Chapter 7
"Ghost! Can you hear me?"sounded trough Beauvillage park.
The moon shined trough the trees, as a large group of people stood in the Circle of Natural Life. The Tofus, Hubbubs, Spocks, Robins and others were standing in the circle, which was lit by candlelight as Bee and Mom were conducting another ritual. Bee was seated at the foot of the human statue, eyes closed in concetration as she desperately tried to make contact with the troubled spirit.
"I may have stood behind them at the Town Hall, but I think I may be eating my words very soon."grumbled Titus overlooking the ritual along with most of the people.
"Oh shush Titus. You said yourself, that we need to resolve the problem and Bee´s ritual just might work."replied Beth.
"I only wish we could´ve consulted the Wizard´s Guide to Green Sorcery."said Pop under his breath.
Both Titus and Beth fixed him with perplexed looks.
"Why didn´t you, Jake? I mean you guys basicly live by that book."asked Titus rolling his eyes a bit.
Indeed he noticed them go by it most of the times over the years. Pop sighed a deep sigh.
"We wanted to Titus. But for some reason neither me or Violet can find it at home. I wonder where could that book have gone."he explained sighing again.
"You´ll find it. You two may have just misplaced it somewhere in the house."reasoned Buba, knowing by now, how Mom and Pop tend to misplace or forget about things when they are fired up for something – like today after the town meeting.
"I only wish you hadn´t pulled us out of the house because of this."grumbled Lola.
She was enjoying a pleasurable evening with her boyfriend and there was a new movie on the tube she really wanted to see. Instead both of them had to come along for Bee´s "calming ritual", which surprisingly most of the people who were infront of Town Hall were attending. She even caught glimpse of her homeroom teacher and Chichi´s homeroom teacher as well. However, as she stole a look at her parents deeply involved in the ritual and Billy´ s parents also witnessing it, she suddenly got a good idea. She yawned openly and started to rub her eyes. The gesture did not go unnoticed by her father.
"Buttercup? Are you ok?"he asked in concern.
"I´m alright Pop. I´m just...*yawn*...a bit tired that´s all."she replied and for good measure yawned again.
"You should go home, Lola."he said at once.
"Oh no Pop. I´m fine. Besides we need to see trough the ritual afterall."
Pop however shook his head and placed his hand on her shoulder smilingly.
"We´ll take care of this my little sunshine. You head back home and get some beauty sleep."
Billy quickly caught wind of what was going on.
"I´ll accompany her Mr Tofu."he suggested, walking closer to them.
"Jacob, Billy. I´ve said it countless times. You´re right though. You´re sleeping over anyway and I´ll feel calmer knowing that my precious little girl is in good hands."Pop smiled and nodded in approval.
He always held Billy in high regards even before he and Lola started dating. He also witnessed his willingness to protect her a year back and since then there was no better boy in his eyes which could be dating her daughter. Plus he was greatfull to him, since he and Lola were instrumental in bringing the Hubbubs and Tofus together.
Both teens nodded, Lola carefull in keeping up the pretence. Billy offered his arm and looked at Lola smilingly.
"Shall we, m´lady?"he asked nonchalantly, sounding like a hero from cheezy romance movies.
Lola had to surpress a giggle instead she settled for a weak smile as she linked her arm with his and the two walked out out of the circle.
"Charming boy. I´m so gratefull that they found eachother."breathed out Buba, looking at the two lovebirds as they were dissapearing in the darkness provided by the trees.
"That makes two of us Buba. Lola´s a very fine young girl."agreed Beth appretiatively before they turned back towards the end of the circle.
Suddenly Bee made a loud theatrical sound to which the crowd responed.
"He´s here! Now we begin the chant, to calm him down. Everybody join hands and come closer!"exclaimed Bee as the people did as they were instructed and seconds later a loud chanting was heared troughout the circle.
Billy and Lola stopped only after a minute´s walk. Turning her around, Billy swiftly delivered a long affectionate kiss to his girlfriend.
"Nicely played."he said appretiatively as they parted for air, still holding eachother tightly.
