The Heart of the Storm

The Enchanted Bracelet

"Hey Fawn, will you excuse me for interrupting your informative talk? I need to ask you something."

Fawn frowned in confusion, but nodded. She took him to a corner of the house where few people came, and asked him where he got that bracelet from. His expression instantly turned pale.

"Oh... it was a long time ago, I really don't recall, sorry..." He trailed off. Delie sensed something was not right. Why would he not know? And what was there to feel so afraid of? She was asking a normal, simple question... right?

It turned out that she was wrong. It was a long and twisted story, as she would know soon.

*

Delie sat down besides her bed, in a thoughtful mood. She began an unconscious monologue with herself.

"Fawn Kenneth - I need to look up that name, if the net shows anything about this. And I'll do an image search, perhaps, if I can photograph Fawn's gold bracelet once..." Her soliloquy continued.

After ten minutes of talking to herself, Fleance entered her room. "Del, I think you might have finally cracked."

Delie snorted, "Nah, I was just strategizing."

"Strategizing? For what on Earth? Delie Brave, your exams have already finished, for God's sake!"

"Not exams, Lance. Just -" She sighed.

"Just?"

"Well," she hesitated. "Didn't you feel that there was something off about that bracelet?"

"Bracelet?" Fleance asked, puzzled. "Which one?"

"Fawn's gold bracelet, you pumpkin-head!" Delie lost her patience.

"O-oh," he faltered, and fell silent.

"Well? Didn't you feel something was odd about it?"

"To be honest, I actually did, now that you mention it... it looked remarkably like Queen Cordelia's charm bracelet that we learnt about in History at school."

"That's it!" she screamed. Fleance covered her ears and groaned.

"Better get going, Del, before you drive me mad as a hatter," he playfully saluted her and sauntered off.

Delie hastily grabbed her phone and searched up Queen Cordelia's bracelet.

She opened a website and read it out to herself:

"The Enchanted Bracelet is rumored to have been an extremely valuable and prized possession of the late Queen Cordelia, who lived during the late 1600s. This bracelet is made of 22-carat gold, and has a distinct, tiny, adjustable blue charm in the shape of a curl. It is known for its remarkable properties of healing and protection, and the person wearing it is almost always guaranteed victory in all their endeavors. (With this, there was an image attached that perfectly resembled Fawn's bracelet, except that it was brighter and not faded, because it had probably worn out over the years.) It was last known to be the property of Mr. Edward Herrford, the wealthy owner of the "Herrford Logistics and Manufacturing Company and Co." in Notting Hill, London. Since then, the bracelet has been lost track of, and no formal documents or evidences are there to suggest whether or not Mr. Herrford is still is possession of the Enchanted Bracelet or not."

Then she searched Mr. Herrford's name, but it only mentioned his business, and where he was on the Top 10 Most Rich People list.

But there was one place at the end of a website where it mentioned his contact address and phone number. For business, of course, but it served her purpose anyways. She saved it on her phone for future purposes.

She sat down and mulled over all her facts. The Enchanted Bracelet did have powers of its own and could prove dangerous. In fact, they probably didn't even know the full potential of the bracelet. It "guaranteed victory" to the owner, but what sort of victory? It could as easily be destructive, emotion-controlled, defensive, or something else entirely. Besides, if Fawn did own it, it was by illegal means - not necessarily himself, but perhaps passed down by his father or uncle or someone who had illegally acquired it, because there were no official evidences. On top of that, she recalled that he was new in the neighborhood, and his family had just moved in. They seemed nice, but Delie had learnt that appearances could be deceptive. Could they have come here to fulfil any ulterior motive? Theirs wasn't a very busy neighborhood, and would provide a nice, little secluded spot to escape prying eyes.

She sighed. There were too many loopholes, and she was uneasy.

But for now... she decided it would just be best to interrogate Fawn Kenneth as much as they could.

***