Day 1:

{In which introductions are made, food is eaten, and the murders begin}

The CBers arrived at precisely 4:30 pm, piling out of the bus and chattering excitedly to themselves. The ride over had been pretty uneventful, most of them anxious to get the driving over with and see the lodge. As they filed out from the bus, dragging their luggage behind them, many of them seemed surprised at the cool, sharp air of the mountain. Most of their shock at the cold quickly dissolved as they took in the area around them: the mountain curved and spiked into the atmosphere, blanketed with evergreen trees that stood in stark contrast to the white, cloud-laden sky. The feature that caught most of their eyes right away was the mist that wreathed the top of the mountain and hovered ominously over the tops of the trees. 

“Oh, wow,” Zealatom breathed. “Creepy.”

Barnacle, who was rather unfazed by it all, shrugged. “It’s called Mistwraith Mountain, guys. Of course, it’s going to be misty.” Pangolin swatted his arm for being impolite. 

“No kidding,” Jewel murmured. “It looks like we stepped into the set for a car commercial.” 

True’s eyes were wide as they took in the view. “It’s so pretty.”

“I’m glad you think so,” a voice sounded from behind them. The CBers whirled around to face the Mistwraith Mountain Lodge, which they had missed while marveling at the nature of the mountain. The lodge was huge, made of dark, polished wood, with many windows and decks facing the landscape. The edge of the gardens could also be seen, which took up most of the area behind the lodge. A man, presumably the one that spoke a few seconds ago, was standing at the bottom of the steps leading to the front door. 

“Rex Arcanum?” Jaybells guessed, remembering the name from the letter. 

“Correct,” the man confirmed, stepping forward. “Call me Rex. I will be your host during your time at Mistwraith Mountain.” Rex looked to be in his thirties with short, choppy white hair; not the kind of white that comes with old age, but the kind of white that seems natural, like he was born with it. You know, that very common, normal kind of white hair. 

The next few minutes were spent letting the CBers know the basic rules of the lodge (no wandering off alone, always consult him before doing activities, etc, etc), much to the eternal unhappiness of the AEs. Rex also informed them that the only other people in the lodge beside themselves and Rex were the staff in charge of cleaning and cooking. 

“Now,” Rex announced, clasping his hands together, eyes gleaming. “Who would like a tour?” The crowd cheered, and Rex did a quick check to see if anyone had dared bring any popcorn-making devices (Barnacle’s device was cleverly hidden under a fake bottom to his suitcase, but it only took Rex around ten seconds to locate it) or weapons (a few people protested, claiming that the letter never said they couldn’t bring weapons, but in the end, a dagger, a swiss army knife, two swords, several bottles of chemicals, and a flask of poison were confiscated). 

The tour revealed to the CBers the main parts of the house briefly, including the massive foyer where they entered, an ornate dining room, a TV room stocked with movies, an indoor pool, the outdoor gardens, and a handful of other areas. By then, it was around 5:30, and the group of CBers led by Rex finally made it to the rooms where they would be staying. A common room was set up with board games and plenty of room, and the entrance to all four rooms was visible from there. 

“All right, everyone,” Rex said, and pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket with names listed on it. “In the Cobalt Room we have True, Knight, Dallas, Quill, and pangolin, in the Azure Room we have Silver Crystal, Jaybells, Lindel, Adrian, and Jewel, the Sapphire Room has Onyx, Lightning Girl, Cathy, Qwinn, and Harper, which means that Barnacle, Zealatom, NerdFace, Nightskiies, and Milka are in the Indigo Room.” He gestures to the rooms, inviting them in. “Go ahead and settle in, dinner is at 6:30. We’ll leave most of the exploring for tomorrow when you all are rested.”

The group dispersed and unpacked in their rooms, talking about everything that they had seen so far. Every room was set up similarly (two bunk beds, fuzzy carpets, fully stocked bookshelves, plushy beanbags) save for the fact that the decor matched the shade of the room’s name. At 6:30, the CBers gathered together and headed down to the dining room, where a hot dinner (lobster mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and salad) was already waiting for them. Dessert was pie à la mode, and after the meal was done, everyone was full and laughing as they made their way back to the rooms.

And then, someone died. It wasn’t too complicated; it was really rather simple. Unfortunately, the CBers did not seem to think so.

Silver Crystal stumbled, body convulsing once, twice, and then fell to the ground, still. Green liquid dripped from her lips.

“Silver!” Jewel shrieked, eyes widening in horror. The loud noise alerted everyone else, and the group exploded into chaos. Onyx shouldered faer way to the front and knelt next to faer CBer, feeling Silver’s pulse. 

“Dead,” Onyx whispered, barely believing what faer were saying. Faer usually unfazed state was shattered with shock and disbelief, before hardening into an unrecognizable expression.

“Deadd?!” Qwinn gasped.

Jewel, Silver’s other AE, wailed in grief. She rounded on Nightskiies, who had been walking with Silver when she collapsed. “What did you do?”

Nightskiies‘ eyes welled with tears. “I- I didn’t- we were just talking and then she collapsed! I don’t know what happened!”

That’s when Rex arrived, having heard the commotion from the other side of the lodge. He blinked once in surprise at the sight of Silver’s cooling body, and then took charge, shooing everyone into their rooms. 

“What-” Jewel said in a hushed voice. “What a-are you going to do with th-the-” she seemed to choke on the words “-the body?”

