As expected, the following day, the package arrived via courier from Japan. Hutch accepted the modest sized, black, plastic case at the door, and took it into the dining room, where he placed it on the table, before heading out to the lab.
"Cas, the package just arrived," he announced as he made his way towards him.
Looking up from his notes, Casimir glanced at the clock. "It's earlier than I expected," he remarked as he got up from his chair and headed towards the greenhouse. "Jay, it's here!" he shouted, having opened the door.
"Really didn't think it would arrive before tomorrow," Julian commented, taking off a pair of gloves as he made his way in from the greenhouse. "Let's hope the expedited treatment didn't compromise the care."
"If even one is broken, I'll ensure someone loses their job over it," Casimir stated as they made their way towards Hutch.
"I don't think you need to worry about anything. The case looks untouched. Not even a scuff mark from what I could see," Hutch said, and the three made their way out of the lab together and inside to the dining room.
"You were right. It looks as if they took my instructions seriously," Casimir remarked, as he rolled the tumblers of the combination locks into the correct position, before depressing the release buttons, and the case clicked. On bated breath, Casimir cautiously opened the top the of the case, revealing the grey foam interior, and the six, small, containers, made of a pale red glass, that appeared at first glance to be identical in shape to that of the original crystal that once occupied the center of the amulet.
Casimir carefully pulled one of the delicate glass pieces from its place and held it up in the light. "It already looks far more promising that the ones from Europe."
"The samples are here too," Julian said, having removed a section of the foam that was protecting a separate compartment inside the case. "I'll run them through the spectrometer to see how close it is to the original."
"Hmm, that may give us a better idea of what those two unknown substances were in the original," Casimir remarked, as he continued to examine the piece he was holding. "Although I suspect that whatever this glass is missing, is what made the original far less fragile. These are incredibly delicate in comparison. Unfortunately, without knowing what the mystery ingredient was, all we can do is use what's close enough. But, if these don't work, and we managed to solve the myrrget problem, figuring out the mystery ingredients will just be another lead to follow. What do you say, Hutch? Any possibility that working with glass might be in your future?"
Hutch raised his brow. "You've gone to how many masters in how many countries looking for someone capable of making these to your specifications and you think, 'Hey, Hutch could learn to do this,' as if it's easy?"
"He never said it was easy," Julian remarked with a hefty scoff. "And you need to do something with your life besides working as our butler. Even you're smart enough to know that. Otherwise, what the hell was the point of me helping you get through school. The least you could do is take up a hobby that has some potential in helping us with this. It isn't like you need to make a career out of it. Just learn the basics and then focus on learning the techniques that can make this sort of glass and configuration. If nothing else, it will give you some sort of a purpose."
"Thanks for that," Hutch replied, on the back of a deep breath.
"I don't think he meant that how it sounded," Casimir said as he carefully set the glass piece back into its place in the case.
"Oh, no. I completely meant that exactly, how it sounded. He worked hard, I'm not going to downplay that, and he managed to graduate with a respectable GPA, considering what he started with, but have I heard a single mention of going to college in the fall or even a trade school? No. He might not want to say it, so I will. You cannot expect to live out your days here, moping around and hoping that we solve all of this on our own."
"Okay, I get it," Hutch replied, not wanting to be lectured further. It wasn't that Julian didn't have a good point. Even if it was just a small contribution, it would, at least be A contribution. Which was more than he could offer at this point. If he had years to wait for the myrrget problem to be solved, learning to make the container to hold it, wouldn't be the worst use of his time. "And if these don't work, I'll look into it. I'm sure I can find some information online and see if it's something I'd even be capable of doing."
"Really, Hutch, give yourself more credit," Casimir said, as he closed the case. "Stop pretending like you're stupid because you struggled with the curriculum in the schools here. It's like you've completely forgotten how good you were with your hands. I'll be the last person to argue with you and say you were meant to be an intellectual, because you weren't. You've never been apt to learn from books. You're a practical man. You learn from doing and you've always been this way. Think back to your academy training. Your test scores were terrible, but in the field, once you saw what and how to do anything, you picked it up like it was natural. Unfortunately, that means you aren't meant to be in a lab all day, making observations and writing notes. Not to mention that your writing is atrocious."
"Really? You too?"
"But," Casimir stated loudly to regain his attention, "I think something more hands on and practical would be right in your wheelhouse."
"Your encouragement is appreciated," Hutch replied, offering a half smile.
"For now, though, we have six opportunities to make this work, or at the very least, narrow down where we are going wrong. Even more if we don't break them in the process. That being said, I expect both of you to be out in the lab, in one hour."
"An hour?" Julian questioned as Casimir picked up the case and headed towards the door.
"Yes. I don't suspect it will take me much beyond that to prepare one of these for testing."
"You want to test one today?" he asked, as he followed Casimir out towards the door.
"No time like the present."
Hutch hadn't expected to hear Casimir's response. He thought the first tests would be weeks, or possibly months away, given the way he'd been talking about everything over the past couple of days. And despite trying not to get his hopes up, Hutch was struggling to contain his smile or wrangle his thoughts. The very possibility that by the end of the next hour, he might know if he could see Kahlala again, had his heart pounding in anticipation. Perhaps it was because Casimir had sounded more confident than he had previously, and unintentionally that had given him a boost of hope. Something he had been in desperate need of.
The situation had been so much of a shock to Hutch's system, that it had left him in a daze, and he'd forgotten what he was doing before the courier arrived. Standing, alone, in the area between the kitchen and the dining room, he looked about absentmindedly.
"Right," he muttered, setting his finger to his chin, "what was I doing?"
Glancing about, he felt lost in a dream. It was if he'd been stumbling around in the dark and someone had just turned on a light. Everything about his surroundings seemed surreal. He'd been living and working in that house for over a year and a half. It had become his home. The people around him were his friends and had become his family. Now the thought that he might be leaving them, despite that being his goal from the start, struck him in an odd way. He'd been close to achieving his ultimate goal before, and everything had come crashing down, just when it was within reach. He'd lost his entire world, everything, save for his life, and now he was on the precipice of the possibility of that happening again.
The hour had gone, and Hutch had spent it on the couch, deep in thought. Julian's arrival was marked by the abrupt strike to the top of Hutch's head, which was more than enough to break him from his daze.
"What was that for?" he shouted, scrunching down as he guarded the top of his head.
"What, indeed. I've been calling your name, and you're acting like you didn't hear me. I thought you might have up and died on our couch."
"Not quite," Hutch muttered, rubbing at his skull to dull the ache away. "Just lost in thought."
"Think later. It's time. Dad wants us out in the lab. He's assembled the amulet. Time to see if there is any hope, at all, of it working."