Generation 1; Chapter 15: The Puzzle

“Are you almost ready for school, dear?” Emory called from the kitchen. Victoria walked gracefully into the kitchen.

“Yes, I’m coming!” Victoria grabbed her plate of waffles and sat down at the dining room table. Belle came into the dining room, yawning. Clearly, she had just gotten out of bed.

“Hey, Vic! Heading off to school? You’ll love the people, but the learning is a bit slower than the tutoring we had back home. Weird subjects, too.” Belle plopped down next to her.

Victoria was oddly quiet for herself this morning. “Yeah, I’m sure it’ll be great…”

“Aw, don’t be nervous, hun! You’ll have fun.” Belle said confidently. She was a bit of a showoff now that she was out of school. When she had come to the 21^st century, she had just barely been too young to not attend school.

Emory walked in, stopping briefly when she saw Belle was sitting with Victoria.

“Are… uh… you almost ready to go, Victoria?”

“Yup!” she said, hopping up to go put her dishes in the sink.

There was a meaningful silence as Belle and Emory just stood there. Although Emory had forgiven Belle for what had happened, she still didn’t like the idea of her hanging around Victoria. Belle knew this, but she enjoyed Victoria’s company.

“I’m ready!” Victoria called from the front door. Emory left to walk her to the bus. Belle sighed, watching Emory protectively walk her daughter out to the bus, kiss her on the cheek, and wave goodbye as it drove away. Belle walked up to the front door as Emory turned, heading back toward the house.

But when she got to the front step, something caught her eye.

Bending down, she picked a neatly folded piece of paper up from the ground. She scanned it’s contents before realizing who the sender had been. “What?!” she gasped under her breath. She looked up at Emory in horror as she came up the front steps.

“Belle? What’s wrong?” Emory asked, a bit surprised at Belle’s behavior.

“He’s come back,” Belle said, handing Emory the note. As she read it, her hands began to tremble.

“But…” Emory stumbled, “But why?”

“Come inside, Emory. Quickly,” Belle said, pulling Emory through the door.

It had been awhile since Reuban had given the last note to Victoria to deliver to Emory the day Belle had come back. Although the message had been foreboding, they had begun to think that maybe it was all over.

“What does it mean?” Emory asked, more to herself than to Belle.

“I think he wants us to figure it out,” Belle said. They both looked down together again at the note that read:

“So Emory, have you given up? Do you not yet know why it is your fault that your sister has become a creature of the night? Do you not care? Well, you should. Because it’s not over yet.

Care for a hint? Here it is: You owe it to me. Or should I say, a relative of mine. A… distant… relative.”