House of Red:
The club looked with shock at the red mark on Amber's stomach.
"How did that happen?" Asked Fabian.
"I don't know! It was there all of a sudden! What if I'm poisoned," said Amber.
"But how did it get on your belly?" Asked Alfie.
"I got caught by Trudy and then I had to put it away really fast. Oh, I wish I'd never taken it," said Amber.
Amber picked up her bag off the ground and threw it at Aaron.
"If you scrub hard enough, it will come off on its own," said Joy.
"You think?" Asked Amber.
"Uh-huh, said Joy, with a little doubt in her voice.
"Sorry, but it seems to be in your hands," said Fabian.
"Well, that's just great! Well, I'll be stuck wearing these gloves for the rest of my life," complained Amber
"Amber calm down, we're gonna take it off later," said Nina.
"Later? It has to come off now! I'm gonna scrub it now! Even if I've to do it with hydrochloric acid, I'll be beautiful again," said Amber, as she walked away angry.
"Alfie and Patricia, you go with Amber and help her," said Nina.
"Alright," said Patricia.
Patricia and Alfie ran after Amber and the club took Amber's bag into the school.
At the same time. Mara and Jerome were at their lockers and had just heard that they had two hours off because their math teacher was sick.
"Hey now that we have two hours off, do you want to do something fun together?" Asked Jerome.
"Sorry I can't. I've just sent everyone from the school newspaper a message that the meeting will be moved to right now," said Mara.
"Maybe some other time then?" Asked Jerome.
"But the meeting's only an hour long and that leaves an hour for you," said Mara.
"Good, then I'll wait for you in the drama room," said Jerome.
"I'll see you then," said Mara.
Mara kissed Jerome on the cheek and walked towards the computer lab.
In the meantime, the club stood in front of the chemistry classroom. Fabian opened Amber's bag and a red glow came out of her bag.
"Wow," said Joy.
Joy wanted to grab the clue, but Nina grabbed her wrist.
"Don't do that! What if it's toxic," said Nina.
"Then Amber wouldn't be walking around so fit," said Fabian.
"We don't know that anyway. We've to be careful," said Nina.
"Do you think Amber might be in danger?" Asked Aaron.
"I don't know," said Fabian.
"Dude, we're talking about my sister's life here," said Aaron.
"Aaron we're all worried about Amber," said Nina.
"Aaron I don't think it's toxic. But at least it's clear that we're can't just touch it," said Fabian.
"And how are we going to read it then?" Asked Joy.
"I think I know something for that," said Fabian.
"What is it"? Asked Nina.
"Come with me to the chemistry room," said Fabian.
The club headed to the chemistry room.
A few moments later. Amber was at home in the bathroom cleaning her hands. Patricia and Alfie entered the bathroom with some cleaning supplies.
"And?" Asked Patricia.
"Well lemon doesn't work," said Amber.
"But against lime scale, it works perfectly," said Alfie.
"Not on red hands it doesn't," said Amber.
"Bummer," said Patricia.
"What have you brought me?" Asked Amber.
"I've got turpentine, benzene, bleach, and if all that doesn't work, I've got sink un-blocker," said Alfie
"Hello, if I put that on my hands, my hands will fall off," said Amber.
"Then the problem would technically be solved," said Alfie.
"Not funny Alfie," said Amber.
"Why did you do it?" Asked Patricia.
"Do what?" Asked Amber, as she continued the scrub her hands
"Why did you get the clue?" Asked Patricia.
"It had to be done, and I wanted to prove something to you," said Amber.
"What did you wanted to prove?" Asked Patricia.
"That I'm not as afraid as you guys think I'm. That I'm not a scaredy-cat," said Amber.
"Wait that's why you did this, because we were teasing you yesterday?" Asked Patricia.
"Yeah, and look what came of it," said Amber.
"Amber, we're sorry that we teased you," said Patricia.
"Yeah, we didn't mean to get you upset," said Alfie.
"If you guys can make sure my hands and my stomach aren't red anymore, I'll forgive you," said Amber.
"Sure, we'll help you," said Patricia.
Patricia and Alfie sat down next to Amber and helped her with her hands.
Back at school The school newspaper staff was in the computer lab having their usual Thursday meeting.
"Okay, so Eddie you're done with your article?" Asked Mara.
"Yes and here you go," said Eddie, as he handed in his article.
"Thank you," said Mara. "What about the pictures?"
"I already put them on the computer, said Otis.
"Great. And could you put KT's drawing on the computer?" Asked Mara.
"Yeah, sure. I'll scan it now," said Otis.
"Fantastic," said Mara.
Mara took KT's drawing out of her bag and gave it to Otis.
"Wow, KT has talent," said Otis.
"I know right, that's why I wanted to put in the school paper," said Mara.
"Speaking of KT, have you noticed that she's been a little cranky lately?" Asked Eddie.
"It has to do with Aaron. They were supposed to have a date," said Mara.
"And let me guess it went bad," said Eddie.
"Aaron never showed up," said Mara.
"What? That's crazy, I see the way he looks at her, He has that same look in his eyes that I've every time I see Joy," said Otis.
"Speaking of Joy, where is she? I sent her a message too," said Mara.
"No idea," said Otis.
"She hasn't finished her piece either," said Mara.
