I told you they'd get longer...4,038 words! Enjoy!


"Okay, there's Mara, let's get over there and ask her about the necklace before Jerry pops up." Eddie rolled his green eyes and began to walk in the direction he'd pointed at.

His path was cut off when Jerome stepped in front of him, just like Eddie had said he would.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a low voice.

"Nothing, what are you doing?" Eddie replied coolly.

"Look, Sweety, I don't know what you and the Scooby gang are up to, but I don't want you near my girlfriend, is that clear?"

"Jerry, we live in the same house. We're going to cross paths sometime." The American's eyes glowed, challenging the taller blonde.

"Swear to me you'll leave her out of this new mystery of yours." Eddie opened his mouth to retort and Jerome cut him off, "And don't try to deny it; I can see it in your eyes. You need her help. Go ask another genius. I've got Einstein's number if you'd like to talk to him about it."

Alfie let out a small laugh, but covered it with a cough.

"Swear it, Edison." Jerome ordered forcefully.

Eddie broke their eye contact and Jerome smirked triumphantly. Submission.

"Fine, I swear it, Jerry." He ground out.

"Good, so stay away from Mara." He warned, and stalked off without a second glance or another word.

"Great," Patricia muttered as Jerome grabbed his girlfriend's arm, smiling lovingly, and pulling her down the hallway and away from them.


"I really want that necklace…" Eddie grumbled, staring at the ceiling.

He and his friends were seated in an empty class room between periods. He was splayed out on his back, lying on a desk in the front row. Patricia and KT were sharing a desk beside that one, and Alfie was bouncing around the back of the room, with Fabian researching near him, giving the dark-skinned boy an annoyed glance every few minutes.

"I think I'm going to call my Uncle Ade and ask him about the stone." Fabian announced, ignoring Eddie's complaining.

"No," Eddie shook his head, sitting up and spinning around to face his roommate. "Bad move, bro."

"Eddie, I've gotten help from him before, with Nina; he's family. Don't worry, he can be trusted." He assured him. "I might call Jasper as well."

"Now, don't do that; he worked for Rufus in the past." Alfie pointed out.

"He was being blackmailed." Fabian defended his godfather.

"But really Fabian, he could be getting blackmailed right now, for all we know." Alfie pointed out. "Let's just stick with Ade."

"Yeah, I was thinking about that; who besides us is after the stone?" KT wondered.

"Yeah, are we going to have a new psychopath to avoid?" Patricia questioned.

"I don't know; I guess that's a new task we have: find out if anyone else is after this thing. And with our luck, someone most likely is." Eddie finished bitterly, lying back down.

Sibuna fell silent again. Eddie with his arm slung over his eyes and Patricia tapping her nails against the wooden desk. Alfie had stop bouncing and was now leaning against the back wall, doing a hand stand. KT had switched desks and sat with Fabian to try and help him with research.

Patricia sighed heavily and broke the comfortable silence. "What if I tried to get the necklace on my own? I'm one of Mara's best friends, and Jerome can't force her not to hang out with me."

"That's a good idea, Yacker." Eddie complimented. "Try that during lunch, 'kay?"

"I don't take orders from you, doofus, I'm gonna do it right now." She scoffed and strutted out of the room, slinging her big bag over her shoulder.

The Goth's eyes flitted up and down the hallway in search of her roommate. She spotted her on the left side, marching through the double doors to the lounge.

"Hey, Mars," she smiled once she caught up to her. She linked their arms, just like she had done before the whole mystery thing had come between them. "I need your help."

"Patricia, I saw Joy with Willow she's not missing; I can't stall for you. Remember the hedgehogs?" the raven-haired girl raised her dark eyebrows.

"No, nothing like that; and yes, I do remember the hedgehogs. Hedgehogs…" she mumbled in disbelief. "Actually, I need help with my outfit for a date I have with Eddie. He's making some fancy dinner that's not sandwiches or pancakes. I thought I'd dress up. But the problem is I don't have a necklace to go with my outfit. I was wondering if I could borrow this one?" she asked with fake hesitance.

"Patricia, I would really love to lend it to you," Mara started.

