Liliana XIX
Leaving the clearing after the meeting Liliana noted that they had about two or so hours until dinner. The library though would be closing in 30 minutes so they would be able to break in then. "Do you guys want to grab some coffee while we wait?" she asked the group.
"A Mocha Frappuccino sounds great!" cheered Amber swinging her and Alfie's joined hands.
"Cool! We can continue planning your school rep campaign while we wait for Jasper and Trudy to lock up!"
Having reached the little café the group quickly placed their orders and scanned their IDs to pay. Jerome and the others had left Liliana to grab their drinks as they had seen a group of 8th years leaving, and they wanted to snag the newly vacated seats.
It wasn't long before Lili's new favorite Barista, Heather, called their order number. Snagging their drinks and leaving a generous tip and smile for the frazzled barista Liliana went over to join her family on the cute café couches. Passing out the drinks Lili noticed that Jerome and Amber had spread out various notebooks and were busy assembling their plan of attack for this week. Alfie stared at the scene unfolding before him with a degree of horrified awe. Roe definitely had a gift for marketing and organization while Amber was a powerhouse in her own right. The two of them together, actually working for the same goal from the start, almost guaranteed success.
Sipping her own latte Lili read over some of the ideas they had already jotted down. Campaign rally, posters with slogans, smear campaign… wait what?!
"Guys we are Not running a smear campaign against Mara and Tessa".
"Why not?" whined Jerome, "I already hired Alfie to begin collecting blackmail".
"Amber you ran a dirty campaign last year and look where that got you. You have great ideas and I think you would be great for the job; we just have to share your vision with the students".
"Besides, no one is going to vote for Mara again with the high horse she has been riding around on recently" added Alfie.
"You should focus on how you will take action on your issues and actually bring about change with your platform".
"You guys are right" Amber agreed. "I want people to elect me because I am the best option and they want to see change".
"Awesome now that we are all on the same page let's start drafting your speech for the debate" Jerome declared. With that settled the group spent the next half-hour or so working on the campaign before they called it quits and headed for the library.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Kneeling in front of the door Liliana got to work picking the lock. Last time they had broken in Jerome had stolen the key and it had been under the cover of night. Now in fading sunlight of a late November evening, the group was understandably feeling a bit antsy.
The lock clicked one more time and the door swung open, they were in! Entering the library the group split up to look for anything strange that could be armor, hollow or a silver thread of fate. Amber and Alfie headed up to the second floor while Jerome and Liliana talked the main floor and exhibits. Remembering the last time they had broken into the library Lili headed over to the center of the room. When she had been on the landing Lili had noticed that the tile in the center of the floor was different than all the others. Kneeling next to the strange checkered patterned tile, she removed her ruler and slipped it under one edge to see if it would come up. Pushing down hard she heard a 'pop' as the tile slid out of place. As she picked it up, she noticed that she had been wrong as the square was not made of tile but was instead a piece of wood. Flipping it over she found writing on the back, slipping it into her bag she decided to look at it later.
Getting to her feet she dusted off her skirt and called out to the others "Did you all find anything yet?".
"No" … "not yet" … "Nothing over here" came from her team. Lili headed over to the bookshelves by the stairs. The group continued to look for about another five or so minutes before calling it quits to head back for dinner.
Unfortunately the group wasn't able to meet up again that night and had to delay their meeting due to Patricia falling down the stairs, Alfie and Jerome getting detention from Victor for starting another food fight and Nina getting a call from her Gran. Lili took the unexpected free time to hang out with Amber and bond with the other blond.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
During lunch the next day Liliana sat with Fabian and Amber. Liliana was trying to iron out the details of the other girl's campaign, but the pair was distracted as they argued about Joy, again. Looking up Lili watched as Joy waved cheerfully at Fabian causing him to shut down as a result.
Seeing the pissed off look on Ambers face Fabian dropped his sandwich and declared. "Ok, that's it! That is it! I can't take this anymore. I'm going to march over to her and I'm going to say, 'Joy, look I like you, but we can't go out because I still have feelings for Nina'".
The disbelief that Liliana felt at that statement was mirrored on Amber's face, "And you really think that she is going to accept that?" asked the fashionista.
