Philo [MXM] [BOOK 2] ✓

CHAPTER 38: CHANCE ENCOUNTERS

Dew is super bored.

He doesn't know how in the world he is expected to find this cure in time—White Eyes and Dead Wife Dude definitely set him up for failure. He has less than two weeks to find something that hundreds of scientists have been researching over the past century and a half, with almost no success.

It is not looking too good for Dew, that's for sure.

Dew has just been sitting in his normal chair at Dr. Sanchez's desk, doodling on paper while she does all the work. He forgot to get DNA from Rowan, so there's literally nothing for him to do. He did offer to go find the guy somewhere in the castle, since he probably isn't too far, but the Doctor said no.

After a few more minutes, Dew decides that he's sick of doing nothing. He looks up from his paper, and looks over to see what the doctor is doing. He's never really tried to figure out what she's up to or what kind of progress she's made, so he's curious.

He gets up and walks over to look at her computer, and the lady doesn't even look up—too invested in whatever she's doing. When Dew's eyes finally adjust to her screen, he is immediately confused.

He recognizes the website she's on, which catches him by surprise. Not only that, it's... a shopping website. The woman is online shopping.

Dew blinks. What the fuck?

"Are you... shopping?" Dew asks in disbelief. What happened to finding the cure?

Dr. Sanchez actually jumps, and Dew raises an eyebrow.

The lady suddenly looks nervous, and Dew begins to feel pissed. She's fucking shopping? She's wasting their time, like Dew and Rowan's lives aren't on the line right now.

"No—I mean, yes. We need some more supplies." She says, and Dew is still skeptical. Noticing this, she continues;

"How about you go get us some lunch? The kitchen isn't too far."

Dew stares at her for another minute, before he turns around and leaves the room. He's glad to finally have something to do, but he knows what he saw on that screen. She was not looking for more 'supplies' or whatever, she was looking at clothing. Bathing suits, to be more specific.

Dew has a feeling in his gut, one that he recognizes immediately. It's the feeling he had when he suspected that Rowan was purposefully messing up their Origin investigation—and he was. Sadly Dew can't remember what emotions the doctor was feeling when he'd caught her just now, but he's learned not to doubt himself when it comes to people.

Sabotage.

He already has a billion obstacles in this, what's one fucking more?

Feeling bitter, Dew sets out to find food. He's a bit concerned about running into White Eyes again, but decides that he actually is pretty hungry so it's worth it. He takes note that there's almost nobody in the hallways aside from quite a few guards. No signs of Marley or Nero or even the regular castle staff—maids, maintenance employees, cooks, servers...

Huh.

Dew doesn't know where the kitchen is, so he decides to just start walking a random direction. Aside from Rowan and most of the higher-up officials, a lot of the military force are total assholes. Especially regular patrol guards. They piss Dew off with their fucking power trip, and he wonders if he should risk disrespecting one of them and ask for directions.

Whatever. Dew sees a guard standing by a doorway that appears to lead into a separate wing. He makes his way over to the guy, who is taller than him. Other than that, Dew can't see his face. The castle guard uniforms include a helmet, unfortunately. The only reason Dew could see White Eyes was because he had his helmet off... almost like he wanted to be recognized.