The Mysterious Benedict Society Meets the Mysterious Miss F

Chapter 14

Constance tried to shake off the unsettling feeling of Bex's eyes on her. But when she turned around, Bex hadn't come back. That was... strange. One second, Bex was teasing Constance with the Twiggler and successfully having the upper hand. The next, she was handing it over willingly and looking like she was about to cry. Constance didn't exactly know where to place her thoughts on the triplet. She felt guilty for reading Bex's mind... would she really want someone to be able to read her mind?

But it worked, Constance told herself, I got the Twiggler and that's what matters. I came here for one reason and one reason only. I came here to find out about my parents... I didn't come here to make friends with the Diznees.

So, holding her head high and blocking out all unneeded, annoying feelings, Constance hurried back upstairs, silently slipping past Juline as she came downstairs with Lex and Rex.

"So... how was it?" Constance asked when she saw Dex staring mopily out his window. "That bad?" She asked when Dex didn't answer her.

"She grounded me." Dex finally said. "And unlike some people, I won't have an excuse to get out of the house. Except for school."

"She grounded you for fighting with your siblings?" Constance asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not the first time." Dex said sulkingly. "Even though it's obvious that the triplets started it. I mean, it's always them."

"Even Bex?" Constance couldn't help but ask.

"Especially Bex." Dex sighed. "I swear she was the one who taught the others to be crazy."

Constance snorted at that. "Yeah, definitely don't want to be on her bad side again... but on the plus side, I got this back." She opened her hand and held out the Twiggler. Dex's quick smile soon vanished when he saw the state it was in.

"It's damaged." Said Dex, going back to sulking and laying out on his bed. "But thanks anyways. How did you get it away from Bex?"

"That's none of your business." Constance said mockingly. But after a second she added, "I persuaded her."

"Huh." Dex grunted from his bed.

"What?" Constance asked impatiently, sick of Dex's mood.

"Thought you had tackled her again or something."

"I didn't tackle her!" Constance retorted, "She attacked me!"

"Just be glad my mother didn't see." Dex sighed, "or she'd somehow find a way to ground you too. Speaking of which, who exactly are you living with now that you're attending Foxfire?"

"Oh, well on the weekends I'm going to go back to my dad. Adopted dad." She added, "And on the weekdays I'm supposed to go to... uh let me see the name." She dug through her school bag until she found the slip of paper with the information. "It says here I'm to go to the... Vackers on the weekdays. Any idea who they are?" Constance inquired.

"Oh yeah, everyone knows who the Vackers are." Dex said, finally sitting up. He was looking at Constance curiously. "Do they even know you're here?"

"Oh, shoot." Constance mumbled. "Well, I guess I have to go." She started towards the door. "What about Joseph Contraire though? We're going to need to keep investigating."

"Definitely." Dex agreed. "But the Twiggler's damaged and I'm grounded. Did you say Marella is in on this? Maybe she can help you until I can. I'll be working on fixing this until I'm allowed to leave the house again. Or unless you've found further information; come tell me if you do."