Playing The Part: Part Six

     "Think about it. It could be fun," replied Fluffy smoothly, leaning towards her brother's table.

     But before the striped Kacheek could respond, a white Jetsam kicked open the door of their classroom and waltzed in, wearing the usual snug look on his face. And as usual, he strolled over to Sweet, maliciously grinning.

     "Hey, lights geek! I want those bright shiny things in my face during this rehearsal! I'm the star of the show, and everyone's going to be watching me!" Alvin made a silly pose right in front of his rival. "Only the best for me, the greatest -"

     Sweet jumped off his chair and faced the Jetsam squarely. "You're not the star, Alvin," he said coolly. "My sister's the star, and you're just the co-star. You only get to be in the limelight because she and the teachers let you. Now just leave me alone before I have to tell Miss Ford that you're bragging your head off."

     Alvin glared briefly at the striped Kacheek, who had already turned away and was sliding back into his seat, as if nothing had transpired. Fluffy gave her sibling the thumbs-up. "Wow, you really showed him that time! And you stood up for Glitter - it's been a long time since you did that!"

     "Well, we're all siblings," he answered. "We stick together, no matter what." His own words seemed to slap him back to reality. "So…I guess that means we'll be on the lights committee together?"

     "Sure. Kat said that there is a possibility of me not being seen while I work lights anyway."

     "I'm sure glad to hear that!"

     The two siblings craned their necks towards their left and saw a strawberry Poogle enter the classroom. "Fluffy, did you just say that you want to get into the lights committee?"

     The white Aisha nodded to her teacher, who beamed instantly. "Fantastic! We needed more volunteers, and thankfully you offered your services in time!" Sweet winked at his sister as Miss Ford made her way towards her table to begin class.

     ***

     "For once, I can't wait for the practice to begin," remarked Fluffy. The class had ended, and everyone was headed for the auditorium. Some of their classmates were already in their costumes, and the other students were coming out of their rooms as well.

     Angel and Glitter immediately pushed through the crowd and met up with their older siblings. "Sweet! Fluffy! Over here!"

     The four quickly stuck together. "So did you two finally decide to work together on the lights?" asked the Poogle curiously.

     The Kacheek and Aisha nodded together, obviously looking very happy and relieved. Before anything else, a wad of paper sailed up from nowhere, hit Glitter on the head and plopped onto the floor. The faerie Acara picked it up before anyone could and unfolded it. Her eyes grew wide as she scanned the note.

     "Another threat?" asked Sweet. Glitter pulled him to a corner of the auditorium, along with Fluffy, who had dragged Angel as well. The three siblings listened closely to their sister as she read out the second note from the culprit.

     "With the throne comes a big responsibility, Queen Allison. Thou art better off saving thyself from the dangers that lurk ahead. Give thy crown away and keep it away from thyself. Do it before it is too late to live a normal, safe life away from monarchy."

     The faerie Acara looked up. "Same handwriting," she said. "At least we know that there is only one someone who's writing these things."

     "They sure like using the Water Faerie Pencil," observed Sweet. "Another evidence that none of us is threatening Glitter - we don't have any of those." His siblings nodded.

     "And it's all in loopy writing," added Angel. "I don't like doing fancy stuff."

     "Well, at least we now know that the culprit likes Water Faerie Pencils, cursive script and medieval figures of speech. There may well be several of these here in the school," said Fluffy.

     The discussion ended there, as Miss Ford and Mr. Embers had arrived to separate the group into their respective parts.

     ***

     "Hey, can you make some blue light?" whispered Sweet to a small light faerie that was perched on a small chest of costumes.

     She nodded eagerly, zoomed off above the stage, and began flashing her sapphire glow on Glitter, who was once again clad in a regal costume and rattling off some of her lines. It made the striped Kacheek proud to see that she was the only one rehearsing without a script.

     But just a split second later, Sweet heard the backdrop shudder violently, and made its slow fall onto the stage, headed towards the Acara.

     "LOOK OUT!" Sweet yelled. Glitter whipped around to see a huge wooden display behind her. She instantly took flight and soared just before the backdrop could hit any part of her. All the knights - including Angel - were all scattered at the sides, so they didn't need to run off when the background made its morbid cascade towards the queen.