“It will be taken care of,” Rex assured them. “Now, please everyone, go to your rooms. This is a most unfortunate case of food poisoning. I will personally go and inspect the kitchens now.”

The CBers reluctantly obliged, all heading to their respective beds with heavy hearts. A few of them were able to get a decent night’s sleep, but the residents of the Azure Room were accompanied by Jewel’s sobs the entire night. 

~~

Dead: 

Silver Crystal, poisoning (?)

Suspects: 

???

~~

And so it begins! The plan is to update every other day, and I really don't think that my identity will stay secret for much longer, so feel free to guess me! Comments and suspicions are welcome!

Day 2:

{In which a discovery is made and suspicions are formed}

The next day started with a melancholy atmosphere that seemed to encompass the whole lodge. Even the breakfast of bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches didn’t improve the mood. If anything, it worsened the trepidation that everyone was experiencing about the incident yesterday. The food largely remained untouched out of fear of poisoning, except for Barnacle, who decided it was well worth the risk. He had already consumed his sandwich, as well as pangolin’s, True’s, and Cathy’s.

Everyone was painfully aware that their group was smaller today: Jewel had opted to stay in her room, and Silver…

Hushed conversation was buzzing through the room, everyone wondering how and why and where. 

“Do you really think it was an accident?” 

“Why would anyone do such a thing on purpose?”

“You’re saying Silver was poisoned?” 

“I’m saying it’s a possibility.”

“Didn’t pangolin bring a flask of poison?”

“No, it was confiscated, remember?”

The conversation, along with the rest of the whispers, was cut off when Jewel sprinted into the room, out of breath. She jerked their head toward the rooms, urgency showing in her eyes. 

“Everyone, come to the common room,” Jewel said impatiently. 

“What?” Quill asked. “Why?” 

Jewel’s voice was grim. “I found something.”

Lightning Girl was the first person in the common room, followed by the rest of the CBers and AEs; no one had stayed behind. 

“What is it, Jewel?” Onyx said. 

“This,” Jewel held up a small vial, a small amount of thick green liquid still at the bottom of it. “I found it on the floor, behind my room’s door.”

NerdFace gasped. “That looks just like the liquid that was coming out of Silver’s mouth after she died- after she fell,” she amended.

“So she was poisoned!” Dallas proclaimed. 

“Why was it behind your door?” Lightning Girl questioned suspiciously. 

“Excuse me?” Lindel asked incredulously, who was in the Azure Room with Jewel. “You’re saying one of us did it?”

The group erupted into conspiracies and suspicions. 

“Everyone be QUIET!” Quill shouted. The angry murmurs stopped at once. “There’s no use in blaming each other for something we’ll never find the answer to. Not right now, anyway. We should go on with our day and hope that this was all one big misunderstanding.”

“She’s right, you know,” Rex said. The CBers turned around to see that Rex had (once again) found a way to stand behind them without anyone noticing. A few people took note of this and even fewer wondered if he could be behind the poison. He continued, “You shouldn’t have to worry about any of that right now. Please, go on with your day, and I can investigate this further.”

With some nudging from Rex, the CBers all left the common room. Zealatom, pangolin, Jaybells, LG, Nerd, and Quill decided to check out some of the hiking trails in the woods, the AEs Lindel, Onyx, Barnacle, Milka, Dallas, and Cathy departed to do who knows what, True, Adrian, Qwinn, and Knight went to the gardens, and Harper, Niteskiies, and Jewel decided to wander around the lodge. 

Harper found herself on the observation deck, which was positioned on the roof of the lodge, overlooking the entire view of the trees and mist, which had cleared up a little bit since yesterday; sunlight leaked through the clouds and dappled the forest. It was quite peaceful, really. She took a deep breath and let it out. She had all the time in the world to figure out everything with the poison. There was no reason to worry.

Footsteps announced another presence on the deck. “Enjoying the view?” a voice asked.

Harper smiled. “Yep. It really is beautiful.” She turned to the newcomer, smile faltering. “Um. What are you doing with a rope?”

Harper thought she had all the time in the world. In reality, she had no time. No time at all.

~

It was the late afternoon, and the hiking CBers returned in high spirits from their journey when they heard the scream. They exchanged alarmed glances with each other as they rushed to the source of the sound: the dining room. The AEs joined the crowd of people pushing and shoving to get into the room. The scream had come from Niteskiies, who, despite shaking with fear, appeared uninjured. She was staring at something outside one of the massive windows, eyes blank with horror. 

It was Harper, hanging from the bottom of the observation deck. I’ll spare you the details. 

Quill choked on a sob. After a few chaotic moments, Rex had arrived and herded the CBers back to their rooms, promising once again that everything would be taken care of.

They were welcomed back into the dining room after Harper had been removed. No one came.

~~

Dead:

Silver, poisoning; Harper, hanging

Suspects:

???

Day 3:

{In which the weather is terrible and Jaybells makes some Very Questionable Decisions}

If possible, the next day began even more miserable than the next. Yesterday, there was a chance, however small, that whatever happened to Silver was an accident of coincidence. But the death of Harper proved to many of them what they already suspected: that their deaths weren’t simply deaths. They were murders.

Even more concerning, the AEs had informed them that Onyx, Barnacle, and Lindel had been distracting the maids in an attempt to sneak into the storage room for prank materials while Dallas, Milka, and Cathy had been trying to convince the cooks to give them jelly donuts, which means that the staff was being watched by multiple people during the time of the murder. 

