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"Kids! You're up." Lee beamed, making bacon and eggs for breakfast.
"Morning, Lee." Mason yawned, and planted his face on the table.
"What's up with Mason?" Lee pointed the spatula at the slumped figure.
"He can't function without coffee." Belle giggled. "I'll help you with breakfast, Grunkle Stan!" She jumped up from her seat and headed to the cabinets. "Now where's that coffee?"
"It's on the topmost cabinet, sweetie." Lee ruffled her hair. Belle resisted the urge to decapitate his hand.
Instead, she gave her uncle a sugary sweet smile. "Thanks, Grunkle Lee."
Heating the milk, she poured into a cup with just a pinch of coffee powder and 3 tablespoons of sugar, just the way Mason liked it.
"Is is okay for him to be having that much sugar?"
Honestly, Lee's worry was nice of him, Belle mused. "He'll be fine, Grunkle Lee." She nonchalantly waved a hand, placing the steaming hot cup of 'coffee' in front of Mason's face.
"Mason." She slapped him on the back of his head. "Get up, you lazy nerd."
"Be- What? Ahh, coffee!" His nose twitched, hands blindly reaching for the cup. As he took his first sip, he groaned. "Ahh, that's good. Thanks Belle."
Lee set two plates before them. "I dunno what you kids liked, so I made a lil' bit of everything. Eat up, we have a long day ahead of us!"
The twins plates were piled high with pancakes, butter and maple syrup flowing down its sides. Along with that were bacon and eggs and a piece of toast each.
Mason skeptically took a bite of the pancakes, chewing them slowly.
"Oh my gosh, Grunkle Lee! These pancakes are awesome!" Belle exclaimed genuinely, voicing Mason's thoughts.
"I call them Stancakes." Lee winked.
"So. What are we going to do today, Great Uncle Lee?"
"Th-There's something we need to talk about kids. After breakfast, of course." He hurriedly reassured them.
Belle held a plate in one hand, piece of toast in another. It was boring to see her beloved Great Uncle anxiously pacing the length of the drawing room.
"Whatever it is Grunkle Lee, we'll understand."
"I'll help hide the bodies." Mason offered.
"What?!" Lee exclaimed. "No, no, nothing nasty like that, kiddos. It's- Well, you know about my little business by now. The Tent of Telepathy. I- I should come clean to you both. All of the stuff there, it's fake. It's as fake as they come. Wendy's not a real psychic, Soos can't answer every question. I make a decent amount of money to support myself, but if I have to take care of you two, I dunno how I can manage for long."
Mason quirked an eyebrow, Belle pursed her lips. He was relieved when his sister gave a small nod after a few seconds.
"Grunkle Lee-"
"I think we can help."
Stanley saw twin looks of mischief and mayhem and madness on their faces and internally shuddered. Oh, what mess had he got himself into this time?
The limousine jerked to halt before the Reverse Falls High School.
"Here we are kids! The Reverse Falls High School." Lee said with a flourish. "We're here to get you two munchkins enrolled. Do you both have the required things?"
"Yes, Grunkle Lee." The twins chorused.
"Birth certificate, passport and 2 years worth report cards." Mason checked. "I think we're good to go."
"Good. Now remember kids, be on your best behavior. Mason, act more approachable. Belle, act less approachable."
They rolled their eyes in sync, and followed Lee into the school.
The hallways were strangely empty, save for the cleaning staff.
Lee paused before a door that read 'Principal Aidon N. Derstand' and knocked twice.
"Come in, come in!" A jovial voice beckoned. "And shut the door while you're at it wi- Stanley? Good heavens, are these delightful young 'uns your children?"
"Aidon." Lee shook the balding man's hand. "Good to see you too, man." He took a seat, and gestured for Mason and Belle to do the same. Belle smoothed the edges of her skirt as she complied. "These are my brother's grandkids, my nephew Mason, and his twin sister Belle. And I'd like to enroll them in this fine school here."
"Pleased to meet you, Mason and Belle." Aidon smiled kindly.
Belle wanted nothing more than to rip his teeth out of his gums and listen to the melody of his screams. Instead, she plastered on an overly zealous expression on her face. "The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Derstand."
"Is that a German name, sir?" Mason politely enquired.
"Why it is, my boy!" He laughed, the tips of his graying mustache moving along. "Können Sie deutsch?"
