Chapter 19 - The GPS

[1:00 AM, the Main Hall of the Observatory]

The Observatory was still fully illuminated and gathered around a large wooden table were three people, one Lost Being and one cat.

Mr.Hugo sat with his arms crossed over his chest, looking thoroughly exhausted. Trista sat quietly beside him holding an open notebook while Puff sat directly on top of one of their crucial research papers. Cocol floated lazily near the rafters and Flo stood at the head of the table like a commander.

"Welcome," Flo announced dramatically, throwing her arms out, "my special squad!"

Mr.Hugo sighed heavily. "I already regret this."

Trista gave a nervous little smile. "I'm happy to help."

Cocol floated peacefully and Puff yawned loudly.

Flo turned and pointed at the enormous board behind her. "Tonight, we are going to solve the mystery of the Lost Beings!"

Mr.Hugo raised a hand. "We're not solving it tonight."

"Why not?"

"Because it is one in the morning."

"But that's when the best ideas happen!"

"That's when sleep happens."

Flo ignored him completely, turning back to the massive map of Cirnia. Pink circles marked various locations, red lines linked several of them together, blue notes lined the margins and arrows crisscrossed everywhere.

Trista stared at the board in awe. "Oh..."

Mr.Hugo stared at it, rubbing his temples. "Flo."

"What?"

"Did you sleep at all?"

"That is irrelevant."

"It is extremely relevant."

Flo pointed to the center of the board. "Look! The cases aren't concentrated in one location," she explained rapidly. "They're distributed across the city but the timing between incidents is accelerating. The manifestations aren't identical either which means the magical instability isn't simply producing one standard response."

She shifted her finger to another cluster. "Some are aggressive. Some are frightened. Some are depressed. Some are physically weak. Some wander without purpose. But once DayShine stabilises them, they all become relatively harmless."

Trista raised her hand slightly. Flo paused. "Yes?"

"Sorry... c-could you explain that a little slower?"

Mr.Hugo nodded in approval. "Thank you, Trista."

Flo sighed. "Sure." She took a deep breath, turning back to her map. "Okay. The Lost Beings are appearing more frequently. We don't know why. We don't know what causes someone to become a Lost Being. We don't know why they become unstable or why they don't remember what happened after returning to their bodies."

She pointed up at Cocol. "We also know that some Lost Beings have a connection to their physical bodies and that connection weakens with distance and time."

Trista nodded. "And some don't seem to have a connection at all."

Flo looked at Cocol, her tone softening. "Exactly."

Mr.Hugo folded his arms. "And your theory?"

Flo's expression turned intensely serious. "I think we're missing something. Right now, our Ghost Detector network tells us where a Lost Being is." She tapped a pink circle. "But that's not enough."

She drew a swift line connecting two circles. "If we had enough nodes, we could track their movement."

Trista's wondered. "You mean..."

"We could reconstruct their path!" Flo's smile grew. "We wouldn't just know where they appeared, rather we'd know where they went!"

Mr.Hugo leaned forward slightly, genuinely listening now.

"We could track their trajectories, compare routes, identify repeated areas and see whether different Lost Beings have passed through the exact same places," Flo continued excitedly.

Trista examined the lines on the map. "So we'd be able to see if they have something in common."

"Exactly!" Flo's eyes sparkled. "We're not just finding Lost Beings anymore." She turned dramatically to face them. "We're mapping them."

Mr.Hugo was silent for a long moment, studying her logic. Finally, he gave a slow nod. "That could actually be useful."

Flo gasped. "Mr.Hugo approved!"

"I said useful."

"That's basically a standing ovation from you!"

Trista giggled while Mr.Hugo merely sighed.

Flo turned back to the board. "There's just one problem." She picked up a pink chalk and wrote a large number across the wood: 271.

Trista blinked. "271?"

"That's approximately how many nodes we'd need for proper city-wide coverage."

Mr.Hugo stared at the number. "Absolutely not."

"But..."

"No."

"We could build them gradually!"

"No."

"One hundred?"

"No."

"Fifty?"

"We already have fifty."

"Sixty?"

"Flo."

"Sixty-five?"

"Flo."

Flo crossed her arms, pouting. "Fine. How many can we afford?"

Mr.Hugo looked at her. "With the remaining private research reserves?" Flo nodded. He hesitated before answering: "Not many."

Flo's shoulders dropped. "So we need funding."

Mr.Hugo's expression grew serious. "Yes."

Flo looked at the map, then at her notes and finally at the Ghost Detector prototype sitting on the desk. "The Ability Authority."