This meant that the only people capable of murdering Harper at 4:00 pm on the observation deck were the guests.

After breakfast, said guests retreated to the common room. The weather seemed to reflect the mood and the sheets of dark rain and the howling wind that rattled the window panes did nothing to cheer anyone up. Quill, still dealing with the loss of Harper, was interrogating everyone she came into contact with.

“And you’re sure that you can’t remember if someone snuck away while you were talking to the staff?” Quill asked Dallas for what had to be the fifth time in the last five minutes. 

“Yes, I’m sure!” Dallas repeated, clearly annoyed. “What makes you so certain that it was an AE, anyway? You said you were playing hide-and-seek in the woods yesterday, so one you could have easily done it.”

“Why would any of us have any motivation to kill Harper or Silver?” Nerd asked.

Dallas threw his hands into the air. “How am I supposed to know? I’m not the murderer!”

“It could be you,” Adrian said calmly. “It could be any of us.”

“Donnt argue!” Knight begged.

Jaybells stood up suddenly, excusing herself to go to the bathroom. A few people eyed her suspiciously, but she ignored them, rushing out of the common room. She hated seeing everyone like this; angry, fighting, blaming one another. She sighed heavily and wandered over to the window, staring out of the rain-streaked glass to the dark outline of trees. She was trying to convince herself to rejoin the bickering group when something caught her eye. A little flash of something metal out in the rain, heading from the lodge into the trees. 

Jaybells leaned forward and squinted, but she couldn’t see what it was through the driving rain. She hesitated before rushing to the door and flinging it open, taking off through the rain to the object with barely any time to process the risks. She just knew that it could be something that might give her a clue about the murders.

As the door shut behind Jaybells, Rex tilted his head to the side thoughtfully from the shadows of the hallway. That was much easier than he expected. He turned and headed to the sound of voices coming from the common room. 

Out in the rain, Jaybells seriously regretted her decision not to bring a jacket outside with her. She was already thoroughly drenched, eyes blurry with rain, and she had to have smacked into at least three trees so far. Out of breath, she ducked under the branches of a large evergreen tree for shelter. She crouched and scanned the forest floor, wet pine needles sticking to her legs. There. Something was whirring through the fallen leaves and branches, something small and metal. It accelerated into the undergrowth, and Jaybells stumbled out of her hiding place, sprinting after it.

I could spend more time describing the chase through the woods, but let’s just say that it was long, wet, there was plenty of tree-colliding, and I’ll let you imagine the rest.

Finally, a crashing sound echoed a few feet in front of Jaybells and she skidded to a stop, digging her heels into the mud. The metal object had banged into a large rock and fell onto its side. It looked to be a car, one of those remote-controlled ones;  the wheels screeched trying to find traction in the air. Jaybells considered crushing it with a stick or rock to shut it off, but she decided against it, figuring that it will be of more help un-crushed. Possibly even evidence. She flipped it all the way upside down so there was no way it would be going anywhere anytime soon.

And then Jaybells was immediately faced with her more pressing issue. She had no idea where she was.

She was just contemplating building a shelter when a flash of lightning lit up the world for one precious second before the thunder crashed, making Jaybells wince. It was close – but not too close. Not yet, anyway. There was an advantage to the lightning, though: Jaybells had managed to glimpse the outline of the lodge on its raised hill a little while away. Shivering, she started toward the lodge, throwing a regretful glance at the remote-controlled car, which she was leaving behind. There was no way she was going lug that thing all the way back, and besides, metal attracted lightning didn’t it? It wasn’t worth the risk; she would just come back for it tomorrow.

And so she began the trek back, which, like before, was long and wet with decidedly less tree-colliding and decidedly more lightning.

By the time Jaybells stumbled back into the lodge, she was starving, not to mention cold and tired. She was hurrying to the common room, anxious to change into dry clothes and tell everyone about her discovery when Onyx turned the corner and almost slammed into her. Faer eyes widened as fae took in Jaybells’ appearance. Then faer gaze narrowed and fae grabbed Jaybells’ arm.

“Come on,” fae snapped, dragging a very confused Jaybells into the common room. Everyone’s gaze followed her as she walked in, some of them hostile.

“What’s going on?” Jaybells asked. She took in the group of CBers and AEs. Just CBers and AEs. No CAPTCHAs. Pangolin was crying, and Nerd looked on the verge of tears; their AEs seemed similarly shaken. “Where are Knight and Qwinn-?” A pause. “Oh.” She understood. “How?”

“We found them outside, stabbed,” pangolin replied darkly. “But you already know that, don’t you?” 

And then it clicked. Jaybells had left right before the stabbing of the CAPTCHAS, only to return soaking wet and disheveled, sneaking back in one of the side entrances. “You think I’m the murderer?”

Well, this was going to be a fun discussion.

~~

Dead:

Silver Crystal, poisoning; Harper, hanging; Knight and Qwinn, stabbed

Suspects:

Niteskiies, Jewel, ???

Day 4:

{In which we see Jaybells Making Very Questionable Decisions: the Sequel}

It could have gone worse. 