"I had to do something about it. Especially since our time together was interupted for something like that."she replied, running a hand trough his hair.
"Something worries me a bit though. That ghost. You don´t think its true, right?"he asked.
Lola giggled.
"Aren´t you a bit too old to believe in ghosts?"
Billy however was silent. Lola fixed him with a curious look. Was this the reason he agreed to come along and persuaded her to come too?
"You do think, that the ghost of Balthazar Bunglewood is real?"she asked incredulously.
"I´m not sure, Lola. I mean I´ve heared stories about it during my childhood and there were people claiming that they´ve seen it. I guess I´m worried about Chichi, Lily and Phil. I can´t help but think, that their project is somehow liked with this ghost business."he replied, finally giving voice to his worries.
"So that was it, huh? Well I don´t think you have to worry about it. They´re smart. They know what they´re doing."she reasoned.
Billy however looked skepticly at her.
"You know how Chichi and Phil get when they get too worked up about something."
It still amazed him how much trouble could the twosome be capable of getting into. And it ussually started pretty innocently before escalating into incredible messes.
"Well they have Lily along. Believe me, she´s more than capable of keeping those two in line."
Lola´s comment did nothing to calm him down and she noticed it. With a smile, she closed the distance between them cathing his lips in a passionate kiss giggling to herself as they separated, for Billy had a incredibly dazed look on his face.
"There, that did it. Now come on my prince charming. I am a bit tired and what if the ghost decides to come and get me? I don´t think I´ll be able to sleep alone tonight."she said slyly and Billy grinned happily.
"I like where this is going."he sighed contently as he allowed his giggling girlfriend to lead him out of the park towards the Tofu house.
...
The people in the park however were not the only ones working into the night. In the depths of the town hall´s archieves the Brotherhood of the Wise were heavily searching trough every piece of material they could get their hands on.
"I don´t understand one thing, big brother."said Archie from the computer adressing detective Wiseman, who was busy searching trough old newspaper copies, which were kept there for future use. He paused from his search to look at Archie.
"You really believe in this ghost everyone keeps talking about?"
Wiseman snorted at Archie´s question.
"Of course I don´t brother Archie. I said I will take personal action in this case. No one ever said anything about ghosts or other imaginary creatures."he answered smilingly as both Tex and Archie fixed him with curious looks.
"But doesn´t that mean on dealing with the ghost?"asked Tex completly bewildered.
"Sheesh, can´t you two read between the lines?"exclaimed Nick impatiently as the two looked at eachother confusedly.
"There was nothing interesting between the lines that I could find, brother Nick."said Archie pointing to the article on screen.
Nick slapped a hand to his forehead, the sound echoing trough the abandoned archieve.
Wiseman cleared his throat.
"Well, what you two don´t know yet is that our brother Nick has overheared a most interesting conversation between young Chichi and his friends with my un...I mean the mayor. It seems that this ghost business is situated around my family´s unsolved case. In fact its the only case that my grandfather, father and uncle failed to solve. And now young Chichi and his friends are searching for clues for it. That must not happen! Only a Wiseman has the right to solve this case! Also I can only imagine the respect I will gain from my father and grandfather when I accomplish something they could not!"said Wiseman with unussual excitement, his sunglasses glintering in the neon lights.
Both Archie and Tex looked at him in pure awe.
"Wow! I know that you will succeed in this, big brother Frederick!"exclaimed Archie with equal enthusiasm.
"Yeah! You´re the greatest detective in the world afterall!"agreed Tex, giving Wiseman a thumbs up.
"Thank you my brothers. But I however will have something that no Wiseman, when solving the case before me ever had – my Brotherhood."said Wiseman looking at the three with pride.
"You said it! We´ll solve this no matter what."agreed Nick, with his fist raised towards the cieling.
"And we´ll finally be celebrated as great detectives. As well we should!"added Tex nodding.
"Then let´s get to it boys. We have work to do!"commanded Wiseman and the three teens wasted no time in fufilling the command.
