Father Moughlin ultimately also gave the Chapmans quick directions to the closest church to his own. It was a Protestant church, obviously, but the priest seemed personally understanding of the situation the Chapmans felt themselves to be in and wished them luck in getting some information that they'd take solace in with regard to dealing with Cupple's magic. Zoe took that as something good as they slid along on their tails heading east from the Catholic church. She was a bit depressed by the fact that Father Moughlin hadn't been able to provide more immediate help, though a part of her seemed more depressed by the fact that Grace had been depressed by it. It had been Grace's idea to go to the Catholic church first and Zoe noted Grace's feeling down when it was revealed that immediate answers weren't available.
But Zoe wasn't sure on how to fix that. Some of her excitement and pushing on Father Moughlin had been to see if there might have been something that he was hiding and thus when he revealed it, that would ease Grace's concerns. It was the best that Zoe could think of on her own, as much of her focus had been in athletics before all the stuff that had gone on that lead to them becoming Slug People. She wasn't as smart as Grace was, as strategic as Jeff was, or driven as Lucy was when it came a plan or an idea, thus her plan had been mostly to get a quick and direct response, and that failed. But Grace did feel better at Father Moughlin's kindness and the offer of shelter should they fail to get help elsewhere, so Zoe took some relief in that. Now, all they could do was keep going in the hopes that someone would have an answer.
The route had some shad, which the Chapmans found relaxing as the sun was also climbing above them and in places where the concrete wasn't under a tree providing shade felt warm on their tails. It was a warning that all of them felt that if they stayed in the sun too long, they would deplete their own slime reserves and dry out. Thus, they kept moving and hopeful that they'd find some help in figuring out how to counter Cupple's magic and what they knew to be rather negative attentions. Zoe looked from one eye to Grace, who was presently leaning against Jeff while Whitney leads the way in the direction of the next church they were to visit and was just ahead of Zoe. Bringing up the rear was Lucy, who periodically looked over her shoulders and sulked a little bit, likely because she didn't seem to like the idea of accepting what Father Moughlin had offered.
"Penny for your thoughts, sis?" Zoe asked as she let Jeff and Grace slide ahead of her so that she could talk with Lucy, "Not too bummed about how the vote went..."
"I don't like it, if that's what you're asking," Lucy answered, "though I can accept it."
"Any particular reason why?" Zoe asked her older sister.
"What... so you can make more jokes about me wanting to join the Slug Person colony?" Lucy whispered back.
"No," Zoe answered, "I think I got through earlier... but it still seems like you're frustrated."
"In a way, I am," Lucy spoke, "we have to stop Cupple. He's clearly had an agenda. Either he enslaved Megan and Jenny and then turned them into Slug Women, or he managed to catch them alone and far enough away from the rest of the Slug People that their link to the hive mind was weaker and thus could enslave them. That shows that he has a lot of power... and that he will use it when given the opportunity. And he's already demonstrated to us twice that we can't overpower him physically without risking him killing members of our family in the process."
"And we're looking for some way to overcome him," Zoe pointed out.
"Yes, and that's good," Lucy agreed, "but without some proof or knowledge of a way to counter his magic... just about anyone who helps us will be vulnerable at some point. He could go after or arrange something that hurts the man that just offered us sanctuary for doing so. And while sure the "law" would oppose him if he did it outright... but he's already murdered dad and admitted as much, knowing that we have no evidence beyond his word. Which means he's sneaky and could well find a way to remove threats to him with powers that they cannot counter. Even our neighbor may ultimately face danger... or at least Megan and Jenny."
"We just have to be hopeful," Zoe encouraged, "and it's not like we have to many choices."
That finally got Lucy to nod and in a more accepting way, which was a good thing for Zoe. Zoe wasn't as quiet or shy as Grace often was, but in many ways, she liked being able to feel Lucy's confidence and drive as much as Grace did. It would be something that was very good thing for helping Grace feel better as they worked along trying to figure out how to stop or counter Cupple's mage, as Lucy, along with Jeff, was very much a protector of the family. Though, there ultimately wasn't too much time for Zoe to really feel too much relief at that as a few calls of her name and then Whitney's came from behind them and across the street. It got the group to stop just after crossing a street.
They turned to see a group of three, one adult woman, about Whitney's age in a pair of jeans and a button-down work shirt. There were some oil stains on it and even from where they were, Zoe could catch the scent of fertilizer through the sensory stalks at the corners of her mouth. With the adult woman were two others, though younger. One was about Zoe's age and was wearing a tee-shirt and a pair of blue jeans that had the knees either cut or worn out of them. The last was a younger teen wearing a pair of cotton shorts and a tee-shirt with a cob of corn on the front. It was the Grenzes, a farming family from the south end of town and who Zoe remembered go to school with the eldest daughter, Maize, in high school. The friendship had often led to things like sleep overs and even interfamily dinners and had often been a way for the Chapmans to get a good deal on corn.
"Whitney!" Heloise Grenzes called as she jogged forward, "what brings you and the family out to this side of town? Looking for corn?"
"Heloise!" Whitney gasped back as she pivoted on her tail and the rest of her family caught up with her, "what brings you out here?"
Heloise Grenzes raised an eyebrow and then gestured to the south and the Chapmans were quick to notice where they were. The Chapmans looked to the south and then noted that in their trek from the Catholic church, they'd also gone far enough south that they'd come onto the town's southern edge, practically on the opposite side of where their neighborhood was. On the other side of the street was a wire fence and on the other side of it were rows of planted corn that stood tall and green. And going back a bit there was a gate and dirt driveway to the Grenzes' home.
