"Arts and Crafts time needs to be on hold," Barney grumbled as he stepped out of his room. It was the day after they found the golem, and Lumi talked to a being in the park. They planned to do it by witching hour, but their plans were halted when Matthos received a call at one am. Lumi looked haggard as well. She tied her hair into a knot. Her face was pale, and dark eyebags reminded Barney of the zombie bride.
Matthos looked the worst out of all of them due to lack of sleep. He hasn't stopped reading and writing, trying to figure out how it happened.
"What's up?" Barney flicked Matthos's forehead. In retaliation, he kicked his friend's ankle. If it were daytime and she had ample time for sleep, Lumi would've found this funny. It was 3 am, and she only slept for six hours. She was not fine.
"Stop it, the both of you," she admonished, and the two immediately stopped messing with each other.
"What is going on, Matthos? Why did you wake us up if we won't be creating a talisman?" Lumi repressed a yawn, trying not to be disrespectful, but her eyes watered as she did. She looked pitiful that Matthos felt guilty.
"There's a case in City A. A baby fell asleep and wouldn't wake up."
"Okay, you're baffled by Baby Shaking Syndrome, poor parenting, a probable case of poisoning. Matthos, these are not DPSIS case worthy, why in the world are you pouring so much time in it?" Barney demanded.
"DPSIS?" Lumi tried not to giggle at the sound of that. It felt like a name for a group of dwarves.
"Department of Paranormal and Supernatural Investigation and Sciences," Matthos answered absently, "I would relent to the idea of poor parenting and probable case of poisoning until the sister went insane."
"You mean guilt caused them to go cray-cray?"
"That's the thing, but no human can turn a child into an ice sculpture," he frowned, remembering Ramos's distressed voice as she explained the state they found the baby in. "Don't laugh at me," he warned and continued, "they described the baby as adorable."
He saw that Barney was doing his best not to give him a good ole punch in the back with his mouth in a forced pout.
"I'm being honest," he insisted, "the baby was described as an angel as he slept. His sleeping position was awkward, though, with the agent at the scene describing the body as very cold, freezing point. The sister grabbed the baby to wake it up and part of the body where she held the baby showed some cracks."
"When they rushed the baby in the hospital, vital signs show that they're okay, just in a sleeping state," he was baffled, "but they are young. Even with them on support and nutrients pumped into them, I don't know how long their bodies can stay in that state before they die. They're still monitoring if they can do something to 'defrost the baby.'"
"You know what, ask for an investigation,'" Barney relented.
"Matthos, do you think this is related to the curse of my people?" Lumi's forehead creased as she brainstormed, "I know it's too early and quite a reach with one case, and as you said, poor parenting. However, one thing my people cried about in their hysteria is that their child is taken away from them."
"I'll ask Ramos to inquire if the parents suffered from the hysteria," he quickly typed on his phone, beating himself up for not thinking of it that way.
Barney wasn't as convinced, "Let's not get into the thought that everything that is happening right now is a form or connected to the curse of Wren. One thing at a time, or else our attention would be too divided to focus on anything."
"Is there anything that can freeze a baby?" Lumi asked, then it clicked, "Oh, a refrigerator."
"Nope," Matthos quickly debunked that, "A baby wouldn't freeze that quickly in less than three hours, not even in an industrial fridge. If the baby was frozen, it should already be dead," he pointed out. "From what I was told, it took three people to carry the baby's body. It's impossible for a teenager to bring that from the fridge all the way to the room with that kind of weight."
"Lumi, what you said in the cliffs," Barney remembered.
"Did someone sing to the child?" Lumi asked.
"When the people started singing, you said the children fell asleep, right?" Matthos's eyes widened as he also remembered their conversation.
Lumi's head ached when she tried to force her memory to remember what happened in the tribe back then. For some reason, it felt like there were gaps that stopped her from recalling everything from the Curse of Wren to the life she led before being found.
"All I can remember is that they fell asleep and wouldn't wake up," she said in a disappointed manner.
"Matthos, try to check if someone sang to the baby. If that is indeed the case, the Curse of the Wren is here to haunt your world," Lumi warned.
To that, Barney whistled to Matthos's defeated look, "Wow, we're fudged."