The archieve was suddenly alive with sounds as the foursome was going trough it with such vigour, that many people dealing with the archieve troughout the day would´ve envied them, had they seen them. As hours passed they indeed found several promising clues, many articles regarding Balthazar´s demonstrations, numerous business plans made by Mayor Ripgrab and even the medical report regarding the former mayor´s mysterious death.
Several hours later, rays of sunlight shone trough the windows. The foursome were all seated around the archieve´s large middle table, all of them sound asleep over the notes and articles which were scattered on it. Suddenly the archieve door opened and someone walked in. The figure walked around the table scanning the mess they have made overnight, before standing next to the sleeping form of detective Wiseman. Wiseman was awakened from a pleasurable dream by a gentle hand, which was stroking his hair affectionatelly.
"Wake up, Frederick."said a gentle voice, much like his mother´s.
Slowly he raised his head and wiped the sleep from his eyes under his sunglasses. As he turned to the source of the sound his eyes fell upon the smiling face of his cousin Angela Haveitall.
"A...Angie...? What...?"he looked around the surroundings to gain some clues to where he was.
Angela giggled.
"I can see you and the boys had a long night, Freddie."she remakred with a giggle.
Wiseman quickly tensed and placed a finger infront of his mouth making a shushing sound.
"Angie! No one in Beauvillage is to know that we´re family."he said quickly looking around the boys to make sure that they were asleep and did not hear.
Angie sighed and her face sported a feigned look of hurt.
"Aww... are you so ashamed of your dear cousin, Freddie?"she asked turning her back to him and feigned a small sob.
Wiseman instantly jumped from the chair and swiftly embraced her from behind.
"C´mon Angie. You know that´s not true. I only want the people of Beauvillage to have respect for me because I´m a great detective. Not because I´m the mayor´s nephew. I want to prove myself, that´s all I swear. You´re still my favourite cousin. No matter what."said Wiseman in a pleading voice, one that he used since their childhood.
Angie giggled to herself. He was always like that. She fondly thought back to their childhood years, when he was 8 years old and proclaimed that he would marry her one day. Indeed she and her father were closer to him, than any of his siblings or the rest of the family save for his mother who was a kind and gentle woman. Turning around in the embrace she returned her cousin´s hug.
"I know Freddie. But I really wish you would ease up about it. Just for a bit. It´s really not such a big deal."she said smilingly knowing that unlike the rest of the Wiseman family, he would at least consider it.
Suddenly Archie gave a huge yawn and started to raise his head. Wiseman jumped out of the embrace and faced Archie just as he opened his eyes sleepily.
"Good...*yawn*...morning, big brother."he greeted still sounding half-asleep.
"Good morning Archie. Wake the boys, we have to get back to work. A long day of investigating is ahead of us, hahaha."commanded Wiseman with a small sheepish laugh, praying to dear God that Archie did not see him hug his cousin.
He really wasn´t ready to come clean with his family ties in Beauvillage to anyone. Not yet.
"What time is it anyway?"he asked as he shook Nick awake.
Angie looked at the watch on her left wrist.
"10:45."
Archie gave a loud yelp. One that drew curious looks from Wiseman, Angie and Nick and suceeded in waking up Tex, but Archie did not notice it. In a swift motion he took Tex by the shoulders and started to shake him ignorant of the fact that he was already awake.
"C´mon Tex we overslept! We have to get to the schoolyard at once! They´re about to start without us!"he exclaimed as Tex´s head was going up and down as he shook him swiftly, a few times even banging the table.
"What are you two talking about?"asked Wiseman curiously.
Nick slaped a hand to his forehead.
"That mystery novel that Chloe found. How can you two worry about such a thing when we´re on the verge of solving a 20 year old mystery?!"he said chastizing the two.
"But brother Nick! That story is really cool."Archie quickly defended them as he let go of Tex and the latter grabbed his head.
Nick snorted.
"I don´t care about some stories! We´re about to figure out something even your famous detective Razor would not be able to solve."
Wiseman´s head was shaking from Nick to the pair.
"What detective? Do I know him? Do we have something on him?"he asked in a confused voice.
