Ms. Heath was still sitting at her desk when Lilli came in. Lilli knocked on the doorframe. Ms. Heath looked up from her computer. “Yes, Lilli?” 

“I was just wondering, when are you heading home tonight?” This had become a daily occurrence whenever possible, as Lilli seriously did not want to be home early, despite the looming amount of homework. 

“Five-thirty, as always.”

“Okay, um—do you mind asking Mr. Steele if I could borrow a basketball and return it before you leave?” Lilli didn’t understand why she was so nervous asking this question every day, but the words always tripped over one another at some point. Besides, it wasn’t like she was going to ask Mr. Steele. Hell no.

“Of course! Wait right here,” Ms. Heath said as she skirted the edge of her desk. “I’ll be right back.” Lilli nodded and sat on one of the desks at the front. 

Lilli estimated that a total of ten minutes had passed before Ms. Heath came back into the classroom, a basketball balanced in one of her hands. She lightheartedly tossed it to Lilli before sinking back into her chair. 

“It’s three-thirty five, so you have around two hours,” Ms. Heath said, glancing at the clock in the corner. “Have fun!”

“Will do, miss!” Lilli said over her shoulder. She quickened her pace once she got closer to the doors that lead outside. After notifying Mr. Clide where she was, she made a beeline for the South Lot. Sure, the basketball hoops sucked, but she didn’t mind the extra practice. She dug out her earbuds, put on her ‘basketball’ playlist on her iPod, stowed her bag at the base of her basketball hoop, and began to dribble.

It had been around an hour before Lilli stopped to take a break. She hadn’t been running that much, but she was still thirsty. And breathing heavily. She didn’t have the best stamina. 

She dug through her bag before realizing something; she forgot her water bottle. She swore under her breath, then looked around to see if anyone heard since there were still little kids outside. The sun had started to creep toward the horizon, leaving pink clouds in its wake. Shadows stretched across the pavement before Lilli’s eye caught on a color that stood out. 

Another corner of unnatural dark green poked out of her bag’s side pocket. She placed the basketball on the ground and ran over to her bag, snatching out the Post-It note crumpled inside. 

I know you don’t believe me, it said, but just do it. Remember, ‘CL’.

Lilli dug out the Post-It note from English and compared the two. The handwriting was the same, probably from the same person. The scribbles still looked annoyingly familiar, like a memory from a long time ago, but she just couldn’t place it. She shoved them both into the side pocket before sighing. She was way too tired to deal with this right now, so she just got back onto the court and kept dribbling, this time more dehydrated.

But what if it’s important, whispered the voice in her head, what if you actually need to know?

Lilli shoved away the voice and kept working on her left-hand layups. 

Lilli stopped again, this time because she had a stitch in her side. She checked the time on her iPod’s small display. It was five fifteen, thankfully. The number of times she had gotten people worried about her after she didn’t check her iPod frequently enough was startling. She wasn’t too sweaty, and there was a chill breeze blowing through the lot, so she slipped on her hoodie and swung her bag over her shoulder. Mr. Clide let her into the building and she braced herself for the trek up to the third floor. 

Something to keep in mind next time you have to climb stairs right after running: don’t. Just, don’t. Lilli was out of breath on the second floor, but she pushed through and dragged herself into the gym. Mr. Steele was packing his bag when she came in.

“Mr. Steele!” Mr. Steele’s head turned toward her. Lilli passed the basketball to him. “Thanks for letting me borrow it, again. See you tomorrow!” Mr. Steele waved before turning to place the basketball in the right bin. Lilli hastened out of the gym and went straight to Ms. Heath’s room. 

Ms. Heath was packing her papers into her tan laptop backpack when Lilli knocked on the doorframe. Ms. Heath shouldered her bag and walked toward Lilli. “Right on time. Let’s get you to the bus stop, shall we?” she said, patting Lilli on the back. Lilli was an inch or two taller than her, as she was with half her teachers. 

They walked down the stairs and wished Mr. Clide goodnight. Lilli pushed open the door into the cool dusk and walked, with Ms. Heath, to the closest bus stop. Ms. Heath waited with her until the bus came, despite Lilli’s protests. 

