So, I plan to have this ski lodge finished by Monday, when I start school. That means I will have to work very, very hard to get it done.

Don't fret if you don't see an entry soon; instead of writing a little, typing a little, writing a little, typing a little like I usually do. Instead, I will be writing, writing, writing as much as I can today, and try to give you a lot at once near the end of the day. This works easier with my time frame today.

I am very happy! I have been wonderfully productive this morning, and have completed eleven pages!!! With lots of scratch-outs, and in my large-sh handwriting, so it's probably more like nine or ten...

I am typing out what I have now. I will release it in serpeate posts, so you're not overwhelmed. 

Okay, so turns out I can't finish the entire thing by tomorrow. Sorry if you were getting excited about that.

Yes, I will finish it, (you'll find out how close I am in the story) and will try to finish it this week, though that is not a gurantee. But you will be getting anew part today. A lot, so that should quench your thirst for tomorrow.

Keep the thread topped please.

So I guess I will be actually posting things, on the CB, just on this thread.

"That's the way with Wicked

Spreading fear where e'er it goes

Seeking out new victims it can hurt!"

DAY FOURTEEN, part one

The vacationers were sitting at one large circular table for two reasons. The first was that there were only thirteen of them left, so now they could all fit. The second reason was because all  the other tables had been moved to the kareoke room for the snacks, and nobody wanted to go back in there to move the tables. If they did, they would have to look at the deadly Hamilton statue, which was a sight no CBers wanted to set eyes on again.

"Now both my AE and CAPTCHA are dead!" Clouded Leopard declared woefully. "I swear, killer, you will pay for this. 

A couple people stiffened, and though they did not voice their thoughts, they knew they were all thinking the same thing: Was good-natured Clouded Leopard going to become like Bumblebuddy?

Then Clouded Leopard closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and exhaled through her mouth. She opened her eyes and sighed. "Sorry, I just needed to get that out. I'll be fine, eventually. The rest of you, er, most of you, have dealt with losing people so well."

Danie reached across the table and put her hand on Cloud's. "We've all lost someone."

"Except Shadowmoon and Hermione," Bumblebuddy blurted.

"I could've lost Saphira on the roller coaster," Shadowmoon said tersely.

"But you didn't," Bumblebuddy muttered. 

"Someone say my name?" Hermione said, her eyes dazed-looking, like she'd just been interrupted reading a book in which she'd been very immersed. Only Hermione didn't have a book with her. She had a piece of paper and a purple pencil with which she'd been writing intensely.

"I did," Bumblebuddy replied. "I was saying how you and Shadow are the only ones who haven't lost an AE or CAPTCHA."

Hermione was probably still a little dazed, because she didn't seem to notice the suspicion in Bumblebuddy's voice. "Ah, yes. I am so very grateful for that. I've been very careful with dear Teacup here." She went back to writing on her paper.

"What are you doing?" Shadowmoon asked her.

"Homework."

"You got homework for the break?" Mirax said sympathetically. 

"You're doing your homework on vacation?" Clouded Leopard queried.

"You're actually doing your homework?" Cortana exclaimed. "I never do my homework!"

Hermione gave the AE a critical look. "Well, it's only one front-and-back worksheet. I'm nearly finished already."

"Maybe we can help you get it done even faster," Shadowmoon suggested. "Read the question you're on."

"This worksheet is on secretaries, by the way," Hermione added, then read, "Number eight. Who was the first Secretary of State?"

"Thomas Jefferson!" Clouded Leopard and Shadowmoon declared, then high-fived each other.

Hermione nodded and wrote the name down. "Yes, I knew that one already."

She grinned as she spoke, "Let's see who knows this next one." The CBers waited. "Number nine. Who was the first Secretary of Treasury?"

"ALEXANDER HAMILTON!" everyone shouted. (The Hamilfans sang it.) When the non-Hamilfans realized they only knew that because of the musical, they either smiled proudly that they'd learned history without even knowing it or frowned with irritation that the knowledge had rubbed off on them.

Hermione's smile faded as she read the following question. "Oh come on," she grumbled.

"What is it?"

