Soon Jesse, Olivia, Axel, Lukas, Petra, and Romeo arrived at Jesse's kitchen and sat down at the spruce wood table. Jesse served each of them- and herself- a mug of classic hot chocolate and a slice of vanilla cake.
"Okay, now that we all have food and hot chocolate... Does anyone know anything about this Hit the Target guy?" Jesse questioned. Everyone shook their heads. Axel devoured his entire slice of cake and washed it down with hot chocolate.
"Uh, can I have an entire cake?" Axel asked with a smile. Jesse grinned and shook her head in disbelief, then complied with his wishes and brought him a full sized vanilla cake. Axel's eyes lit up and he happily took a bite out of the cake.
"Okay, so none of you know anything about Hit the Target. Has anyone at least seen or heard anything suspicious?" Jesse continued. Axel looked up from his cake and raised an eyebrow.
"What about tasting anything suspicious?" Axel suggested. Jesse looked slightly concerned.
"Please don't taste anything suspicious," Jesse said as calmly as she could. She then lifted her hot chocolate mug to her lips and tilted it back. Romeo decided now would be the perfect time to tell Jesse what he'd seen in the Nether on the way to Redstonia.
"I saw Cassie Rose in the Nether!" Romeo blurted out. Petra, Jesse, Lukas, Olivia, and Axel's eyes widened. Jesse choked on her hot chocolate.
"Wait... what?!" Jesse exclaimed. Romeo closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened his eyes and made eye contact with Jesse.
"I saw Cassie Rose on the way to Redstonia while we were on the Order of the Stone's minecart network. She was walking around in a Nether Fortress. I watched her for a bit... but then she noticed me, froze, and ran. Her expression when she knew someone- that someone being me- had seen her was the expression of a person who'd been caught doing something they shouldn't have," Romeo explained. Jesse looked exasperated.
"Romeo, you're supposed to tell people stuff like this," Jesse sighed.
"Sorry. I just didn't want to make anyone worried," Romeo told her. Jesse nodded and there was a moment of silence.
"It's okay. But next time just tell us. You're sure it was Cassie?" Jesse replied.
"Yeah, she had long bright red hair and glasses," Romeo answered. Lukas tilted his head.
"How do you even know who she is or what she looks like?" Lukas questioned. Romeo held up Lukas' book. "I didn't know you got that far in my book," Lukas said.
Romeo blushed and smiled sheepishly. "I... may have peeked at a page in a Portal to Mystery after Jesse started spoiling it," Romeo confessed. Lukas' head moved up and down.
"Okay, that makes sense," Lukas responded. He seemed to be struggling not to snicker.
Romeo placed the book on the table and continued to speak. "I'm not sure what she would be doing in the Nether, though."
"Building a secret evil lair with lots of cats?" Petra joked. Olivia turned her head to Petra.
"Petra, you've been to the Nether a lot. Why do you go there?" Olivia asked. Petra shrugged and took a sip of her hot chocolate.
"Just to get skulls and other stuff," Petra answered. Romeo's eyes expanded.
"You collect skulls?!" Romeo shouted. Petra rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"No, stupid. I sell them to other people," Petra grumbled. This just made Romeo's eyes widen more.
"You sell skulls to other people?!" Romeo gasped. Petra slapped a palm to her forehead.
"They're monster skulls. Not human skulls," Petra clarified. Romeo calmed down after Petra made her explanation clearer.
"So if Petra goes to the Nether to get items, maybe Cassie went to the Nether to get something she needed. But what? And why?" Olivia concluded. Petra raised her hand.
"Okay, I want someone to explain... how does Romeo still have his powers?!" Petra interrogated.
"Romeo only has his telekinesis, shapeshifting, voice replication, flight, electrokinesis, teleportation, and advanced healing. The Golden Gauntlet's energy is working to remove all of his powers, but his own white blood cells are fighting against it and attacking the energy. Because the Golden Gauntlet is too strong, his powers should be very weakened by now and gone in a couple of days. Romeo should barely be able to lift a book with his telekinesis by now," Olivia stated. Romeo used his telekinesis to lift Lukas' book to the ceiling, make it spin in a circle three times, and bring it back down his hands.
Petra smirked at Olivia.
"You were saying?" Petra responded. Olivia's eyebrows rose and her eyes widened.
"...I guess he's going to keep the powers he has left until someone hits him with the Golden Gauntlet again," Olivia said.
"Can you give me a second?" Romeo asked as he pointed to the door. Olivia nodded and Romeo left the room. He jumped around, put his fists in the air, and cheered for a while. Romeo then entered the kitchen with a wide grin on his face.
Everyone was snickering or struggling to hold back a laugh, so Romeo was almost certain that they heard him.
"We heard you celebrating," Petra pointed out. She sounded highly amused.
"Wouldn't you if you found out you got to keep your powers?" Romeo said, his tone a bit on the defensive side. Petra shook her head and chuckled.
