Chapter 10 - Meow! Meow!

Within minutes, the diagnostic cube chamber was brought online. Flo stood at the centre of the ability measurement chamber while Mr.Hugo calibrated the monitoring sensor arrays outside.

"DayShine first," Mr.Hugo instructed through the intercom.

Flo cast it, “[-Dayshine-]”

A brilliant white light filled the glass cube, displaying standard readings.

"[-ObserVation-]"

Her scan wave spread through the room, once again showing standard readings.

"Now... both simultaneously."

Flo took a deep breath, channelling both cores. Her DayShine flared and her ObserVation surged. For a fraction of a second, Flo could feel the two streams clash and then fuse together inside her core. Afterwards, a shining golden-white shockwave burst outward through the glass walls.

Flo’s eyes lit up. "There!"

Mr.Hugo checked the diagnostic screens. "Nothing on the sensors or meters." He re-checked the secondary arrays. "Zero physical yield."

Flo looked around the chamber. "What?"

"The sensors picked up nothing, Flo."

"But the merged state activated!"

"It registered the visual trace and physical heat of your DayShine but no physicality manifested."

They tried again and on the third attempt, the golden-white wave flared briefly but the chamber remained empty.

Mr.Hugo analysed the flatlining data. "So the perception state exists..."

"Yes!"

"...but it is producing nothing."

Flo stared at the empty floorboards, thinking hard. "Maybe it doesn't produce anything. Maybe it simply reveals what is already present in the environment."

Mr.Hugo looked through the glass at her. Flo bubbled up with excitement "Isn’t that more interesting?"

"You say that every time an experiment fails to yield expected results."

"It didn't fail!" She stepped out of the chamber, watching the faint golden particles dissolve into the air. "We just haven't pointed it at the right target yet."

Before Mr.Hugo could reply, a soft sound echoed through the room.

"Meow!"

Flo’s head snapped towards the archway. The Observatory cat had strolled into the room, tail held high.

Flo’s eyes transformed into giant, sparkling stars. "AWWWW!"

Mr.Hugo closed his eyes. "Flo, we are in the middle of a diagnostic run."

"Look at her! She came to visit!"

"Flo, focus."

"She always picks the most dramatic moments!" Flo dropped to her knees, scooping the cat into her arms. The cat purred loudly.

Mr.Hugo watched her, exasperated. "Put the cat down."

"No."

"Flo."

"She is very cute and vital to my emotional wellbeing."

"You do not need an emotional support animal."

Flo squeezed the cat closer. "I do now!"

Mr.Hugo let out an exhausted sigh. "Five minutes. Then back to the data."

"Okii!" Flo sat cross-legged on the floor, petting the cat behind its ears.

Then, her movements slowed. The cat had settled directly over the spot where the golden-white residual magic had settled on the floorboards. Flo looked up at the air above the cat, then down at the cat, then back up.

"Mr.Hugo."

"What is it now?"

"Can we run the merged scan one more time?"

Mr.Hugo recognised that specific tone in her voice. "Go ahead."

Flo set the cat down gently. She braced her stance, pulled from both cores and cast her abilities together. The golden-white shockwave swept across the room. Flo stopped breathing as soon as she saw the golden-white, jellyfish-like entity because this time... it was emerging directly from the cat.

Flo slowly stood up. The entity floated upwards towards the ceiling, glowing softly. On the floor, the cat’s body had gone completely limp, its eyes closed and motionless.

Flo looked at the cat, then at the floating entity, then back at the cat. "No way..."

Mr.Hugo stepped closer to the glass and asked, "Do you see something?" Because he saw only empty air.

"Yes!" Flo reached her hand out towards the entity. It drifted towards her fingers, hovered for a second, then glided back down towards the motionless cat on the floor. Flo watched, her heart in her throat, as the entity descended and sank smoothly back into the cat's chest.

The moment it fully vanished inside, the cat blinked, sat up, stretched its front paws and let out a soft, lazy yawn.

"Meow."

Mr.Hugo watched Flo watching at the cat.

"Again," Flo whispered.

They ran the test several more times. The result was identical every single time. When the merged state was deployed, the golden-white entity emerged from the cat. The cat’s physical body entered a state of complete suspended animation while the entity floated freely through the air. As soon as it returned, the cat instantly woke up, entirely unaffected.

The very first time it had happened, Flo had panicked completely, dropping to her knees beside the limp feline. "SHE ISN'T MOVING! SHE ISN'T RESPONDING!" Tears had streamed down Flo's face. "Is she dead? Did i do do something wrong?!"

The entity had drifted down, merging back into the fur. The cat had immediately opened its eyes, looked at Flo's crying face and let out a tiny, confused meow. Flo had sobbed, pulling the cat into a dramatic hug. "YOU SCARED ME TO DEATH!" The cat had purred, thoroughly unbothered.

Now, Mr.Hugo looked down at his notes, his expression turning gravely serious. "This entity... it appears to be an energetic component linked directly to living consciousness."

