Thank you, Starseeker! I feel happy now.

@Kitten, have you ever been on a zipline before? I have, and one of my worst fears is there being an earthquake and me falling and OUCH! Probably a good thing I live in New York (State, not city) where there are barely any earthquakes at all.

@Solomon, I'm sorry, but I'm already quite a ways into the story. I might be able to briefly mention you at some point, though.

Day 5, Part 4

“Holy Tolito.” Lucy said for the second time that day.

“Holy things I’m not supposed to say…” Rae said. There was a big gaping hole in the side of the mansion.

“Holy a bunch of things, but we should focus on Fireburst. She’s hurt! Really, really, hurt.” Elementgirl told Bryann and Anna, who both realized that Icy, General Waffleson, Balletandbow and Epic Fangirl were all carrying a stretcher.

“What happened?” Bryann asked, who was trembling a little bit.

“Long story.” Icy told him. “Any idea where we could find the Hotel Manager?”

“Oh, um, sure! I’ll go get her.” Anna replied, then ran off.

As the CBers and the crowd of gathering AEs and Captchas waited for the Hotel Manager, Fireburst lay unmoving, looking oddly peaceful considering she’d nearly fallen to her death. Her hair was flopped in weird positions, but smooth and perfect. Her eyes were closed as if she’d simply gone to sleep.

“Take her pulse again!” Rae said frantically. Elementgirl knelt down and took her wrist, where she could feel the soft beat of Fireburst’s heart. “Alive. She is definitely alive.”

The Hotel Manager came running over to them. “Oh no, what happened? Quick, to the Hospital Wing!” She and Ms. Tobin took the stretcher and ran to the Hospital Wing as quickly as they could, doing their best not to upset Fireburst.

“We have a Hospital Wing?” General Waffleson asked.

“It appears to be so.” Balletandbow said.

“Yeah,” said Bryann. “You should have seen the mansion right after the earthquake. Everything was shaken up crazily. It lost maybe half of the right side, so the Hotel Manager decided to rebuild it, and with all the, um, ‘accidents’ we’ve been having lately, she decided to put in a Hospital Wing.” He pointed to where the CBers could now see bricks flying into place and cementing themselves together. “But there is still a lot of construction that needs to be done.”

“Yikes.” Rae muttered.

The CBers followed Ms. Tobin and the Hotel Manager’s muddy footsteps up several flights of stairs and through a couple of closets and corridors until they finally reached the Hospital Wing where Fireburst now lay, in a bed packed with soft, fluffy pillows and comfy sheets and blankets. Next to her bed, there was a Book-O-Matic™.

The CBers waited and watched as the Hotel Manager and Ms. Tobin busied themselves tending to Fireburst, who was just beginning to stir.

“What? Where am I?” Fireburst asked.

“Here, take this.” The Hotel Manager said, giving Fireburst a medicine cup with some swirly cream coloured liquid. “There was an earthquake, and you fell off the zipline rather hard, I’m afraid. You’ve broken your left leg in three places.”

“WHAT?!” Fireburst yelped. Then, “Hey! Ow, please, don’t touch my leg.”

“I’m sorry, Fireburst, but we have to do a quick examination.” Ms. Tobin told her, continuing to examine her leg. “Hmm, this should take about a week or two to mend.”

“Only a week or two?” Icy asked. “I thought it took at least two months, and possibly more if you broke your leg in three places! And that you might never be able to move your leg again!”

Fireburst turned pale.

“We have our own special methods- I’m a chemist- not to mention a sculptor-, and Ms. Tobin here is, or was, a doctor.” The Hotel Manager said cheerily.

“Was?” Rae asked.

The Hotel Manager pretended she hadn’t heard anything.

“Yes, so you will need quite a bit rest, but it should heal up quite nicely.” Ms. Tobin continued.

The CBers took this as their cue to leave.

Day 5, Part 6

The CBers went downstairs unhappily.

“D-do you think the earthquake was really an accident?” Kitten whispered to Balletandbow.

“Yes. Earthquakes are caused by shifting of tectonic plates. How could anybody move them? I mean, that would take a lot of work. I don’t think even the Hotel Manager could do that. Too hard.” Balletandbow whispered back.

