Never had a weekend been so unbearably long. That's what Daphne thought, at least. She and Velma sat looking at a photo Velma had taken of the little slip of paper that had been hidden in the statuette.

Saturday morning was their first breakthrough.

Velma had pointed out previously that the poem had the first letter of each line written in red.

"You think it's an anagram?" she asked Daphne.

"I'll bet it is."

The two girls sat writing different orderings of the letters: S, H, N, R, I, S.

Neither of the girls got very far with this, though. The longest word Velma could spot right away was "shins." Probably not what they were looking for. The longer they looked at it, the more they suspected they were missing something.

"I feel like we're missing a letter or something," said Daphne. "You can't make a six-letter word with these."

"Yeah," replied Velma. "If there was an E, you could get 'shrines,' but as it is now…"

"Nothing."

"Do you remember if there was anything on the back of it?"

"There wasn't."

"Okay… Then maybe… Well, maybe it's not an anagram. Maybe it's just there to throw us off."

"But then what else would the poem be for? All it says, really, is that some evil guy or thing is coming and that everybody had better watch out."

"Do you think it's literal?"

"I wouldn't think it is, but then who knows?"

Velma could see the frustration in Daphne's eyes. But that wasn't all she saw: there was excitement, the excitement of having a real mystery to solve—and not one that was easy enough to get to the bottom of in a mere sitting. No, this would take time. And effort. And Daphne was ready for whatever this mystery had in hold. So was Velma.

Sunday went by without any discoveries, so by the time Monday came around Daphne and Velma were chomping at the bit to go back to the university. Unfortunately for Daphne, Velma insisted that Potey stay home this time; he'd just have to overcome his separation anxiety.

If he even does has any separation anxiety, thought Velma.

The drive was uneventful. They arrived at the university before long. Their arrival, however, presented the first roadblock.

"Oh, no."

Velma looked over at Daphne: her eyes were wild, her jaw chattering, and her hands trembling.

"No, no, no, no, no…"

"What?" asked Velma. "What is it?"

Daphne didn't seem to have heard Velma speak at all. She was in her own personal hell, a waking nightmare. Velma looked to where Daphne's eyes were focused, and she saw the cause of her sudden terror.

Fred.

"Velma…" Daphne's voice was quiet and full of trepidation.

"I know, Daphne, I—"

"FUUUCK!" In the blink of an eye, Daphne sunk down into her seat as low as she could. Without even thinking, Velma did the same.

"What? Did he see us?"

Daphne shrugged. "But we're in the Mystery Machine, Velma—who else could he think it is?"

Shit, she's right. "Listen, I know this is out of the blue, but—"

"If you're about to say I should confront him, abso-fucking-lutely not."

"Well, Daphne, he's probably gonna confront us, don't you think?"

"But I have blackmail."

"Fake blackmail."

"Funny blackmail."

Huh, thought Velma, she's so tickled by that photo that even in her mortal terror she finds it funny. "Regardless," she said, "I'm saying that we may not have a choice."

" 'We'?"

"Well yeah—I'm in this with you. Even if he didn't break up with me, he hurt you, and I'm not okay with that."

Suddenly Daphne's expression softened as if nothing had happened. "Aww, bestie."

A knock at the door of the Mystery Machine made both of them jump.

"I yield!" cried Daphne. She had her hands up as if at gunpoint.

Velma looked up at the window. "Daphne, it's okay, it's Professor Mullenix."

"What?" She looked up as well. "Oh…" With a heavy sigh of relief, she rolled down the window. "Professor, what the fuck is the matter with you? You come up to a car with two young women in it and start knocking? What if it wasn't us, you fucking troglodyte?"

"Jesus Christ, calm down," said Mullenix, hands outstretched. "Did something happen?"

" 'Did something happen?' " Daphne mocked. "Yes! As a matter of fact, something did happen! And you might have just made it ten times worse!"

"Daphne, take it easy," said Velma. "I don't see Fred anywhere—he must've left."

"Really?" Daphne's head poked out of the window like a prairie dog out of the ground.

"Yeah, I think the coast is clear."

"Thank God."

Daphne rolled the window up and stepped out of the car. Velma turned the Mystery Machine off and did the same.

"But seriously, dude," said Daphne to Mullenix, her voice a cold, deadly whisper, "if you ever pull some shit like that again, I will fucking end you." And with that she walked away.

Mullenix stood there with his mouth open as he watched her go.

"Don't worry," said Velma. "She's just on edge."

"No shit, Sherlock. What set her off?"

"Well—"

"Wait. Was it that guy?"

"…Yeah."

"Damn… I didn't realize she was that down bad."

"She's not 'down bad,' " said Velma defensively. "That guy betrayed her trust."

"Oh yeah, she said she caught him 'doing sex' with someone else, didn't she?"

Velma nodded.

"By the way, slightly off-topic question, but why does she insist on saying 'doing sex'?"

"Beats me."

"Like, I've read her essays, she's a very good writer, so I know she knows better."

There isn't a mystery out there more inscrutable than the mystery of Daphne Blake's mind, that's for sure.

