Shoot! Oh well. Really good writing, Micearenice!

Uoh. Isrd. Mp!

Same here, LilyCat.

I'll finish this story if it's the last thing I do!!

Day Five--Part Two

Later on, after the funerals were over, the CBers ate their late breakfast in silence. They were all deep in thought, wondering despite themselves HOW in the world Saphira had ended up at the foot of the window. The best they could think of was that the murderer had been prowling last night and had killed Saphira, sticking her body outside for some random reason. That idea made no sense, but of course killing people makes no sense to begin with.

They also couldn't help but wonder if things could've turned out differently...if Cassy had played some part in the two events...if they were linked in some way...

"I've got to get out of here," declared Elvina, standing up abruptly and laying her breakfast plate to the side. "I don't want to spend the whole week inside this living room. I'm going outside."

"Me too," Hotairballoon said.

"And me," Moonfrost said.

Poetic Panda, Kate the Great, Joan, Cinderheart, Chester, Holly, Tina, Nico de Furr, Luna, Legolas, Nighthawk, and LilyPad also agreed to go exploring for a bit. No surprise--everyone was feeling a little restless.

"Anybody want to play a game?" offered Dragonrider. The CBers who stayed behind soon worked out their frustration in a ferocious battle of Monopoly. No one said much during it all, but it was good to get their minds off the stress.

Outside, the sun shone brightly, reflecting off the lake at an odd angle that seemed to blind the CBers no matter where they were.

"I don't think we've made it to the tip of the lake yet," Nighthawk said, pointing off into the distance.

"Can we go through the woods, possibly? It's probably less bright there..." LilyPad started off for the forest. The others followed, seeking out trails that would make it easier for them to make it through the woodland.

"Firr," Luna said as she hopped onto a mossy boulder. She started to claw pieces of lichen off of its rough surface, showering the forest floor with shredded foliage.

Nico stared at her. "Nuhh," he yipped. His eyes grew large as he scaled a nearby pine tree with his sharp nails. "Hire," he barked smugly. "Hire denn...igbv!" He frowned. "Igel. Qurt! YOUU. AEHE!!" 

Tina, who had up until that point been riding on Joan's shoulder, flapped up onto the branch above Nico and eyed him curiously. "Gblr, Nico," she sang.

She plucked a feather from her chest and let it fall down. Nico watched it, captivated, until it landed on his nose.

The CAPTCHA sneezed and fell off the tree, crashing into a pile of leaves, which quivered for a moment before a squeal emitted from it. "Snke!" Nico cried, tearing out of the bushel and joining Luna at the top of the boulder where he was safe.

"Agrd?" Cinderheart queried, approaching the leaves curiously. Tina flew down to join her.

"Copr...ratl...watr...taik."

The Chatterboxers stopped and turned around. None of the CAPTCHAs were following them.

"What's wrong?" Hotairballoon asked.

Cinderheart prodded the leaves with her paw, glancing up at Hotairballoon as she did so.

"Snae, clrd..." she muttered. "Abbl?"

The CBers looked at each other without comprehension. "Come on, we'll never make it to the tip of the lake at this rate," Elvina said, beckoning the CAPTCHAs onwards.

Legolas glanced at the other CAPTCHAs, then at his CBer. "Tsis," he said.

"What?! Don't provoke it!" Elvina cried. She backed up, looking back at the other CBers. "They say it's a snake!"

"C'mon, guys, leave it alone and you'll be fine," Moonfrost said. "Wonder what kind it is."

However, it took a few more minutes of persuading Nico off his boulder before the CBers could continue their walk, and by that time the snake had already revealed itself to be a harmless ringneck.

Along the way, the CBers spotted a herd of deer, a weird mushroom that looked like a strawberry shortcake with jelly oozing out of it ("It's called a bleeding tooth fungus, apparently," Kate the Great had said, looking it up on her phone. "See the sharp things underneath? They're like teeth."), and another snake. This one was a northern water snake.

"What's it doing all the way up in the woods?" wondered Poetic Panda.

"Maybe there's another water source around here," suggested LilyPad.

Nighthawk pointed deeper into the forest. "Look! I think I see it!"

Though the glistening pond in the middle of the woods was not on the way of their destination, the CBers didn't see any harm in stopping by to take a few pictures.

"Look at that!" LilyPad exclaimed. Right there, in the middle of the trees, was a long cove full of aquatic plants. "An aquatic garden!"

Pond grass, yellow-flowered bladderwort, and other aquatic plants and flowers floated as one giant live carpet of color. Reds and oranges bloomed in the middle, and the yellows greens and blues faded out into purple, pink, and deep indigo to black. A rainbow.