That’s what Jaybells kept telling herself as she trudged through the forest, morning sun on her back. Yesterday, after she had been accused of being the murderer, she had been quick to respond with her alibi, promising that she was telling the truth. Pangolin, Quill, Nerd, and Jewel outright refused to believe her, shooting angry looks at her from across the room during meals and in the common room, and many other guests were wary or avoided talking to her altogether. Lindel didn’t seem to care, but Zealatom was the only one who was still friendly towards her. He hadn’t lost a companion (yet), and he seemed to sympathize with the way that Jaybells was being shunned.

Jaybells didn’t expect him to accept her offer to retrieve the remote-controlled car that she proposed at breakfast the next morning, but he did so without much hesitation.

“I trust you,” Zealatom had said, shrugging. “Besides, if you are the murderer and you kill me in the woods, you’ll only be proving you’re not innocent, and you’ll have to be taken away or imprisoned. And I think the murderer would be smarter than that.”

So that’s how Jaybells and Zealatom found themselves trying to retrace Jaybells’ steps and find the car that she had been chasing when Knight was killed. Jaybells was grateful for his help, knowing that more people would believe her if she has a witness. 

“Wait,” Jaybells said, squinting into the forest. “This looks familiar. I think it’s over here.” She pointed to her left, and they changed course to head that way. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the two CBers came across the huge rock that the small metal car had wrecked on. The car wasn’t there.

“Is this it?” Zealatom asked, scanning the area. “I don’t see anything.”

Jaybells knelt next to the ground where the car had crashed, looking for any sign of it, but it seemed that the rain washed it all away. “This doesn’t make any sense! It was here, I remember.”

“Hey, what’s that?” Zealatom asked, gaze fixed on something on the rock. Jaybells studied it, anticipation swelling in her. The letters N, R, E, and T etched into the stone looked to be a carving.

Zealatom ran a thumb over the letters, frowning. “These look like they were done recently.”

“Is there was anything else here?” Jaybells asked, already beginning to circle the rock. 

A few minutes later yielded no results from either of them, and Jaybells sighed, irritably nudging the rock with one foot. They both froze when her foot connected with something that definitely wasn’t rock, sending a metallic clang through the air. Hesitantly, she reached down and located a metal square that was painted to look like the grey rock. She flipped it up, and underneath it was a keypad of sorts with a small, rectangular screen. 

“Woah,” Zealatom whispered. “What does it do?”

“I think we need a code,” Jaybells responded, and then was hit by a sudden revelation. “The letters!”

She hastily entered the letters N, R, E, and T into the keypad and pressed enter, only to be met with a flashing red light from the small screen. 

“It has to be a puzzle!” Zealatom announced excitedly. “Could the letters unscramble into something else?”

The next few minutes were spent entering random combinations of the letters, trying to find a secret meaning. The only word they managed to find was ‘RENT’, but it failed as well. 

“Wait,” Jaybells said, pausing. “If the letters are telling us which keys to use for the code, do you think we could use a letter more than once?”

“Oh!” Zealatom exclaimed. “Good idea.” A pause. “What about ‘RENTER’? Or ‘TENT? Wait, would we still have to use all the letters? Is ‘TENTER’ a word?”

Jaybells suddenly sat up straighter, eyes glinting. “No, but ‘ENTER’ is! Could that be it?”

Zealatom typed ‘ENTER’ into the keypad; the screen blinked green and a click was heard. The two CBers watched in astonishment as the rock slowly began to move, uncovering a plain wooden trapdoor. 

“Cool,” Zealatom said, clearly excited. “Do you think that the keypad triggered some sort of mechanism or something to move the rock?”

His question went unnoticed by Jaybells, who was staring intently at the trapdoor. 

“I think we have to go in,” she whispered. 

“The mysteriously locked trapdoor in the middle of the woods where a murderer is roaming?” Zealatom asked. “Sure, why not. Sounds super safe.” 

“You don’t have to come,” Jaybells said, not unkindly. “I already dragged you out here, I understand if you want to go back.”

He sighed. “Nope, I’m staying. Someone’s got to keep you safe down there.”

Together, they opened the trapdoor, which was surprisingly light. Zealatom wrinkled his nose at the draft of dank air that hit them from the shaft of darkness that headed deep into the ground. A rusty ladder led down into the inky blackness. Jaybells started down the ladder first, and Zealatom followed, deeply regretting the choice. The trip down took several minutes, but eventually, Jaybells’ foot hit damp stone. 

“It ends here!” She called up, and a few seconds later the sound of Zealatom’s feet landing on the ground echoed through the space.

“I can’t see a thing down here,” he said, reaching out and trying to feel for something in the darkness. 

“Look for a light switch.”

There were a few more seconds in silence except for shuffling footsteps before Zealatom announced, “I think I found it!” He flipped the switch and a few fluorescent lights flickered on, revealing that the room they were standing in was round and bare with stone walls. They blinked a few times to adjust to the light.

What happened next really wasn’t Jaybells’ fault. She just happened to be the one standing closest to the snake.

The next few seconds were a blur; a flash of red and black, an aggressive hiss, a strangled scream.

Zealatom watched in horror as Jaybells’ body collapsed onto the floor, no longer breathing, the snake’s fangs still sunk into her foot. Its beady black eyes flicked to Zealatom. He stumbled back, whipping around, and practically jumped onto the ladder, scaling it as fast as he could. He heard the hiss, he felt the scaly side of the snake brush against his leg as it missed him by a fraction of an inch. 

He made it to the top, hauled himself out, and flung the trapdoor closed, breathing heavily. Masses of shock and grief and terror swirled inside of him as he covered his face with shaking hands.