Before anyone could say anymore, both boys dashed up to the door of the archieves.
"Hey! We´re not finished here! Also we have to monitor the activities of Chichi and his friends!"exclaimed Nick, but Tex already opened the door.
"We´ll be in touch if something happens. Call us if you need help!"called Tex already dashing out of the archieves.
"Yeah, we have a date with the Great Mystery."called Archie as he closed the door and dashed after him.
Nick was shaking in rage, Wiseman looking in confusion and Angie was shaking, trying heavily to muffle the fit of giggles that came over her. Wiseman turned to Nick.
"Great Mystery? Is it any good?"he asked bewilderedly.
"If you like fiction."grumbled Nick.
"Well boys, gather your materials then so I can start cleaning up. You four sure made a mess in here."said Angie eying the scattered papers that lay all over the archieve.
"We´ll help you clean up A...Ms Haveitall."said Wiseman quickly ignoring the confused look Nick was giving him.
Angela smiled at him.
"I would very much appretiate it, detective Wiseman."
...
"Thanks for this small favour, Bruno."said Chichi to the old bispectaled security guard as he, Lily and Phil entered the Beauvillage museum of Natural History.
"My pleasure Chichi. Not many youngsters visit the museum anyway. But I must say, that I am amazed that you three are on the trail of what happened to Balthazar Bunglewood. Though I can´t possibly understand what do you expect to find about him in here."
Chichi flashed him a cheeky smile.
"More than you would think, Bruno."
Old Bruno chuckled to himself as he gave a key to Chichi and headed to the door.
"Well I hope you kids will be able to crack the mystery. Just remember to lock up the front door as you leave."
"Don´t worry Bruno. We will."asured Phil.
In the aftermath of the two boys finding the missing treasure of the museum, Chichi and Phil came to be on very good terms with Bruno, who was as gratefull to them as the manager of the museum. From time to time they did small favours for eachother. Like now for instance.
Lily couldn´t help but feel a bit impressed at the impact the boys´ doings left on Beauvillage and the contacts it created. The moment Bruno closed the front door of the museum, the threesome shared a smile.
"Ok. Let´s get to it. Lily are you ready?"said Chichi looking at Lily.
"Ready, willing and able."she responded as she pulled out the necklace.
From the Wizard´s Guide to Green Sorcery they learned how to use the gemstones like the green one on the necklace. They also learned that they can be used as a kind of a compas to locate traces of Green Magic.
"The book said, that they respond to your thoughts. But what are we searching for exactly?"asked Phil, looking at the green gemstone.
"I remember you mentioning, that the gemstone glowed as you were passing the museum days ago. So something has to be here."reasoned Chichi.
"I remember wondering who the necklace belonged to. But I have a good idea how best to direct my thoughts."said Lily as she stood facing the many corridors that were leading to many of the sections of the museum and asembled her thoughts, concetrating very hard.
"We need to find something...anything...that belonged to Balthazar Bunglewood..."
Suddenly Phil and Chichi gasped as the gemstone glowed in bright green light.
"It works."exclaimed Phil happily.
Lily improved on it and thought.
"Point us."
Suddenly the gemstone gave out a thin green light, pointing to the very end of one of the corridor.
"That way!"exclaimed Chichi excitedly as he set out into the corridor with Phil and Lily at his heels.
As they entered the said corridor, the gemstone´s light grew brighter again and in another flash, it pointed to the end of the corridor and towards a giant rack. Rushing towards it the trio scanned the contents behind the glass, expecting to see something.
"What gives? There´s nothing in here other than some old fossils."said Lily, carefully eying the contents.
"Well, Balthazar´s trasure contained several fossils."said Phil thoughtfully also eying the rack.
"Whatever it is, it´s not inside the rack."thought Chichi, folding his arms and trying to apply every single brain-cell in his head.
Looking at the amulet on Lily´s chest, he noticed that it was glowing in a very peculiar way. It was blinking as though signaling something. Chichi stepped a few steps back and looked carefully at the rack. Suddenly he moved back towards it, but approached its far left side.
