Mystery at Mavadi!

Chapter 22!

Chapter 22!

"A mystery... The cousins trudge noiselessly into the woods, careful not to follow the trail," Alex was saying in a mysterious tone.

I smiled.

Robert, my cousins and I were walking to the little hole we'd seen. Alex and I followed Larry and Robin, while she narrated like the guy on animal planet. She was still going at it.

"Agents Awesomeness and More Awesomeness slowly follow Secret Agent Long legs and Opera Voice.

Robin turned around, his face beet red. "Will you shut up!"

I cracked up at that.

Alex raised her hands, her eyes wide and innocent, "I didn't say it was you!"

"But you-"

I didn't want to listen to the two idiots argue so I turned around. Robert and Am followed close behind with Susan. They looked like they were getting along just fine. Sasha trotted along beside Am but ran to me when I reached out to her.

I instantly felt bad. My little pup was so loving but all I ever did was ignore her or leave her with Am.

I turned back around as I walked and bent a little to scratch Sasha behind the ears. She tilted her head to the side and barked out happily.

"Missed you too, pal." I smiled.

"VIOLET! VIOLET!!," Lord Ed echoed.

That sneaky parrot. He ignored me all the time but flew to me whenever Sasha was around just to get on her nerves. I still stretched my left hand out and didn't cringe when he perched on my forearm.

Mental note to self: Always wear long sleeves when feeling particularly pet friendly.

I stroked his green feathers receiving a growl from Sasha. I sighed. I had to get them to make friends.

When Robert and we could get along, why couldn't they?

"Sasha..."

"We're here!" Larry announced, sounding relieved.

Probably because Alex and Robin still hadn't shut up. They did now, though.

Susan held up the rope she'd brought. We'd made huge knots at equal intervals so we could use it as a rope ladder.

"Let's go!!" Robin's face was bright.

Susan and Am let the rope into the hole carefully.

Robin and Alex went down first followed by Larry and Robert. I scratched Sasha who'd started to whimper.

"I'll be back soon," I said, patting her head.

"Be good now, boy," I said and patted my sister's head.

She growled and pretended to snap at my hand.

I laughed.

I went down carefully, taking care to keep one foot on each hold. I was scared that I'd fall but also knew it'd take very little time to get down. Sure enough, in no time at all my sneakers found the clean stone ground.

Larry had been holding the end of the rope steady, waiting patiently for me.

Robin and Alex were talking excitedly about how creepy the place was. Robert was doing something on his phone.

I took the torchlight out of my pocket, "Shhh!!" I shushed and the entire cave went silent. My cousins all stopped what they'd been doing to look at me.

"No talking!" I shout-whispered, "Do you want whoever is here to find us?"

Alex and Robin shook their head vigorously.

"Then, be quiet! Larry and Robert go first. We go second, got it?"

They both nodded.

"No sounds. Let's move out."

"Aye aye, cap'n!" Robin saluted.

I smiled sheepishly, realizing I'd sounded bossy.

Larry and Robert led the way into the tunnel with Alex, Robin and me following close behind. Robert was smarter than I'd thought. He fiddled with his phone and turned on it's flashlight.

We entered the wide room. We walked up to the wall of the wooden crates.

I felt ill at ease just walking into an unknown, brightly lit, wide space.

Larry led Robert over to the crate with the candlesticks in them. He shifted the lid to give Robert a better look. Robert went through his phone again and switched on the camera. He snapped pictures of the candlesticks.

We gaped.

He suddenly saw us. "Evidence." was all he said and we closed our mouths.

Why hadn't we thought of that?

Robert turned to face the wall of crates, raising his phone to snap a picture.

I smiled when Alex leaned into the picture with a huge grin on her face and a peace sign.

Robert took the picture anyway, an amused expression on his face.

Anyone could find us like this...

"Chill out, Vy!" Robin said from next to me.

I looked at him.

"Seriously, you look like you're gonna stab somebody with that torch of yours."

I realized that my nerves were on high alert and that I was gripping my torch so tightly, my knuckles were white.

"Sorry," I said, relaxing with a little effort.

I heard a cry of surprise from Robert. We all rushed to his side. There were two to three cardboard boxes in a corner. Robert stood next to the pile going through his phone again.

"What's up?" I asked.

He bent over and opened the flap of one of the unsealed boxes. We looked over his broad shoulders to see a red gleaming gem stones.

"Babunus," Robert whispered.

"Didn't catch you there, buddy. Baboon-us?" Robin asked.

Robert shook his head, "Babunus are the gem stones on a very famous and costly necklace. Very pure gems. Ancestral property of a rich old man from Delhi, India. Probably from the time of old kings."

Robin whistled.

"Reported missing a few years ago."

"Are you sure?" We asked.

"Positive." He handed his phone to Larry.

Robin and I stood to Larry's side to look at the screen while Alex jumped up and down to see over his shoulder.

An article with the picture of the exact gems stared back at us.

"This was two years ago," Robert continued. "The gem went missing for about six months and then magically reappeared in the vault."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," Robert turned back to the precious gemstone, "The question is what is it doing here?"

"It could be another stone. Not the, uh, baboonius." I managed.

"Babunus," he corrected me, "And no, only one gem is this perfectly cut. So, which one is fake? This one or the one in the vault?"

"Didn't they check the gem after it's reappearance?" Larry asked.

"Well yes," Robert conceded, "Unless these crooks have men in high positions as well."

A creepy silence followed.

These thieves weren't just petty crooks. They were international criminals and we'd just entered the shark's cave.

Whew! Another Chapter!!

Hey, I'm going to be in twelfth grade! Yay!!

Oh no... Last year of school... :(