The 11 year old trio was out in the forest discussing plans again while the lone twin sat under the tree reading a novel Ray recommended. As usual Isabella was inside doing chores and supervising from afar while Krone was more hands on. As she played with the little kids around her.
"So? How did the plan with the ropes go?" The ginger asked as they entered the clearing. "Was there progress on the source of information?"
"Actually.." Norman was about to explain before he got cut off.
"Oh that? I'm the traitor." The ravenette said calmly trying not to drag (y/n) into this.
"So it was you? Why didn't you say that before!" Norman asked shocked at the boy in front of him.
"Well...you didn't trust y/n and I had to clear a few thing up"
"Wait, what!" The ginger asked confused.
"I'm mom's informant."
"IT WAS YOU?!" The ginger said accusingly, but she wasn't quite sure what to do with this new information. "Sorry for that reaction, but I still don't understand." She said while holding her head. The information was too much for her to process at this time. Everything she thought to be true was thrown out the window. "So it's not (Y/N)?"
"No. She said she did that to get try and get rid of Sister Krone" the boy lied as he didn't really know the true reason, but he wanted to get the heat off her.
"Ok let me explain!" The albino boy shouted trying to move the meeting along.
Back with (Y/N)
"(Y/n)! Could you be a dear and help me with the laundry?" Sister asked from across the field. You didn't really want to help her, but you had to keep up the illusion of being on her side so you went to meet her.
"Yea..what's up"
"Time to discuss plans" she said while scrubbing the bed sheets.
"Out in broad daylight? Do you think these things out?" You questioned her as you rolled up your sleeves. Mama was still watching from the windows, so you had to look like you were doing something.
"We need to keep Isabella on her toes, if we constantly meet at night she will easily know our plans." She stated sounding confident in herself. "You said it yourself, she's always one step ahead of us. But I'm three steps ahead of her." You deadpanned as she didn't even try to be humble.
"Anyways...what's the plan?"
"We need evidence of your friends' little escape plan" she said in a deep sinister tone.
"W..why do you need that?"
"Don't be foolish (n/n). People won't believe such big claims without evidence." You practically gagged as she tried to be buddy buddy with you. No really ever called you by your nickname except Artemis and occasionally Ray.
"That's not what I meant. If you want to get rid of Isabella, why not just notify them now. The longer you wait, the more useless this little piece of evidence is going to be." You said while handing her a bedsheet to hang up. "Like you said, you don't know if they are working together...still don't know who they are, but if they hypothetically are, having evidence is just going to get you killed." Sister seemed a bit put off by your words as she hesitantly hung up the last bedsheet.
"What makes you think your right about all this."
"Haven't you seen how calm Isabella is?" You blatantly asked her. "If you want to take down the enemy, you also got to see how they move. Working under them isn't going to help you with jack. This is a games of chess not checkers. While you are out here attacking, Isabella has a sound defense that you can't get through. You left all your important pieces exposed, so all Isabella has to do is wait until you blunder, and it seems like you already have."
"So we just have to lie back for now that's all, it's that easy." She said sounding sure of herself.
"If I recall, not all pieces can move backward in chess, so you have to play your cards carefully now. I can't believe an 11-year-old is telling you though. Like how did you become a sister if you can't see the whole picture... Anyways long story short, Isabella is undefeated at chess so play smarter not harder." With those last words you walked away to use the rest of your free time playing with the other kids.
Time Skip
"Gilda and I decided to properly observe Mom once again. Momma disappears right before 8 o'clock every night." Emma explained to the group consisting of Ray, Don, Gilda, her, and Norman.
"Disappears?"
"Yeah. She is nowhere to be found in the house. This house has a secret room." She stated as she kneeled down. Revealing her quick sketch of the blueprints she continued. "Located here." She said while circling the intersection of two walls. "Next to Mom's bedroom. Mom's bedroom has the bathroom and washroom next to it. Past that, continuing beyond the wall is Mom's office. But this probably isn't a wall." She finished nodded off to Gilda signaling her to continue.
"I noticed that every time Mom disappears, she always goes into her office or the washroom."
"So I measured the distance inside the room, and the distance in the hallway."
"Oh, that's what you were doing then," Norman said slowly processing and out all the information together.
"Yeah."
"And the results?!" Don asked pretty worriedly about the situation as a whole.
"They didn't match... there are about ten of my footsteps' worth of space. One side is a wall, and the other side is a bookshelf. But I think there are hidden doors on each side."
"Beyond that, there is a secret room"
"But what is it for?" Don inquired.
"Probably—"
"— Scheduled check-ins.." Ray interrupted the ginger." Mom does scheduled check-ins to the headquarters every day. The room is likely for that."
"Headquarters?" Don asked confused.