Flo set the cat down, wiping her tears away. "An energetic component?"

"A soul-like manifestation or a localised magic construct tied to the life force."

Flo grabbed her pen, scribbling notes furiously. They spent the next several hours testing every parameter they could safely manage:

- Can the entity enter and leave the body at will?
-  (Yes, it seems so.)

- How far can the entity drift from the body?
- (Up to a hundred metres before resistance sets in.)

- Could it pass through solid matter?
- (Yes, it glided clean through the wooden table.)

- Does the physical body react to external stimuli while detached?
- (No response to sound or touch.)

- Does standard ObserVation detect it?

- (Not at all.)

- Does the combined state reveal it every time?
- (100% detection rate.)

Flo stared at her notebook page where, at the top, she had written in bold letters: SOUL?

Mr.Hugo glanced over her shoulder. "We cannot scientifically verify that term yet."

Flo frowned, crossing it out and instead wrote: UNKNOWN ENTITY. She stared at the words. "That sounds far too boring."

"It is proper academic terminology."

Flo added a line underneath: UNKNOWN CAT THING.

Mr.Hugo looked at it. "Highly professional."

"Thank you."

Hours bled into the late night. The Observatory grew quiet, the only sound being the scratch of Flo's pen and the occasional soft purr of the cat wandering across the desks. Flo tried her absolute best to stay focused on data logging but every few minutes, she couldn't help herself.

"AWWWW!"

Mr.Hugo looked up from his ledger. "Flo."

"Look at her paws! She's doing the tiny stretch!"

"She stretches constantly, Flo."

"But look at how cute it is!"

Mr.Hugo let out a long sigh, rubbing his temples, though a faint smile touched his lips. The cat hopped onto Flo’s desk, walking directly over her open notebook. Flo instantly abandoned her pen to scratch behind its ears. "Why are you so tiny and magical?" she cooed.

Mr.Hugo leaned back in his chair. "This is officially the most chaotic research session in the Observatory's history."

Flo looked up, her smile softening. "Is it?"

"Unquestionably."

She rested her chin on her hand, watching the sleeping cat as the silliness faded from her eyes, replaced by the same quiet, intense focus Mr.Hugo had recognised since her childhood, driven by an unyielding curiosity that made it impossible for her to walk away from an unsolved mystery.

"This isn't just about the cat, is it?" Mr.Hugo murmured softly.

Flo shook her head. "No. The entity inside the mountain storm... it possessed the exact same golden-white signature."

"Which means..." Flo looked up at him, her eyes wide. "Whatever came out of the cat... there are giant, uncontrolled versions of it causing the collapses across Cirnia."

"And no standard observer in the Defence Squad can see them," Mr.Hugo added gravely.

Flo slowly smiled, a spark of pure determination igniting in her gaze. "Then it looks like we have work to do."

The two spent the whole night researching. Tonight’s secret late-night examination was the longest it had ever been.

The following morning, Flo met Amelia and Caecilius in the academy cafeteria. Caecilius had barely set his tray down when he looked at Flo. "Did you discover anything of interest at the residence yesterday after you stepped outside?"

Flo nearly choked on her juice. "Nope! Total dead end!"

Amelia looked at Flo. Flo looked back at Amelia. Amelia immediately recognised that look: She definitely found something insane.

Caecilius stood up. "I am going to fetch tea."

The second he walked out of earshot, Flo leaned across the table, whispering intensely, "Ami!"

"What did you do?" Amelia asked instantly.

"I found the golden-white thing!"

Amelia's eyes widened. "The anomaly from the mountain?!"

Flo nodded rapidly.

"Where?!"

"It came out of the Observatory cat!"

Amelia's mouth fell wide open. "The CAT?!"

"SHHH!" Flo hissed, slapping a hand over Amelia's mouth.

Amelia pulled her hand away, whispering frantically, "Slow down! What are you talking about?!"

"When I use DayShine and ObserVation together, I can see this floating jellyfish spirit thing leave the cat’s body!"

Amelia looked equal parts terrified and fascinated. "You found a ghost cat?!"

Flo gasped. "Don't call her a ghost! She's alive and very cute! Oh and-"

Caecilius returned to the table with his teacup. Both girls instantly snapped back into upright, innocent postures. Caecilius looked between them as he set his cup down. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing at all!" Flo beamed.

"Just discussing breakfast," Amelia added smoothly.

Caecilius sat down, accepting the explanation without further question.

Suddenly, the overhead television screens switched to a breaking news broadcast showing a reporter standing before the elderly couple's house from yesterday.

"...the mysterious hauntings at the residence of Mr. and Mrs.Barrels have completely ceased. The homeowners expressed their gratitude to the inspection unit."

The elderly couple appeared on screen, smiling broadly. "We have no more footsteps and no more piano playing at night! Whatever bizarre spirit was haunting our halls is completely gone!"

Flo stared at the screen in silence. The entity hadn't been a ghost. It had been something far stranger. Somehow, her intervention had solved their problem too, killing two birds with one stone.