Ack! I've been caught! 

Well done, Quill! 'Tis I, Bakerloo! AHEM — I mean Lady Ellingham. Ooo! I'm a fancy lady with robot servants and (REDACTED TO KEEP THE READING AUDIENCE SPOILER-FREE)!  

I know I've said this already, but thank you all so much for the compliments! They really brighten my day. I've been kind of down lately because of various things and being able to read your wonderful, wonderful comments was really helpful… What? I'm not crying! You're crying! *sob* 

First off, I would like to apologize I have not been commenting more. I have been reading, though, I promise.

Second. OH MY GOODNESS BAKERLOO- I mean, Flora- THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. The reactions to the deaths are so incredibly realistic (I mean, I've never discovered a murdered person, fortunately *shudders* in real life, but that seems like a completely plausible reaction to that experience) which is something I often don't see in other ski lodges (and am trying to recreate in my ski lodge but am having an increasingly hard time doing, so I'm becoming more and more impressed by this). 

I'm so excited for the next part… 

Wowowowowowow this is awesome, Bakerloo! I mean, Lady Ellingham!

I'm sus of everyone… Trusting no one… Especially the residents of the manor. They've always been kind of weird. 

Chapter Nine

“Know Thy Enemy”

With a great effort, Nyx pushed her suitcase off the side of her bed. As soon as the suitcase had burst open and its contents had been scattered across the floor, she jumped down and began to comb through her belongings.

“You’ll break your suitcase if you keep dropping it like that,” Darkling said, rifling through her duffel bag.

“The carriage overturning wasn’t technically my fault. Everyone had a hand in that,” Nyx grumbled, throwing a pile of clothes onto her bed. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before.”

“We’ve all been so busy with the Manor that we’ve barely had time to think about our things,” Darkling reasoned.

“It’s not here.”

“What isn’t?”

“My GoPro. It’s gone.”

“Hm. That’s weird. Are you sure it’s not there?”

“Yes,” Nyx growled. 

“You must’ve dropped it when the carriage overturned.”

“No, I remember picking it up.” Nyx had angrily stuffed everything back into her suitcase.

“Did you take it out of your suitcase since then?”

“No, I…” Nyx’s eyes became steely as realization hit her. 

“I should’ve guessed,” she muttered.

“I noticed that it was gone the night we arrived,” QueenOfWolves said. “I told Magnus about it the next morning, and he said he’d keep an eye open. I haven’t heard anything from him since.”

“Hmm. Extremely dodgy,” PygmyOwl said from inside the dumbwaiter. After escaping from their hosts, the two detectives had set up shop in the roomiest cupboard they could find. There was a broken-down dumbwaiter, a dim light-bulb, and two rickety chairs much like the ones they had sat in after Kitten was murdered. The dumbwaiter could fit the two of them with room to spare, and Pygmy had been working on repairing it since the girls woke up; she knew that it must lead to the kitchen, and if they could use the dumbwaiter, there was no need to risk being seen on the servants’ stairs.

“You haven’t had anything go missing, have you?” QueenOfWolves asked anxiously.

“I’m afraid I do not know, seeing as I have not made my regular visit to our dormitory,” Pygmy said. “You know, we’ll need some construction implements to get this method of conveyance into good working order.”

“In English?” Queen sighed.

“We need tools to fix this dumbwaiter.” Pygmy said, disappointment in her voice.

“And do you know where to find those?”

“No.”

“And we’ll need to leave here to find them.” Queen was growing more and more discouraged by the minute.

Spirit turned the knob on top of their binoculars until the fuzzy outline of the wrecked carriage became clear. She could now see Lady Ellingham, who was running around with an oilcan, and Magnus, who was standing patiently off to the side sorting screws and nails into separate piles. I didn’t know Lady Ellingham could walk on her own, much less run, Spirit thought to themself. They were standing in a dark, cold corridor on the Manor’s ground floor. Spirit had never been on this corridor before, but it was an excellent place to spy on Lady Ellingham. There was a rustling noise. Spirit turned around to see that Quill had just stepped through the tapestry of several young men hunting wild boar that hid the ground floor entrance to the servants’ staircase.

“Hullo, old friend,” Quill quipped.

Spirit nodded.

“This staircase is pretty useful, huh? Great way to avoid Roxann and Barnaby, they hardly ever use it. I heard Barnaby in the kitchen on the way down, grumbling about how Queen and Pygmy escaped,” Quill said in one breath.

