Lily Wong Ch. 9

Chapter 9

Night at the Library

"Honestly, I'm not sure it was a good idea for you to make a promise like that," Viv said as she and Lily walked out of girls dormitory.

They were headed over to the Clubhouse to meet the boys and talk about their next move. The Clubhouse was a place between the girls and boys dormitories where students could hang out and chill on their free time. It came with its own snack bar, a computer lab, a TV room, an arcade room, and even a movie theater. Lily wasn't sure why there'd be both a TV room AND a movie theater (if you asked her, the TV room was big enough to count as a movie theater).

"I don't see what the big deal is," Lily said, holding the left side glass door open for Viv. "We ARE going to try and get her face back."

"Yeah, but we don't even know for sure we can," said Viv. "Melody'll be really disappointed if we can't keep that promise."

"You say that like we could lose," Lily said.

"Hey, it's possible," Viv argued. "You remember, the only reason we got all that stuff back was because the parrot went easy on you. We can't count on that happening again."

"Then I'll just get better," Lily said. "I'll get faster, stronger and way more powerful. Have some faith in me."

"It's not about having faith," said Viv. "All I'm saying is that it's better to be careful before making any promises, because there's always a chance you might not keep them whether you want to or not."

Suddenly, a voice cut in and asked, "What's this about promises?"

While the girls were talking, they had arrived at a sitting area in the lobby where Oliver and Eddie occupied two silver-gray, leather armchairs facing opposite each other around a round, glass coffee table. Oliver could hear the girls from a mile away, though didn't catch everything.

"It's nothing," said Lily. "Anyway, here's what we heard . . ."

After telling the boys the whole story as told by Melody, Oliver rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "An old journal with a green leather cover that disappeared somewhere around the non-fiction section, huh?"

"That matches up with what happened to that other guy," said Eddie.

The girls exchanged looks.

"That other guy?" asked Lily. "What are you talking about?"

Oliver explained, "While you were getting the details from Melody, me and Eddie went to have a word with the other library helpers to get their side of the story. That's when we discovered that there's a second victim."

Viv raised an eyebrow. "A second victim? You mean someone else got their face ripped off?"

"Yep," replied Oliver. "It was Hassan. He went looking for the book on his own, found one that looked different, and it attacked him. After taking his face, the book flew away. Hassan chased after it thinking it would lead him to the one with Melody's fave, but lost it by a shelf full of electronics books."

"Electronics?" Lily spoke up. "Not technology like that time with Melody?"

Oliver shrugged. "It could be the same section, they just call it different things because of the type of books there. Anyway, that seems to be a good place to start investigating."

"Let's backtrack a little," said Viv. "There's ANOTHER of those books?"

"Honestly, I'm not surprised," said Eddie.

"Alright then," Lily said, rubbing her hands together. "When do we start?"

Oliver smiled and replied, "When else? Tonight!"

**********

"When you said, tonight," said Lily, "I didn't think you meant after dinner when most buildings, including the library should be locked down."

"When else did I mean?" asked Oliver. He was ahead of the group tiptoeing through an aisle shining a light in front of him from his smartphone.

Right now, Lily and the gang were in the library, well after the librarians had gone for the night. The lights were, of course, off, leaving the library in total darkness. Which was why Oliver was using his phone's flashlight to light the way. A glance at her own phone told Lily that it was now seven minutes past Eight.

"Where'd you get the key this place, anyway?" whispered Eddie.

Oliver replied, "I borrowed it from Alejandro. He and Erin were entrusted with lockup. He also gave me his passcode for the alarm. As long as we get back to the dorms before curfew strikes, we're safe."

"I don't know about that," Lily said doubtfully. "Sneaking into the library after closing? This feels so wrong."

This would make the second time she and the others were scurrying around in the dark where and when they were not supposed to. She started to wonder if this was going to be a regular thing from now on.  

"Can't be worse than sneaking outside of the school to explore the forest at night," muttered Viv.

"So where should we start?" Eddie asked Oliver.

Oliver replied, "The aisle with the technology books. That's where the face-stealing book disappeared twice, so we should start there. But be careful. That thing's already gotten two faces. Let's not add more to its collection."

With darkness surrounding them at all sides, the gang headed to the area of the library that housed the non-fiction books. But just before entering that maze of bookshelves, Oliver suddenly stopped.

"Wha -?" 

Lily was going to ask the older boy what was wrong, but he cut her off with a "Shh!" while holding a finger to his lips. He quickly snuffed out his phone's light and stretched his ears to the non-fiction area. Lily did the same and strained ears, catching the unmistakable sound of people speaking in hissing whispers. A jolt of fright hit her heart when she realized that she and the gang were not alone.

The whispering got louder, a sign that whoever was covered by the bookshelves was getting closer.

Oliver frantically waved his hand, signing to the others to hide. Playing Follow-the-Leader, the gang copied Oliver and dove behind a low shelf full of encyclopedias. One by one, they peaked out over the shelf top and watched as three whispering dark shapes emerged.

Suddenly, Oliver popped up and cried out, "What are you guys doing here?"

The three figures jumped back and yelped, "Gah!"

One figure swore and said, "Geez, Oliver! You scared me!"

"You know these guys, Oliver?" asked Lily. Seeing that they were in no trouble, she and the others stood back up. Light from Oliver's phone revealed the three figures were fellow students like themselves.

Oliver replied, "You could say that. These guys are library helpers like Hassan and Melody. From right to left, we got Alejandro, George, and Erin."

