Chapter 108 - SNOOPING AROUND

Emma watched the events going on around her from an aloof state, a still aloof observer. She could see Claire and Clem been crowded by friends and well-wishers, she could see little Eva sneaking away pieces of cake from the large when she thought no one was watching, she could also see Melvina discussing deeply with a lady she hadn't seen before, she could see Derek and Maya talking outside the large room with some other guy whom she hadn't met before; she could see all these, but wasn't actually seeing it. Her eyes were roaming around the room, but her mind was roaming in her own room, back at her own house, where she had conversed with a witch the previous night.

When Derek had left her in the room, to go check who had been knocking on the door last night, she had first gurbled up the food, since her stomach was howling at her in hunger, before sneaking out of the room, tiptoeing through the short hallway until she got to the entrance of the living room, where she could hear he and Maya discussing.

After wishing strongly that she wouldn't be smelt by them, since she had remembered that Maya really had a good nose for scents; she had only gotten in, closer to the door and eavesdropped the part where Derek was talking about the icy presence he had felt in the room, and why he didn't want to tell her about whom they really were. 

He had wanted to protect her. He had said.

She had held herself from stomping into the room, had held herself from shaking the duo discussing about her, especially her boyfriend who had seen himself as a protector, and her, as a weakling.

But she had kept quiet, waiting and listening; to see if she could garner more information. But they hadn't discussed much further. Except that she was able to hear of the mystery necklace that they had found in the outskirts of her backyard; which had only served to befuddle her the more.

She had tiptoed back to her room slowly, when they had both stood up, obviously done with their conversation.

And when she had got to her room, she had wished and wished for the witch, Zipfara, to appear again, but it had been in vain. The witch hadn't come.

But Maya had.

She had reluctantly opened the door, not wanting a company that will breed more false information to her, when she heard the knocks which had come twice on the door.

"Hey." She had muttered, cooking up a smile on her face, when she had seen that it had just been her friend, Maya.

"Hey..How are you holding up?" Maya had asked, stepping into the room.

"Good. Derek's been of great help." She had replied, forcing a note of sincerity in her voice; when all she had wanted to was to shake her new friend, until she had vomited the truth.

But she had held her peace, deciding to find out the truth herself; afterall she had Zipfara on her side.

"Ohooo.." Maya had stated, winking at her and She had just forced a smile again, before turning away to roll her eyes. She hadn't been happy with her friend. The blondie reminded her of June who had betrayed her and her sister. Of course Maya hadn't cheated with someone on her, but she was living a false life before her. It was still the same thing. She had thought. A pack of lies.

"How is Melvina?" She had asked, while laying on the bed, yawning and feigning sleep.

Though she had known that she wouldn't be sleeping any time soon.

"Good. She sent her greetings." Maya had replied, before laying beside her on the queen sized bed.

She had just hummed, in affirmative, before turning away her face, to the other side of the bed.

"You would be going to Clem's house tomorrow right?" Maya had asked, settling in properly into the bed.

" Yes." She had replied, wanting to make the convincing work of her friend easier by herself, knowing that one way or the other, her boyfriend and his cousin would make her follow them to the party, since Melvina had asked for it. It was part of the information she had gotten from eavesdropping on them.

"That's cool. Clem would appreciate it." Maya had stated, covering herself with the duvet.

"And it would be nice to have you around too." She had added, making her to had snorted into her pillow.

She hadn't seen the necessity for the much talk, which was meant to convince her to come. She had already said that she would come. So what was the mushy statements about? She thought, as sleep bade her farewell for the night.

"Are you okay, Emma?" Maya had asked, after noticing that she hadn't gotten a reply or response from her, causing her to cuss the Blondie inside her head. She had needed her peace and quiet to think and ruminate on what the witch had said to her that night. 

"Yes." She replied monotonely, grasping her pillow to her face tighter.

"Emma, you can talk to me. You know that right?" Maya had asked, and she didn't know when she had scoffed out loudly.

"Emma.." Maya had called, now shocked, before she had sat up on the bed, tapping her too in quick succession.

"Get up. We need to talk." Her Blondie friend had stated, causing her to had cuss out loudly then

"What is it?" She had asked, when she sat up, folding her arms across her chest.

"What's the scoff about? What's going on?" Maya had asked her, looking a bit sad.

A shade which She had thought was fake.

"You tell me." She stated, piquing her eyebrows at her friend.

"I don't understand. Why are you acting up." Maya had asked, looking at her keenly.

"Nothing. I guess it's just tiredness." She had replied. 

" I'm sorry." She had added, taking a glance at her friend. All that time, she had been looking down on her bed.

"It's okay. I understand." Maya had replied, touching her by the arm. "We will find those burgulars and deal with them appropriately. I promise." Her friend had promised; and she had just nodded.

"Thank you.." She had said, before lying down back on the bed, covering herself with the duvet, not wanting to talk again or listen to lies again.

"Goodnight." She had heard Maya say, and soughed. 

"Goodnight too." She had muttered, turning the other away, while trying to call back sleep, since tomorrow seemed to be a big day to her.

It had been more than two hours since she had followed the duo to the party, and still yet, they haven't really spoken or asked her about the icy presence they had felt in the room. She had been expecting Melvina to besotte her with questions already. But since she came here, the older woman has been discussing with her friend, who threw shrew glances at her. She wondered what they were talking about; but she was sure that the discussion was about her.

The small celebration was still ongoing, with a little music, when she stood up abruptly, tired of sitting down for long.

Derek and Maya were still talking with a tall handsome guy, whom she thought was the Anthony they had discussed about at night. From the looks of it, she could tell that the discussion was a heated one. It seemed to that Derek was trying to explain to the other guy, about Maya, who looked a bit sad. She could also tell that the guy was finding it hard to believe whatever her boyfriend was telling him.

That's their business. She thought, walking out steadily of the living room, to the hallway.

She didn't know where to head to; she just wanted to be out of the room filled with people, who although tried to hide it, still gave her strange and weird looks. She had thought that it must have something to do with why the witches were searching, something she didn't know of, something her close friends didn't want to tell her, for no just cause.

She walked by some rooms, ignoring them, not wanting to invade the family's privacy, until she got to the last room.

"Fuck it!" She whispered, before turning the door's knob. It wasn't locked. She shrugged, then stepped into the room which she thought looked masculine with the drapes of blue all over.

When she saw the architectural books on the reading table, she knew she was in Clem's room.

"No harm to look around." She murmured, before deciding to scout the room. Perhaps, who knows, she might be able to find some clues about what was really going on.

When she saw a box of colours near the foot of the bed, she went down on her knees, admiring the attractive box, until her eyes caught rolls of large rectangular papers under a stool. She wouldn't have seen it if she had been standing.

Unwrapping the rolls of paper, she saw beautiful paintings in each one of the paper. Drawings of buildings, the forest, the students rushing into hallways, and then a big large brown wolf.

"Wow.." She muttered, amazed by the beauty of the drawings.

As she folded back the paintings, bending further in trying to fix the rolls of paper back to the stool's under, not wanting to be caught snooping around, her eyes caught a rectangular box underneath the bed.

She bit her lips, thinking of whether she should check it out or not.

What could go wrong? She thought, before grabbing the boxes handle, and dragging it from under the bed.

After taking a deep breath, she opened it. It was filled with two rolls of the same kind of the large rectangular paper.

"Why are these separate from the others?" She thought, taking out one, and rolling it open.