"Chichi...?"Phil started as he noticed his best friend getting to his knees and checking over the far left side of the rack, looking behind it rather than at it.
Approahing his side, Phil and Lily noticed exactly what caught Chichi´s attention. The wall behind the rack was emitting a faint green light in accordance with the light pulses from Lily´s necklace.
"It´s behind the rack."breathed Phil.
"Help me move it."responded Chichi as he started to pull the heavy rack.
Phil instantly helped and though straining a bit, the two boys managed to pull the rack slightly back to reveal a medium sized square hole in the wall. The hole, that was emitting the green light. Chichi instantly reached into it, grasping for something that ol´Balthazar left behind two decades ago.
"What is it?"asked Phil in anticipation.
Lily´s eyes were also wide in happy interest as Chichi pulled out an old hand-made brown backpack.
"Wow."Phil breathed.
Lily suddenly gave a squeal of pure joy before grabbing both of them and hugging them at the same time.
"We did it! We did it!"she squealed.
Chichi laughed a little as happy as she was but Phil was experiencing a different set of emotions. For reasons that really mystified him for months now, Lily was making him feel so many strange emotions all at once. Seeing her joy and drive at times like this made him...well, happy – a happiness that seemed to echo hers. The warmth her hug provided was something that was giving him a sence of...belonging somewhere. Almost like coming home after years away from it. Why though he was feeling these feelings while being around Lily was a mystery to him and he swiftly shook his head to clear it as soon as she let him and Chichi go.
Neither Lily or Chichi noticed this, for they were completly preoccupied by the discovery.
"I can´t believe that it lay here for 20 years."said Lily in joyous awe.
"Since the museum is pretty much unchanged since then it´s not so surprising."reasoned Chichi.
"This is just like in the adventure stories. Finding a secret treasure. Something that lay buried in the very depths of time."exclaimed Lily, still unable to contain her joy.
Chichi chuckled.
"What a poetic way to say it."
Lily giggled and returned him a smile.
"I´m a poetic soul afterall."
Chichi´s fingers were busy finding the way to open the backpack. Finally succeeding he opened it. Reaching into it Chichi pulled out a large wooden chest and set it on the floor.
"Beautyfull."breathed Lily as she ran her fingers over it.
"It´s almost as large as a laptop."said Phil as he knelt on the ground closer to it.
"Incredible. It must be hand-made. And that wood..."breathed Lily.
"Rosewood. Finest rosewood by the looks of it. Not a trace of any gloss or paint. Truly incredible craftsmanship."breathed Chichi awed by the work that must´ve surely be put into making such an object.
The chest was indeed rosewood – beautyfull combination of deep red and bright brown. It was lined with several symbols that were carved into it and even had four mineral stones on the top lid in various colors – deep green, bright yellow, light-red and faint purple. On the middle of the lower side of the chest there was a lock, but one that had no keyhole. In its place was a symbol like carving, but deeper than any other on the chest.
"D´you think there might be something in there?"asked Phil looking from Lily to Chichi.
"Of course there is. What would be the point of hiding it in the first place."said Chichi stating the obvious.
"Well boys. Only one way to find out."said Lily before she closed her eyes.
The necklace´s gemstone shone brightly once more and the chest´s mineral stones reacted, shining brightly too. But other than that... nothing happened.
"What the...?"Lily opened one eye and looked at the box.
"I directed every single thought on opening it..."she explained.
Phil nodded before looking at the chest but Chichi already had it in his hands and he ran his finger on the deep symbol.
"Looks exactly like that symbol on the human statue. Looks like that the gemstone itself will not open it. We need a key."he said plainly.
Lily and Phil looked at him.
"Key?"repeated Phil in bewilderment.
Chichi nodded and placed the chest back into the backpack.
"Perhaps Mrs Longline will know more about is. Its time we visit her."
...
"I´m so glad you´ve made it, Archie."said Emily as she, Tex and Archie were walking down the street towards the schoolyard, sunlight shining brightly only adding to peacefullness of the approaching Sunday noon.
