An Examination

Klaus took a step inside the door and grabbed the necklace off the pedestal where it was laying. He held it up to the light of Jack's lantern so we could see it more clearly.

"That is the shittiest thing I've ever seen in my entire life," Maverick said simply. He turned on his heels and went back to wait near the cart.

"That's it?" Farley cried, taking another quick look inside the vault. "Where's the rest of it?" He peered at it closely, as if hoping it would do a trick for him.

"I guess this is it," Klaus said, turning it over in his hands.

It was about twenty-two inches long, long enough to hang off your neck and down your chest. It was made entirely of rough, little black rocks that had been strung on a piece of gold chain. In the very middle of the necklace, encased in one of the rocks, was a small blue stone about the size of my smallest fingernail.

Klaus held it out to me, and I took it from him to examine it for myself.

"Well, it has to do something if it's that ugly," Tally said logically. She turned her head to the side and squinted her eyes to get a better look at it.

We all agreed it must have some magical power, and I held it out in front of me, holding my nose with my other hand as I did. The air was so old and dank underground, I could barely breathe. Not to mention it was cold as a tomb. I could feel myself shivering through my thin robes. I let go of my nose and started to rub my shoulders to regain some warmth in them. Klaus glared at me, and I held the necklace up.

We watched with bated breath as Klaus got out his wand and tapped it lightly, hoping it would show us if it had any powers.

It didn't do anything. Klaus frowned, thinking maybe he had done something wrong.

"Necklace, do something!" he commanded it. The necklace did nothing.

Penelope giggled at his futile attempt, and he glared at her, thinking she was mocking him. She gave him a shy glance and moved behind Annabelle to hide herself.

I put the necklace around my neck and shook it at Annabelle. She jumped back in surprise, almost crushing Penelope, and the rest of them laughed, but nothing else happened out of the ordinary.

I rubbed the blue stone and pinched it between two fingers, hoping perhaps there was some kind of latch I needed to catch, but felt nothing. I thought there had to be something we were missing, so I took each of the rocks in my hand and looked at each one closely, but they were all very similar and all very boring.

"What could its powers be? What could it possibly do?" Humphrey asked, looking confusedly at it. "It looks so... plain."

"And boring?" I added. He nodded.

"Maybe... maybe it doesn't do anything," Greg suggested. "Maybe it's just valuable, or something." He heaved a sigh, as if in pain.

"Why would they care so much about a valuable necklace?" Tally asked. "It's not like the New Order was poor or anything."

"Maybe they all knew they were going to die sometime, and when the time came, we'd need money." Greg scratched his head, deep in thought. "Should we get an appraisal?"

"An appraisal!" Farley threw his hands in the air, signaling his utmost displeasure with this necklace. "This is disappointing, and a complete waste of my time," Farley said, staring me down as I played with the necklace. "Aren't you hooligans ready to go yet?" He had made his way back over to the cart and was standing there waiting with Maverick.

I glanced at Klaus for his opinion of the situation, and I noticed his eyes soften, as if he felt bad for me. I straightened up and marched over to the cart, holding the necklace firmly in one hand.

"I think there is something special about this necklace. We've just got to find out what!"

The rest of them all trouped over to get back in the cart and begin the journey back up above ground, and I noticed with some satisfaction that as Klaus brushed by Farley, he did it just a bit more roughly than he needed to. I shot him an appreciate glance, and he grinned.

I noticed Jack eyeing the necklace hanging around my neck as I sat down between Klaus and him. I fingered the necklace carefully, wondering if I'd have to stuff it in my pocket to keep it out of Jack's reach. He did seem like the dodgy type, after all.

"What is that?" he asked, pointing at it with one dirty finger. He reached out to take it from me, but I moved away. I didn't want him to take it from me. It had to stay in my possession at all times, or else who knows? Even if it wasn't valuable, it still might have hidden powers, and I didn't want Jack getting a hold of it.

I shook my head. "We don't know. Have you ever seen anything like it before?" I gently held it out a bit more for him to see, but then I noticed Farley glaring a warning at me, and I pulled it back away, looking abashed.

Jack grunted at my movement and turned away, which I took as a no.

The rest of the time going back up was spent between Farley and Klaus arguing. Farley kept saying it had been a wild goose chase, and the necklace was of no value at all, and Klaus kept telling him he was ridiculously stupid, and someone should beat him up. Maverick offered, but Annabelle held him back.

By the time we reached above ground again, I was sick of hearing them argue about it, and I gave the necklace to Greg and told him to be careful with it. He assured me he wouldn't let it out of his sight, and he and Princeton and Humphrey went off to play with it and see what they could find out.

Jack held out his hand to me as the rest of them stood up there deciding what to do, and I slapped him a high-five, thinking that's what he wanted.

He glared at me, as if I was stupid.

"No, you wench, I want money!"

"Money? -- We already paid you!" I turned away from him, to run back to the car, but Jack pulled my arm back so I was once again facing him.

"I want the rest!" he snarled.

"The rest of what? You asked for five Sickles, and that's what we gave you."

"I meant five Galleons."

