Love You a Latte had unexpectedly run out of coffee, so Elwood sat at a table with Phoenix drinking chamomile tea. Phoenix was tapping her fingers on her smoothie and bobbing her leg underneath the table. She hated sitting still.
As it turns out, reader, the box that Jack Stars had given Elwood was not a sakake-bako box. It was structured like a one, but upon further inspection, Elwood noticed runes and lines connecting holes in the box which were not characteristic of sakake-bako boxes. It was this difference that apparently made it impossible to solve. Elwood had been at it for three straight days before Phoenix took him out for a much-needed caffeine boost.
A caffeine boost that turned out to be caffeine-free with a spoonful of sugar.
“Other than the box, I just don’t know if we have a lot else to go on. Is there anything you could think of that might lead us to where Lyra went?” Phoenix asked.
Elwood’s mind drifted back to the night of the circus, to the person who strolled up to him just before he left.
“Noah,” he said “Noah can see ghosts. Maybe he could talk to Mr. Evans.”
“Why would he help us?”
“He wants to know why he can see ghosts. You could tell him about nocturnes.”
“That is out of the question, nocturnes have been kept secret for hundreds of years.”
“Then why did you tell me about it?”
“You’re a blank.”
“I don’t understand what that means.”
“You’re a nocturne born without the trademark constellation on your forearm. Blanks are usually cast out of the society early in life, due to the fact that they can’t manipulate constace. You can, however, exist in the perasphere which will make you useful, once we figure out where Lyra was headed.”
Elwood furrowed his brow and sipped his tea. He still didn’t quite understand what Phoenix was talking about.
Suddenly, Phoenix’s eyes widened. If there was a lightbulb over her head, it would’ve lit up.
“That’s it! The box! Those aren’t just lines and dots they’re constellations! I should’ve known it was nocturian.”
“Pardon?”
“I know how to solve the box!”
Phoenix and Elwood dashed out of the coffee shop and ran back to Elwood’s apartment. Though when they opened the drawer where the puzzle box was kept, it was empty.
The box was gone.
Hey Elwood! We talked in "I didn’t know you could get buried in your own silence"
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