IX. Trading Secrets
Amanda and her team flew steadily as the News Crew followed a few broom lengths behind. After school was the only time they could agree upon so they flew as the sun started to fall toward the west ending the day. Armed with a tape recorder and camera, Amanda tried to focus on their destination: the Cavendish estate, but felt lingering guilt form in the back of her head. It pissed her off, ever since she had stolen Diana's diary and gotten Hannah and Barbara trouble she had thoughts of turning back. Maybe if she just let this go then things would be back to the way they were with her teammates no longer feeling neglected and her just covering school news.
No that couldn't be it. Amanda shook her head and gripped her broom tighter. She needed to do this. Her goal was to gather all the evidence needed to expose Diana for being a hypocrite. To prove once and for all that Diana Cavendish a known homophobia and suppressor of student freedom, was infact gay herself. Unfortunately, it was going to take more than the diary to write an article to convince the rest of the student population.
Once Amanda saw the main Cavendish mansion, she looked back at Wangari and nodded. Wangari nodded back and led the rest of her team toward the front gates as Amanda guided her team toward the left side of the brick wall. The wall seemed to surround the entirety of the Cavendish estate but thanks to flying, it was no obstacle.
The witches ducked into a cluster of trees on the edge of the estate. Amanda poked her head out of the leaves to see that there was nobody in sight. Cautiously, the green team walked out of the trees and stood looking around. Amanda took a huge sigh of relief and wasted no time dragging her teammates along toward a small group of barn-like buildings. The plan had sounded simple, the red team would fly over the gates of the estate and land as the Luna Nova News Crew would enter through the front door and attempt to distract everyone while the red team searched the house.
Now it was just a matter of getting inside. Once they reached the biggest building, which looked to be a horse stable, Amanda peeked through a window only to quickly retract her head. There were several servants inside, too many for them to stick around. After sneaking around the stable, a loud neighing sound was heard. Amanda jumped into Jasminka's arms in fear. Constanze rolled her eyes at Amanda as the source of the noise turned out to be an old, brown horse with a friendly spark it's eyes. Amanda tried to calm herself as Jasminka took out an apple out of her hat and gave it to the horse.
Voices were heard walking from the main building to the stable. Amanda, grabbed her teammates by the collars and pulled them into group of bushes. Looking around Amanda saw that the only clear path without the bustle of servants was over a low gate into what looked like a garden. Amanda turned to her teammates.
"Look you guys have to stay focused! We all have to be on the lookout for people." Constanze nodded along, but Jasminka's face fell a little.
"But the horse was so cute and friendly." Amanda rubbed her temples.
"That horse could be a spy planted by Diana to snitch back to her that we're here! Who knows?! Don't forget her family has witch powers too. Just stay by close and focused!" Amanda said as she lead them to the garden gate.
The garden wasn't huge but was adored with a large variety of colorful bushes and trees cut into various animal shapes. Constanze yanked Amanda's sleeve and pointed to an open set of windows on the first floor. Amanda smirked at both of her teammates and started toward it.
"Honestly, that Diana has always been quite particular. It's a wonder a young man such as yourself has managed to befriend her." Aunt Daryl's voice spoke directly to Constanzes' right. The red team hit the deck and started army-crawling past a large pavilion in the garden with Aunt Daryl, Andrew and his father.
Andrew's father took a sip of tea and chuckled. "Hahaha he's always taken after my charm, especially with the ladies. Isn't that right, Andrew?"
Andrew laughed in a nervous but friendly manner. "Well now, me and Diana have been close since we were kids after all, she trusts me."
Amanda and her crew had crawled right below the open window and were climbing in. Amanda stopped for a moment and pulled out her tape recorder. Something in the way they were talking about Diana seemed fishy to Amanda. She crawled a couple of feet closer toward them and switched on the recorder.
"Well, now speaking of Diana onto the matter we discussed Lord Hanbridge. I'm pleased that you see the mutual benefits to this arrangement. I think it's a splendid idea." Daryl smiled with her voice in a sickly sweet way. Amanda almost hurled.
