A/N: DataAndrd here... I'm back with Chapter 4 :) Hope everyone has been enjoying our story so far... and congrats to my co-author Miss V for an awesome job on last chapter :)
CHAPTER FOUR
After Vicky left, the gang decided to call it a night. Oliver and Jackson were sharing a room with Robbie Ray, while Miley and Lilly had a room of their own. The moment the boys closed the door behind them, Lilly bounded over to the bed and plopped down beside Miley.
"So, what do you want to do now?" she asked excitedly. Miley looked at her like she'd lost her mind.
"Lilly! It's late and I'm tired! All I want to do is go to bed!" Lilly stuck her tongue out.
"You're no fun," she pouted. "Come on, there must be something fun we can do!" Miley laughed and shook her head.
"I'm not gonna win this one, am I?" she quipped. Lilly grinned and shook her head.
"Nope; you're gonna have fun if I have to make you, Miley Stewart!" She ran her hand along Miley's side, finding her ribs and tickling her.
"Havin' fun yet? Huh, are you?!" Lilly teased her, continuing to tickle Miley until she was thrashing about and howling with laughter.
"Lilly, s-stop!" Miley begged her, kicking and laughing. "P-please!" Grinning, Lilly finally did as she was asked and laid down beside Miley.
"Now that was fun!" Lilly said saucily.
"You're crazy, Truscott, you know that?" Miley laughed weakly. Lilly shrugged.
"You know you love me," she quipped, still smiling. She rested her head on Miley's shoulder and draped an arm across her waist. For a brief moment, Miley felt a flash of warmth as Lilly snuggled against her, and she swallowed.
Why… why does it feel so nice to have Lilly lying beside me like this? Miley thought nervously to herself.
"You okay, Miles?" Lilly asked curiously, noticing her best friend's sudden silence.
"Fine and dandy!" Miley chirruped. She only hoped Lilly couldn't feel her heart suddenly hammering in her chest.
"Good," Lilly replied, smiling. "I was starting to think I'd worn you out already!" Miley laughed.
"Not even, Truscott," she retorted playfully.
"You think your friend Vicky will be able to help us?" Lilly asked, changing to a more serious subject.
"If anyone can, she can," Miley answered. She looked over at Lilly, and without truly thinking, reached over and brushed a stray hair away from her best friend's face. "It's gonna be okay Lils, I promise."
"I'll hold you to that," Lilly quipped. "I'm just glad I have my best friend here to help me."
"Always," Miley whispered. "I'll always be here for you, Lilly."
Meanwhile, outside the hotel, Vicky was waiting for a cab. One finally pulled up nearby and she began walking towards it. Suddenly, a dark-gloved hand clamped itself over her mouth and pulled her into the shadows. Vicky struggled mightily against her unseen assailant, but it was no use.
"Quiet, tifla," Ugo hissed. "Stop struggling and I promise I won't hurt you. I only want to talk to you." He leaned in close and whispered into her ear.
"I saw you talking to the de Piro girl and her little friends earlier - what did you say to them?" he asked, his voice low and menacing.
"Nothing!" Vicky managed. "Who are you, anyway?!" Ugo ignored the question.
"I don't believe you," he growled. "You're going to have to do better than that!" He tightened his grip, squeezing her painfully.
"Did you offer to help them?!" Ugo snapped. Vicky responded by stomping on his exposed foot as hard as she could. Ugo cried out and instantly released her. Vicky took off running as fast as she could, and soon was lost in the distance. Ugo, still nursing his injured foot, could do nothing but watch.
"Maximilian isn't going to like this…"
"You did what?!" Maximilian roared at Ugo. True to his hapless henchman's fears, the Frenchman was most definitely not happy… not at all. He had been in the middle of dinner with Melita, and was not at all pleased with the sudden interruption. He tossed his napkin angrily aside.
"Please, boss, let me explain…!" Maximilian simply held up his hand.
"Did the girl tell you anything useful?" he asked instead. "Anything at all?" Ugo shook his head. Maximilian sighed.
"Never mind; you said she works at the bookshop on Republic Street?" he asked. Ugo nodded. "Then we may yet be able to turn things to our advantage. "
"How?" Ugo asked, puzzled. Secretly though, he was grateful Maximilian wasn't simply tearing him apart for letting the girl escape.