The oldest of the trio, a lanky, Hispanic boy raised his hand and said, "Yo, 'sup? The name's Alejandro. Nice to meet you all, Oliver's sidekicks."

"Sidekicks?" Lily, Eddie and Viv gave Oliver the side-eye, but he just turned away and pretended like nothing happened.

"Ahem!" he coughed. "Anyway, you still haven't answered my question. What are you guys doing here? I thought I told you that I'd handle this myself."

"Come on, Ollie," said George. "You can't expect us to just sit back and twiddle our thumbs when two of our friends are in trouble."

"Besides," said Erin, "we wanted to see what the famed Lady Sapphire was like."

Startled, Oliver stammered, "Wha-!? Wh-what do you mean? Wh-wh-what does Lady Sapphire have to do with anything?"

Erin rolled her eyes and went, "Oh, please, Oliver. You get new assistants at the same time Lady Sapphire shows up, followed by something fantastically impossible like a face-stealing and flying book? Not to mention, even after seeing that picture of Melody, you believed our story a little too fast and said you'd solve everything with an weird can-do attitude. It wasn't hard to connect the dots and see that you might have been through something just as weird and that maybe Lady Sapphire was mixed in this somehow."

"The way you acted just now all but proves it all," said Alejandro. "I'm guessing the kid with the blue bracelet's her, the heroic Lady Sapphire? That bling of hers really stands out."

Oliver gave Lily an awkward smile and then replied, "No point hiding it. Yep, that's her alright. Meet Lily Wong, A.K.A. Lady Sapphire." 

Lily cupped her hands over her eyes and groaned. It's only been a few days and the truth of Lady Sapphire was already out. And all the attention the library helpers gave her was not helping.

Viv raised her hand and said, "I'm just going to put it out there already, but we are terrible at keeping secrets."

"Anyway," said Alejandro, "we want to help out."

With a sigh, Oliver said, "Well, you're here already. We may as well have you show us the way."

"Great! So where do we begin?"

"The technologies section," said Oliver. "That was where the book kept disappearing at."

"Got it," said a cheerful Alejandro. "Right this way!"

The library helpers led the gang through the maze of bookshelves, taking twists and turns from aisle to aisle, shelf to shelf, until at last they came across a path with books about the subject of technology. They stopped right in the middle and took a look around.

"So? What do you think?" asked Erin. "Find anything?"

Oliver shined his light everywhere, but shook his head.

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary," he said. "No vents or trap doors the book could use to escape. It looks like every tightly packed book belongs here. As far as I can see, there's no green journal book. What about you, Lily? Notice anything unusual?"

Lily took a brief look around and then replied, "No. I can't find anything out of the ordinary."

"What about the bracelet?" asked Eddie. "Can it detect anything?"

George blinked. "The bracelet can detect things? Is it magic or something?"

"Actually, yeah," said Lily.

Astonished, the library helpers cried out, "IT IS!?"

Viv put her finger to her lips and went, "Shh! Quiet in the library!"

The library helpers clapped their hands over their mouths and then hissed, "The bracelet's magic?"

Lily nodded. "It's a long story."

"A story we don't have time for," Oliver cut in. He pointed to the time shown on his phone. "Let's move along, shall we?"

"Right, but what exactly do I do?" said Lily.

"Just ask it to show you where the book is," said Oliver. "I know the bracelet's got restrictions, but that should work."

"If you say so," Lily said, only half-convinced. She took a deep breath and sighed. "Well, here goes nothing."

She pulled her sleeve up to expose more of the bracelet and stretched her arm out in front of her.

"Okay, bracelet," she said. "Show us where the face-stealing book is."

She didn't have to wait long for something to happen.

Light shine from the bracelet's top stone and a thin beam flew out straight to the floor. A circle filled with intricate patterns suddenly appeared beneath everyone's feet and illuminated the space around them.

"Whoa!" Eddie cried out.

"Is that what I think that is?" shouted Erin.

"It is!" Alejandro said excitedly. "It is! It's a magic circle! A real magic circle! Just like in comic books!"

Lily shrieked, "Eek!"

The light shining from the magic circle instantly grew brighter, overtaking everything that Lily could see like the flash from a camera.

And then, the next moment Lily could see, she found herself and the others in a small, circular room with walls of dark brick and a high ceiling. Past the archway in front of them was a tunnel lit by rows of flaming torches with more warm light at the end.

"Did we just get teleported by that magic circle?" asked Viv.

"I think so," said Oliver.

"That's so cool!" cried out Erin. "Let's do that again."

"But where even are we?" asked Eddie.

Lily replied, "I don't know, but wherever this is, I bet you anything this is where we'll find that book."

<== Chapter 8                                                                         Chapter 10 ==>

Lily Wong Ch. 8

Chapter 8

The New Client

"Hey, did you hear? They say that the Lady Sapphire is actually the ghost of a school matron from long ago that haunts the school grounds at night looking for troublemaking students to punish."

"I hear she's actually a famous thief who leaves a calling card for every steal she makes."

"No, no, no! She's a superhero who shoots blue lasers out of her hands. That's why she's called Sapphire!"

Around an outdoor lunch table, a group of friends were trading stories they heard about the mysterious hero who got back all the stuff that the blue parrot had stolen.

At the next table over, that very Lady Sapphire had her face planted on the table while each new tall-tale further added to her pain.

It has been several days since news of the mysterious Lady Sapphire broke out, and with it came a slew of exaggerated rumors with no signs of stopping. All that attention her alter ego had gained was just pure torture to poor Lily. But the one to blame for her suffering, the actual inventor of her alter ego, just casually sipped on a Caramel Frappuccino as if he had done nothing wrong.

