Me and Nia exchanged confused looks as our Mom turned pale, snatched the letter, and ran upstairs to her office to read it. In that order.

"That was… strange." I said slowly when we were alone.

"I need to do something real quick." Said Nia, running towards her room, gently closing the door behind her.

Why do I feel like I'm missing something important? I thought to myself, sighing.

I went upstairs to my room, unpacked my school stuff, and struggled through an hour of homework before giving up.

I went downstairs to check on Nia who was still in her room doing whatever.

I knocked on the door before opening it.

I hadn't been in Nia's room for a while, but nothing had really changed. It was spotless down to the white dustless baseboards. Her bed was neatly made, all her clothes were folded up neatly in the dresser, her desk was clean and organized, and her bookshelf was arranged alphabetically. Like, who does that? My room had to be the exact opposite.

Nia was sitting cross-legged on her bed reading out of a three-ringed binder that she quickly slammed shut when she saw me enter the room.

"What are you doing in my room?" she asked, tense.

"I just wanted to check on you, plus I have a feeling you know a bit more about… I don't even know what you know about!" I said, amusing myself.

She sighed.

"You'll laugh at me."

"No I won't!"

"It's not important."

"I promise I won't laugh, even I can tell something weird is going on here."

She paused for a minute, then nodded.

"Ever since I was little, I've always had the feeling that something was strangely off. There was always a missing puzzle piece that people seemed to ignore. It drove me crazy." She said.

"So, I… started piecing together things that I found unusual. At first I put it up on a corkboard, but then… I got embarrassed and started doing it in my binder."

She gestured to her lap.

"So.. yeah."

We silent for an awkward Moment before I said,

"What have you discovered detective Petunia?"

She scowled.

"Don't call me that."

She opened her binder again and I leaned over her shoulder to get a better look.

She flipped through her book. It was filled with pictures and sticky notes, with little drawings here and there.

"What is it?"

"I think something happened here in this town a long time ago, and only a few people know about it. The problem is that I'm not sure what."

"I have something that might help." I said, sitting down next to her.

"What's that?"

"Well, you know how I said a lady with pink hair gave me the letter?"

"Yes." she replied.

"I think she used to know dad."

Nia's eyes widened slightly. She quickly wrote something down on a sticky note and placed it in her binder.

"And the symbol on the envelope, it looked kind of like a logo for a company or club... or something."

She gave me a look.

"A club. Really?"

"What? I can't be that far off. Plus you said that only certain people know about whatever happened however long ago. This could be them."

"Whatever." she said as she reluctantly wrote it down. Did I mention that Nia hates it when other people give her advice? Well she does and I find it annoying but hilarious.

"Come on, let's go to Isaac's house for a while, it's not like we have anything better to do."

I say, standing up.

"Okay." Nia says.

We grabbed our shoes and jackets, Nia grabbed her binder and we headed out the door. We go to the Domsalski's all the time, so I didn't bother Mom to tell her we were leaving the house.

As we walked down the street, clouds covered the sky and thunder rumbled in the distance, the threat of a thunderstorm looming overhead.

After walking a few blocks, we turned into the driveway of a nice medium-sized house that we had entered many, many times.

We knocked on the door and Mrs. Domsalski answered it.

"Oh hey James! Come on in, Issac was about to head to your house, what a coincidence!" she smiled and led us into the house, closing the door behind her.

Darci Domsalski is a kind and spunky woman who always loves it when we come over. She's a tall woman with curly brown hair that keeps in a bun at the top of her head. She got married to Tobias Domsalski not long after my parents got married.

Me and Nia walked into the house and removed our shoes at the door. Ms. Darci kept her house very tidy and we had been over enough times to know the drill by now.

We entered the kitchen, where uncle Toby was reading the newspaper.

When he saw us, he leaped up from the table and pulled us both into a crushing hug.

"Nia! James! It's good to see you!" he boomed.

Uncle Toby was a big man with a big beard, a big stomach, and a big laugh. He was the taco-eating champion four years in a row, and Mom's friend as long as I can remember.

"Hey uncle Toby." I said, trying to get air into my lungs which might be collapsed now.

"It's nice to see you too."

"Me and James have something to show Issac upstairs." Said Nia.

"Alright then, don't be long. We're having Cappelletti for dinner." Replied Ms. Darcy.

We all hurried upstairs and went into Issac's room. Once we were all inside he closed the door behind us and plopped on his bed.

"So, what's up." He asked. Nia sat down on the floor and opened her binder, pulling out a rough sketch of the mysterious emblem and handing it to him.

"This was on the envelope that lady gave to my Mom. What was her name? Lotus?" I say as he inspects the picture. "It turns out that Nia has been doing some investigation herself and she thinks that our Mom was part of a big secret that happened a long time ago."

"Our parents have been friends for a long time, and we thought you might know what it meant. Uh, also you're looking at it upside down." Nia said, flipping the paper over and handing it back to Issac, who's face lit up in recognition. "Actually… I do remember this."

He got up and walked over to his desk and opened the bottom drawer. When he turned back to face us, he held a scuffed up, half crushed piece of metal that might have been a ring once.

On the face of the ring was a tiny stamped version of the seal on the envelope. He handed it to me and I looked it over at different angles with Nia right next to me, her dark brown eyes analyzing and memorizing every inch of the surface.

"Where did you find this?" She asked.

"In my driveway, my parents probably dropped it and ran over it several times. It looked important and uh, maybe valuable so I kept it." He said sheepishly.

My eye caught sight of something on the inner ring.

"There's something written here." I said as I held it up to the light. On scratch up letters, I was able to make out four words:

For the glory of M-

"For the glory of who?" I wonder aloud. "Whom." Nia corrects.

"Whom. whatever."

We all look at the ring again. "The M is capitalized." Issac points out. "It could be a name."

"Or a place." Nia adds.

Hmmmmmmmm.

We are jolted out of our pondering when there is a sharp, rapid knock on the door. Nia peeks out of the window.

"It's Mom! She doesn't look happy."

Uh-oh.

Nia grabs her binder and I slip the ring into my jacket pocket as we hurry downstairs. We reach the bottom just as Mrs. Domsalski opened the door.

Sure enough, our Mom is on the other side, looking angry. No wait, furious.

"JAMES DRAAL LAKE!"

I flinched as she said my full name.

"What were you thinking leaving the house without telling me!"

She was a mess. Her hair was in knots the way it was when she raked her hands through it while she paced. Her face was pale and she was yelling at me. My mother never yelled. Ever.

"B-but we go to Issac's house all the time..." Nia says quietly, even she seems shaken at Mom's sudden outburst. Mom let out a shaky breath. "I know, I'm sorry it's just-"

"Claire?" Uncle Toby's worried voice came from the kitchen. "Hey Tobes." My Mom said.

"I just got some troubling news."

All the adults in the room exchanged worried glances before turning their gaze to us. "We'll talk later. " Uncle Toby said.

Me, Mom and Nia sat in silence as we rode home in the car. Mom turned to face us. "Don't ever go anywhere without telling me from now on, okay?"

"Okay." Nia and I said.

Rain started to pelt the windows and I put my hands in my pockets, fingering the ring.

What are you hiding, Mom?