At 9:15 Aspen noticed Micearenice’s ostrich outside the window.  At the same time, Moonfrost, Shadow, and Mice had given up and circled around the back to look for anther entrance.

By 9:23 Vyolette had gathered everyone to investigate the ostrich

Vyolette reached for the doorknob, but Quill caught her eye and she hesitated.

“I think we should go over a plan or something first,” she declared, “if there’s an escaped ostrich, maybe there are other problems?  Such as a more dangerous animal?  I think we should call someone.  There has to be some sort of staff. Here.”  She geustered to the cherry red phone on the wall with a jingle jingle from her bracelet.

Click.

“Shh…” Vyolette urged.  Her hand went instinctively for the knitting needles in her back pocket.  She kept her hand on them for reassurance.

Click.  Click CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK. CHIIIING.

The phone retracted into the wall, which closed over the hole.

“Eeep!” Quill yelped.  Everyone looked at her, “Heh, sorry.  Do you think we should check this out?.”  She shuffled over to the wall. Her charm bracelet scraped against the wallpaper as she started to run her hand along to try and find the place where the phone had been..  She tapped the place thoughtfully when she found it, pulled out her pen, and marked it with an “X”.  “Well,” she said carefully, after a moment’s thought, “We still have my owl, Azurelle,” she pointed to where the owl was sitting on the lavish rose gold chandelier, “This clever creature is trained to deliver messages for me.” Quill couldn’t keep a note of pride from her voice.  She whistled for Azurelle, and looked up expectantly.

The ceiling opened up, and the light fixture flew into the hole before the owl could even spread her wings.

“Oh.” Quill mumbled, looking shocked.  Random looked impressed.

“WOW.  If I wasn’t so terrified I’d say I’m duly in awe,” she said shakily

“Is no one is going to comment on how we’re probably all going to die now,” Poison said flatly.  It was phrased as a question, but she wasn’t asking.

At the same time, Micearenice, Moonfrost, and Shadow were finding the back door.  Moonfrost turned the knob, and breathed a sigh of relief as the door opened easily.   Moonfrost and Mice wasted no time dashing to the entrance hall (dozens of convienient signs pointed them in the right direction, which was along a straight doorless hallway.)  Everyone jumped when they burst through a door, but heads quickly turned away again as the lights went down and the monitor blinked on.

“Hello, and welcome to Minimacorps® Junior Zookeeper Program,” a different female voice was speaking now, and she sounde considerably happier, “soon to be the world’s first kid-run zoo!”

“Gosh, THAT”S a good idea,” Shadow said loudly.

Vyolette suppressed a laugh as the happy voice kept talking.

“We want you wonderfully talented few to be our first focus group!  We have two weeks of excitement and surprises planned for you all, and the best part…  You get to be our first board of directors!”

“Gosh, how did you know what I’d always dreamed of: a pretend bit job in an experimental summer camp.” Shadow glowered, shooting a look at Moonfrost who smiled kindly at her.

“First position, please nominate two people for director-“

“I nominate Mice!” Moonfrost chirped,
“I second,” Aspen added, after a moment.

“-and the winner of a SILENT vote gets the job,”

“Gosh, I’m glad we’re not rushing into things,” Shadow said.  Vyolette smirked again.

Vyolette caught Quill’s eye, who guessed correctly what she meant.

“I nominate Vyolette!” Quill said quickly, accidentally cutting off Mice,
“I second,” Shadow added abruptly.  Moonfrost shot her a startled look, which was acknowledged with a shrug.  Shadow had privately noticed Vyolette’s appreciation for her jokes.

The monitor spit out eight slips of paper,

“These must be the voting slips,” aid Vyolette, stooping to pick them up.  “Okay, we’ll each write our votes and Random can count them.  Because she didn’t nominate anyone,” Random grinned exaggeratedly and rubbed her hands together like she was planning something malicious.

Papers were passed out, names were written, and Random started to count.
Then she counted again,

And again,

And again…

Random cleared her throat.

“Ahem.  The new director of-“ she took a deep breath- “ MINIMACORPS (registered) JUNIOR ZOOKEEPER PROGRAM IS…!!!!”

“Vyolette!  Woohoo, yaayyy !”  She tossed the slips of paper in the air like confetti.  Everyone appreciated this prolonged performance so much that Random was given the job of doing the rest of the “ballot” counting.

The rest of the positions went by quickly-

“Seocnd position, please nominate two people for Vice Director, and the winner of a SILENT vote gets the job!”

“Mice! Good for you, you deserve it.” She tossed the papers into the air as an afterthought.  “Oh yeah, by the way, why were you late?”

Mice smiled sheepishly, “I tossed my bag in, and I think the bus thought it was me and drove off.  I followed it on my ostrich,” the group breathed a sigh of relief on not having to catch a wild animal “But she ostrich wasn’t nearly fast enough.  I was so relieved I saw the bus coming back”

“Third position, please nominate two people for Treasurer, and the winner of a SILENT vote gets the job!”

“Random!  Go you!” Moonfrost declared cheerfully.  “Okay, you can take your counter job back now,” she handed the papers to Random, who threw them with gusto.

