The penny tunnel spits me out in the corridor outside Tellio's laboratory. I knock three times, each time receiving no answer. I check my watch, it's 9:59 am.
Maybe sorcerers start work late. Actually, was what he was doing even work?
I run the questions over in my head as I turn on the spot, trying to decide which direction to start today's exploration in.
"Do you require assistance?"
"Ah!" I duck out of instinct as a voice speaks from directly above my head.
I slowly scuttle to the side, turning to keep my eye on where the voice had come from. "Are you a brownie?"
"Yes." It has a slightly higher-pitched voice than the brownie from yesterday.
"Okay. Um, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find," I glance at my phone, "Tetra, Iron, and Amica?"
"I am afraid they have left the grounds for a research trip. They are due to return in the morning. Do you require any more assistance?"
"Um," I scroll through my list, "could you tell me where I can find Atmos instead then?"
I still need to confirm Atmos' role in the duel alibi. If I remember correctly, he is a part of the Magnis group, maybe I'll finally get to question that asshole.
"Yes. Follow me, Sir." The brownie scuttles away and I follow.
It leads me back through the small courtyard we passed yesterday, but then turns and calls me through a small doorway shrouded by ivy. At the end of the short shady tunnel beyond, it opens up into a large area circled by dense thickets.
The doors to the massive greenhouse I'd seen before stand on the other side. Through the glass, I can make out trees laden with bananas and apples.
"Atmos is in the greenhouse."
"Uh, thank you."
The ivy on the wall behind me flattens and parts as the invisible brownie tears its way over the wall and, I assume, drops down the other side.
The doors to the greenhouse swing open as I approach, and shut smoothly once I'm inside.
Inside the greenhouse, it's hot, like stepping into a sauna. The air is thick, I can feel the cloying consistency in my mouth as I breathe.
The greenhouse is twice the width of Tellio's lab and stretches back further than I can see. Seven rows of planters span the width of the building, and row upon row of them stretch into the depths of the greenhouse.
"Hello." My voice echoes in the glass construction, but I receive no reply yet.
I walk further in.
From what I can see all manner of plants are grown here, both tropical and not. Small sprouting herbs and huge leafy monstrosities grow side by side. Trees bend with boughs laden with fruit. Berries of all colours grow on bushes twice my height.
The further I walk, the more I notice the temperature changes depending on what planter I'm closest to. Some are cooler, while near others the temperature skyrockets higher. Orbs of light, like min suns, hover over the hotter planters. Over a few of the colder evergreen planters, it's snowing, small dense clouds hanging in the air over them.
"Hello?" I try calling out again, and this time I receive a response.
"Over here." The voice responds from the other side of a wall of coconut trees.
YOU ARE READING
When the Penny Drops | ONC2023
Paranormal"You have 7 days to solve a murder...before your luck runs out." Aaron Mathews is cursed...or at least that's what it feels like. Bad luck follows him wherever he goes. He spills every coffee he orders. He trips on every second stair. He's spent m...
