Lotus Lab

Chapter 11

There was nothing else to do than to go back to Lee's office. Grace was so worried about who she could trust that she'd forgotten she could be suspicious as well. Grace didn't know how the wolf would react to her explanation, but she preferred not to think about it. A weird feeling appeared in her head while she was walking back, in silence. Something that seemed like fear and disgust at the same time. Something that made her question whether it was HER walking towards the room or someone else. Grace heard her own breath elsewhere, as it was from another world. She turned around – nothing. "Why am I so nervous? They won't overreact or anything," Grace thought.

She was right. Lee didn't move a muscle when Grace told them the picture had disappeared. In fact, they weren't surprised at all.

"TRF must've taken it," they said calmly. Grace, however, was far from calm. Her eyes widened and she stopped breathing for a moment.

"They... you think so? Then I must be- I must be in danger, right?" She whispered.

"No, I highly doubt it. If the photo was from one of them, they wouldn't risk showing it. You have the power now".

"They power of what?"

"Don't you understand? No matter who dropped the picture, they're terrified right now".

"Wait, you actually believe me?" Grace tore up a bit. Lee looked confused, but they were smiling.

"Of course I believe you. If I knew anyone who would lie about such thing, it wouldn't be you".

"Oh, thank god," Grace exhaled in relief, "but what were you saying about power?"

Grace started to really believe that Lee doesn't have any bad intentions. Even if they did anything to her, Grace knew she was able to stand up for herself if necessary. Besides, teaming up with Lee was the only way to get answers now. Even if they had secrets and there were awful rumors – it didn't matter. What mattered right here and right now was the future of the lab.

Lee told Grace that as long as TRF wants to keep a secret no matter what they're plotting, it's unlikely they'll do anything out of place. That calmed Grace down, but Lee also recommended not to let her guard down until they figure anything out.

Suddenly, a piece of paper slipped through leaves of the tree. It was folded, the note on the back said: "they want to join". Lee's reaction time was extremely fast – they almost aggressively grabbed the paper and unfolded it. Grace tried to take a peak but Lee was hiding it from her. But as soon as they finished reading it, they gave it to Grace. She already guessed that the note was from Noah, "That's how they've been sharing news all this time". She still couldn't have imagined who the line on the back mentioned: "they want to join". Grace started reading carefully, trying not to skip any words. They note wasn't that long, which meant that every single word was important.

"I went to Ben and Michael this morning. A bunch of their stuff for chemistry is broken and Gloria stopped growing. They want to meet up".

Grace exhaled, closed her eyes. The bear were so trustworthy that even a smile appeared on her face.

"Okay, this is great, Lee", Lee blushed when Grace called them by name. Grace didn't notice, "Ben and Michael are the ones we need right now".

"You know what, I agree with you. I have a question though. Who the hell is Gloria?"

"Oh, don't worry, it's just Michael's chorus plant. Everyone knows her because he just won't stop talking about her. Stephen shouldn't have gifted her to him, honestly".

"Wait, chorus plant?" Lee asked, "Chorus fruits give the ability to teleport, right?"

"Erm, I don't know, sorry. I'm just a manager", Grace smiled, Lee smiled back, which surprised her".

"Yet you're here, properly investigating".

"I guess, yeah. But it's important..."

"Grace, why are you doing this? All this, it's pretty dangerous, and I can't think of any reason why you would be interested in going though this," Lee looked Grace in the eyes. She didn't look at them back, "Never mind. We can... we can meet up with the bears soon. Let's start taking this seriously," Lee stated. Grace raised a brow, "Even more seriously. I think I need to catch up on everyone's lives as well. I want to meet Gloria".

Heyyyyyy Jupiter hereeeee short chapter byeeeeee happy pride month by the wayyyy