Patricia, Fabian and Max entered Nina's room. "Did you find what you were looking for?" Patricia asked. Nina had gone to visit Sarah, who told her to listen to the house.
"Not exactly, but I found this..." Nina bit her lip, handing over the newspaper.
Max choked out a gasp, nearly dropping the paper. "Great Uncle..." She muttered; eyes wide.
It was a picture of Rufus, Victor and Sarah, but Rufus and Victor looked almost exactly the same as they did now.
"So then the elixir of life...it's real." Fabian breathed.
"And these three...they look like they were friends, or at least business partners." Patricia frowned.
Nina spoke up. "Sarah said something today about being betrayed."
That's when Alfie entered. "Guys suppers ready." Nina snatched the paper back and hid it. "Oooh what's this a little secret meeting?"
"Alfie can you tell Trudy we'll be down in a minute, we just need to finish some...homework." Nina told him awkwardly.
He looked awfully disappointed, glancing at Max, who looked away. "Alright...but keep me in the loop, yeah?" He asked weakly before leaving.
"...Did I miss something?" Nina raised an eyebrow, noticing the sheepish expressions the others had.
~~~
"We should have had a meeting to discuss this guys!" Nina fumed when they told her the truth. "Alfie could ruin everything!"
"Look, I know, I had the same worries but...they brought up some good points." Max sighed.
Nina did not look convinced.
"Still, this is exciting. We were right all along." Fabian told them, holding up the paper. "Now we just need to get proof."
Patricia frowned. "But how? According to the toxicology report that stuff was herbs."
"We grabbed the wrong thing, we just need to go back down and get the right one." Max insisted.
Which meant another trip down to the cellar, which none of them were particularly happy about.
They asked to talk to Amber in private so they could plan, but Alfie had been there and realized he was still being excluded, and stormed off to his room to sulk.
~~~
"Alfie look I'm sorry, but this is a big deal, okay?" Nina tried to reason. They were in his room. "This is life or death and people have been hurt."
"Yeah and Alfie was one of them, we literally hospitalized him." Amber huffed.
"AMBER SHUT UP!"
But it was too late, Alfie was looking at them in horror. "WHAT?!"
"Errr, that stuff you drank...we uh, sort of found it in the cellar." Max admitted awkwardly.
"YOU COULD'VE KILLED ME!" He fumed.
Nina gulped. "Yeah, sorry about that...um.."
"So what was it?" He questioned.
Fabian sighed. "Not the stuff we were looking for, so someone has to go down and get the right stuff."
"I'll do it. I'm sick of being left out, let me prove myself. You owe me that much." Alfie snapped.
Max bit her lip. "He's right. I vote Alfie goes." The others looked at her in surprise.
Patricia nodded. "Me too, I say Alfie."
Nina groaned. "Fine, but someone has to go with him."
~~~
They sent Fabian and Alfie down together, and it seemed to go okay for a while.
But then they heard screaming and rushed to the oven.
Fabian and Alfie crawled out, looking much paler than before.
"Alfie what happened!?" Max asked quickly, grabbing onto him with worry. He was having a panic attack.
"I dropped the sample." Fabian admitted nervously, making the girls groan.
They'd have no choice but to try another night.
~~~
They found Alfie the next day in an empty classroom, he looked really shaken up. "I remember...I remember everything." He explained softly when they rushed in.
Max's eyes widened, she was sitting next to him in a heartbeat, holding onto his arm to help ground him. "What did you see?"
"Mr. Sweet...Mrs. Andrews...Mr. Winkler...some other people, they were chanting...and they mentioned the chosen one...Victor drank from a skull and...one of them was in a mask, a-a dog mask...that's what I dream about, that face...that damn face staring at me, coming for me..." Alfie began to struggle with his breathing.
"Hey, Alfie, it's okay." Max assured him gently. "Listen to me, you're safe now. You're out of that cellar, and we're here with you." Max told him, making him look at her weakly. "We'll protect you...no matter what. That's a promise."
Nina swallowed hard. "I bet he was drinking the elixir..."
"Elixir?" Alfie frowned.
"A potion to keep you young." Fabian explained.
Alfie's eyes widened. "Ankh." They gasped. "That was another word."
"The cup of immortality." Max breathed.
Amber suddenly rushed in an announced she was running for representative and that she fired Alfie.
~~~
After class everyone was horrified to find pictures of Amber back from middle school up around the school, showing her with braces and acne and glasses. Amber was practically sobbing as she rushed around trying to take them all down.
"I HATE YOU JEROME, I HATE YOU!" She cried and ran out. Jerome was cackling.
Max all but fumed, punching him in the gut hard, making him cry out in pain. "You're disgusting." She hissed.
Jerome basically tumbled to his knees in pain, and didn't bother giving a reply. Fabian and Mick, who had been nearby to see it happen, couldn't help cringing at how hard she had clearly hit him.
~~~
Later that night, Fabian, Nina, Patricia and Max went to the attic to listen to Sarah's messages again, but discovered one of them to be fake, instead holding a clue inside. Nina opened it and read it out loud.
"To find the secret of the past, look beyond this world through glass."