"Five Galleons? Hell no!" Farley yelled from the other end of the street where he was arguing with Annabelle and Maverick.

Jack didn't even glance up from my face. "What – don't have any money? Then perhaps something else can be arranged... " He glanced down at my chest and licked his lips as he spoke.

"No, you pervert, leave me alone!" I pushed him, and he stumbled backward a foot or two. I turned to follow the others back to the car but he stepped in front of me and grabbed my arm.

"No one says 'no' to me," he growled threateningly, standing up straight to make the most of his height.

"Yeah? I think I just did, you piss-head tosser!"

The quizzical look that crossed his face for a split second was almost enough to make me laugh out loud; but I held it in, for my sake.

He grabbed the collar of my robe and started to shake me, demanding more money.

"If you don't give it to me right now – "

I screamed and kneed him in the crotch. He dropped me roughly and fell to the ground, wheezing in pain. I started to sprint away, and Maverick and Klaus came running over to see what all the commotion was about.

"The little jerk tried to take advantage of me," I was breathing hard as I made a face at the thought of it. Maverick looked at Jack in disgust while Klaus stomped off toward him. He seized Jack's robes and pulled him up so they were eye level.

"No," Klaus said firmly and sent Jack sprawling backwards into a mud puddle with a punch to his right eye. Jack cursed and brought a hand to his eye, which was already beginning to swell.

Klaus brushed his shoulder off and came marching back.

"Close your mouths and stop drooling over me," he told us as he passed by, looking proud as a peacock.

"Well aren't YOU the muscular one!" I finally said, still amazed at Klaus' breath-taking act. The three of us headed over to the car, still talking about it, leaving Jack alone in the puddle to wonder where he had gone wrong.

"Oh, SHIT." was the first thing we heard when we got back to the car. Farley was shaking his fist in the air, silently mouthing obscenities to himself. Everyone else was looking on, realizing they shouldn't disturb him while he was so obviously in one of his rages.

"What's happened now?" I said, dismayed. Klaus and I joined Annabelle's side at the hood of the car. She was biting her lip and looking nervous.

"The car's not working!" Princeton cried happily from where he was perched on the roof of the car. Farley glared at him before turning back to Klaus and I.

"What did you do to break it?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips to confront him.

"I didn't do anything! I just came over and tried to put the key in, and it didn't work."

We turned to see what Klaus had to say.

"That sucks," Farley cried out in frustration. "What do we do, then?"

"Why don't we just spend the night here?"

"Because we are eleven kids out in the middle of some dark alley, and it is almost nine at night. Does that explain?"

"We'll sleep in the car."

"Yes, and get mugged!" Farley cried, quite aggravated.

"We won't get mugged."

"We don't have anything else to try. Maybe if we wait, in the morning the car will start. Maybe... something in it just needs to cool down, or something," Annabelle tried to reason with him, but she didn't know what she was talking about, obviously.

"Let's just sleep in the car, okay, Farley? Stop arguing. You're retarded, anyway." I turned from him and called to the rest of them. "Boys, get over here! What are you doing over there?"

Greg, Humphrey and Princeton came hurrying over from where they had been playing with the necklace halfway down the street.

"The car won't start," Annabelle explained patiently to the boys as they joined us.

"What do you want us to do about it?" Princeton asked, looking confused.

"Shouldn't we just sleep here overnight?" Tally asked, rolling her eyes at the stupidity of this entire situation.

I gave Farley a pleading look, and he finally shouted, "Yes! Fine! Whatever you want! Don't listen to anything I have to say!"

We all got back in the car and settled down in our previous seats, trying desperately to fall asleep so we'd have enough energy in the morning, if need be, to walk back. However, with all eleven of us crunched in there, there was no sleep to be found.

"Humphrey, stop poking me!"

"I don't have enough room, and you're bothering me."

"I can't help it – you're right next to me!"

"Stop fiddling with that!"

"If you don't stop moving, I'll hex you!"

"The street light is bothering my eyes."

"Why can't we just go home?"

"I warned you – "

"It's so cold here, too!"

"Dashing through the snow..."

"Petrificus Totalus!" Greg's voice rang out as he went to curse Humphrey. I frowned, turning round to unfreeze Humphrey, when I saw that he was still moving. I looked at him, surprised.

Greg looked down at his wand, as if it was the culprit.

"Why didn't it work?" he asked angrily. He raised his wand again. "Densaugeo!"

Humphrey flinched, but again nothing happened.

All of us stared blankly at Humphrey. He looked back at us weakly, shrugging sheepishly, as if he was sorry he wasn't being hexed.

"Why isn't... " I said, letting my sentence trail off.

"Are you doing anything to stop Greg from cursing you?" Annabelle asked Humphrey sharply.

He shrugged and shook his head.

"Maybe you're just stupid." Maverick said. He whipped out his own wand and aimed it at Humphrey.

"Furnunculus!"

Again, nothing happened.

We all sat there for a minute, staring at Humphrey as if he were a disease. We pondered, wondering what it could mean that nothing happened when we tried to curse him.

Princeton gasped.

"I know what it is!" he cried.

He reached out a hand and pulled something out from underneath Humphrey's robes.

The necklace.