"We can use that information to arrange a small surprise for them tomorrow," Maximilian explained patiently. He smiled. "Once we have his precious heir, Nicholas de Piro will gladly trade us all the treasures of Malta for her safe return!" Maximilian stood and walked over to where Ugo stood.
"However… you are beginning to outlive your usefulness to me, Ugo. I cannot abide failure." Ugo began to sweat profusely.
"I won't fail you again, padrun… I swear!" Ugo stammered, suddenly terrified.
"No, Ugo, you won't," Maximilian replied, a dangerous edge to his voice, "or I will send you to meet your accursed ancestors!"
The following day, Miley, Lilly, Oliver and Jackson met outside the Queen Victoria, where a friend of Vicky's was supposed to take them to the bookstore, and they hoped, some answers. After a few minutes, a cab approached, pulled by a stunning white horse. The cabbie tipped his hat towards them.
"Vicky sent me to collect you," he said in a quiet voice. "I'm supposed to take you to the bookstore on Republic Street." He had short, dark brown hair and piercing brown eyes. He was also fairly short, and slightly pudgy.
"Didn't Vicky say she was going to have a friend of hers meet us?" Lilly whispered to Miley. Miley nodded carefully.
"You're a friend of hers?" she asked the cabbie. The young man seemed unsure how to answer for a moment.
"An acquaintance," he said after a moment. He gestured towards his cab. "Come on… we mustn't keep her waiting." Something about the whole situation sent a shiver up Miley's spine, and she reached nervously into her purse.
"Hang on," she said, bringing her cell phone to her ear. "Let me just make sure Vicky's expecting us…" In truth, she planned to call Vicky to confirm her suspicions about the mysterious cabby. She never got the chance.
"Put the phone away, little lady," the cabbie hissed. He reached into the pocket of his long jacket and something inside it suddenly bulged out towards the four teenagers. "I have a gun. Now get into the cab!" he growled under his breath.
"M-Miley?" Lilly stammered, clinging to her best friend in terror. At that moment, Miley's cell phone rang loudly.
"Here, it's for you!" Miley shouted, hurling her phone at their would-be abductor. It struck him in the face and he flailed about in confused panic for a moment. Miley, Lilly and the others took the opportunity to run back into the hotel lobby as fast as they could, Jackson and Oliver pushing the girls ahead of them.
"Sweet niblets!" Miley gasped.
"Oh my god, oh my god!" Lilly panted. "That guy was seriously trying to kidnap us!!" Miley pulled her trembling best friend to her, hugging her gently in an attempt to calm her down.
"It's gonna be all right, Lils," she whispered soothingly. "I won't let anything happen to you." Lilly looked up at her, momentarily stunned by Miley's words. Instead of saying something though, she just closed her eyes and leaned into Miley's embrace.
"Thanks, Miles. I love you."
"Love you too, Lils."
"We gotta tell dad!" Jackson exclaimed.
"You really think he's gonna believe all this?" Oliver questioned him.
"Of course he will!" Jackson argued. "He's our dad, we're his children, he knows we wouldn't lie to him!"
"Oliver's right, Jackson," Miley said. "Dad's gonna think we're crazy; vanishing priests giving us priceless silver earrings and a cabbie with a gun in his pocket trying to kidnap us in broad daylight? It sounds like something out of a bad spy movie!"
"All right, so what do you suggest we do, Miss Smarty Pants?" Jackson retorted. Miley paused to think about it for a moment.
"We gotta find Vicky," she said after a moment. "She's the only one who can tell us what's going on. Once we've got some kind of proof, then we can go to dad." Jackson made a face.
"I don't believe I'm agreeing with you," he muttered. Miley smiled a little.
"Yeah, what are the odds?" she joked.
"3,720 to 1," Lilly and Oliver quipped simultaneously. Everyone burst into laughter.
"Have I told you guys lately how much I love you?" Miley managed between giggles.
"You can always tell us again," Oliver told her. "Some of us thrive on such compliments!"
"All right, enough of the mushy stuff," Jackson interrupted. "I'm tryin' to keep my breakfast down here! Miles, can you call your friend?"
