Dewey bit his lip after Gladdy didn't say anything. Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. The blue triplet started to wonder if maybe he should've kept his mouth shut. His stomach churned. He just asked one of the questions he wasn't supposed to. Once, when Huey and Louie weren't around, he had asked Donald when he was younger. Not only did his question not get answered, he also got in huge trouble. Who knew what would happen now! Do you know what happened to Della?! Who asks that! Dewey began spiraling. Gladdy would tell Feathry, and then he would have to explain to Webby, a bajillion things would go wrong, why did he think this was a good idea, and-
"Uh..." Gladdy broke the silence, looking around nervously. He started laughing awkwardly, his arms stiffly stuck to his sides. It was strangely comforting for Dewey that he was the only one scared of this question. Gladdy laughed so awkwardly, he ended up just coughing into his fist.
Dewey raised an eyebrow. "Gladstone?"
Gladdy cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, it's just, I wasn't expecting that question today. Or ever really."
"Well?" Dewey forced himself to keep going. If he was ever going to know the truth, he would have to be brave.
"I, uh...-" Gladdy bit down on his knuckle, "-do not. Sorta. It's- it's..." He sighed, forcing himself to look at Dewey. "As I'm sure you know, it's complicated."
Dewey fidgeted, glancing at the floor. "Yeah. B-but... I need to know."
After a moment, Gladstone scrunched his beak and gave in. He flashed a warm smile. "Alright, how about I will answer 3 questions, and no more. No less." He shrugged, questioning Dewey with his eyes.
Dewey frowned. It wasn't exactly what he was hoping for, but it was a nice compromise. He would have to choose his questions wisely. "Fine." After thinking it over, he decided to start out with the mystery of where Gladdy disappeared to in all their family history, never mention by anyone. "If our mom trusted you enough to let you see us as eggs, and Feathry says you're so great, and all that other stuff, how come no one ever talks about you? You're not even in the picture."
"Picture? What picture?"
Dewey pulled a small polaroid photo he had taken of the painting he had found in the garage. He had mentally labeled it as evidence in the search for his mother. He carried it around with him, for mystery purposes, definitely not comfort purposes. He held it up to Gladdy. "This."
Gladdy took the photo and examined it. "Oh, yeah, I remember this. I am in this picture!" He lowered it for Dewey to see.
The boy in blue squinted at it. "Where?"
"Right there. I tripped right before the picture was taken." Gladdy pointed to a green smudge in the background.
Dewey wasn't entirely convinced, but eh, it was good enough. "That still doesn't answer the rest of my question."
"Well, I guess no one ever talks about 'cause Murphy's Law or something. I don't know." Gladdy rubbed the back of his neck. "The rules of the curse aren't one hundred percent clear, but it's not exactly unlucky to be popular."
"Okay, next question. Do you know what the Spear is? Della mentions it in a letter." Maybe Dewey and Webby would finally have a lead that could actually take them somewhere.
"Selene's Spear? Oh yeah." Gladdy hesitated a moment, like he was thinking something over. Dewey wondered what. "Selene's Spear is a... motel. And a really garbage one too." He smirked. "I rarely talk bad about anything, but like, that place is really unkempt." Gladdy stuck out his tongue, to punctuate his point.
Dewey made a mental note to look that up later with Webby. If they could get an address or something, maybe they would find Della.
He opened his mouth to ask his final question when he was interrupted. "Hey, I'm back, what are you guys talking about?" Dewey flinched. Louie.
"Not secrets!" Dewey mentally face palmed. It was the worst answer he could've given, but he panicked under stress and didn't know what else to say.
Louie raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that's not suspicious."
Gladdy glanced between Dewey and Louie. Nonononono, he was going to tell Louie everything!
"So, what happened with you?" Gladdy asked, smiling.
Dewey felt relief wash over him. Gladdy wouldn't tell. The boy wished he could thank him a thousand times over.
