Aiden's pov.

To say Aiden was furious is a huge understatement.

And then the heartbroken look on Aru's face when she finally realized her uncle was a bad person didn't make it any better.

The security finally came, interrogated, took Navdeep away. The crowd had dispersed and we went outside.

As soon as we did, Aru suddenly took out her phone and threw it onto the ground.

"What are you doing?" Mini shrieked as Aru dug her boot heel into the phone.

"It's" Aru panted. "Hacked, that's how Boo found out we're here"

"Huh?" Rudy asked.

Aru glanced at Drew. Aiden immediately understood.

"You can trust him, I think" He nodded at her.

"In that case, Mini, Drew" Aru gestured. Mini explained everything. And then Aru explained to all of us of what she was thinking.

"We could find something in the museum, if we look" Aru explained.

"Whoa, whoa. This is a lot of information" Drew said, clutching his head.

"Yeah it is. You with me, or no?" Aru challenged.

"Of course" Drew smiled.

Aiden felt a dig at the bottom of his stomach. Was he...jealous? But why would he be jealous? It couldn't be that he liked her, he's never liked someone before.

Someone snapped their fingers in front of his face.

"Helloooo? We were just discussing going back to the museum to investigate?" Aru asked.

"Oh. Uh. Yeah, but that's kinda risky?" Aiden said, his voice coming a few octaves higher at the end.

"Yeah, we'll just stick together and we'll be fine" Aru said. "We start tomorrow"

"Okay"

Since Aiden had taken a taxi here (Rudy had taken the car) only Drew left to his house, a couple streets away.

When they had gotten home, his Mom was so shocked to see their faces.

"It looks like you haven't eaten in weeks! Your skin has lost all its glow! What happened?" She asked.

"Navdeep got arrested"

"He what?"

Aiden explained the situation. His mother was shocked.

"Poor girls. Are they okay?"

"Yeah, they're not exactly fine, but they're okay"

He had a lot of trouble sleeping that night. There was so much going on, and now he thinks he has feelings for Aru?

Aru's pov.

It was now January 4.

Another day, another 16 hours of Aru's unbelievably dramatic and comically interesting life.

Aru woke up to birds singing, hair brushes coming to life and doing her hair, the wardrobe magically spouting out her outfits, and the makeup doing its self.

Hah. You thought.

Instead, Aru woke up to birds absolutely screeching, she then suffered in brushing her hair that was in shambles, her outfit was thrown into her face by Nikita, and then she completely skipped the make up.

You would beg to have this life, wouldn't you?

Their friends had all decided it would be best to live out their winter break first, so they did. Christmas and New years was great. But it would have been better if her mom was there.

Anyway, she went downstairs to smell waffles. And saw Brynne cooking them.

She hugged her from the back, careful not to put too much force if she accidentally knocked her onto the stove.

"Morning, Aru. I came here as soon as I heard what happened at the airport" Brynne explained, setting down what she was holding and hugged Aru back. "You want me to murder someone? What was his name again? Naveera?"

"That doesn't matter. Don't murder him, he's in jail and we need you for the investigation" Mini laughed.

"Ooo, we got some leads?" Brynne asked, letting go of Aru and putting the waffles on a plate. She handed it to Aru who thanked her in return.

"Yep. We have to check the museum" Aru said, sitting down at the table. She took a bite out of her waffles.

"Isn't that like, super risky?" Brynne asked.

"Yep"

"Cool. Let's do it"

"Drew joined the investigation, by the way" Mini informed her, sitting down as well. "We have go to the museum around ten minutes, so eat quickly, Aru"

"Okay" Aru said, with her mouth full. "Where are the twins?"

"Their parents took them outside for awhile" Brynne explained.

Aru suddenly got a text. She checked her old phone, that she used till last year when her mom got her a new one as a birthday gift. It was really slow, and Aru was convinced it was on life support, but oh well. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Hira <3

Um, Aru? Do you know where Navdeep is?



Oh no. Would she have to break the news?

"Um, who's gonna tell Hira about Navdeep?"

"Uh" Mini said, looking pointedly at Brynne.

"No. Aru, you do it" Brynne said.

"We'll do rock paper scissors" Aru said.

