Lily Wong Ch. 27

Chapter 27

The Tiger Trap

After passing through a big iron gate that appeared out of nowhere, a plush toy suddenly came falling from the sky into Lily's arms. The plush toy was a tiger. But since it looked more like a kitty cat, Lily had an easier time keeping her cool.

She and Oliver looked around the science building for a bit, but after finding nothing except for the plush toy, they decided to regroup with the others who also got tiger plush toys after overcoming an obstacle.

"I knew it!" exclaimed Oliver. "These plush toys must be a clue. They may hold a hint to where Tanja is being held prisoner."

"But what kind of hint?" asked Erin. "I looked ours over, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Do we need to gut these tigers open?"

"Phrasing, Erin," said Hassan.

Melody offered, "Want me to go get my sewing shears to disembowel them?"

"Seriously, Melody?" Hassan moaned in dismay.

"I think a nail filer would be enough to tear open their stomachs," said Lily.

"You girls are just brutal!"

"Ahem!" Oliver cut in with a cough. "There's no need to dissect those dolls. I already have a pretty good idea where we need to go next. Follow me!"

He took everyone back into the Castle. As soon as he started going up the stairs, Lily realized where they were headed. It should have been obvious. These dolls were tiger dolls. And what was one place in this school that definitely had a tiger? 

That was, of course, the section between floors where there was a painting of a tiger eternally frozen in a fierce roar.

Looking at the painting sent a shiver down Lily's spine. But sure enough, as soon as she laid eyes on it, she spotted a change to the painting. A small, but really noticeable one that stuck out to her. At the top, left hand corner behind the roaring beast was a blue birdcage. In that birdcage was a girl.

Viv gasped. "It's Tanja! And she's moving! She's moving inside that painting!"

Indeed, in what should be a still painting, the caged girl was frantically waving her hands and soundlessly screamed as if she could see the viewers outside and was calling out to them.

"Does that mean what I think that means?" said Eddie.

"I believe it does," said Oliver. "Tanja's been trapped inside that painting."

I was afraid he was going to say that, Lily thought glumly to herself. But, well, at least we found her. And she looks like she's still okay, albeit trapped in a cage with a tiger roaming outside it.

"How do we get her out?" she asked.

Oliver asked back, "Can the bracelet do something about it?"

"Let me check." Lily held the bracelet up to the painting and light flashed from its jewels. But nothing else happened. "That would be a no."

She had hoped the bracelet could just pull Tanja out of the cage and painting altogether, but it was no surprise it was not going to be that easy.

"So, now what do we do?" asked George.

"We'll have to go into the painting to get her out, I guess," said Melody.

"But how do we do that?"

A voice suddenly cut in and replied, "That is easy."

Everyone whirled around to see a big, blue parrot perched on the railing. It looked at them with its beak upturned in a clear show of contempt. 

Lily cried out in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

The parrot haughtily went, "Hmph! I thought that you lot wouldn't have the brains to figure out something so simple, so I decided to kindly save you all some time and give you the answer. Simply touch the painting to enter it and rescue that captured child."

Lily gave the painting a glance and felt another shiver down her spine before returning her gaze to the parrot.

"So I just have to touch it? That's it?"

The parrot nodded.

"Hold up, Lily," Melody cut in. "It could be a trick. There's no way we can trust that face-stealing rat with wings."

She threw the parrot a hateful gaze. The parrot met it with a cool and indifferent gaze of his own.

"Your bitter and long-lived grudge is misdirected," it said. "I was not the one who made that book steal your face."

Melody argued back, "But you're on the same side as the guy who did!"

"Be that as it may, you have no choice but to listen to me," said the parrot. It pointed its beak to a big antique clock hanging on the wall. "You're running out of time."

"It's right," said Lily. "You guys stay here. I'll be right back."

Oliver frowned in dismay. "Come on, Lily!" he said. "We've come this far together. We're not about to back down and let you handle everything by yourself now. Especially when there's a high chance you'll have to deal with that tiger."

"What's the tiger got to do with it?" asked Lily.

Viv snorted. "It's pretty obvious that you have a problem with tigers, Lily. Just seeing pictures of them got you acting weird ever since that time with the bronze tiger."

"I thought I was the only one who noticed," said Oliver.

"We all noticed it," said Hassan.

"Well this is embarrassing," Lily grumbled. Her cheeks flushed red.

Melody overheard and could not help but chime in. "No it's not," she said. "Look at me. I'm a library helper, but I can't help but get nervous around books. Every time, I need to poke them with a long stick to check if they're alive before I touch them because I'm afraid they might pounce on my face."

The parrot cut in again with a loud, "Ahem!" When all eyes returned to it, the bird said, "This display of friendship is nice and all, but need I remind you again that your time, and the captured girl's time is limited? I highly suggest you get on with it."

Its remarks earned the blue bird scornful looks, but it didn't care and simply sniffed before flying away.

Lily greatly disliked that parrot, but she had to admit that it was right. There was no time to waste. 

