Breaking News

"Breaking news! Breaking news! This just in, a bakery has reported a robbery. Nothing valuable seems to have been stolen, only their secret ingredient," The reporter takes a breath and looks off into the distance. What is he looking at?

"What will happen to the Colossal Croissants?" The tv screen goes black. I turn.

"Now, now Ambar," It's my mother, "You know not to watch the news. It's all negative stuff,"

"But mum didn't you hear?" She looks at me with half interested eyes, "The Colossal Croissants bakery's secret ingredient has been stolen. Their secret spice," My mum doesn't look any more interested than she did before I told her.

"Oh well, these things are always happening," She picks up David Copperfield and begins to read it. I look back to the tv. The bakery was only a ten minute walk. I pick myself up and put on my roller skates. I grab my backpack and keys.

"I'm just going roller skating, I'll be back in a bit," I shout through the door.

Shutting the door behind me I start out onto the street. I race my way up Leary Lane and Ward Street the wind billowing around me. I reach the bakery. A camera crew is gathered outside and people are talking non-stop. I squeeze through them all and into the bakery. Luna, the owners' daughter and my best friend is sitting on the floor with her face in her hands. I skate over to her. She looks up and sees it's me. She wraps her arms around me. I hug back. I can feel her shaking. She stops crying and takes a breath.

"It's all my fault. I forgot to lock up last night when I left," She sobs, "I thought Dad was coming back to close up, but then he didn't and I completely forgot about it," She goes quiet, I squeeze her hand. She squeezes back and continues.

"When I arrived this morning at 6 am the door was ajar. So I stepped inside and at first glance everything looked untouched. Then I looked in our safe. And the ingredient from my great nonna was gone. Her secret ingredient. The one she bequeathed to me to protect," Luna hugs me again. I feel sorry for her. It was unfair. And what was so special about that secret ingredient anyway? I try to calm Luna down. 

“Luna, it’ll be fine, believe me. The Luna Valiente that I know would never give up so easily,” I take a breath, “Define for me what Valiente means again,”

She looks up at me, “Brave, it means brave,” 

“And who knows that better than anyone?”

“I do,”

“Exactly, now let's go rollerskating and forget about all this madness,” I take her hand, “Shall we?” She smiles at me and nods. She grabs her roller skates from behind the door and we go out the back. We skate together for three blocks. She and I talk like normal. We come across the topic of the secret ingredient. 

“What is the secret ingredient anyway Luna?” She looks back and forth to make sure no one’s listening. Not a person in sight. 

“Alright I’ll whisper it to you but you can’t tell anyone, and don’t laugh.” SHe looks at me sternly. 

I cross my heart and promise her. 

“Magic,” 

“What?” 

“I told you, the secret ingredient is magic, that’s why it’s so special, in the wrong hands it is very powerful and causes lots of destruction. We only use it in small quantities though, which is why people call us the magical bakery. No one but my family and you know the real reason behind it.” I stare at her. What? Magic isn’t real? Is it? She looks at my confused expression. 

“Coe with me,” She takes my hand and skates to a tree. We hide behind the tree and she grabs her necklace. It looks like it’s filled with glitter. She tips a dew drop of it onto her hand. I look at it and then at her. She nods. She sprinkles it over my skates. They magically repair themselves and look sparkly. She just fixed up my old skates. They look like completely new skates. I gaze at them in awe. 

“Woah,” 

“What did I tell you? Now let’s get back before anyone gets suspicious,” We skate back to the bakery, my skates feel like a dream. We arrive at the scene of the crime. I’ve always wanted to say that to someone. Tick that one off my bucket list. The camera crew are still there. Trying to find any bit of evidence. We skate in and look around. It’s crowded but not as much as before. A policeman stands guard. He looks at us as we walk in. He looks at my skates and gazes. Does he know about the magic? We skate through the crowd and reach the counter. Luna’s mum stands behind it wondering what to do. The policeman walks over to us. 

“Might I say young lady, your skates are in pristine condition considering I saw you with them yesterday and they were scuffed and scruffy,” He looks at me suspiciously, “You didn’t happen to do anything unusual last night, did you?” He questions me. What? Does he think that I stole the magic? I stay silent. He takes hold of my wrist. 

“Sorry Miss but I will have to take you into custody for questioning,” I gape at him, what? Luna stands next to me shocked to the bone. She knows I didn’t do it. Say something Luna, come on. She stands still to the bone. Too shocked to react. The policeman grabs my other wrist and stalks off with me out the door. He opens the door of his car and shoves me inside. Luna runs to the car and bangs on it for him to open up. I look through the glass. Everything’s going wrong. The policeman drives the car to the police station. He opens my door and frogmarches me into the main office. I skate in and he takes my backpack off me. A lady at the front desk looks down at me and shakes her head. She points down the corridor. The policeman holds both my arms behind my back and walks me toward a door. My eyes adjust to the dimly lit small room. A chair and table sit in the middle. Mirrors on either side so that the other police officers can monitor me and what I say. I have no choice. I sit down and look at the policeman. 

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” 

I nod, 

“Swear it,” He says through gritted teeth

“I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” He nods at me and starts questioning me. 

“What were you doing at 12 am last night?”

“I was asleep in bed like any sane person would be,” 

“Can anyone verify this so-called fact for you?” 

“Yes, I sleep in the same room as my brother, he can tell you that what I say is true,” 

He nods at me again and stands up straighter. 

“What is your name Miss? And what is your brother’s name?” 

“My name is Ambar Valiente and my brother is Simon Valiente,” 

He walks to the door and pulls out his walkie talkie. 

“Go to,” He stops, “Where did you say you lived again?” 

“I didn’t,” 

“Well where do you live? I need proof that you didn’t steal that secret ingredient,” 

“I live at 5 Eastbournia Avenue,” 

“Send someone over to 5 Eastbournia Avenue, and bring Simon Valiente here. Call me when he arrives,” He hangs up his walkie talkie and looks back to me. 

“I’m leaving now, but I will come back when your brother arrives. You will stay here. And don’t think of escaping. Behind those mirrors everyone is watching you.” He walks to the door and locks it from the inside. He shuts the door and walks back to the front desk. I sit in my chair. What can I do now? About five minutes later the police man walks back through the door Simon in hot pursuit. 

“Now, Mr Valiente, we need you to verify that Miss Ambar here was in her room at 12 am last night.” 

“I can assure you sir, my sister didn't leave that bed till 7 am this morning. She went to bed at 9.32 pm last night. And I can assure you. She did not steal that magic ingredient.” He glares at the officer. I’m so lucky to have him as my brother. The police man backs down.

“It appears that I am mistaken. I am sorry Miss Valiente and Mr Valiente, please feel free to leave now,” My brother grabs my hand and my backpack and stalks to the door, a storm of rage circling his eyes. We walk out of the police station. My mum stands there with tears in her eyes. She looks at Simon and then at me. She hugs us both.

“Don't you ever do that to me again Ambar!” She scolds me. I nod and we walk to the car. We hop in and drive back to our house. The bakery is still in chaos and I can’t see Luna anywhere. I hope she’s ok. We get back to our house and my mum pulls into the driveway. We rush inside and put on the tv. A different news reporter from before is standing in front of Colossal croissants now. 

“Breaking news, the robber has been found and caught. It turned out to be the notorious Sticky fingers. Known for stealing many artifacts and jewels. The stolen ingredient has been returned. However it is noticeably less than before, which leaves the world to wonder. What will happen to that missing quantity?”