Chapter 37
Captured
"Okay, guys!" went Oliver. "Are you ready?"
"Ready as we'll ever be," said George. He and the other library helpers stood at the side of the room with their hands raised. "Let 'em rip!"
Oliver stood at another side of the room and nodded to the Waller twins and Tanika who stood beside him. They pointed fingers at a trio of scarecrows lined up at a third side of the room and unleashed bolts of lightning from their outstretched fingertips. Huge shields shields appeared in front of the scarecrows and protected the scarecrows from the unprovoked attacks.
What the whole Sapphire Society was doing was taking turns practicing magic spells for fighting and protecting. They've been working harder than ever to get better at it for a while now, but Viv was especially putting her all in the training this time after finding out from Oliver why Lily may've been acting strange.
A little bit of time ago . . .
Hassan raised an eyebrow. "Lily was acting strange?"
Viv nodded. She and Eddie told the others about what happened as soon as they met up with everyone in the Sapphire Society's hideout.
"I tried to get her to tell me what was wrong, but she ran away before I could get any answers," she said. "And she's skipped all our other classes."
"I was afraid of this," Oliver said as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"You know what's up with her, Oliver?" asked Viv.
Oliver hesitated, but with all eyes on the teen detective now, he couldn't stay silent any longer. "It's just an educated guess on my part, but I think that what happened to us in that painting really shook Lily to her core. You know, when we were all turned into statues. I can tell you before I blacked out, I saw she looked really devastated. She may be afraid of something like that happening again and decided to handle everything on her own."
"You mean Lily wants to fight against the Schemer alone from now on?" asked Eddie.
Oliver nodded.
"That's crazy!" Viv cried out. "She's nearly died two times already!"
"I know," said Oliver. "And things are only going to get more dangerous from now on. The Schemer just keeps upping his game."
"What do we do?" asked Eddie.
"The only thing we can do," said Oliver. "And what we've already been doing: upping our own game and doubling down on our training . . ."
. . . which was what the gang ended up doing for the whole afternoon.
"Okay," said Oliver. "I think that's good for now."
He spoke over shrill and annoying beeping from his watch.
"Already?" Viv was reluctant to end training yet.
But showing his watch to the others, Oliver said, "Can't be out too late. We're already in enough trouble with Mr. Lin as it is. I doubt he'd be happy to find out we're still sticking our nose in magic business."
"About that . . ." George spoke up. "I just realized something. Is there any point to this training? Can't we just leave everything to Mr. Lin now? He's supposed to be this super strong Stone Man, right? Doesn't sound like he'd need help from a bunch of amateur wizards like us."
Oliver shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to be ready, just in case."
"I'm with Oliver," said Melody. "You know the saying, better safe than sorry."
"I do get where George is coming from though," said Alejandro. "It feels like a waste to learn magic and not get to use it."
"Ditto," said Tanika.
Out of the corner of his eye, Eddie spotted a glow of blue light and he turned to see what it was. "Uh . . . guys? I don't think you'll have to worry about that magic training going to waste."
Everyone looked at him and then followed his gaze to the back of the room where the ghostly apparition of a woman in long flowing dress floated in the air. She was see-through, as if made of glass, and her hair was spread out and waving behind her as if she was under water.
"I know you!" Viv cried out. "You're that ghost lady from Lily's bracelet! The one that parrot called the Lady of Sapphire!"
Oliver looked up and down. "This is the Lady of Sapphire I've heard so much about?"
"Indeed, I am," said the Lady of Sapphire with an eerily echoey voice. "Brave members of the Sapphire Society, I bring you grim tidings. The Chosen One has been captured."
"The Chosen One? Captured?" Viv was puzzled at first, but then she realized something. "Wait, Lily was captured!?"
The Lady of Sapphire nodded. "She had been challenged to a battle by the Schemer himself and lost."
"Blast!" Oliver cursed. "It's happened sooner than I thought."
"I knew I shouldn't have left her alone!" Viv moaned. "I should've gone after her, even if it meant getting into more trouble for skipping classes!"
"Now is not the time for self-blame," the Lady of Sapphire cut in. "You all must go save her before it is too late."
"Before it's too late? What do you mean?" asked Eddie.
The Lady of Sapphire answered, "The Schemer has put the Chosen One under a terrible curse, one that would trap her in sapphire stone forever, just like he did with the Sapphire Princess."
A large bubble appeared over her hands. In the bubble, everyone could see Lily standing in the middle of the room while a slab of see-through blue stone covered her feet and slowly grew upward.
"That's terrible!" Tanika cried in dismay.
Viv tore her eyes away from the bubble and turned at her heels and started speed-walking to the exit. But Oliver stopped her.
"Wait, Viv," he said.
"Don't stop me, Oliver! You heard what the ghost lady said. Lily needs help now!"
"I know," Oliver said. "But recklessly flying out in a panic isn't going to do anything. At the very least, we need to find out where she's being held. I take it you know, my lady?"
The Lady of Sapphire nodded her head. "Follow me."
She drifted ahead of the others and flew over to the exit. Shortly after she went out the room, Viv and the others followed after her. Oliver was the last.
But just as he was about to join the others, a thought flashed and he stopped at the door.
"Wait a minute," he said aloud. "Wasn't the Lady of Sapphire that the girls met earlier just a recording? No one's ever spoken to the person herself before. How very fishy . . ."
As he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, Alejandro's head popped in from the doorway and he asked, "You coming, Oliver?"
Broken from his thoughts, Oliver looked up and replied, "Yeah. Coming!"
Oh well, he thought. I'll think about it later. Rescuing Lily is more important.
Pushing his suspicions aside, Oliver left the room and ran to catch up with the others.
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