A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust

Lisette knew she was in trouble. After what Calliope just said, she didn't even know how to argue her way out of it.

Zelda was at a loss for words too, her face turning red with frustration. She snapped, "You're saying she took your stuff before, but you took them back! And you never gave Lisette's things back!"

"Callie, if it really is something from Lisette's mom, you should just give it back," Monty added, looking pointedly at Calliope. "Other things don't matter, but this one just isn't right."

"Yeah, Callie," Horatio chimed in after a moment, "Lisette's mom passed away when she was little. This is all she has left to remember her by. C'mon, just give it back to her."

Calliope shrugged, raising an eyebrow. "When my granddad died, I missed him a lot too. But you guys said it was fine to let people play with his things for a bit. So why is it such a big deal if I borrowed something of hers? Oh, so it's fine for my stuff to be your plaything, but not the other way around?"

"You were all kids back then. You're grown up now, don't you get it?" Zelda scolded. "Give it back to Lisette, or don't blame me for getting mad!"

Calliope looked over at Lisette. "So what exactly is this from your mom?"

Lisette's eyes were rimmed with red. "It's a necklace," she said quietly.

"You took everything, and you're still asking?" Zelda practically fumed. "Just give it back!"

"What kind of necklace?" Calliope asked, frowning. She remembered everything she'd taken, and she definitely hadn't taken any kind of heirloom from Lisette. Calliope tried to figure out if Lisette was just making this up, or if there actually was such a necklace.

"It's a butterfly necklace," Lisette said, staring at her, voice trembling. "A really pretty one. Callie, you can have anything else, but not that necklace. It's the only thing my mom left me. I know I was selfish before sorry.

and made you mad, and I'm so

But please, I beg you, give it back."

"It's just a necklace. It's not even worth much. Can you give it back?" Lisette

asked, tears spilling over. "I'd be so grateful if you did."

Monty and the others looked at her, sympathy etched on their faces.

Calliope glared at Lisette. "You're really milking this, huh? I never took your necklace. Butterfly necklace? Never even seen it."

"Callie, even if you took it, I wouldn't be mad. But if it's gone, I can't believe it just disappeared!" Lisette said, biting her lip, voice trembling. "It's not like it could just vanish into thin air, right?"

"Well, it's not impossible for someone to hide it on purpose, you know," Calliope replied, glancing at Horatio and Valerian. "You two were there when I took stuff. Didn't you see what I took? Did I take any butterfly necklace?"noveldrama

The brothers fell silent. They both remembered, at the time, they'd watched Calliope closely because things were pretty tense. They could recall exactly what she'd grabbed. If Calliope hadn't brought it up they might've forgotten, but the truth was, she hadn't taken any butterfly necklace. Most of what she took had actually belonged to her before Lisette took them in the first place.

Monty realized it too. He remembered seeing Calliope take a necklace, but it wasn't a butterfly one and it was brand new, not some heirloom from Lisette's mother.