Chapter 13
X Marks the Spot
Lily and the gang decided to wait until Saturday before going to explore the place marked on the map they found, which they decided to call "X". Eddie wasn't happy to wait on the chance to find clues about his and Viv's missing mom, but understood that they could not just keep sneaking out at night and run the risk of getting caught and expelled. But that didn't stop him, or his sister, from being annoyingly antsy. Not even Lily's Uncle Viceroy's classes could distract the twins from their impatience.
During one class, he juggled up to a dozen colorful bowling pins while giving an introduction of Feudal Japan. In another, his slideshow was full of drawings of chibi sailor cats to illustrate the battles that took place during Japan's Warring States Period. Lily found it impossible to tell which cat was on which side of the war because they all looked the same. And in yet another class, Uncle Viceroy took turns with a prerecording of himself played out of an inflatable dancing tube man to read out of a textbook.
But then, at last, the weekend came, time that students could spend however they want and go wherever they want, as long as the school rules allowed it.
It was just Lily, Viv, Eddie and Oliver who got together at breakfast. The library helpers had other business they needed to take care, so much to their disappointment, they were going to miss out on Lady Sapphire's latest magical adventure.
After eating plates of eggs, bacon and French toast, the gang headed out to the gym. On the way, they enjoyed a walk through very pleasant weather; not too sunny, not too cloudy, and had a soft, cool breeze. But despite the air of peace all around them, Lily felt tense all over and endured a nervous knot in her stomach. That was because she knew from past experience that they were headed somewhere that could be the opposite of peaceful.
When they reached the bread-loaf shaped building, they circled around to the right side which had a side entrance to the underground floor. The concrete space right next to the heavy, steel door was where a big, red X was marked on the map.
After staring at the blank slab of weathered pavement for a good long while, Lily breathed in and then breathed out.
"Everyone ready?" she asked.
The others nodded.
"Okay, then. Let's - !"
Suddenly a voice called out from behind and asked, "What are you kids doing here?"
Lily's heart leaped up to her throat and she spun around to see Uncle Viceroy looking at her with his arms crossed in front of him. On his head was a white chicken style bird cap with googly eyes.
"What are you doing here, Uncle Viceroy?" Lily cried out in surprise.
Uncle Viceroy frowned and replied, "I asked first. This isn't the sort of place students should be hanging out at. Not planning any mischief are we?"
Lily frantically shook her head and stammered, "N-n-no! Not at all!"
"Then I'll ask again," said Uncle Viceroy. "What are you kids doing here?"
"We . . ." Lily trailed off. What do I say? she wondered. I can't just tell him we're here to hunt down clues to find out a dangerous wizard's secret identity. But I can't just lie to him either.
While growing up, her mother often threatened to bring in Uncle Viceroy whenever she suspected Lily was telling a fib.
"Your uncle might be dumb with not a lick of common sense, but he can sniff a lie a mile away!" Mommy Wong often told her daughter. "So if I ask him, I WILL know if you're lying to me or not."
"We were . . ."
Uncle Viceroy raised an eyebrow and said, "Yes? You were . . . ?"
Oliver cut in and said, "We were just taking a look around. Lily and the twins here are still new, aren't they? So they're not all that familiar with the area yet."
Uncle Viceroy rubbed his chin and went, "Hmm. Why do I get the sense that you're not telling me everything?"
Oliver gave a nervous laugh and said, "Now, whatever do mean, sir? Anyway, we should get going. Come on, guys."
He gently pushed the others from behind and together, they fled the area.
Before turning a corner, Lily glanced back, but her uncle remained rooted in front of the door staring back at her.
"What was he doing there?" Eddie wondered aloud. He was very irritated, which was understandable since he did all that waiting the whole week for nothing.
"I don't know," said Oliver. "But he shouldn't be there for long. Let's just wait a bit and come back later."
And that's exactly what they did. The gang hung out at a nearby snack bar and then returned to the side of the gym building. But when they peeked out of the corner, they spotted a man standing guard by the door. Lily recognized her uncle by the midnight blue suit and matching waistcoat he wore today. This time, however, he was also wearing the head of a mascot chicken costume.
"He must be suspicious because of this morning and is keeping an eye out in case we might be up to something," Oliver said after they retreated again.
"I kind of figured," said Viv. "But what was with that mascot chicken head?"
Oliver shrugged. "Who knows? He's always doing random, weird things. But that's not important right now."
"Too right it's not," Eddie pouted. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"What else CAN we do?" asked Lily. "We got no other choice but to wait until he finally goes away."
But he didn't go away.
Later in the afternoon, when Lily and the others visited the place marked on the map for the third time, they found a full-blown chicken mascot standing right on top of where the X-mark would be. No doubt that was Uncle Viceroy. It was clear from his earlier headwear that his theme for today was chickens. Also, he was the only person in the whole wide world who'd wear a chicken mascot costume in a school that used a completely different bird as a mascot.