When said bus finally came, Lilli gave Ms. Heath only a minorly awkward side hug before bounding up to the card-scanner-thing to scan her bus pass. Once the scanner beeped, Lilli took her seat in the nearest empty seat and waved to Ms. Heath. Ms. Heath waved back until the bus rounded the corner and she disappeared from sight. 

Lilli’s stop came relatively quickly, especially with less traffic than there was in the morning. She thanked the driver and jumped off, walking toward her house, sighing inwardly when she saw almost all the lights on. Two shadows were flitting through the windows, one in the basement, one in the Spencer’s bedroom.

She went up the front stairs, two at a time, and lifted the lid off the black, shiny mailbox. There were a few letters inside, which she lifted out. She sorted through them, muttering to herself. 

“Junk. Junk. Coupon! Junk,” she muttered, “junk, aha!” 

Amongst all the junk (and one Walmart coupon) letters there was a brownish envelope. To her, it looked almost like parchment. The flap was sealed with an official-looking seal, stamped into dark blue wax, of a ribbon wrapping around an open book. Lilli flipped it over, only to be met with an almost entirely blank back. The only thing on the back was ‘CL’, hastily written in the same handwriting as before, in dark blue ink. She looked around the street, seeing only a few birds in the trees. Two crows, a few little chickadees, and a singular bluejay, which was picking at a branch.

Lilli scooped out her keys and twisted them into the lock. The door unlocked with a click! and creaked as she swung it open.

“I’m home!” she shouted, dropping her bag next to the door. The mail went in a pile on the kitchen counter, but she snuck her letter into the pocket of her hoodie. She toed her shoes off and ducked into the bathroom to wash her hands. Just as she dried her hands, she heard footsteps.

Todd Spencer, a shorter man with greying brown hair, was trudging over to the basement, a full laundry basket in his hands. “Oh good, you’re back. Janet’s in a right tizzy upstairs, can’t find her ring. Figured it would be best if I took the laundry. Lunch is in the fridge, chores are on the table. I’ll be in the basement if you need me.” Todd lumbered downstairs without a backward glance before pausing. “Wait,” he began, “why are you home so late?”

“Detention,” Lilli said smoothly. “I got in trouble for accidentally hitting a kid in the nose with a dodgeball at recess.”

Todd blinked. “That’s a little stupid. Just don’t tell Janet,” he said, already halfway down the basement stairs.

Lilli dropped her bag next to her seat at the dining table and walked over to the refrigerator. A lone half of a cheese and ham sandwich was waiting for her on the top shelf. She took it out, poured a glass of water, and sat at the empty table. She scarfed down her small lunch and raced up the stairs, dragging her bag behind her. 

She was halfway up the stairs before she remembered her list of chores on the table. Lilli ran back and snatched the paper before racing to her room, taking two steps at a time. She saw the door to Janet and Todd’s bedroom open, leaving Janet standing in the doorway. 

Janet was a thin woman, only a few inches taller than Lilli. Her thin brown hair was in a bun and her face was both angry and worried. She paid Lilli no mind as she wore down the floor with her pacing, several bracelets glittering on her right wrist.

Seconds after she closed the door, heavy footsteps sounded behind her door and down the stairs. Janet. Lilli unfolded the slip of paper and looked at the chores she had to do. 

Vacuum the first floor

Dust the house

Fold the clothes Todd washed

Empty the dishwasher

Clean the pantry

~

The list went on and on. Lilli groaned, already anticipating the time she would have remaining for her homework. She set down her bag and trudged to the broom closet that housed the vacuum. 

The chores took Lilli ages to finish. She had taken a break for a short, tense dinner with the Spencers, then she continued. The Spencers went to bed at around eleven, so Lilli had the house to herself. She was folding the laundry when a loud snore echoed around the near-silent house. She suppressed a giggle and kept folding.

Lilli finished her chores at around midnight. When she was done, she crossed off everything on the list and placed it back where she had found it, on the dinner table. She tip-toed back up to her room and shut the door. She flicked on the light and sank into her desk chair, audibly sighing when she remembered how much work she had to do. 

Her bag was still next to her desk, zipped shut. Lilli tugged out her history textbook and set it on her desk with a soft whump. Her notebook followed, along with a pen. She flipped open her textbook, attempting to find the right page. Her notebook followed, but Lilli folded it so it would take up less room. 

