Watching and Listening - An Empires SMP AU

What is she hiding?

           False was just standing there, staring at the flames that engulfed the bridge. Jimena could see her eyes were vacant, like they were seeing something no one else could. False slowly smiled a manic grin, but she still wasn't responding to the tongues of fire that stretched toward her. I've got to get her! Jimena ran forward and dragged her away from the fire, while Shelby dropped the rest of the iron she carried to grab her wand and put the flames out. As soon as the last glow of the dying embers receded, False came to. She blinked, looking confused. 

           "What were you doing?!" Shelby gasped. "You nearly got singed!" False looked at her hands. "Was I?" "Yes, you were," Shelby said. False frowned and looked at the bridge, or what was left of it. The smell of burnt wood wafted over to them from it. The bridge wasn't entirely there anymore. From the edge where the zeppelin parked all the way to the middle, the wood had been reduced to ashes and completely gone. 

           "I need a new bridge," False said. "Understatement," Jimena said. "We need to get over there first," Shelby pointed out, picking up her iron again. Luckily, False was still wearing her elytra, and Shelby's broom had room for two, so the three girls flew over the smoking gap to the ground. 

           "I have a spare shulker box you could borrow," False told Shelby, watching the witch try to carry all the iron she'd bought. "Oh, thanks, that'll make things a whole lot easier," Shelby confessed. False gave her a purple shulker box and after packing up all the iron, the witch said 'goodbye' and flew away on her broom. Jimena turned to False. "False? What happened back there? With the fire?" False blinked a couple of times. "I... don't remember..." She said vaguely. Jimena frowned. She had a nagging feeling that what False was saying wasn't necessarily true. Now the question is, what is False hiding? 

           "So uh, has anything happened while I was at Tumble Town?" False asked. She's changing the subject. "Well..." Jimena was about to tell her about the voice, when something seemed to silence her. She felt an uncomfortable urge to not say anything to False about the voice. At the same time, her ear prickled, and she could almost hear someone whispering to her. Shh...

           "Nothing," Jimena blurted, feeling tongue-tied. False looked at her, a flicker of suspicion in her eyes. False is so paranoid; what does she think of me right now? "How did your meeting with the sheriff go?" Jimena asked, trying to sound casual. "You're right; he's nice," False answered. "Kept offering to do things for me to make up for his outburst. I think he's okay." 

           "That's nice." Was all Jimena could think to say. She looked back at the burnt bridge. "When we rebuild that, we need to make it non-flammable." "I think copper would look nice," False said, eying the buildings around them. "It would match. And it's sturdy and non-flammable." She paused, thinking of the materials she would need. "We'd need to wax the copper so it won't rust. How much wax do we have?" 

           "I'll check," Jimena said, running off to the storage room. It was built even deeper into the mountain than most of the other buildings in Cogsmeade, for security. False didn't want to be stolen from. However, it meant that the storage room was a little harder to get to. The entrance was so sunken into the cliffside that when a recent cave-in brought some rocks crashing over it, it was now partially hidden from view and also a bit of a squeeze to get in safely. 

            Jimena was slightly surprised to feel something bouncing in her pocket as she ran, but then remembered the candle Shelby had given her. I hope you work. I really don't need another candle otherwise. You're still pretty, though. Jimena slowed to a stop as she spotted the crack in the mountainside, lit up by a singular redstone lamp hooked to the rock wall. She entered through the hole sideways, tiptoeing around the large rocks until she hit a polished iron door with a rusted lock. Jimena reached to her belt and unhooked a copper keyring off it. False had eventually given her the emergency keyring with keys to all the major buildings in Cogsmeade, so that the girl could get around the place by herself without having to rely on the empress for entry.