"Well we couldn´t have missed it for the world. I mean detective Razor nearly has the case in the bag."said Tex already looking forward to hear the rest of the story.
"Just like us."added Archie happily, sharing a hi-five with his "brother".
Emily fixed the boys an awed look.
"Already? You mean you know how to stop the ghost?"she asked.
She had heared about the Town Hall meeting from her parents, who attented it. She was also very happy that Archie and the rest of the brotherhood came to no harm during the process.
"Of course. Like I said before Emmy, a ghost is no match against our brotherhood."he said smiling brightly at her.
Emily returned him a radiant smile as they entered the schoolyard where nearly everyone was present. Mr Weatherby and Barnaby were there too, but Mr Weatherby looked quite tired.
As some of the students pointed this out he smiled and gave a small explanation.
"Well I got only very little sleep. You see children, I was present at the spirit calming ritual that took place in the circle starting midnight."
That drew looks of curiosity and awe from the teens. Most of course heared about it from their parents before or after it, but nothing very specific.
"What was it like, Mr Weatherby?"asked Oliver in honest curiosity which was reflected by his peers.
Weatherby smiled before thinking back to it.
"Well you kids didn´t miss out on any fun. There was no dance involved. We waited for Ms Bee Lotsabucks to contact the spirit and then we spent hours chanting the calming chant with several pauses. But we spent most of the night there. It was nearly 6 am when we all returned home."
The explanation was met with animated chating as the teens were eager to give their opinion.
"Now kids. Let´s hope that the ritual worked and that the ghost found its peace. Now...let´s get back to reading. I must say, I look very much forward to know how detective Razor will solve the case and hearing who is responsible in starting the syndicate war."
The suggestion was met with general agreement and a while later Emily, seated besides Archie – perhaps more closer than most would expect, started to read.
...
Chichi, Lily and Phil were now at the very end of Beauvillage, which overlooked the fields from the south.
"We haven´t seen her in a while, right Phil?"commented Lily as they approached the front door of the little house.
Phil happily nodded while Chichi fixed them a look.
"You two know her that well? I know that she´s on good terms with Buba and Mom but I haven´t seen her in years. Though when thinking about it...its kinda wierd since Beauvillage is such a small town."
Lily and Phil smiled at him.
"That´s because she rarely goes downtown anymore. She mostly remains here and takes care of her garden. But years back, before you guys came to Beauvillage she often spent time downtown. At times with our families too. She even used to babysit Phil when he was a toddler."explained Lily and Phil snickered.
"Dispite my Mom´s reproachfull nagging. I heared, that she even used to babysit my father."
Chichi looked amazed for a second before shaking his head with a smile.
"Well...she´s 96 afterall."he said before ringing on the doorbell.
The trio waited politedly but were surprised as the door opened much sooner than they expected. In the open doorway stood Rodney Philips, smiling broadly at them.
"I thought I might find you here. Come on in."he said chuckling to himself.
The trio obeyed completly shocked.
"Mr Philips? What are you doing here?"asked Lily completly confused as Philips closed the door.
"I am on my ussual visit Lily. Me and Mrs Longline go a long way back. I always came here to help her around the house since I was your age boys."
The explanation was met with looks of even more shock and bewilderment.
"Rodney? Who is it?"came an elderly voice from the room ahead of them.
"We have some guests Matilda."he said as he escorted them from the ante-chamber into the living room.
The teens gasped as they entered. The living room was brightly decorated, holding several flowers, shelfs and ussual furniture but what one spotted immediatly were life-sized wooden sculptures, which were placed around the room – a monk, a wolf a goat and a medium sized bear. They recodnized them immediatly as the work of Balthazar Bunglewood. Philips motioned them towards the door to the balcony. There Matilda Longline was sitting at a cofee table overlooking her garden and soaking in the bright sunlight. A frail skinny old woman, she wore small glasses and had long white hair which were tied in dual pigtails much like April wore before. Dispite her frail appearance, she gave the impression of being in good health nonetheless. Her face though lined and withered with age was warm and friendly and just now was sporting one of her most radiant smiles.