Spirit was less excitable. “How did you find out about the staircase?” they asked.

“Lumi told me about it.”

“Hm.” Spirit did not take their eyes off of Lady Ellingham and the carriage.

“Did you know about it?”

“Yes. Mary told me this morning.”

“Did you get that weird note about not trusting Lady Ellingham?”

“Yep.”

“Cool.” Quill, still smiling, finally left Spirit in peace.

The servants’ staircase had suddenly become rather busy. Mary’s discovery had spread through the manor, and as Barnaby and Roxann were yet to be seen, all the guests were now using it to get from floor to floor. Everyone was talking to each other, about the note, about the items that they had realized were missing, about who the note was from, and so it seemed to Luminescence that there was always someone running up or down the stairs. 

“Breakfast hasn’t even been served,” Majestic Mary moaned, rather ungracefully. “It’s too early for this.”

“You g-got the note, d-d-didn’t you?” Lumi asked as the two of them walked up the stairs, trying to find PygmyOwl and Queen’s hiding spot.

“Yes,” Mary yawned. “But we haven’t even had breakfast yet!”

Lumi shrugged. “I heard that w-we shouldn’t even g-go d-d-d-down to breakfast. R-roxann might try t-t-to poison us.”

“Who told you that?”

“No-one. I j-just heard someone s-s-say it.” Lumi opened the door to the third floor and stepped through it. Mary continued on until she reached the fourth floor — the girls had agreed that Lumi would take odd-numbered floors, and Mary would get the even-numbered floors. Mary yawned loudly; she thought she had the staircase to herself.

Suddenly, a chill ran through her body, an instinct telling her to run. 

There’s no need to run. Everything is fine, a voice said.

Mary found herself running faster and faster, passing the door to the fourth floor. Now she was passing the door to the fifth floor. What would happen when she ran out of floors? 

Sixth floor. The last one. The stairs met the ceiling just after the door. Mary stopped. There was not a sound. Everything’s fine. You just panicked.

Mary turned around and gasped. A boa constrictor — a mechanical boa constrictor, the one from the menagerie, was now twisting itself around her neck, squeezing every last bit of air it could from Mary’s lungs.

This is fine. Just breathe. Mary’s vision blurred.

Just keep holding on. Breathe. Just keep holding on. Things will be fine. What would Miss Manners do?

“Not again,” a voice said.

Whose voice? Whose voice? Keep holding on. Will I be a ghost now? I don’t think I want to be a ghost. It seems very unpleasant.

With that, Mary closed her eyes.

asdfas'dkl;afs'dl;faksdf'a;lsd i tried to do a full one, but a;lskfja;sldkfja;sldkfajs;dlkf i didn't have enough time and I accidently deleted it sooooo here you go! 

'Limit our contact with-' 

Based on what we have so far, Ithink the mansion has a secret, and that secret is deadly to the outside world, it's what made Lady Ellingham shrink/become immortal. And it's something to do with time, since tall windows = old and futuristic mural = future. 

And the robot's wouldn't let here. 

I'm put on the suspect list. 

Luminescence is taken off, and the way Kitten was murdered was ~ someone climbed the trellis, took her somewhere, murderered her, climbed back up to do the pillows, climbed down, broke the trellis.

Win's taken off, Quill's put on, Sterling's taken off. 

If Win was murdered on the balcony, then me, Quill, Nyx~ Win was murdered on the balcony. And my top suspect is Quill. However, me and Nyx and Darkling are also suspects. 

(completely unrelated, but I think I'm Miss Manners, heh)

If the pendulum was going to point to yes, then it wouldn't be Nyx. and vice versa. 

WAIT A SECOND~

The wardrobe. The wardrobe is where Kitten's ghost is. 

I'm also a top suspect. 

The possesions. They're being taken away. Until we're defenseless.  

Mind-talking. Let's see here. 

My Suspect List

Quill, Nyx, Darkling, I.

I'm rather a good detective, aren't I?  

Oh… I'm dead. Killed by a metal boa constrictor? That's terrifying.

There's no need to run, everything is fine..

Definitely didn't make me scream. Heh. 

So will I be a ghost now? I guess we'll find out. I wonder who'll find my body. I hope it's not Lumi, poor Lumi's already been through enough.

Ooh! Maybe I can at least talk to Kitten and Win tho.

Death is disappointing.