Kitten remained silent, and was less concerned. Accidents happen, right? She thought.

“Um, what do we do now?” Epic Fangirl broke the silence by asking.

“Well, we have a variety of options- we could run around screaming, juggle pizza, go swimming, play hide-and-go-seek with the captchas, eat food, declare war on the AEs; really, there are an infinite amount of possibilities.” Icy said.

“I don’t think the Hotel Manager wants us running around screaming. We’re supposed to be the mature ones.” Leafpool remarked.

A couple of the other CBers raised their eyebrows, but said nothing.

“Not very mature. But more mature than most of the AEs and of course, the captchas.” Leafpool corrected herself.

“Yeah. PSXtreme and Torstyn are pretty crazy, but BABTMP is fairly mature.” Balletandbow added.

“Lisbeth is rather practical in her own way, I suppose.” Elementgirl mused.

“Yes, but, what are we going to do?” Epic Fangirl asked again.

“Well, we could do an Ballroom SI!” Lucy said, eyes twinkling mischievously. “It’ll take a bit of planning, but I’m sure the Hotel Manager would love to help us! We could ask after she’s done tending to Fireburst!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They did. The Hotel Manager was delighted, and decided that it should be held at dinner the next day. She would help the CBers make their costumes. “I have a few very large trunks filled with fancy old fashioned clothing! It’ll be perfect! Did I mention I’m also a seamstress?”

“Um, only about a billion times.” Rosalyn muttered. She had joined the group when Lucy had mentioned the words “Ballroom SI”. Leafpool elbowed Rosalyn. “HEY! What was that for?” Leafpool elbowed her again, and Rosalyn got the message, continuing to make sarcastic comments. But only under her breath.

“... And we can have a fancy dinner with small fancy sandwiches, little cakes, pastries, fancy cookies, scones with raspberry jam and clotted cream. Then the SI will begin! This is going to be great!” The Hotel Manager continued excitedly. “Now, where did I put my fancy tablecloth?”

Silverwaxwing grinned and nudged General Waffleson. “So, the silk embroidered tablecloth isn’t the fancy one? What will this one have, diamonds?” She whispered jokingly.

The Hotel Manager walked off to go and look for her fanciest tablecloth. “Good idea Lucy!” Elementgirl praised.

“Yeah- this will be so fun! Like dress up, but with cooler stuff!” Rae added.

“Not to mention special food,” Epic Fangirl said. “Tea time-ish stuff is always really, really good. Mini sandwiches, good currant scones with jam, lavender cookies, tea with honey or mint, petits fours… yum!”

“To sum up what we all are thinking, THIS WAS A GREAT IDEA!!” Silverwaxwing said happily.

“I wish Fireburst were able to join.” Kitten said quietly. Then she perked up a bit. “We should make her dinner in bed! I like cooking!”

“Another good idea!” Icy said enthusiastically. “I really like to bake- muffins are my specialty.”

“I’m pretty good with eggs and bacon, also potatoes.” Balletandbow said happily.

“I like to make bread,” General Waffleson added. “Bread with cheddar or pepperoni, whole wheat, white, rye, cafeteria roll style, braided baguette, peacock shaped bread- I can do almost anything!”

“I’m pretty good with salads!” Lucy offered.

“Let us go find the Manager!” Kitten said, picking up a stick like it was a sword. “To arms! We will venture forth on our dangerous quest, fearing only Killer Bunnies and Knights who say Ni!*”

“To arms! Her army cried, and they set off to find the Hotel Manager for the second time that day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hotel Manager was again very enthusiastic. “That is such a good idea! The kitchens have just been finished, too, and we’ve just finished restocking the cupboards! We have flour, eggs, bacon, yeast, raspberries, strawberries, soda, baking soda, chocolate-”

“We get the idea!” Rosalyn said annoyedly.

“Well, then, off with you! To the kitchens, to complete your dangerous quest possibly involving ovens!” The Hotel Manager said. Everybody was so excited they forgot to wonder how she knew.

****

I've seen Howl's Moving Castle too! But it was a long time ago.

*Reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 

Ooh, that sounds cool, the Ballroom SI thing, I mean.

To answer your question, I have been on a zip line, but not that kind of zip line- really high and long and probably terrifyingly fun. 

