[Begin Scene 1]
Mara knocks tentatively on the ornate mahogany door.
"You wanted to see me, Mrs. Andrews?" she asked.
"Yes. Please have a seat, Mara. We need to discuss two important matters. First, as you know, serving as school representative comes with a number of responsibilities. One of the most important responsibilities involves being a liaison between staff and students. It has come to the attention of the faculty that a group of students in Anubis House have been involved in dangerous activities that threaten students, staff, and our school as a whole. We suspect the leaders include Nina, Fabian, and Amber, though others may also involved. Unfortunately, they seem to profoundly distrust the staff, and we've been unable to gain their confidence ourselves.
That's where YOU come in, Mara. We need you to provide information. Inside information on this group. I'm confident that you can recruit at least one or two other students who are willing and able to take on this vital task. We suggest Mick and Jerome, but the final decision will be yours," explained Mrs. Andrews.
"You're serious?" Mara asked incredulously. "Are you asking me to spy on my friends?"
"Not exactly, Mara. You'll be leading our group of insiders, but from afar. That brings me to the second reason I've had you meet with me today. You need to go straight back to your room and pack".
"What? I don't understand," Mara gasped.
"Your new position as school ambassador also involves international student outreach. You're going to EGYPT to carry out this role. Everything has been arranged. Your plane leaves tomorrow morning."
[End Scene 1]
[Begin Scene 2]
"What is it, Mara? Is it Mick? I never could stand that dolt! What's he done now?" Patricia growled protectively.
"It's not Mick. Well, it is sort of Mick, but. Oh, it's all so confusing. You'll never believe it, Patricia. It's too horrible to even imagine. Why me?" Mara wept.
"Go on then. Tell me everything, "Patirica consoled.
"It seems this student rep. position is a lot more than I bargained for. Mrs. Andrews is sending me to EGYPT as an ambassador to our sister school there. I didn't even know we HAD a sister school, nor do I want to travel there! This is NOT what I signed up for"! - Mara protested. "And, it gets worse. The most awful part - well I can't even talk about that. What shall I do, Patricia? Mrs. Andrews has arranged to fly me to Egypt tomorrow morning!"
Patricia's thoughts swirled as madly as leaves in a cyclone. A sister school in Egypt? Teachers wanting MARA out of the way? Will someone new replace MARA just as Joy had been replaced with Nina? And what did she mean by "it gets worse?"
[End Scene 2]
[Being Scene 3]
Patricia burst through the door and threw herself onto the bed dramatically.
Nina and Fabian, stared up at her quizzically from the rug on the floor where they had been pouring over a book on ancient Egyptian mythology.
"Well, out with it! Looks like something major!" teased Fabian.
"Oh, 'major' hardly covers it. We've got a problem. A big one," Patricia explained.
After revealing Mrs. Andrews' plan to the other Sibuna members, the group brainstormed a few possible explanations and batted about some ideas for managing it, but they were getting nowhere fast.
If there is a sister school IN Egypt, might they find some answers there? How could they get Mara to do some investigating for them without revealing all of the secrets of Sibuna to her? What was Mrs. Andrews up to, anyway? Why send MARA away when she knew nothing of the Sibuna group and its discoveries?
The more the discussed the matter, the more confused the group became. They even tossed around the idea of getting some input from Trudy, but quickly dismissed it. They needed at least one adult they could trust if things got too out of hand, and they didn't want to risk getting her fired again.
"We need an official meeting," Fabian announced. "Tonight. Midnight. In the attic".
[End Scene 3]
[Begin Scene 4]
"Mara. Take a deep breath. Calm down a bit. I can barely understand you," Mick consoled.
Mick hands Mara a tissue and Mara sobs on his shoulder.
"Mick, Mrs. Andrews is making me leave! Leave the school for EGYPT! And not as a punishment for anything. It's supposed to be a PRIVILEGE. How can she think leaving the school. . . leaving YOU . . . is a privilege! The woman is BONKERS! And it gets WORSE! She's gotten some crazy idea that Fabian, Amber, and Nina are up to no good, and she wants me to arrange for you - and possibly Jerome - to SPY on them!" Mara explained.
"There's no way she can do that! She'd have to have your parents' permission! Do you even have a passport? But most important - we've only just begun dating! I don't want to lose you now. We've got to have a talk with her. And what's this nonsense about spying? Fabian's a good bloke. Amber - well, she's just Amber. And Nina seems to be fine. At least Fabian thinks so. What's Andrews' on about anyway?" Fabian asked.
"Mrs. Andrews said she took care of all the details. And it's not like I have time to challenge her in some way. My plane leaves in the morning. Tonight's dinner will be the saddest dinner of my life, "Mara lamented.
"Don't worry, Maraculous. We'll think of something. We have to. And Andrews can forget about me spying on my friends. I won't do it, "Mick said emphatically.
[End Scene 4]
[Begin Scene 5]
"What an amazing device!" remarks the friendly passenger seated next to Mara as they listen to the instructions over the plane's loudspeaker reminding them never to accept packages from strangers.
"It's actually somewhat exciting! It's an iPad 2. My school gave it to me so I could video chat with my friends back in Britain while I am visiting Egypt for the next two weeks. My teacher tells me it's quite advanced, and that it hasn't been released to the general public yet. I'm actually quite excited to explore all its features," replies Mara.
Feigning a search in her purse for a writing device, Mara's seat mate surreptitiously removes a small, wireless device from her pocket, and carefully conceals it in her hand.
"Incredible! I may pick up one of those for myself. For now, though, I guess I'll be sticking to the old ways. Might I borrow a pencil? It seems I've misplaced mine," the woman asks nonchalantly.
