Aunt Candy and the Mysteries

Ten.

Everyone who was upstairs rushes to Peter's room and hovers over the open compass on the ground. Just like me and my brother, nobody wants to touch it. It seems to give off this foreboding aura that isn't in the least bit welcoming. Aunt Candy bursts into the room, her face pale as she slowly picks up the golden object, eyeing the note with wide eyes. She picks up the folded note then hands Cedar his compass. He closes it; then holds it in his hand, having no pockets in his pajama pants to put it into. His ashy grey eyes turn to me for a second, revealing his fearful expression. I bite my lip and look away. I will not think of him.

Aunt Candy opens the note carefully and without haste, as if she's delaying reading it. When the full note is revealed, Aunt Candy licks her lips and begins to read.

Dear Candice

How can you be so selfish? Keeping your little freaks all to yourself? We should have done this long ago, but we need to wait for the right time, the right... people... We work for the London Department of Supernatural Recruitment, a division specializing in enlisting supernatural beings into the military. It has come to our attention that you've been harboring supernaturals and we want them back. Failure to comply... well, just look at how easy it was to steal this trinket? Think about how easy it would be to steal something bigger... Someone bigger...

Aunt Candice rips the note angrily into a million shreds. "Wh-what was that all about?" I ask, a bit confused. "Isn't it obvious?" Birdie says , "They want to force us into the military!"

"Ok, but what's the big deal?" I ask, "People enlist into the military all the time."

"Yeah, but they did it out of their own free will" Brooke points out.

"And I doubt it would be healthy." Luke says, "Think about it, none of us are over eighteen- and did you realize that throughout the duration of that whole letter we were only referred to as 'Supernaturals' or 'freaks'. I doubt we would be treated as equals."

I bite my lip, realizing his point.

"How did you find this?" Aunt Candy asks, changing the subject.

"I um..." Peter starts "I sat on it accidently. It was hidden on my desk chair, under my t-shirts." He admits, looking at the floor to hide his slight embarrassment.

"Mmhm.."Aunt Candy says. I look around at everyone else. They all give us looks of skepticism.

"We didn't steal it guys!" I say, answering their unasked question.

"How do we know you're not lying?" Birdie asks,

"She has a fair point." Luke adds "We did only just meet recently, making your characters less judgeable at the moment."

I look at Aunt Candy for some sort of reassurance.

"I'm sorry Etta, but Luke is right. We did find it in your room, Peter, and it went missing the night you had your nightmare." She says, "I really want to believe you, but the evidence is not in your favor."

"But when would I have hidden it?" I ask, trying to find some way for them to believe us.

"You might not have needed to." Luke says, "You could have just come in here and said you found it."

"But-" I start, but Aunt Candy holds out a hand to stop me.

"How about we all just go to bed for now. We can look further into this tomorrow." She says before exiting the room, everyone else following behind her. Katchina is the last one in the room besides me and Peter.

"I'm sorry." She says, looking genuinely pitiful as she exits the room.

I turn quickly to face Peter, feeling the tears welling in my eyes. "What's happening?" I choke out. He says nothing, but instead wraps his arms around me as I cry into his shoulder. He sits us down on the bed and strokes my hair soothingly. "We'll figure this out, they'll soon see that we had nothing to do with this." He reassures me as I let out another sob.