@Amaya B, have you ever seen The Great British Bake Off? In one of the seasons, one of the contestants baked a peacock shaped bread/dessert, and it looked so awesome that I wanted to mention it here.

Day 5, Part 7

The CBers all worked together in the kitchen, each doing their own part of the work. Elementgirl was folding Fireburst’s napkin into the shape of a water lily, which was taking a very long time and incredible amounts of precision. Icy was working on calculating the amount of ingredients for making a singular muffin. General Waffleson was deciding what type of bread to make. Balletandbow was working on cooking the potatoes, which were taking forever to cook. Lucy was meticulously cutting fruit for the mini fruit salad she was going to make. Silverwaxwing had gone off to find a vase and pick a bouquet of flowers for the tray that they were going to send Fireburst. Rae was squeezing oranges to make freshly-squeezed orange juice. Kitten was working on arranging a little bag of candy, and Epic Fangirl was working on making a get-well card.

Silverwaxwing was out in the garden at the edge of the grounds, gently trimming flowers for the bouquet. The perfume of hundreds of flowers was mixed a spicy scent of some tree.

Petals swirled around her, engulfing her in a tickly, fragrant cloud. She smiled, taking in the beauty through her senses, and carefully picking and cutting the most beautiful flowers for the unfortunate Fireburst.

The sky was coloured purple and orange, with tints of blue and pink and yellow. There were very few clouds, and the clouds that were there added nicely to the scene, blending everything together nicely.

Silverwaxwing found it slightly odd that everything was so nice, and kept her guard up. It seemed almost too nice to be real, but then, you never knew. Maybe it was just the world’s way of making up for all the deaths that had occurred so far.

Deaths… why don’t you follow the petal trail into the forest, my dear? You’ll be safe there, The trees seemed to call to her.

Silverwaxwing shook her head to clear her mind. She would just pick the flowers, then go back to the mansion. The trees couldn’t be speaking to her. Trees didn’t talk.

And rivers aren’t oceans, are they? Something inside her head whispered to her. She shook her head again, moving quickly to gather the flowers that she needed, plucking them as carefully as she could.

Move, move! A voice in her brain screamed, making her panic. The voices of the trees were getting louder. She picked up her basket, and began running.

Don’t run away from safety, deary. Follow us, where you can live and prosper forever. You’ll be safe, safe forever. Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow…

The wind picked up, petals beginning to swarm her, blinding her. She ran faster, trying to outpace them. Then she reached the doors, slamming and locking them behind her.

The AEs and Captchas were in the library, and as she passed, torm came running out to see her. “Slvr! Slvr!” He cried happily. Lock came into the hall too.

“Are you okay?” He asked. “You look a little bit off-put.”

“Oh, um, I’m fine!” Silverwaxwing said, deciding not to tell anybody about what had happened. What if they thought she was going crazy? “Just on my way back to the kitchen.”

When she arrived at the kitchen, dinner for Fireburst was almost done. The final touches were being put on the tray, which consisted of a beautifully folded napkin, glass of orange juice, one muffin, a piece of cheddar bread toast, scrambled eggs, sausage and potatoes, a small bowl of fruit salad, a tiny bag of candy and a get-well card. All that needed to be added was the vase full of flowers, which Elementgirl set on the tray next to the juice.

“Great!” Kitten said happily. “Let’s take it to her!”

The CBers happily marched up the stairs, glad to be of assistance to their friend. The opened the door to the hospital wing, where Fireburst was reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a book she had received from the Book-O-Matic™.

“SURPRISE!!!” The CBers cheered.

“Is all that food for me?!” Fireburst asked happily.

“Yep!” Rae said. “Enjoy!”

And the CBers gave Fireburst the food, staying with her and talking until the Hotel Manager said that Fireburst needed to get some sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Long after everybody else had changed into their pajamas, brushed their teeth, and gone to sleep, Silverwaxwing lay awake, wondering what had happened outside in the garden. Was she going crazy? Or had the trees really called to her, begged her to go into the forest?

She rummaged around in her suitcase, looking for a pencil and some paper. When she found nothing, she tiptoed out of bed, heading for the library. When she got there, the moonlight spilled in through an open window, lighting the library just enough for her to see by. She found a blank, empty red cloth bound notebook on a table, seemingly waiting for her, along with a fountain pen. She took both, and began walking back to the Lily Room. On her way, she heard the voices calling out to her.

