A/N: Hey everyone! This chapter ended up being a little shorter than we expected - I'd wanted to jump straight into the party, but decided against it - so it may come off as a little filler-y. I assure you, even if slow, we're making our way to the story that the description promised, there are just a few bumps along the way. There are a few different plotlines being explored, but things will eventually come together and will reach a turning-point. Otherwise, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed and for those who take the time to read this little piece. It makes me happy to know that someone is learning about this little version of Waffle Town I've created. Anyway, that's enough of my blabbing for the time being, so happy reading!
The heat wave had been going on for about a week. The sun had been beating down on the small seaside village endlessly, day after day, with little cover in sight. It was the perfect time for swimming, lazing by the river, and climbing trees in the woods by their clubhouse. It had been a week since their mining adventure and they hadn't had any time to enjoy themselves, so the weather was like an itch– demanding their full attention.
Yet, they were stuck here, in what was possibly the worst building ever built in case of high temperatures.
Skin sticky, sweat beading on their foreheads, and body's lazy from the summer heat, the gang of children were all slumped in their seats in the town hall's classroom. It was the first day of classes, and absolutely no one wanted to be there. Gill droned on before them, drawing on the chalkboard, as he talked about subtraction, or multiplication, or addition. Though the windows were open, little air actually made its way into the room, forcing the kids to deal with the heat by themselves. Unable to stand it, some, namely Paolo and Matt, had fallen asleep at their desks, with their hands still poised on their papers. Dakota didn't seem that far behind them, either.
Even Van could barely handle the heat haze, struggling to focus through his sluggishness. Out of the lot, only Sasilvia seemed to be paying the most attention, even if it was one of disinterest. The studious boy chalked it up to her mother's constant exultation of the heat – with that attitude, how could you ever be bothered by it?
"With that review fresh in your minds," the teacher wrapped up, back still to the class. "Everyone open your workbooks and start on your age appropriate sections. You have half an hour before I come to correct it."
Without any further ado, the primly dressed teacher strode out of the room, closing the solid, wood door firmly behind him. The slam rang out like bars closing on a jail cell. Most of his students glared after him – though he'd escaped, the teacher had trapped them in with the heat. With this new torture in place, and the assigned reading, they were probably going to die from boredom before he came back. Dakota was blatantly snoring now, her head firmly buried between her crossed arms, a thin dribble of drool already trailing down. Taylor blew at a stray piece of hair, pulled down as it was by sweat, and became disgruntled as it refused to stay in place. The other kids were in similar states, with few actually attempting to do their work.
The classroom was small, just large enough to accommodate its nine users. Their eight desks were lined in rows of three, and their cubbyholes were tucked into the far end of the room. In this less-than-manoeuvrable space, the group was being stifled.
Finally, Chloe decided that enough was enough.
"So," seated in the front row, she turned around to face everyone. "Wanna catch me up on that mining adventure, again?"
Angie and Sasilvia, desks conjoined, lifted themselves up from the doodlefest that was their notebooks. Crayon still in hand, the former frowned before returning to the book in front of her. The latter was all too eager to please, not noticing her friend's discomfort.
"Long story short, we found something pretty awesome. It was too bad you weren't there." Sasilvia was smug, crossing her arms as she lazed in her seat. Chloe motioned for her to continue. "We found a wall painting. A wall painting with gold."
"A wall painting? That was what you saw on your grand mining adventure?" Chloe tucked in a loose piece of hair from her ponytail, the strand curling in the humidity. "Sounds lame."
"It was one of the greatest things I've ever seen," murmured Heath, head buried in his notebook, but voice awe-filled. A quick glance over made Chloe roll her eyes; he was looking over the history section of his textbook. "I mean, who knew that kind of stuff was down there? And what other kind of stuff can be down there?" Heath crossed his arms grumpily, voice petulant. "We probably would've been able to find out, if the mine wasn't off limits now. Thanks, Angie."
Sasilvia practically hissed in his direction, while the others shot him disapproving looks. Chloe scratched the side of her face, confused at the suddenly tense atmosphere.
"Uh…catch me up?"
"I c-collapsed after we got out of the mines, cause of, um, my asthma."
Chloe's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "Holy fishsticks! That's something super serious," then her lips thinned in concern. "You feeling okay?"
Van, trying not to seem too eager, attentively waited for her answer. Sasilvia and Taylor were busy exacting their revenge on the boy in the meantime – flicking his arm and shooting pieces of eraser at him, respectively. Angie offered a wan smile.
"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better now. I'm perfectly fine."
Van wondered if she really was.
"Anyway," his sentence exacted for Heath's offence, Taylor took the lead again. "The mines were great, but we still know nuthin' about those wall paintings."
The girl mulled the question. "Actually, huh, that's weird. Now that I think about it, I don't remember gramps or Owen ever mentioning the thing."
"…maybe they never saw it?" Posited Angie earnestly, now eagerly involved in the conversation, before being distracted by Taylor. The boy was leaning on the hind-legs of his chair, precariously balancing himself and the pencil on his nose. He seemed lost in his thoughts.
"Mmm, maybe."
"I don't think they're that blind. They probably just thought it wasn't important," answered Sasilvia, shrugging her shoulders. "And then forgot about it. Like with math."
This got a few committal agreements.
"But, more importantly," intoned Van, tidying up his workstation, pages finished. "What does it all mean?"
"That's what I'm wondering," the leader finally said, drawing everyone's attention. Off to his right, Matt slowly began to pry his face off the side of the wall. "We know they're connected to trees and the clock tower, but why is that important?"
"Candy," Dakota, head still on her arms, replied dreamily. "It's prob'ly candy."
