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.
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