“Fourth position, please nominate two people for Aquatic Animal Manager, and the winner of a SILENT vote gets the job!”

“Moonfrost!” Random shook Moonfrost’s hand enthusiastically and flicked the papers into the air one at a time.

“-Reptile House Manager…“
, 
“Poooiisssooonn!”

“-Outdoor Animal Facilites Manager…“

“Quill!”

“-Activities Manager…”

“Aspen!”

“All remaining Junior Zookeepers will be Deputies!”

“That means the boring staff,” Shadow said pointedly.  The computer spat out a sheet of paper with all of the names and jobs on it.

“I saw a bulletin board in the hall, I’ll go put it up,” Mice said quickly.  She wanted to live up to her position.  Looking over the list proudly, she strode off.  The door to the corridor swung shut behind her.

After a moment of silence, Random started to say somthing.  The world will never know what Random Person was going to say, because at that exact moment Mice’s screams shook the air. 

The paniced group wasted no time dashing to the hall, hearts pounding like a herd of elephants.  As soon as they reached the hall Aspen pinpointed the location of the noise.

“She’s under the floorboards,” Aspen cried desperately, trying to pry them up with her fingers. 

Mice continued to scream, her voice gripped with the unmistakable tone of pure, real, mortal terror.

“SOMETHING’S COMING!!! AAAAHHHAAAHHAAAHHAAHHAA-“

Thump.

Mice's cries stopped abruptly.

With a strangled whimper, Aspen managed to pry the floorboard with the help of Vyolette’s knitting needles.  She lifted it gingerly to reveal a compartment the size of a coffin for two.

It was empty.

At 12:45, a young person named Micearenice was gone from the world.

 

Wow! I'm a director! *giddy laugh* Great job, Zookeeper! You have me intrigued. 

*high-fives Vyolette* Yeah! We get to direct the zoo together! It's always been my dream to run a zoo!

*reads rest of installment*

*bursts into tears; proceeds to sob dramatically on The Zookeeper's shoulder*

;D So I guess I just couldn't live up to my position, eh? Literally. XD I wonder what got me...my guess is some kind of animal. Ooh, what if it was the murderer's pet??

Currently, my suspects are Quill, Moonfrost, Vyolette, Poison, Aspen, and Shadow. But I'll have to look at everyone's pets and maybe I'll adjust my suspect list.

@The Zookeeper, might you be Hic Sunt Dracones, Soren P., or Shy Peacock?

Great installment! I can't wait to see what happens next!

At 1:56 PM, the group dragged themselves away from the scene, but not after exploring every possibility.

At 2:14, Moonfrost found the kitchen.

At 2:48, Everyone was in the dining area for a late lunch and slowly realizing that none of the staff were going to talk to them at all.

By 11:47 Everyone was in their beds with the lights out,

By 2:25 Only Vyolette was asleep.

At 8:45 Everyone was jolted rudely awake by a loud alarm singing “That’s Amore”

Aspen stepped out of her room to see the group already milling around in the hall.   

“Um…” she said uncertainly shutting the door, “what’s the plan?”  Aspen looked around, “and where is Shadow?”

“She’s still asleep,” Moonfrost said, stooping down to scoop up her cat, “that’s how we missed the bus.  Turns out they were lying about the whole ‘no second chance’ thing.” She chuckled.  Shadow slunk slowly out of her room.  Softly, softly, she crept up behind Moonfrost, poised to strike (jump up and shout “boo”)-

“Shadow, I know you’re there,” Moonfrost said.  Shadow groaned dramatically and threw her arms up in the air.

“So anyway,” Quill said, “we’re planning on continuing as normal.”

“That means breakfast, right?” Shadow urged, “and brunch…” she added thoughtfully.

Vyolette sighed, “And… Shadow?  Because you’re the only one without a real position-” Shadow rolled her eyes, “You are now the Vice Director of Minimacorps Junior Zookeeper Program.”

“Hah!” Shadow sniggered, “well, as Vice Director of Minima-blah blah blah I proclaim it’s time for breakfast!”  She sauntered to the elevator and pressed the button with a swagger.

The cheery breakfast room was round and full of sunlight.  Curiously there was just enough room at the circular for the seven chairs around it and no more.

“It seems like someone was planning it all…” Poison commented carefully.

Shadow plopped down nonchalantly and started digging into the mini spinach quiches. Slowly and cautiously, everyone else followed.  There were crepes, bacon, stacks of pancakes of all kinds, pastel-colored bowls of cereals, eggs, biscuits and gravy, a tower of cinnamon rolls, heaps of French toast, and dozens of pies from apple to pecan to raspberry.  Breakfast foods are one of the best ways to forget about disturbing problems.  It’s an undeniable truth.

“Mmmph,” Random sighed contentedly as the meal drew to a close, “I feel like a pancake princess.”  

Aspen nodded happily, trying (if only half-heartedly) to coax her winged wolf away from the bacon.  She gave up after a moment and yawned loudly. She, like nearly everyone else, had gotten less than three hours of sleep.  Quill had nearly fallen asleep in her maple syrup.   Vyolette, who had gotten around seven hours, was watching uncertainly as everyone dropped off into an almost-slumber.