She took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. And then she turned to face the tiger painting. Reluctantly, she held her right hand out to the beast while standing on her tippy-toes. Viv held Lily's free hand with on of her own while the other held Eddie's. Eddie held Oliver's, and Oliver held Melody's. One by one, the Sapphire Society made a chain of held hands. And then, as soon as Lily's fingertips brushed against the tiger's black snout, bright blue light flashed from the painting's brass frame. The jewels on her bracelet flashed its own light in response.

Lily felt a pull on her arm as her fingers sunk into the painting as its surface rippled around her hand like a pool of water. 

"Whoa!" Before she even had a chance to fight back, she flew into the painting the blink of an eye, pulling the others in with her and was flung onto a patch of grass before being dogpiled by the rest of the gang.  "Ow! Can't . . . breathe!"

"Sorry! Sorry!"

Everyone quickly scrambled off the pile as fast as they could and then helped Lily up to her feet. All around them were tall, twisting trees and bushes with large, dark green leaves. From beyond the jungle plants came bird shrieks and monkey howls.

"You okay?" asked Eddie.

Before Lily could answer after getting air back into her lungs, a loud roar made everyone jump and turn to see a huge tiger crouched down before them, teeth bared in an angry snarl while a low growl rumbled out from its throat. No one dared to take their eyes off the beast. Lily, especially, was frozen with her mind gone blank in fright.

But then a cry snapped her out of her stupor and she looked past the tiger to the half-oval cage behind it that contained the young girl.

"Guys!" cried Tanja. "You're here!"

"Alright, what's the plan Oliver?" asked Viv.

Oliver replied decisively, "Us Sapphire Society will deal with the tiger. Lily, you just focus on getting Tanja out of that cage."

"What? No! I should be the one to -!"

Oliver cut Lily off and said, "If this challenge is anything like the last couple of challenges we've faced, you're probably the only one who can open that cage. The rest of us are much better suited to making sure nothing gets in your way."

"But-!"

Lily tried to protest some more, but then, this time, Hassan cut in and shouted, "No time to argue, guys! Here it comes!"

The tiger pounced.

Lily was instantly pulled away as everyone dove out of the huge beast's path. 

Viv gave Lily a literal push and shouted, "Go!" And then she turned to face the tiger which was wrestling with Oliver who had suddenly grown three times his original size.

Everyone else screamed at Lily, "GO!"

Left with no other choice, Lily ran to the cage, leaving her friends behind to deal with the tiger so that she could liberate Tanja from her prison. She could hear them shout and scream over the tiger's roars. But she did not look back and kept on running, pushing her muscles to pick up the pace. 

After throwing herself against the cage, she grabbed the metal bars and pulled with all her might. The bracelet's jewels lit up in response to her wishes and granted her the super strength to pull the door off its hinges and throw it aside with a scream of effort.

"Come on!' she shouted, reaching her hand out.

Tanja took it and allowed herself to be pulled out of the cage.

With a grateful smile, she said to Lily, "Thanks."

Lily answered with just a nod before turning around and shouted, "Okay! I got Tanja! Game's over! We won! Stop the tiger!"

"That won't be necessary, as you can see," said Oliver. He was sitting on top of the tiger, pinning it flat on the ground with his bottom.

"Well, that was quick," Eddie said with a smug smile. "See, Lily? We can handle ourselves just fine on our own."

"What are you acting all proud about?" Viv asked. "You didn't even do anything."

"Hey, I did plenty," Eddie said. "We got through all those obstacles and the tiger easy-peasy. Right guys?"

The rest of the Sapphire Society cheered, "Yeah!"

All of them, except for Oliver who wore a frown on his face.

"That was easy," he said softly. "A little TOO easy."

With how ferocious the tiger looked and despite his new giant size, the detective thought he'd at least get a scratch or two, but the tiger's punches didn't even hurt. In fact, they felt soft and ticklish.

Speaking of that tiger, Oliver peeked down and then his eyes lit up in a panic.

He jumped up and cried out, "It's a trap! Everyone, get away!"

But it was too late. The tiger's body swelled up like a balloon and then went - 

POP!

A cloud of blue smoke exploded out, stopping short of Lily and Tanja before disappearing. It all happened so fast, Lily didn't even have time to blink. And it unfortunately did not end there.

Lily gasped in horror. "Guys! No!"

Before her very eyes, stone took over the gang, spreading from the bottom of their shoes all the way to the top of their heads, freezing them in place. Some of them saw what was happening to them and reached out to Lily before turning completely. Others were still looking down at themselves when petrified.

Lily rushed over to them, screaming, "Guys! GUYS! Viv! Eddie! Oliver! Please! Say something!"

No matter how much she pleaded, her friends would not answer back. They no longer had the ability to, now that they were statues. 

<== Chapter 26                                                                      Chapter 28 ==>

Lily Wong Ch. 26

Chapter 26

Hide and Seek

"I applaud your bravery, child!" shrieked the ghost of the matron. "You arrived sooner than I expected. And I see some new faces. Allow me to introduce myself to them! I am the ghost of the matron that haunts this room."

"Yeah, yeah," Lily cut in, acting rather brazen. "You can drop the act. We all know you're not actually a ghost. Just give us back Tanja!"

The matron's ghost cackled again.

"How cheeky of you!" she said. "But you cannot fool me. I can smell the fear in you. You reek of it!"

