No worries, Mice! Take as much time as you need - but when you do come back to this thread, mind telling how you did that thing with the links on the previous page? It would certainly make linking a lot less tedious..

Thank you all for your patience! I finished the next part; apologies in advance for the length of it. Also! I realize that many CBers have been left out from the past few installments, and I apologize again. There are still a lot of names to cover and sometimes I forget who I've included and not included.

@Jwyn - Joan does not know who the murderer is. However, she does know what the Mystery is. And soon...so will everyone else...

@HAB - To do the link thing, I used an HTML tag. I'll try to show it to you with brackets instead of <'s. [a href="your link"]your words[/a] But it's a lot easier if you just do [a]your link[/a].

Experiment: <a>http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/puddingsplace/node/192112</a>

Day Eleven - Ammiratio: Part Two

The room was silent.

Suddenly it exploded with chatter.

“What??”

“How?!”

“You’re joking. You have to be joking.”

“Really???”

“Yes! It’s completely true! My plan was flawless,” Elvina declared.

“You mean you really caught her?” Lily asked. “Where is she?”

“In a room upstairs,” Elvina said.

“You locked her up??” Pierre asked, flabbergasted.

“Well yeah,” Elvina replied as though this should’ve been obvious, “‘cause she was trying to run away.”

“How did you catch her?” was Hotairballoon’s first question, and his commanding tone calmed the frenzy that had overtaken the room.

Elvina thrust her chin up proudly. “Well. It was quite simple, actually. I pretended I was hopelessly lost, and Cassy came out to help me find my way back. And then Jayfeather and Ariel came out and we caught her.”

Silence.

Hotairballoon’s face was one of open-mouthed disbelief. “Um. Very funny?”

Elvina shook her head. “Nope. That’s actually what happened.”

“Why am I not surprised?” HAB muttered.

“When you’re hunting a Cassy, you have to think like a Cassy,” Ariel shrugged.

Lily and Pierre looked at each other. “Can I go up and talk to her?” Lily asked.

"If you want to help with the interrogation,” Elvina responded.

“Interrogation?” Lily asked blankly. But of course that only made sense...there was so much Cassy had left unsaid. But Lily wanted to talk with her sister alone…

The murderer’s mind was in a panic right now, but it didn’t let that show. It kept a cool expression and tried to seem invested in the idea of interrogating Cassy.

“We need to organize this really carefully,” Elvina declared.

“Agreed,” Hotairballoon said with a nod.

“Agreed,” Moonfrost said.

“Definitely,” Brooklyn Newsie and Booksy Owly confirmed.

Joan nodded, as did Autumn Leaves.

“I’ll volunteer,” said all six at once.

“Hold on,” Pierre said. “You’re holding my sister hostage in an upstairs bedroom. She’s not a criminal. Just bring her down and let her talk!”

“Actually--” Lily protested, but the CBers interrupted her.

“Last time we did that she ran away,” Elvina reminded him. “Sooo…”

“Hm.”

After much careful foresight and a lot of arguing, the CBers eventually decided that they would send seven people plus Pierre and Lily to interrogate Cassy, with a list of questions from all CBers. The seven chosen Chatterboxers included Hotairballoon, Moonfrost, Cinderpelt, Autumn Leaves, Booksy Owly, Brooklyn Newsie, and Joan B. of Arc. Six of these CBers were known for their gentle and calm personalities and would help everyone remain at ease during the questions. HAB was there to keep the conversation on track.

Those who were not participating in the interrogation had collected glasses from the kitchen so that they could listen in on the conversation through the walls.

The CBers headed upstairs and found Jayfeather waiting outside the door to the Rose sitting room. He stepped aside to allow Lily, Pierre, HAB, Moonfrost, Booksy, Autumn, Joan, Cinderpelt, and Brooklyn Newsie inside.

Cassy was standing before the giant window that made up the back wall, staring off into the idyllic snow-capped mountain in the distance. When she heard the door open, she turned around and spotted Lily leading the way inside.

Cassy’s face lit up when she saw her sister. “Lily--” But she broke off when she saw Pierre and the others enter. “Oh.”

“Hey, Cassy!” Lily exclaimed, running over to hug her sister. “Why haven’t you been answering my messages?”

