I watched Veronica pacing the small living room, surprised neither she nor Jughead hadn't seen any of this coming. Hiram Lodge was a crooked businessman himself, of course he'd know the books had been altered. And Cheryl and Toni had spent almost an entire month breaking into houses around town. Jughead's decree about outlawing crime among the Serpents had obviously infuriated Cheryl, and it made sense that she'd react by going over the top and break into The Pembrooke.
"You need to fix this, Jughead," Veronica demanded.
"If Cheryl took the egg, why did you come to me?" Jughead asked. "Why didn't you just go directly to her?"
"She's dodging my phone calls," she replied. "Besides, aren't you her king?"
I struggled to hold back a laugh. "When has Cheryl Blossom ever listened to anyone else?"
"Fair point," Jughead said. "But since when are you and your father aligned?" he asked, turning back to Veronica.
"We're not," she answered, finally standing still. "He's squeezing me, he's squeezing my business."
"I guess this means you cooked the books a little too well," I said. "And now he's breathing down your neck even more so than before."
Veronica nodded in defeat. "He's ordered the Gargoyles to attack Reggie on his supply runs, and just last night Josie backed out as my lead singer because of them. Not only does my father have me paying him for protection, he's got me on this wild-goose chase to get my mom's stolen egg back."
"You're paying him protection money?" Jughead asked.
"Against his very own Gargoyle Gang," Veronica confirmed.
"What if you were to pay less money not to be in business with him?" I asked, thinking quickly. A smile spread across Jughead's face as he caught on to what I was proposing.
Veronica looked between the two of us in confusion. "What are you suggesting?"
"Let the Serpents come work for you," Jughead said. "You get real protection from your father's goons and the Serpents get jobs with a steady income."
"It's a win-win," I added.
"Get me that Glamourge egg back and we have an accord," Veronica said after a moment. I watched the two shake on it, Veronica promising to draw up an official contract before making her way out of the trailer.
"How do you think everyone's going to react to working for a Lodge?" I asked once the door was shut.
Jughead sighed, pulling his beanie off as he thought. "It's a deal with Veronica, not the Lodges."
"She's still a Lodge though. It's because of her family that everyone's living here. It's because of them and their crooked business dealings that the Southside was lost. Veronica's already shown she's not above shady business dealings for all her talk about being different from her father."
"I know, Abigail, I know," Jughead replied. "But you were there yesterday, you heard what Fangs said. We have no money coming in, and this is an opportunity for the Serpents to earn some legit money."
"Go ahead with it if you want, but I want to look at that contract before you sign it," I said. "And remind the Serpents that Mr Andrews is willing to take them on as well, even for part-time work."
Jughead nodded. "I will. But why don't you tell them? You're the one working there already."
"You're the Serpent King, this is your responsibility. Yours and Betty's, not mine," I replied. "Where is your Serpent Queen anyway?"
"Dealing with her mom and the Farm," Jughead said. "Polly and Alice think the kids Betty broke out of the Sisters should become Farmies."
"Of course they do," I muttered. "Save them from the control of a bunch of sadistic nuns by sending them to a cult. I have things to take care of myself. I'll be back later for the meeting."
I slipped out of the trailer, making my way through the trees to the edge of Sweetwater River. As expected, there was no one around and I found a place to sit protected from the wind. If Veronica followed through and this security deal worked out as planned, that would mean Serpents would be spending time with the employees, including Josie MocCoy. And unfortunately, I knew which Serpent would be most likely to take that position. It wasn't long before I was lost in thought, barely noticing as the sun began to set. By the time I realized how late it was, it was nearly dark and I hurried back to the Serpent camp. I kept to the edges of the group, arriving just as Jughead began.
"Serpents, earlier today I brokered a deal. I got us a paid gig," he announced. "From here on out, we'll be working security detail for Veronica Lodge, her speakeasy, and her employees."
"Long live the Serpents!" someone cheered, followed by others. From the look on FP's face though, it didn't look like he was completely on board with the deal.
Jughead gave everyone a moment to celebrate before turning serious. "Settle down. I know it's good news for a change, but I've also gathered us here for less celebratory reasons. Cheryl, Toni, come up here."
"Excuse me?" Cheryl snapped, Toni looking guiltily at the ground. "What did we do?"
