Now Lexy understood why people enjoyed playing chess. To her, it had always been a sad excuse for an extracurricular at school. But now she understood it.
Being in control was an amazing thing.
She finally knew why her life had never felt complete before. Like all the pieces were there but she was constantly organizing them in the wrong order.
But since G&G came into her life, she was finally able to see straight, and she finally knew what to do in order to feel complete. And strong. And powerful.
Being in control was an amazing thing, and she was never letting it go again.
Hiram Lodge had put the entire town of Riverdale on lockdown. He claimed it was because of all the seizures, but people suspected otherwise.
Since the lockdown began, crime rate had risen in the town immensely.
Rich homes on the Northside were robbed. There was a break-in in the Sheriff's station and files were stolen. Windows were smashed at the Mayor's office. Weird symbols had been spray painted on the sides of important town landmarks. The list could go on for weeks.
People assumed it was just teenagers growing tired of being locked away. But in reality, it was Lexy Andrews, out on the streets every night. Without a tinge of fear or guilt. She had never felt more alive.
Lexy hoisted herself over the edge of the Pembrooke balcony. Hiram and Hermione were away and Veronica was working late at the speakeasy. A robbery had never felt so easy.
She took a packet of fizzle rocks out of her pocket and tipped some onto her tongue, making her eyes water slightly and her nose tickle.
At this point, fizzle rocks were practically her diet.
She walked to the door but was caught off guard when she saw that it was already open. Meaning somebody was home. Veronica?
Lexy slipped through the door and hid behind a large bookshelf. She peeked her head out to get a glimpse of who she was dealing with.
"What are you guys doing here?"
In the middle of the dimly lit dining room, stood Cheryl and Toni, wearing tight black clothing and weird cat masks. The two glanced at each other, neither of them knowing whether to answer the question or not. Toni suddenly removed her mask and knitted her brows together and turned to Lexy.
"Wait, what are you doing here?" She deflected the question off of herself.
Lexy didn't even try to come up with an excuse. As soon as she caught sight of something glimmering in Toni's bag, that was all she was focused on.
She launched herself forward and jerked the glamourgé egg out of the bag. Toni was quick to pull at Lexy's arm to trying win the lavish decoration back. Lexy spun her body in the other direction ripping away from Toni's hold.
"I'm here to get this." She let out a weird, dreamy laugh as she stroked the incrusted diamonds.
Toni had never heard that laugh before. It sounded slightly unhinged. Like there was no real happiness behind it. It was like it was artificial.
"May I ask why you need a glamourgé egg?" Cheryl demanded.
"I want to add it to my collection. I happen to be a glamourgé egg junkie." She began tossing the egg from hand to hand. "What do you guys want it for?"
"These eggs are apparently worth quite a lot of money. It's always nice to have an extra hunk of cash lying around." Cheryl said.
She tried to catch it in mid air, but Lexy held it behind her back, out of Cheryl's reach. She gave her look as if to say "nice try".
"Just give me the egg."
"Wanting more money than you already have is not enough reason for me to give this up."
Lexy began swaying around the dining room table. She attempted to spin the egg on her finger like a basketball but ultimately failed. Toni and Cheryl gasped, waiting to hear a smash, but Lexy caught it before it hit the ground.
Toni huffed and made her way around the table to face the brunette.
"What is up with you? You ignore us for weeks and now all of a sudden you just feel the need to ruin our night, is that it?"
Lexy laughed. Not the dreamy laugh she had before. A patronizing laugh.
"Believe me, I would not go out of my way to do something knowing that all I get out of it is the two of you whining and complaining. Where's the fun in that?"
"Well then what the hell do you want with that stupid egg?" Cheryl asked.
Lexy grinned. "I don't want it. I just need to steal it."
Toni shook her head angrily. "Okay that makes no sense. Like... a dare or something?"
Lexy scrunched up her face in thought. "I guess you could say that, yeah."
Toni yanked the egg out of her hands as Lexy was distracted, earning an eye roll from the girl. Cheryl smiled proudly at her girlfriend.
"Well we aren't letting you take our egg on account of a dare." Toni said.
Cheryl held her hand out for Toni to take and the girls strutted towards the window they came in. Lexy stood herself in front of their escape route.
She had this inexplicable look in her eyes. It was like a mix of amusement and danger. The fact that she didn't seem to be blinking and she was wearing a menacing smile made her look... harrowing.
"Lexy, are you okay?" Toni blurted out.
She hated being asked that. Like other people knew what she was feeling. Like it was their duty to fix her.
"I'm not leaving without that egg."
***
She had the glamourgé egg. She had wrestled it away from Toni and it was literally in her hands. She did what the quest card told her to. But then some keys started jangling in the door. She looked away for one second and that's all it took for Cheryl to slip it through her fingers and take off.
"Let's play a game... if I were a glamourgé hidden in Cheryl Blossom's room, where would I be?" Lexy asked whimsically.
She skipped to the walk-in closet and began shoving through the clothes. Nothing.
She then rummaged through all of the drawers and cupboards in the room. Again, nothing.
"Maybe... she hid it under the bed." Lexy laughed hysterically as she lay with her stomach on the floor.
Fizzle rocks really did make everything better. In normal circumstances she'd be panicking about when Cheryl and Toni would be back.
No egg but there was a fancy leather handbag. She pulled it out from under the bed and rooted through it, still lying on the floor.
"Woah. I'm... smart."
Buried in the bottom of the bag was the hideously expensive glamourgé egg. Lexy willed herself to get up and take it home straight away. Her quest was finished. The quicker she got home, the quicker she could move onto the next task.
Instead, she tossed the egg onto the bed and passed out on the ground.
