𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 • 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐓𝐞𝐰𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐲

ELEVEN

Newspapers and Taekwondo lessons.

・❥・

Lily and Enola followed the owner of the store out into the wild streets of London. While they were busy dressing up, nothing seemed to have changed over time, and Lily now understood why she never wore fabulous dresses and fancy accessories. Her arms started hurting from the number of times she picked up her dress so she wouldn't ruin it by stepping into a puddle. "Is this really good value?" Lily asked as she raised her voice to be heard over the loud sounds of horse hooves and people.

"Oh, best value you'll find," the woman said as she lazily glanced back over her shoulder at the two girls. "You're lucky you found me," she said as they stepped up to a wide building with tons of black-framed windows.

"Quite lucky," Lily mumbled as she stepped into the building with Enola. The older woman didn't bother to check in with the person working at the desk, and when Lily looked back to check in herself, the woman nearly waved her off and she went back to follow Enola. The two girls felt the intense and curious stares of the people who were living in the building as they walked past them in fancy dresses while they were pulling off rags that were sewn together. Lily wished she could give her dresses to the people here since she barely wore any of them.

Once they climbed up two floors, the older woman opened a wooden green door and smiled brightly at the two girls at her job well done. "Here you have it!" the lady didn't bother to let Enola and Lily first and started trudging around the room as if she owned it. Lily guessed that a lot of tourists passed by the shop she worked in, so she was used to dropping them off here. The two friends hesitated for a moment, but right after they stepped into the tiny room.

Lily was at a loss for words. She saw a single bed with a thin and torn blanket atop it with one small pillow. There was a tiny nightstand to the left of it that had a brown lamp that was covered in spiderwebs. Lily grimaced at the sight of the web. There was a tiny glass table in the other corner of the room with a tray on it. Lily looked down and saw a brown rat scurrying around her feet. She jumped slightly at the sight of it but did nothing to shoo it away. The two friends made eye contact and silently agreed that this was the worst place ever, especially since the woman said it was worth a lot. Then, the blonde and the brunette looked up at the woman who stood in the corner of the room and they smiled warily at her with barely convincing smiles. "It's lovely," Enola said with a fake toothy smile.

・❥・

Once night came over London, Lily and Enola decided that one of them would have to sleep on the floor since they were sure that any other room had more than one bed as well. When Lily braided her hair into lousy braids and neatly folded her dress on a chair nearby, she settled onto the bed with Enola who decided that now that they had peace and quiet they could finally go over her whole plan. "It's time for phase five of my plan," Enola said as she spilled out blocks with letters on them and a chart. "Or possibly phase four," she said as she furrowed her brows. "Or possibly phase six," Enola said as she looked up at Lily who was looking at her friend with concern. "I've entirely lost count," the brunette said which earned a chuckle from Lily. "It's time to find mother," Enola said with a sigh. "To find Mother, the first thing I need to do is leave a cipher in every newspaper she might read," informed Enola as she placed the lettered blocks in between themselves and started rearranging words.

"Thank you, my chrysanthemum. Are you blooming? Send iris, please," Lily read as she tilted her head to read right-side up. "Doesn't iris mean 'message'?" Lily asked as she tried to remember everything Eudoria taught her and Enola when they were younger.

"Very well, Miss. Bennett," Enola said with a clap. Lily waved her off with a smile.

"Now, how can you disguise this?" Lily asked as she looked up at Enola who was thinking deeply. Enola started rearranging every letter she could. Lily had an impressed expression on her face. "Your mother must be very good at scrabble," Lily joked as she moved off the bed and carefully placed each letter on the tray that was on the glass table so they could take this to any newspaper place and get it printed there the next morning.