"The base that supplies babies and Sisters to this house."
"Ray, did you know that there was a room here?" Emma questioned him.
"No. Although I suspected the existence—"
"—Let's try to get in. There's a way to communicate with the outside and find Conny and the others' whereabouts. We might be able to find some clues. Then Y/n won't be as sad and be reunited with Artemis!"
"But could we get in there so easily?"
"Even if it's difficult, we have to do it! For the sake of everyone!"
"Hold on." The ravenette said shutting this plan down "There's no merit in going that far. Even if it's a communication method, it's most likely only connected to headquarters. And Mom won't know where our siblings were sent. There won't even be any clues. And if we're careless, our tracking devices could give away our position. We don't know what kind of security that room has. It's too dangerous."
"But... what if."
"That's what if, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't make a plan based on what if's. This plan literally jeopardizes our safety, and I'm not in for it. Don't let dumb thoughts cloud your head and stop thinking about yourself, we're a team so we should act like one and watch each other's backs not go off alone. The risks of that plan overwhelmingly outweigh the benefits."
"..." The tall boy was taken aback by the truth
"you're right. For now, be careful of Sister. Don't dig your grave with a foolish move" the albino boy warned.
"Exactly. I have Mom under control,...but if Sister finds out that's a different story. Only so much can come out of that, so keep that in mind when you act." Ray was wrapping up the discussion. "Don, can you go ahead of us to prepare for dinner? If (y/n) is there all by herself, Mom will—"
"—I know" the tall boy said before leaving the room, Gilda following shortly after. The two made there way down to the first floor, but were not heading towards the dining hall. They had to make a quick pit stop at Mom's office. They check around before going in and meddling with her stuff.
"Is there even one here?" The boy asked frustrated that the shelf wouldn't budge. "Damn it! I need to hurry and save her as soon as possible!"
"Maybe.." Gilda approached the shelf calmly. She wasn't going to use force like Don did, so she carefully scanned the shelf to see how it slides easily to her method.
"Let's go." He said before finding out the door was locked. Just as they were safe the door on the opposite wall started to slowly creek open. This scared the two kids to death before finding little 4 year old Phil at the door.
The two elders kids made a plan to get into the room while Phil continued his game of hide and seek. Even if they were discovered, it would look a lot less suspicious since there was a four-year-old present. Don had decided to bolt down the corridors past mom while slightly bumping into her. His plan was to pickpocket the key out of her pocket, but much to his dismay the key wasn't there. He continue to loop back to Mom's office before signing in defeat.
"Sorry about that Mom! We're playing an intense game of tag, whoever loses has to give the winner their dessert tonight." The (h/c)ed girl said to Isabella. "Imma get Don back for running into you and not apologizing properly." You said before running off after your junior sibling. Momma was going to be suspicious, but after (y/n) clearing up the situation decided to drop her guard a little. She didn't have to worry if one of the eldest kids were complying to her plan.
"Don...Don" you called out for him as you rounded the corner." Damn how fast are you, I didn't think I stopped for that long."
"(Y/n)? What're you doing? Who's preparing dinner." He asked her as he came out of the shadows.
"Wow all these questions, and not a single thank you? The things I do for people." You said as you dropped the key in his hands. "I want this back as soon as your done, you got that?" She said while placing the key in his hands. "And I wouldn't worry about dinner, I have that covered." She assured the boy, but in reality she was never helping in the first place. Nat and Anna were busy making dinner.
"Thanks... but how did you get this?"
"A magician never shares their secrets Don" you teased before walking off. " Just leave it on the floor outside her door, I'll come back around and pick it up.
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"This symbol is..."
"A bookplate."
"A label that indicates the book's owner before it came here. And what's that certain message?" Norman asked
"Look carefully."
They all look like the same owl" he thought while scanning the books.
"No. This circle... Morse Code!"
"Correct" Ray assured him.
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'Run'
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'Doubt'
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'Danger'
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'Truth'
"But with just this.."
"What about these?"
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'Harvest'
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'Monster'
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'Farm'
"This is a message from the outside to us, hidden from the demons, and the adults. I think we can at least trust that." The ravenette stated.
"At least?"
"Unlike her, I'm more suspicious." He said while hitting the Ginger's head. "This man named Minerva could be an ally to us. But we don't know if he's dead or alive. We shouldn't get our hopes up too much."
"Why are you always like that?" The girl asked.
"William Minerva. This man is outside and knows about this farm. And, though indirectly, he's trying to help us."
"Yes!"
"There was an ally on the outside. And he might still be there. If that's true, then there could be a society of humans outside."
"Exactly! These kinds of messages are only in Minerva's books. I don't know when these labels were attached, but at least we know this one was attached after the year 2015."