"Natürlich, der Herr. Zusammen mit 5 verschiedenen Sprachen." Mason widened his grin.
"Impressive my boy! Impressive!" Aidon chortled. "And you, young lady?"
"Unlike my brother here, Herr Derstand, I'm not a nerd." She playfully nudged Mason. "I'm more of an artist, if I say so myself." Belle demurely smiled.
Mason snickered beneath his breath, knowing exactly what sort of artistry she was talking about.
"Are they- They're Stanford's?" Aidon questioned in a near whisper.
"Shermie's, actually." Lee tightly smiled. "Belle, sweetie, hand me those papers, yes, thank you. Mason, you too. Yes, here you are." He slapped the papers on Aidon's desk.
The three sat in silence as the Principal went through the documents.
"If I may, but what happened to, to Mr. and Mrs. Gleeful?"
The brunette madly grinned all of a sudden, but ducked her head, the Principal mistaking the action for grief.
"I, I'm terribly sorry for making you uncomfortable, young lady." Aidon frantically apologized.
"No, it's fine, Herr." Mason swallowed the laugh that threatened to bubble from his throat. "They- Father and Mother were attending a party at one of their friends house, you see. Mrs. Sanders company, Sandy and Friends, terrible name I know, had just expanded into another state, and had organized a gala."
Belle wistfully smiled, "Mother looked so beautiful that day," covered in her own blood and intestines, "wearing that saffron gown she liked so much. And F-Father wore his favourite suit," a hole in his chest where his heart should have been "and that vermilion tie Mason had gifted him for his bi-birthday."
"They- they died in a car crash." Mason softly finished.
"But I don't think they died in a crash! It was impossible! Their wounds didn't match! Someone killed them! MY PARENTS WERE MURDERED!" Belle yelled, restrained by Mason's grip around her. He could feel her shoulders shaking with laughter and tears running down her face.
"It's fine, mon sœur." Mason rubbed her back. "I conceded to your superior acting skills, Belle." He whispered in her ear.
Belle tried to ignore the pleasant shudder that went down her spine at his voice.
"I am so very terribly sorry." Aidon sympathetically said. "I can't even imagine the pain you twins must have gone through. And you too, Lee, losing your nephew must have been hard."
"Carl was a good man." Lee firmly nodded, blinking years back. "He and Katie didn't deserve to die that way."
Oh, if only they knew...
The inhabitants of the office sat in an awkward silence for a few more minutes.
"Ahem," Mr. Derstand cleared his throat, putting away the papers in his desk. "Mason, Belle, congratulations! You two have been officially accepted into the Reverse Falls High School! I'm afraid you'll have to take a placement quiz on English, Science, Social Studies, and Math to finalize things and so that we can officially add your names to our register. Would you two like to take the test now or another day?" Aidon smiled kindly.
"I think it best we take it now, Herr." Mason nodded.
"Yes. I'll ask Candy to take you on a tour of the school. You can familiarize yourselves with your surroundings till I get the papers. Lee, could you please fetch her?"
"Sure." He went out the door to find the girl. He returned within a few seconds.
"Ah, Candy!" He called out to the black-haired Korean with a mop in one hand. "These two twins here are Mason and Belle Gleeful and they will be joining us the coming school year. Show them around the school, and once you're done, bring them to classroom 11.A please."
"Of course Mr. Derstand." Candy nodded and turned to the twins. "Follow me."
Belle turned to look at Lee. Lee smiled back, understandingly. "Go on, I'll be waiting here till you knuckleheads are done."
"Now that you've seen your classrooms and other stuff like the Library and everything, we're heading out." Candy droned on in a monotone voice, adjusting her glasses.
"The grounds?" Belle asked, tugging on the sleeve of her uniform.
"Yeah." Candy nodded.
"Miss Chiu, thank you, but I think we can explore the grounds by ourselves."
Candy blinked in surprise at Mason, "Well, if that's the case, I'll be off." Picking up her mop and bucket in one hand, she fished her phone out of her pocket as she walked away.
The twins looked at each other and shrugged.
"I like her." Belle said. Mason followed her as she walked out to the ground. There was some basic gym equipment to one corner of the field, while the other had a sort of canopy of trees. Mason abandoned his more athletic sister to the gym and sat beneath the shade of a large tree.