“I’ve, uh, been busy,” Cassy answered, stepping away from the window. “I--”

“So we have some questions for you, Cassy,” Hotairballoon broke in.

“Why don’t we all have a seat?” Booksy Owly suggested, casting a subtle, searching glance over the others.

“I’ll arrange the chairs,” Autumn Leaves offered.

Cassy fell silent and began to stare at the others (though not as subtly as Booksy was doing), and to Autumn Leaves, it seemed that Cassy was almost...excited by their arrival.

After everyone had been seated in a circle formation, Booksy looked down at their first question: ‘Were you working with the murderer?’

The CBers already knew the answer, but wanted to see what Cassy had to say. So Booksy read the question aloud.

“Ummm,” Cassy answered, “yes, yes I was.”

“You were?!” Lily exclaimed, while Pierre fell out of his chair in surprise. He was ignored.

“Would you mind telling us why?” Cinderpelt wondered.

Cassy kept her eyes on her lap. “Because...the murderer asked me to.”

“So you did it of your own free will?” Autumn inquired.

“No!” Cassy exclaimed. “The murderer made me do it.”

Subtly, Moonfrost scanned the list of questions in Booksy’s hands. Some of these, she knew, held answers that were off limits to the ears of the other CBers. But how could Moonfrost stop the others from asking these questions? She was the only one who knew the reason why Cassy was doing what she was doing!

“Which leads to our next question,” Booksy said slowly. “Are you still working with the murderer?”

Cassy sighed. “Yes.”

As the implications of Cassy’s response rippled through the CBers, Brooklyn Newsie glanced around in panic. They were getting to the questions that would mean trouble if answered. She tried to give Cassy a supporting smile to let the chaperone know she was on her side, but Cassy seemed distracted and didn’t notice. Brooklyn Newsie was distressed by the fact that the other CBers in the room had no idea what they were dealing with. But little did she know, most of them did.

“It’s because I have to!” Cassy explained, finally looking over at Brooklyn Newsie. She was obviously relieved to see the face of someone trustworthy, someone she knew who would fight to keep her secrets, yet Cassy still appeared worried that the deepest buried treasures of Lake Lelillo were about to be revealed. To Brooklyn’s surprise, Cassy offered this very same glance to Moonfrost and Booksy Owly as well. Hm...

“Why do you have to?” Autumn Leaves pressed.

“Because--” Cassy broke off, frustrated. None of her explanation would make sense if she couldn’t tell the Chatterboxers about the Mystery. Some of the CBers here already knew what the Mystery was, but then again, some of them didn’t. And the murderer would not approve if she told them right here, right now. “I can’t tell you.”

“That’s okay,” said Cinderpelt.

“And...what is it that you keep wanting to tell us, but never do?” Booksy went on, paying careful attention to Moonfrost’s expressions. As far as Booksy was concerned, she and Moon were the only two CBers who could help Cassy out of this pickle. But the question was--how?

“Oh! Um, well, it’s a secret. I was going to tell you...a secret thing that I can’t explain.” Cassy took a deep breath. “Because, if I do, then the murderer will do something unfortunate to me.”

The CBers listening from outside the room frowned.

“We want to know what the Mystery is,” Cinderpelt said.

Joan felt a little tingle go down her spine. She knew what the Mystery was. The others...oh, if only they realized what they were getting into!

At the mention of the Mystery, Lily looked at Cinderpelt in alarm, then shot a glance over to Cassy, who returned her sister’s gaze with a helpless shrug.

“I can’t tell you that either. I’m sorry! The Mystery is the whole reason I can’t answer any of these questions!”

“You have to tell us,” Autumn Leaves said. “We can’t trust you until you trust us.”

Meanwhile, Lily stared at her sister suspiciously. Puzzle pieces were starting to slip into place.

Hotairballoon had so far said nothing. The questions were staying on track for the most part, and he actually had no interest in any answers Cassy might provide. She had been caught, and that was all that mattered...

“We can go back to that question,” Cinderpelt said. “If you could just tell us this one thing, then we’d be very grateful. Who is the murderer?”