"I see."
"Is there anything else we can figure out? Like something in common between the contents or type of books?"
"Not much. The genres are varied. The publishers and the years were—"
"—but what about that thing? Uh, which one was it? I don't understand the Morse code on these two books."
"One is a typical adventure novel, and the other is a mythology book that I didn't really understand."
"There's no Morse code on this. And the other one is
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Promise
"I think these have a meaning. Like how this one book doesn't have Morse code and has some pages ripped out. And the message "promise"."
"So you think these two books are special?"
"Yeah. I feel like... these will become some kind of important guide for us."
"What's your reasoning?"
"My hunch!" The boy deadpanned at her response. It seemed like she was getting somewhere, but she didn't have any supporting evidence. "Don't give me that look!"
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After your little check-in with Nat and Anna, you decided to see if Don and Gilda were done. You thought you gave them a substantial amount of time, so you crept back around to Mom's office to find Phil at the door.
"What are you doing out here Phil?" You asked while stepping into Mom's office.
"Playing hide and seek" he openly lied to you.
"With..."
"Naila and Eugene..." he realizes it was a mistake lying to you when he looked at your all-knowing face.
"Really.. cause they were talking to Mom before I left."
"Alright, you got me." He sighed while looking around.
"So what are you actually doing?"
"Don and Gilda went into a mysterious room and I want to ask them about it! Oh and here, Don said to give it back to you." He said while holding out Isabella's key.
"Thanks Phil! You're the best. But it's not smart to ask about the room." You said before picking the boy up. Your juniors obviously weren't done investigating since Phil was still there. You ended up walking around aimlessly through the empty hallways while talking to Phil. You would loop back around in a few minutes to check-in.
"But why?"
"It's just grown-up stuff you know. The boring and ugly about not being a kid anymore." You blatantly lied back to him. Even thought he noticed, he chose not to say anything about it. "Anyways... do you still have those weird dreams and hunches?"
"Yeah! I've been trying to piece it together. With what you told me, what I heard sister say and how the others have been acting something is happening within the house. But I don't know what."
"Honestly.. I'm proud you're being a little detective, but I still feel bad about it."
"What? Can you tell me? I still don't know everything about it."
"That's the point Buddy. If you knew everything about, I would feel awful. Like I didn't do anything right. You deserve to run around and play with the others, not get mixed in with our grown-up shit" You quickly clasped your hands over your mouth. You were venting out to a four-year-old and managed to curse, if Isabella found out that would be the end of you.
"Haha, you said a bad bad."
"Hahaha...yeah I said a bad bad, but you won't tell anyone right? Cause if you do little ol' (y/n) goes bye-bye like our siblings" you stared back at the little boy with terror in your eyes, but he looked happy. Even though the two of you were close, he was a weird child to read.
"I promise! It's our little secret" he reassured you as you slumped down to the floor in relief. You almost forgot to loop back to mom's office when you heard heels click down the empty hallways.
"Ok, Phil. Run along now and play with the others. I gotta check in with mom know." You told him before sending him off and mentally gagging. You can still manage to call Isabella mom, but you were never at peace while doing it.
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"Hold on, Phil. I'll be there in a moment."
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The trio was making their way down to the dining hall while discussing how Emma found the books.
"Phil found them and told me."
"Phil?"
"Yeah, he was reading a children's book and it was one of Minerva's. It was a book that had Morse Code in the story." Emma said before coming to an abrupt pause. When the three of them made it into the dining hall, Don Gilda and (Y/N) were nowhere to be seen. "Where are Don, Gilda, and (Y/n)".
"They're not here either!"
"They can't be..."
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"Hey mom!"
"Oh. (Y/n) what's wrong?"
"I found this on the floor, and sister said to return it to you." You said while looking at her dead in the eyes. Even though it was a dirty lie, you still had to make it believable. You were making up for forgetting about Don and Gilda because you could tell they were still in her office. Mom on the other hand was taken aback on how her key fell out of her pocket.
"Thank you (Y/n), you are always so watchful. Maybe you should become a mom." She said with a relaxed face.
"But I don't wanna, I wanna rock out with Artemis when I get adopted. It's been my dream to write my own song!" You said with glossy eyes. In reality you were about to cry thinking about your deceased twin, but it also made you seem really passionate about your dream.
"Very well then, it won't stop me from asking again."
"Why are you so persistent?" You asked her with a pouty face.
"Well, you certainly have all the skills and not to mention the kids love you." She has while cupping your face and stroking your hair.
"Hmm... well if you put it like that. Maybe I'll think about it." You said falsely giving into her words. In all honesty you just wanted to get out of there and throw up, but she was delaying you greatly. "But anyway, I should check up on Nat and Anna, I kind of left them to do dinner while returning your key."
