Day One, Part Two - The After-Ski

After both Biscuit and Misty skied down the wrong slope and plummeted to their deaths, none of the CBers wanted to go skiing anymore. The Activities Director suggested they all go inside and play some board games with some nice, warm hot chocolate, and none of the CBers could resist.

Everyone cuddled up into their pj’s and headed down to the academy’s library, where there were turrets, lots of fireplaces with warm fires burning inside them, globes, ski posters, and, of course, BOOKS!

Booksy Owly, Starseeker, and many of the other book-loving CBers felt like they were at home.

“This is awesome, A.D.!” Booksy exclaimed.

“Yeah!” Starseeker agreed.

“What game do you all want to play first?” A.D. asked.

“How about Picwits?” Elvina suggested.

“Gida,” Legolas agreed.

“Guide a?” Guide a what, Legolas?” Elvina asked, then smacked her forehead. “Oh! Good idea!”

“All right, Picwits it is!” the Activities Director exclaimed.

Will T. wandered over. “If this game is anything like Spin the Bottle, there’s no way you’re getting me to play,” he said, crossing his arms.

Leafmist laughed. “Don’t worry! It’s not. All you have to do is choose which of your seven cards fits the topic best -- or worst, and whoever has the most winning cards at the end wins the round! Sometimes, the judge picks the one that’s the weirdest, too!”

“All right…” Will said, starting to get the idea. “Who’s going to be judge?”

“I will! I will!” Rufus exclaimed, raising his hand like Hermione Granger.

“Sure, Rufus, you can be judge this round,” the Activities Director confirmed.

Aquina smacked her forehead. “Oh, no,” she said. “Last time I played with Rufus, he ended up picking the dirty trash cans for the topic called ‘Home Sweet Home’.” Rufus smiled evilly.

“Pick whichever one you think is best,” he snickered. “I’ll choose whichever one I think is best.”

“Fine,” Aquina said, and handed out seven cards to each player. Everyone gathered around a table and found a chair.

“Ready to start?” Rufus asked. Everyone cheered. “All right! The first topic is… ‘Delicious’!”

Rufus started to investigate. “Let’s see..” he began. “We’ve got eighteen players, not including me but including A.D.” Rufus laughed. “I didn’t know I could rhyme!”

Will T. laughed along with him. “Rufus! Come on, let’s just pick your favorite card and move on to the next round.”

Rufus examined the cards laid out on the table. For the category called “Delicious!”, there certainly were a lot of options -- which ranged from piles of chicken feathers to mountains of candy.

Rufus stroked his chin, pretending he had a beard. “Hmm,” he said, ever-so-wisely, “I pick the chicken feathers.”

“Yesssss!” Elvina exclaimed, punching the air and taking the card.

“Congratulations, Elvina! Everyone pick a new card now,” the Activities Director said. Every CBer did so, but Elvina picked a special card. Disguised as a regular Picwits card, it had a message:

I’M COMING FOR YOU.

Elvina screamed and dropped all her cards.

“What’s wrong?” Aquina asked.

“M-M-My card….” Elvina stammered. Aquina picked up the card and read it aloud.

“I’m coming for you,” she read. Setting down the card, she said, “Hm. This must mean that the murderer had a chance to insert this card.” Aquina thought for a little bit. “That means...it’s likely that the murderer had to have access to the cards! Who here has access to the cards?”

“Rufus does!” Cho exclaimed. Rufus’s eyes went bigger.

“Look, guys…” Will said. “We can’t go jumping to conclusions. I’m sure there’s other people that have access to the cards besides Rufus..right?”

“Sure,” the Activities Director said, “like me!”

Elvina gasped. “But why would you--”
“There’s no way I could. The murderer is definitely a CBer. How else would Sydney have died during the night? I don’t have access to your room (except for emergencies), on another hand, I’ve become particularly attached to you all, and besides, I’m a really heavy sleeper.”

“Well...I guess you’re right. That’s another person off of our list. Now we’re down to seventeen suspects. That includes me,” Shadow Dragon confirmed. “Because everyone’s a possible murderer.”

“All right…” Elvina said. “Well, I think I’m done with this game now. Have fun, guys. I’m going to go read a book.”

Elvina walked over to the bookshelf over the fireplace. “Ooh, this one looks good,” she said, pulling the book off of the shelf.

Suddenly, the fire below soared up and started smothering Elvina. “Help!” she screamed.

Everyone dropped their Picwits cards and rushed over to help, but it was too late. Elvina had died, all for the love of a good book.

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R.I.P. Elvina. I hope you can still read that book.