Chapter 2: London,

Colby groaned, it was 4:33 in the morning and the mechanical baby was crying. She got up sleepily and picked up the baby from it's car-seat. She felt around in the dark for the bottle after the baby accepted her ID. She found it under the bed and pressed it to the simulator's lips. She looked out of the hotel window. They were in London right now, her, Pia, and Jaz. Below them the city glowed with the small dots of streetlights. She looked towards her most favorite part of the city, Fleet Street and Bell Yard. Down those two streets were historic buildings of one of the most fantastically mythical tales that ever truly lived to be true. Sweeney Todd's barber shop and Mrs. Lovett's meat pie shop. In those two buildings such horrendous murders occurred. Throats were slit and bodies skinned. Bones were ground and people sinned.

Colby heard the baby coo and set it down in the carrier. The sun was beginning to rise and she made her way back to her bed. As soon as she closed her eyes, she felt her cell phone vibrate in her hand. She groaned and pressed the green button, putting it on speaker. "Hello?" She says with her face in the pillow.

"Like hey, Col, it's me, Cousin Shaggy." The voice is scratchy and distant, coming from half-way around the world.

"Shag? What do you want? It's nearly five in the morning."

"Look, something happened the other night here in Coolsville. You know our headquaters right? The place where we all live together?" Colby hums a yes. "Well, last night, someone set it on fire."

"What?" Colby bolted upright in her bed. "How the hell did that happen?"

"All we got on Fred's security tape was a masked, robbed figure. Like, we need your help to clear our names."

"When do you need us down there?" Colby was already up and pulling a pair of jeans on.

"I got Uncle Stan to change your flight tickets home. Instead, you're going to come here in a couple hours, okay?" Colby hums a yes again as she holds the phone with her shoulder and pulls a t-shirt over her head. "Like, there's something else you need to know, Col." His voice is quiet and his tone is serious, but Colby knows that her cousin is only ever serious if bad news is going to come. In this case, worse news. "Not all of us got out in time. Vel-Velma, was still in her bedroom when the fire erupted." Colby gasped, nearly dropping her phone to floor.

"She's not... dead?"

"No, but she's in intensive care at Coolsville Medical, we need you to get over here, Col." His voice is painful. "I need you to get over here."

"Don't worry, Shag, we'll be there. We'll always be there." The meaning is clear. When one member of their family, small and broken as it may be, is in danger, or even just hurting, they'll all be there; no matter what.

"Like, thanks, Col. I'll see you in a few hours. Fred's picking you up at the airport." Shaggy's voice is is cackling with static, and Colby can't hear what is said next. She assumes it was somewhere along the lines of 'goodbye' as Shaggy has hung up. She presses the red button and the call is disconnected. She walks over to her sister's beds. She looks at Pia first. She is sound asleep in her bed. She goes over to the bedside and shakes Pia's shoulder. No response. Colby stands and backs up a bit. She takes a deep breath.

"PIA! JAZ! WAKE UP!" Pia nearly jumps out of her skin and Jasmine screams. "Now that I've got your attention, we have a plane to catch in about two hours."

"What are you talking about?" Jaz says as her heartbeat begins to drop.

"Shaggy needs our help, I'll tell you more later, but get packing first so we can catch some breakfast on the way." They nod and all begin to drag out their suitcases and bags, Colby every once in a while stopping to take care of the mechanical baby. When packing was done, they made their way to a coffee shop down the road and ate a quick breakfast of scones. Colby took that time to tell them everything that Shaggy had told her.

"So all they saw was a black figure running from the scene?" Pia asked as she sipped her Pepsi in the Airport terminal. Colby nodded. "Know anything else?"

"Nope, Shaggy only had time to call me so that we could make it onto the plane. He didn't have time to tell me anything else other than what happened." An attendant walked over to them then.

"Hello, my name is Sonya and I'm going to be your attendant for the flight. I'm going to be the one who escorts you to your gate when we land and the one who'll bring you to the UM room in Ohio." The woman had a forced smile on her.

"UM?" Jaz asked. The woman rolled her eyes.

"Unaccompanied minors, kid. Look, my boss is over there, so you brats are going to behave and stay quiet. You're not going to ask anything. Remember the golden rule," She looks at them threateningly. "Children were meant to be seen and not heard." Colby hides a laugh and they follow Sonya onto the plane a few minutes later.

Seven hours pass and Fred makes his way to Coolsville International Airport. He finds parking and steps in, making his way to the correct terminal. The plane lands and people begin to flood out in a steady stream. He keeps his eyes open and a flight attendant taps him on the shoulder. "May I help you, sir?"

"Uh, yes, thanks." Fred says as he turns to face the attendant. She's beautiful with almond eyes. He falters for a moment, then remembers just how much Daphne will kill him. "I'm just here to pick up my friend Shaggy's cousins."

"Are they minors?" The woman batts her long eyelashes and Fred swallows and nods. "I'll need some identification. Follow me please." He does and she leads him to a UM room. Fred takes out his driver's license and Shaggy's as well to show to the receptionist and the girls are allowed to leave with him. He sighs with relief at getting to go home.

They pull into Daphne's parent's drive and Colby, Pia, and Jaz are led up to the second floor to the guest bedrooms. Since the fire occurred they'd all been living in Daphne's parent's mansion as a way to stay close to each other. While the girls wouldn't have minded having to share a bedroom, they'd done so for most of their lives, they were given three separate bedrooms with connecting doors. Each had it's own complete bathroom, a desk with a computer chair, a large dresser, a wardrobe, a chest at the foot of the king-sized bed, and a chandelier that hung high above them at a vaulted ceiling. Daphne walked in while Colby and Pia were sitting on the chest in front of Colby's bed talking. Jaz was still unpacking in the other room.

"Hey, sorry if it's a bit much. My parent's get a bit carried away in showing the pride of Clan Blake's wealth and the success of Daddy's business." She sat down next to the two girls. "Are you guys alright, how did the flight go over?"

"It was pretty good, but I think the more important question right now is are you alright?" Pia said as she looked at Daphne's face. It was one thing for Daphne to forget to spray her hair with hairspray, it was another entirely for her not to have styled it at all, or to forget to put any makeup on for that matter.
"Yea, I'm fine. It's just, with the fire and trying to save things from the carnage, I've just been busy lately, alright?" They nod and Daphne gives a sleepy smile. "I think I'm going to take a nap, I've been up all night going through the ashes with Fred and Shag. If you need anything you can just ask one of my sisters, Daisy, Dawn, Dorothy, or Delilah." They nod again and Daphne sets off. As soon as she is gone they look to each other. They know more is up than they can see. They know she misses Velma.

Meanwhile, a hooded figure watches in the near distance of the woods, waiting until the perfect time to strike the next match.