"Thank you again (Y/n), I'll be out soon to join you all." She said while you stepped out of her office and made your way to the washroom.
"God! What took you guys so long!" You scolded Gilda and Don as they made their way out.
"We were busy finding out the truth." Don defended himself while Gilda stood silent. You three were making your way down to the dining hall taking the long way.
"Finding the truth! Do you guys realize how stupid that sounds. Getting yourself trapped for what! There was no need to be in that room for so long!" You retorted.
"You're the one who gave me the key in the first place. So I don't see why you're mad at us!"
"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE MAD DON!" You whisper shouted."I've gone through so much more shit than you have. Just because your precious Conny is gone doesn't mean you should act like a piece of shit!"
"We've gone through the same thing (y/n)! We've both lost someone and we are treated like we aren't good enough like we are some pawn in a bigger plan." He said to you while calming down. "If there is anyone we should be mad at, it's Emma Ray and Norman." He said while looking at you dead in the eyes. "And I'm sorry if I seemed inconsiderate."
"You don't need to say sorry Don..." you said before starting to walk again. "You were right, I have every right to be mad. But I have no right to be mad at you, you did nothing wrong. I should be mad at the people I call best friends." The three of you then continued to walk down the hallway towards the dining hall.
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"(Y/n). Gilda. Don. Thank goodness. I thought you'd"
"Ray.." you said before pushing past them and stepping into the dining room. You didn't want to deal with what they had to say because you knew it wouldn't be important. It would be a stupid 'what's wrong with you. What were you thinking.' Instead of a 'listen I'm sorry. We should have included you in our plans but we didn't because we thought you were a "traitor". You wanted to hear it come out of their mouths instead of Ray's because despite everything he always believes in you and trusts you. Not once through their whole plan has he not thought of you. After that night at the tree, you realized you might have feelings for the dumb ravenette, but you weren't going to tell him that anytime soon.
"Y/n" he said while nodding at you. You two seem to have a short conversation with your quick exchange of eyes, but you weren't mad at each other. You simply acknowledged what the other had done and ended it there. He quickly changed his focus to Don and Gilda once you were out of sight. "Where were you?"
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"So?"
"We went to Mom's secret room," Don explained.
"How?"
"(Y/n) gave Don the key," Gilda said while looking away from Emma.
"How did (Y/n) get the key!"
"I'm pretty sure she got it off Mom before I tried to. After I failed getting the key, it was the first thing she gave me when she's met me in the hallway."
"What about mom?" Norman questioned
"I don't think she noticed. (Y/n) returned the key when we were about to be found out. So probably.."
"You did something really stupid. What would you do if the room was equipped with either a camera, a bug, or an alarm?"
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"That sounds like a lot of what if's, Ray" you said while staying in the shadows. You were going to go to bed, but you saw Krone sneaking after the group, so you thought that you might as well join her.
"(Y/n)? What are you doing here?" Emma and Norman asked.
"I'm sick of being left out of everything. I'm not an idiot you know" You said while throwing paper balls at their heads. They unraveled the scrunched up pieces up paper and were met with a note before you took off to bed.
Don't read this out loud
Be careful of where you hold your meetings.
This isn't the first or second time, I've stumbled across them. Norman if anybody should know that.
And also you aren't the only ones here, someone else is listening.
I recommend you go on with the meeting because it's no one of importance, but next time watch out.
You're lucky I'm warning you this time, but next time you might not be as lucky.
You never know.... I still might be a TRAITOR LIKE YOU THOUGHT I WAS HUH.
Goodnight
-(Y/n)
The group didn't know what to think but decided to follow your directions and go on with the meeting. The atmosphere of the room was tense, but if they didn't go through with it, something worse was going to happen.
"If Mom or Sister found out, you two... no, all of us would be—" Ray started but was soon cut off.
"Tell us what would happen," Don said angrily. He was as tense as the other kids, but he let his emotions control him and lashed out. "Would we get killed? We found Conny's Little Bunny in the secret room. So much for your 'I don't know and 'let's go save them'. Can we even go save them!?" He said while standing up. "Because Conny... Conny, Artemis... and everyone else is"
"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!" Emma said while bowing.
"So they're really..."
"I told you, Gilda. They were lying after all. What are you hiding? Tell us the whole truth." He asked demandingly. His overall body towering over regretful Emma. The trio then looked at each other deciding whether or not they should tell the truth. This would be the perfect time, but with (Y/n)'s note, they weren't sure who was listening.
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"Demons?....
A Farm?...
No....
Just to be eaten...
And you're a spy?
This whole time?
It was for our sake. . ."
Then, Ray, you knew what was going to happen to Conny that day?
You guys knew about Artemis...