Eddie lifted his arm up and sniffed under it while wondering aloud, "Did I forget to take a shower again?"

The others took a step away from him.

"Anyway," said the ghost while giving Eddie the skeleton's version of a side eye, "you wish to rescue the spying girl? In that case, you must complete my challenge."

"Figures it'd come to that," Lily mumbled under her breath. And then to the ghost, she asked, "And what is the challenge this time?"

"The challenge is simple," said the ghost. "I have hidden the spying girl somewhere in the school, in the dimension called the Blue World. You have until sunrise to find her. If you cannot find her in time, she will be lost to the mortal world forever!"

"So it's like a game of Hide and Seek, huh?" Lily said.

Oliver, however, was skeptical. "There's no way it can be that simple," he said. "I wouldn't put it past the Schemer to lay traps to get in our way."

"Smart boy," quipped the ghost. "You are correct, young detective. All throughout the school property and lairs of the Bluestone family are obstacles that you must overcome to move further ahead."

As if it wasn't going to be hard enough to find one person in a big place like the whole school, Lily silently complained to herself. But she wasn't surprised. It was just like the Schemer to try and make things as hard as possible for her.

But that doesn't matter, Lily thought. It didn't change what she had to do. She was determined to save Tanja, no matter what got in her way.

"Got it," she said. "Let's get this over with then."

Suddenly, a voice cut in, shouting, "Hold it! We're joining too!"

Lily and the others whirled around to see the whole library helper team standing at the door.

She couldn't contain her surprise and shouted, "What are you guys doing here? How did you guys get here?"

A bit smugly, Hassan replied, "Same way you did, of course! With magic!"

"We haven't been practicing magic all this time for nothing, you know," said Alejandro. "We're part of the Sapphire Society too, and it's about time we started acting like it."

"Besides," added Melody, "I still haven't paid you back for the favor you did for me. Now's a good time as any for that."

"You guys . . ." Lily was truly touched that they would go this far for her. But seeing them put themselves in danger for her sake was the last thing she wanted.

As if he read her mind, Oliver spoke up. "Lily, you can't shoulder everything yourself. And you're not going to dissuade us all from joining, so please just accept our helping hands."

Lily looked around her at everyone. She could see they were all determined to stick around no matter what she said and sighed.

"Fine," she said.

"Well, you heard all that, didn't you?" Viv said to the matron's ghost. "We're all joining this game of yours, and we won't take 'no' for an answer!"

"Fine by me," said the ghost. "It makes no difference how many of you there are. Just try and overcome my challenges if you can!"

With a wave of her bony hand, a circle of smoke appeared next to her with a hole within it that seemed to lead outside to the courtyard in front of the Castle, except everything outside was glowing blue.

The ghost gave a theatrical bow, hands gestured to the hole, and then said, "Now, please enter if you dare."

Everyone gave each other looks. Lily couldn't blame the others for being reluctant, this being their first time entering the Blue World. She hoped they would take this chance to back off. But to her disappointment, they didn't.

Alejandro was the first to step inside, followed closely by Melody, and then Hassan and George. Oliver went in next with Erin. After that were the Waller twins.

Once everyone else was through the hole in the circle of smoke, Lily gave the ghost one final look. The ghost stared back at her with her empty eye sockets.

"Yes?" she asked. "Do you have something to say?" 

Lily shook her head and replied, "No." And then she stepped through the hole herself. Once on the other side, she found the others all gawking everywhere.

Oliver let out a low whistle as he looked up. "You weren't kidding how everything's blue here. It's as if I'm seeing everything through a pair of blue sunglasses."

Eddie stared at his own hand in wonder, going, "So weird."

Lily checked the time on her phone and then called out, "Come on. We don't have much time left. We need to find Tanja fast!"

"Got it," said Oliver. "We'll divide up into pairs. Eddie and Viv, you go that way. George and Alejandro, you guys search around that way. Melody, Erin and Hassan will look over there. Lily, you and I'll explore ahead. We'll meet back here when we're all done. Any questions, concerns, objections?"

There were none.

Oliver looked around, gave a satisfied nod and then reached out. One by one, each member of the Sapphire Society stacked their hands on top of one another.

"Okay," went Lily. "One . . . Two . . . Break!"

"Go Sapphire!" 

Lily watched as they all went their separate ways, enduring a knot in her stomach as they disappeared out of sight. She was reluctant to tear her eyes away even after they were long gone.

"Don't worry," said Oliver. "They'll be fine."

"I hope so."

And then she followed Oliver down the road.

Eddie and Viv raced back to the dorms.

After reaching the lobby, Viv stopped and announced, "We'll split here."

Eddie asked, "You sure that's a good idea?"

Viv raised an eyebrow at her brother and replied, "Two words: girls' dorm."

"Split up, it is then."

So Eddie went by himself to the boys' dormitories while Viv went to the girls'. Viv headed straight up to Tanja's dorm room, thinking it'd be a good place to start looking. She had just reached Tanja's room door when suddenly - BAM! Brick walls dropped down from the ceiling at either side of the hallway and over all the doors, trapping her in. On the wall that covered Tanja's room door, words written in cursive and gold appeared that read: 

"The only way out is through."

