Chapter 85 - Poser

"Hmph!" Von grunted after hearing Petunia's lecture to him about teamwork. 

"But I applaud your courage for trying to spend time with us despite the rifts. At least we can start somewhere-" Petunia said but was rudely interrupted when Von suddenly grabbed the back of Fily's shirt and her Gummy cloud, aiming for a flying sprint to the exit even without their consent, leaving Lei to run by himself through the stairs.

"Hey!!" Petunia tried to complain but since the stairs were kind of like a spiral staircase, all she could do was grab hold of her Gummy cloud, or else she'll fall from Von's speedy glide to the top.

***

"Whoo! That was kind of relaxing." Fily giggled when they finally arrived back at the castle.

"You're heavy," Von grunted while catching his breath.

"W-Wh...y dyu." Petunia tried forming some words but she seemed too dizzy to do so.

"Where's Lei?" asked Fily while looking around for him.

And then, as if on cue, Lei came running from the stairs, even failing to put a stop to his sprint on the right time which caused him to bump with Petunia's Gummy cloud, making the both of them dizzier than ever.

"Oh, there you are!" Fily giggled and locked the Basement's camouflage door close carefully.

Not long after that, a "Tch," could be heard from Von, trying to get himself to leave the group but was seemingly being held back by his conscience that everybody thought was already non-existent. 

"You are being summoned by the Princess, Young masters, please follow me." Sir Fred suddenly said which startled all of them except for Lei for either being dizzy or lost in their own thoughts.

"Oh, hello Sir Fred! How's life?!" Fily said enthusiastically making it fairly obvious that she had fun during that ride, unlike Von and Petunia.

"Life is good, I suppose." Sir Fred answered out of courtesy. "Please follow me." He said again which raised a question mark on Fily's smiley face.

"Why? We can just go to the Library ourselves." She said and led the way while pulling Petunia's Gummy cloud with her.

But when she looked back to check on Von and the others, they were suddenly gone!

"Von? Lei? Sir Fred?" Fily said out loud, her smile fading every second that she realized they were actually really gone! 

"Petunia, did you see where Von and the others went?" Fily asked while slapping Petunia's dizzy head softly.

"Huh? What happened?" Petunia said in confusion, shaking her head in an attempt to cure the illness she was feeling. And when she had a little grasp of reality back to her, she sluggishly grabbed a bottle of potion from her cloud and drank it out of instinct, immediately recovering her senses after that.

"Whoo! I should have done that earlier." She said and looked at Fily who was now on the edge of paranoia. She was not even blinking which made Petunia even more concerned.

"Hey, what happened?" Petunia said and tugged Fily's shirt slightly.

And when she did not answer, Petunia tried recalling the last memories that she could gather before Fily went blank. Weirdly enough, the first thing that came to her mind was Von, Lei, and Sir Fred disappearing out of nowhere.

"Oh no, are they gone?" Petunia said insensitively which pulled Fily back to reality.

"I think that's not Sir Fred and we have to tell Venedette immediately!" Fily said frantically after spending some time with her thoughts.

"I think you're right." Petunia said when she realized how recent that memory was and how miraculous Von and Lei's disappearance was from her superior senses!

"Venedette!!!" Petunia shouted after being the first one to arrive in the Library where their meeting was supposed to take place.

Surely enough, Von and Lei were not there, although Petunia already knew they wouldn't be here, she still hoped that this was just a prank and not some kind of serious trouble that she could feel was already brewing the moment Venedette said she had something important to say.

"What's wrong? Where's everyone?" Venedette said, standing up from her seat that was full of paperwork.

"T-They're gone! Von and Lei! The moment we stepped out of the basement Sir Fred- I mean something that looked like Sir Fred took them immediately!"

"What?!"

"What did you say?" Sir Grand said from behind the door holding Sir Fred beside him.

"It was not me." Sir Fred immediately said, defending himself from the deathly glare he was receiving from the parents of Von.

"Right, it was not him. I was with him the whole time." Sir Grand said while letting go of Sir Fred's shirt with an apologetic look.

"How did they disappear? Can you tell us more in detail?" Vendette said frantically.

"Wait, aren't we supposed to find them first?" Petunia asked, confused.

"We know where to find them but you've got to tell us how they disappeared first," said Venedette while breathing heavily as if trying to calm herself down.

"Well, as I said, I think they were taken by someone that was posing as Sir Fred."

"And? You did not notice them?"

"I-I was dizzy because of Von, and Fily was walking ahead of us."

"Someone posing as Sir Fred… A Crone who can pose as someone else?"

"A Crone? With powers?" Fily repeated between her breaths after just arriving. "Well, that isn't completely impossible."

"And why is that?" Venedette asked which Fily answered with a pause sign.

"Let me breathe first-" said Fily and was interrupted when Petunia suddenly plopped a bottle of healing potion to her mouth.

"Mmm, sh- cool thanks," Fily said after immediately recovering her strength even though she had none of those, to begin with.

"You see, we thought all Crones were already dead, right? But that is exactly what they wanted us to think. They wanted to get under the radar so we would let our guards down while they were busy making deals with the devil."

"They?" Petunia further inquired.

"Yes, they. Crones travel in packs contrary to everyone's beliefs. They travel in packs and appear as one another, one at a time."