"I was checking a few things with my helpers," Heloise commented and saw you all sliding by, "and normally when we see you... it's been at school meetings or when we've begun harvesting our corn and have them ready to sell directly to the customers. You've normally been pretty busy this time of year to come out as a family."
"Normally it'd just be Zoe coming to race and talk about other things," Maize said as she came up beside her mother and with a small smile that was directed at Zoe.
That left Zoe a little nervous in that it played to some things that had happened back when she and Maize were in high school. Like Zoe, Maize was interested in athletics and the two of them competed in volleyball and girls' basketball. They'd also done track and field and through high school, the two of them had been good friends, though it led to some difficulty in their junior year. It turned out that Maize was something of a lesbian and had been into Zoe because of how close they were at friends. It'd been a bit of a surprise that Zoe hid... as at the time, she was truly straight and thus she wasn't into Maize in that way. Though, now as a Slug Woman, Zoe had the sense that some of that would change in that Slug Women tended to be bisexual given that there were few Slug Men, and that Slug Women had both male and female equipment. But Zoe also knew that had more to do with what Megan and Jenny had done to the Chapmans and she couldn't be sure as to how the Grenzes would respond to their transformation. Would they accept that the Chapmans had become Slug People, or would they think that the Chapmans had always been Slug People?
Zoe's thoughts were broken when Whitney gave a grown, "Sorry... we've had some... issues the past few days and were out looking for help."
"We'd help," Heloise offered, "your family has been good, and kind and our children have gotten along fairly well."
Maize smiled at Zoe again, which made Zoe blush a little with embarrassment. She hadn't told her family about how she found out that Maize was a lesbian, particularly as it ultimately didn't hurt their friendship. They still hung out and shared emails while they'd been at college.
"We wouldn't want to trouble you with anything," Whitney spoke, "largely because of how odd it would be..."
"Can't be odder than a realtor wanting to buy my whole farm and then employ me and my girls to work it," Heloise commented.
"Huh?" Jeff blurted without thinking.
"Yeah... about a week ago," Heloise commented, "some guy named Couple... or Coople... or Cupple came to the house and offered to buy the entire lot and then employ me and the girls to farm it. I told him no, as I wasn't going to give up what's been in my family for generations and still work the land for a guy that knows nothing of farming."
"You've met Edward Cupple?" Whitney asked.
"Yeah," Heloise answered, "totally out of the blue. Shows up, asks to buy the farm, wants to keep me and the girls working it and said he had "big plans" for the town... which made little sense. The realty business the guy works for doesn't handle agricultural property. They only handle individual homes, like what you guys have. And in this it showed when he undervalued the price of the land I grow my corn on. I told him no and sent him on his way. Never figured on what his big plans were..."
"That big plan would seem to involve turning people into Slug People... and for reasons we don't know," Lucy grumbled, "using real magic."
"Like with the little ponies?" the youngest Grenzes asked looking to Lucy.
"No," Lucy answered, "nothing in it was altruistic or good... it was done by force and robbed us of our humanity."
"What?" Heloise blinked and looked between Lucy and Whitney. Zoe followed things with one eye and had the other on Maize to see what her response was.
"This is a long story and may be hard to believe, but what Lucy said is true," Whitney spoke and then gave the rundown of events from Megan and Jenny's arrival at the Chapman house, bathing the entire family in the transformative magic hoping to rapidly turn them into Slug People and only succeeding with Whitney. Jeff and Grace also picked up here and there on the escape from Megan and Jenny, being trapped in the master bedroom and then leading to Grace's transformation, then Zoe and Lucy's, and then finally Jeff's. Whitney finished with the run ins with Edward Cupple that confirmed his role and included the admitting that he had been responsible for the Champman family's patriarch.
"That... that's a lot," Heloise said slowly as Whitney finished, "parts of me want to think it's made up and that you've always been Slug People... but... yet... parts of it would also seem to tie things together with the offer to buy the farm."
"How so?" Whitney wondered, curious at the response.
"Slug People can be rather prolific breeders," Heloise answered, "something that comes along with largely being hermaphrodites with an extremely high libido. And the few male Slug People... like Jeff... are MORE potent than Slug Women. That then requires a lot of food, and the Slug Person colony north of town is one of my biggest buyers, likely to feed the colony. From the way you tell it... if Cupple is some kind of dark sorcerer... it's likely that he's wanting either turn or breed a large number of Slug People, and that would require food. Buying my farm... would have not only provided food but potentially even the space for a new Slug Person colony loyal to him."
"But what would the purpose be?" Jeff wondered, "in some ways, Slug People can be fairly tough to kill and in others they can be very fragile. We're not particularly strong, in that a strong Human could show greater feats of strength."
"And while Slug People have some magic inherent to them... it's at low levels," Grace commented, "so it's not like we could suddenly cast lightning or brainwash someone."
"I can't say on what the end game would be," Heloise spoke, "likely because I couldn't know why he wanted to buy my farm in the first place. Though... I'd also imagine that he does have some bigger plan at present. I'd wish to help in any way I can..."
"You've done a lot in helping us piece together some things that Cupple has done," Whitney commented, "that does help... though we're also presently going to those who might have more knowledge of magic and how to counter it. That might be the only way of finding a way to stop him and get evidence to the police and the law on what Cupple has done."