46

46.
“Caleb, I-” Sophia started but was unable to complete her sentence.
Caleb nodded his head smugly. “I know, I am awesome. And, so is he,” he declared, patting the pizza guy’s back. “Meet Brent, pizza delivery guy by the day, and my very own personal spy by the night. Brent, meet my friends.”
Brent looked around at all of us awkwardly, before his eyes stopped at Charlie. He raised a finger, waving it between Charlie and Alice, “If you call those things friends, then, I am outta here.”
“Ew, no!” Caleb said at the same time, that Alice and Charlie did.
“Hey, shut up! No one’s talking to you!” I told Alice and Charlie, then, turned to Brent and Caleb. “How did the two of you meet?”
Caleb smirked, clapping his hands, “In the dungeons, when I played a hero and saved you from those kidnappers. Remember? He is the one who delivered my pizza there.”
“Oh, trust me, no one can forget that,” Noah muttered.
“What is this I am hearing about dungeons and kidnappers?” the queen interjected.
Oh, shi- no, actually, wait! Oh, yes!
I turned to face the queen, and folded my arms across my chest. “Your beloveds Alice and Charlie sent their goons to kidnap your daughter, Quinn. But, those stupid goons thought I was ‘Quinn with a makeover’ and kidnapped me instead. I was able to get out without any harm, with the help of my friends. But, my point is, do you see what Charlie is capable of?”
If the queen felt something, or wanted to react, she was doing a good job of hiding it.
“Again, where’s the proof?” Charlie smirked.
“Your goons,” Will said, “they will speak and you will have your proof. As for now, Caleb go ahead.”
“Oh no, I like them cheesy, with a variety of toppings,” Caleb was saying to Brent.
“But, last time you didn’t pay the bill. Man, you will get me fired.” Brent sighed, dragging a hand down his face.
“Oh please, I hired you as my spy, didn’t I?” Caleb countered. “Free pizza for lifetime is the least you can do for me.”
If they thought no one was paying attention them, then, he was utterly, majorly, entirely mistaken.
“Dude,” Brent replied incredulously, “you should be the one paying me. Where is my payment for all the spying I did in these last few days?” Brent folded his arms across his chest.
“Uh…” Caleb started looking around, before his eye landed on Will.
Will and Sophia’s mouths dropped open at the same time, when they realized that something incredibly…stupid, was about to happen and Will was the target.
“Willy, my man!” Caleb exclaimed, cheerfully, and went to Will’s side.
“Uhm, technically he is my man, isn’t he?” I heard Sophia whispering too loudly to Mia.
Noah finally opened his mouth, “What the hell is going-”
He was cut off when Caleb’s hand went inside Will’s jacket’s pocket and came back out with his wallet.
“You sure wouldn’t mind lending me some, right?” Caleb grinned up will. “We are best pals after all,”
When did that happen-? As far as I knew, Caleb’s usual words regarding will were mostly, ‘who the hell is Will?’
“Oh, he sure does mind!” Sophia suddenly said, swatting away Caleb’s hand after snatching the wallet back from him and placing it inside Will’s pocket (where it lingered longer than necessary, might I add). Will had turned into a complete statue during everything, just like his mother, who was watching everything with her mouth agape.
I decided that it was time to intervene.
“Okay, guys focus!” I said loudly, as if talking to a bunch of kids (which I firmly believed my friends were), “this is a royal court. Take your bickering elsewhere. For now, we have bigger matters to solve.”
“Yeah, matters like what happened with our father?”
All heads turned to this new source of voice: Quinn.
She seemed…pretty shaken up, as she made her way towards the queen, with determination in her eyes.
“What now?” Alice groaned. Everyone glared at her, then, chose to ignore her.
“Quinn, this is not the right place,” the queen said, sternly.
“I refuse to listen to you this time, your highness,” Quinn replied in an equally stern voice. “I want answers and I want them now.”
“Quinn,” Noah asked this time, “what’s the matter?”
“Our father,” Quinn replied, her eyes not shifting from her mother, “did not commit suicide. I was in that library where he ‘apparently jumped from.’ And guess what I found there?”
“Quinn! That place is out of bounds! How dare you go against an order?!”
This was the first time I heard the queen use such a tone…sure, she was always cold and severe but, she had never raised her voice, until now…
Luckily, Quinn was made of steel and didn’t as much as flinch.
“Now, I know exactly why that place is out of bounds,” Quinn replied, coldly. “I wish I had gone there sooner,” her eyes momentarily flickered to Charlie, and I saw a promise of death there.
Wait, what-
Charlie had gone absolutely pale, while Quinn and the queen were busy in staring each other down. The rest of us knew better than to interrupt.
“Quinn,” Will said quietly, after some time, “do enlighten us.”
“About what, Will? Where shall I begin?” Quinn asked rhetorically, “should I start with how Charlie was involved in dad’s murder? Or that, our very own mother knew the truth all along and instead of bothering to tell the world, she helped in covering Charlie’s tracks? Or how about we discuss the second murder Charlie is planning?”