"That might be a little difficult, since my phone was heading for that guy's head the last time I saw it," Miley muttered.
"Is he still out there?" Lilly asked uncertainly.
"Hang on, I'll check," Oliver replied.
"Be careful!" Lilly pleaded with him. Oliver crept over to the lobby doors and peered out at the street beyond. There was so sign of the fake cabbie.
"Looks like he's gone," Oliver announced to the others. "I do see your phone though, Miley; it's still lying on the ground out there." He darted outside, grabbed the discarded cell phone, and quickly returned to the others with it.
"Here you go," he said, offering it to Miley.
"Thanks, Ollie," Miley told him. She flipped her phone open and immediately dialed Vicky's number.
A while later, the four teenagers finally arrived safe and sound at the Agenda Bookshop on Republic Street, where Vicky was waiting for them. After hearing of their close call earlier that morning, and sharing the details of her own encounter the night before, Miley's Maltese friend arranged for another friend of hers to meet them all in the lobby of their hotel and drive them safely to the bookstore.
"Glad you made it," Vicky greeted Miley with a smile. "Are you all okay?" Miley nodded.
"We're fine, Vicky," she answered. "Just had the daylights scared out of us! So you gonna finally tell us what the heck's goin' on around here?"
"I'll certainly try," Vicky responded. "Come into the back of the store with me." Miley, Lilly, Oliver and Jackson followed Vicky as she had instructed, as she led them into a small room mostly taken up by a table and chairs. Various books and tomes were scattered about, along with a pad of paper, where someone had apparently been taking notes. Vicky gestured for everyone to have a seat, then she sat and faced them. She brought the notebook out and flipped through some papers before finally arriving to her desired page.
"All right, so here goes… Lilly, those earrings the priest gave you aren't just valuable jewelry."
"I kinda figured that out," Lilly muttered. "What in the world would make them worth trying to kidnap us all for?" Vicky took a deep breath.
"They're sacred, Lilly… and very, very old."
"Sacred?" Lilly repeated, not understanding. Vicky nodded.
"Yes. The silver blessed earrings were worn for years by the first daughter of the de Piro family on her wedding day. They're considered one of Malta's most sacred and important historical treasures!" Lilly swallowed.
"That's not the first time we've heard the name 'de Piro'," Jackson spoke up. "Who are they, Vicky?" Vicky looked at him with an amused smile.
"The de Piro family and their descendants are the noblest people of our country," she replied. "Nicholas de Piro is the ninth and present Marquis de Piro." Vicky reached for a rather small book and showed them the de Piro family arms. "They're crowned Rulers of Two Sicilies and Paris, France."
"Then these earrings belong to the de Piro family," Lilly reasoned. "So how did that priest get them? And why did he give them to me?!"
"I'm not sure," Vicky admitted. "I think someone is trying to steal the earrings – someone who wants them bad enough to attack me and try to kidnap you – but why I don't know."
"Well, you said they're valuable," Oliver suggested.
"Yes, but it's not like they could just take the earrings and sell them someplace," Vicky responded. "They'd be too easily recognized. I think whoever is trying to steal the earrings wants them for another reason."
"Like what?" Miley asked her.
"Maybe he knows how much they mean to Malta and her people," Vicky suggested.
"Wait a minute," Lilly said, holding up her hand. "The priest who gave the earrings to me, he said something about me 'wearing the face of the de Piro family'. What the heck does that mean?" Vicky paled slightly.
"He said that?" she asked Lilly. "Those were his exact words?" Lilly nodded.
"Yup; why?"
"Vicky, is something wrong?" Miley stepped in, noticing her Maltese friend's sudden pallor. Vicky licked her suddenly dry lips.
"I'm not sure," she said haltingly. "It could be nothing…" Miley stood up and walked over to Vicky. Standing beside her friend, Miley laid a comforting hand on Vicky's shoulder.
"If you know something Vicky, please tell us. I promise we won't be mad at you or anything." Vicky swallowed.
"Thanks, Miley; you're a good friend. I'm sorry if I worried you, but… I think I might know what the priest meant." The others looked at her expectantly.
"It sounds like they think Lilly's a member of the de Piro family… and the rightful owner of the earrings."