Viv softly read the words aloud and then quipped, "Well that's pretty straightforward."

She looked around and saw that the other brick walls had the same words on them in matching fancy, gold cursive.

A few months ago, she'd probably freak out, screaming her head off while thinking she'd be trapped in here forever. But now that she's learned a little bit of magic, there wasn't an ounce of fear in her. And she knew the perfect spell to get out of this trap. It was even one of her mother's favorites, according to her journal.

The magic spell was a simple one. All Viv had to do was speak the magic words while imagining all the magic energy in her veins flowing to her right hand. As soon as it started glowing a deep orange color, she balled her fingers into a fist, raised it behind her head and then swung, while screaming, "GIRL POWER!"

Viv wasn't sure why that last part was important, only that her mom's journal said it was absolutely needed.

As soon as her fist connected with the wall - BOOM! Not only the brick wall, but the door got blasted off, frame and all. Pieces of wood, stone and plaster were scattered all over the floor and bedding, along with a thick layer of dust. Some of the many computer monitors in the room had cracks on them, likely struck by flying debris. But Viv wasn't all that worried. She saw for herself that whatever happened in the Blue World had no effect on the real one, so she could break whatever she wanted here without getting into trouble.

"I should check out the spell books later to see if I can make a Blue World of my own," she thought aloud. "Seems like a good place to blow off some steam."

She stepped inside through the hole she made and took a look around. But she was disappointed to see nothing out of the ordinary.

With a frustrated sigh, she grumbled, "Looks like this place is a dud after all." 

She was about to turn and leave when she suddenly heard a loud click noise, followed by a shrill creak. Viv spun around to see the closet door open and out tumbled a stuffed doll. It was a blue-furred tiger. Well, everything in this world was blue, so that was nothing weird. What was weird was how the closet door suddenly opened on its own.

Judging by the sound, the closet was definitely firmly shut. Something made that door handle turn before it opened.

"Which means that something, or someone, wants that doll found," Viv muttered to herself. 

Slowly, and cautiously, she reached over and gave the doll a light poke. She waited a couple of seconds and when nothing happened, poked it again a few more times. Nothing happened still, so she picked the doll up by the nape of its neck and gave it a look over. There was really nothing out of the ordinary about it, but it may be a clue to finding Tanja. So Viv decided to take it with her, punched her way out of the bricked-off hallway and went back down to the lobby where she found her brother waiting for her.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

Eddie reported, "Got trapped in by a bunch of brick walls while looking around the second floor, but I got out easy."

"What'd you do?"

Very proudly, Eddie replied, "I melted them all with heat vision like Superman. What about you?" 

"Same," said Viv. "Brick walls appeared out of nowhere, but it was when I went to visit Tanja's room. And I used Mom's favorite Girl Power Punch to get out of it. While I was looking around, this fell out of Tanja's closet."

She held up the tiger doll for Eddie to see. His eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "I got a doll that looks just like that. After I melted the walls into goo, this fell down from the ceiling."

He showed his sister his own doll.

"I guess that does it then," said Viv. "These dolls must be some kind of clue."

"But a clue to what?" asked Eddie. "Where Tanja might be?"

Viv shrugged and replied, "Maybe. Let's meet back up with the others."

Eddie nodded. "Got it."

Unbeknownst to them, as they ran back to the Castle and top speed, they were being watched through a mirror floating in the air by a man sitting in a big chair, in his big office full of old-timey furniture. He was dressed in sharp black robes with long flowing sleeves with a hood that cast a thick, impenetrable darkness over his face. Several other mirrors floated around the one showing the Waller twins, each one revealing the actions of the other members of the Sapphire Society.

George and Alejandro had their way blocked by a pool of lava, but they overcame the obstacle by transforming into eagles to fly over it before soaring straight to the gym. Melody, Erin, and Hassan created walls of light around themselves as they pushed through curtains of dancing electricity towards the music building. As for Lady Sapphire herself, she and Oliver found their way into the science building blocked by a huge iron gate that refused to open unless the girl poured enough magic power into a big, magic crystal ball. It was just like the crystal ball back at the Sapphire Society's hideout.

Perched on a stand behind the old man was the blue parrot.

It asked, "Don't you think you are going a bit too easy on them this time around?"

Without looking back, the old man replied, "Not to worry. It is all part of the plan."

"By the way, I have been meaning to ask, why are you dressed in that ridiculous getup?"

"Naturally, old friend, because I plan to make an appearance. It is about time the Schemer show up again, don't you think?"

The parrot shrugged. "Whatever you say. You're the author of this silly story. Do as you see fit. It is already too late to fix it anyway."

"Hmph!" The old man sniffed indignantly. "There's no need to rub it in. You made it clear plenty of times already that I'm no Shakespeare. But that doesn't matter."

"Oh? Are we nearing the end already?"

"Perhaps," said the old man. "As long as my calculations are right. But even if not, the next will be the last."

Fixing his gaze on Lily as she and Oliver passed through the gate, the old man added, "No matter what, I will not wait any longer."

<== Chapter 25                                                                                   Chapter 27 ==>

Lily Wong Ch. 25

Chapter 25

Night at the Castle

Eddie trudged his way back to the library feeling somewhat disappointed.

