Souls of Seoul: The Rise and Fall | OT7

18.

You wish it was easy to take all the unfortunate developments in stride, but it's so hard when it feels like the rug keeps being ripped out from under your feet just as your gaining your balance again. As if spending several hours down in the basement with Ramey, Des, and Jin as they try everything they can think of to get visuals wasn't bad enough, just before you decide to turn in for the night, Renee gets a call that throws off the axis once more.

The rest of the Galvquodi clan has been monitoring the globe while Bangtan focused on the new quaerenti. So far, things have been relatively normal aside from the decrease in tentoria activity worldwide. It was unusual and you had a gut feeling that it couldn't result in anything good. You just didn't quite expect what Grant informs Renee of over the phone.

She puts it on speaker, asking Grant to repeat himself.

"It started maybe two weeks ago, a slight increase in missing person reports. Now, though, in just the last twenty-four hours, reports have nearly quadrupled. There are massive amounts of people just disappearing. Husbands walking out in the middle of dinner, grandparents slipping out of their beds and leaving nursing homes, teachers just leaving classrooms, entire college class auditoriums emptying in the middle of a lecture...it's insane. As hard as local and federal officials are trying to track these people, nothing works. It's like they're literally just vanishing into thin air. Even we're unable to find more than a scant few security camera clips before the people enter into blind spots just to never reappear." Grant trails off, losing steam. You can clearly hear the apprehension and worry in his voice.

"There has to be some sort of explanation, people don't just disappear," Ramey shakes his head in disbelief.

Grant sighs through the phone, his breath making the line crackle. "Trust me, Rams, I know it sounds fucking insane...but we've seen it with our own eyes. I'll have PJ send you a direct link to our feed, you can review it and see for yourself. Marco, Kitar, and Rafi have been on the phone with international agencies for the last twelve hours, trying to sort through what's what on that front. But, it seems to be consistent across the board. Major cities like Paris, Amsterdam, London, Dubai, everywhere."

"Thanks for the info, Grant, let's keep an open line of communication. I'm going to patch PJ into my system, we'll get another set-up down here for monitoring your network," Jin says, moving to uncover a few storage boxes containing spare computer parts. "I'll be set up within an hour."

Ramey already has some new windows pulled up on one of the screens he was using to monitor the Wharf. "We got a little bit of a problem here, Grant. Is PJ around for us to bounce something off him?" Renee asks, shifting in her seat at the table.

There's a bit of rustling from Grant's end on the phone. "Hey, Renny, Grant stepped away but I'm here. He's going to see if PJ is awake, last I checked he was catching a power nap." The voice on the line isn't one you recognize. You've still yet to meet the majority of Renee's clan.

"Hey, Johnny, good to hear your voice. I miss you guys," she murmurs, leaning in closer to the phone. Your heart aches, hearing the forlorn in her voice. Being separated from your clan is something you're intimately familiar with and you know just how hard it can be. Ramey blows out a breath and leans back in his chair, putting himself close enough to put a hand on Renee's shoulder, he gives it an affectionate squeeze. "We might be needing you guys sooner than we thought. The plane's ready, right? Just in case."

The guy, Johnny, laughs. "Yeah, babes, it's ready. Just say the word and we're there."

"Depending on what PJ says, we might need you guys on a flight tomorrow. Double up on training for the new guys, our window might be closing in quick," Ramey adds just before Grant's voice and another you don't recognize can be heard.