As Mara reaches for her neatly stowed carry-on to retrieve the requested pencil, the suspicious woman aims the concealed device at Mara's new iPad. As the camera goes in for a close up, we see the tiny button on her device is shaped like the Eye of Horus. The woman watches the iPad screen carefully. Almost instantly, a small glyph appears among the sea of application icons.
Obviously pleased with herself, the olive-skinned, college aged woman excuses herself to the restroom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~cut to sub-scene in bathroom of the plane~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's done," the woman whispered into her cell phone conspiratorially.
[End Scene 5]
[Begin Scene 6]
Jerome slinks down the hall and enters Victor's office unannounced.
"I've an interesting bit of information that concerns you, Rodenmaar. It won't come cheap, of course," Jerome taunts.
"Enough of this nonsense, boy. Let's have it," Victor threatens.
"That may work with the children in this house, Vic, but we both know that it won't work on me," Jerome announces confidently.
"Fine, then. Name your price, you worthless piece of nothing," Victor hisses.
"5 milliliters. By Tuesday. Final offer," Jerome says matter-of-factly.
"Done," says Victor. "This better be good"
"Oh, I think this little tidbit will rock your tiny world, Rodenmaar. Some of your little society members are on to your game. Andrews even solicited Mara's help to enlist me as a SPY. The idiot. She doesn't trust you, Victor. She never has," said Jerome. "Now, this next bit is especially juicy. It will cost you 5 more milliliters."
"Done," said Victor.
"I agreed to Mara's invitation to monitor Sibuna and to update her while she's in Egypt. Since you're in such a generous mood today, Victor, I'll return the favor. Let me know what you want me to tell her, and I'll make sure she believes it. The dutiful little snipe will feed that right back to Andrews. Problem solved, yes? What would you ever do without me?" remarks Jerome.
"Indeed. Problem solved," said Victor. "I'll let you know what to tell her tomorrow morning. I'll leave a message in the usual spot. Now get out," Victor commanded.
[End Scene 6]
[Begin Scene 7]
Mara, Alfie, and the rest of the Sibuna group met secretly in the laundry room in the wee morning hours before Mara's departure. The main topic of discussion was Jerome. Earlier in the day, when Mara spoke to him about the bizarre meeting with Mrs. Andrews, Jerome had seemed thrilled at the prospect of betraying people who were supposed to be his friends. Every student in the meeting agreed there was something suspicious about him that they had never really trusted. Even Alfie sensed that something was a bit "off" with his roommate and fellow prankster.
Mara assured the group she was loyal to them, although she admitted that she had felt a bit left out over the past few months. The group devised a plan to simultaneously dupe both Mrs. Andrews and Jerome. Sibuna will put on a little 'show' for Jerome to report to Mara, who will then relay the information to Mrs. Andrews. And Alfie will keep an eye on Jerome just in case he tries to pull anything.
It seemed like the perfect plan . . .
[Scene change to video conference between Mara and Alfie]
"This is wicked cool, Mara! It's like we're triple layered spies! I spy on Jerome while he spies on the fake Sibuna. And you report Jerome's fake findings to Andrews. It's brilliant!" exclaims Alfie.
"It is pretty complicated, but I have to admit, it's pretty exciting, too!" replies Mara.
Of course, neither Alfie, nor Mara, nor the Sibuna group was aware that their "triple layer spy" plan was actually quadruple.
[camera closes in on a tiny, subtly lit, slowly vibrating glyph icon on Mara's iPad2]
[End Scene 7]
[Begin Scene 8]
". . . and after that, I want to hear a PIN . . . DROP!" commanded Victor militaristicly.
[cut to Nina/Patricia's room]
"You've GOT to believe me! I'm telling you, there's something more than just creepy about Victor's feathered friend. That thing was WATCHING me. I swear it!" proclaimed Patricia as she stomped her foot for emphasis.
"Ok, ok. So Corbier is weird. I'm sure he doesn't actually MOVE or watch people or something. He'd have to be alive to do that. And I assure you, Victor's nasty bird mummy is definitely NOT alive," said Nina less than confidently.
"Come on then. I'll have to show you. What is it with you Americans? You can't just take someone's word for it?" protested Patricia.
[cut to girls sneaking down the hall to Victor's office, their ears pasted to the outside of the door, straining to hear every word coming from inside the office]
"Tell me. Are you having doubts? Are you entertaining Dr. Zeno-esque aspirations? Daphne, can I still trust you?" Victor asked.
[zoom in on walkie-talkie teetering on the edge of falling from the pocket of Patricia's robe]
"Daphne - I'm waiting," says Victor impatiently.
Patricia's walkie-talkie falls to the floor with an incriminating bang. Victor rises from his desk chair and heads toward the door. He stops just short, as the phone cord won't quite reach.
[Camera briefly zooms in on Corbier, who appears to move slightly as Victor moves].
"Think about what I've said, Daphne. I've got to go," Victor announces. He slams down the phone, knocking Corbier to the floor as he storms out of the office.
Patricia and Nina sprint down the hall, but have neglected to retrieve the tell-tale walkie talkie. Patricia turns back after a few steps to snatch it up. Nina continues to run, barely avoiding Victor's
pursuit. Patricia isn't so lucky.
"It's 10:10, young lady. What are you doing out of bed?" booms Victor.
"Oh. My bad. I thought I was in England. Not Nazi Germany, Mein Führer, " snips Patricia.
Victor produces the infamous toothbrush from his pocket.
"I want to see my face in that toilet," he says.
"That can be arranged, you ancient freak" Patricia sneers under her breath.
[End Scene 8]