Eliza sat at her desk, studying the Polaroids and scattered notes she'd collected over the past several days.
Her eyes settled on the photograph of the Animalcula.
Animalcula — XIII.
She glanced at the list she'd made in her notebook.
Fifteen creatures.
Partial AI Gen; Eliza’s Desk covered with field notes, field journal and the Animalcula Photo
She frowned.
Fifteen?
She picked up the photograph and counted again.
Fifteen.
Perhaps whoever labeled the photograph had miscounted. It was certainly possible, given how closely the little creatures were gathered.
She set the photograph down and returned to her notes.
But a moment later, her eyes wandered back to the label.
XIII.
What if it wasn't a count?
What if it was a photograph number?
Eliza looked around her desk, as though the answer might be hiding among the papers.
"If this is number thirteen," she said aloud, "where are the other twelve?"
She sat quietly for a moment.
Then she opened her notebook to a fresh page and wrote:
Animalcula — Photographs I–XII?
She drew a question mark beside it.
For now, it was only a possibility.
But it was a rather interesting one.