"Yes, she will"
"Well… Good luck" dismissed Amber.
Gathering his strength, Fabian repeated his little speech as he made his way over to the girl. Leaning over to Amber, Liliana asked "How much are we betting that this crashes and fails?".
"That's a sucker's bet Lili and you know it. Joy is set on dating him and he refuses to have a clear conversation with both girls, so they are both being led on".
Joy's laughter caught Lili's attention turning back to what could only be a train wreck she watched incredulously as Joy laid a flirty hand on Fabian's arm and smiled brightly up at him. It wasn't Joy's actions necessarily that set Liliana off, but Fabian's lack of response. The terrified look that appeared on his face in light of Amber's death glare showed that he had chickened out and hadn't set any boundaries with Joy.
"So how did it go?" asked the thoroughly unimpressed Amber as Fabian returned to their seats.
The boy smartly began to gather his things as he pondered his response. With his personal belongings reclaimed and bag secured Fabian took a big step back to remain out of Amber's reach before revealing, "Yeah, it went great… We're going to the movies tomorrow night!"
"What!" Amber shrieked, while Liliana cackled at how predictable the boy was. "Fabian you get back here!" Amber demanded, but the boy was long gone. Patting Amber's shoulder comfortingly Liliana offered the girl one of her strawberries and a commiserating look before shifting back to the topic of the upcoming school campaign.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Liliana was reading in the living room when Jerome entered with a dejected look on his face. "Oh no, this can't be good" commented Lili as she closed her magazine. "What happened now?".
Jerome flopped down face first on the coach in defeat. "I don't want to talk about it".
"Well tough" declared Lili moving to sit beside him on the couch. "You are clearly upset and I'm not going to let you wallow in misery". Alfie was hanging out with Poppy, so Lili shot him a text asking if he knew why Jerome was so upset. The other boy responded quickly saying that he didn't know but he was almost to the house and he would help talk to Roe with her. Shooting Alfie a quick thumbs up Liliana turned her attention back to the upset boy beside her. Reaching into her purse Lili pulled out her phone and headphones, offered an earbud to Jerome, and settled in to wait for Alfie's arrival.
A few minutes later Alfie came flying into the house, seeing the pair on the couch he quickly entered the sitting room and closed the double doors behind him allowing for a little privacy. "Hey, you two" he greeted with a grin, but he wasn't able to mask the worry Liliana could see behind his eyes. "How are you doing this wonderful Thursday?".
Jerome just groaned and buried his face further into the couch pillow. Shooting a look at Alfie, Lili silently asked how he wanted to play this. He signaled that he would follow her lead and that she should take point on this. Nodding Lili turned back to Jerome and manhandled him into a sitting position. The boy whined but played along anyways dropping his head down on her shoulder. Liliana smiled as he grabbed her hand and started to play with her fingers. Alfie moved to sit on the table with the stuffed Alligator to be closer to them.
"Roe sweetie, what's up with you today?"
"We want to help Jerome, but we can't if you don't fill us in"
Nodding Jerome began to speak, "I told you both that I got the gem back from Vera and Nina/Fabian, but I hadn't tried to place it back in the shield yet".
"Yeah, you were going to return it with Mara today during lunch" agreed Alfie.
"Well we got there only to find an empty display case".
"Oh no, we really suck at sports that much?" asked a disappointed Liliana.
"Or maybe the shield is somewhere else in the school" suggested Alfie.
"No, I already talked to Mr. Sweet and he said that we lost the shield to another school thirty years ago" dropping his head into his hands he continued. "Everything I did to get my hands on this, and I can't even put it back where it belongs and break the curse".
"Have you called your dad to tell him you found it?" asked Lili.
"And say what?" snarked Jerome. "I'm sorry Dad. I know you were trying to turn your life around, but there is no more shield and I am fresh out of ideas".
"Oh come on! You will work something out. You are Jerome Clarke for crying out loud. If you can't charm your way to that shield, you'll scam it. It's the Jerome way" Alfie ended with a laugh.
Squeezing her hand Jerome nodded, "You're right Alfie".