Hermione squinted as if she couldn't see the paper. "Who was the Assistant Secretary of State for the Inter-American Affairs from 1985 to 1989 who allegedly solicited $10 million from the Sultan of Brunei to purchase arms for the contras?" 

"What?"

"What the heck?"

"That sounds like a foreign language!" 

"How could your teacher expect you to know that?"

Hermione bit her lip. "The homework she was giving everybody else was so simple. I asked for more challenging material."

"You asked for harder homework?!" Cortana exclained, but Hermione ignored her.

"The directions say I may research if necessary, whic I woulod do, only we don't have Internet here! So I'm stuck."

Shadowmoon thoughtfully cupped one hadn under her chin. "Hermione, read that question again." Hermione did so.

"Hmmmmm..." Shadowmoon said to herself. "1985...1989. Inter-American Affairs. Sultan of Brunei. Brunei. Sultan, Sultan, Sultan..." she snapped her fingers. "Abrams! Elliot Abrams!"

The others gaped at her, including Hermione. "How on earth did you know that?" she asked in disbelief.

Shadowmoon blushed slightly. "I was offered two random free college-level courses to take in addition to school. History of the 1980s...I know, super random, but I learned a lot since it was only a ten-year time frame. I also took Advanced Botany."

"Botany?" Danie repeated.

"Study of plants, right?" Mirax questioned.

Shadowmoon nodded. "Yep." Her eyes lit up. "It was fascinating. We even had a day where we learned about fungi, and all these crazy, newly-discovered types."

"Thank goodness you took those courses. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to finish my homework!" 

"If you ever get back to school," Cortana said bluntly. "We're going to be marooned here forever."

"Oh no we aren't!" someone said brightly. 

I can't do any more today.

Note: I am aware that the hacking/computer terms may not be correct. I took a little prior knowledge (no, I am not a hacker) and mashed it up with stuff that sounded like I knew what I was talking about XD 

CONTINUED

**********

"Oh no we aren't!" a voice said brightly.

It was the Manager. Hamilton Shirt of the Day: a gray tank top with the musical logo in black, only instead of the standard sillouhette of Alexander Hamilton, it was the Schuyler Sisters holding hands.

"I have excellent, excellent, excellent news! We are getting off this island tomorrow afternoon!"

The room filled with whoops and cheers. The killer celebrated with them too, but only on the outside. Inside, they became intesely aware of its hearbteat, which felt like the ticking of a clock, telling the killer it was running out of time. Tick out, tick tock. The killer had to come up with a new plan, and fast.

Owlgirl held her hand up for silence. "I said I would get it fixed eventually, and I did. However, I will say depsite restoring the connection, it was nearly destroyed again."

"What do you mean?" Saphira asked.

"Think of it this way...metaphorically: our connection with the rest of the world is a tube. Once the rest of the world is a tube. Once the central pole was sabotaged, the tube was broken in half. After two weeks, the chef and I worked hard to put it back together again. But once we did...the tube was...clogged.

"What?" Saphira wasn't following.

"She means hacked," Mirax explained. "See, once the Manager fixed the service physically, with 'wires and stuff,' she discovered that the resort computer ID was somehow erased from all the contact data of the SWAT, the medical helicopter, the jet...all the people that could help us. Our ID is...covered up by one that appears malicious, and would make those people think we were some anonymous hacker, and it would block her. Fortunately..." She touched her earrings made of recycled data chips. "...I myself know how to hack."

"So you've known all morning that you got us connected with the rescue jet and everybody, and you didn't tell us?" Bumblebuddy said incredulously, preparing to give a death stare.

"First of all, the Manager rold me to keep it a secret until she announced it," Mirax shot back. "And second of all, the "rescue jet and everybody" omputers...their firewalls are too strong, and too far away for me to hack. However, I was able to get into the closest signal: the iPhone of Kai Tamatoa, who lives on the tiny island of Kulimi, jsut off the coast of Hawaii." Mirax grinned. "Kai owns a helicopter/ I sent him a message about our sitation, and he's going to pick us up!"

"In his dingy little copter?" Cortana commented critically.

"We'll fit," the Manager responded. She winced. "There's only thirteen of you left anyway."

And I'm going to make it even less, the killer thought. 

********** 

Drat. Forgot to preview AGAIN. I coutned at least five typos.