 The murderer blinked, ignoring its worsening headache. It had to admit, Cassy was doing a better job withholding information than it had expected. But she had dug herself into a hole. The Chatterboxers...they were smart. Knowing that the Mystery was the only thing keeping Cassy’s mouth shut, they had the opportunity to inadvertently discover what it was that the Mystery affected. If Cassy declared that she could not reveal the murderer’s identity, she would be giving the Chatterboxers a vital clue about the Mystery. But of course she could not tell the Chatterboxers who the murderer was…

“I’m not enjoying this questionnaire,” Cassy replied. “I don’t know who the murderer is,” she lied unconvincingly. The Chatterboxers stared back at her expectantly.

“I’m telling you, I don’t.”

“C’mon, Cassy. How have you been communicating, then?”

“Communication devices,” Cassy blurted, surprising herself with the truth.

“Well then, we’d better take off that earpiece,” Hotairballoon declared, rising. Cassy let him take it off without a struggle, and HAB sat back down with the tiny machine clutched tightly in his left hand.

“Is that it? Are those all the questions?” Cassy wondered.

“Are there any traps outside?” Joan inquired.

“Yes, but not a lot,” Cassy said, as if that made it alright. HAB sighed.

The interrogation lasted for a little while longer, but ended abruptly as the CBers realized that they were not going to get anything else remotely helpful out of Cassy.

Joan, Brooklyn Newsie, Moonfrost, and Booksy were secretly glad that the interrogation had proved fruitless. The only thing that bothered them was the plan to have a follow-up questioning later.

“We should let Lily and Pierre talk to her privately later,” suggested Autumn Leaves as all nine people filed out of the Rose Sitting room.

“I second that,” Lily agreed.

There was no need to go over what had been shared with the other CBers; they had been listening through the wall and heard everything. A meeting was then organized, in which the CBers discussed everything they had learned from Cassy--which unfortunately was not much.

Several times throughout this meeting Booksy thought of pulling Moonfrost aside and telling her everything she knew. But something held her back--as if keeping her knowledge private was a lifeline, or an important tool she might need later on.

Meanwhile, Joan B. of Arc was seriously considering interrupting the meeting to inform everyone that the Mystery needed to remain a secret, so they should stop talking about it right now and just move along with the ski lodge.

Brooklyn Newsie and Moonfrost were sitting back, watching things unfold uncomfortably. One of them was beginning to grow uncertain: Was the Mystery really worth protecting? After all that had happened...shouldn’t the Mystery be made known? But she squashed down the thought.

These five Chatterboxers had each been given a piece of information they should never have known. It had taken an innocent hold in their minds, but the longer it stayed there, the larger and more demanding it grew. Deep down they knew that they could not keep its secret for much longer. And soon, they would not even be sure if they wanted to.

The Mystery was wearing thin, even if they were not consciously aware of this. It was only a matter of time before something snapped, and the Mystery's hiding place was destroyed...

Where would the weak link lie? In Cassy? In Lily? In one of the five Chatterboxers who already signified broken strands? Or in the murderer itself?

@HAB - Hm. I thought the code would work that way, but apparently not. Before, I had by chance discovered a way to turn the text box into an HTML box, but I don't think it would be a good idea to explain how to do that--any outsider could come in and code anything into their post that way. I'm sorry.

Day Eleven, Part Three: Open Eyes

The post-interrogation meeting was over. Now, as late afternoon began to overtake the day, the sun began to beat down on the lake, and under its merciless glare, anyone who happened to look out a window might’ve noticed how the landscape was beginning to look parched and brittle. Even the lake was down a few inches, despite the fact that it had rained not too long ago.

But the Chatterboxers felt that they were too busy to do anything more than glance at a window. Even the murderer was caught up in its own thoughts, wondering what it would do about this situation where Cassy was in its grasp, and another plan was nearing fruition.

Well, there was no need for the murderer to wonder, because it already knew what it was going to do. That’s not to say it wasn’t worried about how its idea was going to work out, but hey, it was worth a shot.

The first phase of its plan began when the other CBers allowed it to guard Cassy’s door--alone.

Things moved on to the second phase when the murderer found some alone time in its bedroom.

The third phase included waiting, conversation with the other CBers, and snacktime:

About an hour after the interrogation had ended, the Chatterboxers got hungry. They crowded into the kitchen, prepared their snacks, and settled down in a colorful sitting room near the kitchen. Meanwhile, Lily rustled around in the pantry, sweeping up spilt cereal, and Pierre stood guard at Cassy’s door.