Lily glowered at Oliver and then asked him, "Why? Just why did you do that?"

The teen upperclassman took a longer sip of his cold coffee drink, a really long sip until his straw made bubbly noises before asking innocently, "Do what?"

"Turn me into a comic book superhero, of course!" Lily snapped.

"I wasn't really aiming for superhero," Oliver said. "I was aiming more for mysterious gentlelady vibes."

"Not sure I get you, but not any better," Lily said. "And you still haven't answered my question."

"It's simple," Oliver said. "We are a group."

He used his hands to draw a circle around the table, including Eddie and Viv.

Lily crossed her arms and said, "Okay."

"There'll probably be a lot more cases like the Parrot Incident," said Oliver. "If we keep it up, eventually people will start noticing what we've been up to. By leaving that calling card, it gives the illusion that just one person is acting alone. If the school thinks only one person's behind everything, there's less chance they'll find out it's us."

"Makes sense," said Eddie.

Lily, however, continued to glower at Oliver and said, "And the real reason?"

"I always wanted to leave a calling card like that and couldn't help myself. Sorry."

"And you couldn't have made it something like MISTER Sapphire or LORD Sapphire? Why LADY Sapphire?" Lily asked. 

"Well, as you probably already know, judging by how mad you are, I was thinking of you when I made up the name," Oliver said. "It may have been a team effort, but you were the main star of the show. I just wanted to give you the credit you deserved."

In a sarcastic tone, Lily said, "Gee, thanks."

Oliver replied back, "You're welcome," as if the sarcasm was lost to him. "Anyway, speaking of Lady Sapphire, there's actually a case for her."

Lily, Viv and Eddie sat up.

"Really?" went Lily. "Already?"

Oliver nodded. "Yeah. Well, I call it a case for Lady Sapphire, but it's technically my case."

"That was fast," said Eddie. "It hasn't even been a week yet."

"Well," said Oliver, "as they say, there's no rest for the wicked."

"Is it that parrot again?" asked Viv.

Oliver shook his head and and said, "No. It's not the parrot. It's actually something different this time."

"Really? What is it, then?" asked Eddie.

"I think it's better if I just showed you," said Oliver.

Oliver pulled out his phone and held it out. Lily and the others bent closer to take a look and then reeled back in shock, crying out, "Gah!" 

On the phone's screen was a picture of a girl with long, brown hair and a literally blank face. Where her eyes, nose and mouth should be, there was just pale, smooth skin.

**********

The faceless girl's name was Melody Meadows, Oliver explained, a classmate of his and a library helper. She was the one who sent that picture to him herself along with a message asking for his help.

"I'm not sure if this is a legit magical problem, so I'd like to have a talk with her face to face, or face to faceless," he said. "But there's a problem with that. She's holed up in her room, and I can't exactly waltz into the girls dorm building."

That was where Lily and Viv came in. As girls, they would have no trouble visiting Melody at her dorm room and get the full story from her. They made their way straight over after getting the room number from Oliver.

Up the elevator, they went until reaching the fifth floor. Melody's room was the last one at right-side hallway. Lily was admittedly nervous walking down the hall of a floor reserved for older students. But she tried not to let it show while she and Viv passed by some of those same older students. 

The older girls, however, paid the younger pair no mind and just chatted with one another about some upcoming school event.

"Okay, we're here," said Lily, looking up at the small bronze plaque on the door. "Room 521. You want to do the honors?"

"No thanks," said Viv. "You can do it. You're the one with the magic bracelet, after all."

Lily gave Viv a frown, but then shrugged away her misgivings and raised her knuckles to the door.

Knock knock knock!

From behind the door, a girl's muffled voice called out, "Who is it?"

Lily replied back, "I'm Lily! I'm with my roommate, Viv. We're here because Oliver wanted us to talk to you. He said something about a . . . special problem?"

There was silence. And then a second voice softly mumbled, "How much do you know?"

Lily could barely hear her, but answered in a lower voice, "Oliver showed us the picture."

A short couple of seconds later, there was a loud snap from a lock bolt and the door cracked open just enough for a single brown eye to peek out. The eye rolled up and down, clearly sizing up Room 521's two visitors.

"You two are Oliver's sidekicks?" asked the owner of that eye.

Lily and Viv exchanged looks. "His . . . sidekicks?"

"Yeah," said the owner of the eye peeking out the door. "Oliver said he got himself some sidekicks, kinda like how Sherlock Holmes got those street kids to help him out now and then. The Baker Street Something or Other."

"Since when are we his sidekicks?" Viv hissed into Lily's ears.

Starting to get suspicious, the owner of the eye demanded to know, "Are you here to help Melody or not?"

Lily quickly answered, "We are, we are!"

"Then get in here!"

The owner of the eye threw open the door and snatched Lily and Viv by their wrists. Before they could react, the pair were yanked inside and they stumbled to the middle of the room, coming face-to-face with the faceless girl who sat on the right side bed.

Although Lily had already seen the girl's picture with her lack of face before coming, it was still shocking to see in person and she couldn't help but stare. She was snapped out of her stupor by the sound of the door being bolt-locked behind her.

Hesitant, Lily asked the faceless girl, "A-are you . . . Melody?"

The faceless girl nodded. "Yes, I am."

Astonished, Viv cried out, "You can talk!? How?"

Melody shrugged. "Don't ask me. I can see, talk, smell, and even eat just fine. I don't know how that works when my eyes, nose and mouth are gone."

