Eddie's POV

It was close to five o'clock, and I was currently riding in a car with Victor to the coffee shop where he would acquire the rings. Five minutes after Victor and I had left campus, I received a text from Nina saying that she, Susan, and Ava had just left. We all knew that if the three began following Victor right away, he would suspect something, so we decided they would start following us five minutes after we had left.

When Victor and I arrived at the coffee shop, it was nearly empty, excepting a few select employees and a man sitting alone at a table in the far corner with his face in his phone, silently sipping his coffee. Victor nudged me with his elbow, and nodded to the man once I had looked over at him. I realized he must have been the man we were supposed to meet for the rings. Victor strolled towards him, and I followed, glancing over my shoulder at the parking lot just in time to see Nina pull up with Susan riding shotgun and Ava in the backseat. Nina nodded and Susan gave me a thumbs-up as Ava put on a pair of fake glasses and pulled her hair back into a braid. The girls of Anubis House had given her excessive eye makeup and lipstick, as well, so she couldn't be recognized by Victor.

Victor and I seated ourselves across the table from the man. He glanced up from his phone long enough to acknowledge our presence before shoving it in his face again.

"You're early," he mumbled.

"Yes," Victor replied, "I would prefer to get this done as soon as possible."

"Alright," the man sighed. He pulled something out of his pocket, and I realized it was a wooden box. Victor took a folded check out of his pocket, and both men set their items on the table in front of them. Call me crazy, but it seemed really sketchy.

"All the rings are there?" Victor asked. The man nodded in response. Victor slid the check across the table, and the man did the same with the wooden box. Victor took the box, while the man took the check. Then, the man stood up and walked out, as if nothing had happened. Victor opened the box, and four rings, two yellow and two green, were found inside.

"So, what do they do?" I asked Victor.

"That is a matter we will discuss later," he answered, "But for now, we need to take these back to Anubis House."

"Wait!" I exclaimed a little too urgently. Victor stared at me suspiciously, but I continued nonetheless. "Maybe we should get some coffee first. We are in a coffee shop, aren't we?"

Victor sighed heavily. "Why is coffee so important?"

"Well, I'm exhausted, and I'm sure you must be, too, so we should get some coffee to wake us up."

"It's five pm."

"So what? I've had coffee at midnight!"

Victor let out another sigh. "You're not going to let this go, are you."

"Nope," I stated, knowing he was about to give in.

"Alright," Victor replied, caving, "What do you want?"

"I take my coffee black, thanks."

Victor nodded and walked away from the both, headed toward the counter to order. Not a second later, Ava waltzed in, wearing her disguise and sat in the seat at my back, pulling out her phone.

"Take the rings out," she instructed, "And replace them with these." She held a handful of four rings, two yellow and two green, out to me. Honestly, Alfie did a great job replicating what he had never seen beforehand. I took the fake rings from her and dumped the real ones out of the box and into her outstretched, gloved hand, considering I wasn't wearing gloves, and therefore probably shouldn't touch them. After placing the fake rings inside the box, I shut it again and Ava strolled out, returning to the car. Moments later, Nina pulled out of the parking lot and drove back to Anubis House, just as Victor came back with our coffees.

"Now, are you going to further hinder me from leaving, or are we allowed to take these with us to Anubis House?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Um, sorry about that," I stuttered in reply. Victor merely nodded and lead me to his car before we drove back to Anubis House.

Nina's POV

Susan, Ava, and I were able to hide the rings just in time for Victor and Eddie to return as soon as we had done so. While the three of us rushed downstairs to greet Eddie, Victor bumped my shoulder as he walked upstairs to his office. I looked back at him, only to see him eyeing me suspiciously, as if he knew something. I pushed the thought away and decided to bring it up at the next Sibuna meeting.

As it turned out, we had a Sibuna meeting that night, and even the high schoolers sneaked out of their houses to attend. We met in the attic again and sat in a circle, placing the rings in the center.

"Alright," Eddie began, "We need to figure out what these rings do."

"But first," I interjected, "Are you sure that Victor isn't even the slightest bit suspicious about what happened today?"

"I highly doubt it," Ava answered, "In case you haven't noticed, I was very stealthy."

"I believe that, but I'm worried Eddie might have let out a panic lie to keep Victor from leaving with the real rings," I replied.

Eddie let out a nervous laugh. "You saw that?"

