A Secret Message (Lavender Cove #1)

Eight

it's wrong, lads

that's how you'll find me

where anna marie first learned about herself,

there is a park in which the crooning one is on a black pedestal

upon entering the site, you must press the right key

as many times as it took for THE storm to first appear

and then and only then

shall you see me

"WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK ?"

Chirp, chirp.

Salt and Light gazed at her in concern, but Vixen realized they were only humoring her when the pair then went back to eating their chop.

Hmph!

A week had already passed, but Vix hadn't made any progress at all in decoding the clues to finding Pedro Martinez, a.k.a. Alpha 1989. She felt like she was missing something right under her nose again, but what?

Vixen checked her watch and bit back a sigh. She only had ten minutes until opening, so she gave her feather babies a couple of head scritches and blew them a kiss before stepping out of the aviary.

Monday mornings were always busy, but today seemed a lot busier than usual, with several regulars already lined up by the counter.

Juno threw her a relieved smile when she saw Vixen approaching. Time went by in a blur, and it was already half past ten when Juno and Vixen had their first chance to rest their feet.

She checked her phone for any messages, and Vixen couldn't help smiling when she saw there was one.

Gabriel's Friend: Any luck?

Vixen : Zero progress. But either way, Claire and I are in your debt. If you ever find yourself in Lavender Cove, coffee's on me.

Gabriel's Friend : Funny you'd say that.

Vixen : You're in LC? You have to come over then! I work at Books, Blends, and Blessings.

Gabriel's Friend : I know the place.

Vixen : Great! How do you like your coffee?

Rule : Black.

Vix : Noted. One Americano for my good friend Rule coming right up.

Vixen twisted her hair up in a bun, and she even found herself humming under her breath as she prepared a fresh batch of beans to grind and brew.

Gabriel's friend was so nice, and she wondered if he would look exactly as she pictured him. Maybe in his sixties, silver-haired, and with wise, gentle eyes? He had to be as old as Claire's aunt at least. Right?

"What's this?"

Vixen saw her part-time employee gazing down at her notebook, which she had accidentally left lying open on the side table behind the counter.

"You don't seem the type to write poems and stuff," Juno commented.

Vixen feigned a look of hurt. "Excuse me?"

"Name five poems then."

"Does the Book of Psalms count?"

The younger girl laughed. "You're a really sweet person, Vix, but I just don't see you enjoying poems."

"What about Aesop's—-"

Juno cut her off, asking, "Can we just talk about that?"

"But—-"

"What is it, really?" Juno insisted on asking.

Vixen gave up trying to convince the younger girl of her refined tastes in literature and reached for her notebook. "It's a set of clues, basically."

"For what?"

"A...missing person case?" That was not quite a lie, right?

"I get it..." Juno's tone was thoughtful. "You know I'm a comic geek, right?" She then pointed to the first line and read it out loud. "It's wrong, lads."

Vixen looked at the younger girl blankly. "And?"

"If 'wrong' means X, then maybe 'lads'—-"

"—-could mean 'men'," Vixen exclaimed in surprise.

Juno grinned. "It's possible, right?"

Vixen was in disbelief. X-Men? These clues were based on the X-Men? She sent a text to Gabriel's friend and asked if he knew about Pedro Martinez being a fan of superhero comics, that sort of thing.

No. Why?

Vixen gnawed on her lip. Hmm. She texted Claire next, but this time asked the same question about her friend's aunt.

She was, actually. Her favorites were Justice League and the X-Men. Why do you ask?

"I knew it! I was right, wasn't I? It's all about the X-Men!"

Juno's words made Vixen realize the girl had been reading her messages over her shoulder the entire time. "Juno..."

But the girl pretended not to hear this as well and grabbed Vixen's notebook instead. "Let's see...Anna Marie..."

Vixen wrinkled her nose. "The only Anna I know is by Tolstoy..."

"You're hopeless, Vix."

"At least I'm trying—-"

"It's Rogue ," Juno interrupted her in a confident tone. "Her real name is Anna Marie, and let's see..."

Vixen was already busy looking up 'Rogue' on the Internet, and as for where Rogue first learned about herself, which Vixen could only interpret as the place where the character discovered her mutant powers—-

"Mississippi!"

Vixen and Juno laughed when they both ended up blurting the answer out at the same time.

"What's the next line?" the younger girl asked excitedly.

"It's about a park in which the crooning one is on a black pedestal..." Vixen paused. Most people only thought of Graceland when it came to Elvis Presley, but the legendary crooner was actually born in Mississippi.

A group of tourists entered the cafe just as Vixen had another hunch, but Juno was quick to give her a thumbs-up sign.

I got this, the younger girl mouthed, and Vixen gave her a grateful smile before resuming her search.

Let's see...oh!

Her heart leaped in excitement as Google provided a list of parks in Mississippi with statues of Elvis Presley, and only one of them was seated on a black pedestal.

What next?

Her gaze switched back to the clues she had written down.

Upon entering the site...

Did this mean she'd have to book tickets to Mississippi?

One must press the right key...

Vixen's head started to ache. The right key? Was this another X-Men reference that...

Oh!

Butterflies appeared in her tummy as she read these two lines again and again, but this time it had nothing to do with a handsome stranger possibly entering her life.

Juno popped back on her side as soon as the tourists left with their takeaway sandwiches and coffee, and it was just the two of them again. "What did I miss?"

"Read this..."

"Upon entering the site, one must press the right key..."

"I think that means I'm supposed to enter the official web site of the park..."

Juno was already nodding vigorously even before Vixen finished speaking. "Good catch."

"But that's just the first half of the equation," Vixen pointed out ruefully. "Upon entering the site, one must press the right key, as many times as it took for storm to first appear..." She looked at Juno, asking, "Do you think this could have anything to do with Hurricane Katrina? Maybe the X-Men filmed—-"

"It's Storm, " Juno gasped. "As in the Storm, and wait..."

Vixen watched her employee quickly type something on her phone.

"Here it is. Storm 's first comic appearance was in the first issue of Giant-Size X-Men..."

The two of them looked at each other for one moment, and then both of them were hurrying towards the aviary, where Vixen had left her laptop.

Her fingers were actually shaking as she pulled up the park's official website on her browser. It took an inordinately long time to load, but she had a feeling the was deliberate, and her heart started pounding against her chest as her fingers hovered over the right arrow key on her laptop's keyboard.

I pray this is it, God.

But before she could do anything, both Vixen and Juno heard the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking...and Vixen's heart nearly stopped beating as she sensed a sinister presence come up from behind her.

Something cold and hard pressed against her back as she heard a man growl, "Nobody move or say a word."