After nearly nodding off twice, Moonfrost moaned and sat up.  She dug around in her pocket and pulled out a hair clip shaped like a butterfly.   She pinned her hair back from her face in an effort to start waking up.

“So,” Vyolette started. She was cut off by the sound of several loudspeakers switching on.

“Hello, and good morning Junior Zookeepers,” it was the same cheery voice from earlier, “Today we will be participating in team building exercises!”

“Ooh, these are always fun,” Moonfrost clapped.

“You will split up into two groups and start cleaning out the animal cages!”

“Wait, what?”

“Group number one,” continued the lively voice, “will be Random Person-“

“I’m awake!” Random popped up

“Vyolette, and Shadow.”

“Because we’re the two lea-ders,” Shadow said triumphantly.

“That doesn’t really make sense, though,” Random said thoughtfully, “wouldn’t you want each group to have a leader?”

“And the other group will consist of Moonfrost, Aspen, Quill, and Poison…”

Moonfrost high-fived her group brightly.

“You’ll find all the supplies you need in the supply closet next to the Reptile House.  Just follow the monitors!  Group one will clean out the outdoor facilities, group two will take care of the Reptile House and Aquarium.”

Vyolette stood up, and Aspen followed.  The pair hesitated when no one else followed.  

“So… that’s it?” Quill said uneasily, “no safety information of anything?  Okay, cool.”

She stood up.  Poison, Moonfrost, Shadow, and Random followed decisively.

The reptile house was designed to look like it was in a rainforest canopy.  The building looked not unlike an air traffic control tower.  Circling the upper building was a wooden walkway that was about five feet thick. With the help of the monitors, they were at the lime green tool shed in almost no time at all.

“Welp, here goes,” Aspen said perkily, “It’s locked! Yaayy…”

Vyolette pulled some keys out of her pocket and handed them to Aspen.

“Wher-“

“Oops, sorry,” Vyolette reached into her bag and pulled out some lime green folders with different job titles printed in black on the front.  “One of the weird un-speaking staff members slipped these under my door.  They have job information in them,” she explained, distributing them accordingly.  Several of them had the distinct jingles of keys.  Shadow dropped hers into a trash can and Moonfrost pulled it out again in one smooth motion.

Aspen unlocked the door to the shed and swung it open with a flourish.  Inside a monitor blinked on and the happy voice started monologuing at them again,

“Hello again!  Before we get started let’s go over the procedures,”

“Oh theerrrrreeee it is,” Quill said with relief.

A diagram popped up on the screen with a ding.

“You’ll notice that every cage has a green button that activates a door to another cage while you clean the environment,” a picture of a sprawling elephant habitat replaced the diagram. “Stock the back room with food from the storage fridge, unlock the door, and shut it when all of the animals are inside.  We assume that you are all trained professionals or else you wouldn’t have signed up for this program, obviously!”

Aspen laughed uneasily.

“Locked boxes containing hoses are in each of the larger animal habitats.  You will use your animal training to move the smaller animals into portable cages while you clean the glass and such.  Aquarium maintenance is performed by our on-sight divers, so don’t you worry your head!”

Moonfrost looked uncomfortable.

“So much for entirely kid-run,” Poison grinned

“On other days our janitorial staff will do the cleaning, today is purely team-building!”

“Oh boy,” Shadow groaned, “the only thing better than cleaning is cleaning for NO REASON.”

Vyolette started distributing buckets, mops, shovels, and other supplies.  

“There are some uniform changes in here too, so if you need them, here they are!”  She gestured to a stack of khaki pants and lime green shirts identical to the ones they were wearing.

The groups divided reluctantly.  Barring those from Shadow, they worked for several hours without any complaints.  The first group started with the recreational part of the park, which they were pleased to discover, was pretty much a theme park.  

“Ooh!  I bet we get to play here sometime!” Random said cheerfully upon sight.

The park was mostly clean, and they moved quickly on to the animal enclosures.

“Does it… seem fair to you that we cleaned out the entire outdoor section, which is three-quarters of the park, while the other group stays inside the air-conditioned reptile house?” Random asked uncertainly as they finished luring the tigers out of the enclosure (from a safe distance, of course).  The sky was turning pink, and the group was eternally thankful to be on their last animal pen.

As Random entered the habitat, her foot caught on a crack and she fell face forward into a puddle of mud.

“Ow…”

“Hey, Random, check this out!”  Vyolette exclaimed distractedly, crouching by the spot where Random had tripped.  She hastily cleared the dirt away with her hands to reveal a door.  A monitor embedded in the door blinked on.  Random trudged over, drenched in mud.  Shadow was watching from a prudent distance.

No voice spoke this time, but words popped up on the screen.

“Hello, please enter password or use your remote,” Vyolette read aloud.  She pondered this for a moment.   “I forgot my password?” she asked the screen half-jokingly.

“Would you like the password memory prompt that you entered upon account setup?”

“Yes.  Please.  I can’t believe that worked.”