It could have been him. Jaybells was dead, and it could have been him.

~

Pangolin wrung her hands, eyes watering. “I was so terrible to her! And now she’s dead.”

“It’s not your fault,” Quill said. “It’s obvious this was a setup by the murderer.”

Lindel was silent as he sat next to Zealatom, who hadn’t spoken since he got back, save for when he managed to choke out what happened to him and Jaybells. A quick trip to the woods by the guests had proven his story true.

Inside, Zealatom’s thoughts were racing, and he silently clenched his fists. Somewhere in the lodge, there was a murderer, and he would find out who it is, even if it killed him.

~~

Dead:

Silver Crystal, poisoning; Harper, hanging; Knight and Qwinn, stabbed; Jaybells, venomous snake bite

Suspects:

Niteskiies, Jewel, ???

Sum up!

1: The people who went to the hiking trails can be trusted, since they can't have killed Harper.

2: Rex is sus. We have to keep a eye on him.

3: I am not the murderer.

4: The murderer might be in my room, since I brought sturdy ropes, perhaps resulting in the killing of Harper. 

Day 5:

{In which waffles are thrown, movies are watched, and the CBers really need to stop jumping to conclusions}

Silver, Harper, Knight, Qwinn, and Jaybells had been murdered. Worse, they had been murdered by one of the guests at the lodge (supposedly). But the sun still came up that morning and the birds still sang into the swift breeze without a care in the world. The CBers woke up and ate breakfast with a disturbingly normal air about them considering the circumstances. Quill, pangolin, Nerd, and their AEs, along with Jewel, were all more silent than usual, but they still laughed when Onyx hit Lindel on the back of the head with a waffle from across the room, triggering a food fight face-off between Onyx, Lindel, Barnacle, Dallas, and Milka, which left the dining room in ruins and a few unfortunate CBers splattered in maple syrup.

From there, everyone dispersed and commenced with their activities for the day. It wasn’t like they forgot about the murders; everyone was sure to always be with two or three people and no one traveled up to the observation deck where Harper was killed. But there seemed to be an unspoken thought in the air: that for just one day, they would try to enjoy themselves at the lodge. 

True and Adrian asked Cathy if they wanted to join them in the gardens which they had explored with their CAPTCHAs before the murderer got to them. The trio of AEs found a small area in the back that was walled off on three sides by hedges with a little fountain in the center containing koi fish whose orange-white scales flashed in the sun. A wooden bench was nestled in a corner among a flowerbed, and they sat in silence for a while, contemplating the gardens and lodge. Or maybe, they were simply content to sit among the blooms and revel in the beauty of nature.

Onyx, Lindel, Barnacle, Dallas, and Milka had forgotten their morning food fight and were currently plotting a way to get access to a popcorn-making device, preferably the one that had gotten confiscated from Barnacle. They finally settled on trying to break the lock on the storeroom, which they set off to do excitedly. 

Quill, LG, Jewel, and pangolin decided to try out the indoor pool. Jewel mostly paddled around in the shallow end, eventually judging LG and pangolin when they decided to have a diving contest (LG won by one point, but pangolin didn’t seem to mind). Then, a game of Marco Polo began with Quill closing her eyes and starting as Marco, and she caught LG quickly, mostly because LG kept laughing and giving herself away. LG then proceeded to tag Jewel on accident, and a ten-minute-long chase ensued as pangolin kept evading the AE. 

“All right, all right, I give up,” Jewel admitted her defeat. “Let’s call it a tie?” She laughed as pangolin splashed water onto her.

Meanwhile, Niteskiies, Nerd, and Zealatom found themselves in the TV room; Niteskiies was clicking through the movie options.

“Oh cool!” She exclaimed. “They have all the Marvel movies on here! Which one do you want to watch?”

“One of the Captain Americas?” Nerd suggested.

“Nah, let’s watch an Iron Man,” Zealatom said.

As a compromise, Niteskiies played Captain Marvel after some debate and they sat back onto the huge couch overrun with throw pillows to watch the movie. Niteskiies wished she had popcorn; unfortunately, the group of popcorn-maker retrievers were no closer to breaking the code on the storeroom door; they had managed so far to unlock a closet that sadly only held camping supplies.

The movie ended and the credits rolled, the trio having enjoyed the (sadly, popcorn-less) movie. They were just getting up to reconvene with the others for lunch, when Zealatom, who had been silent for the duration of the movie, suddenly stopped in his tracks and widened his eyes.

“We need to gather everyone in the common room after we eat,” he announced, drawing confused glances from Nite and Nerd.

“Why?” Nerd asked.

“Because I figured it out,” he explained. “I know who the murderer is.”

~

Every one of the guests was in the common room, nervously watching Zealatom pace up and down.

“Come on,” Onyx complained. “Just say whatever you’ve got to say.”

Zealatom took a breath. “Okay. So. I know who the murderer is.”

That caused quite a flare in the conversation for a few moments, as this was news to everyone, save Nerd and Niteskiies. Quill and pangolin were the ones to calm everyone down, anxious to hear what Zealatom had to say.

“It’s so obvious,” Zealatom continued. “I can’t believe it took me so long to realize.” He looked at the small crowd of CBers and AEs. “It’s Rex. It has to be.”

Instead of the uproar he was expecting, everybody stayed perfectly silent, and he realized they were waiting for him to continue. 

