Sinatus

✨Chapter Twenty-Eight✨

When they made it to the house where Holt supposedly lived, they stopped a couple feet away from the house. It wasn't too big, but the walls were a plain, stony grey, and the door was a huge hunk of dark wood. 

"Is he home?" Ben asked.

"I dunno." Archie said. 

"Three of us should knock on the door and distract him, if he's home." Ivy said. "Then the rest of us will go inside and find the paper."

"Fun, I'm so in for knocking on the door." Ben grinned. 

It was decided that Ben, Kaia, and Dalton would distract Holt, while Lily, Archie, and Ivy went inside to find the paper. Lily went around the house a bit with Archie and Ivy while the others knocked loudly on the door. From around the corner to the house, Lily heard the door open. 

"Good day," she heard Holt's voice. 

"Hello, sir!" Dalton's voice panicky. "Sir, I'm afraid we need your help! See, we were playing in the woods with our friends, and one of them got hurt! Your house is the closets we could find. Please help us, sir!" 

Ben and Kaia chimed in, begging him to help their poor friend in the woods.

"Right, I'm coming." Holt said. "Just show me where to go, c'mon, hurry up now." 

Lily, Archie, and Ivy waited until their footsteps receded until rushing towards the door. 

Ivy jiggled the doorknob violently. "Dammit, he locked it."

"No surprise there," Lily muttered. "Get out of the way." 

Ivy frowned but obeyed. Lily kicked hard at the door near the handle until there was a loud crash  and the door flew open. Lily straightened and wiped her palms on her pants. "Oops." 

Once inside, they split up. Ivy and Archie were both wearing gloves, and Lily had received explicit instructions not to touch anything. She picked her way carefully through the kitchen, looking under tables and chairs and wherever she could without touching anything. She'd just stepped reluctantly into the bathroom when she heard Archie's surprised and excited yell. 

"Hey!" he called. "I found it!" 

Lily turned around and rushed towards his voice. He was in some sort of office, holding up a scrap of paper triumphantly. "Great!!" 

Ivy appeared behind her. "Let's get out of here before someone realizes Lily broke the door down!"

"Good idea." Lily agreed, and the three of them rushed outside. 

"What now?" Archie wondered.

"I say we go find Eliphas right away." Lily suggested.

"I agree." Ivy said. "We should go to the Meeting Room. You know, the one where you had to make the potion, I'm assuming?"

Lily remembered the large stone room in which she'd attempted (and failed) the first challenge. She nodded. "Yeah, okay." 

They headed out of the house and ran through the streets, dodging annoyed wizards, children, wagons, and crates. They stumbled into a meeting room and Lily sucked in a breath. 

Eliphas, Deianira, Alethea, Gwydion, Cassiopeia and Aella were all seated around a table at the far end of the room. They all looked up when Lily and her friends burst into the room. There was a split second of silence before Aella cocked her head to the side.

"Oh, look," she said, sounding mildly surprised. "The Archibald boy escaped." 

Eliphas got to his feet. "What is the meaning of this?!" he bellowed. Lily stepped forward. 

"Sir, Archie is innocent. We know who's really guilty. We may have proof."

"You may?" Deianira asked, getting to her feet. The others followed suit. 

"Deianira, let them speak." Alethea said harshly. 

Eliphas grit his teeth. "Very well." 

Lily cleared her throat. "Holt is responsible for messing with the challenges." 

"Holt is far your superior, show some respect!" Gwydion snapped. 

"How dare you make such an offense!" Eliphas roared, moving forward.

"Eliphas!" Alethea grabbed his arm. 

"Let her explain herself." Cassiopeia said calmly. Lily stepped to the side, grabbing Archie's arm. 

"Holt showed him a--"

"What is going on?" demanded Holt, barging into the room, followed by Kaia, Ben, and Dalton. 

"Alright!" Eliphas slammed his fist on the table. "Everybody, quiet!" 

Everybody went silent and looked towards him. "You all," he motioned at the wizards around him, "stay at the table. Children, stay by the door. Archibald and Holt, stand in the middle of the room."

Lily shuffled back a couple steps so she was standing by the door between Kaia and Ivy. The wizards stood around the table and Archie and Holt stood awkwardly in the center of the room. 

"Holt, stay silent." Eliphas demanded. "Archibald, speak." 

Archie looked straight at Eliphas. "Right after you threw me in prison, Holt came to see me. He showed me this," Archie held up the paper, "so proving that he was guilty of messing with the Testamenti. My friends, here, broke me out of prison so I could be proven innocent. We found the paper in Holt's home and hope you can you use it to prove that Holt is guilty." 

"Hold up the paper." Eliphas said. 

"Come closer." Deianira added. Archie took a few steps closer to their table, holding up the paper. Holt looked enraged and like he desperately wanted to say something, but he remained silent. 

Alethea looked up after she read the paper. "You did this? You messed with the Testamenti then broke into Archibald's home and hid evidence so the blame would fall on him?" 

"No!" Holt yelled, enraged. "How can you believe him?! A mere child, over--"

"SILENCE!" Eliphas glared at him. He held out his hand. Silver coils shot out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around Holt's wrists and ankles. He fell sideways to the floor. Eliphas turned to Lily and the others by the door. "Stay here." 

The wizards took the paper from Archie and shuffled through a tiny door behind the table into an adjacent room. While Ivy ran to press her ear against the door, Lily and the others ran to Archie. 

"They have to believe us!" Kaia said frantically.

"They're doing all kinds of spells on the paper." Ivy informed them. "I don't see how they won't be able to believe us." 

Lily bounced up and down on the balls of her feet in anticipation. 

After a while, the door swung open and Ivy stepped back. Eliphas and the other wizards stepped outside. 

"Holt, you are indeed guilty!" Eliphas announced. "Archibald, you have our sincerest apologies. We see you are innocent. Deianira, escort Holt to prison, please."

Holt screamed in outrage.