Brooklyn Newsie and Booksy Owly were having a very hushed conversation in the corner of the sitting room; Moonfrost, Nighthawk, and Elvina were eating cereal with Ariel, Briar, Puck, and Wordsy; Cinderpelt, Joan, Winter Lilac, Jayfeather, Poetic Panda, and Autumn Leaves were settling down on the floor to start on their sandwiches. Hotairballoon was joining them with his half-a-turkey-and-mustard-sandwich when Autumn Leaves shouted abruptly, rose to her feet, shouted again, and pointed at HAB’s sandwich.

“Look!”

Hotairballoon looked down at his food, saw what Autumn was pointing at, and yelped, dropping his plate with a clatter.

“That’s not your phone, is it, Hotairballoon,” Autumn declared quietly, and by now, the attention of the whole group was on her.

Hotairballoon shook his head, eyes wide. “No.”

A sleek black phone had been sitting on the edge of HAB’s plate, almost as if placed there by someone gently passing by. Now it sat on the floor, squished under a layer of turkey and bread.

“I don’t want to pick it up,” Autumn said fearfully. “If we leave it, maybe it won’t do anything.”

“What is it?!” Wordsy exclaimed, perking her head up from the other side of the room.

“Um, it’s the phone. The phone that means…”

The other CBers abandoned their snacks and raced over to gather around Hotairballoon’s plate.

“Not that phone!” Briar shrieked when she saw it.

“Calm down, everyone,” Poetic Panda said. “I’m sure it’s--”

Bzzzzzzzt. Bzzzzzzzt. Bzzzzzzzt.

The bread started to jiggle.

“It’s a BOMB!” Briar screamed.

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s just ringing,” Wordsy remarked.

“So it is,” Puck echoed.

The CBers stood there, listening to the sound of the phone buzzing against the mustard-stained carpet, until finally, it seemed to have enough of their obstinance. It answered itself.

So we meet again, Chatterboxers. I believe this is our...third game? I hope you’re ready!

Today we’re playing Capture the Flag. This is perfect because there are sixteen of you now--an even number. There will be eight of you per team.

I’m sure you all know how to play capture the flag, but just in case you forgot, here’s a review. There are two bases. Each one holds a flag. There are two teams. Each team guards one base and its flag.

The point of the game is to steal your opponent team’s flag. To win, the flag from the opposite base must be planted on the flag-spot of your base.

When an opponent is on your side of the playing field, you may tag them, and then they must return to their property before they can go back into your land again. If you’re stealing the enemy’s flag and you get tagged, you have to drop the flag where you stand. The team protecting that flag cannot move it back; it must stay where it is dropped.

You all have a little bit of time to sort out your teams and develop your strategies. But I must inform you that there is a slight catch to this game. Each team’s base is defended by traps. There aren’t a lot; there are only three per side. If you’re careful, you should be able to avoid all of them.

This game is relaxed on purpose. You are all forgetting the reason why you came here. I want you to try to have fun while you play. Alright?

On the screen I will give you the maps to each team’s base. Once your organize your teams, you should start the game.

The voice fell silent; Autumn Leaves caved in and finally decided to pick up the phone. On it were two maps with stars representing the two bases.

“So this was what Cassy meant by ‘not a lot of traps’,” Ariel muttered.

The CBers looked at one another. “I’m not up for another game,” Nighthawk declared.

“Yeah, what’s our incentive to even go out and play?” Hotairballoon challenged.

“The murderer said to have fun--” Winter Lilac began, but stopped as Lily entered the room.

“Hey, so um,” she started. “I just went up to talk to Cassy and--”

“You didn’t let her escape, did you?!” Jayfeather exclaimed accusingly.

“Um, no,” Lily replied dismissively. “But she wasn’t there, sooo, maybe someone else did?”

“Cassy wasn’t there?!” Elvina exclaimed. “Pierre let her out!”

“No, he didn’t,” said Lily. “She was gone when he went up there. He’s been looking for her.”

The phone vibrated again and the unrecognizable voice began to speak once more, interrupting the confusion.

Oh, I forgot to mention one small detail. Your incentive to play?

I have kidnapped Cassy. If you play the game, she lives. But if not, well...you get the idea.