There was a staff member grooming the plants, wearing waders and a bandanna, sprinkling some kind of white dust onto the edge of the water. When he saw the CBers, he looked up and waved.

"Hi!" he called. "Welcome to the Seasonal Anna-Klara Underwood Rennovated Aquatic Carden. I mean, garden!"

The Chatterboxers and CAPTCHAs approached the cove. Around it grew dense patches of moss and ferns. "Cool," Chester said, but what he really meant was 'watch out for snakes'.

"Well this is neat," Poetic Panda said, summing up the entire garden in just four words.

"Look at the size of that frog!" exclaimed Joan, narrowly avoiding squashing a giant bullfrog that croaked and hopped away.

"My name's Pierre. I basically only work out here. Um, I work really hard taking care of all the plants, so just so long as you don't go swimming in here, you'll be fine," said Pierre. "And...don't step on the moss too hard; it's a variety I'm trying hard to bring back to these parts. Also, try not to--" Pierre cringed as Nico ate one of his ferns.

"Try not to--" Pierre cringed again, for Nico then began to nibble the moss...

"Please try not--" Nico scratched up a beautifully smooth, pearly white rock...

"Um--" the little CAPTCHA upturned a few calladiums, "--don't--" Nico swallowed a carnivorous-looking plant, "--eat--" he ripped a strange-looking sapling out of the ground and chewed it up, "--uh, just--" Nico threw up on Pierre's boots...

"Rrrrg!" Pierre growled, and, taking a few deep breaths, he picked Nico up by the scruff and flung him up up and away.

Pierre watched Nico fly off. He nodded to himself, half grinning, and then noticed the CBers' astonished expressions.

"Heh. Heh. He'll be fine. Probably. Uh, so, yep, this is the garden..."

The Chatterboxers nodded and stood around awkwardly. "Nice," Kate said.

"We, uh, have to get going," said Poetic Panda, pointing towards the lake. "See you around..."

"Okie dokie," Pierre said, dumping more white dust onto his beloved plants. "See you later. Enjoy your walk!"

Nico emerged from the forest just as the CBers left the little cove. He climbed up onto Joan's shoulder and stayed there the rest of the walk, whimpering quietly and casting wary looks behind him.

The Chatterboxers followed the cove's edge--it wasn't a pond, just a really narrow extension of the lake--all the way down to the lake's edge, where they found an old wooden bridge that they followed to the other side.

"We've got to be getting close," Hotairballoon said. Up ahead was a large, rocky expanse of beach, and beyond that, a wild and unkempt strip of forest that enroached upon the shore.

Unable to resist, the CBers took off their shoes and played in the sand for a while, making sand kingdoms on the rocks.

LilyPad, struck with a sudden desire to climb something, wandered over to a rocky outcropping near the trees. Here, the wild grasses grew in patches around clumps of sand and pebbles. There were tiny little freshwater mussels clinging to the sides of the rocks, which told her that the tide probably rose really high at night.

LilyPad surveyed the area for snakes before beginning to scale the stones, which were warm from sitting in the sun. Though they were deeply pocked and very rigid, LilyPad's feet somehow managed not to get cut as she rose higher and higher. When she reached the top, LilyPad felt a jolt of surprise. The center of the rock pile was empty!

A large, gaping hole sat in the place of the peak of the rock pile. LilyPad approached it cautiously, peering into its depths. It seemed that the interior of the rock pile was in fact hollow, and this hole was, as far as she could see, the only way in.

LilyPad stood tall and made sure the other CBers weren't about to leave the beach. Nope, they were still in the middle of a war among their kingdoms. Turning back to the hole, she hesitated only a moment before jumping to the bottom.

A hollow springing noise accompanied her landing. LilyPad stiffened, shutting her eyes, but no impact came. That was stupid of me, she thought. I probably shouldn't have jumped down here without looking for a trap first.

She forced her eyes open. Through the muted sunlight she carefully swept her surroundings. At first glance, she saw nothing bud dried algae, sandy rocks, and slime mold. But, as she tilted her head downwards, she saw a tiny net of wires under her feet, leading to a small metal thing under a large rock...

LilyPad squinted at the glistening metal corner protruding from beneath the stone. It didn't look like being squished was its intended use. In fact, LilyPad was almost sure it was broken.

A few pieces of driftwood stuck out from the surrounding stone. LilyPad grabbed one and pointed it at the trap in question. "I'm about to do something risky," she declared to no one in particular. LilyPad prodded the metal tip with her rotten stick. It clicked again, feebly, but did nothing worse.

"Phew." LilyPad stepped off the wire and began exploring the small space. "Glad that thing was squished, or I'd probably be dead." It didn't occur to her that another rock could tumble down and hit her, but thankfully, one didn't.

