Chapter 10
Aélita found herself back in Jérémie's room, empty of all belongings and cots. Once again she walked over to where Jérémie's desk ought to be and found the knot in the wood floor. She followed the plank, running her fingers along it until she found a lose section. Nothing looked any different but she could feel a slight wobble beneath her finger tips. She dug her fingernails into the side of the plank and pulled, feeling it open.
Aélita opened her eyes to find herself looking out of the window of Jérémie's room, the shear curtains letting in sunlight. She took in a deep breath, wishing she knew what she was doing in both her dream and her vision. She turned over only to realize she had the cot to herself. She found Jean-Luc sitting, looking at her with his little brown eyes as if wishing her a good morning.
Aélita pushed herself up and noticed she was the last one in the room. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was already past ten. She threw her feet off the bed and stood up, leaving Mr. Pück where he slept. She turned to get her cloths only to lay eyes on Jérémie's desk. Her mind flew back to her dream and vision, getting her to walk over to his desk. She knelt down in the space between Patrick's cot and Jérémie's desk, straddling the plank with the knot. Running her hand along the plank, she gave it pressure every now and then until she felt it give a little. Glancing over her shoulder to see the door was closed, she turned back to the plank and dug her fingernails into the soft side of the wood. She gave it a sharp tug, surprised at how easily it came up.
She laid the plank beside her, more under Patrick's bed, and looked into the secret compartment she had unveiled. A thick coating of spider silk covered in dusk but under all of that looked to be an old metal lunch box. She reached in, ignoring the spider webs, and pulled out the box.
The door opened behind her, getting her to jump and turn around, still sitting on the floor in her nightgown with the old metal box in hand.
"Aélita?" Jérémie asked, standing in the doorway. He walked into the room and looked over the girl and into the hole. His face full of questions but none reached his lips.
"I can explain," Aélita said, guessing what it might look like. Quickly she told him of the vision and dream, both pointing to the secret hole, "but I never knew what was hidden there," Aélita finished with, looking at the box in her hands. She brushed off the thickest layer of dust and dirt to make out an eighties rendition of Mickey Mouse and Pluto.
Jérémie rested a hand on his desk to lean over Aélita. "Is that the only thing in there?"
Aélita looked down into the hole, not seeing anything more than insulation below the spider's workings. "I think so."
"Close it up."
Aélita did just that, thinking Jérémie might want to keep this cubie a secret from his family. Who knew what George would put in here, though it looked to have enough spiders. She dusted her hands off before grabbing the lunch box and standing up. She turned around, seeing he had stepped back for her to leave the small space.
"Uh, I'll take that so you can get dressed," Jérémie said. "They're about to start the broadcast down stairs."
Aélita handed him the old metal box and turned back to her cot to pull out her cloths. "I didn't mean to sleep so late," she admitted, fishing for her clean cloths.
"Alexa said it seemed like you had a rough night so we let you sleep in," Jérémie explained.
Aélita smiled, "That was sweet of her, and you."
Cheers erupted from down stairs as Aélita stood up, her bundle of cloths in her arms. She glanced down at the floor boards before looking back at the box in Jérémie's hands. "I guess we'll have to wait till after the… lancer du gâteau aux fruits?" Aélita was unsure if she remembered it correctly, wondering why exactly someone would waste good fruitcake and why it was an event.
"It's as weird as it sounds," Jérémie gave her a smile.
Aélita quickly ran into the bathroom to get changed and threw her nightgown in her suitcase before turning to Jérémie who still stood with the lunch box in his hands. He had cleared off most of the dust and spider webs, showing the paint had chipped in places.
"I'll put this in my desk drawer till we can open it," Jérémie offered, glancing at her over his glasses for a moment. Aélita nodded her head, feeling like he was waiting for her okay before doing what he said. Closing the drawer, he stood up and asked, "You wanna go watch the lancer du gâteau aux fruits?"
"What is it?" Aélita asked, walking with Jérémie out of his room. "Why would anyone toss a fruitcake?"
"It's an American thing, I think their fruitcakes aren't any good," Jérémie offered with a shrug as they turned down the steps. "A'nt Jane's family's American."
"Oh, I didn't know that," Aélita said, only knowing about Americans through what she had learned while on Lyoko. "What part?"
"I guess somewhere in Colorado, since that's where Uncle Wesley lives," Jérémie offered.
They turned into the living room to see a laptop connected to the large TV. A'nt Jane and her husband, Uncle Luc, sat on the floor directly below the TV, watching the smaller laptop with their backs against the coffee table. George was sitting on the coffee table, Alexa sitting just to the side so she could see at the feet of Jay, sitting in the recliner with a beer in his hand. The adjacent sofa sat Béa, Michel, Adrien, and Marinette, all squished together with Patrick sitting on the armrest next to his mom. Aunt Jane and Uncle Robert sat in the last seat, it being a love sofa, in front of the large front window.