This elicited a shocked moment of silence in which the CBers stared, awestruck, at the phone.

“Well there you go, all questions answered,” Elvina remarked bitterly.

“How did they kidnap Cassy?!” Winter Lilac demanded to know.

“It was one of the guards,” Nighthawk declared dramatically.

“What?!” one of Cassy’s guards exclaimed.

“But what if that’s what the murderer wants us to think?!”

“What if you’re the murderer and that’s what you want us to think!”

“They could’ve kidnapped her through the window or a vent or a secret passage.”

“Guys.”

“But didn’t we lock all the secret passages?”

“Not the ones that lead from one part of the house to the other.”

“Guys!”

“Oh, yeah, there are three secret passages leading to that room. Whoa. That’s a lot...”

“Oh my gosh, you could’ve told us that SOONER, Puck!”

“Geez, I’m sorry! I didn’t KNOW!”

“Likely story.”

“GUYS!”

Poetic Panda hollered at the top of her lungs, and finally the room fell silent. “I don’t think that’s quite our problem at this point! I think we need to focus on the fact that Cassy’s LIFE is in danger!”

The Chatterboxers thought about this. After everything she had done--after everything she had admitted to doing--and all to save her own life…

No one voiced what they were thinking out loud, but the CBers could all sense the unpleasant thought that had appeared in everyone’s minds.

Winter Lilac looked around the room, trembling. For most of this vacation she had been quiet, keeping secrets which she thought didn’t matter. She had kept them buried for so long that they had almost escaped her mind--the only thing helping her to remember was her journal.

But now, it seemed that those secrets did matter. And so Winter Lilac decided to reveal one of them.

“Ghosts,” she began simply. “Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts.” She repeated the phrase a few times so that she would not forget what she was talking about--for some strange reason, memories of her previous vacation were fleeting and difficult to grasp. “When we die here we become ghosts.” She looked around at the CBers and Alter Egoes, carefully taking in their expressions.

She repeated the phrase, and then everything came tumbling out.

“When we die here--where is here?--we become ghosts. Where is here? Here--is the farm. No...not the farm. A ski lodge. We are at a ski lodge. And since it’s just a ski lodge--” Winter Lilac blurted it all out in a jumble, making little sense. But then, Puck’s eyes widened and she gasped in alarm.

“Ghosts! How did I forget?! Guys! Guys!” Puck looked around excitedly, and the others looked back, confused. “I get it! I get why Cassy said ‘you’ll see them when you get back to the Chatterbox’! It’s because we aren’t really dead!”

Lily glanced around and excused herself hastily.

“Yeah…?” Elvina replied, head cocked. “I know. It’s just a ski lodge; it’s just--wait OHHHH IT’S A SKI LODGE!!! And we--and we--and we, uh...”

“See that’s my other question!” Winter Lilac went on rapidly, pointing at Elvina. “Why did we all forget everything? I haven’t heard any of you mention the farm in a long time! But that’s a question for another time. Back to ghosts!”

“Yes,” Hotairballoon cut in thoughtfully, in a quiet voice. “Ghosts. At ski lodges, the hosts--they aren’t supposed to die. They’re not part of the ‘ski lodge’ that you’re all referencing. They do not become ghosts.”

“That’s right,” Winter Lilac agreed. “Well, not in the same sense as we do…”

Meanwhile, Booksy, Moonfrost, Poetic Panda, and Joan looked around wonderingly. “How did we forget about the farm?” Booksy asked.

“For me, it’s like...I didn’t exactly forget; it’s just,” Moonfrost stammered, “I sort of pushed the memories to the back of my mind.”

“We already talked about this a few days ago,” Joan pointed out. “And then we apparently forgot again.”

“And we’ll probably forget again,” Panda pointed out worriedly.

“That’s all good and well,” Jayfeather shot in, “but maybe we can save the walk down Memory Lane for another time? We’ve got a game of capture the flag to play.”

“I guess that’s a given, then,” Autumn Leaves pondered.

“Yeah,” Cinderpelt agreed. “So Cassy doesn’t become a ghost, but we do...”

At that moment, the CBers forgave Cassy for working with the murderer. Because now, thanks to Winter Lilac, they understood her side of the story.

That makes me happy to hear, Anonymous! :) I'm so glad you're enjoying it.