What is this weird plant?

"What?" I responded as if my hearing was off.

"They don't put that stuff in the paper," she explained, "I would be shocked too. It's like a shared awareness; just no one talks about it."

"Wouldn't you think that would be a great thing to inform people on?" I turned back to see that the little girl had changed into the light blue dress I handed her.

"Most know about it. Outsiders don't, and putting it in the paper would only give the killer what they want."

"And how do you know that?"

"Anyways, time for you to help me," she finished, ignoring me.

I followed her into a different room other than the first one we were in.

"You still didn't answ-" I followed behind her, stopping before what she wanted to show me. "What the hell is this."

What I saw in front of me was a plant that seemed to only possess one color, almost looking dull.

It was big and oval-like around half my height, with long thick vines that planted it to the ground like the roots of a tree. The large rose leaves that sprouted out surrounded the lower half of the green transparent sphere it was holding, leaving the top exposed to peer into.

At first glance, you could mistake it for a ball of glass, but the tiny air bubbles that moved around inside gave it away. While the design of the plant was alien to anything found naturally on earth, the real unsettling thing was what was in the center of the reflective greenish sphere.

"Is something growing in there," I calmly asked after examining it.

"I think so," she responded before going and looking into a dirt crate, pulling out a small wooden container used to store individual plants. "That's what the notes said," she continued, now walking back, "the women of the family have passed down this plant for generations, but we really don't know what it does."

"Mmm."

"It is really pretty; I can see why they would keep it."

"This is not pretty. No way can this ever be called that," I shot back, still looking at the plant, getting the feeling that it was moving.

Should I run, the little girl thought as she stood by the doorway, seeing them both banter between each other. That man should be far away from here by now, and since I got rid of my chain earlier, I shouldn't stick out from the crowd of people. But, with whatever power he has, if I don't give him the slip, he'll surely catch me.

And from what seemed to be a stroke of bad luck, I turned my head to see her awkwardly standing there.

"Come on," I signaled her from my crouched position, only to see her hesitate and walk over.

"I wasn't talking about that one," the older girl continued, crouching down to show me what she brought out of the dirt container.

The green petals of the flower were confined together like a rose, except this bud was larger and a vein green. Which I found very ugly.

"Even that is not pretty," I said, realizing that it was round the size of her palm. "What other plant is that?"

"Oh no, these two are the same," she corrected me.

"That was a horrible joke," I emotionlessly said as I looked back and forth between the two.

"No, I'm serious," she looked at me as if I was meant to be an expert on the topic.

"These two look nothing alike," I cried out at the clear differences.

"Look, just help me out, and we'll both be on our ways."

"Then what do I need to do."

"Place your finger flat so that it crosses the center of the bud."

I looked confused as I slowly placed my index finger down. "Are you making fun of me?"

But before she could respond, I felt the petals coil around my finger, increasing its grip with every following second.

I quickly stood up, frantically trying to shake the thing off. "The hell is it doing!!?"

"Relax!" She grabbed onto my wrist that was connected to the plant, "give it some time; it's nothing dangerous."

"God, it stings; feels like there are needles around the petals as it's hugging me."

I stopped and sat back down, "how much time?"

"Just wait till it finishes."

She grabbed a small notebook that was lying next to the dirt container and sat next to me.

"You smell like pork," she laughed.

"Well, I did have some earlier." I looked over to see that the little one had moved to a window on my right, carefully peeking outside at all who passed by.

"They wrote their findings in here," she handed me the notebook in a calmer tone now. "My mother never really told me much about it, so I'm no expert on the topic."

"Do you know anything about this at all?"

"Well, the notes said that it had the potential to grow things, but nothing has been successful so far, and the thing that you are doing now is something I was able to find out."

"..."

"Sorry," her voice cracked again. "It's kinda like the idea of how parents pass down the torch to their kids, and here I am, not knowing what to do with it. I'm sure an adventure your age understands."

No, quite the opposite, I thought as I saw a teardrop roll down her cheek. I lost my two brothers before, just like you lost your mother, but the difference was that I got lucky, that I wasn't alone when it happened, he was there for me, and I was there for him. Because of that, no, I'm sorry, but there really is no way I can imagine the hopelessness you are feeling.

That idea flashed through my mind like a lightning bolt as I placed my free arm over her shoulder, choking back words, knowing that anything I had to say wouldn't help the situation.

The weird rose stopped its process after a minute of silent grieving.

But at that time, I began to think. The fact that these 2 were the same plant and that it needed to suck on my finger like this to grow something inside of it brought me to one conclusion.

'What if she's the target.' Rose revealed my idea.

'Yeah,' I responded doubtfully. 'The mention of murders had me thinking that we had to track down a killer, but this plant, the way it has to be activated to grow, makes me think that it's trying to replicate life or at least some form of it.'

'And take into account the environment it's in. It practically doesn't even need energy until it grows to be the spherical version.'

"Looks like it's done," she said, getting up and retrieving the plant.

"So what was the point of me doing it," I asked, stretching my legs and arms.

"Isn't it better to have more of something to see the different outcome?"

"Yeah, but not if that something is dangerous."

"The plant isn't dangerous, and it's never hurt anyone."

I looked down at the index figure it was wrapped around, finding it spotless.

"See," she continued, "well now we both have a secret to keep, you with that child over by the window and I with the plant. I'm sure you can tell why this plant needs to be hidden away."

"Yeah," I sighed, looking over to the child, "also, you would happen to have a hoodie with you. I just realized that if they see her, they'll know that I'm the one that took her away."

There out on the street, I had the little girl on my back, now wearing a hoodie and still not knowing her name.

"Where are we going?"

"A hotel, we should be good there, so just keep your head down until we get there."

"Some hotels won't accept me."

"Well, then they just won't know."

"..."

The silence only made me uneasy as I avoided eye contact with anyone passing by.

"You never answered my question," she whispered as she began playing with my hair.

"I've been taxing one of my teammates recently, and she hasn't been able to perform her best recently." The first month's match filled my mind, remembering how it was weird that Ophelia was already out of it after trying to heal Stella's exhaustion.

His hair is awfully clean, and so are his clothes, the little one thought as she looked him up and down. This is an older style most adventures I've seen have sleeveless shirts.

"I'm surprised you didn't run," I slightly chuckled, readjusting her on my back. "I know I would."

She turned her attention to the back of his collar, where she could see black ink seemingly poking out of his shirt. Pulling back my collar a little, she caught a peek at the t-shaped ink formation.

Could he be like me? She thought, almost losing her grip and falling off. I ran as soon as they got rid of mine, but he still has his and seems to be alone, and why would a human of all races have one."

"Here we are," I said, suddenly stopping in front of the western-style hotel with the small curvy double doors. "And there is someone I'd like you to meet."