a leaky pipe is a big deal ya know!" The old lady said to him. Varian smirked at Ruddiger and Ruddiger glared back.
"Mind if I have a look?" Varian asked. The old lady nodded.
"Follow me." She said and walked outside. Varian followed her to a pretty backyard with flowers and butterflies. The old lady had rows of pink and orange flowers.
"Wow your garden is beautiful..." Varian said. Ruddiger chased after and butterfly and didn't seem to care much about the flowers. The old lady chuckled.
"Thank you darling, it's my pride and joy. The butterflies love it." She said. Varian started in awe at the many types in butterflies laying on the flowers.
"The pipes are over here." The old lady said, and pointed to a small ditch under the house. Varian bent down to get a better view.
"That's weird, everything looks fine." He said. The old lady looked relieved.
"Well that's good. Maybe check the hose, it might have a few holes in it. I'm going to go get you some cookies, you look hungry." The old lady said. Ruddigger perked up when he heard cookies and followed the lady into the house.
Varian went over to the hose and took a look at it. Everything looked totally fine, it made no sense. Then Varian saw something near the hose. It was a spot of black liquid.
Varian went over to investigate it, and poked the strange substance. It had the thickness of molasses and felt very cold. Varian was digging though his belt to find something to place it into to take it back to lab, when a butterfly landed on it.
Varian watched in horror as the butterfly was encased in a stone like structure that look similar to the black rocks. A chill went down his spine and his palms started to sweat.
What is this stuff? It's clearly dangerous...
Varian lost his train of thought when the black substance expanded. It seemed as if the more things it captured the further it spread.
I shouldn't be worried though right? It seems to only trap bugs...no I should worry this is dangerous.
Varian quickly scooped the black liquid into a glass jar he had found, along with the trapped butterfly. Varian saw that the grass under the black substance had gone brown and died. This was bad. Really bad.
"I got the cookie- what's wrong darling?" The old lady said. Varian was still in shock. He thought about telling her but didn't want to scare the woman.
"Nothing is wrong, thank you." Varian said, taking a cookies and eating it, even though he didn't feel like eating at all. "Everything here seems fine, thanks for letting me have a look!"
"No problem, come by anytime!" The old woman said, shutting the back door behind her.
Ruddiger finished eating a cookie in one bite and the chirped a confused chirp at Varian.
"Ruddiger, look at this!" Varian said, showing the glass jar with the butterfly and black liquid in it. Ruddiger's eyes went huge.
"This is really bad, we have to go tell-" Varian started, walking towards the castle to go tell Rapunzle what happened. But Ruddiger's chirping caused Varian to stop waking and look over. Ruddiger was pointing at a trail of more black spots.
Varian look at the trail and decided to run after it. Ruddiger had already gone and ran after the trail, still in shock. He had to figure out what was happening before someone got hurt.