"But?"

"But, Jerome gave this to me as more than just a gift. It's a family heirloom and he gave it to me for safekeeping. I couldn't let someone else wear it. Where would his trust for me go?" she asked, but the question was more so directed at herself than Patricia.

"Oh, okay, but could you at least think about? The date's tonight, I don't really have much time to go out and buy something new, you know?"

"Yeah, but I won't change my answer, I'm sorry." Mara smiled in apology and sat down with her book.

Patricia left the room calmly, but once the doors had closed behind her, she huffed and stomped into the classroom her friends were waiting for her.

"Well?" Eddie prompted.

She sat down at her desk and slumped down in the seat. "Fail." She snapped.

"What?" he groaned.

"That necklace is a Clarke family heirloom; Jerome gave it to her for safekeeping, more than just a present. She's not going to take it off for the fear of him losing his trust in her." She explained.

"See? She's holding onto it because of love, not just because she has to. Jerome and Mara are head over heels in love with each other; if Mara gave him a necklace that expressed her trust and love for him, he'd never take it off either." KT pointed out.

"Yeah, I agree; Jerome loves Mara more than even he can explain. He'd do anything for her, and she's the exact same way." Alfie spoke up, slouching down from his handstand. He sat on the floor, and leaned back slowly, lying flat on his back on the cold, tiled floor. "Oh, head rush…"

"That's usually what happens when the blood rushes to your head, Alfie." Fabian chuckled.


"Mara, that necklace looks positively divine on you! I love it! You're so lucky that Jerome would give you something like that. It looks really old and valuable." Willow commented, staring at the necklace around Mara's neck. "It looks ancient. Did you ever think about doing research on it and find out the origin and stuff?"

Mara's head shot up from her book and she smiled at her friend. "Willow, that's a great idea!"

Willow smiled proudly and scooted over on the bed so Mara could sit down as well. The raven-haired girl opened her laptop and typed into the waiting search bar and scanned the results.

"Mm…it'd help if I'd known specifically what I'm looking for. I bet there were loads of these made." She stated. She lifted the stone to her face, inspecting the back and the rim. "There's no company name, or make, or year, or anything."

They fell silent again and Mara clicked on the fourth website that had shown good results in the search.

"…what am I wearing?" Mara asked once the page loaded.


"Uncle Ade," Fabian grinned, hugging his relative.

"Fabian, it's very nice to see you again." The man smiled. "Oh, where is that girlfriend of yours…Nina?"

Fabian's smile dropped but he forced a small, fake one and motioned for him to sit down. "She couldn't make it to school this year. So, uh, I have another question that requires your never-ending knowledge of antiques."

"Yes, my boy, what is it?" he asked, adjusting his glasses ever so slightly.

"Well, recently, my friend has received a gift from her boyfriend, a necklace. The stone on the necklace is unusual and I've never seen anything like. I haven't been able to find anything on it except that it might have been antique, and that's where you come in. Do you know anything about this?" Fabian held the picture of the necklace out to his uncle.

Ade peered down at the photo and furrowed his brow as he tried to remember anything that had to do with this particular piece of jewelry. "Ah, yes, this is not exactly antique as you said, Fabian. It appears to be something much more valuable than that. I suggest calling your godfather. It looks more ancient than antique." He chuckled.

"Oh, thank you, Uncle. I'm sorry I asked you to come all the way down here for you to tell me that." Fabian muttered sheepishly.

"No, it's perfectly alright. Do you know where that dashing young woman, Trudy is at the moment? I'd like to say hello."

"Yeah, she's in the laundry room, through the kitchen." Fabian pointed behind him with a small smirk.

Ade made his way toward the kitchen and Fabian hurried out of the common room and into his and Eddie's.

The others looked up at him and raised their eyebrows expectantly.

"I need to call Jasper." He shrugged, grabbing his cell off his nightstand and dialing his godfather's number. "It's definitely Egyptian, not even close to antique. So, I'll ask Jasper about it and then he should be able to give us plenty of—Jasper, it's Fabian. Yes, I wanted to ask you a few questions about a necklace. Ade said that it looked Egyptian, and I was wondering if you could take a look at a picture and tell me all you can about it."