A different font scrolled across the screen,

“The twenty-sixth vice president of the United States.”

“Charles Fairbanks,” Random said quickly.

An error buzzer sounded,

“Charles W. Fairbanks?” Random asked uncertainly.  Vyolette looked at her admiringly

The door made a satisfying bing and slid open.

“Should we-“

“Yes,” Random decided.  “Just let me grab a change of clothes.  I look like some sort of swamp monster,” she laughed, starting off on a run and nearly slipping on the mud dripping off of her shoes.

“Well, I’m not waiting,” Shadow said, causing Vyolette to jump.  She hadn’t seen Shadow sneak up behind her.

With a self-satisfied smirk, Shadow sauntered down the slanted pathway into the long hall.

“We shouldn’t split up!” Vyolette cried, running after her.

“What about Random?”

“Oops.”

“It smells like old meat in here,” Shadow commented after a moment’s silence.

“You could turn around,” Vyolette prompted.  They walked in resumed silence for a while.

“Look!” Vyolette said, stopping quickly, “there’s another trapdoor on the ceiling.”  After a thoughtful minute, she said, “give me a boost and I’ll see where it leads.”

“You give me a boost,” Shadow countered stubbornly.

“Fine, use my knee as a step stool,” Vyolette said, kneeling on the ground.  Shadow climbed up with exaggerated slowness.  She wasn’t in the mood to be told what to do, even if it had been her idea in the first place.

“What do you see?” Vyolette asked excitedly as Shadow opened the door.  It had also asked for a password, which was the same as before.

“A magical unicorn,” Shadow snapped grumpily.

“Shadow get down please, I want to investigate something,” Vyolette said suddenly.

Shadow didn’t move, so after a minute, Vyolette pushed her gently.

“HEY!” Shadow yelled indignantly as she jumped down.

“Look, there’s another little door.  And also, I think I figured out what happened to Micearenice.”

“Really…” Shadow said slowly.

“Through that door up there was the hallway that Mice disappeared in, right?” Vyolette asked confidentially.  Shadow folded her arms, which Vyolette took for a “yes”.  “I think that someone baited the hallway,” Vyolette continued, “and the, er, tigers.  Got her.”  She cleared her throat uncomfortably and walked over to the other door.  It was approximately the size of a small, square watermelon. 

A voice started speaking, this time it was the cool female from the bus,

“Please enter the pa-“

“Charles W. Fairbanks,” Shadow snapped.

A small crossbow loaded with an injection needle full of a deep purple liquid slowly pulled back, poised to strike...

“GET DOWN!” Vyolette hollered, pulling Shadow down as the needle shot out.

“Let’s get out,” she gasped breathlessly, “now.”

Violette took off at full speed down the long hallway, her heart pumping wildly.  She felt so relieved that she wanted to cry when she saw the door still open.   Shadow clambered out after her and the door slammed shut ominously.

“You know, I’m 75% sure that I’m immune to Atropa Belladonna.”

“What?” Vyolette asked, taken aback.

“Deadly nightshade.”  Shadow said smugly, “it looks exactly like what was in that vial- or weren’t you paying attention?”

“Wh- why are you immune to that?  And… I did save your life… That’s kinda the epitome of paying attention.”

Shadow shrugged smugly.

Vyolette brushed herself off and took some deep breaths.

“Let’s… head back.”  The tigers would have to wait to get their enclosure cleaned.  The pair had had enough team building for one day.

Shadow pressed the green button pointedly as they let the area.

“Wait, where’s Random?” Vyolette asked, panicked, “she should be back now!”

“How would I know?” Shadow muttered.

At 6:58 the two groups met up in the Minimacorps ® Junior Zookeepers Hotel lounge.

By 9:07 the search for Random had been thoroughly exhausted.   

At 10:43, they turned in for bed.

By 11:59, a young person named Random Person was gone from the world.

 

My apologies for the length of this chapter.  Micearenice, none of those are me. When I say recently, I mean that I have joined within the past two weeks.

 

Thoughts and guesses of any kind are welcome and appreciated.

Ahh!! You're an amazing writer, Zookeeper! Rest in peace, Random Person, and I wonder what exactly happened to her...

Okay, I have another guess: Are you Poison? (Perhaps you joined your own lodge to throw off suspicion. I've done it before.)

Hm. ""...and the, er, tigers. Got her." [Vyolette] cleared her throat uncomfortably..."

So, if I remember correctly, no one exactly saw or knew what got me. Then why did Vyolette say 'tigers'? And why does it seem like she was about to say something other than 'tigers'? And why was she so uncomfortable when saying it? Maybe she just assumed they were tigers, but all the same, it seems kinda suspicious. Also, she was the only one who could sleep last night.

Of course, Shadow knew that there was deadly nightshade inside that crossbow. If she was the murderer and she had put that crossbow there, she'd probably pick a poison she was immune to. Or she might at least carry an antidote with her. She wasn't worried about barging into the secret passage, either, and she also wasn't concerned with the food. (Of course, that is part of her personality.) And also, the CBers haven't even realized there's a murderer yet, so why would any of them be suspicious about food? But still...Shadow is also on my suspect list. 

