Chapter 1: Unfolding The Mystery

"This piece is worthless. The craftsmanship is poor and the jewel is most probably fake," said an old man. His hair flicking over his half-rimmed glasses, a glint of light that sparkled off the stone shone onto his gold frames. His stood behind an oak desk. On it laid a mixture of items; from jeweller's equipment to the backs of earrings. He shifted a bundle of beads to the side and propped the necklace he held back onto the table, pushing it back towards a girl. She was short, making her look at most thirteen, but she was in fact seventeen. Her name was Ellan Fowler; an ordinary girl, who happened to find herself in the possession of this necklace. She didn't wear jewellery but she certainly wanted to keep it. She just wondered what it was worth. Yet, she picked up her necklace a little disappointed with the outcome.

"What do you mean by 'probably fake'? Haven't you checked it?" she asked, her face tightening into frown.

"There is no point," said the jeweller, almost hissing. His attitude surprised her, as he was always a friendly man. He always wanted to chat, but it was either that Ellan had come to him on a bad day or he was only friendly to those who wanted to buy. "Do not bring that necklace back to me," he added as she moved towards the door, "it mocks all the beauty and good craftsmanship of a proper jeweller. I wouldn't sell such an evil thing."

She left the shop, unhappy and slightly perplexed. The door behind her opened and closed as other customers walked into the shop. She opened her palm and let the sun shine onto the blue stone. It glittered in the sunlight. The wind suddenly picked up and flung the loose parts of her brown hair into her face. It was long enough to go over her eyes and always seemed to block her vision.

"Ellan, what did he say?" a girl, who now stood by her, asked.

"Huh?" Ellan said, she had almost forgotten the reason she had gone in, "well, he seemed intrigued at first and then he looked closer. Someone had welded the jewel into the metal; he said they did it really badly. It's worthless, apparently."

"Did he not say anything about it being part of a set?" she asked. She seemed to not care that it had no value.

"Nope," she replied, "he said not to bring it back in though. So we can't try yours in there either."
"Shame, I was hoping mine would end out being a diamond. Your's is probably a sapphire. Hayden's is probably a Ruby and Bella probably has an Emerald of some sort," she carried on. She was taller than Ellan, the tallest of her friends, and had longer straighter hair. Her name was Valerie Pugh and nicknamed Val.

"He said they were probably fake, Val," she added as they walked further into the sunlight. A glint of light caught her eye. Val was wearing her necklace.

"They can't be fake, Ellan, they shine too much. You know you should really wear yours, it goes with your eyes," she added, "but, what do you mean by 'probably'. Didn't you get him to check them?"

"I tried," she insisted, "he was quite clear that there was no point to it!"

"Hmm," Val replied, thinking, "Still, you should wear it. I wear mine, it goes really nicely with everything!" she beamed.

"That's because it's plain – in a sense. Mine won't, blue doesn't go with everything," she added. Val seemed to be laughing.

"Yes, but you wear blue all the time, El," she laughed as she took the necklace from Ellan's hand and wrapped it around her neck. Ellan frowned, again, her forehead tightening. As the oldest she shouldn't let Val have her way but ever since she had found her necklace she had always taken everyone by surprise. She was always a fast talker but now, sometimes, it became a little incomprehensible when she was in a conversation. "There doesn't that look nice," she added.

"There was something else he said though," she added, "Something that's quite weird."

"What was that?" Val asked curiously.

"He said," she began, "I wouldn't sell such an evil thing." Val looked confused. "Why would he call it 'evil'? I mean, sure it mocks all the beauty and good craftsmanship but that wouldn't that make it evil?"

"Hmm, we should probably talk to Ruby and Bella," she added, "see what they think about it. They were trying the other jewellers, you know the one by there house."

"I wonder if they will go in together," she asked. Bella and Ruby where twins; both were born with curly red hair but Bella's was always darker than Ruby's. They aren't identical and they certainly do not act alike.

"They're wearing their ones too," Val added, "you know it's funny that we all found them on the same day in different places. I mean, they are the same shape and the same chains. Copper heart shaped charm with a different coloured jewel and each of our friends found one." Val laughed.

"It's rather a big coincidence, though," Ellan commented as they turned the corner. "I mean all different places, all on the same day, all of our friends. All too much of an accident if you ask me,"

"Maybe its fate!" gasped Val, her eyes twinkling, "My horoscope did say that something surprising would happen to me this year!"

"And a few months ago that psychic we prank called said something fatal would get to you!"

"Don't mock me Ellan! Or I shall call you Ellanora," she smirked before sticking out her tongue childishly.

"Hey! That's not even my name," again she frowned, the lines on her face seemed deep with anger, "your so immature!"

"So immature," mocked Valerie, with a smirk.

"Hey El, Val!" shouted someone on the other side of the street. They looked round, it was Ruby.

"Ruby!" Val shouted over.