Brynne lost.

Aru was in the middle of gloating about it, while Mini turned on the tv.

"Guys! Look at this!" She yelled, panicking.

Aru looked at it and her eyes widened. In headlines there were 'Apartments belonging to the students of The Otherworld University ransacked'

There was an Officer being interviewed.

"So, officer Opal, what are the police doing about this matter?" The interviewer asked, holding a mic.

"Wait Opal? That annoying, rude dispatcher?" Brynne remembered.

"We are doing the best we can" Opal said, sweetly.

"You did nothing" Aru said grumpily.

The rest of the interview was nothing special, but now news got out to public. And her father was probably informed.

They had to act fast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After they were done getting ready, They went outside to meet with the rest of the potatoes and Drew at the park.

Hira was furious after hearing what Navdeep did, and also came to help them.

Long story short, they now headed to the museum together.

"Hi, Sherrilyn" Aru greeted her, as she neared the front desk.

"Hi Aru. Are these your friends?" Sherrilyn asked.

"Yep. Could I have all the keys for the museum? I'm trying to find something, and I'm not exactly sure where I put it" Aru lied. Well, it wasn't all a lie, so it's fine right?

"Of course" Sherrilyn handed her the keys.

"Let's check my room first" Aru said, as they entered her house.

Aru shifted some boxes around, opened a couple and put them aside. She reached into the last box and came in contact with something...shiny! She pulled it out, but to her disappointment, it was just a book.

She blew off the dust. 'Owl Moon' it read. She smiled.

'Owl Moon' was her favorite book as a child. It was also the first book she got at her school book fair in second grade.

'Later, Shah' Aru shook herself. 'You still need to find clues'

"Nothing over here. Anyone else find something?" Drew yelled. They all shook their heads.

"We need to check Boo's room" Brynne reminded them.

"But it could be dangerous" Mini said.

"I'll go. You all stay here" Aru said, getting up. She walked to Boo's room.

Boo's room was deserted. There was books on the shelf, but that was about it. Everything was empty.

Aru started checking cupboards and closets, but only found dust. She checked his bedside drawer, but again came in contact with dust.

She looked at the bed. Surely Boo wouldn't hide anything important under a bed, right? That's childish.

'I mean no harm in looking, I guess' Aru crouched and reached under the bed. She was proven wrong as her hand came in contact with paper

She pulled the thing out and discovered it was a file. Strangely, it wasn't covered with dust like the other things.

Aru immediately knew she hit the bullseye. 'He must of put this here recently' She thought triumphantly.

She opened the file and immediately wished she hadn't.

A contract was there. A contract with her father.

She felt her heart fall deep into her stomach. She looked at the other papers.

Number of people killed- 16, Number of people kidnapped- 18.

People to kidnap-

Aru gasped. There were so many people's names there. But most importantly-

Her mom's name was written there.

And was crossed out and marked complete.

She dropped the file and brought her hands up to her face. Her eyes snaked around the room and she felt her breathing get heavier.

No...this didn't make sense. Boo was like a father she never had...he wouldn't do this would he?

But it all clicked. It made sense. The only person she told of her surroundings was...

'We need to get out of here. And fast'



Hi, sorry this chapter's a little rushed.

I wasn't too sure what was going to happen leading up to when they enter the museum, so I kinda sped things up a little. Sorry about that.

That's also the reason this chapter took so long to get out. To make it taste good. Sorry about that too.

But I hope you liked this.

Also, small detail, but the fact about Aru liking 'Owl Moon' by Jane Yolen, was a personal detail.

ITS TIME FOR STORYTIME WITH YO AUTHOR LOIFE, OKAY.

In second grade, at my school's book fair, I didn't know how a book fair worked (Thank god I learned how because at least one third of the books in my book shelf are from the book fair) so I didn't bring any money.

My librarian was the coolest person ever (No actually. She was really cool and even roasted my classmates a couple of times. But she apologized and said it was a joke lol) and basically gave me Owl Moon for free! Ever since then, the book has always had a special place in my heart. *sheds a tear.

Okay, okay that aside, this chapter is finally out! Woo hoo!

What do you think?

-Loife xx