"I wouldn't be that much of a dork while doing it," Petra teased. Jesse turned her head to Romeo.
"If Petra's your friend, she will tease you. Mercilessly," Jesse told him. Romeo smiled at her.
"Fred, Xara, and I teased each other a lot too." Romeo's smile was replaced by a single tear. "I- I try to remember them fondly, but... All I can think of is what I did to them," Romeo stammered. Jesse stared at him.
"Okay. That's it. You're talking to Xara tomorrow," Jesse declared. She sounded very determined.
"But-" Romeo protested. Jesse waved her hand in dismissal.
"I don't care what you talk about, but you need to talk to her. I know you're scared, but you need to talk things out. Even if she doesn't forgive you, it's going to help. I know. You're really hung up on this whole 'Xara' thing, and procrastinating is just going to make things worse," Jesse stated. Romeo's stomach churned. He was already nervous several hours prior to his visit with Xara.
"Can you at least come with me?" Romeo asked.
"I dunno. This is something you need to do on your own... and I don't want to get attacked by Xara before my date, sooo...." Jesse trailed off. Romeo had a sneaking suspicion the second reason Jesse had listed was the dominating reason she wasn't coming, with the first as just a footnote.
"Could I bring someone else just in case things get life-threatening?" Romeo negotiated.
"Yeah, you can have a friend wait outside. If they think things are getting not exactly safe for you in there, they can make an excuse and pull you out," Jesse explained. Romeo let out a sigh of relief.
"Okay. Yeah. That works," Romeo answered. Suddenly Radar flung open the kitchen door and sprinted into the kitchen. He held out a shimmering pearlescent pink envelope to Jesse.
"Jesse... you... got... a letter... from Miss Dwyer," Radar panted. He paused for a moment. "She said to give it to you right away," Radar notified, no longer out of breath. Jesse knitted her eyebrows together.
"Miss Dwyer...?" Jesse murmured in confusion. Suddenly her eyebrows rose. "Oh! Lizzie!" Jesse realized. Romeo beamed upon hearing the name of his friend. He got a closer look at the letter, and saw that it had words written on it in a neat and curling script. Every "i" was dotted with a heart.
From: Lizzie Dwyer (LDShadowLady)
To: Jesse Taber
Jesse opened the letter and lifted a piece of pearlescent white paper out of it. On the paper was a message from Lizzie, which Romeo read over Jesse's shoulder:
Hi Jesse!
How have you been doing? I haven't seen you in a while, so I guess I should tell you how I've been doing as well.
I've been working on lots of videos for my YouTube channel, going on loads of adventures, and I'm getting engaged to my boyfriend Joel!
But I can fill you in with more details when I see you tomorrow morning for the welcome party.
Joel and I are moving into Beacontown, so I decided to throw a welcome party for everyone else who was moving in.
I know, I know. You'd think I'd never go to another party again because the dinner party at the mansion ended so horribly. *Shudders.*
But I decided a party would be the best way to welcome my friends.
The reason why this letter had to get to you so quickly was because the party is tomorrow at ten AM, and I wanted to warn you in advance.
Maybe you could bring some cupcakes or something? You don't have to, but it would really help. Oh, and bring some of your friends! Anyone who wants to come is welcome. (Except zombies and other hostile mobs. Please don't bring any hostile mobs to the party.)
Thanks so much!
-Lizzie
P.S.- When I told your intern to bring this letter to you right away, he freaked out like it was an emergency or something. LOL, I just meant "don't be an extremely slow letter deliverer."
Jesse slipped the piece of paper back into the envelope.
"Okay, a lot of stuff is going on tomorrow. There's a welcome party, Romeo talking to Xara, and Jesse's date with Lukas," Petra commented.
"Can I come to the welcome party?" Romeo piped up. Jesse suppressed a laugh.
"I thought you hated parties," Jesse snickered. Romeo did, but he'd gotten a lot more comfortable talking to people since then.
"It can't be too bad, it doesn't sound like one of Adara's crazy parties. My friend Lizzie is going to be there. And who knows? Maybe I could make some new friends," Romeo answered. Jesse smiled warmly.
"I think all of us should go on an adventure sometime soon. Radar, Jesse, Petra, Romeo, Axel, Olivia, Lukas, and maybe Jack. I'll schedule it and make it happen, I promise," Jesse added. The corners of Petra's mouth turned up.
"Or maybe the adventure will find us," Petra responded. Jesse made Radar some caramel hot chocolate, then she and Radar sat down at the table. Jesse raised her mug of hot chocolate.
"To adventure and friends?" Jesse suggested. Radar, Petra, Romeo, Axel, Olivia, and Lukas lifted their mugs.
"To adventure and friends," Radar, Petra, Romeo, Axel, Olivia, and Lukas said in unison. Everyone bumped their mugs of hot chocolate together to make a soft clink.