Tavi didn't need to glance at Corvi or Cubbi. They'd been caught. She knew it and they knew it.
"Uh... Hi, guys!" Cubbi scratched at the back of his head and glanced at her, then Corvi, looking for some form of back-up to cleverly get out of the situation.
Well, at least, she thought all three of them realized it. She rolled her eyes at the pink-furred cub. "Give it up, Cubbi. They overheard it."
Indeed. As wrapped up as they had been in what Corvi revealed, there was no way to tell exactly how much they'd overheard but it didn't matter. The look on Martinni's and Flynn's faces was a mix of horror and shock at what had met their ears but it was Toni that held the trio's focus. Toni eyed them not with accusation but with stern commitment.
"So? What is that you're reading, how'd you get your hands on it, and how do we protect the knights?" Corvi, coming to his senses soonest, went to the door, looked around, and shut it, lest they get any other unwanted visitors.
"It's the trials of Emi Gummi."
"We found a magic book and it's got a lot to say about her," Cubbi answered the second bit.
"And we don't know much ABOUT her yet," Tavi finished.
"So... That really bad person... that Emi... was a gummi?" Martinni's voice trembled when he asked. Just the thought of so many deaths - even one by gummi hands - was hard to conceive.
Corvi, Cubbi, and Tavi exchanged looks. Tavi spoke, "No. She IS a gummi - an evil one -, and she might have already broken out of the magical prison the knights and councilors put her in. There's a lot going on and if you are going to be in on this you have to keep your mouths shut for now. Destini's ghost told us the knights won't find the answers in time. We can't risk the knights and the councilors shutting us out when they don't know half of what we uncovered. If they'd just LISTEN to us..." Tavi ignored the shocked looks at her hurried reveal and sighed, referring to her earlier visit from her Aunt Toffi. She hadn't said anything yet to Cubbi or Corvi. Didn't have the want or need to mention it yet...
Still exhausted and still banished to her room, she'd laid down to try and find some modicum of peace after helping to free Toni's mom and from finding the book and everything else they'd found out when Aunt Toffi opened her door without asking. "Tavi dear? Are you awake?"
Anxious, the councilor had sat on the bed next to her. Tavi sat up, saw Berrybottom just outside her door. They were worried as all get-out. She pretended to just be waking, wondering what it was that had them all upset. "Hm? What's wrong, Auntie?"
"Eh... well... Toni's mother is awake. She... well, she said you helped bring her back?" Dropping the façade, Tavi sagged. She knew she was about to get a lecture and dreaded it.
"Look, I know you aren't ecstatic about me practicing magic. I didn't do it on purpose! I was asleep and I just found her... Aunt Toffi, there's a lot I need to tell you but you really gotta listen. And don't get mad but I used a spell from the Great Book to summon Destini's ghost and talk to her. I had to know, Auntie. It was her in my dream, trying to warn us. And..."
The look of cascading horror on her aunt's face made her stop. Before she had a chance to say it all slower, Wooddale interrupted. "Tavi Ameri Gummi, you summoned Destini's spirit?!"
"Yes. That's what I just said, and-"
"Don't take such a lax tone, Tavi." Her aunt turned stern. "There are certain rites which must be done first before anyone dares intrude on a spirit's peace. What you've done could inhibit the spirit's return, or worse!"
Tavi pressed on, trying to ignore her aunt's reaction. "Well, no one is teaching me anything, and I really need to Council to-"
Aunt Toffi shot to a stand, her face flush with anger. At that moment, she was not an aunt but all Councilor.
"YOU need? If you had any idea what we were up against, you wouldn't be making demands. I thought perhaps you were old enough to understand the situation, perhaps old enough to assist in a light capacity once it was determined if your magic was attracting the problems currently plaguing our city, but it seems you are being uncharacteristically selfish." Sadness washed the anger from the councilor's features and she sagged under the weight of her internal burdens. "Perhaps it is time to look into a method of removing the medallions from you, or at least sealing away their power until you've been properly schooled."
Councilor Berrybottom entered, a great lot of concern on his face. Not for Tavi but for Wooddale. He lay a hand on her shoulder. "You cannot mean that! Have you reconsidered what we discussed?"
Wooddale looked blankly in front of her, then shook her head, squinting greatly. She frowned, glanced over at Berrybottom. "I... No..." In a single heartbeat, Tavi saw her aunt's face fill with absolute terror. Aunt Toffi backed away from her and ran from the room, Councilor Berrybottom chasing after. Left in the wake, Tavi was stunned. The only thing she could think of was that, somehow, the uncharacteristic behavior of her aunt had been brought on by some outside source. Not quite a possession but, well, an influence would be the best way to put it. That had been before the boys came in to read the rest of the trial, and before they'd been found by Toni, Martinni, and Flynn.
"I don't know what's going on with the Gummadoon Council. I don't know what the full story is with Emi. I DO know that your mom was possessed, Toni, and that's why she was doing horrible things. I just don't know who was doing it. We have strong reason to believe that Emi Gummi is breaking out of whatever prison the Council put her into a long time ago and it's up to us to make the adults listen because that book has some kind of clues in it on how to stop her again. I just don't know if we know enough between us to figure out what those clues are. We gotta get the adults to hear us out."
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Lady Bane's Castle Chuckling to herself in delight, Lady Bane looked over her accomplishments today as one would admire a case of trophies. Her crowning achievements? Making her new meat puppet obey her, and finally putting a dent in that old ironsides, Councilor Wooddale. Oh, Mother had been correct. The way to cut the gummies up from the inside was those silly bonds they carried with them. Go after their worry, their fear, their anxiety over loved ones. That was the way in, even past most of the wards the Council relied on to keep her out. Oh yes, sneaking through the cracks in the old bag's magic armor. Her cackles of victory echoed about the castle as she relished the memory of seeing the old bear fleeing her brat niece's room after realizing she'd been compromised. Glorious!