Oh, and I just realized something. I said on my charrie sheet that one of my favorite animals is the tiger. And Vyolette said tigers got me. I wonder if there's a link between any of this? *GASP* What if RP was taken by a microscopic herd of tardigrades?? (Or a panda. That somehow seems more likely.)

At 12:38 a loud crash shook the air but didn’t wake anyone up because no one was asleep.

At 12:43 “Mr. Sandman” started playing on repeat at top volume.

At 2:58 the song was continuing to play.

By 3:13 everyone except Shadow had gathered in the hallway for an impromptu meeting.

At 3:56 Shadow staggered out of her room to find a note telling her that the group had given up sleep and were in the entrance hall.

“Oh look, how sweet, it’s the first official meeting of the ‘Let’s-Not-Invite-Shadow Club’” Shadow proclaimed moodily upon entering the large room.

“You’re door was locked.  I tried knocking but you didn’t answer,” Moonfrost explained apologetically.

“I was trying to sleep!” Shadow plopped down on one of the pillows, “as Vice Director of Minimaminemamininwhatever I nominate YOU,” she pointed at Aspen, “to get me some food.”

“Good idea, but let’s all go,” Aspen said carefully, “Vyolette told us that she thought she knew what happened t-”

“Yes, I know.  I was there when Sherlock came up with her genius scheme.  May I remind you that I am the real genius who could identify deadly nightshade.”

“Don’t worry, I told them, Shadow,” Vyolette said kindly.

“So anyway, breakfast,” Moonfrost said cheerfully, brushing orange cat hair from her uniform.

Poison cautiously slid over to where Moonfrost was standing with an impatient Shadow.

“Do you think that Random was murdered?” she asked warily

Moonfrost looked like she might burst into tears.

“Oh, I’m sorry…” Poison started, looking severely taken aback.

“No, it’s okay,” Moonfrost said, fingering her hairclip nervously, “it’s just, I’ve been thinking about that a lot…  What if the-” she lowered her voice instinctively- “killer strikes again, and again, and again…” She drew a shaky breath.

Poison patted her on the shoulder awkwardly.

“The monitor is on again,” Poison said suddenly.

“Welcome to your third day!  Director, please draw up plans and itineraries for the day’s work.  Breakfast will be served momentarily,” the voice chirped happily.

“What, that’s it?” Vyolette asked incredulously, “that has to be at least a couple hours worth of work!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll help,” Quill said quickly.

“Speak for yourself,” Shadow said irritably.

“Right, let’s go then,” Vyolette said, “and thank you, Quill.  So very much.” She sounded incredibly tense.

Vyolette, Quill, Aspen, Moonfrost, and Poison spread out on the breakfast room floor with sheets of paper and started drawing up itineraries.

“Our folders had a lot of information in them already,” Quill said optimistically,

“Ra- the treasurer’s folder had access to the bank account in it.  Moonfrost, would you like to be the treasurer?” Vyolette asked in one very quick breath.  Moonfrost nodded wordlessly as Vyolette handed over the thick green folder.

“Let’s take the money and run,” Shadow suggested loudly.

“So here’s the plan,” Quill said after all of the papers were written up and the breakfast food was consequently reduced to crumbs, “Moonfrost and Vyolette will run budgeting in the lounge on Aspen’s laptop- you said you had the Wi-Fi code, right Aspen?”

“It was in my file,” Aspen confirmed.

“While the rest of us, that is to say, me, Shadow, Aspen, and Poison will try to get the theme park up and running.”

“How can you be sure they won’t kill each other?” Shadow asked tactlessly, gesturing at Moonfrost and Vyolette with a spoonful of parfait.

“I trust her,” Moonfrost said fervently.  Vyolette smiled earnestly in agreement.

Shadow rolled her eyes and grabbed a cinnamon bun for the road.

Upon Poison’s request, the small theme park inspection party stopped at the reptile house.  Somehow the height felt more unnerving now than it did before.

“I feel like something’s going to happen…” Quill murmured, shouldering her backpack uneasily as they circled the wooden pathway.  Every creak of the floorboards made her insides tighten.

Often we make unpleasant predictions that do not come true in the slightest.  They can worry us, scare us half to death, or nearly create their own fulfillment.  This can make us, insane as it may be, almost wish that they had.  Quill wouldn’t have to settle for either of these options.

Snap,

A trapdoor fell open under Quill’s foot.  She felt herself tipping, falling…

“WAH!” she snapped back.  Her mind raced through the thousands of thoughts and senses that hit her in the face all at once.

Someone was holding onto her backpack.

She wasn’t going to die.

And everything snapped into place.  She could hear Aspen telling her to keep still.  It sounded like she was very… very... Far away.

Aspen pulled Quill up with the help of the others.  

“She’s fainted.  Quick, give me some water,” Aspen commanded.  Her voice was very high.

Poison hastily handed her a water bottle.  Aspen splashed the water on Quill’s face and it wasn’t long before she was sitting up.

“Let’s keep going,” Quill said after what was probably only a couple minutes but felt like it could have been weeks.

