CHAPTER 19: SECRETS
After the kids had successfully managed to help Pierre build a new barn after the old one had been severely damaged by a storm,they all felt like heading back inside for a while and properly catching up on things with their French friend,and more importantly in Ed's case see if he could help him out in terms of where he needed to go to find the chateau and his mother.
The group was sitting down at a table in the living room of Pierre's house and all sharing a pile of sausage and cheese as Linus politely stated with a slight sense of relief "Well it's good to know that you weren't caught off guard by Marcie getting a boyfriend after all this time,I won't lie,I was wondering how you were gonna react to it." to which Pieree shrugged his arms and nonchalantly explained himself and his reasoning for not getting worked up over it "It's honestly nothing Linus,that first trip of yall's was so many years ago that it was inevitable that we would move on,not to mention that we hadn't even caught up with each other until the 4'th of July,and even then not by much,and lastly a long distance relationship like that probably wouldn't even work in the long run." before Marcie smiled and happily replied with relief as well "In the end Pierre,I'm just glad that we can all move on and look back on that with innocent bliss,and to be perfectly honest,Franklin is the perfect boy for me right now."
"T-thanks Marcie." Franklin got a little red in the face and meekly thanked Marcie for the compliment before Sally wondered out of curiosity "You know Pierre that makes me wonder,are you in your OWN relationship now?" to which Charlie Brown timidly stammered in response while his eyes slightly widened "Uh Sally,are you sure that's an appropriate thing to ask out of the blue?" only for the blonde to shrug her arms and nonchalantly defend herself "Why not? Almost all of us are in one right now,what's the problem with asking?" which resulted in Claudia meekly responding while she blushed a little "I mean i-it c-could have come across as a l-little rude."
"Actually I was gonna bring that up Sally." Pierre suddenly spoke up and politely brushed the out of nowhere question aside before he promptly continued "I won't say that I'm in a relationship right now,but me and this girl at school are very close friends,and I wouldn't mind asking her out to Trevor B's concert in Paris later this week and seeing how things go from there." to which Lucy softly gasped and retorted out of surprise "Well would you listen to that,we're all going there at the end of this week too."
"Really? That's great!" Pierre smiled and happily stated equally as surprised before Peppermint Patty nodded her head and cheerfully continued "Yeah,we all managed to get in for free!" which resulted in Pierre raising an eyebrow and questioning in confusion "Huh? How'd y'all manage to do that?" to which Freida promptly explain their reasoning while she wrapped her arm around Charlie Brown and making him blush "Well that would be because Trevor B is this sweetheart's very own cousin." which resulted in Pierre spitting out his water before he exclaimed in shock "Trevor B is Charles's cousin?!"
"Yep." Charlie Brown sighed and nonchalantly confirmed that he was under his breath before Pierre calmed himself down and happily stated in response "Well that's something really nice to know,so what exactly has brought y'all over to France? It does seem to be an oddly specific time of year to come over." to which Claudia promptly explained their reasoning while Ed slowly started to take out his letter "W-well you see,we all got these free p-plane tickets in the m-mail from someone o-over here." before Skylar pointed over at Ed and continued when he noticed that he had brought out his letter "Yeah and Ed over there got a strange letter that was asking him to come over here. We're just trying to figure out where that place is."
"Yup,apparently it turns out that my mother could still be alive because the person in this letter claims to be my mother. She wants to meet me at this Chateau Of Harmony,but I have no idea where or what that place could even be." Ed nodded his head and anxiously explained the whole situation which resulted in Pierre suddenly raising an eyebrow and growing a huge look of concern at the mention which Lucy quickly noticed and nonchalantly brought it up "Hey Pierre,you feeling alright?"
"Ed,where did you say she wanted to meet you again?" Pierre ignored Lucy's concerns and instead questioned out of confusion to which Charlie Brown nervously gulped and meekly answered "H-he said the Chateau Of Harmony,is there something wrong?" only for Pierre to hold out his hand and politely ask with "Uh,may I please see the letter for a moment?" and before Ed could even answer,Gracie had already taken the letter from the boy's hands and had given it to Pierre across the table,allowing him the opportunity to take a look at it. As Pierre started to look over the letter and everyone stared at him patiently waiting for some kind of answer as to what was going on,Pierre began to develop an even greater look of confusion on his face which resulted in everyone else feeling a little unsettled and concerned,even Snoopy, Woodstock, Andy, Olaf, Gracie, Roger and Herman couldn't help but feel a little unnerved as well despite them just tagging along for the ride.
After about another minute it seemed that Pierre had finally finished looking over the letter as he sighed and calmly stated while he handed it back to Ed "Well Ed there's no misunderstanding after all,she definitely wants to meet you at the Chateau Of Harmony,but that does seem like an odd place to meet up at." to which Linus nervously asked while Pierre stood up and started to light a fire due to the sun beginning to set outside "How come Pierre? Is there any kind of danger that Ed could be getting himself into?" followed up by Rebecca perking up a little and frantically insisting that Pierre tell them the truth "Yeah please Pierre,if there's any kind of risk here,feel free to tell us."
However Pierre could only shake his head and instead reassure the kids that they would be fine as he started setting up some chairs around the fireplace for the kids and animals to sit in "Oh no,as far as I know there isn't any real danger to be found and I can give you some directions if y'all want,but I will say that I know some history around the chateau that makes it a very eerie place in France." to which Ed politely asked in response while he and the others started to sit down in the chairs "Would you mind telling us that Pierre? I really need to find my mother."
NEXT CHAPTER: THE CURSED LAND