"Children. I have not seen you in years. Come closer so I can have a look at you."she exclaimed beckoning Phil and Lily, who were sporting similar radiant smiles to come closer as Chichi and Philips remained behind.
"Lilian oh my... you look prettier eachtime I see you. You have grown into quite a beautyfull young woman."she said as Lily happily came to her and hugged her gently.
"You can say that again."said Phil under his breath and though it was missed by Lily it definitely wasn´t missed by Mrs Longline who smiled a little and her eyes twinkled a bit as she looked at Phil.
"Ah. Young love in the making perhaps?"she thought to herself before letting Lily go.
"Philip. Come closer too my boy."she said holding out her arms towards him.
Smiling shyly and blushing slightly he approached her and embraced her too. Breaking the embrace she held him by the arms and viewed him up and down.
"Still a tiny one I see. But you look even more than your grandfather. Now where is our third guest."
Phil stepped out of the embraced and made room for Chichi as he approached.
"Ah, the youngest Tofu. I have heared so much about you. But I must say, you look cuter than I heared."she said winking at him.
"Thank you Mrs Longline."said Chichi chuckling a bit, returning her smile with one of his tenthousand watt ones.
"More chairs and refreshments I think."said Philips happily as he moved towards the living room.
"We´ll help you."said Chichi at once and along with Phil entered the living room in order to help.
"Polite and helpfull boys aren´t they."said Mrs Longline smiling at Lily.
"Though a bit of troublemakers at times."she giggled.
Mrs Longline let out a giggle of her own.
"That means they´re healthy then. Boys will be boys afterall. Rodney was a lively boy too, you know"she said winking at Lily, who was completly astounded.
Just then the three males returned, each holding a chair in their hands.
"Make yourselfs comfortable boys. I´ll fetch the refreshments. Lily, juice or tea?"asked Philips politedly.
"Tea, Mr Philips."she responded.
"On it."he replied and smilingly sprang into a mock-salute before returning inside. Lily and Mrs Longline giggled.
"See what I mean? No different from any other."she said to Lily and the girl nodded back smirking at the boys´ curious looks.
"Ok. I heared from Rodney that you three are on the trail of dear Balthazar."
She fixed them with a calm yet wary look.
"Yes Mrs Longline. Can you tell us about him?"asked Lily in a pleading voice.
"Of of course Lilian dear. I unlike most of the town have no problem talking about my oldest friend. We known eachother since we were 10 years old."
This drew a look of awestruck surprise from the teens just as Rodney Philips came back with some tea, juice and ...
"Lemon beer?"asked Chichi surprisedly as Philips gave the can to him.
"I´ve heared from Lily here that you came to favour this little drink so I brought it here, knowing that you three would stop by eventually."he said with a wink as Chichi thanked him.
Mrs Longline gave a small nod to Rodney.
"Can you also bring my photo album? It´ll help me tell the story."
Philips nodded at the request and in a moment he returned with a big album.
"Well come closer children..."she said and the teens plus the teacher obeyed and moved their chairs to her as she opened the old album.
"...it all began more than 80 years ago when me and my family moved in to Beauvillage..."
...
"You came back for me? I thought you..."exclaimed Madame Resaque, a happy smile on her face and teardrops falling behind her as they ran hand in hand trough the maze of the warehouse corridors.
"I love you Fluer what do you expect? Anyway let´s get out of here before we´re fish food."exclaimed Razor speeding up more, dragging her behind a bit but she chaught a glimpse of the cheeky and affectionate smile.
They were fast approaching the door next to the sea - pool, but even so...it was too late.
A giant blast was heared as the detonator exploded and set off the dynamite. Razor and Reasque turned around catching a glmipse of the corridor they ran trough seconds ago as it was being eaten up by the flaming blast and was mere seconds from reaching the pair of them. Razor quickly grabbed Resaque by the waist and threw them into the pool just as the explosion´s flame missed them by inches.