LilyPad was curious as to why the murderer would set a trap down there, so she began to look for hidden messages or artifacts. She mostly found dead clams and pools full of mosquito larvae in the pockets of the rocks. After a few more minutes of digging around in the sand, she grew bored. Disappointed, LilyPad lifted her head to see if she could jump out--and that was when she saw the letters.

The CBette gasped. There were letters and symbols tracing the rim of the exit hole, all in the same font as the ones on their bedroom doors. Except LilyPad was sure she recognized some of them. In fact, she was sure that if she was higher, she would probably be able to read them.

The fallen rock suddenly became very obvious at the corner of LilyPad's vision. "No," she said firmly. "I will not move that rock."

The next few moments found LilyPad moving the rock.

"Well, I was going to have to move it anyway or be stuck here until the murderer came back to get me," she muttered to herself. "Unless that was the trap all along, which I doubt, because this metal box isn't going to do anything any time soon." Indeed, the little electric fence battery was far too broken to ever work again. However, the capacitor was still intact. Thankfully, LilyPad didn't try to touch it.

When she was finally pleased with the placement of her stepstool, LilyPad stepped up and found, with a jolt of ecstacy, that she was high enough to read and understand the mysterious writing carved into the stones. 

Hello, hello, um...... hello.

First off, I want to say how totally, completely, ABSOLOUTLY sorry I am for not being around for like this ENTIRE thing. I totally forgot to read this, and then I was gone for a while........ so when I remembered, I went off to find it. And so, the last two days plus a lot today has found me reading this from beginning to end (I started over 'cause I wanted to be thourough). OH. MY. GOSH. Mice, I just wanted to say that this is literally one of my faverite ski lodges EVER. The plot is rich and intruiging, the writing manages to both pay attention to every aspect of the story while still being light, humorous, and fun. I have enjoyed this SO MUCH, and I just wanted to thank you for keeping up with it. :) 

Now........ I'm going to say a few theories that I thought of over the last few parts. Hope this isn't overwhelming or anything XD

One: The murderer seemed familiar with Jayfeather.

Firstly, why would the murderer ruffle his hair? I know it says he/she did it "Just for fun", but this seems like a very familiar gesture for the murderer to make, especially as he/she was thinking about when they would murder him. 

Also, I'd like to add, why did the murderer say this? "To kill him now, the murderer thought, would be to answer his wishes." Why is that? Is Jayfeather just feeling really guilty about Echosong? It mentioned earlier that guilt was a new sensation for AEs, maybe it's just such a new feeling that he feels like he should pay for her death? Or maybe I'm just being super dark..... XD. either way, I'm a bit nervous for him AND his Cber. Maybe killing Moonfrost is the murderer's cruel plan....... 

Two: Ideas about "The Mystery"

So, I'm sure we've all been thinking about this "Mystery" thing. Like, why did it get capitalized when Cassy mentioned it? Here's my theory: (which I'm sure most of you have noticed, but I'll write it down anyways XD)

So, what I was thinking is that "The Mystery" is some sort of driving force that comes with every ski lodge like this. It always chooses a murderer, whether the murderer wants to be chosen or not, and then afterwards it wipes the memories of the all people who were in it. I think. It seems like SOME people remember, and some don't. What's the common variable here?

Three: What if Lake Lelillo has had ski lodges before?

Ok, this may sound a bit crazy, but bear with me.

First of all, both Cassy and Lily know about the CB. They seem all too familiar with "The Mystery", and how the murderer works. So what if they've done this before? It doesn't even have to be in the same place. Maybe Lake Lelillo has been a lodge in the snowy mountains, or a castle, or a spaceship, or a boat? Maybe...... and, this is just a crazy guess, Lilly and Casy have been chaperones in many different forms, like they've been whatever the ski lodge needs in a host? 

Ok, that last one was a little crazy. I honestly doubt it..... but it's fun to guess.

One other thing I'd like to add is that the traps and the weird writing adds up with this theory. (not the host one, the other one). The murderer in this does not seem like he/she would go around randomly placing traps everywhere. The deaths so far have been very calculated and besides, a lot more people would have died if there had been traps everywhere. So the old, delapidated trap that Lilypad fell into must have been from an old one.  As to the symbols..... I haven't the foggiest idea. 

OK, I'M DONE. So sorry that was so long and complicated....... just making up for lost time I guess XD. Thanks for reading! (If you even made it to the end without falling asleep XD) 

Luna says "onzb". Oh, I think she's going to write a poem on zebras! How nice.

*Yeah, zebras, definitely. I wasn't saying Nico in any way, shape or form. Nope. Because I never think about him. Ever.*

*pushes toy boat across water* Oh, look, a ship- I mean boat. XD

*shut up.* 

I think I found the reason why so many of my posts end this way........ :D