Earlier, he had gone over to Director Bluestone's office to have a word. The others may have ruled the director out as a suspect in this whole evil Schemer thing, but Eddie suspected he must at least know more about what's been going on, especially about his mother. Eddie had hoped to learn more about his mother during her time in Bluestone Academy, and hopefully unearth more clues about her disappearance and current whereabouts.

Almost as soon as he knocked on the front door, an old man's voice replied back, "It's open!"

Eddie went inside to see the white-haired man sitting behind a grand office table, hands clasped over a sheet of paper flipped blank side up.

"You are . . . Mr. Edward Waller, are you not?" the old man said. 

Eddie nodded. The room had no lighting except from the sun shining through the window over the throne-like chair, casting dark shadows that gave a feel of mystical eeriness.

Remembering what he came here for, Eddie mustered his courage and softly spoke up, "Director Bluestone?"

"That is my name, yes," the old man replied. With a gentle smile he asked, "Do you need something from me?"

Eddie nodded. "It's about Mary Ann Duskbell."

Director Bluestone's smile quickly turned into a frown, and he said as a question, "Mary Ann Duskbell? That's a name I've not heard in a very long time."

"She's actually my mother," said Eddie. And then, after taking a deep breath, he went on to explain his involvement with the Sapphire Society and the Schemer, and how he found his mother's journal in the Sapphire Society's old secret hideout.

After listening, Director Bluestone sank down in his chair and with a regretful sigh, said, "So you're mixed up in this Schemer mess too. And you believe the Schemer is responsible for your mother vanishing?"

Eddie nodded. His heart beat fast and hard as he waited eagerly to hear what the director had to say next. But his spirits quickly sank when the director said this:

"I'm sorry, Mr. Waller. But I have no idea what happened to your mother. Her disappearance is as much a mystery to me as it is to you."

"That can't be!" Eddie could not stop himself from shouting. "Your family owns this school. You've been running it for years, so you must know about the Sapphire Society and that Mom was in it! The Schemer and the Society are enemies, so he must have done something to her. You must know something about what happened!"

But the director remorsefully shook his head and said, "When I heard your mother disappeared, I tried everything in my power to help find her. But my efforts were fruitless."

"I . . . see," Eddie said. "Sorry to bother you."

And then he left the office, disheartened that he had hit another dead end in his mother's mystery.

He entered the secret chamber of the Sapphire Society and discovered he was not the only one in a gloomy mood, finding Lily and Viv sunk in their armchairs with their eyes cast down in glum. Lily looked especially terrible.

"What's got you two with clouds hanging over your heads?" he asked the girls. 

That was when he heard what happened to Tanja.

"That's . . . pretty serious," he said. "Any idea where that ghost took her?"

Oliver spoke up and said, "Assuming everything Tanja said to the girls is true, the so-called ghost likely took her back to the storage room at the Castle. We should start looking there."

So to the Castle, Lily and the others went. Since the Castle served as the heart of the school where much of its behind-the-scenes work took place, there was no way for them to look around until after everything was locked up during curfew. And since the whole Sapphire Society would be too big a group to sneak into the Castle, it was just Lily, the Waller twins and Oliver. Lily expected the others to complain about being left out of the action again, but to her surprise, they simply accepted being benched without a word.

To be honest, Lily wasn't thrilled to have the others joining her this time. She would rather look for the ghost and rescue Tanja on her own, worried that if the ghost went berserk like the tiger did, her friends could get seriously hurt, which was the last thing that she wanted to happen. The thought of facing the ghost also scared Lily, but she was not about to abandon someone in trouble. Especially when there was something she could do to help.

Once it was lights out, Lily and Viv snuck out of their room through the window, using a magic carpet to fly around to the boys' respective dorm rooms. Despite how much scarier the situation currently was, Lily couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. It's been forever since they last did something like this. Not since their very first adventure together, in fact.

After picking up the boys, under the cover of night, the gang flew over to the Castle. They entered through the back entrance which Lily unlocked using the magic power of her bracelet. She peeked inside but with the lights off, the halls of the Castle were just impenetrable darkness.

As the one who knew the Castle best, Oliver took the lead, using his phone's flashlight app to light the way. But even with such a powerful light, Lily felt creeped out and shivered as she and the others tiptoed through the quiet, empty halls. In some ways, the Castle at night was even more chilling than the forest the parrot had first used as its hideout.

This must be what it means for a place to have a whole different vibe at night, she thought.

It didn't help that the portraits of past men and women of the school looked down on the intruders as if to frown at them with disapproval.

After reaching the top floor and making a turn to the right, Oliver suddenly paused. and frowned.

Noticing a frown on the older boy's face, Lily got worried and whispered, "Something wrong?"

Oliver quickly replied back, "It's nothing. I was just wondering what sort of business Tanja had up here. People don't normally pass by the storage rooms up here since they're really out of the way, so I thought it was a bit weird that she'd be around that area."

"Maybe that's where she had business at?" Viv suggested.

"Maybe," said Oliver, but he didn't sound convinced.

Suspecting something, Lily asked, "Do you think there's something more to Tanja than meets the eye?"

Oliver nodded. "There were a few points about her from your story that I found suspicious. But I'm having a hard time putting my finger on it."