"About that," said Lily, "how did that happen? We heard a little bit of the story from Oliver, but would it be okay if you gave us all the details yourself? As much as you can remember is fine."

Melody fell silent and shuddered. She turned her faceless face to the girl standing at the door, as if to ask for permission. The girl at the door, Melody's roommate by Lily's guess, nodded back.

After a sharp breath in, Melody said, "Alright. Here's how it went." 

And then she began to recount her story.

**********

FROM THE CASE FILES OF GREAT DETECTIVE OLIVER:

EYEWITNESS REPORT, BY LILY WONG

WITNESS/VICTIM: MELODY MEADOWS

It happened just the day before yesterday, in the late afternoon after the library was closed. It was just me and the other library helpers doing final clean-up and shelf-sorting. The librarians had already gone to a meeting and trusted us to lock up everything when we were done. I was assigned to put returned books back on their shelves at the non-fiction section. 

The library's a very big place and there are so few of us, so us library helpers were usually spread pretty far apart. I was pretty much alone, pushing a steel wagon full of books around a maze of bookshelves. 

As you'd expect, it was pretty quiet, except for the squeaking sounds the wagon's wheels made. My footsteps were completely muffled by the old, charcoal-colored carpeting. And although the library still got plenty of sunlight through the windows, I was deep at the center and got nothing but cold ceiling lighting which can be unpleasant sometimes.

Still, I took my time like always, putting books back where they belong by order of the Dewey Decimal System. As I was crossing from one section to another (I believe I was between the plants section and the animals section), I noticed a book lying on the ground. 

The book was clearly someone's personal journal because there was no title on the jungle-green leather binding and cover, and there were no labels that showed it belonged to the library. It was around eight by eleven inches in size, and a brighter green ribbon attached sticking out of the pages. Oh! And speaking of the pages, I noticed the edges were pretty yellow, so I'd say the book was at least a couple of years old, maybe even more than ten years old.

Now, finding lost stuff in the library was nothing new to me. So it was hardly weird for me to find a random journal lying on the floor. I figured someone must have accidentally dropped it without knowing it, and went over to pick it up.

After giving the book a look over to see if there was a name anywhere, I flipped open the cover and then - BAM! The blasted thing flew at me and latched onto my face like some alien parasite. 

Needless to say, I screamed bloody murder. The others heard me freaking out and ran over to see what was wrong. I think at first, they thought I was playing around. But as I struggled to pull the book off my face, I ran into a bookshelf, made the book wagon tip over when I bumped into it, and then banged my face and the book against the floor. And I did it over, and over, and over, and over, and -

What's that? You get the picture already and you want me to just move on already? Okay.

Well, the other library helpers soon realized that something really was wrong and tried to help pull the book off. While some of them held onto me, the others pulled on the book.

It hurt, a lot, having others play Tug-of-War with my head. I was afraid it'd get torn off my neck. Thankfully, it never came to that. But, after one final pull that finally got the book off, me and the others went tumbling down to the floor. And then, when we all sat up, George and Alejandro, two boys a year older than me and my fellow library helpers, got a look at me and screamed.

I didn't know what got them so freaked out, but it had me worried. Others also saw my face and screamed.

"What is it?" I shouted. "What's wrong?"

The others pointed at me and babbled, "Your face! Your face!"

"My face? What about my face?" I asked.

Alejandro answered, "It's just . . . gone!"

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" I didn't understand what they were going on about and thought they had gone crazy.

But then, Erin, another library helper, pulled out her phone, put the camera on Selfie mode and showed me - well, you've already seen for yourself. 

"My face!" I cried out. "What happened to my face? IT'S GONE!"

I thought it was some kind of sick joke, a trick feature of the camera's. I wanted it to be some kind of joke. But when I touched the area where my nose and mouth would be, all I felt was smooth skin. My face really was gone. 

When I realized that, I freaked out.

"Where did it go? Where did my face go?" I screamed. 

I reached out, grabbed the shoulders of whoever was close by and shook them around, demanding to know where my face was. Everyone got scared and ran away from me. 

But then one boy, I think Alejandro again, cried out, "The book! It must be the book!"

We all realized that the book must be to blame and quickly looked around in search of it. Hassan, the last of us library helpers, found it first. 

"Over there!" he shouted, pointing to the floor near the technology section.

I turned around and saw the book lying open. And on one of the exposed pages was -

"My face!"

My eyes, (the one on the book) flew open and my face (again, the one on the book) let out a bloodcurdling scream. It was like something straight out of a horror movie.

We all screamed and jumped back as the book floated up to the ceiling like a balloon. And then the book swooped over our heads like a vampire bat, went into the autobiography section and disappeared.

We ran after it, of course. But it was too late. The book was nowhere to be found.

**********

"We searched the library top to bottom, over and over again," said Melody. "But we could not find it again. Finally, around five minutes before lockdown, we gave up. Erin called Naomi -" She nodded to her roommate. "- and together, they snuck me back into the girl's dorms. I've been stuck here ever since."

Lily listened to the faceless girl's story intently, jotting down every little detail she could in a notebook she had brought with her. When Melody was done, Lily closed the notebook shut and looked up.

That's when Melody clasped her hands together and asked, "Say, Oliver'll find that book, won't he? And get back my face? I'm not going to be stuck like this for the rest of my life, will I?"

Although she no longer had a face, Melody was clearly scared and desperate for reassurance. She sounded like she was almost going to cry, and appeared smaller and more vulnerable even though she was a couple of years older than Lily.

