INTERWOVEN ADVENTURES | Circadian Earth: Book 1

Chapter 14

"I'm home!" Wren called, as she came through the door.

Azaleah ran to the entrance hallway from the kitchen, where she and Addie were preparing food. "Hello, Mom. Good day at work?"

"Stressful," Wren replied, as she took off her boots. "Did Layla and Josie make it home?"

"Josie's in her workshop, playing with Seven," Azaleah explained. "Layla took her out while I was shopping, and I got back first."

"Out? That's not like Layla at all. Where?"

"Well... this might seem hard to believe, but apparently they visited the creator of the Nasrics."

"They don't even know how to contact..." Wren remembered Layla calling her about Addie's manual. "They got Izzy's number from the manual. Right."

"No, I think Layla used her laptop to find it through Nasrica's database."

Wren stared at Azaleah. "Where is Layla?"

"Gone. She likely snuck out right as she brought Josie back. If you ask me, she knows what we're going to say and doesn't want to deal with it."

"Call her."

"Can't. She left her phone."

Sighing, Wren headed towards Josie's workshop. "Anything else that I should know?"

"Yes, actually. You should prepare yourself for when you see Josie and Seven."

"You're mentioning Seven as if she somehow came to life." Wren realised what Azaleah's expression meant. "You've got to be joking."

"Addie isn't happy about it either. But that's apparently why they visited Izzy. Seven needed some fixes."

"Great... Go help Addie finish making dinner. I'll talk to Josie."

Azaleah nodded. "Just so you know, I think Seven became a bit shy after seeing Addie's reaction to her."

"Okay." Wren opened the door to the workshop, seeing Josie and Seven happily talking to each other. Upon noticing her, Seven dashed behind Josie.

"Josie... who is that?"

"That's my mom!"

Wren walked towards the pair, and Josie became a bit nervous. But then Wren simply sat down next to them. "I'm not mad. It's just a lot to handle. Just... take me through what happened on your end."

Josie sighed with relief. "Layla got me one of Addie's crystals, for me to play with alongside Seven. I fed her the crystal and she woke up."

"I see. Go on. And Seven, I won't bite."

Seven slowly came out from behind Josie, and sat on her head.

"She couldn't speak or fly. Parts of her insides were broken."

"So that's why Layla took you to Izzy's place?"

"Yeah! I heard Izzy saying Seven was special, too! Something about a... prototype? What does that word mean?"

Wren was stunned. "It means Seven was a test."

Seven spoke up. "Izzy's trying to make new Nasric designs. I'm one of many test designs she made, but only five of us are known to be alive."

"Special, Izzy says. I can see why. How much does Addie know?"

"Not a lot," Josie replied, frowning. "She refuses to talk to me now. Maybe Leah told her something."

"Okay. Now, about the other issue... where did Layla go?"

Josie just shrugged.

"She said she needed to get her laptop... we haven't seen her since," Seven explained.