"It was kinda hard not to," Susan smiled, "You made this wild gesture as if trying to keep Victor from going somewhere, and your face looked about as panicked as I've ever seen anyone."

"Oh."

"So, Victor may already think the rings have been tampered with?" Fabian asked, bringing himself into the conversation.

"That's what it seems to be," I sighed.

"So, what do we do about it?" Joy wondered.

"For now, nothing," Eddie told her, sounding defeated, "Until we have proof that he knows something, we would only blow our cover by investigating."

"Great," Jerome huffed, throwing his hands up in agitation, "A dead end."

"For now, at least," Mara added.

There was a brief silence before Mick spoke up. "Okay," he started, "What are these rings supposed to do?"

"That's what we need to find out," KT informed him.

I glanced over at Violet, who was sitting next to me. She was staring intently at the rings, and it didn't appear as if anything could break her concentration.

"Well," she spoke up, "We know that they only work if they're touching bare skin, and, if we're going by Eddie's vision, the yellow one gives a sensation of rising in the air."

"Stupid question," Amber interrupted, "But, could it be that you feel like you're rising in the air because you are? I mean, Victor had said something about traveling to different worlds. What if the rings take you there?"

"That's it!" Violet exclaimed, "Amber, you're a genius!" In less than a second, she had jumped up and was out the door. Moments later, she came back with The Chronicles of Narnia in her hands. She flipped to a page in the beginning and scanned the page.

"What is it?" Peter queried.

"I just figured out what the rings do," Violet smiled, looking up from the book.

"Really?" Eddie returned excitedly, "What do they do?"

"They take you to different worlds," Violet answered, a smile worthy of the Cheshire Cat on her face.

"What?!" Jerome laughed, although the look on his face showed he thought the information was more shocking than funny.

"So, I was right?" Amber asked, shocked, yet a smile was plastered on her features.

Violet nodded. "Although, they don't take you directly to another world."

"What do you mean?" Lucy queried.

"You see," Violet started, "The yellow rings take you out of a world and transport you to a wood. C. S. Lewis called it the 'Wood Between Worlds', and I assume that's what Professor Kirke called it, as well."

"The professor has been there?" Edmund questioned, interrupting Violet. She nodded before continuing.

"Anyway, the Wood is scattered with small ponds, almost like puddles. These are, basically, portals into the other worlds. However, you can't enter them unless you're wearing the green ring when you jump in the ponds."

"So, the yellow rings take you to the Wood, and the green ones let you leave," Fabian recapped.

"Precisely," Violet affirmed.

"Well then," Alfie spoke up, excitement evident in his voice, "Shall we test them out?" He reached for a ring, but Violet quickly grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

"No!" she nearly shouted, but quieted down, probably hoping Victor wouldn't hear us, "You can't do that. Not yet."

Alfie pouted, but Eddie defended her. "She's right. We don't know what could happen. All we know about the rings is what C. S. Lewis wrote, and as far as we know, there's no way to get any other information about them."

"Actually," Violet began, "I think I might know someone who can help us, as long as she's still alive."

"Who?" Jerome interrogated.

"It's not important, and it's probably best if you don't know," Violet answered, "But just trust me. Okay?"

Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement, and the Sibuna meeting ended shortly after. The Anubis House residents retreated to their rooms, while the high school students sneaked back across campus to their own houses. We were getting deeper into this mystery by the minute, and honestly, it felt good to be involved again.

I'm baaaaaacccckkk!!!!!!!

Yes, after a long break, I'm finally back to updating, but I have some bad news about that.

You see, instead of attending summer camp this year, I'm working there as a CIT (counselor in training) and I'll be there from June 14 until July 21, minus weekends. Thus, I'll write as much as I can this weekend, as well as the ten days I have between my last day of school and the day I start work. However, after camp, I'm going to Florida for a week to visit my aunts, but they'll have wifi, so I'll try to write, but I'll be busy, so it'll be difficult. Luckily, though, I'll have the whole month of August to write. YAY!!!!!!!!!

Okay, enough about me, let's get back to the main focus. Who do you think the 'she' is that Violet's talking about? I'm actually really curious to see if anyone can get this, so I'll make it a little contest. Whoever, in the comments, guesses it correctly first before I post the next chapter (if any do), I will dedicate not one, but two chapters to them, because I think it might be a little challenging. (It may or may not be, but I believe it is, so I'm going with it.) Let the contest begin!

~Tiffani

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