Mere seconds later as they were certain that they were deep enough, they started to swim away, darting besides many pieces of iron and other materials which were sinking to the ocean floor. Outside the warehouse, which was leveled and burning Razor and Resaque broke the surface and gasped for breath.
"By the way, mon cher... how did you know which warehouse Garoche took me?"she asked happy it was all over.
"Oh that was easy, love. Garoche was negotiating several deals, dealing with materials from his six warehouses. And only one was not used in his business for years. The one he got first, the one which business along with the cargo stored in it he abandoned as he turned his sights for high crime ten years ago. It makes sence that it would be the one he would let blow. Minimal damage. Plus if there was any evidence that could be used against him in there...its all cleared up now."
Resaque eyed him affectinately as he looked on at the burning warehouse.
"This may be the only exception. With how précautionneux he is."she said turning her sights to the warehouse too.
Suddenly Razor tensed.
"Oh no! Trois moyens! How could I miss that?!"he exclaimed with a haunted look.
"What is it?"
"Le Pierre´s counterattack! I´ll explain on the way, but believe me Rainbows will need all the help he can get."
"End of Chapter."said April happily as she raised her head from the book.
The crowd was eagerly springing into conversations eager to hear more.
"Wow I´m sooo happy that Razor rescued his girl."exclaimed Florence and many girls agreed with her.
"He´s an ace detective afterall."said Tex happily and most of the males in the schoolyard gave their own cheer of approval.
"Read the next chapter. I can hardly wait for what happens next."said Mr Weatherby in enthusiasm.
"My turn!"called Chloe happily reaching for the book which April passed to her and sat back down.
Chloe took the book cleared her throat. Suddenly she turned the page. Then another, and another and another...
"What´s going on?"asked Mr Barnaby as Chloe listed trough the remaining few pages.
Silence followed and some even got up from their sitting places as Chloe raised her head from the incredible novel.
"It...its all blank... the novel isn´t complete..."
...
It was late in the afternoon when Phil, Chichi and Lily exited Mrs Longline´s house. Waving goodbye to her and Mr Philips they turned and walked down the street.
"Well, we didn´t find out everything we wanted."summarized Lily with a giant sigh.
"Nothing that would point us forward in what happened to him. Though I really understand what his and Ripgrab´s feud was. And I thought my folks battling the Hubbubs was bad."said Chichi falling a bit behind, as he was still carrying Balthazar´s bag.
"But she wasn´t able to tell us anything about the chest or the necklace. Other than they really were made by him."sighed Phil sadly.
"And that the necklace was given to your grandfather as a memento following his dissapearance..."said Lily.
"...and sold in a yard sale before somehow finding its way to Miles´ hands, who passed it to you."finished Phil.
"Also that the Wizard´s guide to Green Sorcery that Mrs Longline passed to Buba was the only existing copy."Chichi shook his head.
"Well regardless of Balthazar not having the time to have it published, I can´t really imagine a publisher who would print it out. Its ... well unique."contemplated Lily as they walked.
"Which explains why I didn´t find it in any of the country´s publisher´s records on the net."nodded Phil.
"Why do I get the feeling that they didn´t tell us certain things on purpose though. Remember how they tensed when I mentioned the Sucellus Cult?"
Both Phil and Lily fixed him with looks.
"Maybe they don´t know as much about it, Chichi. Remember that most practitioners of Green Magic tended to keep it secret. For good reasons."said Phil as they stopped.
"Yeah and you remember what Mrs Longline and Mr Philips told us. Balthazar kept to himself especially in things like the Green Magic. The only other person who was in on his activities was Ezekiel remember?"added Lily.
Chichi however kept his thoughtfull expression.
"Green Magic is clearly connected to this thing. Lily, you mentioned that Philips warned you about not going to Balthazar´s house. I think that´s why they left out even the precious little they would know for sure. Nevermind. There´s still a way to find out about it ourselfs. And that means... "
Lily´s eyes were alight with excitement while Phil´s eyes shown slight fear.
"You mean..."they asked simultaniously.
Chichi nodded looking at them, determination burning in his eyes.
"At midnight, we visit Balthazar´s house!"
...