     "Are you all right?" called the jelly Poogle, sheathing his pretend sword.

     Glitter nodded. "That was close! If it weren't for Sweet, I would've been a goner!" She waved towards the striped Kacheek, whose eyes were wide with fear and anxiety after seeing what had nearly happened.

     "Thank goodness everything's all right," said Miss Ford, running up to the stage, accompanied by a group of students and Mr. Embers the fire Scorchio. "But how could that have happened?"

     "I don't know," said Sweet, coming out from backstage. "After I spoke to a light faerie, I heard something creak and crash. But I didn't do it!" he added quickly. "Right after I asked her to go put the spotlight on Glitter, that's when the backdrop started to move!"

     "He couldn't have done it," said the faerie Acara. "I saw him there, and if it were my brother, it would have taken longer for the backdrop to fall, because Sweet has to run over behind the thing and push it down."

     The anxious expression on Sweet's face turned into a grateful one. He was so astounded at his sister's effort to defend him that he momentarily forgot about the fateful moment. The Kacheek shot Glitter a relieved smile.

     "But…if it wasn't Sweet, then who did it?" asked Miss Ford. The strawberry Poogle scratched her head. "I sent Fluffy off to do an errand for me, so it wasn't her either, I'm sure."

     "If it was her, it would have taken her a longer time to run back here to try and ruin Glitter's act," added Mr. Embers.

     While everyone else shrugged and offered their theories, Sweet saw a figure clad in black gently slip behind the curtains, coming from the area of the backdrop. Without thinking twice, he pursued the stranger. "Get back here, you coward!" he called out. Of course, the figure quickened its pace and disappeared through a door. The striped Kacheek followed suit and saw that he was standing in an empty space…just beside the stage. They had gone through the backstage door, and now the stranger had vanished.

     "Shoot," sighed Sweet. But before he could turn back to his work, he saw something fall onto the floor in the stranger's trail. Glitter's brother ran over to it, and saw a turquoise-colored pencil, with the initials "A.D." scrawled on the body with black ink. Looking around, he put the evidence in his backpack. As he walked over to the stage, he bumped into a flustered faerie Acara.

     "What's wrong now?" he asked, seeing the expression on his sister's face. Glitter's eyes were wide open, and she was shaking. She pointed at the empty wall at the back of the auditorium, where some tall, thin words had been daubed with light blue paint. The students and teachers began to investigate, and many questions could be heard from the group.

     Now that the backdrop was gone, everyone could see a vast stretch of dull off-white wall, but it was no longer just off-white. At the very center were several haunting words that made even Sweet shudder.

     "Oh…this is…crazy," the Kacheek managed to choke out. Nobody had noticed the paint at first, but now that the attention was no longer on the fallen backdrop, all eyes were on what someone had scrawled in a light blue tint.

     "Come on, let's go clean this up," Miss Ford was calling. "We have to get this place set as early as possible."

     "But we can't," replied one of the students from the props committee. "Whoever has done this has used permanent paint."

     "Maybe we can cover it up," suggested the strawberry Poogle.

     The same student shook his head. "Miss Ford, the white wall is so dirty that if we painted over it with white, they'd still stand out to a good eye."

     "This is horrible," sighed Mr. Embers. "Who in Fyora's name would want to see such absurd, abhorrent threats scribbled in our auditorium?"

     "It wouldn't be good for the Neoschool's name," added Miss Ford. "Okay, all of you may go home now. We will deal with this fiasco right now, and you are all better off staying with your owners for a while. A vandal's on the loose."

     Glitter shook her head and whispered to Sweet. "It's not a vandal…it's the one who wants me out of the play!"

     Neither the striped Kacheek nor Angel could argue with that statement, as the two brothers reread the terrible statement scrawled on the wall. The faerie Acara had been annoyed at the notes and the backdrop falling, but this time she was frightened and panicky.

     "And besides, you're the only Glitter in this place," added the jelly Poogle in horror.

     "QUEEN ALLISON MUST DIE

     GLITTER MUST DIE."

To be continued...