Heavy is the Head

Belle - 2

Chapter 17

On numerous occasions, Belle's visits to the libraries had ended up with her accidentally overhearing conversations she didn't particularly want to hear and witnessing things her eyeballs could have done without seeing. For example, she definitely could have done without knowing that Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles from the Fire Dorms were planning a midnight feast later because technically speaking, she was supposed to report things like that to a teacher. They were bound to be snitched on anyway and it wasn't going to be worth it if Te Ka ever found out.

Belle had also discovered that Anna Oldenburg's new boyfriend, Hans was cheating on her which she would be sure to inform Anna about later and that General Li and his extremely attractive son, Li Shang were going to be holding self defence classes in one of the gyms (North Mount had 3!) at some point in the near future.

She also had to suffer through long, boring conversations about things she couldn't care less about such as Vanellope von Schweetz gushing to her friends Lilo and Boo about a new mobile game called Candyland she was addicted to. The three of them had left Belle alone in her 'thinking corner' half an hour ago though so Belle managed to get her homework done and was halfway through a crossword puzzle. 

Then, 4 more girls came and sat at the table closest to where Belle was happily curled up in a bean bag with a book. Snow White, Jasmine, Ariel and Aurora. Belle prided herself on remembering most people's names. They were whispering intently among themselves and then Aurora stood up and began walking towards Belle.

"Hi Belle, I don't know if we've met before. I'm Aurora."

"Hey."

"Do you happen to know a woman called Mavis?"

"I mean, there was a library assistant called Mavis I used to talk to every now and then in London. Why?" 

Aurora looked back over to the other three and nodded, "It's her." Then she turned back to Belle, "Do you want to sit with us for a second and then we can explain."

"Ok..." Belle pulled out a chair and gave Snow White, Jasmine and Ariel a small smile, "Hi."

"Hi, Belle. I love your accent." Ariel beamed.

"Thank you."

"Alright. Mavis is my aunt and she used to make treasure hunts for me to complete, so when she gave me a clue that made me go and talk to a girl called Cinderella, I assumed it was just a normal treasure hunt like the ones I was used to. Well, she didn't know anything about anything but she knew who Mavis was. She was one of Cinderella's teachers when she was at school and I thought it was weird but..."

"You're rambling." Jasmine sighed.

"Shut up." Aurora unfolded a pink square of paper, "During the holidays, I got a note from Mavis saying this."

Aurora,

I'm going away for a while. It might be for a bit longer than the trips I've made before so the next time I'll see you will be in the new year. Before you start worrying, I'm fine but I do need to come clean about the 'treasure hunt'. Mrs Oldenburg is hiding something about us all and she's using the school to do it. Don't trust her. I can't say exactly what is happening and I wish there was an easier way to do this. Believe me, I've tried so many times but it doesn't work. There's something special about you, Cinderella, and those three friends of yours. I need you to find the others. They will all know who I am and I have put clues in the second half of this letter to help. Tell them everything you know and work out where she's put the book. If there's an emergency, you know what to do.