(this post was kind of just a string of long thoughts. I guess that's because it's 10 at night, and I'm dead) (literally) 

Hi, you lovely people — no chapter today, I'm afraid. I'm suffering from a case of severe writer's block, so I'm postponing today's chapter to next week. In the meantime, please have this picture of Roxann and Barnaby, drawn by a good friend of mine. Thanks for your patience, I love you guys!

Hey there, this is super cool. I'm going on a ski lodge reading marathon and this one is really syterious and well written, keep it up!

Chapter Ten

“The Escape”

“Ouch, watch it! You’re going to drop her on me!”

“Sorry, Darkling,” Quill replied, setting Mary’s feet down on the step she was standing on. “A dead body’s a lot heavier than the crime dramas make it seem, huh?”

Darkling had found Mary and the snake on the servants’ staircase just a few minutes ago. After staring numbly down at her for a few seconds, she managed to pull the snake off of poor Mary and drag her along the hallways. Soon, Darkling saw Quill, and the two of them together had managed to carry their fellow guest quite a ways. 

Darkling brought Mary’s head so it was level with her feet and gingerly laid her down. She wasn’t sure if Mary’s ghost was already haunting the halls, but if it wasn’t, she didn’t want to hurt it.

“Do you know where Mary’s room is?” Darkling asked, wiping her brow.

“Yep,” Quill replied chipperly. “I spent the first morning searching for everyone’s rooms. That’s why I was almost late for our excursion to the Menagerie.”

“I see,” said Darkling, making a note in her head. “Should we start again?”

“Yeah.” Quill picked Mary’s feet up just as Nyx ran down the stairs.

“Oh, my Claaws!” she said, coming to a stop. “Not again.”

“I’m afraid so,” Darkling responded. “Found her on the servants’ staircase, strangled by one of the mechanical snakes.”

“Ugh.” Nyx shivered. 

“Ugh is right.” Darkling picked up her end of Mary and the two girls began to walk again, now joined by Nyx.

“Where are you going to take her?” Nyx asked, following close behind Quill.

“Her bedroom,” said Darkling, almost tripping over her own feet as she turned a corner.

“I’ll go tell Lady Ellingham,” Nyx said, speeding up to pass Quill. Her path was cut off by Darkling, who had stuck out a leg and was now trying very hard not to fall over. 

“What are you doing?” Darkling’s face had suddenly become steely.

“We can’t trust Lady Ellingham,” Darkling said. “We can’t trust any of them. We’re on our own.”

Nyx raised her eyebrows. “Are we really going to keep secrets from our host?”

“We’re already keeping one,” Darkling pointed out. “And I’ve got no doubt that she’s keeping some secrets from us. Two — or in this case, eleven — can play at that game.”

“Okay,” Nyx said uncertainly. The group was silent as they made their way through the maze-like corridors of the house to the bedroom that Mary and Spirit shared. They shuffled into the room and laid Mary down on the bed. Nyx went to inform the others, while Darkling and Quill rested.

“Thanks for your help,” Darkling said, flopping onto the floor.

“It’s no problem,” Quill replied, copying Darkling with a jangle of metal on metal. “This vacation is the opposite of what I expected, but it’s still been fun.”

“…Yeah,” Darkling said, confused. She was just about to ask Quill a question when Luminescence burst through the door and ran to Mary’s bed.

“Oh, M-Mary, please speak t-t-to me! Give me a s-sign, a s-s-sign that you have p-p-p-passed into the realm of gh-ghosts!”

Darkling and Quill shared a look of incredulity as Spirit quietly opened the door. They also went straight to Mary’s bed and stared numbly down at Mary’s still body. Her face was blue, from lack of oxygen, and there was a nasty bruise on her neck where the snake had constricted. Nyx followed behind Spirit and closed the door.

“Queen and Pygmy haven’t told us where their hiding spot is, and I’m not going to go looking for them with a murderer about,” Nyx explained.

“I’m sure we can tell them soon,” Quill said. “They’ll find us.”

The CBers stayed in Mary’s room for a while, unsure of what exactly to do. Nyx tried to comfort Spirit, but Spirit did not seem particularly saddened by Mary’s death. Lumi talked at length about ghosts, but everyone was too solemn to listen to her. Darkling tried to make it look as if Mary were simply sleeping, but the end results did not look very convincing. Eventually, the guests dispersed, all going in their own directions. Spirit was the only CBer to stay with Mary. They sat on the bed next to their roommate and thought for a long, long time.