He was silent for a few minutes while Jasper spoke on the other end of the line.

"Thank you…yes, I'll send it right away…alright…thank you, you too." And he hung up. He looked to his friends and hopped onto his bed, opening his laptop. "Send the picture and wait for a reply."

"Alright, in the meantime, while we're waiting for the reply, let's find a way to get the necklace." Eddie stressed each of his words. He knew the necklace was a key part in the mystery, obviously. But he couldn't stop thinking about it. It was like when KT was trying to safe her great-grandfather; she had thought about nothing but that. He was the exact same way. "Mara's got to take it off sometime. Like, before she takes a shower?"

"She takes it into the bathroom with her and locks the door. She never forgets it. She hangs it in front of her mirror so she remembers it before she leaves." KT explained, recalling that morning.

"I'm going to go say goodbye to my Uncle." Fabian announced, hearing Trudy and Ade's voices float down the hall to the main door.

"I'm going to try to find out if any of the teachers know about the Touchstone." Alfie stated.

"And how are you going to do that?" Patricia questioned.

"I don't know, but KT will help me, right?" the dark-skinned boy smiled hopefully.

"Of course, Alfie." She smiled, standing up and brushing her blue jeans off.

The group dispersed and Patricia and Eddie leant back against his bed, simultaneously sighing.

Jerome shook his head. The things he hears when he eavesdrops gets weirder every time. Why did Sibuna want his girlfriend's necklace? What did they want with it? Why was it important? A new mystery, he was sure, but why Mara's necklace; a Clarke family heirloom.

One thing he knew for sure though, he needed to make sure they didn't get it, and he needed to find out why they wanted it so badly.


"What are you two whispering about now?" Joy asked, butting into Patricia and Eddie's hushed conversation.

"Nothing, just my dad, and the weird things he says to me." Eddie shook his head, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"You know I'm still a Sibuna, right?" Joy snapped, placing a hand on her hip.

"I thought—" the American started.

"Don't listen to Fabian; he's wrong. Sibuna made me a Sibuna last year. I haven't quit or been shut out. So, please, just tell me what's going on. Maybe I can help?" she suggested. Her brown eyes pleaded with them, but they just watched her, not showing a single sign of submission.

"Joy, maybe you should just leave it alone, yeah?" Patricia tried to reason with her friend.

"Guys, come on, you know I can't. I'm a descendant. I am just as deep as you." She protested.

Eddie and Patricia looked at each other warily.

"Maybe, Joy, okay? We don't really know. We'll talk to the others and see what we can do. But for now, just let it go." Eddie finished slowly, making sure she understood every word.


"You know that necklace makes you look even more beautiful than before, right?" Jerome said absently, doodling on the corner of Mara's notebook paper.

"Jerome, please stop, I don't want anything bad or perverted on the paper I'm handing into Mr. Sweet tomorrow." She scolded, but a blush rose to her cheeks.

"It's nothing bad or perverted," he promised. He kissed her cheek and settled back in the sofa, starting off where he last left off in the book he was most recently reading.

"…I love you, too." She replied to his doodle and he looked up at her with a loving smile.

"Beansybop, can you promise me something?"

"Sure," she nodded, a giddy smile slipping onto her face when he used his secret nickname for her.

"Always keep the necklace with you. Never take it off. Promise me, you'll never let anything happen to it."

"Of course, I promise. I'll never take it off. Nothing will ever happen to it as long as it's with me. Okay?"

"Thank you, darling." He smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and giving them an affectionate squeeze. "It's meant only for you. No one else should ever wear it. Even though I just laid eyes on it for the first time yesterday, it was always supposed to be yours; just like you were always meant to be mine, and I yours."


"So Joy wants to be a Sibuna?" KT confirmed.

Eddie sighed. "She's already a Sibuna from last year, but she's not a full fledge member. We're trying to decide if she should join in or not. We don't really need any extra help. We're just doing research—"

"And trying to get the necklace, and Joy could be the key to getting it." Fabian pointed out. "She's Mara's best friend, and she's one of the sneakiest people we know. And Jerome wouldn't know she's a Sibuna because we'll keep it a secret."

