If You Trust Me - An Onward Fan-Novel

◊ Chapter 19 ◊

Previously on Onward...

A defeated Ian returns home, and finds Barley there waiting for him. He regretfully tells his brother what happened to the S.S. Medallion, ultimately breaking down in tears expecting the older elf not to forgive him. But Barley—happy and relieved that Ian is safe and realized the error of his ways—comes to support him, and the brothers reconcile.

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◊ A New Clue ◊

Ian was given twenty-four hours to rest up and recover at home before he was eventually called down to the New Mushroomton Police Station for questioning. The young wizard had already figured the moment he was in the same room as a criminal like Gedeon that Officer Colt Bronco and the other cops would want his perspective on the whole incident sooner or later, especially since he couldn't help but keep blaming himself for it.

Nevertheless, the younger Lightfoot told the authorities the exact same story that he'd told his friends, Principal Pipplemell, and his family. Though unlike the following who had listened to his account of what happened, the officers did bat their eye at Ian for having a purloined jewel in his possession—even though in all fairness, the teenage elf didn't even know that it was a stolen jewel in the first place. When he recalled first reading the "stolen jewel" part on the wanted poster the other day, all he figured was that the police meant a diamond or something—not a magical medallion! Even so, Ian remembered the very poster that he had crumpled up into a ball and saved yesterday. First thing that morning, he smoothed it out and decided to draw out a more detailed sketch of the rogue he'd faced and gave a copy of it to the police for better reference, while also keeping another copy for himself and Barley. Gedeon did after all say that the younger elf had a gift for art while he was in disguise, so what better small revenge was there than to use that talent against the gremlin?

But in all honesty, the teenage elf thought sitting through the police interrogation wasn't as torturous as facing Principal Pipplemell's wrath in her office yesterday. While she had punished Ian for his actions without really getting all the facts, the police had let him go free of charge after asking several questions. They—thankfully—saw reason, and that Ian was the victim of this crime—not the attacker.

But for good measure, the police had also decided to question Barley about what he knew. Not only was the S.S. Medallion once in his possession as well, but based on past experience—and being the history buff that the older elf was—the police knew that he would have knowledge on talismans that they wouldn't necessarily have that they thought would be useful to know for this particular case.

Just as Barley waited outside the police station for Ian while his younger brother got interrogated, Ian did the same thing for his older brother. The young wizard went back and forth from just sitting on the front steps with his hands on his cheeks to pacing up and down the sidewalk in nervousness. He hoped that Barley wouldn't get in serious trouble with the police just like the times before—especially since this time, it really wasn't his older brother's fault. Rather it was he, himself, who felt truly at fault.

But soon, as Ian continued to pace, he looked up and stopped when he saw the older Lightfoot jogging down the steps.

"Well...how'd it go?" the younger elf asked as Barley came right up to him.

"It was...fine," the older elf answered. Then he began to walk over to where Guinevere the Second was parked, with Ian following after him. "They wouldn't stop staring me down with angry eyes for like the first half," Barley continued as his young brother gazed at him curiously. "But then once I got to talking about talismans and legendary relics...well...I guess you could say they became...invested."