Lumi woke with a jolt. She looked around at the bedroom she shared with Kitten — Kitten was definitely still around, and she didn’t want to offend her roommate’s ghost by claiming the room all to herself. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Kitten’s bed was still there, the wardrobe stood solidly next to the door. Outside the window, the full moon was still shining, and Lady Ellingham was using some sort of blowtorch to weld two pieces of metal together. Both Lumi’s and Kitten’s suitcases lay undisturbed at the foot of their beds. So what had woken Lumi up? She tried to remember what she was dreaming of, if she was even dreaming at all… 

It’s me. The others were accidents. The workings of Lumi’s subconscious were suddenly brought into the light. The murderer is after me. I was right next to Win when the book fell on her, and I was on the staircase right before Mary was attacked. Coincidence? I think not.

Lumi got out of bed immediately. She had to get out of here, now. Before the murderer stopped making mistakes and finally caught her. She picked up her suitcase, put on her slippers, and left the room right away. She wasn’t entirely sure where she was going — something about a town rushed through her head, and a phone. She didn’t even bother to be quiet as she ran through the hallways, gripped by something that felt larger than herself, something enormous and unknowable. The story of the blind men and the elephant came to mind as Lumi ran down the stairs and into the entrance hall, past the hallway to the dining room, where Roxann could be heard crying loudly. The doors creaked loudly as they opened, but Lumi barely noticed. Nothing but escaping mattered. Her heart beat faster and faster as she ran through the hedge maze that Magnus had led them through on their first night at the Manor. Somehow, Lumi made it through the overgrown hedges. She was now running through the long grass towards the path where the carriage had overturned. Her breath was shallow like a tidal pool, in, out, in, out–

“…and to top it all off, my keyring is missing!” Lumi hit the ground hard, hiding in the long grass. An ant crept by her nose as she lay uncomfortably on top of her suitcase and listened to Barnaby talk.  

“What if one of those horrible Chatterboxers has them? I can’t keep anything safe now. What if they break into the Memory Room? What if they break into–” Barnaby’s voice suddenly lowered. Lumi strained to hear what he said, but over the lapping of the waves on the lake shore, she couldn’t make out a word. She did, however, hear a deep “mm-hm” that could only be Magnus. Soon, Barnaby was speaking at full volume again, saying something uncharitable about Roxann’s cooking. Lumi waited anxiously until Barnaby’s nasally voice had faded away before starting again. She was now grateful that she had taken track and field as she approached the dark oak gate that the road ended at. As Lumi approached, she noticed that an enormous, rusty padlock secured the doors together. She came to a halt, kicking up a cloud of dust. She pulled at the lock. It was secure. She wished desperately that she had the keyring that Barnaby had been talking about. She looked at the wall. It was made of the same smooth blue stone as the house with tall black wrought-iron spikes across the top. No way am I climbing that, Lumi thought. Perhaps there’s another gate. Over by the carriage, Lady Ellingham had started hammering something. The clang, clang, clang of the hammer on some sort of metal tore into Lumi’s mind, shattering any ideas she might have had. She sat down heavily on her suitcase and put her head in her hands. Almost as soon as she had done this, she took her face out of her cold hands and looked down at the suitcase. She stood up and held the suitcase handle in both of her hands. Taking careful aim, Lumi waited for the next strike from the hammer. After what felt like an eon, there was another clang. Lumi swung her suitcase and hit the lock, but she only heard the hammer. Again and again she swung her suitcase, timing it so that she couldn’t be heard over Lady Ellingham’s hammer. With each blow, the lock became looser and looser until it finally broke and landed on the dirt path with a dull thud. Lumi opened the gate. The road stretched on for a mile or so before turning to the right. Lumi began to run. She was free. She was safe. She was–

She was on the ground, touching her nose and feeling the blood gush from it. She had run into something. Slowly, she got up again and walked down the road again. About two hundred feet from the gate, there was some kind of invisible wall. Lumi felt from side to side, trying to find a way around. The wall wasn’t invisible — the road and the trees on either side of it were painted on the wall.

No wonder every day here seems the same, Lumi thought to herself. Her hand suddenly touched something that protruded from the wall. A handle. Lumi grabbed it and pulled. The handle was attached to a huge, circular door which swung open. Now she could go home. 

Lumi stepped through the door and fell through the sky.