"Dude, that's a great idea. Jerome wouldn't suspect a thing. He would just think that they are talking girl." Alfie shrugged.

"Is that what guys think girls do?" Patricia scoffed. "'Talk girl'?"

"Not you, but other girls."

"Oh, well, that makes it okay," she rolled her green eyes.

"Okay, let's get Joy and we'll tell her what we need her to do." Eddie announced.

Patricia stood up. "I'll go."

Once she had left the room, Eddie turned to KT. "Can you call Frobisher and ask him about the necklace? He might know something, or he could research it for us while he's in Egypt."

"Totally," she nodded, taking out her phone. She left the room for a minute, cell pressed to her ear as she waited for Robert to answer the phone.

She closed the bedroom door behind her and bit her bottom lip when the fourth ring came through the receiver.

"Hello?" Harriet Denby's soft voice answered.

"Harriet, hi, it's KT," the American smiled.

"KT, hello, how are you?" the woman asked.

"I'm doing well, what about you?"

"Very well, thank you. Would you like to say hello to your grandfather?"

"Yeah, thanks," KT nodded out of habit, forgetting Harriet couldn't see her.

"KT," Robert's slightly strained voice rang.

"Hi, grandpa, I wanted to ask you a question related to Egypt, if you have the time, that is."

"No, no, anything for you, my dear; what's puzzling my granddaughter?" he chuckled.

"I was wondering if you know anything about a gold and turquoise necklace called the Touchstone of Ra; a friend of mine gave it to his girlfriend, and Eddie had an Osirian vision of the same necklace. We got some information on it, but still don't know much. Maybe you do?" she asked hopefully.

"Hm, the Touchstone of Ra. It doesn't sound familiar…hold on a moment, let me check my log."

She heard some ruffling of papers on the other line and after a few minutes of Robert grunting to himself, he came back to the phone. "I'm sorry, KT, I've never discovered something by that name; I've never even heard of it. I will ask around if you'd like; do some extra research?"

"If it doesn't interfere with your work, grandpa; I don't want you to lose focus on that."

"Don't worry about it; it's no problem." Robert assured her.

"Okay, thank you," KT smiled. Joy and Patricia came into her vision and she sighed. "I have to go, could you call me if you learn anything about it?"

"Of course, dear, have good day."

"You too," and with that, she hung up and follow her friends back into the room.

"Well?" Eddie prompted, looking up at her with hopeful eyes.

"He'll call me if he learns anything." She shrugged, sitting on the floor next to Alfie.

"He doesn't know anything? One of the greatest Egyptologists ever, and he doesn't know anything about something about an Egyptian relic?" Alfie scoffed.

"He doesn't know everything, Alfie." Fabian reminded, throwing him a look.

"So…" Joy drifted off from the end of Fabian's bed.

"Oh, Joy, right, you can be a Sibuna. In fact, we already have your first mission." Eddie grinned.

"Okay, then," she smiled. "What is it?"

"We need you to get Mara's new necklace off of her." Patricia answered.

"Why?" the brunette asked cautiously.

"Because it's an ancient Egyptian relic, and Jerome won't let us have it. He has forbidden us from going near her. But he doesn't know you're a Sibuna. It'll be easier for you to get it than any of us." Eddie explained.

"Okay, I'll do that—"

"Now; we need it now, Joy."

"Got it; I'll be back." She nodded a goodbye and left the room.

As she climbed up to the second floor, Joy thought over what she was about to do. What was she going to say? Why did she need the necklace? What was the story? Should she be doing this at all? Mara was one of her best friends; she couldn't stand doing this. But she promised she'd help.

She entered the room without knocking and hopped onto Patricia's bed with a smile. "Hey, Mara,"

"Hey, Joy, how are you?" the raven-haired girl smiled, looking up from her studying only for a moment to acknowledge her friend.

"I'm fine, what about you? How's paradise with your Jeromeo today?" she teased.