"There we go, let's not give up hope just yet, we can go look for the info on the shield tomorrow. I'm sure there must be a record of the school's wins and losses in the library" Liliana suggested.
"Yeah Jerome keep your chin up, I'll help you toss the library during lunch tomorrow. But the three of us have homework to do before dinner and the Sibuna meeting tonight" said Alfie as he headed to his room.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Before Lili knew it, dinner was over, and it was time for the nightly Sibuna meeting. Nina had texted the group to say that the meeting would be held in Nina and Amber's room. Entering Liliana was surprised to find that the practice web had been taken down. "No more web walking?" asked Liliana in greeting.
"I think we have practiced enough" explained Nina. "Plus it was really hard to move around in here with the webs trying to trip us up".
Nodding Liliana grabbed the oversized beanbag the roommates had stashed in the corner and made herself comfortable while the group waited for Jerome, Alfie and Amber. Liliana happily chatted with Patricia about the school website while they waited. It was awesome to see the other girl so passionate about her work. Apparently, she had only signed up because Joy had made her, but now Patricia really enjoyed it. Making a mental note of that Lili decided to see if she could get Mrs. Andrews to sign off on Patricia covering the election footage, and maybe Eddie too…
The door flying open and the missing trio rushing in pulled Lili out of her musings. Reaching out for Amber's arm, Lili pulled her fellow blonde down with her onto the beanbag. Alfie and Jerome took seats on the floor while Patricia got up to sit with Nina and Fabian on the bed.
"Okay, Recap time!" said Nina. "Did you guys have any luck on your search?"
"We checked the Library. But there was no armor, hollows or silver threads of fate" recapped Amber.
"I went back at lunch today," added Alfie "and there was just your normal nerd herd of dorks with books".
"Last time we had been in there I had noticed that one of the tiles was different from all the others" pulling the board out of her bag, Liliana handed it to Fabian and Nina. "So I decided to pull it up and found this board. The rules on the back outline some kind of Egyptian board game. I don't know if it's related to the quest or not, but I thought you both would enjoy it anyway".
Fabians face lit up at the opportunity to learn something new while Nina analyzed the rules on the back. "This is definitely Robert's handwriting; I recognize it from the journals in the antechamber" she murmured. Smiling at Lili she thanked her and placed it to the side.
"Ok Fabian, you've been looking at that book for hours. Have you found anything yet?" asked Patricia kicking his leg lightly.
"I think I found something" revealed an excited Fabian. "This book is all about last names and what they mean. So I thought that I would look up Frobisher, which comes from an old French word 'Briller', which means 'to shine'."
"Fascinating. And he says he's not a nerd" Amber giggled.
"Which is a last name most commonly given to armorers" defended a smug Fabian.
"Okay, now that is Actually pretty interesting" admitted Patricia.
"Thank you!" exclaimed Fabian. "So what if I am a nerd? There's nothing wrong with that. It was nerds like me that invented the wheel, email, pretty much everything you couldn't live without" he continued aiming the last part at an offended Amber.
"I feel your pain my friend," said a serious Alfie. "I get hassled because I want to be a ninja" and he attempted a ninja kick only to fall over onto Jerome.
To break up the laughter following that announcement Liliana asked, "So the riddle is about the Frobisher-Smythes?"
Picking himself up Alfie answered, "Well he was a smart scholar, wasn't he?"
"And the foundations part of the clue could mean founders" added Jerome.
"And who built this place?" asked Fabian.
"The Frobisher-Smythes" cheered Nina.
"Wait the picture of them in the dining room! Maybe the solution to the task is behind it" proposed Amber. Jumping to her feet, Liliana and the other Sibunas raced downstairs to the dining room.
Luckily the other students had gone to their rooms for the night, so the group was able to quickly remove the picture from the wall. With the picture gone, all that remained was a blank space of wall and the picture wire. "Oh it is definitely hollow" declared Fabian after knocking on the wall.
"I wonder what this does?" asked Alfie pointing to the silver picture wire.
"It's a picture wire" dismissed Patricia as she looked for any cracks in the wallpaper.
"Or is it the silver thread of fate?" countered Nina.
"Then let's follow it" clapping his hands together Jerome motioned for Alfie to pull on the wire.