Lily could barely stand it and blurted out, "We'll find it! Don't worry. We'll get your face back."

And silently, she added, I promise in the name of Lady Sapphire!

<== Chapter 7                                                                                     Chapter 9 ==>

Lily Wong Ch. 7

Chapter 7

Lady Sapphire

Staring at the leather card case in her hand, Lily mumbled, "I won." And then louder, "I WON! I got the card case back!"

She waved the case triumphantly over her head as she drifted back down to the ground. The others rushed towards her, elated at her victory.

"I believe this belongs to you," Lily said, grinning as she handed the case back over to Eddie.

Eddie took back the case, holding it like one would hold a delicate egg.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you so much. I really owe you one."

"Don't mention it," Lily said. "I'm just glad we got it back. Not only that, everyone's things back."

She was very pleased with herself. So pleased, in fact, that she nearly forgot about the giant parrot until it went, "Ahem!"

Lily and the others turned around.

The giant parrot stood in front of them, glaring, and said, "I am not impressed."

"Hey, hey, hey," went Oliver. "Calling foul now? A bit too late for that, don't you think? You're not going to try and go back on your word, are you?"

"The magic contract is absolute," said the parrot. "Victory is yours, fair and square. You may take back the things stolen from the Bluestone students. But that does not change the fact that you are weak. Too weak."

Dismayed, Lily cried out, "Weak? Sure I needed help, but I didn't do too shabby against you."

"Hmph!" 

With a stiff sniff, the giant parrot spread its wings, and a strong wind current pushed everyone down and sent them rolling away. 

"Eek!"

"Yikes!"

"Whoa!"

The next thing Lily knew, she was suddenly lying on some some bushes and had the parrot's face right up to hers. 

"Make no mistake, child," it said, "I was going easy on you. If I had taken you seriously, I would have won with or without all that interference."

Lily blinked, and in that moment, the parrot was no longer in front of her, but back up the tree's higher hollow several feet away as if to prove its point.

Looking down on the children, the parrot continued.

"The way you are now, you are no threat to my master," it said.

"And just who is your master?" Lily asked. "Does he have something to do with what that ghost lady said?"

The parrot tilted its head sideways. "The ghost lady? Do you mean the Lady of Sapphire?"

"The Lady of Sapphire? Is that who the ghost lady is?"

"If she spoke to you through that bracelet of yours, then the ghost lady is indeed the Lady of Sapphire," the parrot said, "my master's enemy."

"Who is your master?" Lily asked again. "What is he after? Why did he make you steal all those things?"

"My master didn't make me do anything," said the parrot. "I did all this by my own will. And as for my master's goal, that should be clear: the spread of chaos and trouble!"

"But for what?" Lily asked. "Why does he want to make trouble?"

"Because he wants to," the parrot replied. "There is no other reason."

"That's it? Just because he wants to?" Lily was both shocked and outraged by the parrot's answer.

"So he has told me, yes," said the parrot. "If that is all you have to ask, then begone from my domain!"

The parrot flapped its wings again, creating a whirlwind of leaves that circled all over round and round, covering everything else in sight.

"No, wait!" Lily cried out over the howling gusts. "You still haven't told me who your master is!"

"He has gone by many names," said the parrot. "Villain, Traitor, Wicked Wizard. But you may call him . . . the Schemer."

The wind became too much for Lily and she had to turn away. She turned back when the wind finally died down and the leaves had all fallen to the ground, but both the parrot and the huge tree it called home were already gone. It was just Lily and the gang sitting in a much smaller clearing with a pile of stuff stolen from some school kids.

All was dark and quiet, except for the light shining from Oliver's phone.

"The Schemer, huh?" he muttered. "So that's who the enemy is."

"You heard all that?" Lily asked.

Oliver nodded. "As clear as day. Honestly, though, there's something iffy about some of the things it said. Still, it sounds like our troubles are far from over. In fact, I'd say we're just getting started."

"Let's worry about that later," said Viv. "I don't know about you all, but I'm beat.

"Are you guys okay?" Lily asked the twins.

"We're fine," said Eddie. "What about you?"

"Me too," Lily answered. "Well, actually I got a problem."

"What is it?" asked Viv.

"I can't move." Lily was unable to get up, leaving her stuck sitting on the ground.

"No surprise there," Oliver said. "You were really pushing yourself in that fight."

"All to help me," Eddie said with a guilty look.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Lily said. "That picture of your mom's important to you, after all."

"Yeah, it is," Eddie said. 

He gave his sister a look and Viv responded with a hand sign that meant, "Go ahead."

Eddie took a deep breath and then spoke up. "Actually, a few years ago, our mom disappeared. No one knows what happened to her. She just vanished without a trace. We had police looking for her, detectives looking for her, even psychics looking for her. They were all dead ends. In the end, everyone gave up, including our dad."

"So that's why you wanted a crystal ball for fortune telling," Lily realized as she turned to face Viv. "You wanted to see if you could find your mom with magic!"

Viv said nothing, but nodded.

"You can do that, Lily?" Eddie asked excitedly.

But that excitement died when his sister said, "Don't get your hopes up, Ed. We tried, but it was no good. Fortune telling's a no-no with that bracelet, among other things."

"For a tool that's key to saving the world, sounds like it's got lots of limits," quipped Oliver. 

"By the way," said Lily, "what are we going to do about all this stuff?"

She pointed at the pile of stolen goods they won back.

"I think that's a bit too much to carry back, even with the magic carpet."