"I think it's Bella, actually," said Ellan quietly.

"Hello, Earth to everyone! It's Bella," she laughed as she crossed the road.

"So what did you find, Bella?" asked Val.

"Well," she started. Her hair bobbed as she squeezed between two parked cars. It was easier to see closer up that it was Bella her hair was straightened at the top. "Ruby is still inside. The jeweller threw us out as soon as we said about the necklaces. He took one look at it, before we even got them off, and told us to get out. He was so rude! Ruby refused, but that was only because we had spent five minutes waiting for him to finish with another customer. In that time she and I had been browsing and we have seen this really nice ring. She's trying to barter with him; I think she's bargaining to leave if he gives it to her half price. It's gold and has four embedded amethysts and around this big-" she stopped to look at the others who were unimpressed by the story, "- What?!" she commanded.

"We aren't bothered about the ring you found. Sorry. What else did he say about the necklaces?" asked Ellan nicely.

"But it's a really nice ring! Its 9 carat gold and a good bargain for what I think it should be worth," she added.

"Bella! Shut up about the silly ring! What about the necklace?" shouted Val.

"Well, he was having a go at us for daring to bring such an abomination of craftsmanship into his shop. It was really weird. He was also shouting about banning us from the shop if we ever came back in," she said, seemingly still hurt about the ring being called 'silly'.

"Nothing about it being a set? Did he say anything that was a bit strange?"

"No, Ellan, he said that we should get rid of them though. When Ruby told him, before we showed him them, that we had found them he said, 'You should either take them back in case someone had lost them. Or at least hand them into the police.' But, I don't want to. I mean I found mine next to a bed of roses, and I'll prick myself next time I go near it I assure you!"

"Oh and that's the only reason," laughed Ruby, who had come out behind them. "He said no about the ring though, told me unless I got rid of the necklace then he just wouldn't do business with me. I bet he was glad everyone left the shop – he would have lost customers the way he was talking to me," she added frustrated.

"What did he say?" asked Val.

"Words you never want to hear. Said I looked ugly in it – so I walked out. I'm not being talked to like that!"

"He called you ugly!" Gasped Bella, "Right! He is now enemy number one!"

"So Ellan, what did you find?" Ruby asked, smiling at her sister.

"It was a bit weird, you know, he seemed interested at first but then when you showed him the necklace – he changed," she commented. She then told them about what had happened, from when she walked in to when they met Bella, calling her Ruby.

"You know, there is a difference between us and after four years of knowing you lot I would have hoped you would know that by now!" she laughed. Neither of them minded getting mixed up. They were the best of mates and sometimes it came as an advantage to look like each other. Such stories of mishap and mix-ups are long complicated things that both like to tell to a crowd of interested ears.

"He called it evil though," she said, trying to protest that it had some significance. "You don't call a necklace evil. You call it badly made, poor craftsmanship; you say it's not beautiful, and you wouldn't call it evil!"

"I think you're looking too much into it. He called it evil, but you said he wasn't acting himself. We all know how friendly he normally is," sighed Bella, a chirruping noise started, but they ignored it, "you must have just caught him on a bad day."

The chirruping continued.

"It's not fluke, or just chance that we got these necklaces – there is too much linking it all together! There is something more, something deeper," Ellan continued, also ignoring the chirruping.

"Your right about that, El," added Val.

"Maybe its destiny that we got them," Ruby added, "and maybe because of that is why we can't see how much they are worth in case we try to sell it. I mean, if we are meant to have them, then surely we are meant to keep them!"

"Balls!" said Bella in a loud voice. "Destiny, pish! That's a load of rubbish," she slumped over a railing she stood by and sighed.

The chirruping was growing louder.

"Look what is that noise?" asked Val, "it's really annoying me." They all shrugged but the chirruping stopped.
They all waited silently to see if it started up again. Ruby looked at each of them coolly. Ellan and Bella where just waiting for someone to break the silence; and Val held her bag closer to her.

There was a loud hummed-buzz and Val jumped. Quickly picking out her vibrating phone from her bag, "its just a text," she said.

"Who is it from?" asked Bella.

"My mum, she wants me back home," she smiled unhappily, "I'll just reply saying I'm coming back, swiftly. But I guess I have to go so I'll see you all tomorrow." She said, hugging each of them goodbye.

"Before you go," Ellan said, making her stop, "we all need to agree to get to the bottom of these Necklaces. And to find the truth about their mystery!"

They all nodded, and Val walked away.

--

Author Note:

This is a cross over of like many, many things. It's got a bit of everything in it. Some things could be likened to the TV show "Witch", and my initial idea developed after watching the latest Narnia film "Prince Caspian". Btw, Reepicheep is srsly awesome ) so yeah.

So you have these necklaces that are mysterious and none of the jewellers seem to like them. They keep calling them "evil" and such. Each of the girls wears one, and each of them found them.

xThePassionFruitx