Louie frowned and sighed. "Well, I learned the hard way why you shouldn't gamble. I lost my car. And also any money I had." He shrugged, and his face returned to a smile. "But I learned a valuable lesson and that's that."
Gladdy pat them both on the head. "Neat. Come on, let's go find the others and see if they found the pink girl duck."
"Webby," Dewey and Louie said in sinc.
...
It wasn't long before they met with the others. They met on the ground floor. Louie couldn't help but notice another girl with them besides Webby.
"Hey cool, you found her," Gladdy said, fist bumping his cousin. Feathry nodded.
The new girl glanced between Huey, then Dewey, and finally on Louie. There was a moment where Louie recognized the realization in her face. "Aw, cute, you're triplets!" She clapped her hands together and grinned. "Is that like your thing? You're color coded and stuff and all exactly the same?"
Louie, along with his brothers, felt very offended at this random statement. "No way! We're all unique snowflakes!" Well. How ironic that they all said it at the same time. "Well, this usually never happens." Shoot, they did it again. Louie started to feel embarrassed. "Stop saying everything I'm saying!" Are you kidding me? "Gah!" The three stopped talking, exchanging glances. Louie smirked inside his head. Well, he bet his brothers didn't know the longest word in the dictionary. "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis! Seriously!?" The triplets glared at each other.
The new girl chuckled. "Pft, you guys are funny. Sup, I'm Lena." Dewey and Louie introduced themselves, only making Lena smirk. "Wait a minute, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Oh my gosh, this is amazing. You guys have, like, the ultimate triplet names."
Louie rolled his eyes. If it were up to him, he would be named something cooler, like Rebel or something. Actually, he took that back, Rebel didn't fit him at all.
"Okay, Gladstone, we need to get back on track." Feathry grabbed Gladdy by the shoulders. "What did you actually call us for? I got tigers waiting in the car and should probably head back to the mansion."
Wait, Feathry had what in the car now?
The adults went on talking, but Lena distracted Louie and the other kids. "Hey, guess what?"
"What?" Huey, Dewey, and Webby asked in unison.
"Chicken butt. Nah, just kidding. You guys want to do something fun?" Lena smirked and raised an eyebrow.
"Sure, new best friend!" Webby grinned, rocking on her heals.
Louie shook his head and stepped in front of the group. "No, we need to stay put, that way we'll be there when Feathry needs us."
Lena put a hand on her hip. "I would usually be all for that, but I am thirsty after all that running, and they have infused water here."
Huey ginned, bouncing up and down. "Ooh, that sounds fancy!"
"It's really not, it's just water with a bunch of fruit and junk in it, but it makes me feel fancy, so..." Lena shrugged. "It basically is. And it's right over there, so we'll be back in 2 seconds tops." She pointed to a couple water jugs set up against the wall a few yards away.
"Wait, what were you running from?" Louie tilted his head. He wasn't so sure about this Lena girl.
"Beagles," she said, leading the other kids to the water.
Louie hesitated before following. Someone had to keep them out of trouble. "I thought the Beagles were nice?"
"That's what I said!" Webby jabbed a finger at Louie.
Lena pressed down on a button on the water tank. Huey put a cup underneath and when it was full, let someone else have a turn. He stared at his cup, frowning.
Louie stepped over to his brother. "What's wrong?"
"All the fruit is still in the tank, so there's not any in my cup." Huey to a swig, then stuck out his tongue. "Also, it tastes like water."
"It's called a gimmick," Louie said, chuckling.
"Eh, it still makes me feel fancy," Huey said, and proceeded to drink the rest.
...
Webby got some water, but she didn't drink it. She was too busy enjoying the fact that her best friend and her other best friends would probably become best friends, and soon they would all be the ultimate best friends.
"Hey, Pink, hydration is important," Lena said when she caught Webby staring too long. Webby drank her cup and wiped her mouth. Lena leaned against the wall. She smiled at Webby, then to the boys. "I probably need to get back to my apartment, but I will see you four later." She pushed herself off the wall and started to head to the stairway.