"More importantly, how are we going to explain this?" asked Viv. "I know what we just did should count as a good deed, but I can't imagine the teachers are going to be happy with us when they find out we snuck out of school to explore a forest at night."

"Oh, you can just leave that to me," said Oliver. With a grin, he added, "I have a plan."

**********

Morning had come and it was almost time for classes. Despite that, Lily, Viv and Eddie all had a hard time getting out of bed because of the exciting, and tiring, night they had. It took a lot of willpower just to brush their teeth. And even though they managed to get ready, get dressed and get out the door, they ended up falling asleep on top of their breakfast at the dining hall. If not for a passing cleaner waking them up, they would have been late to homeroom. They barely made it to their seats before the bell rang.

By the way, when they reached the classroom, Lily found her Uncle Viceroy sitting on the teacher's desk clipping his toenails. As soon as the bell rang, the history teacher quickly brushed all the nail clippings off the tabletop, put on his black socks and slipped his feet into his dress shoes while sliding off the desk himself. 

After making his necktie straight, he cleared his throat and started the class with an unsurprising news announcement with a bit of a surprise twist.

"Ahem! Ahem! Good morning, everyone. Got some news to share today. Earlier today, everything stolen by that blue parrot was found at the north forest. If any of those things are yours, head over to the Admin Office."

The whole classroom was abuzz with the news.

Although still tired, Lily and the Waller twins exchanged knowing glances and proud smiles.

And then one girl with red hair raised her hand and asked, "Mr. Lin, how did the stuff get found? I thought the school searched everywhere, forest included, but couldn't find anything."

"Good question," said Uncle Viceroy. "An anonymous tip was sent to the office in the form of a letter, telling us where to find the stolen stuff."

"A letter?"

Uncle Viceroy nodded. "Yeah. I got a copy of it right here. Let me read it out to you, word for word." 

Here comes the twist.

"I have driven away the flying menace and reclaimed all that was stolen. Signed, Lady Sapphire."

Lily was so surprised, she could not help but snort.

Silently, she wondered, Lady Sapphire? Is that supposed to be me? Seriously? And why "Lady Sapphire"? Why a name like that?

"Now, I don't know who this Lady Sapphire is," said Uncle Viceroy, "but if you're listening, on behalf of Bluestone Academy, thank you. And personally, I hope you don't get expelled if you get caught for sneaking out of school at night.

"Anyway, moving on, there have been reports that someone has been flying a drone around the school after curfew . . ."

**********

In a certain room of the school's main building, nicknamed the castle for its castle-like look, a white-haired man was doing paperwork while a blue parrot sat on his shoulder, eyes on a certain letter that was typed from a computer in cursive-style font. The only light in the room came from the sun through the picture-frame window behind them.

"Lady Sapphire, huh?" The parrot broke silence with an amused snort. "Sounds like the name of a shadowy anti-hero from a steampunk novel."

"The letter must be Oliver's doing, then," the white-haired man said. His pen did not stop scribbling on the sheet of paper in front of him. "He's always been fond of stories with Victorian England-like settings."

"I'm impressed," said the parrot. "You're very dedicated to the teacher role, to know the likes of a random student you've rarely spoken to before."

"I just happened to see him reading a stack of such books at the library while I was passing through," the white-haired man said. "But I think he might have also been inspired by the Lady of Sapphire."

"What will you do now?" asked the parrot.

"Proceed with the plan, of course," said the white-haired man. "Your loss hardly changes anything. We will continue to spread chaos and trouble to this school. And we will not stop until at last, we reach the grand finale. So I swear, as the Schemer."

<== Chapter 6                                                                             Chapter 8 ==>

Poem: Changed at '19

Changed at '19.

Perhaps forever more, I am.

Once a mocker, now an emulator of the mocked.

The abnormal became normal,

An everyday urge, vice and obsession.

I cannot stop what had begun at '19.

I cannot change back to what I was.

An error upon my paper,

What is etched with Sharpie cannot be erased.

Before '19, carefree 'twas I.

Now, I am a turtle,

Most comfortable in its shell.

Or a snail in a world of salt.

Although past has '19,

Slow is the fish to match

The wax and wane of the ocean.

A storm with little hint of receding.

An insanity born at '19.

Like a scar that never fades.

Though the world may move on,

A block of ice remains my coffin.

A glue sticks me to the past.

Bad habits die hard.

I cannot resist them.

This is what it means

To be changed by '19

Lily Wong Ch. 6

Chapter 6

The Parrot's Challenge

The giant parrot spread its wings and used them like parachutes as it dropped down to the ground. A single flap created a gust of wind that nearly blew Lily off her feet, literally. Seeing it standing right in front of her, Lily realized that the bird was even bigger than she remembered. It could easily eclipse a three-story building.

"I see you've brought company," the giant parrot said, giving the whole gang a glance. "I suppose it just proves that heroes have to have companions."

Lily said nothing. To be honest, the way the bird towered over her and looked down on her was intimidating. But she soon swallowed her fears, steeled her nerves and glared back at it.

"Parrot!" she shouted. "I've come to -!"

The parrot cut her off and said, "I know why you are here. You are here for this, are you not?"

It held a wing to its pile of treasure. A small blue light shined from it and flew out, stopping just beside the parrot's head.

"This . . . card case is what you seek," the parrot said.

Lily, however, shook her head and boldly declared, "Wrong, Parrot!"

The card case was definitely what Lily and the others had come for, but that was not all they needed to take back. Lily was sure that among the junk the parrot collected were objects that were invaluable to their owners, precious and prized possessions to their hearts.

