UNCOVERING
"I brought sandwiches for the three of us"
As the afternoon began, Lucy placed the open box of refreshments in front of Frieda and Patty at the former's house, having arrived earlier.
"These look delicious" Frieda took a honey one, "What's the occasion?"
"To celebrate how well our idea's gone", Lucy responded, "I have to admit, Linus and I actually found some more things we both relate to. And our bonding is getting better"
"You think he ever found out it was you Lucy" Patty wondered out loud, "You two were close once, weren't you?"
"My little brother's usually trusting" Lucy retorted, "So I think I'm in the clear"
But as the two of them had been discussing this, Frieda was looking out the window.
"Then why's he coming to the door right now?"
"Oh great!"
Lucy, before she even glimpsed Linus arriving, donned her disguise. From outside, Linus was looking stressed and feeling red-faced as he came to the door.
"Hello Frieda" he quickly said when the door opened, "Can I please come in?"
Frieda nodded, and Linus spared a look at Lucy, who's identity was still kept from him. He wanted to ask her why she was here, but he had introduced Frieda to her himself, as she must've gone somewhere after seeing him.
"Is everything okay, pal" she asked as they got to the lounge room. Linus only briefly greeted Patty, who noticed how he looked.
"I'm not okay" he moaned, "Rerun hasn't been home for ages. I've asked around and I've heard nothing, except this letter"
And the letter Rerun had read earlier was placed in front of them. The girls picked it up.
"You know that this letter isn't Roy's, don't you?…" Patty looked to the younger boy.
"Yes. Roy would've approached me in person" Linus replied, and Patty frowned.
"…this handwriting. It has to be Violet's"
"Violet's" Linus slapped a hand on his head, "Oh no"
"Did you think she'd become something worse than snobbish" Lucy let her own concerns show, "If he went to her's"
"Then he's probably still stuck there" Linus nodded, removing his hand from his face.
He sat in thought, as he watched his companion quickly say goodbye to Frieda and Patty.
"Wait, are you going?"
"I'm going straight to the Gray residence" she explained while leaving, "and I'm guessing you'll tag along"
Linus snuck a look at the others, "I think we should find some more help, besides us two"
"Who Linus. For starters, your best friend Charlie Brown won't know how to handle this, maybe not even the other Patty" Lucy called back, "And I haven't seen the people equipped for this in ages"
Linus nodded, he himself had seen many who could've handled this depart the town. So as Frieda and Patty wished him good luck, he began going after her.
The Gray residence looked empty on the outside, as Linus came through a porch to where his sister prowled aside the front door.
"We came straight out here. That's the easy part. Now, this will need some strategy"
He poked around a bit as she pointed to the front door.
"…Wait. Go straight in the front door uninvited"
Linus then turned to her, "We don't even know that they have Rerun. And we could be found"
"Hey" she patted him on the shoulder, "You'd rather not risk it. Because I'm certain your brother's in there Linus"
Linus knew he'd feel bad if that'd turned out to be the case. And he wasn't risking his remaining sibling relationship.
"Let's find Rerun" he slipped inside, "but after that, go straight back out".
Upon entry, the first room the duo checked was a beauty room. It was empty.
"If you weren't wearing goggles or masks, this'd be good for you" Linus joked.
"Ha ha ha" she groaned, looking herself. She knew this house better than he did, but Linus didn't see that.
"Violet has a hot tub" he whispered back to her from his next search.
"Is Rerun in it?"
Linus raised his eyebrows, "That's a trick question"
They stared at each other, and moved along.
"Next floor up" Lucy guessed.
"Yes, but quietly" Linus said, and walked up to the next search. Lucy walked up ahead of him, peering over her shoulder.
"Do you see them"
Violet peered around from a fair distance, where the Van Pelts couldn't see or hear.
"Yeah" Thibault whispered, "the rascals showed up to find the little boy"
"This trick your pulling better be worth it"
"Let me work my stunt out, and it will be" Thibault said, and he left Violet standing there.
"Do you here that" Linus ran to get his sister, "that knocking sound"
"No"
"That door there" he pointed at a door on the far right, "there it is again"
"I thought you were hearing things, but that's something"
Linus was nearly sprinting to the door.
"Hey. Who's there" a young boy said, and they recognised the voice as Rerun's.
"It's me, little brother", Linus fiddled with the lock for a bit, then twisted the handle and it came open.
"Just like I said. Work smarter, not harder", he glanced, hoping Lucy would not question how he knew how to pick locks.
"Good for you" Lucy shrugged it off, but Linus hadn't listened. Once the door was pushed open, he was going into the room to embrace his brother.
"Linus" Rerun said, "Am I glad to see you".
"Rerun. I'm here…as in, here to get you home" he responded, as he helped Rerun up and out of the room "Why'd you get yourself caught up here?"
"I…I…may've read your mail"
Rerun replied to him sheepishly, and Linus felt a bit exhastrebrated.
"…Hey, how'd you find me"
"Lucky guess" Lucy frowned, glancing backwards.
But when Rerun saw her, his relieved attitude immediately changed.
Linus finished hugging him, "Okay you guys, I'm going to find our way out, so just follow behind me"
They barely listened to Linus as he went out of earshot. Instead, Lucy was turned back to Rerun to check in on him herself.
"Rerun. I'm glad you're okay too…"
But Rerun interrupted her, seeming desperate to tell her something
"While I was here, Violet and her companions didn't do much. Except making sure I answered thier one question, and it was…"
Rerun looked terrible, and Lucy began to worry, "Rerun, what was it"
He took a deep breath.
"Violet knows it's you Lucy. Under the disguise, she knows who you are now"
"Okay Violet could have….SHE KNOWS WHAT"
A/N: Yep, the secret just got out. And they'll be major consequences in the next chapter.
And thanks to everyone giving kudos and supporting the story.