"Yes, Andrew. We've decided you and Diana are going to be dating from now on. You will be her date and accompany her to parties and social engagements." Andrew gagged on his tea in shock.
"B-beg pardon!? Lady Cavendish, I forgive my sudden outburst, Diana is a wonderful girl, but father-" Andrew was promptly cut off by his father.
"You Andrew have responsibilities in your future to consider! Lady Cavendish here has convinced me despite my earlier prejudices against witches that Diana is a respectable young lady and you are an affluent young man, this is a promising arrangement. It's settled, you two are dating. End of discussion, of all the childish nonsense." Andrew shrank back defeated and Amanda crawled away to join her teammates.
What in the world? Andrew being set up to date Diana, seemed strange. Amanda clipped off her recorder and figured she would make sense of it all when they were safely back at school. Once she climbed through the window she found her teammates frozen in fear. Diana's cousins Merrill and Maril had caught all three of them red handed.
"What the hell do you mean you're here for a story?! Why are you three gremlins sneaking into my bedroom?" Merrill questioned glaring daggers at them with her sister.
"Yeah, you're obviously not with any of those trashy tabloids, you must be from that witch school Diana goes to." Maril accused.
Amanda needed to act fast, the News Crew distraction had fallen through. Based on the diary Diana hated her cousins and they hated her. Maybe she could use this. Amanda grabbed their attention.
"You're half right. We are from Luna Nova, but we're here to do a story on Diana, not you two." The red-haired witch replied. Amanda was surprised when she saw a smirk start on both of their faces.
"Oh! What kind of story about Diana?" Merrill asked in a poisonously sweet way, just like her mother had used on the Hanbridges. Amanda looked at her teammates who offered timid support to go long with Diana's cousins. Amanda uncomfortably loosened her collar and continued.
"We're writing a story about Diana's family history and on the way she carries on her family heritage. You know as a descendant of one of the nine old witches." Amanda said, gauging their reactions. Both twins snickered.
"Yeah, funny thing, that's exactly what the Luna Nova News Crew told us when we answered the door and trust me they REALLY tried to convince us not to stop talking to them." Maril snarked. Amanda shrank back. The plan had failed, what were they going to do now?
"Look, we think you're half-telling the truth. Sure, you're here for Diana but you want the dirt on her, not that we blame you." Merril remarked. Why did it feel like her team was about to make a deal with the devil? Amanda knew somehow that this would dig her into an even deeper hole, but what choice did they have?Maril and Merril grinned like Cheshire cat at each other before Maril walked out of the room.
"Look, we're both on the same side here." Merril started.
"We're more than happy to give you dirt on Diana, if you give us something in return. It's a happy exchange." Maril said locking her piercing eyes on Amanda.
Suddenly, Amanda was very aware of the rectangular weight she was carrying: Diana's diary. Afraid to leave it back at school unattended she had brought it with them. If she gave it to the twins they could walk out of here scot free with more evidence on Diana. With that they could break the story and finally force Diana to admit to her hypocrisy and make her stop. Would giving up the diary achieve this though? Was it okay to give it over? Yeah, Amanda reasoned. Diana was the villain in this story, clear and simple. She was going to get what was coming to her. Diana shouldn't have been such a jerk to everyone, if she didn't want something like this to happen.
Amanda slowly pulled out Diana's diary and held it out to Maril. The twin at first took the book and looked at it in confusion, but once she started reading it, Amanda and her team stepped back. An evil grin complete with mean girl laughter wafted through the room. Merrill re entered the room carrying a stack of magazines.
"Okay here's some leverage. Now you magic monkeys give us-"
"Hahahahah. No, no, Merrill give them everything. Let them leave, WOW. DIANA'S FUCKING DIARY. This is better than ANYTHING EVER!" Maril guffawed, failing to hold back her laughter.
Amanda watched the two twins devour Diana's desires and dreams with cruel, snark-like ruthlessness and narrowed her eyes. She scooped up the magazines and placed them into Jasminka's arms. She put her hand on Constanze's shoulder.
"Come on. Guys, let's leave." Amanda said, as she led the way out of the room, being chased out by wheezing laughter.