“Are you sure?” Aspen asked uncertainly.  Quill nodded and stood up.  She was fairly nonchalant at first glance, but her hands gripped her backpack straps like they were a lifeline.  Quill edged past the trapdoor and it snapped shut ominously.  She gave a little squeak.

“We should mark it somehow,” Poison suggested.  Quill handed her a pen, trying to hide her trembling fingers as her adrenaline seemed to heighten with every heartbeat.  Poison nervously lowered herself to the ground so that none of her weight was on her hands as she cautiously marked the door.

The group moved on.  Quill was beginning to realize that she had developed a fear of heights that would take several years at best to overcome.  It did not help that they were on a suspension bridge over a towering waterfall.  It was supposed to add to the “rainforest aesthetic” of the area surrounding the reptile house.

Aspen seemed to understand.  She put a comforting hand on Quill's shoulder.

And then Aspen plummeted.  Her hand instinctively clenched onto Quill’s sleeve and they both plunged out of sight in the mist from the watery depths.

The sounds of their cries echoed hauntingly as hundreds of thousands of birds filled the skies.

Vyolette, who had excused herself to get some water saw it happen from the hotel.  She screamed.

At 6:35 AM, two young people named Quill and Aspen left this world.

 

My CAPTCHA is omyn.  How very foreboding.

Here is a clue to my identity: This was one of the first posts I made upon joining the Chatterbox.  I have almost joined several times, but I never did until now.

Wow. That's.... rather tragic. XD But I'm still the director!!! XD I don't know why I'm so happy about that. Anyway! Wow! These new installments keep coming so fast! Awesome work, Zookeeper! You're really good at writing dialogue, and I think the way you portray Shadow is very well done. XD At least, it makes me almost laugh every time she has something to say. 

By 7:23, almost, but not quite, all hope was lost.

The group gathered in the breakfast room.  Vyolette was holding Aspen’s bow, and Moonfrost had the quiver of arrows.  They were sticking together at all costs. Poison was looking around and biting her lip.  She wasn’t sure who to trust. The murderer hadn’t given anyone much time to form any bonds.

This was very much by design.  Even Shadow be losing her cool and was trying to stay with Moonfrost, but also not look scared.  The end result was the unintentional isolation of Poison.

Moonfrost was hugging the quiver to her and fingering her clip with her eyes darting from Vyolette to Shadow all the while.  Vyolette was nervously running her hand along the bow. Shadow kept switching between folding her arms and putting them on her hips.  One made her look like she wanted to sink into the ground and the other made her feel like a sitting duck.

Poison was trying to shake the feeling that they were plotting against her.

“I- I wonder if Random fell through that trap door that you said Quill…  Almost fell through,” Vyolette said falteringly. She looked like she was about to say something else, but the monitor cut her off.

“The Minimacorps Junior Zookeeper Deluxe Travel Buses are waiting for you outside, we hope you enjoyed your stay!  The Minimacorps Junior Zookeeper Deluxe Travel Buses are waiting for you outside…”

Vyolette looked aghast.  Poison looked like she might faint,

“That’s it?  We get to go home?” Poison looked like she was elated and heartbroken at the same time,”I’m not going to die?”

In the same instant, everyone broke into a mad dash for the door.

“Wait!” Poison stopped short in the doorway as Vyolette, Moonfrost, and Shadow darted past her.  “It might be a trap,” she whimpered, looking like the last thing she wanted to do in the whole wide world was believe her own words.

“The buses aren’t here...” Moonfrost whispered, reaching for her hairclip.

The doors slammed shut.

With Poison inside.

Moonfrost, Vyolette, and Shadow stood stunned as a series of mechanical noises sounded from inside.  Moonfrost and Vyolette rushed to the door and started trying to open it.

“Stop trying to open the door if you value your life!” chirped the cheery voice, “Follow the monitors to Tool Shed B and remain there for the rest of your stay!  Don’t forget to drop your weapons. Thank you!”

For a minute no one did anything.

“Now, if you value your life!” the happy little voice sang.  Vyolette pulled away numbly. The group wordlessly followed the monitors until they found themselves standing in front of a small shack in front of the aquarium.

In one sudden motion, Shadow flung the door open, stepped in, and locked herself inside.

“Shadow?” Moonsfrost asked worriedly.

“I’m not coming out!” Shadow snapped, “one of you people is the killer and- and- and I don’t know what else, that's reason enough!”

Moonfrost and Vyolette locked eyes.

One knew the other was the perpetrator.

“You,” Vyolette breathed  

Moonfrost’s face was wiped of all the previous worry that she had been using like a mask to hide her true colors.  She opened her mouth to speak.

A burst of smoke flew in Moonfrost’s face and caused her to yelp in surprise.  By the time her eyes stopped burning Vyolette had disappeared from sight. Moonfrost fingered her hair clip thoughtfully.

“The game is afoot,” she murmured, slipping a vial of deep purple liquid and a keychain out of her pocket.  She turned towards Tool Shed B and grimaced.

At 8:02 A young person named Shadow was gone from this world.