They waited hoping he'd leave to change into another costume again, but he stayed all the way to sunset without moving a muscle. Finally, the gang decided to leave and return again the next day. But when Sunday morning came, he was still there, chicken costume and all.
Frustrated, Eddie yelled, "Seriously? Don't you have anything better to do?"
Panicked, Lily cried out, "Eddie! Shush! He'll catch us!"
But despite Eddie's obviously loud cry, the chicken mascot didn't even flinch. A short pause later, Uncle Viceroy appeared from the other side, balancing a basketball on his head. It turns out the mascot that the gang mistook as the man himself was just a statue.
Eddie curled his lips into his mouth and turned away. He made no sound, but he was clearly screaming.
The history teacher unfolded a steel-framed chair with gray velvet cushions next to the chicken mascot, pulled out his phone and sat down. Lily and the gang had no choice but to give up once again.
"This is just ridiculous!" Eddie complained, slamming his cup on the table.
Lily and the gang were together in the dining hall for dinner.
While wiping spilled water off the table, Eddie continued, "Call me paranoid, but it feels like Mr. Lin's getting in our way on purpose."
"It doesn't just feel like it," said Oliver. "He really is getting in our way on purpose. But that should be no surprise."
"What do you mean?" asked Lily.
Oliver replied back, "I think you should know better than anyone, Lily. But since Viv and Eddie are still new to the school, I'll explain. Mr. Lin's not only famous here as the resident weirdo. The man's also famous as a living lie detector who's caught more troublemakers red-handed than any teacher or security guard in the school's history! He just can't be tricked. We must have acted too suspiciously and now he knows we're up to something and is on the lookout to make sure we don't do things we're not supposed to. He's surprisingly strict when it comes to rule breaking."
"But now what do we do?" asked Viv. "We're never going to find out what's buried at X with Mr. Lin playing guard dog there."
"Technically, with those costumes, he's playing guard chicken," said Oliver. Viv and Eddie threw him a withering glare and he quickly added, "But I see your point."
Ping!
"Huh? Now who could that be?" Lily wondered as she took out her phone. That bell chime was an alert that she had gotten a text message from someone. "Never seen this phone number before."
"Everything alright?" asked Viv.
"Yeah," said Lily. "Actually, no. I don't know. I just got this really weird message on my phone."
"Weird message? What kind of weird message?" asked Oliver.
Lily held out her phone and said, "Here, take a look."
"Best chance tomorrow, 5pm."
After giving the others a chance to read the message, Lily asked, "So, what do you guys think?"
"Suspicious," said Viv.
"Definitely suspicious," said Eddie.
"It's nothing but suspicious," said Oliver. "Based on the timing, the message can only mean that if we want to check out X, our best chance is tomorrow at Five. And that tells me three things: One, whoever sent it is close by. Two, they're watching us. And three, they can hear everything we're saying."
Alarmed, Viv cried out, "You mean someone is spying on us?"
She and Eddie looked around. Lily felt a little nervous herself, but she could not find anyone among the students in the dining hall who could be spying on them. Scratch that, any one of them could be spying on the gang. Almost everyone's got a smartphone whipped out and there was no way to know what they could be doing. For all Lily knew, that guy with freckles could be hacking a communications satellite as part of a plot to take over the world.
Oliver, however, blinked and said, "I don't know why you guys are so surprised. We've known since we found that workshop that someone's been spying on us."
"That still doesn't make it any better," said Viv. "Say, am I the only one who thinks this might be a trap? I'm starting to have second thoughts about checking out that X-Marks-the-Spot on the map. Maybe we should hold off on that."
Dismayed, Eddie shouted, "What? No way! This could be our only chance to get to the bottom of Mom's disappearance! Besides, you don't know for sure that it's a trap."
"Well, you don't know that it's not!" Viv fired back.
"You heard Oliver," said Eddie. "This could be the same person that helped us out back at the workshop when Mr. Lin showed up."
"You don't know what that person could be thinking of," Viv said. "For all we know, it could just be a ploy to get us to lower our guard so they could stab us in the back! I, for one, do not trust someone who likes to hide and spy on others like some creepy stalker."
In an act of stubbornness, Eddie folded his arms over one another and said, "Well, I'm going, whether it's a trap or not. After all these years, we've finally got a chance to find out what happened to Mom. And I'm not letting it go to waste."
And then he got up and stomped away.
"Eddie, wait!"
Viv called out to her brother, but either he was out of earshot or he would not listen. He continued to walk away without looking back.
When he disappeared, Viv shook her head and groaned, "That idiot."
Lily glanced back where Eddie vanished and then asked Viv, "Was it okay to let him go like that?"
Viv, however, replied uncaringly, "It's fine. If X is anything like the workshop, even if he gets past Mr. Lin, there's nothing he can do without you and the bracelet."
But come next morning, Eddie did not show up for class.
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