Brown Eyes

Chapter 23

(Eliza's P.O.V.)

I was in my room with my ballet bar in front of my big wall mirror practicing little things like posture and form. Then suddenly there was a huge rumble, like an Earthquake, and my mirror fell to the ground and shattered. After it stopped, I ran to the living room and turned on the news. There was nothing about an Earthquake. The people on the news didn't even seem to be affected.

I switched my pointe shoes for my white Nike tennis shoes, then threw on my denim jacket, and ran back to my room and fixed my mirror with the wave of my hand. I had been using magic more and more, but only in front of the girls and Henry.

I ran out of the hotel and followed everyone else. Then I saw one of the old mining tunnels had collapsed.

"Eliza!" I heard and turned to look. The girls were all waving at me and running towards me. A couple of them were dressed in dance clothes too.

"What happened?" Lily asked me.

"I think one of the old mines collapsed," I said.

"Yeah, but why?" Jen asked.

"The curse is weakening!" Henry yelled running up. "You guys, my mom is Deputy now, maybe she can help us investigate. Those are the dwarf mines where the dwarves would mine diamonds to turn into fairy dust. There could be tons of evidence in there!"

"Henry's right," Lily said. "I think we should go down there."

"That's pretty dangerous," Taylor said, "You'd need an adult with you."

"You're legally an adult," I told Taylor, who's eighteen years old.

"Well yeah, but I'm still a teenager," she said. "I'm still in high school, I'm a ballerina, I love puppies and kittens and babies, and I'm afraid of dark, murky, abandoned mining tunnels. I'm not going down there."

"Come on," Henry said. "Emergency Operation Cobra meeting!"

We all ran after him, and he pulled Archie and his mom over behind a car with us.

"Okay, this mission is gonna require all of Operation Cobra," he said.

"I didn't realize I was a part of Operation Cobra," Archie said.

"Of course you are, you know everything," Henry said. Henry really looked up to Archie and I know this. I should've known that he would be part of Operation Cobra.

"There's something down there," Henry said.

"They're just some old tunnels," Emma said.

"Then why is Regina trying to cover them up?" he asked.

"Well, they are a safety hazard, Henry," I said.

"You're supposed to be backing me up," he said.

"Henry!" I heard Regina said. "I told you to wait in the car," she told him as she came up and grabbed his arm.

"You girls can go home," she said, waving us off. "Miss Swan, do your job!" she snapped at Emma.

Emma smiled at us and then walked back over to Graham.

"Well," I said with a shrug. "Maybe we should all just go home. Maybe get some sleep."

"Where else are the mining tunnels?" Lily asked, nervously. "We don't live far from here at all."

That was true. We could see their house form where we stood. It was only about a block away.

"You guys can come over to my place if you want," I said. I didn't realize how nervous everybody else was until I said that, because they all sighed, relieved.

"I'll go tell dad," Taylor said, then turned and started walking towards their house.

I saw something on the ground over near the yellow caution tape. I ran over and picked it up. It was a thick shard of glass with a rod of metal on it. I thought it was nothing, but I kept it with me just 'cause.