"Do it Alfie" Nina directed. As he pulled the string Lili held her breath in fear and anticipation. This was the first Sibuna clue that she had ever helped solve and she was nervous about what would be on the other end of the string.
The house began to creak and make ominous noises the more Alfie pulled. Lili looked around concerned that the house would cave in on them. One final yank resulted a resounding crash. Jumping Liliana looked around confused like the others since there was no noticeable change, and then the ceiling opened above them and something fell towards them, large and brown and with eight legs.
Screaming Liliana dropped to the ground and covered her head hoping to any god listening that the giant spider would eat one of the others first. She seconded Amber's ramblings that if she couldn't see it, it wasn't real or there, and therefore not an issue.
"It's not real Amber" scolded Fabian.
"That's right Fabian! Say it with me!"
Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Liliana peeked one eye open and found herself looking at an amused Jerome and the large spider. Ugh! So gross, Liliana could handle a lot, but spiders are a definite no, real or otherwise.
Shuddering she accepted the hand Jerome offered and got back on her feet. She immediately regretted that decision, as it placed her in close contact with the fake spider. Taking a massive step back had her bumping into Patricia but at least she was away from the ugly thing. The other girl smiled understandingly and threaded her fingers through Lili's offering her a silent show of support.
"Guys, I think this is what we've been looking for" decided Nina from where she was analyzing the spider. "This has to be the spider that fits in the hole in the task room wall".
Fabian reached up to unhook it from the cord that suspended it from the ceiling and began to read the message Robert Frobisher-Smythe had left behind. "To pass beyond the weaver's throne, lay her daughters in their home. Move with care through her poisoned loom. The scarlet thread may spell your doom".
"Spiders weave webs, so is that where her throne is? The big web in the task chamber" deduced Patricia.
"But who are her daughters and where are they?" asked Amber now that she had calmed down.
"Okay, we need to go down and check it out tomorrow night. It's too late tonight and I still have to call my Gran" decided Nina.
Giant troublemaking grins spread across Alfie and Jerome's faces. Liliana was curious, those were the looks they had when they pulled massive pranks or were able to mess with one of the teachers.
"Maybe we should synchronize our schedules" began Alfie.
Fabian's head shot up in a panic and he franticly tried to keep Alfie from speaking, unfortunately he forgot about Jerome.
"Because tonight is Fabian and Joy's first date!" finished a laughing Jerome.
Nina looked like she had been hit by a truck, Patricia just looked bored, Amber was furious and Lili, well she was curious as to see how the drama played out.
"No! NO, it's Not a date!" insisted Fabian to Nina who clearly wanted nothing more than to leave the room. "It's more like, umm. A misunderstanding!" That boy just kept digging his grave deeper and deeper if the look on Nina's face was any sign. "We're just going to see that film that Jasper was on about". If anything that last statement seemed to hit Nina harder. "It's hardly datey!" Fabian tried to reassure the brunet.
"Ha! No kidding" scoffed Patricia.
"I thought we could go see that" mumbled Nina looking super hurt next to him, "I was going to get us tickets for this weekend as a surprise".
"Hey! Why don't we all go?" asked Amber seemingly trying to save the situation, but Lili felt that she knew the blonde better than that. "You me, Joy and Fabian. Nah, let's not crash their date" deadpanned the blonde as she popped her bubblegum.
"What!" Fabian had a look of betrayal all over him, "Amber! Tell her that it's not a date. You were there! You were telling me what to say. You too Lili!"
"Oh hold up! I stayed out of that entire situation; you dug your own grave there" Lili snapped back.
"I did not tell you what to…" Amber argued.
"Okay guys, I get it" cut in Nina. "Tomorrow night is just not ideal. We can just wait another night. The mask and my life can wait". Fabian looked as if she had just burned his autographed copy of The Solar System Is Your Friend or smashed his calculator watch. "I need to go phone my Gran anyways". Nina quickly fled the room despite Fabian and Amber's protests.
"Nice job Fabian. Very nice" Amber sniped as she spun on her heel and raced after Nina with Patricia. Giving Fabian a disappointed look Lili left the room to get ready for bed.