The sound of her pen scratching and the occasional flip of a page was the only sound in the room. Lilli didn’t bother using her iPod; the house across the street was blaring pop music loud enough to be faintly heard in her room. 

Lilli finished her homework at one in the morning. Her only homework that night had been the outline. She kept daydreaming during class instead of working on it, so now she had to cram it all to finish in one night. 

She stuffed her work in her bag and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She showered and trudged to her bed in her pajamas. 

Then she remembered the letter.

She dug out her hoodie from her dresser and reached into the front pocket. The letter was still there, in all its parchment-y glory. She put the hoodie back before laying on her stomach, shifting as close to the light as her bed would allow. 

The dark blue seal looked almost too pretty to break, so she carefully tried to pry it off without ripping it. It consisted of a single feather inside an open book. A twisting vine wrapped around both the book and the feather.

After a few moments of her fingers scrabbling on the wax, she managed to get her fingernails slightly underneath the seal. She gently peeled it upward, just enough so that she could open the letter. 

There was nothing else sealing the letter shut except for the seal. No suspicious glue strips that you had to lick (for some really odd reason), which Lilli found strange. Then again, this whole situation was strange. 

Inside the envelope was a folded piece of crisp paper that looked the same as the envelope, only a little lighter. Lilli gently took it out and unfolded it to the size of a standard piece of paper.

The letter itself was written in dark blue ink, the same as the initials on the envelope. Lilli dug out the other two notes from earlier that day and placed them in front of her on the mattress. 

All three of the notes were written in the same hasty scrawl, but in the letter, it was obvious that the writer had tried to make their handwriting a little more legible. Lilli subconsciously thanked them, because she doubted her worn-out eyes could decipher a whole letter written in chicken scratch. 

She placed the two notes inside a drawer on her desk before beginning to read.

Lilli Silva,

I know you probably think this is some kind of joke, but I can assure you that it’s not. They have told me to give you instructions on how to find the symbol and I, the humble messenger, am now relaying their message.

On the grounds of your school, there is a large tree, close to the windows. You’ve probably sat beneath it before, as a lot of people have. On the trunk of the tree, there is an insignia. 

The insignia is four connected circles. They are in a 2x2 square-like shape. A dagger is pointing downward on the insignia, the hilt beginning where all four circles touch. There are two branches underneath the dagger, circling upward around the whole thing.

However, the insignia may be worn away from time and erosion, since this particular one is very old. 

To activate it (please remember this step at all times), trace the symbol from the outermost details to the point where the circles meet. Once your finger reaches there, press and hold your finger for a few seconds. After a suitable amount of time has passed, step a few feet away from the tree. Someone will come and explain what is going on.

PLEASE NOTE: You can only activate the symbol during daylight, or with whatever light you have available.

You probably don’t believe me, but that’s okay. 

However.

Do me a favor, humor me, eh? What do you have to lose? Nothing happens, nothing happens. You go on with your life. But please, just try.

C.L.

Lilli’s eyebrows were progressively rising further and further up her forehead.

“Seriously, this makes no sense,” she said softly to herself, “Why would someone go through all that trouble just to feed me some bullshit?” She decided that she was way too tired to deal with this right now.

Lilli carefully folded up the letter and placed it into the envelope she found it in. She placed the envelope (and the previous Post-It notes) into a small green folder. She then shoved the folder into her bag. She knew that the letter wouldn’t be safe in her desk. While the Spencers never really went through her stuff, they had no reason not to start now. It was probably the safest to keep it with her.

Lilli snatched the empty cup on the desk and snuck downstairs to refill it. Taking care not to spill a drop, she crept back upstairs and shut her door once more. She drank around half of it before placing it back on her desk. She checked to make sure her alarm was on (a habit she had developed after missing the bus several times) before turning off the light. Her glasses were placed on her desk. The room was blurry, and Lilli’s tired eyes imagined shapes forming in the dark corners of her room. 

Her bed covers were thrown back as she climbed in. Lilli wrapped them around herself and shut her eyes, willing herself to go to sleep. Her exhausted brain obliged and, for the first time in a while, Lilli Silva fell asleep immediately.