"You broke into the Lodge apartment and stole a Glamourge egg," Jughead answered.
"So what if we did?" the redhead asked, not moving from where she stood.
Jughead sighed. "Well, more than that, you left your calling card, attaching yourself, and by extension, all of the Serpents to your crime."
"I'm not afraid of Lodge," Cheryl said with a shrug. "What's he gonna do, call the sheriff? Oh, right, there is no sheriff."
The Serpents around the camp shifted uncomfortably. It was rare to see someone kicked out, and even rarer still for them to try and argue. Hell, even Tall Boy had enough sense not to argue with FP when he was kicked out of the gang.
"Cheryl, that's not the point. You broke the code. Turn in your jackets and go," Jughead demanded of her and Toni.
Toni stood, stepping up next to Cheryl. "Are you serious, Jones? I'm a Serpent by blood. You can't take that away from me."
"You hypocrite," Cheryl snapped. "You give your drug-dealing buddy Fangs a pass but you crucify us?" Fangs dropped his head into his hands.
"And in case you were wondering how we know, Fangs told Sweet Pea, who told me," Toni announced.
"Who told me," Cheryl said. "But I guess we shouldn't be surprised, considering you let her back in," she added, glaring at me. Sweet Pea dropped his head into his hand as well, while the Serpents shifted uneasily. "If you're asking for our jackets, shouldn't you be asking for theirs as well?"
"You're the ones who've broken the new law that went into effect less than 24 hours ago," I snapped. "Besides, you never did anything but help yourselves by stealing from all those houses. Never once did you do anything to help the Serpents."
"And you did?" Cheryl asked. "And where were you during the quarantine? Definitely not here at the Serpent camp doing any good to anyone. No, you and your friends were out there charging people money to lead them down a forest trail."
I shook my head at how little she knew. "We were actually doing something good by helping people, not just the Serpents. And as for the money, we kept enough to cover our expenses and the rest we brought here to be used by those who needed it."
"It's true," spoke up. "Every day she or one of her Centerville friends came by with cash. If it weren't for them, we may not have gotten through the quarantine as well as we did." Cheryl continued to glare at me, for once at a loss for words.
"Jug?" Betty asked quietly.
He looked back at Fangs before facing forward again. "You're right. But Abigail's not a Riverdale Serpent anymore." I watched Jughead carefully. No one had said anything so far about the fact that the back of my jacket said Centerville Serpents. He didn't continue with the subject though. "Fangs though...Fangs, give me your jacket."
"Hey, what the hell, man?" Sweet Pea snapped, storming forward to grab Jughead, not letting go until Fangs stood.
"It's okay, Sweet Pea," he said, walking to stand in front of Jughead. No one spoke as Fangs took his jacket off, holding it out to Jughead. "Some leader you are," he snapped, throwing the jacket to the ground before storming off.
"Fangs!" Sweet Pea called after him, picking up the discarded leather. FP stepped in front of him, stopping the teen without a word. At a nod from FP, I left the remaining Serpents, going after Fangs.
It didn't take long to catch up to him, walking slowly between the dark trees. "Come on, let's get out of here," I said, grabbing his arm and pulling him after me. If Jughead was willing to kick Fangs out, there was no way he was going to get out of kicking Cheryl and Toni out. And I didn't want to be around when they left the camp.
Fangs allowed himself to be led, a lost look on his face. "What am I gonna do, Abigail? The Serpents were my second family and Jones took that away from me like it was nothing."
I sighed. "I know, Fangs. But I'm going to get you back in, but it might take some time. You know as well as I do how hard-headed he is. And Cheryl Blossom is really the one to blame right now, she was desperate to shift the blame. And if she continues on the way she was, forcing Jughead to kick members out, there's not going to be a Serpent left standing."
"Okay, okay," Fangs said, visibly relaxing. "I trust you. But what am I gonna do? I can't face my mom tonight, she didn't know I was dealing for the Gargoyles, she thought all the money was coming from the Serpents. I can't tell her I'm out of the gang."
"Stay with us tonight," I said. "It's not as warm or comfortable as your mom's apartment would be, but you're still welcome." It didn't take much convincing for Fangs to join me, and we were welcomed back at the house with a warm meal from Mrs Sikes next door. Dakota and Hunter were going back to Centerville in the morning, and she'd apparently insisted they have one last home-cooked meal before leaving.