Resting his head against it, he was surprised to hear a hollow sound echo. "What the-"
He rapped his knuckles against it silently to confirm his suspicion. It echoed again. "Why would someone make a metal tree and hide in a high school?" He muttered to himself. "Unless..."
He kept knocking on various spots till he found a spot which echoed more than the others. "Gotcha." He smiled. He ran his fingers over the area, looking for a gap or a hatch in the- click.
The tree seemed to shudder and after a minute, a tiny hatch opened near the foot of the tree. Something silver gleamed from the darkness. Almost entranced, he reached out to pick the object up from the pit.
It was an extremely dusty old book.
Mason held the book in one palm, sending a wave of blue magic using the other. In a flash, the journal was spotless. Examining the book again, Mason noted that on the Six-Fingered silver piece on the cover was a bold number 2.
Mason eagerly began flipping through the pages, seeing that it was about the 'strange and wondrous creatures of Reverse Falls'. He snorted. This book was a total fake.
Why would anyone go to such depths to hide a book on the nonsensical ramblings of a madman? Chalupacabras, Ghostbumps, Demons, Paranormal Rashes, Sirens... The list went on and on. These mythical creatures couldn't possibly exist in a town like Reverse Falls!
Mason shook his head and directly skipped to a page towards the end of the journal.
"He's growing stronger! He's fighting my hold on him. If he ever escapes, we're all doomed! I am doomed ."
"I must hide my journals before he ever comes to know of them. The amount of destruction he could cause with these... It would be the equivalent of an apocalypse . Whoever possesses all of my journals would have unimaginable power at their fingertips!"
"I cannot risk such a thing happening. I will take these secrets to my grave , should the need arise. He cannot escape."
"In Reverse Falls, trust is easy to give, trust is easy to take... But beware of who you trust ."
Mason flipped the page, eager to know more, but the few pages that remained after that were blank.
Was this an elaborate hoax? Who was the Author? Who was the 'he' referring to? Were they good? Were they evil? What did they want with the Author?
For the first time in a long time, Mason was curious. He would get to the bottom of this delightful little mystery that he had stumbled across. He would find the Author and strip them of all their secrets and learn everything he could about this town. He would find the First Journal and all it contained, and then true power would be his. Maybe staying in Reverse Falls wasn't that bad after all.
"Brother mine," Belle's smooth voice sounded from behind him, "what are you doing? Nose buried in a book again?"
"S-something like that." Mason hated himself for the small stutter in his voice as he slipped the Journal into his denim jacket. "Why?"
"You're seriously not going to show me? Eh, I'll find out anyway." Belle nonchalantly said as she walked away. "Now come on, Mason, we better hurry. Wouldn't want to keep Mr. Derstand waiting."
"That was tiring!" Belle flopped into Mason's lap once they got into the limo, waiting for Lee.
"I'm the genius, sister dear, not you." He teasingly flicked her nose. "Of course the test'd be too mentally taxing for you."
"I'm not talking about the test."
"I know."
"When can we get our show up and running?" Belle sighed, her amulet glowing with frustration.
"Soon, Belle, soon. We need to make the right connections first."
"Do you know someone?" She raised her brow.
"Oh, I have just the person in mind."
"Toby Doubtful. Oh, come in Mason and Belle!" The small man shook Mason's hand.
"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Doubtful." Mason charmingly smiled.
"Toby, my man! Just the person we wanted to see today!" Belle enthusiastically pumped his hand. Judging by the wince, she knew she'd dislocated his shoulder. Good.
"How may I help you?" Toby took out a pen and a piece of paper.
"Mr. Doubtful, we would like to put on a show for the townsfolk in around a months time."
Belle leaned in conspiratorially, "Don't tell anyone this, Toby, but our Grunkle is kinda short on money. He needs to take care of us now! We thought it'd be a good idea to help Grunkle Lee with the Tent. It's all my brother's idea, go on, Mason, tell him!"
"We were planning to set up a magic show at the Tent, in about a month's time. And since you're the editor of the Reverse Falls Gazette, would you be able to put up a notice in the paper regarding our performance." It wasn't a question.
"Of course! I'd be delighted! It's on the house, for my favorite pair of twins." Toby tipped his fedora.
"Aw, thanks Toby!" Belle giggled and kissed him on the cheek.
She internally snickered at the poor man's blushing and stuttering. "Well- I, I mean, you-"
"Do you think I overdid it a bit?" Belle questioned as Mason drove the car.
"Ya think?!"