"Great, as per usual; ever since he told me he loved me, he hasn't stopped saying it, or giving me notes that say it. It's so sweet." She sighed happily, brown eyes flitting to her picture of Jerome on her nightstand.

"And that necklace…wow, I wish I had a boyfriend that would give me something like that."

"Yeah, it is beautiful, isn't it?" Mara giggled quietly, biting her bottom lip. She reached down and took the pendant in her hand, holding it up so she could see it; a habit that she had developed so she would always check that it was still there.

"Yeah, hey, do you think that maybe I could—" the brunette started but was cut off by Mara, who looked sorry, but also a little annoyed. She could understand why everyone thought it was pretty, but she didn't know why everyone suddenly wanted to borrow it. They all had their own jewelry.

"Joy, I'm sorry, but like I told Patricia, the necklace is not available for borrowing. Jerome trusted me with it; he doesn't want me to take it off. It's important to him, and therefore it is important to me. He told me that it was meant for me; that no one else should wear it because it was always supposed to be mine."

"Oh, well, I guess no one can really break that kind of trust, huh? No one could take it from you?"

"Over my dead body," Mara confirmed confidently.

"Alright,"

"I'm sorry, Joy; you understand, don't you?"

"Of course; if the guy I love asked me to keep one of his family heirlooms safe, I wouldn't let anyone touch it either." She answered with a light chuckle. She bid Mara a final goodbye and then slipped out of the room.

She snapped her fingers. "Dang it…"


"Great, never going to take it off, only meant for her, she won't trust it with anyone—Mara Jaffray has become a major obstacle. She is what stands between us and the necklace," Patricia sighed.

"...and it's going to be practically impossible to break her down." Eddie muttered.

"Fabian?" KT looked up hopefully.

"Jasper hasn't answered my email yet."

"And KT?" Alfie turned to her.

"No, my grandpa hasn't called me yet, Alfie."

"Okay…"

"Eddie, are you okay?" Joy asked worriedly, noticing his suddenly tense posture.

"I'm fine…I'm just suddenly really stressed about this whole thing, and we're barely into the mystery. I guess it's just because we don't have any threats to worry about, so I keep worry one my pop up somewhere."

"Don't worry; we'll get the stone before the bad guy makes himself known." Patricia reassured him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Right, we'll get the stone, and sooner than we should. We're gonna need to get it off her tonight." He declared.

"How," KT urged.

"We're gonna steal it."


"Alfie," Willow greeted happily, sipping from her pink smoothie. "Would you like one?"

"Could you make mine blue?" he asked with a smile.

"Sure," she nodded, grabbing a glass. "Where did you and the others run off to? I wanted to watch some Doctor Who with you."

"We can do that right now!" Alfie grinned. "We were just studying; don't worry about it."

"Okay, but can you tell me next time, so I know where to find you if I need you?" she looked up at him sweetly and he immediately gave in with a nod, pecking her cheek.


Sibuna had dispersed. Alfie was with Willow, Patricia was trying to get Eddie's mind off the mystery with some pancakes, and KT went to her room to wait for a call from her grandfather. Joy and Fabian were the last of the group, seated on his bed as he typed on his laptop rapidly and she hummed next to him, shifting through his many papers.

"I miss our friendship, you know." He suddenly spoke up, and her brown eyes shot up to look at him. "I'm sorry for what I said before. It's just that you asked me out when I was still trying to understand that Nina wasn't coming back to school."

"No, it's alright; I shouldn't have done that, I know how much you love her." Joy said quietly. "It was insensitive of me to start that again after you and your ex just broke up."

"So, can we try to get our friendship back on track?" he asked hopefully.

Joy felt a pang of hurt strike her heart, but she shook it off and smiled, nodding silently. He would never want her, would he? It killed her knowing that he didn't want to be with her at all; that he would never think of her that way.

"Of course, Fabes," she choked.

He smiled at her and looked back down at his laptop, completely oblivious to her saddened state.


Alright...what'd you think?

I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can, but as you can tell, these are long and they can take quite some time to write. But I'm working on chapter 5 right now! :)

Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs. -Proverbs 10:12

-Rachel