"Yeah, totally," Matt murmured, obviously blurry-eyed and cotton mouthed. Silence reigned after that, though the sleepy boy didn't seem too bothered by it. Cicadas sounded from outside the window, disturbing the quiet but only barely drawing their attention. Angie began sketching designs in the margins as they waited, with Heath being the only one still working on his problems. Seated by the window, Van felt himself turning toward the morning sun, basking in it like a lizard, the heat too much for him to focus.
Finally, Taylor settled back on four chair legs again. He drummed his fingers against the desk-top, brow scrunched, before coming to a conclusion.
"So, we don't know what the picture or the beetles mean," he started, looking between his different cohorts. "But I don't think some old, dead people would just leave them around for no reason. It just doesn't make sense." Pushing up his sleeves, Taylor broke out into a toothy grin. "But, what I do know, is that if there's gonna be anyone who can get to the bottom of this mystery, it's us. We have way better chances than those nosy, stick-in-the-mud adults."
Weak hurrahs followed his proclamation, no doubt fueled by the resentment brought upon by their imprisonment.
"Which means, we need to plan and find info," the leader continued, earnestly leaning forward in his chair. "And fast."
"I got it!" Chloe exclaimed, drawing the groups' attention. "There's gotta be something there; it has everything!"
Van and Heath, the latter finally looking up from his book, blinked owlishly at her, both too sluggish to process the fast-paced words.
"Huh?" Matt was leaning against the wall now, still confused at the flow of the conversation.
"Library, guys. You know, the place with books and knowledge and stuff. We should look during our reading period."
With a grunted affirmative from Taylor, the group of friends came to a consensus. Even if the summer weather was preventing them from thinking properly, they'd take any chance they could to get to the bottom of this mystery.
###
Everyone was deployed and in their assigned positions. The monitor 'supervised' from his chair at the side of the room, head buried in a boring book titled "Modern Geopolitics and the Conscientious Politician." Matt was poking his head over the bookshelves periodically, keeping an eye on the teacher's position in case they needed to abort. With a quick slap of his hand against the wood – the universal Matt signal to 'go ahead' – the group continued their search.
The whole set-up was a little ridiculous, Van mused. Gill had brought them to the library after lunch, fully intending to leave them to their own devices while he went about his usual routine. They didn't need to worry about him checking in on their 'search' – he wasn't going to move in the hour they had before their science lecture.
Library books were placed in small bookshelves that were within easy reach of the variously sized students. Van, Matt and Dakota were looking at the shelves in the middle of the room, whilst the rest were scattered around its edges. All of the kids were hurriedly running their hands along book spines, trying to find any title that might be linked to the town mines.
The search seemed like it would take forever, as the weaker readers continuously motioned to the others with questions about the books they were looking at. Their murmuring created a quiet din in the small space, though it never quite reached the teacher's ears. It proved to be a little too distracting to others, with Angie and Matt frequently turning their heads to the noise.
Finally, after it felt like they'd checked every bookcase, one of them found something.
"Guys," Heath hissed, his body-language skittish. "I found something!" He held up a book titled "Waffle Town Records – before GF. "Something huge."
He'd meant it literally.
The book was almost too large for the little boy to carry, and it took him and Paolo to haul it over to a free table.
"So, what've we got?" The gangly leader rubbed his hands together, standing across the table from the book.
Heath opened the gigantic volume, slowly turning the pages. Matt still periodically turned to look at the adult seated on the other side of the room, shushing them as befitting his newfound paranoia. Sasilvia gave the boy a questioning look, and Van couldn't help but agree with how strange it was. What did Matt care if they got caught?
"It's a journal written by old town mayors," Heath said, the others leaning to look over his shoulder. "My dad looks at them all the time. They say all sorts of things."
Taylor looked skeptical, and he wasn't alone. Even Dakota and Paolo were making disbelieving faces. "Yeah, okay. But what could a bunch of boring dead guys know?" Dakota finally asked, propping herself against the table.
"A bunch of stuff," the young archeologist responded, voice indicative that he was paying more attention to the words before him than those around him. They all tried to find something in the 'important' text.
"Remind me why we can't tell people, again?" Paolo mumbled, shoulders hunched and worry seeping into his voice. Taylor waved off the question, though not before Van and the blue-capped boy could share an acknowledging look.
Minutes ticked by and more pages were turned, the sun slowly moving as time wasted away. Then, a breakthrough.
"Um…guys, what about that?" Angie, who was behind Heath, manoeuvred her arm to point at something scribbled in the page margin. "Doesn't it say 'clock-tower celebration?'"
Everyone squinted to look at the messy cursive. "I think it says 'dock…under reno…vation?'" Dakota said. A few murmured their own ideas, each kid struggling to get closer.
"No, dumdum, it says clock-tower calibration," Sasilvia corrected, flicking an orange-pigtail in emphasis.
"'A quilt was made to commemorate the unveiling of the monument, as well as record the solemnization of divine patronage,'" Heath read, his lips twisted into a thin line.
"Uh…" Matt looked around at his fellow partners-in-crime. "What does that mean?"
"I have no idea," Heath turned to Van for help, but he was just as clueless.
"Well, even if it doesn't make a lick of sense," Chloe butt in, taking the opportunity to close the book. "I guess we know what we're looking for next."
Taylor nodded, taking the offered lead. "'Kay group, operation boring accomplished. Now, we move to the next stage," Snapping the goggles on his head, he straightened, filled with new confidence. "We look for that quilt. Though I have a feeling," He turned his attention to their teacher, who still sat ramrod straight with his book in hand. "I know exactly where it is."
"Okay?" Chloe said frustratingly, urging him to continue.
"So, two days from now," the leader looked into the faces of his entourage. "At Luna and Gill's party, we strike."
