Thank you all for your condolences. I appreciate them more than you know.
This chapter is extra short, and I am sorry to have to leave you with that, but it's going to kick off an explosion of action. In just a few chapters, you will find out who A is! Enjoy, and I'll see you all in a few days!
While Aria was in the bathroom, the other girls tried to make small talk over their beers, but a familiar mane of long brown hair stalking up to the table interrupted them.
"Got a second?" Caleb said through gritted teeth. He was talking to Spencer, but Hanna jumped at the chance to speak freely to Caleb.
"Do you have a second?" she said angrily, standing up and walking over to him. "I know you're investigating."
"Dammit, Aria," Caleb muttered, but Hanna hit him so hard that his attention was soon fully on her.
"OW!" he said in shock, as well as a little pain. "Hanna!"
"Why are you butting into this?" she just about screamed. "We can handle it on our own!"
"Yeah, clearly you can since it's been five months and you all have gotten nowhere!"
"Are you downgrading us?" Hanna said threateningly.
"I'm trying to help you, Hanna," Caleb said, his tone softer now. Maybe if he cut out the bad boy act - no matter how attractive he knew she always found it - he could get through to her. "And in order to do that, I need to talk to Spencer."
At this, Spencer had to jump in. "Whatever you have to say to me, you have to say to the rest of the girls. So spill it."
Caleb looked conflicted, but he finally sighed. "Fine. I saw Toby today. We had a nice chat."
Spencer crossed her arms uneasily. "Toby and I are broken up. He doesn't have anything to do with me anymore."
"He does if he's trying to break into the Ravenclaw dorm!" Caleb snapped.
Now Emily was standing up. Toby was her friend just as much, and she didn't want him getting into trouble. "He did what?!"
"What's going on?" Aria asked, now entering the scene.
Caleb whipped around, and marched toward her. "You promised not to tell!"
"I didn't promise anything!" she argued. "And besides, you're not the only rebel in this group. Toby and Ezra are snooping around as well, and it's not long before Paige gets in on the action, too!"
"Well, I gathered that about Toby," Caleb said, and then he faced all the girls at once. "He came up to me, asking for the password to the Ravenclaw dorm."
"Did you give it to him?" Emily asked.
"No!" he said defensively, but after a few expectant stares, he gave up. "That is, not until after I made him give me 20 sickles."
"You little sh - "
"Spencer," Hanna said sternly, shooting a glare at Spencer before she could finish that phrase, until she finally relaxed; or at least as much as Spencer could relax. Then she turned to Caleb. "Well, what did he want?"
"He didn't say," Caleb said honestly. "There's gotta be something in there that he wants, though."
Suddenly, Aria stumbled backward, feeling around for the bench and sitting down on it. "I think I know what he's looking for."
"You do?" Spencer immediately dropped to the ground and got right in Aria's face. "What? What is he looking for, Aria?"
Aria put a hand to her head. She looked like she was going to be sick. "Emily, you said Ezra and Toby had a huge pile of books, right?"
"Yeah…" Emily furrowed her brow in confusion, as well as concern. "Why?"
"Aria, are you okay?" Hanna asked, but Aria didn't respond. Her face went from a fair peach color to a sickly pale. Something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.
"Guys, I know what the 'A' means," she said weakly, and each of the girls' ears perked up.
Aria lowered her head. "Last night, Caleb and I figured out that if the 'A' was broken apart…"
"It could be rearranged into three letters," Caleb filled in, understanding what she was referring to. "T, D, and L."
"But that's not all," Aria croaked, and Caleb turned to her, confused.
"There's more?"
"Y-yes," she stuttered, her hands shaking. "T.D.L…. stands for 'The Dark Lord'."
Everyone froze, the hair on his or her arms standing straight up. "What are you saying?" Spencer asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I've thought about it for a while," Aria continued, "and I think it means that whoever opened the Chamber…"
"Are you saying You-Know-Who is back?" Hanna asked, her blue eyes wider than dinner plates.
Aria shook her head. "He's gone, I'm sure of it. But… what if someone is taking his place?"
"Who?"
Before Aria could answer Emily's question – she could hardly get her words out anymore, anyway – Spencer filled in. "The Heir of Slytherin."
Aria slowly nodded her head, and now it was Spencer's turn to sit down. She had had her suspicions for a while that she was the one to open the Chamber, but was she really the next Dark Lord as well?
"Aria, that doesn't answer what Toby is looking for in the Tower," Caleb pried on. "Is it the fang?"
"It could be the fang," Aria said half-convincingly, but the way she said it clarified that this wasn't the answer. "Or…"
"Or what?"
Aria shook her head as she stood up, suddenly determined. "We need to stop Toby. We need to go back to the dorm and get back what he's looking for."
"Aria – "
"Now," she said sternly, turning back to the other four, before walking ahead. The girls, and Caleb, were confused, but they followed her back to the castle.
