Chapter Text
The next day, the guardians arrive at school.
“Hay Lin, did you ask your grandma about that thing?” Cornelia asks.
“Yeah, she said they’ll grow back, but it’ll take at least a few weeks,”
“Great,” groans Cornelia.
Alchemy approaches them.
“Hey Cornelia, have you seen Elyon?”
The guardians all look at eachother.
“She told me she went on vacation,” Cornelia says.
Alchemy looks let down by the info. She walks off.
“Speaking of which, how are we gonna explain the disappearance of her entire family?” Asks Will.
“There have been lots of mysterious disappearances through portals lately. The police will investigate, they won’t find any evidence, and it’ll just be another one of those,” says Irma.
Cornelia crosses her arms and looks away, disheartened.
“You’re saying it like that’s normal,” says Will.
“Honestly, at this point it kinda is,” adds Hay Lin.
“Actually, there haven't been any disappearances in months thanks to us,” says Taranee.
“Hey, Corny, did you hear that?! We’re not just helping Metamoor, we’re helping Earth too!” Says Irma.
“Yeah, we should be proud of that, try and take your mind off Elyon and all,” says Hay Lin.
Cornelia doesn’t respond.
After school, the guardians are walking to Ye Olde Bookshop with Yan Lin.
“I’m really sorry about Cassidy,” Taranee says to Yan Lin.
“I appreciate it. I feel like I should be more hurt by her loss than I am, but I just can’t help but feel that, really, nothing’s changed”
“But now she’s gone for real,” says Hay Lin softly.
“What we thought was real once was as real then as anything else”
There’s a few minutes of silence with nothing but the sound of their feet crunching against the snow.
“What are the chances that the princess of Metamoor is friends with the Guardians of the Veil?” Realizes Taranee.
“Pretty high actually,” says Yan Lin, “the Oracle arranges these things to benefit the greater good based on his visions of the future. That is why he chose Cassidy to be a guardian. I am almost certain his plan was that you all would protect her, but as you know, things don’t always go according to plan”
“How can you be so sure?” Asks Cornelia.
“The chances of this happening by coincidence are astronomically low,” says Taranee.
They arrive infront of the bookstore.
“I haven't been here in a long time,” says Yan Lin, “Cedric used this place to spy on me and the other guardians. Had you told me about it sooner, I would’ve known right away”
Cornelia looks at the ground, “I stumbled in here and met Cedric long before any of this stuff with Elyon even started. I wish I told you! I knew this place was suspicious!”
“You mustn’t dwell on what could have been, nor should you dwell on what is. Only strive to change what will be,” Yan Lin says before entering the shop after Cornelia unlocks the door.
“So what are we doing here exactly?” Asks Will.
“Finding whatever Cedric left behind. It could be useful”
They begin wandering the shop.
“You know, maybe we could start meeting here instead of in that alley?” Suggests Cornelia.
“I’m definitely gonna be spending alot of time here anyway,” says Taranee, “like, look at all these books! Just imagine how much there is to know about Metamoor in here!”
“This is only a tiny fraction of what Phobos keeps in his personal library,” says Yan Lin.
“With all those books you’d think he’d be teaching evil by now,” comments Irma.
“Anyway, I think that’s a great idea, Cornelia,” Taranee says.
Everyone agrees.
Will decides to look in the office. She finds lots of stuff in there, but one thing in particular is of interest: A book right on the desk. Whatever it is, it must be important. She looks at the cover. It’s in Chinese.
“Hay Lin, could you come in here?” Will calls. Hay Lin comes running.
“Yeah!”
“What’s this?”
“Hmm. I wonder what it says?”
“Wait, you don’t speak Chinese?”
“Why would you think I speak Chinese?”
“No reason”
“But hey, you know who does speak Chinese though?!...”
Yan Lin is searching around and pulling out books by the spine.
“No, that’s not it either,” she mutters as she pushes another one back in line with the others. Hay Lin runs up to her.
“Grandma… wait, are you looking for a secret switch or something?”
“No,” says Yan Lin with a chuckle.
“That would be a really stupid place to hide a secret switch,” Taranee says, “Like, why make it something people are going to pull out? Why not make it something noone’s ever gonna touch? Like, I dunno, a sconce or something?”
“What she said,” adds Yan Lin.
“Anyway, grandma, do you know what this says?” Asks Hay Lin, showing her the book.
“Hmm, let me see that… oh, I wonder what it says?”
“But I thought you spoke Chinese?”
“That doesn’t mean I speak Japanese”
“Oh, it’s Japanese? Of course! I knew that!”
“Hang on, did you say it was Japanese?” Says Taranee as she walks over. Yan Lin lets her peer over her shoulder at the cover.
“Master Daikuchi’s Complete Guide on Crafting Sushi From Exotic Meats,” Taranee reads.
“I wonder why Cedric has that?” Says Hay Lin.
“I don’t,” adds Taranee.
Yan Lin says, “Funny thing though, that happens to be exactly the book I was looking for! No wonder I couldn’t find it!”
“Hey, guys, you should come look at this,” calls Will from the office. They all stand around the door to the small room.
“Remember how there were a bunch of documents missing from City Hall?” She asks, “well, I think I found them,” she says, looking through one of the many stacks of paper all over the room.
“How are we gonna return them without looking suspicious?” Asks Cornelia.
“Maybe we could sneak them into the city hall of another city and then it’ll look like they got misplaced?” Proposes Will.
“That should work. They probably won’t check for DNA that way,” says Yan Lin.
“Whattaya guys think?” Asks Will. Everyone agrees.
“Well then, I think we know what we’re doing tonight”
Epilogue
That night, agents Richmond and Hamilton climb through the window of the Brown family’s former residence. They normally don’t investigate these disappearances (they know exactly what causes them anyway).
This one though is very suspicious. Not just one person had disappeared, but an entire family, and after no disappearances for months too. Not only that, but this wasn’t just any family.
They turn on their flashlights and begin searching the house. They split up and go room by room.
As he searches the former room of Elyon Brown, Richmond notices a photo pinned to the wall. He takes it off and looks at it closely. It’s the photo of the girls from Halloween.
“Hamilton, come see this,” he calls. She enters the room and looks over his shoulder.
“This is only confirmation of what we had already suspected,” she says.
“No, that’s not why I called you. We need to find this one here, she could help us,” he says, pointing to Alchemy.