"It's just odd, isn't it? 'Doing sex'? It's like the same as 'having fuck.' "

H… "Having fuck"?

Maybe Daphne and Mullenix are a match made in heaven. Or maybe in hell.

In Mullenix's office, the girls sat opposite him at his desk. For a few minutes, Mullenix remained quite vigilant, eyes trained on the door. He didn't want another surprise visit from the monitor lizard (whose name escaped him now, although he knew it wasn't a normal name). The two girls were using a magnifying glass on the piece of paper they'd discovered inside the statuette. He'd swept up the clay shards of the statuette and put them in a Ziploc—just in case it might be needed.

"So," said Mullenix after having sat in silence for a good while, "have you two found anything?"

"Yes, but we don't know what exactly," said Daphne. "B-T-dubs, sorry for screaming at you earlier, I was really on edge."

"Ah, no, don't worry about it, I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that. Anyway, what did you find?"

"Well," said Velma, "so far, we know that the first letter of every line is in red—we mentioned that last time." Velma went on to explain that they assumed the letters could be rearranged to form a word, but after much trying, they had no such luck. "So now we're kinda stumped. Why else would every first letter in every line be written in red?"

"They've got to be significant," said Mullenix. "A fake ancient statuette buried in my garden with a secret note hidden inside? There's no way the person who made this did it accidentally."

"Plus," added Daphne, "if it was buried in your garden, it might mean whoever made it wanted you to find it, and not Electona."

"Maybe…"

Velma butted in again: "But we can't know any of that for certain until we figure out what this is trying to tell us."

"Yeah, you're right," Daphne conceded.

"You think there might be something hidden in the note?" asked Mullenix. "Something other than the words?"

"We checked the back," said Velma.

"No, not that—perhaps something invisible to the naked eye."

Velma considered this for a moment. "That's not impossible."

"Hell no, it's not," said Daphne. "You think it's a National Treasure-type deal? Do we need lemon juice?"

"Let's not go pouring lemon juice all over our only clue until we're absolutely sure we need to," said Velma.

"Fair enough."

"Would it be hidden on the back, or on the poem itself?" Velma flipped the piece of paper over. In doing so, she noticed something odd: a brief flashing on the front. "Daphne, did you see that?"

"See what?"

"Watch." Velma tilted the piece of paper again. This time she could make out what exactly was flashing: some of the letters gave off a brief flare upon direct contact with the lamplight.

"Hold it under the lamp and tilt it until you see the letters do the thing," said Daphne.

Velma did as she said. Ever so slowly, she tilted the paper until she could see the letters start to change. The very first letter of the poem, S, became semi-transparent under the light.

"S…" Velma could see Daphne working things out in her head. "So is S not the letter to use?"

"Maybe not. Does another letter light up or something? Where's the flicker of light coming from?"

"Here," said Mullenix. He pointed to the second C in "succumb" in the second line.

"Is there a word if we replace the S with a C?" asked Velma.

Daphne grabbed a pen and a piece of loose-leaf paper to write it out, but instead just moved the pen in her hand. Velma watched, fascinated. It's like she just sees the letters moving around in her head. Daphne's smart, I been knew. But exactly how smart is she?

"Chins?" said Daphne. "I still don't see any six letter word to make with these letters."

"If this was hidden, there's got to be more—let's keep looking."

Flipping the paper this way and that, and carefully examining the back of the paper, they found no other flashing or disappearing letters.

Has our luck run out?

"I have an idea," said Mullenix. He fumbled with his desk drawer, looking to pull something out.

"What?" asked Velma.

"This." Mullenix retrieved the Ziploc containing the clay shards of the statuette. "We still haven't given this a proper looking-over, even if it is broken."

Velma and Daphne nodded.

Mullenix took the shards out of the Ziploc. "So, do you think we'll need to put it back together?"

Daphne's head perked up, and her eyes widened. "Maybe not," she said. "There might be something on the inside of the shards—we only found the note after we cracked it open, so maybe there's more inside."

"Good thinking, Daphne," said Velma.

"Means a lot coming from you, queen," replied Daphne with a bright smile.

"And let's make sure we try each of them under the light, too. They might use the same trick."

So they did just that: they took each shard and examined it under the magnifying glass, then again under the desk lamp. The first few shards gave nothing; one of them, though, began to give a bit of a glimmer under the light.

"This one," said Velma. When she got a good look at it, she saw that it was only a slight curve that was lit up on the clay. "The rest of the letter must be on another shard—which one fits with it?"

Mullenix and Daphne rummaged through them until they found one with a similar fracture line; sure enough, they fit together, and the letter was complete: O.

"Okay…" said Daphne. After a few seconds: "I don't think there are any seven letter words to be made out of these, but maybe it's a proper noun, a place or a name or something."

"Do any arrangements seem like they might be?"

"Let me see…" Daphne's eyes raised up as she put the letters together in her mind's eye. "Cronish?"

"I'm on it," said Mullenix, and he typed the word into his computer. "Eh… No, not getting anything."

"Chirons?"

"As in more than one Chiron?"

"Yeah, maybe not," said Daphne, reconsidering. "What about Nisroch?"