The fizzle rocks were probably wearing off.
***
Cheryl and Toni were not happy about having to lead Jughead and Sweetpea through Thistle House and into their bedroom.
Jughead made a pact with the Serpents. They would no longer be on the wrong side of the law. They would no longer be committing crimes of any sort at any time. Anyone who broke that pact was exiled.
So you can guess that when he found out about Cheryl and Toni stealing the glamourgé egg from the Pembrooke, he was not happy. They were kicked out of the Serpents. But first they had to give the egg to Jughead.
Rolling her eyes at the Serpent king, Cheryl took her handbag out from under her bed, searching for the glamourgé agg.
"Come on, Cheryl. The egg?" Jughead grew impatient.
"It's not here, you hobo." She huffed, finding nothing but scarves and jewellery in the bag.
"What do you mean it's not here?"
"It was here. Now it's not."
"I don't have time for your games, Cheryl."
Toni took the bag from Cheryl and went through it herself. "She's telling the truth, Jones. It's not here."
"Well where would it be? It couldn't just disappear on its own. Did anyone else know you guys had it?" Sweetpea inquired.
Toni looked at Cheryl and as soon as the two made eye contact, they realized.
"Lexy." They said in unison.
Jughead and Sweetpea looked at them questioningly.
"She must've broke in here while we were at school. I didn't see her at all today." Cheryl said.
"Are we missing something?" Jughead asked.
"Yeah, what would Lexy want with some tacky egg?" Sweetpea added with a disbelieving laugh.
"Who knows? All we know is that we ran into her in the Pembrooke last night and she was pretty determined to get it." Toni shrugged her shoulders.
Jughead rubbed his forehead in frustration. Lexy had pretty much fallen off the grid lately. How was he supposed to get the glamourgé back from her if he couldn't even find her?
***
The Andrews' house was locked but Jughead knew they hid the spare key under the flower pot on the porch. He got the key and let himself in the front door. If Mr. Andrews came home, he'd tell him Lexy borrowed his book and he was getting it back.
He rushed up the stairs and took a left at the top. He tried to open the second door on the left but was unable to. Locked. Since when did Lexy start locking her doors?
Luckily, he was prepared for it. Betty had taught him how to pick a lock with a bobby pin. He kept one on him just in case.
He leaned over and stuck the pin into the keyhole, jiggling it around the way he was taught. He took a little longer than Betty did, but he eventually heard a click, indicating that the door was unlocked.
He twisted the handle for the second time and entered the bedroom. He couldn't help but laugh when he saw the priceless egg sitting on Lexy's bed. She never was very subtle.
Something stopped Jughead as he exited the room, however. Lexy never wore pearls. She barely ever wore jewellery. Why was there an expensive looking pearl necklace hanging on the side of her mirror?
He then recognized it as Veronica's necklace.
From what he understood, Lexy had nothing but hatred for Veronica. She had her reasons, but still.
"What are you up to, Lexy?" He whispered to himself.
***
When Lexy saw her bedroom door no longer locked, she already knew that the egg would be gone. And she was right. That unnecessarily shiny and annoyingly heavy egg had vanished.
And she knew where.
"Cheryl freaking Blossom!" She yelled.
She slammed her bedroom door behind her as she stormed down the stairs, fully prepared to throw a brick through a window in Thistle House. It wouldn't be the first time she'd done that in the past few weeks.
When she opened the front door however, she suddenly didn't care about going to Thistle House. Not when there was a group of people wearing gargoyle masks standing in her front garden.
Lexy stayed still on her porch steps. Was she supposed to know what to do? Did it say something about this in any of the letters she was given?
"What is this?" She asked, gesturing to all the people in masks.
None of them said anything. Lexy continued to stare at them. She wished she had taken some fizzle rocks that afternoon, that way she wouldn't be thinking so much right now. She'd have to see to it that she always had some candy running through her system from now on.
"I'm not scared... if that's what I'm supposed to be." She said, unfiltered.
"You don't have to be scared." A gargoyle on the far left spine up.
"Are you guys the ones who have been sending me these quest cards? And the letters?"
"Only one of us is responsible for that. But we've all been watching. We've seen your commitment and loyalty to G&G these last few weeks. You cut out all distractions from the game; friends, family, morals. You walked into each task, eyes wide open, and completed each quest successfully, no matter the risk or danger. You are an exceptionally brave player. One of the best we've ever seen." The gargoyle explained. "Which is why we're here; to congratulate you on getting to level seven."
Lexy grinned from ear to ear. "Thank you."
The gargoyle who spoke before stepped forward.
"We are closely associated to the Gargoyle King. We are his... disciples... in a way. The whole point of the game is to meet the King and ascend to his kingdom. It's what every G&G player wants. We assume you do too?"
"Yes, yes, of course!" Lexy responded quickly. She had always wondered about the Gargoyle King. Did he know about her? All of her quests were kind of hard to miss around town.
"It's rare for a player, especially an off board one, to get this close to the final round. When they do, it's impressive. And it's something the Gargoyle King has us keep a close eye on." He explained. "This isn't the last you'll be seeing of us. You're quests are going to be harder than ever before. And we will be watching how you handle it."
Her quests were going to be harder than ever before.
For some reason, that excited Lexy. It gave her this buzzing sensation in her stomach. Everything that she had done already made an impact on everyone in the town, and she leisured in it.
Now that her tasks were going to be harder, that meant she would only be more powerful.
But little did Lexy or any of her friends know...
These next few quests were more than just petty crime. If one thing went wrong, it would be game over for Lexy.
A/N: Archie's coming home next chapter.... that's all I'm saying;)