“It’s the only logical explanation,” Zealatom insisted. “Think about it: he was the one that invited us here in the first place; he has free range of the whole lodge, including the kitchen, so he could have poisoned Silver. No one knew where he was when Harper died or when the CAPTCHAs were stabbed. And who better to recognize a venomous snake and plant it as a trap than someone who spends all of his days here and knows each of the animals?”

By now there was a mix of expressions from the listeners, including doubtful and worried, but overwhelmingly, conviction. A few were nodding along.

“And he was the one that took my poison!” pangolin realized. “He could have used that!”

“And he took Zealatom’s dagger,” Lindel accused.

“Guys,” Barnacle said, eyes widening. “He took all the weapons. He took them all so he could use them against us!”

“It’s got to be him,” Quill agreed, no doubt thinking about Harper’s death.

“I knew it from the beginning,” Dallas announced. “I have superior detective abilities.” Nerd knew that he, in fact, had no idea who the murderer was, and she told him as much.

“Everyone, stop,” LG called, and all the heads turned to her. “We shouldn’t jump to conclusions like this! It could be a coincidence.”

Barnacle scoffed. “Yeah, right.” He turned to Onyx and Lindel for support from the AEs, and Lindel nodded, but Onyx kept silent, faer’s face unreadable. 

“Couldn’t we just ask him?” Adrian suggested. 

“You really think he’d tell the truth?” Quill countered.

“Lightning Girl is right,” True said quietly. “This is a serious accusation. We should at least have material evidence before being sure.”

“Then let’s get some,” Zealatom spoke for the first time since he made his initial statement, a strange glint in his eyes. 

“How?” Jewel asked, who, along with several other people, had stayed silent during the debate. 

“Well,” Zealatom smiled for the first time since Jaybells fell dead at his feet. “First thing’s first, we’ll need a distraction.”

The rest of the day was spent making plans for the morning; they just hadn’t taken into account finding Cathy’s body in the bathroom, red outlines of fingers still marking her neck.

~~

Dead: 

Silver, poisoning; Harper, hanging; Knight and Qwinn, stabbed; Jaybells, venomous snake bite; Cathy, strangled

Suspects:

Niteskiies, Jewel, Rex, NerdFace, ???

Day 6:

{In which a search is conducted, Niteskiies receives a bird-watching guide, and Zealatom improvises}

Cathy’s murder caused a few stumbles in the plan, but the CBers were determined, and when the morning came, they were ready. Lighting Girl was devastated, but it seemed to push her to contribute more to the expedition. Many tried to ignore the fact that if the murderer went unapprehended, it was only a matter of time before there was no one left.

By now, most of the guests had convinced themselves it had to be Rex. Even those who didn’t quite believe the claim agreed to help find evidence. A quick reconnaissance mission revealed where Rex’s room was located, on the second story, positioned right above a small lake that was flanked by rose bushes. 

Niteskiies, Quill, and Zealatom sat in the TV room, absentmindedly discussing movie options, while on the other side of the lodge, pangolin, Lightning Girl, and Nerd were reading in their rooms. The AEs were all gathered in the front of the lodge, preparing the distraction, which including glue, glitter, and several angry badgers. 

Niteskiies and Quill were casually debating the Star War prequels when a loud explosion echoed from the front of the lodge (please, don’t ask). They kept up the conversation, trying their hardest to sound unbothered as Rex’s rushed footsteps sounded from the hallway outside as he hurried to see what the AEs had done. 

“You think he’s gone?” Zealatom asked when none of them could hear him anymore. 

A pause. “Yeah,” Quill confirmed. “He’s gone, let’s go.”

The three of them exited the TV room and turned a few corners until they spotted Lightning Girl and Nerd waiting by the door. Nite stayed at that end of the hallway, knowing that pangolin would be guarding the other side. 

“Come on,” Nerd whisper-spoke as they approached. “He can’t stay away forever.”

Quill hesitantly twisted the doorknob, pushed, and let it swing open. No alarms sounded, no traps sprung. The group let out a breath and the four of them filed into the room. By all accounts, it was pretty normal: a large bed against one wall, a dresser and desk against the adjacent one, a closet, and a bland beige carpet blanketing the wooden slats. 

An affirmative nod from Zealatom sent the four of them scrambling through the space, searching for some kind of evidence to convict Rex with. LG was opening drawers in the dresser one by one, shifting through various articles of clothing, while Zealatom searched under the bed and Quill and Nerd examined the desk. A few minutes later, no discoveries were made and the four CBers were starting to worry about when Rex would return. They knew that the AEs would try and stall him for as long as possible, but they had no idea when that would be. Besides, getting caught here would be both embarrassing and possibly dangerous to explain, especially if Rex really was the murderer. Zealatom declared the bed clear and moved on to the closet just as Quill gasped. 

“I think I found something!” she announced, a little too loudly.

“Shhh!” LG and Nerd hissed.

“Sorry,” Quill whispered, lowering her voice. “Look at this,” she pulled the desk away from the wall just enough to reveal a small panel of wood that was a lighter shade than the rest of the desk. 

Nerd reached out and pressed it once, gently, and the panel swung open with barely a noise, revealing a shadowed compartment. She peered inside and squinted.

“Do you see anything?” LG asked. 

“I’m not sure,” Nerd answered before hesitantly reaching out a hand into the compartment. “Wait. Something’s here.” She withdrew her hand, holding a few small objects glinting in the light. As soon as she recognized them, she gasped and dropped them onto the desk like they were burning her. The two glass containers rolled to a stop, the thick green liquid sloshing around inside. 