"I thought she was gonna do it yesterday. I invited her to watch a movie yesterday, but she said she had other priorities," said Otis.
"What is it with her lately?" Asked Mara.
In the meantime. The club was in the chemistry room. Fabian gave everyone a pair of gloves. Fabian put on gloves and grabbed the clue from Amber's bag. Fabian put the piece of paper down on the one of the blank areas and few seconds later the map started to light up and new hieroglyphs appeared on the area.
"Geez that's a lot of hieroglyphs," said Aaron.
"Whoa this is going to be tricky," said Fabian.
"Do you think you can do it?" Asked Nina.
"I need a lot of time to do this, but I think I can do it," said Fabian.
When Nina, Fabian and Aaron weren't paying attention, Joy took pictures of the map.
One hour later. Mara walked into the drama room where Jerome was already waiting for her. Mara sat down next to Jerome.
"And did you have a good school paper meeting?" Asked Jerome.
"Yes, it went well, only Joy didn't shown up," said Mara.
"And did you tried calling her?" Asked Jerome
"She didn't answer her phone," said Mara.
Mara put her bag down and when she looked up she saw KT sitting lonely in a corner.
"I'll be right back," said Mara.
Mara got up and walked over to KT and sat down next to her.
"Hi," said Mara.
"Hi Mara," said KT.
"Everything okay?" Asked Mara.
"I'm fine," lied KT.
"Are you still thinking about Aaron?" Asked Mara.
"I just can't believe he stood me up like that," said KT.
"He must have a good reason," said Mara.
"Yeah and that's that he doesn't like me and he made that clear to me," said KT.
"Aaron isn't like that at all, he's one of the sweetest guys I know," said Mara.
"Maybe you don't know him as well as you thought," said KT.
"Do you want me to him sometime, maybe I'll find out why he didn't show up," said Mara.
"No that is not necessary. I don't want anything to do with him anymore, romantically," said KT.
Mara decided to leave KT alone and walked back to Jerome.
In the meantime. Joy had gone to the computer lab and transferred the pictures from her phone to the computer. Joy forwarded pictures to Omar. At the same time, Otis entered the computer lab.
"What are you doing?" Asked Otis.
"I… I'm working on the piece of the school paper," lied Joy.
"You're a little late for that," said Otis.
"What do you mean?" Asked Joy.
"The meeting was moved to this morning, the one you didn't attend," said Otis.
"I had a lot to do," said Joy.
"You know what never mind, let us do that school paper, then you can keep doing whatever keeps you busy," said Otis.
"I'm sorry, I was busy with other things," said Joy.
"You're busy with other things all the time, but not with the school paper or our relationship," said Otis, as he angrily walked out of the computer lab.
A few hours later. Amber was in her room with Patricia and Alfie, still getting her hands clean. Nina, Fabian, Aaron and Joy entered the room.
"And did you find anything? Something to get this red stuff off?" Asked Amber.
"It's a lot. I've to translate it all first," said Fabian.
"So we've got nothing," said Amber.
"It'll be fine, it just takes a little while," said Nina.
"But what if this poisonous and I slowly die, said Amber.
"And then it eats up from inside and all your organs turn into gunk, said Alfie.
"You're not helping Alfie," said Aaron.
"But what kind of task is this? What do they want with this?" Asked Amber.
"Amber I don't know what kind of task this is, but I'm going to work hard on the translation," said Fabian.
"May I can help," said Joy.
"How?" Asked Amber.
"I'm going to see what we're up against," said Joy.
"And where are you going?" Asked Amber.
"The tunnels and then I can take pictures, if that helps for Amber," said Joy.
"Do you really mean that?" Asked Amber.
"Shouldn't more people go?" Asked Nina.
"No, alone I'm being less noticeable," said Joy.
"Are you going right now?" Asked Amber.
"Yeah, unless you wanna go red-handed all your life," said Joy.
"No, of course not," said Amber.
"Be careful Joy," said Patricia.
"Good luck," said Aaron.
"I will open the passageway for you," said Nina.
"Isn't Trudy in the kitchen then?" Asked Patricia.
"No, he just went to the flower market," said Joy.
"Come on, let's go fast before she gets back," said Nina.
Nina and Joy left the room. Again the club had no idea they had been spied on by Victor Sr. Amber walked over to the mirror and looked at herself.
"What the…," said Amber.
"What is it?" Asked Aaron.
"It's gone," said Amber.
Amber turned and showed the club her hands, which were no longer red. Amber lifted her shirt slightly and the red spot on her stomach was also gone.
A few moments later. Joy walked through the tunnels. Joy arrived at the next task and saw a big gate and a beautiful statue. Joy grabbed her phone and took pictures. Then the phone Omar had given her rang, Joy put her phone away and picked up the other phone.
"And do you have more information for me?" Asked Omar.
"I'm standing in front of the task, it's a very beautiful statue," said Joy.
"With a stone in front of it in the shape of a hand," said Omar.
"Yes," said Joy.
"Don't touch that stone," said Omar.
"Why not?" Asked Joy.
But before Omar could say why Joy couldn't touch the stone, the connection was broken off.
"BE GONE AND STAY GONE!"
Joy was startled when she heard Victor Sr.'s voice that she dropped the phone out of her hands and it fell onto the ground.