Fangs gave the pair the short version of what had gone down, both wasting no time in assuring him that if I said I had a plan to get him back in, it was going to happen. If only I felt as confident as they did. So far, my only hope was the plan I'd told Sweet Pea that day Fangs confessed to Jughead that he'd been selling Fizzle Rocks for the Gargoyles. But I'd need a backup in case that didn't convince Jughead to change his mind.
"Hey, Abi, Jughead's calling you," Hunter said, walking out of the house with my phone.
It stopped ringing by the time he passed the phone to me, but he picked up immediately when I called back. "What do you want, Jones?"
"I need you to meet me at Pop's," he said. "I have the egg for Veronica."
"And why do I need to be there?" I asked, staring into the fire.
"Because she also has the contract ready, and since you wanted to look it over before I signed it, it would make things a lot easier if you were there tonight."
"All right, fine. I'll be there in a few minutes," I sighed, reluctantly standing. "Somehow he managed to get the Glamourge egg Veronica needs and she has the contract for the security detail ready. I don't trust her not to try and sneak something in to cheat the Serpents out of what they owed, so I need to look it over before anything's signed."
Fangs looked up from his seat. "Want me to come with you?"
"No, stay here," I answered. "I think it'll be better if you stay out of Serpent business right now considering what happened earlier tonight. I'll be back later."
When I got to Pop's, Jughead was just getting off his bike. I followed him inside to the booth where Veronica and Reggie Mantle were waiting.
"Well done, Torombolo," Veronica said with a smile when Jughead slid the gaudy-looking egg across the table to her.
"Cost me a lot to get that ugly thing back," Jughead said, not looking at me. "So make sure you put it to good use."
"Oh, don't you worry. I shall," she replied. "And in the meantime, you and the Serpents have your first assignment."
"Where's the contract?" I asked. "Nothing's being done until it's signed."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Veronica said. I waited as she pulled out a stack of papers, passing to me, to the annoyance of Jughead. "I had Attorney McCoy look it over early this evening as well, so everything should be satisfactory."
I was impressed, she really did seem to want this area of business at least to be legit. Still, I wasn't taking any chances and began reading carefully.
"Okay, so assuming Abigail approves this, what do you need us to do first?" Jughead asked.
Veronica looked to Reggie who leaned forward. "You ever heard of the Gargoyle Gang?"
I rolled my eyes. If only he knew that they were partially to blame for the high price of getting that egg back. Concentrating on the paperwork in front of me, Veronica and Reggie explained their request to Jughead. Once satisfied, I slid the pen and papers in front of Jughead. "Make a copy once you've both signed," I said. Veronica reluctantly agreed, but I wasn't taking any chances. She may have had McCoy look it over, but that didn't mean alterations couldn't have been made in the meantime, or in the future.
Outside, I waited for Jughead before heading home. "We need to talk about Fangs," I said once the door to the diner closed behind him.
"I know, but not tonight," he replied. "Cheryl was right, he broke the law so he had to leave."
"There's more to it than that, Jones, and you know it," I snapped.
"Not tonight, Abigail," Jughead sighed. "He's my friend too, but there's nothing I can do right now. We'll talk another time. And I should tell you, you're on thin ice yourself."
Before I could reply, he started up the engine, leaving me behind. What did he mean I was on thin ice? Because I knew about what Fangs had been up to? But still, if he was going to kick out everyone who'd ever had any involvement with dealing drugs, there'd be no Serpent left standing. Himself included.
Fangs was sitting alone by the fire when I got back. "How'd it go?" he asked. "Did you talk to Jughead?"
I sighed, knowing I didn't have the answer he wanted. "The Serpents are officially providing Security for La Bonne Nuit, but I didn't get anywhere with Jones."
"What am I gonna do, Abigail?"
"I don't know," I replied softly, laying my head on his shoulder. "But Jones knows he screwed up, he just doesn't want to admit it. I'm not giving up on getting you back in, Fangs."
Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, but I was mentally off for a bit and couldn't even bring myself to write. But I've now gotten two new chapters out for you within a few hours of each other. As always, vote and comment.