"We're here to take back EVERYTHING you've stolen!"

"Oh?" went the parrot, tilting its head one side. "You're greedier than I thought, Hero of the Sapphire Bracelet. How amusing. Very well! I am in a generous mood. I am willing to wager ALL my treasures in this duel."

"They're NOT your treasures," Lily grumbled, but the parrot acted like it didn't hear.

"But for this duel to work, you too must wager something!"

Lily figured as much. It happened all the time on TV shows. When two people challenge each other to some kind of supernatural game, both sides always needed to bet something.

"What is it you want?" she asked the parrot. 

"YOUR SHOES!"

"Of course, my shoes," said Lily. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me," said the parrot. "I want your shoes!"

"My . . . shoes? Not my priceless magic bracelet or magic broomstick, but my cheap, retail store-bought shoes?"

"That bracelet is indeed valuable," the parrot said. "However, it is enchanted so that only the chosen one can even touch it. Because of that, needless to say, the bracelet is worthless to me. However, it would be amusing to see how you go around the school without your shoes. Now that is worth something."

"You just like being mean to people!" Viv shouted accusingly.

"Yes, so what?" said the parrot, beak turned up.

Viv's face turned red.

"Alright," Lily said. "If I lose, you can have my shoes. But if I win, you return everything you ever stole!"

"Agreed!" shouted the parrot. "Then let the game begin!"

Lines of bright blue light spread from beneath the parrot's feet and traced shapes across the ground, becoming what could only be a magic circle.

"Within this circle, all of us are bound by a magic contract," the parrot explained. "A magic contract is unbreakable and will force even myself to keep my promises. The game is simple. You and I each will wear a ribbon around our heads. The one who snatches the other person's ribbon first is the winner."

As the parrot spoke, two feathers flew out from its neck. One flew up to the parrot's head while the other drifted over to Lily. Bright light flashed from the feathers and they transformed into large, long blue ribbons. The parrot's ribbon tied itself around the parrot's head while Lily tied hers herself.

"The detective wannabe will signal the game's start," the parrot decided.

"Hey, I'm not a detective wannabe," Oliver argued. "I AM a detective!"

Despite his dismay, he approached Lily and the parrot, and cleared his voice. "Ahem! On this side, we have Lily Wong. On the other, we have a giant, talking parrot! They will compete for all the stuff that was stolen from everyone at Bluestone Academy. First person to snatch the other's ribbon wins. Challengers, are you ready?"

The giant parrot bowed down low and spread its wings. "Ready," it said while glaring straight at Lily.

As Lily glared back, she held out her hand and called out, "Broomstick!"

In a flash of light, the broomstick appeared in front of her. She grabbed it and prepared to fly.

"Ready," she said.

Oliver looked from one challenger to the other and then held his hand high over his head.

"On your marks," he said. "Get ready . . . START!"

He swung his hand down in a chop and both Lily and the parrot kicked off. 

Lily and the parrot zoomed up into the air, circling around each other a couple of times before the parrot threw his head out, beak wide open.

"Whoa!" Lily cried out. She pulled away just in time to avoid getting her head chomped off and then reached out to snatch the parrot's ribbon off its immense head. But the parrot did a mighty wing flap and made a wind gust that pushed Lily further away. 

"Eek!" She shrieked as she went spinning and spinning several feet. Even when she finally pulled her broom to a stop, the world just kept on spinning around her. 

"Lily, duck!"

Upon hearing Viv yell, Lily dropped down, just as a huge, dark shape soared over her. She flew down low, close to the ground and turned around to see the parrot looking back at her while going, "Tch!"

"That was close," she said. Had she been a second slower, she would have lost her ribbon and the game. She wanted to thank Viv for the assist, but that would have to wait until later.

The parrot turned around and zoomed down at Lily. Lily swooped straight up and the parrot twisted to turn Ninety-Degrees after her. Glancing back, Lily saw the bird had caught up and was right at her tail. It had its beak wide open to snap down on her broom. But before it could do that, Lily swung her right shoulder down and spun away.

She jerked to a stop and then zoomed at the bird, aiming to grab one end of the bird's ribbon to yank it off. But the parrot saw her attack coming and lurched backward as Lily flew by.

Down below, Oliver, Eddie and Viv watched as Lily and the parrot zigzagged around each other, each trying and failing to grab the other's ribbon.

"Not good," Oliver said, watching the dance between girl and bird through a pair of black binoculars. He had dug them out from the parrot's treasure pile. "Lily's starting to get exhausted. She's really out of breath, as if she just ran a marathon."

"What? How come?" asked Eddie. "Isn't the broomstick doing most of the moving?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's because the broom's moving by taking Lily's energy. And the more it moves around, the more energy it takes."

"Now that you mention it," said Viv, "when we messed around with the bracelet before, Lily suddenly got really dizzy."

"That just proves it, then," said Oliver. "For that bracelet to work its magic, it takes energy from Lily. And by the looks of things, she's running out of that energy. Fast."

"What do we do?" Eddie cried out. "She's going to lose at this rate! Look! I don't even play that much sports, but even I can tell that she's getting really sluggish and slow."

Indeed, up close to the tree tops, Lily had slowed down a lot, barely matching a drifting balloon. The parrot, however, was as fast as always, and swooped in. Lily narrowly pulled away in time, with one end of her ribbon just a centimeter or two away from the parrot's beak. She tried to flee, but the parrot chased after her keeping close at her tail.

"But what can we do?" asked Viv. "This is a battle between the two of them. There's no way we can just jump in and help!"