Oh no! Rest in peace, Quill and Aspen! (You can come join Random Person and I in the ghostly waiting room--there's snacks!)

Also, I have one last guess for you, Zookeeper! Are you...*drumroll* Marigold?

By 9:38 Moonfrost had found Poison inside the Minimacorps® Junior Zookeepers Hotel.

At 9:39 A young person named Poison Shadeslayer was gone from the world.

Vyolette was breathing heavily.  Everything was piecing itself together in her mind so fast that she could barely keep up.

She checked her watch. It was 10:58.

Clearly, the whole zoo was designed for knocking people off, she thought unhappily.  

 

There was nowhere to escape to. She remembered now that upon entry that the whole place had an electric fence surrounding it.  It hadn’t seemed out of place at the time, but now she felt stupid for not examining it more carefully.

Vyolette stood at the edge of the tiger habitat.  She knew that there was probably only a very small chance that her keys from the lime green folder would still work.  The shiny keys had opened the storage fridges, but she wouldn’t put it past Moonfrost to have some sort of prevention device on the animal cages.

Click.

She breathed a sigh of relief.  Before entering the cage she had baited the back room, just like Random had done before when they were cleaning.  The raw meat lured the tigers out in no time at all.

Vyolette had a nagging voice on the inside telling her that the stupidest thing in the world right now would be to return to the tunnel.  She told herself unconvincingly that it was probably the only place with an exit out of the zoo. Truthfully, she wanted to know what had happened.  There was another, much stronger reason too (and it even explains why she was carrying a smoke bomb).

But we’ll talk about that later.

She whispered the password with the utmost quietness.  Moonfrost was nowhere nearby and wouldn’t have heard if she’d shouted.  It slid open, and after fruitlessly trying to shut it behind her she took off at a run down the hall.  

Vyolette stopped at the trapdoor and contemplated whether or not to enter the hotel.  There were more than a few things in her room that she’s like to retrieve. This time she let her better sense win and hurried along the hall without stopping.  

Vyolette came upon another door.  It opened quickly and she had to wonder how someone who masterminded a scheme like this one wouldn’t think to have more than one password.

She cautiously peeked into the chamber.

Vyolette bit her lip to hold back a gasp.  Inside was another zoo. A small zoo. With six cages and what looked like a hamster pen.

But a zoo wouldn’t cause someone of Vyolette’s caliber to gasp.  No, it was what was inside the cages. She crept along in an amazed stupor.  She almost felt that if she looked away it would all disappear.

She couldn’t quite place any of the animals.  They were dazzling… mesmerizing… hybrids.

A tiger with an abnormally long, thin body and a mousey face stared at with sad green eyes, squeaking and growling in turn.  A graceful feathered giraffe with long, elegant wings looked cramped, even in the largest cave. And some sort of creature that she could only describe as a sleek, furred dinosaur the size of a small wolf.  If Vyolette were being honest she would say it looked like some sort of cross between a wolf and a dragon. A horse with paws that pulsed purple and black. And in the last cage was a creature that almost made her giggle.

A tiny panda, smaller than a mouse.  One of the rings around its eye was a startling pink.  She was so mesmerized by this little splash of joy that she didn’t even see Moonfrost enter.

Funnily enough, Moonfrost was so busy wrestling with a yellow pigeon that she didn’t see Vyolette at first either.

“Ah!” She yelped, upon seeing Vyolette.  Vyolette reached into her pocket, but this time Moonfrost was faster.  In one swift motion, she let the pigeon go and splashed a vial of lavender-colored liquid int Vyolette’s face.

Vyolette felt it sting her eyes and mouth, which was painful enough without the sinking feeling.  Everything went black.

Vyolette blinked her eyes and cocked her head.  She was on the floor. And from what she could tell, less than two seconds had passed.  She tried to stand up. And a rush of thoughts hit her for the second time that day. The first and most important of which was:

“OH MY GOSH I’M A YELLOW PIGEON”

But the shock wore off in moments.  This is one of the facts about Vyolette that we will explore later.

Moonfrost smiled slyly.  

“I should turn you into one of my lovely beasts right now,” she said, shutting the door behind her, “but my plan was- and is just so genius that I want someone to hear it.  And you won’t be able to admire it sufficiently with the brain of whatever you would call a cross between a fox and a bizarre flightless bird.”

Vyolette looked shocked.

“Oh, yes, I know what your favorite animals are!” Moonfrost chuckled maliciously.  “But enough about you, let’s talk about me. You like my zoo, of course.” She said idly, “but it’s a bit boring, isn’t it?  I needed something spectacular.”

The first yellow pigeon made a mad dash for the door.  Moonfrost ignored its fruitless attempts.

“There was a small matter of stealing a highly experimental serum, of course,” she said with overdone nonchalance, “but for a mastermind like me, it was no big deal.  True or False,” she said suddenly, looking at Vyolette, “a research group in the Republic of Kiribati has devoted its entire existence to developing a serum,” she gestured smugly with her now-empty vial, “that turns people into pigeons.”

“True!” she cried, laughing, “they call themselves the Column Society.  The birds maintain their human thoughts and knowledge, it’s incredible! But the group had no ambition.  I knew that if something like this could be achieved, well, anything could!”