"I wouldn't worry about it," said Eddie. "We can just ask her what's up after we rescue her from that ghost."

"Right," said Lily. "On that note, let's hurry."

They quickly reached the end of the hall where the supposed haunted storage room was located and they went inside after Lily unlocked the door with her bracelet's magic power. The former matron's room was rather cramp thanks to all the boxes, shelves and old wardrobes stuffed inside collecting dust. Many of the stuff, Lily wagered, could easily be over fifty years old. 

I wonder what could be in some of those boxes, she thought, glancing down on one crate as she slipped by it. She couldn't help but be curious.

Suddenly, Eddie cried out, "Hey, check this out!"

Thinking he might have found something important, Lily whirled around. But he was just looking at a painted portrait of an old man in a three-piece suit hanging on the wall.

"Come on, Eddie!" groaned Viv.

Ignorant of the others' dismay, Eddie excitedly asked the others, "Doesn't this dude look exactly like the director?"

"Now that you mention it, he does look like Director Bluestone," said Oliver, coming to take a closer look. "But it can't be him. You can see from the date on the bottom that it's way over sixty years old. This must be one of his ancestors. Still, it's amazing how the two of them look so alike. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that Director Bluestone was actually over a hundred-fifty years old!"

"Who knows?" said Eddie. "Maybe he really is that old."

"Don't be so rude, Eddie!" Viv scolded.

Annoyed, Lily hissed, "Guys! Focus! We're here on an important mission! No getting side-tracked!"

Oliver, Eddie and Viv hung their heads in shame and said, "Sorry, Ma'am."

They continued to tiptoe further into the room, wading around essentially abandoned old stuff until they reached the center of it all. 

"Okay, we're here!" Lily shouted. "Come out!"

Viv flinched and looked around nervously. "Is it really a good idea to do that?" she asked. "Calling out the ghost, I mean?"

"Better than waste our time trying to look for her," Lily mumbled.

But despite Lily's reckless call for the ghost, nothing happened and all remained quiet until Eddie suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, just wondering, what are the chances that some of the stuff in here is magical?"

"Could be," said Oliver. "The Castle's not only the heart of the school, it's also where the school's owners, the Bluestone family, calls home. So much of the stuff here's probably theirs."

"Speaking of Bluestone," said Lily, "I've noticed the way you always take the director's side whenever one of us brings up the chance that he might actually be the Schemer. It's like to you, there's just no way he could be a bad guy."

"Well, of course!" Oliver shouted loudly. "Julius Bluestone is one of the nicest people on the planet. He's always trying to help as many people as he can, in whatever way he can. He's donated lots of money to charity, up to three-quarters of the money he makes each year. He made a scholarship that got lots of children from poor families into good schools, not just this one. And he even goes around to tutor students himself whenever they have a hard time with their school work."

His raised voice startled Lily, and the passion he brought forth nearly swept her off her feet. She couldn't help but take a step back.

"Whoa. No need to shout like that."

Turning sheepish, Oliver murmured, "Sorry."

"You must really like Director Bluestone," said Viv. "I'm guessing he was a big help to you too?"

"Oh, certainly," said Oliver. "I would even call him my hero."

Suddenly, there was a loud noise.

Bang! Crash!

Startled, the gang whirled around.

"Who's there?" shouted Lily.

That was when clouds of whitish-blue smoke billowed out from behind the boxes and spun around in front of her with a glow bright enough to light up the whole room and take away the need for the gang's phone lights. The tornado of smoke swelled up to the ceiling and then popped like a balloon to reveal a skeleton wearing an old-timey black dress with a white apron. Long, wavy hair draped around her skull. As the skeleton's bottom jaw bobbed up and down, a loud, shrill lady's cackle echoed over the howling wind that swirled around the room's occupants.

It was the ghost of the matron. She had finally shown up.

<== Chapter 24                                                                        Chapter 26 ==>

CSC V3 Ch. 2

 

*****

Omoyo

*****

The name's Homura, but most people call me by my family name, which is Omoyo. And like Oota probably told you already, I'm a psychic.

My power let's me know what other people are feeling inside. It might sound like a cool and useful ability, but it can get as annoying as hell when I'm close to people who, shall we say, aren't having a great day.

Take this one for example:

I was walking home with the other CSC members in what was usually a quiet and chill afternoon when suddenly, I was hit with a wave of bad emotions, a mixture of surprise, fear and anger. The whole world suddenly went spinning and I toppled over from vertigo.

"Someone's in trouble," I told the others. "I think they're being attacked!"

Mirai and the others exchanged looks. And then Mirai asked, "Do you know where?"

With a shaking hand, I pointed where I figured the wave of anger came from.

"There," I said.

Isaneko turned to Yuna and asked her, "Sense anything over there?"

Yuna nodded and frantically typed into her phone.

"There are two people. One is moving away. Another is not."

"We need to go after that guy, fast!" I shouted. 

It was pretty obvious the one moving away was the attacker while the one not moving was the victim. We could not let the attacker get away.

However, Mirai shook his head.

"It's too late," he said. "Anyway, the victim's more important. Isaneko and I'll check on them. Oota and Yuna, you stay here with Homura. Keep your eyes peeled in case whoever's the attacker decides to come back."