Mr.Hugo immediately shook his head. "No."

Flo turned to him. "But they're already investigating the incidents! They have resources! They have access to the city! Then why not ask them? Why do you always keep saying no? You should change your name from Mr.Hugo to Mr.HugeNO!!"

Mr.Hugo leaned back. "Because the moment the Authority becomes interested in your research, people will start asking questions."

Flo's expression softened. "They don't have to know everything."

"They will eventually."

"They won't if we submit a proper proposal."

Mr.Hugo looked at her intently. "Flo..."

She stepped closer. "We can leave out the parts they don't need to know. We don't have to tell them about Cocol." She glanced up at the floating ghost. "We don't have to tell them about the white threads... and we definitely don't have to tell them about my abilities."

Mr.Hugo's expression tightened slightly. Flo knew exactly what was worrying him.

"My dual ability is still safe," Flo reassured him gently.

Mr.Hugo let out a quiet sigh. "I just don't want them looking too closely at you."

"I know." Flo offered a warm smile. "But if we're going to find out why this is happening, we need more information. And right now, we're running out of ways to get it."

Mr.Hugo looked at the board, then at Flo and finally at Trista. He sighed exasperatedly. "Fine."

Flo's eyes lit up instantly. "Really?!"

"We'll submit a proposal."

"YES!"

"But we are being careful."

"Of course!"

"And you are sleeping after this."

Flo paused, looking away. "...We'll discuss that later."

Trista giggled quietly while Cocol floated lazily around the ceiling. Suddenly, Puff leaped onto the desk, landing right on top of the draft proposal papers.

"PUFF!" Mr.Hugo yelled, lunging forward to rescue the documents.

Flo burst into helpless laughter. "She approves!"

"She is sitting on the budget section!"

"PUFFECT!"

"Puff!"

Flo suggested,"Oh! We should call ourselves GPS! The Ghost Protection Squad"

Mr.Hugo suggested exitedly,"How about SherLost Beings Homes? Because we find their homes back? How about it??"

He got his answer when there was no response, complete silence.

(Craw. Craw.Craw.)

Trista gently spoke,"I-I think GPS is good.”

"Seriously?!" Mr.Hugo said, surprised.

“Ha! Trista, you are the best” Flo said, triumphantly.

Trista was laughing out loud now too while Cocol drifted peacefully through the chaos. For a few precious minutes, the heavy mystery dissolved into shared laughter, scattered papers and one extremely smug cat.

The following morning, Flo and Mr.Hugo began drafting the official proposal, carefully weighing every word.

They described the recent surge in magical disturbances and proposed an expanded network of specialized detection equipment across Cirnia to monitor unusual environmental magic. They explained how the network would allow researchers to track incident locations, movement patterns and magical field correlations but they made no mention of Lost Beings, Cocol, soul-body connections or Flo's unique sight.

At the top of the finalized document, Flo wrote in neat script:

"Proposal for Investigation Research Regarding Recent Magical Disruptions"

She looked at it proudly. "It's ready."

Mr.Hugo read through the draft one last time and nodded. "Good."

Flo smiled. "Let's submit it."

[Later that afternoon: Inside the grand headquarters of the Ability Authority]

An assistant opened the door to Chief Wilkin's office.

Mr.Wilkin sat behind his heavy dark wood desk, surrounded by high shelves of records, maps and official documents. Sunlight filtered dimly through the tall, curtained windows.

The assistant, dressed in formal black, placed a sealed folder on the desk. "Mr.Wilkin. This was submitted by the Ability Department."

Mr.Wilkin looked up, opened the file and read the cover title: “Proposal for Investigation Research Regarding Recent Magical Incidents”

His sharp eyes scanned through the pages. Expanded detection. Incident mapping. Movement patterns. Environmental correlations. Funding request. It was just a standard academic request.

He reached the final page, paused and then flipped back to reread an earlier section.

"Interesting," Mr.Wilkin murmured.

"Anything else, sir?" the assistant asked.

"No," Mr.Wilkin said smoothly, closing the file and placing it on the corner of his desk. "Very well."

The assistant bowed and departed, closing the door quietly behind him.

Left alone, Mr.Wilkin leaned back in his leather chair, his eyes lingering on the closed folder. Why were the Observatory researchers suddenly taking such an aggressive interest in tracking these incidents? He knew the department had been observing the disturbances, but this proposal was unusually focused.

'Had they discovered something?'

Mr.Wilkin stared at the file for a moment longer before turning back to his other paperwork.

"Probably just some researchers becoming curious."