Aélita went and sat on the floor beside Uncle Luc, leaving Jérémie to take the offered armrest from Uncle Robert. Aélita leaned forward to ask the blonde haired man, "What is this?"
Uncle Luc turned to the girl and explained while two American's appeared on the screen, explaining in English. "There are five events to the fruitcake toss, hand tossing distance, accuracy: like with targets, speed, best balance, and the one where you can use machines or your creativity to get it flying," Luc offered. "Jane's brother, Wesley, has competed for the last ten years or so, making it tradition to watch it on Christmas after we married."
"So what does he compete in?" Aélita asked as on screen the people were holding up what looked to be a moldy brick.
"Mostly the first, hand tossing, since he played baseball professionally for a few years," Jane offered, the TV showing the English names of the five events now, "though he does dabble in the robotics category. If he wins, he said he'll take the trip out here for Christmas."
"Oh, they're showing the contestants!" Béa exclaimed, getting Aélita to look up at the TV.
People quickly had the camera panned over them, some waving while others stretched their arms.
"There he is!" Luc said, trying to point the man out to Aélita.
"Aller, Wes!" A'nt Jane exclaimed.
"Yes, aller Uncle Wes!" Alexa echoed, putting her hands up while George looked at her, shaking his head.
Aélita looked up at the TV, pulling her knees closer to her as she watched the recorded broadcast. She knew enough of the language to catch a word every now and then but not enough to know what they were saying. The first event started, and she watched person after person throw the brick they called a fruitcake. She didn't care enough to run the math after each person's throw to understand how far they had thrown it, realizing while they were watching the states didn't use the measuring system she was accustom to.
"Do they not like fruitcake?" Alexa asked.
"No, their fruitcake isn't good," A'nt Jane offered, turning to look at the girl. "It's blech."
"Blech," Alexa copied, sticking out her tongue.
A'nt Jane smiled, nodding her head. "But your Mommy's fruitcake is yum."
Alexa turned to her mom sitting in front of the window and asked, "Are you going to make it tonight?"
Aunt Jane nodded her head. "As soon as Grandmére gets back from shopping."
Oh, that's where she is, Aélita thought, just realizing the older woman was missing. Her eyes turned to movement just passed the stairs to see Manchot mostly hidden with her ears and eyes just poking out around the wall. Aélita held out her hand, willing the shy cat to venture out when everyone was in one room. The black cat gave her a look before turning around and climbing back up the stairs.
"There he is!" Michel exclaimed, getting Aélita to look back at the screen. It showed a man in his thirties with the beginnings of a beard and mustache.
The man tipped his ball cap as the reported said something, giving Wesley the mike. Wesley said a bit in English before saying, "Hey Jane and the Belpois'. If I win, I'll be seeing you." He changed back to English, it looked like he was explaining what he had said, Aélita picking out the word Noël in his English.
"He didn't mess it up!" A'nt Jane exclaimed.
"Did you help him with that?" Aunt Jane asked.
"He put it all together on his own. He's been learning French since the wedding," A'nt Jane explained. "I think he hated not being able to properly talk to you."
"That does sound like Wesley," Marinette commented, referring to something only Aélita didn't know.
They quieted down as Aélita returned her attention to the TV, watching as the man threw the fruitcake brick. She guessed the prize was money, it being how he could take a last minute plane trip to France for Christmas. They measured up how far away the brick had landed, putting Wesley at the top of contestants and gaining some cheers out of those watching.
Aélita's phone let out a buzz, getting her to drop her legs out in front of her so she could pull the phone out of her pocket. The short message made her stomach drop.
SOS XANA sorry
Aélita glanced over her shoulder to see Jérémie staring at his phone. Quietly, she put her phone back in her pocket and got up. She walked around the steps into the family room just as outside pulled up Grandmére in an old American sports car she didn't recognize. Jérémie walked into the room, getting Aélita to ask, "Bus or train?"
Jérémie looked out the window to see his grandmother getting out of the car. "Uh, I might have a faster way, though it would mean telling her the truth."
"Okay," Aélita nodded her head quickly. Without giving him a chance to second guess the idea, she reached for the door and rushed outside.
Jérémie rushed right on her heals and shut the door behind himself. "Grandmére!" Jérémie called out as the woman popped the trunk.
"Shoo, you two!" Grandmére ordered, flicking her hands at them as if to detour flies.
"We need your help," Jérémie said, the two stopping next to the driver door. "Can you fly us back to Sceaux?"
Grandmére looked at the two, confused only for a moment, before she slammed shut the trunk lid.
AN: Hey, the lunchbox has finally made an appearance! That thing appeared page 4 in the original, though we still haven't seen inside it here. Wesley is from the original as well, though sadly I missed the opportunity to have a Xana attack while they were on vacation. Wasn't missing it this time around.