He and Isaneko then ran off before anyone could get a word in.

*****

Mirai

*****

Isaneko and I ran as fast as we could to the general direction Yuna and Homura pointed. I bumped into corners at almost every turn and toppled trash cans more than once along the way. Admittedly, I was frantic and was more focused on getting to the victim of the attack as fast as I could than my surroundings.

A crowd was already forming by the time we showed up. Me and Isaneko slowed down and then exchanged looks. We tried to approach the crowd as casually as we could, and then I called out to a nearby girl who wore our school's uniform.

"Hey!" I said to her. "Know what happened?"

Startled, the girl jumped. But she quickly relaxed when she saw that we were from the same school.

"We were just passing by when we saw the crowd and wondered if something happened here," Isaneko lied. "Do you mind telling us?"

"Oh, sure!" said the girl. "I just got here myself, but . . ."

*****

Hisao

*****

A short while after Mirai and Isaneko ran off, I heard sirens pierce the quiet skies. All of our phones got pings, alerting us of a group text from Mirai telling us to head on home first. I also got a separate message from him asking me and Yuna to stick with Omoyo until she got home first.

Sending a separate message was useless because as soon as we volunteered to keep her company until she made it to her house, Omoyo scowled and said, "Mirai put you up to this, didn't he?"

It put her in a foul mood, but nonetheless, me and Yuna followed her to her house before heading back to our own. Needless to say, I was on guard the whole time until I was inside and bolted the front door.

The next day, the school was abuzz with news that a high schooler had been attacked. Even I, with my head always low and my eyes stuck to my phone, could sense the jitters from my classmates around me as they talked amongst themselves in hushed whispers during the minutes before class started. No surprise everyone was on edge given the one particular detail about the crime that stood out to me:

The victim had been attacked with a steel drain pipe.

A chill ran down my spine when I saw that in the news article on my phone. It brought back memories of another time when people got attacked by a pipe-wielding maniac, the notorious serial killer called the Piper.

I actually had a face-to-face run-in with the Piper some time ago and even won a fight against him. It was mostly thanks to my superpower though, which I used to put up a shell of psychic energy around me and made me pretty much indestructible. But even though I was invulnerable, fighting that psycho was very scary. I was only able to stand my ground against him because I was in what Mirai called a berserker state which happens when either me, someone I know, or someone just in front of me is in danger.

Knowing the attacker's weapon was a drain pipe made me worried that there might be another Piper on the prowl again. You see, the Piper I fought was not acting alone. He had a partner who shared the same sense of sick and twisted fun he did. The guy was also dealt with and both of them should be in jail right now. The fact there was more than one Piper alone was enough to make me wonder if there might actually be more of them out there somewhere.

That possibility had become several times more likely with this latest incident.

Fast forward to lunch, me and the gang were gathered in the clubroom, answering a summons by Mirai for a meeting that could not wait until after school.

"Let me start with the good news," Mirai said. "The guy's still alive."

"Yeah, we know," Omoyo said. "The news said as much this morning. Got anything else to add?"

"Nope," replied Mirai. "I only know about as much as the newspapers know. But we did see the guy get carried off in an ambulance."

"It looked like his arm took the worse of the attack," Isaneko said. "He won't be playing any sports anytime soon, but that's still better than ending up as a corpse in the morgue."

"Funny you should mention that," said Mirai. "Earlier, I ran into our friend, the King of Kendo," (translation: the Kendo Club Captain) "and while we were having a Conference of Kings," (translation: a friendly chat between club presidents) "the attack came up, and he mentioned that the victim was a member of another school's Kendo Club."

"No kidding?" went Omoyo. "Is he sure?"

Mirai nodded and replied, "Positive. Despite the heavy rivalry, the Kendo King's established a network for swordsmen across all the great na - Ow!"

With a smile, Isaneko asked pleasantly, "Mirai, can you please tone down the melodrama speak? I think I told you this before, but it's utterly annoying."

I couldn't see anything under the table, but it was clear even to me that Isaneko must have stomped on Mirai's foot. Hard.

Omoyo agreed with Isaneko and said, "Yeah, Mirai. I can barely understand a thing you're saying."

"Come on, you two," Mirai croaked. "How long have you known me? You should get what I'm saying by now."

"Anyway," said Isaneko, "to sum everything up, our school's Kendo Club Captain heard from another school's Kendo Club Captain that the victim of yesterday's attack was one of their members."

"Why's that important?" I asked.

"Because, my dear Watson," said Mirai, "when it comes to solving crime, any detail counts."

Omoyo frowned. "Are you a demon lord or a detective? Pick one!"

Mirai smirked and said, "Why can't I be both?" And then he boldly declared, "I am anything and everything! Mwa ha ha ha!"

His act only elicited exasperated groans from the rest of us. 

Despite the buzz garnered by news of an attack by what could be a new Piper, the day went on like normal. We went to class like normal, chilled at the clubroom after school like normal, and then left together like normal. However, for the second day in a row, the normalcy of the day was broken as we made our way home.

As we were headed down a road that was deserted except for us like always, Mirai suddenly stopped to whisper something to Isaneko.