Zealatom’s eyes widened. “Is that-”

“The poison that killed Silver,” Quill confirmed. “They look just like the one that Jewel found.”

“Okay, we found evidence,” LG said. “Now let’s get out of here before he comes back.”

As if on cue, muffled voices sounded from the hallway, and Zealatom immediately recognized them as Rex and Niteskiies. He froze for a second, heart pounding. There was no way they could leave through the door now without getting spotted, and it was only a matter of seconds before Nite’s stalling failed and Rex found them. 

“We’re trapped,” Nerd whispered urgently. 

And that’s when Zealatom spotted the window. The window that looked right down onto the pond a story below. “No, we’re not.” He grinned. “You guys can swim, right?”

~

“If you’ll excuse me,” Rex said politely. “I need to get by.”

“Actually,” Niteskiies, frantically searching for another topic to distract him with. “I um… I was wondering about the kinds of birds that live around here.”

“I will be happy to provide you with a bird-watching guide,” the host replied, but Nite could tell he was getting impatient, as she had been stalling for almost ten minutes now. “It’s in my room, so if you’ll allow me to enter, I will fetch it for you.” 

This time he didn’t wait for Nite’s reply, sidestepping her and striding up to the door to his room. Nite felt a sinking sense of dread at the inevitable discovery of her friends. But after a few seconds of drawn-out waiting, no voices were heard and she was caught between feeling relieved and worried. Where were they?

Her confusion only grew when Rex emerged, seemingly undisturbed, a few minutes later with a bird-watching guide in one hand. Trying not to show her bafflement, Nite accepted the book and thanked him before turning and scrambling to the common room. Pangolin was no longer at her station at the other end of the hallway, and a large mass of hushed voices could be heard through the closed door of the common room. Nite swung it open and was met with the following scene: Zealatom, Quill, LG, and Nerd were at the center of the room, thoroughly drenched, while the other CBers and AEs crowded around them.

“What happened?” Nite asked, causing a few heads to turn her way. She turned to the four soaking wet CBers. “I thought you guys were caught for sure. How’d you get away?”

“We jumped,” Quill sighed. “Out of a window.”

“Into a pond,” LG added.

Nerd rolled her eyes. “Zealatom’s idea, of course.”

“Hey, it worked!” Zealatom said, smirking.

“Thanks for stalling for so long,” LG told Nite. “He would have gotten us for sure if you hadn’t been there.”

“What did you find?” Nite asked, hoping that they had actually discovered something and the whole venture hadn’t been for nothing. She flopped down on a couch next to True and set the bird-watching book down onto a side table.

“That’s what we were just discussing,” Zealatom said, smile vanishing. He pointed to two little containers, which Nite immediately recognized as vials of poison, similar to the one that Jewel found on their second day. 

Just as Zelatom finished with the word ‘discussing’, Nite spotted a shifting of shadows outside the cracked open door to the common room. Before he could say anything else, Nite stood and waved her hands to get everyone’s attention. She put a finger to her lips in a ‘be quiet’ gesture before pointing to the door and mouthing ‘Rex is listening’. The CBers exchanged alarmed glances as Zealatom tapped Quill on the shoulder and mouthed ‘hide these’, gesturing to the vials of poison. Quill nodded and scooped them up. From there, the guests had no choice but to disperse and pretend that nothing had been happening, trying to keep up an act of normalcy for the eavesdropping host. Zealatom was prickling with nerves; no one knew how much Rex (the possible murderer) had heard.

Rex followed/stalked the CBers and AEs for the rest of the day, so they had to wait to continue their conversation.

It’s almost ironic that no one noticed that Adrian had been missing since that morning. By the time Nerd realized it, it was almost midnight.

She had no idea, but by then, it was already too late for her AE.

~~

Dead:

Silver, poisoning; Harper, hanging; Knight and Qwinn, stabbed; Jaybells, venomous snake bite; Cathy, strangled; Adrian, unknown causes

Suspects:

Niteskiies, Jewel, Rex, NF, ???

Day 7:

{In which the author shamelessly drowns her readers in dialogue}

The CBers all breathed out a (silent) sigh of relief when Rex announced he was going to be in the forest all day remarking trails. As soon as he left, the CBers gathered back in the common room and sat in uneasy silence until Lindel returned, confirming that Rex had indeed left and had not doubled back and reentered the lodge. 

“Okay,” Zealatom announced. “Resuming our conversation from yesterday-”

“That doesn’t matter!” NerdFace practically shouted. “Adrian is missing! The murderer might have gotten them!”

“Yeah,” Zealatom said. “And if we decide Rex is the murderer, we can confront him about it!”

“There really isn’t much to discuss,” Barnacle said. “It’s clear Rex is the murderer.”

“That’s not true,” Lighting Girl countered. “The murderer could be one of us, and he could be helping them.”

Quill was shaking her head. “That just doesn’t make any sense,” she rationalized. “Why would any of us want to murder anyone else?”

“He could be bribing them,” Onyx suggested.

“With what?” pangolin asked. Onyx shot her an annoyed look. 

“Stop!” Dallas called. “We need to find Adrian, now.”

“He’s right,” Milka said. “All this has to take a backseat for now while we look for Adrian.”

A murmur of agreement rippled through the CBers. 

