The Heir

Chapter 23: Secret Passages

Chapter 23: Secret Passages

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Eve stared at me in shock, but I just borrowed my face deeply into the pile of books I have checked out of the library. School started once again after the recent bomb attacks. Many are quite injured, most of them are parents left at home, and some servants.

We were currently in the canteen where we agreed to meet up and start the research. Unfortunately, Amy had started but had no luck. Eve hasn't started yet since her family is quite affected by the bombing. Jack is fortunate to have found his family safe. Ethan, well, he was with me the whole time. And finally, Alex. Nothing extravagant happened to him. He's just sleeping and doing nothing, waiting for the whole research to finish.

"Those are some nasty scratches," Alex said, obviously seeing all those scratches in my arms.

"Did you lose a fight with a cat?" Jack joked and both Eve and Alex chuckled. I don't find it amusing at all.

"Yes," I agreed which made them confused. "And that cat is Carol."

"Jeez," Amy remarked and I found myself nodding with her in agreement. They wanted to hear the whole story yesterday and so I told them what happened and how Ethan saved us from killing each other. Nothing good happened yesterday except for the fact that I went straight to Carol and apologized. Luckily, she didn't fire me and accepted my apology. And now, we are starting over again and act as if nothing had happened.

"So, we've got a whole day ahead of us and the rest of the week. Any progress on our thesis?" I asked hopefully. I'm actually trusting Amy for this project. She's a witty girl.

"Well, I have quite a bit of research about the medallion. Shall we say, the medallia." She said and she took her clear book out of her bag and put it on the table. I'm quite impressed. The clear book is packed with research papers.

"You've done this in two days?" Ethan asked, completely stunned.

"Yes," Amy replied proudly.

"Wow," that's what all Alex could say, being too lazy to contribute to the project that his diploma depends on.

See, Amy has all the information about the pendant and how magical it is and who last used it and where it was last seen before it disappeared at the same time as the loss of the royal family. It caught my attention but what caught me most was when I flipped to the last page, Amy had managed to find a picture of the pendant itself.

Ethan locks eyes with me and I know we're thinking the same thing.

I clutched the pendant hanging on my chest and stared at it for a moment before Eve and Jack stole some glances at me. I directly hid the necklace inside my clothes and listened to Amy's brief discussion once again.

"It is said to be last seen with Queen Sophia before the accident," Amy said.

"Then, where is it now?" Jack asked and I stared at him, studying all his actions. Apparently, I'm still in no mood to trust Jack. He owes me the coronet. He stared back at me and gave me this innocent look as if he had no intentions in taking this pendant.

"What?" He whispered and I let out a sigh. He knows what I mean.

"Hey, I'm done with the coronet. I have no plans in stealing this thing. I learned my lesson," he said. His expressions turned grim, I wonder what happened to him.

"Does that mean you'll give me the coronet back?" I whispered hopefully.

Jack lets out a heavy sigh and he turns to me and whispered, "I'll talk to you later about that."