Curious, Omoyo asked, "Everything okay?"

Mirai gave Isaneko a rather worried look, but Isaneko just casually brushed him off and replied, "It's fine. Mirai just saw something interesting in my future."

"Really? What?" I asked.

But Isaneko just said, "You'll see."

We continued further down, and then I felt a tug on my sleeve and turned around.

"What is it, Yuna?" I asked my cousin.

In response, she pointed ahead to a lone man in a gray blazer leaning against the wall with his left hand stuffed in his pants pocket. He looked up from his phone and turned our way, eyes rolling over us until they honed in on Isaneko. 

On closer look, I estimated his age to be between his early to mid-fifties, maybe younger. For all I knew, his dark, sun-dried skin could just be giving the impression that he was older than he actually was. He was pretty big with a stout build, clearly a man who got a lot of exercise.

We all stopped and our eyes met his. And then he swaggered over to us, stopped just about a foot or two away, and gave us a look over once more.

I was, of course, a bit nervous and alarmed at the way he just approached us.

With a sneer on his face, he said, "Yo."

I turned to Yuna and shouted, "Pull the alarm! I'll call the cops!"

Yuna nodded and took out her keychain alarm while I dialed the emergency number on my phone.

"Wait, wait, wait!" the man cried out, pulling out his wallet. He flipped it open and flashed it to us. "I AM a cop! See? See?"

The top flap held a picture I.D. card with his name while the bottom flap had a gold badge pinned on it. Those two things combined confirmed that the man was an officer of the law.

"The name's Serimachi," said the police officer. "I'm a police detective investigating an attack that happened yesterday. I think you might have heard about it already in the news?"

"Of course," said Mirai. "Everyone at school's talking about it. Right, Isaneko?"

"Indeed," Isaneko said.

"Isaneko, huh?" Serimachi once more had his eyes on Isaneko. "Could you be Aika Isaneko, the face of Angel Support?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Angel Support? What's that?"

"It's the company my mother runs," Isaneko explained. "And yes, I'm that Aika Isaneko, the mascot of Angel Support."

"You didn't seem like just a mascot for the company though," said Serimachi. "Rumor had it you had a much bigger role in that so-called company."

Isaneko shrugged. "All I do is show my pretty face at meetings and maybe do a trick or two. That sounds like something a mascot would do."

Serimachi's eyes narrowed. Judging by the look on his face, it seemed his mood was going south. I had no idea why, though. 

"Remind me again, what does Angel Support do?" he asked.

"Well," Isaneko said, "like the name hints, it's a financial and investment support organization. The company offers financial advice and investment opportunities for small businesses and individuals. Oh, and I think they also handled loans as well. There might be some other stuff, but it's hard to keep track."

"Really," Serimachi said with a raised eyebrow. "I don't recall the company starting out that way, though."

"Well, I remember it used to be more like an unofficial club, basically a gathering of sorts for people going through something tough in their lives," Isaneko responded coolly.

Serimachi didn't seem to like that answer, given the way his face twisted. 

He opened his mouth as if he had more to say, but then Mirai cut him off and said, "You're asking an awful lot about the company Isaneko's mom runs, but what does that have to do with the attack that happened yesterday?"

Serimachi gave Mirai a sharp glare, but Mirai just responded back with an innocent smile. 

"Right, sorry." The police detective quickly regained his composure and returned to the matter at hand. "I heard that students from your school were there at the time of the attack and wanted to check if you happened to see anything."

Mirai gave the detective an apologetic smile and replied, "Sorry. We happened to walk by the scene of the crime, but it was already over by then. We did run into someone from our school who happened to live in the area who told us she heard yelling and came out to find a guy our age but from a different school lying on the ground.

"We also managed to get a look at the guy. He was pretty banged up, but it didn't look too bad. He was still awake at least."

"I see, I see," said Serimachi as he jotted down notes on his small notebook. "That lines up with what we already heard from other witnesses. But I'm curious. What were you doing around that area in the first place? Seems a bit far out of your way home."

"Why, Detective," went Isaneko. "You sound as if you already know where we live."

"Well, I am a detective you know," said Serimachi.

"Wow!" Isaneko cried out in false wonderment. "Detectives are so amazing! To find out where we live in an instant of learning our names. It's almost like you have psychic powers."

Her sarcasm was so blatant, she may as well have announced it. And it put Serimachi once more in a foul mood.

"Hey, is it okay we go now?" Omoyo asked. "It's getting kind of late and we don't want to make our parents worry."

Serimachi gave Omoyo a glance, who glanced back at us. The police detective followed her gaze and I just stared back without saying anything, not sure how to act.

An exhale escaped Serimachi's throat while his mouth was closed. And then he said, "Thank you for your time. If you'll excuse me."

After giving a short bow, he walked away. Omoyo scowled at him when his back was turned.

"What's up with that guy's attitude," she complained once he was out of earshot. "Did you see the way he looked at Isaneko? It was as if he was itching to arrest her!"

"It can't be helped," Isaneko said softly. "I'm a bad girl after all."

She sounded wicked-playful, but there was something melancholic about the way she spoke. And it left me and the others speechless.

<== Chapter 1