Follow the petals, into the woods, where heartache has never been.

She covered her ears and hurried back to the Chrysanthemum, where, in the moonlight, she began to write.

I am terribly sorry fo the long wait. I am getting a lot more homework than before, and Cross Country is taking over half of my would-be after school time. I've also had a bit of a writer's block.

Day 6, Part 1

Silverwaxwing set down her pen and looked at the clock. A minute past one, the clock seemed to laugh at her. She had filled five pages of the journal with her small, neat handwriting. She read through her writing, frowning at some parts and smiling at others. Then she hid the fountain pen and journal in a secret compartment in her trunk, burrowed under the quilts on her bed, and went to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Instead of an alarm clock the next morning, the Hotel Manager played her bugle over the loudspeaker. Silverwaxwing stretched and took a look around.

“I didn’t know the Hotel Manager even had a bugle, and certainly didn’t know that she could play it,” Lucy grumbled, unhappy to be woken up in such a loud and disruptive way.

“Neither did I.” Rosalyn muttered, scowling.

Stan merely yawned something about bugles, getting up, and breakfast.

Breakfast did not appear on the magical gold plates. The plates refused to yield any food, so the Hotel Manager went over to check on the automatons, followed by the curious visitors.

“Oh, shoot.” Epic Fangirl said quietly.

“I’m not sure that shoot covers the entirety of it.” Rae whispered to her.

The inside of the kitchen was completely destroyed. The automatons were nothing but wires and shrapnel, the pots and pans charred or broken, and the silverware stuck into the walls, and the walls themselves had huge chunks ripped out of them, and paint chips littered the floor.

Slowly, the visitors began to back out of the kitchen.

“It’ll take all day to fix this, and we won’t have the automatons anymore, so I’m afraid all of you will need to take turns cooking. The librarians will help you.” The Hotel Manager whispered.

“Whhy wspr?” Darkfeather quietly asked.

“I think she’s in shock.” Bryann quietly told her.

And so, once again, the visitors found themselves outside on a beautiful sunny day.

“Hey, look!” Sketch called, pointing to the trees. “The leaves are changing color!”

“Oh, wow. Those are really beautiful!” Epic Fangirl gushed.

“Yeah, look at how rich the colors are, combined with the leaf types and tree height, plus the blue sky and sun- they really are amazing!” Balletandbow nearly sang.

“Waitaminute- are those really changing color?” General Waffleson yelped. “That shouldn’t be happening! When we left, it was the beginning of summer!”

“Three factors influence autumn leaf color-leaf pigments, length of night, and  weather, but not quite in the way we think. The timing of color change and leaf fall are primarily regulated by the calendar, that is, the increasing length of night. None of the other environmental influences-temperature, rainfall, food supply, and so on-are as unvarying as the steadily increasing length of night during autumn. As days grow shorter, and nights grow longer and cooler, biochemical processes in the leaf begin to paint the landscape with Nature's autumn palette.” Lisbeth piped up.

“Quoted from the USDA forest service website, under Northeastern Area, from an article entitled Why Leaves Change Color.” Serene added.

“So, you’re saying that leaf color change is induced primarily by time of year.” Icy said.

“In a nutshell, yes.” Lisbeth answered.

“The only way the leaves could be changing color is if it was fall. Curiouser and curiouser.” Rae muttered.

“Okay, so it has to be fall. Does that creep anybody else here out?” Lucy asked. “We’ve only been here for what, six days? And like General Waffleson pointed out, we left at the beginning of summer. So either something fishy is up, for the second time, or, and this is the most comforting but least likely thing that could happen, this is all some incredibly weird dream I’m having.”

The rest of the CBers were silent, pondering this.

“Not to mention the Color War that we started, then stopped when The Riddler died. And the illusion. And the earthquake. This place is anything BUT relaxing! It’s so messed up!” Lucy continued.

“Perhaps we should do something else.” Silverwaxwing quietly said. “We could go to the library- there’s bound to be some interesting books there.”

In the end, it was agreed that this was the best thing to do.