Oliver tapped his chin thoughtfully. And then, it hit him.

"No, wait!" he said. "That's not true! We actually CAN jump in and help."

The twins looked at him and blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Remember when Viv cried out that warning?" Oliver said. "That's clearly giving outside help. But the parrot never cried foul. It didn't even say a peep."

"Isn't it just because it was too focused on nabbing Lily's ribbon?" Eddie asked.

"Could be," Oliver admitted. "But I think it's more because giving or getting outside help isn't against the rules."

"Could there really be such a big loophole? Kind of too convenient, don't you think?" said Viv.

"But it's one we can't just leave alone," said Oliver.

"I still don't see what we can do, though," said Viv. "None of us got magic powers. And I don't think us shouting, 'Look out!' is going to do much either."

"I got that part covered," said Oliver. "Come on. Help me out!"

And then he went diving into the pile of stolen treasure, sifting through them while looking for something.

Eddie and Viv exchanged looks and then glanced up at their friend who was doing her best to dodge the giant parrot's snapping beak. The parrot had Lily cornered by a cluster of branches and leaves where two trees met.

"What are we looking for?" Eddie asked as he and his sister joined Oliver.

Oliver replied, "If my memory's right, there should be . . ."

As Oliver and the twins searched through the parrot's ill-gotten wealth, Lily had just about reached her limit. A waterfall of sweat cascaded down her face as she heaved in and out. Her heart threatened to break out of her ribcage with a rapid beating.

"Ugh!" she groaned while hovering near a wall of leaves. Her hands and feet felt so heavy. And the world around her just kept spinning even when she wasn't moving. She was not going to last much longer and the parrot could see that.

"It looks like this is it," it said. "You put up a good fight, but it was not good enough. Prepare to say good-bye to your shoes!"

"No!"

Everything looked like it was moving in slow motion. The parrot pulled its head back and then sprung at Lily. Lily leaned away, but she couldn't get far away enough. The parrot's beak closed down around an end of Lily's ribbon like a pair of scissors. And then -

"Gah!"

"Squawk!"

Both girl and parrot yelped and broke away from each other, startled by the by loud, eardrum-splitting heavy-metal music that suddenly pierced the night air. They went flying back too far and crashed into tree branches at either side of the clearing.

Where'd that come from? Lily wondered as she shook herself free. 

She happened to glance down and spotted the others waving to her. Eddie held a round, black speaker box over his head while Oliver waved around his smartphone. 

Her friends had come to her rescue again, Lily realized.

With gratitude, she waved back, but then frowned when she noticed how they kept pointing at her and then their heads as if they were trying to tell her something.

They cried out, "Lily! Your ribbon! Your ribbon!"

"My ribbon?"

Lily reached up to touch her forehead. With a jolt, she realized something dreadful: she was no longer wearing her ribbon.

The ribbon! Where is it? She looked around frantically and quickly spotted the long, strip of silk hanging from a tree branch. The ribbon must have got caught on it when she crashed over there earlier.

"Accursed noise!"

Hearing an angry shout, Lily turned around to see the parrot shake itself free. Behind the giant bird was also a ribbon caught on a tree branch.

Noticing Lily's gaze was elsewhere, the parrot turned, spotted the ribbon and looked back. It saw the ribbon behind the girl and now had to make a choice, the same choice that Lily was going to have to make:

Do I get back my ribbon, or go for the other one?

For Lily, the choice was clear. She was not going to last long either way, tired as she was. This game had to end now.

The parrot squint its eyes at Lily. It probably realized what she was thinking and quickly turned to get back its ribbon. But mustering all her remaining power, Lily urged the broom to fly and zoomed past the parrot. She closed in on the ribbon in an instant, but the parrot was just fast enough to stop her in her tracks by snapping its beak on the brush end of her broom.

With a grunt, the parrot tried to tug Lily away from its ribbon. But Lily stubbornly pushed on while stretching her hand out as far as she could.

"Grr!" she went. "Come on. Come on! REACH!"

The tips of her fingers managed to brush against the edge of the ribbon. But the parrot proved itself stronger and yanked Lily away. She was tossed away and just barely managed to stop herself from hitting the ground.

She looked up in horror as the parrot soared over her head towards her ribbon. Once more, it opened its beak to pluck the stream of silk. But then -

"Squawk!"

Down the ground, Oliver ran around the clearing and held his phone up. The phone's flashlight shined on the parrot's eye, startling it.

"Lily, NOW!"

Oliver's voice snapped Lily out of it and she once more mustered all her energy for one more push. She urged the broomstick to launch her back into the air, shooting straight for the parrot's ribbon.

Meanwhile, the parrot recovered from Oliver's surprise light attack, shook its head furiously and beat its wings hard.

"Yikes!"

The parrot's wing beat blew a burst of wind that pushed Oliver into some bushes. With nothing to get in its way, the parrot once more reached out to snatch Lily's ribbon. Lily was almost at the parrot's ribbon, but the parrot was also close to Lily's.

Lily's hand stretched out while the parrot's neck stretched out. 

Lily's fingers closed around the parrot's ribbon while the parrot's beak closed around Lily's ribbon.

And then -

The whole clearing was bathed by a flash of blue light, too bright for Lily to handle. She closed her eyes shut while holding her arm up over them.

"Huh?"

Feeling something moving in her hand, Lily slowly opened one eye and glanced up. Both eyes flew open and she unfurled her fingers. Laying on the palm of her hand was a small, black rectangle made of leather. It was Eddie's card case.

Lily had won the battle.

<== Chapter 5