Mullenix stopped dead in his tracks. "Say that again."

"…Nisroch?"

Mullenix looked like he was about to fall over. "That's something I've heard Electona say enough times for me to remember it."

"Any context?" asked Velma.

"Not really," he replied, "he'd just say it to himself like he was thinking of something."

"Well, if he knows what this is all about, we might need to ask him."

"What?" Mullenix seemed horrified at the idea. "Are you crazy? He stole the statuette from me! He's not gonna tell us what he's up to, and he sure as hell isn't gonna give us a clue to figuring it out."

"Professor," said Daphne, "try searching it first."

"Okay…" Mullenix did so. "A National Geographic article says it's from the Old Testament, likely a scribal error of 'Nimrud' or 'Nimrod' in the Hebrew."

"So our clue is a misprint?"

"There's gotta be something else to it," he said. "Electona said it enough times to make me think there was something up."

"If that's the case, we need to ask him."

"Noooo…" Mullenix slumped down in his rolling chair, which carried him back a foot or two.

And he said Daphne was down bad?

"Professor," said Velma, "if you're so worried about confrontation, Daphne and I can go instead."

"But—"

"Unless you've got any better ideas, that's what we're doing."

"Mmm… Fine."

Mullenix told the girls how to get to Electona's office, and they were off. They made their way to the anthropology building and followed Mullenix's directions until they found the room.

It was empty.

"Let's ask at the front desk," suggested Daphne.

So they walked back towards the entrance to the building and up to the front desk, where a woman sat fiddling with her watch.

"Excuse me, ma'am," said Velma, causing the woman to jump.

"Shit, bitch!" she said. "You scared the hell out of me."

"Uh…sorry…" Is everyone on edge today?

"What can I do for you two?" said the woman, suddenly completely professional.

"We were wondering if Professor Electona was here today."

"Ah, yes, he told me some students might show up," said the woman. "He emailed his classes late last night that he wouldn't be here today."

"Oh," said Velma. Now, how do we find out more without seeming like we're prying? "Is he sick?"

"No, he's fine. He decided he's taking a vacation."

"A vacation?"

"Yep. Pretty out of nowhere, but he has a week of vacation time he hasn't used. Said he's flying today."

"Flying?"

"Yeah…" The woman's suspicion had been aroused by now. "I don't think I can say anything else."

"That's fine," said Daphne. "Thanks for your help."

"A vacation?" Mullenix was just as confused as the girls were. "Flying?"

"Chances are he knows more than we do," said Velma. "Wherever he's headed, it might be best we stop him before he leaves."

"When's his flight? He might be gone already."

"Can't know unless we find out," said Daphne. She grabbed Mullenix's hand and yanked him up out of his chair; just like that, the three of them were racing to the Mystery Machine.

There was only one airport in Coolsville, so if Electona hadn't left yet, they might be able to catch him.

Luckily, the airport wasn't far from the university. The drive there only lasted about five minutes. Once inside the airport, the three of them started looking for Electona. Of course, Mullenix hadn't told them what Electona looked like, but the girls were used to spotting suspicious characters.

After a bit of searching, they'd turned up nothing.

"Do you think he's gone already?" said Daphne.

Mullenix looked uncomfortable. "There's something I can try…" he said hesitantly. "Follow me."

He walked to the ticket desk as the girls followed closely behind. After waiting in the line for a bit, he asked the receptionist, "Excuse me, could I just ask you something?"

"Yes, sir."

"You see, my…husband just boarded a flight, but he has my ticket—I can't reach him on my phone, and I don't wanna be late—"

"It's all right, sir, I can take a look for you." She started clicking away on her computer. "What's your husband's last name?"

"Electona."

Velma felt bad watching this whole exchange. The word "husband" looked painful as it came out of Mullenix's mouth. The stress was probably enough to give him an arrhythmia.

"Aha," said the receptionist. "Mr. Electona is boarding the flight to Iraq."

Iraq?

There's a lot we don't know here…

The receptionist told Mullenix where the gate was, and also mentioned that they'd need to hurry as the flight would be leaving in minutes.

Goddamn it.

The three of them ran through the crowded airport, pushing past plenty of disgruntled passersby. Upon reaching the gate, they found it sealed.

"We're too late…" said Velma.

Daphne stomped. "Fuck! We were so close, Velma!"

"I know."

"Maybe we can ask what airport he's going to be landing at?"

"Yeah, I can try that," said Mullenix.

But none of them moved for a moment. They all just stood there, gazing out the window at the plane as it prepared for takeoff. Velma felt the same sting Daphne did—she'd have rathered they were hours late as opposed to minutes. It felt unfair.

Before long, the plane was rolling down the runway, and then it was up in the air, rising towards the clouds. The three of them watched it silently.

"There they go. Here we stay."

Daphne looked over at Velma. "Final Destination?"

Velma nodded, a smile coming to her face.

That smile didn't last very long. Almost as soon as this exchange ended, they all heard a deafening boom. The rest of the people in the airport heard it too. Velma looked back out the window and was immediately overtaken by horror.

The plane was up in flames.

An explosion.

"Oh, my God…" said Daphne.