“We’ll send out search parties,” Jewel suggested. She and Dallas started on the task of organizing the groups to search for the missing AE.

“Wait,” Quill said, expression darkening. “How can we just stay here? Living with a literal murderer? He’ll keep killing us off, one by one, until we’re all dead.”

True tilted their head to one side. “Well, it’s not like we can just leave.”

“Why can’t we?” Quill challenged. “I’d rather try my chances in the woods than with someone who’s literally bent on getting rid of us permanently.”

Onyx scoffed and crossed faer arms. “That’s a stupid idea. It would be easier just to knock him out and tie him up somewhere.”

Lindel glared at faer. “We aren’t stooping to his level. Besides, I don’t think that the staff would take kindly to us taking out their boss, and we can’t get rid of all of them.”

“Yeah, what if they’re in on it, too?” Dallas asked. “They could be helping him.”

“It’s not safe to stay here,” Nite announced. 

“This is ridiculous,” Onyx scoffed. “You’re going to run away? Into the forest? No offense, but you wouldn’t make it very far. Surviving in the wild isn’t as easy as movies make it. You don’t even have any supplies.”

“Wrong,” Dallas argued. “We found that closet of camping stuff a few days ago, remember?”

“We can split up into two groups for the search party,” Zealatom planned out. “We’ll both look for Adrian, but after we’re done, one group will go back to the lodge, and the other group will stay in the woods.”

“Splitting up isn’t a good idea,” Jewel warned.

“It is,” Quill insisted. “We’ll have supplies and we’ll be safer. Maybe we can’t convince you now, but if he keeps murdering people here, you can come find us. Don’t worry, you’ll see soon. It has to be him.”

Jewel sighed. “All right, then. All in favor of leaving, raise your hand.”

Zealatom, Lindel, Barnacle, pangolin, Quill, Nite, and Dallas raised their hands.

“All in favor of staying?”

Jewel, LG, Milka, Nerd, Onyx, and True.

And so it was decided. After this evening, the CBers would be split clean in half; one in the woods and one in the lodge. 

One group would soon be very, very sorry about their decision.

~

Later that day, the group that voted to stay sat uneasily in the common room, having just returned from dinner. The lodge felt silent with only half as many CBers as there had been that morning. They had done everything they could to find Adrian, but despite their efforts, they remained empty-handed. True and Milka were consoling Nerd, who had been too worried to eat. She would rather know he had been murdered than left with such a frail string of hope. It was terrible. 

LG eyed the window, where snow was starting to fall heavily. She hoped that the departing CBers had remembered to bring jackets. 

~

Meanwhile, the group that voted to leave were still hiking in the woods, despite the swirling snow battering them. They were simultaneously looking for Adrian and a place to set up the tents that they borrowed (read: stole) from the closet that the AEs found. Luckily, there had been plenty of winter gear as well, and everyone was relatively warm in their heavy coats. Another positive had been that they hadn’t run into Rex yet.

“Do you think that the others will tell Rex where we went? What if they tell him that the reason we left was that we suspected him?” Nite asked anxiously.

“I don’t think they will,” Dallas said. “Hopefully.”

Zealatom was leading the group, but he fell back when Lindel tugged on his arm. 

“What’s wrong?” Zealatom asked.

“What’s happened to you?” Lindel asked quietly. 

Zealatom blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that you used to be so optimistic. Easygoing and happy.” The AE studied his CBer. “Now you’re so… different. It’s not bad. Just weird.”

They were interrupted by a sharp scream from pangolin. She had stumbled over something in the snow, only to realize it wasn’t something. It was someone.

“Adrian!” Dallas shrieked.

“What happened to them?” Barnacle asked in horror. 

“I-it looks like they were crushed,” Nite answered numbly. I won’t describe poor Adrian’s appearance to you, but I will say that in their final position they were still clutching a book. It was pangolin who reached down and took the book from Adrian’s hands, recalling numbly Nerd saying how much they loved to read. Pangolin doubted they would want their book to be ruined in the snow.

“Rex was in these woods the entire day, he easily could have done it,” Quill muttered angrily. “He might still be around here. We need to move on.”

And so they did. Zealatom avoided Lindel.

And maybe Lindel was right. Maybe Zealatom had changed, and not in the best way. Maybe Zealatom just didn’t want to admit he blamed himself for Jaybells’ death and he didn’t want any more people to get hurt or killed because of him. Maybe Zealatom’s judgment was a little clouded because of it.

And maybe, just maybe, later in the night, when everyone back in the lodge was asleep and the other CBers had set up their tents in the snowy ground, when Lindel’s foot caught on a wire and the crossbow was activated and his blood seeped into the frost-glazed grass, maybe that’s when Zealatom really, truly, realized that something inside him had changed.

Because his AE was dead, and he didn’t feel any grief. Just emptiness.

~~

Dead:

Silver, poisoning; Harper, hanging; Knight and Qwinn, stabbed; Jaybells, venomous snake bite; Cathy, strangled; Adrian, crushed; Lindel, set off a crossbow trap

Suspects:

Niteskiies, Jewel, NerdFace, Rex, ???

~~

Sorry if this is confusing, basically the ones who think the lodge isn't safe are camping in the woods for now. This day was reaaalllyyy hard for me to write, so I hope it isn't all bad. 

Anyone who guesses me correctly gets to live for another few nights guaranteed! Hint: I am someone who was in the original 20 attendees of this ski lodge!