"You're leaving?"Webby frowned.
Lena nodded, shooting finger guns. "Yeppers."
Webby had kind of hoped Lena would stay longer, but at least now they were friends. "Goodbye then... Brittania."
Lena did a curtsy. "Till our paths cross again, Englibeth!" Her British accent returned before spun around and got lost in the crowd.
Webby noticed the boys exchange looks. "I don't get it," Huey whispered loudly.
Webby smiled and shrugged. "Eh, you had to be there."
Lena clicked her tongue. Webby gasped, but it was too late. Lena spun around and walked straight into the leader of the 6th avenue friendlies. She took up a defensive stance, taking a step back. The other two beagles stood behind him.
The boys looked to Webby for answers. "These are the beagles we told you about," she said.
"Huh. You here to surrender?" Lena put her hands on her hips and stuck out her tongue.
The lead beagle growled. "We both know that necklace is worth more than you let on! Hand it over!"
Lena glanced sideways at Webby, letting out a awkwardly loud laugh. "Ha! I have no clue what you're talking about! Heh..." Lena shook herself. "Whatever. Just leave me alone and maybe I'll consider letting you live." She pointed her beak upward with a smug expression.
Without a word, the other two beagles made their move. Bluebird grabbed Webby while the other snatched up the boys upside down.
"Oh my gosh! We're being kidnapped!" Dewey yelped. Webby's heart pounded . She looked to the adults, who didn't even notice them. Webby tried to think of something, drawing a blank. She wasn't an exceptionally skilled fighter, and when it came to fight or flight, she usually picked flight. How could they get out of this?
Lena glared at the leader. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
"Call it 'having a hostage.'" He leaned into her face. "Hand over the necklace. That thing's worth more than you and me combined."
Webby bit down on her lip. What would the totally cool and amazing Lena do? She would probably think of a way to outsmart them, like back at the warehouse. Let's see... the beagles wanted something valuable. Or at least, something they thought was valuable. Webby smiled. Ding!
"Listen jerk, I-"
"Oh man, if this is how they act with a simple necklace, imagine what they would do if they knew what I had!" Lena and the beagle gave Webby a confused look. She pretended to look surprised. "Oops, I said too much."
The lead beagle stomped over to her. "What?"
"Oh, it's nothing."
"What!" he demanded.
"Alright, fine. It's a device, created by the ancients long ago!" She squirmed in Bluebird's grip and grabbed her pager. "It can pass messages through time and space and they're incredibly rare. But I doubt you would be interested." Webby tried to shrug.
The beagle eyed the device eagerly. "Give it to me."
Webby snatched the pager back and looked the beagle in the eyes. "No." He growled. She smirked. "Alright, I will give it to you for the low low price of letting my friends and I go."
He eyed her suspiciously, hesitating. "If I find out you're lying-"
"Everything I've said about it has been true." She chuckled internally.
The beagle looked at her again before grumbling. "Fine." He snatched the pager away and snapped his fingers. The beagles dropped her and the boys hard, making the duckling a little sore. She shook herself and got to her feet. She did her best to hide her giddiness.
The beagle shoved the pager in his pocket and frowned. "Come on boys." The other two followed after him as they left the building.
Webby waited until they were far away enough to smile. Before she could say a word, Lena swept her up into a hug. "Ha! That was epic, Pink!"
Dewey high fived her. "Where did you learn to lie like that?"
She held up a finger. "Ah! I didn't lie! Simply twisted words." She smirked.
Lena grinned. "Smart."
"Just looking out for my friends!"
Lena nudged Webby. "Ah, best friend!"
Webby bit her lip to keep from squealing! She said it!
Lena turned to go. "Okay, now I really have to leave. So, um, peace out dorks!" She flashed Webby one last smile, waved to the boys, and left.