She lowered her voice theatrically, “I found,” she whispered, “that if you add one ingredient, just one!” she said, her voice rising steadily, “They lose their human brainpower, forget their friends and family, but it turns them into these magnificently bizarre hybrid beasts!” she was practically shouting now.  “I’m going to have the most amazing zoo in the world!” Moonfrost paused for a dramatic silence. The yellow pigeon flew into the wall again. As Moonfrost turned, Vyolette flapped to the air shakily.

Moonfrost quickly realized that things were getting out of hand.  She’d had her moment, now she neede to get it over with quickly. She produced a needle that Vyolette correctly recognized as the one from the crossbow.  It felt like that part of her life had been ages ago. Before Vyolette could think of what to do, the first yellow pigeon (who Vyolette had also correctly guessed was Aspen) flew at Moonfrost.  Vyolette swooped in and snatched the vile, neatly pricking Moonfrost along the way.

Moonfrost shrieked with rage as she turned into a bizarre creature with the head of an eagle, body of a lion, and…

Shell of a turtle.

Unlike Vyolette, not all of Moonfrost’s things were transformed with her.  Three vlies of liquid clattered on the smooth, cool ground. Two deep purple ones and one clear one.

The two yellow pigeons stared at each other for a second int he least pigeon-y way that they could muster.

Vyolette flapped over to the vials.  She tried to use her beak to wedge the cork out of the clear bottle.  

The creature formerly known as Moonfrost had calmed down as soon as the transformation was complete, and was now watching Vyolette tug at the stopper.  Aspen was confused, but she told herself that Vyolette probably knew what she was doing.

The cork flew off with a satisfying pop.  The clear substance spilled out of its container and formed a neat little puddle.  

As soon as Vyolette’s beak touched the liquid she regained her normal, pleasantly human form.  She stretched, trying to gather her thoughts. Her eyes flicked over the Aspen-pigeon, who was pecking at the clear liquid.

In one sudden movement, Vyolette threw herself down, splashing the puddle and sending the vial spinning across the floor.  She was too late to stop Aspen.

“V- Vyolette?” Aspen asked fearfully, standing up carefully.

“Stupid aftertaste,” Vyolette muttered distractedly, smacking her lips.

Aspen stooped down to gather up the vials, keeping her eyes fixed on Vyolette all the time.

Vyolette reached into her back pocket and pulled out her knitting needles.  

Aspen slowly backed up, holding the vial and the remaining liquid carefully.  She figured it was the antidote to the serum, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know how Vyolette had been so sure about taking a drink from it.  Her eyes flicked towards the hamster cage. She needed backup, and whoever this tiny panda was would be the safest bet. If she could somehow get the antidote to her...

“Put your hands up and slowly back away from the hamster cage,” Vyolette said steadily.  Aspen jumped. She complied. “Now turn around, slowly,”

Aspen was too nervous and confused to contradict Vyolette.  She turned around and found herself staring down the blades of a short sword.  Closer inspection would have revealed that it was actually two parts, each of which could be disguised as normal knitting needles.

“Who- what?!” Aspen stammered.

Here’s that part I mentioned earlier.

“I’m Special Agent V of the Column Society.  You are holding one of the three Critical Substances.” Vyolette continued firmly. Her eyes flicked nervously around the room.  Aspen slowly, carefully, tipped the vial. Aspen had detected a note of panic in Vyolette’s voice and was desperately hoping that Vyolette was too distracted notice if she edged a little bit backward.

“STOP!” Vyolette cried, lunging forward as Aspen dripped some of the antidote liquid into the cage.  In a bizarre miracle, it landed on the tiny panda’s paws.

In tiny panda logic, the only reasonable response to strange substance landing on your paws is to lick said weird stuff off of your paws.  Aspen ducked and Vyolette almost speared through Random, who was now sitting where the logical panda had been.

“What’s going on!?” she shrieked,

“Vyolette’s evil!” Aspen hollered, dashing over to feed the large winged giraffe some liquid.

“Hey…!” Vyolette snapped, “maybe I think you’re the evil ones for messing up my first real solo case!  There, I said it.”

Random gave her an odd look, partly out of confusion and partly to distract from Aspen, who was now unlatching the cage and moving on to the horse.

“Wha-” started the giraffe-turned-Quill.

“Moonfrost is evil, but she got turned into a griffin-turtle so that’s alright now,” Aspen said,  hurriedly moving from cage to cage as Vyolette was finding it increasingly hard to decide which situation was the most pertinent.  Shadow and Mice resumed their normal shapes. “And Vyolette is evil too,” Aspen finished.

“I am NOT!” Vyolette yelled hysterically, “it’s just that no one is supposed to know about our project!”

Last of all, Poison regained her normal shape,

“Moonfrost is evil, now she’s that-” Aspen pointed to the griffin who was looking around blissfully, “and Vyolette doesn’t want anyone to know.  She is also evil but don-

“I AM N-”

“Put a sock in it,” Random advised.

“Well,” Poison said carefully, “why don’t we just not tell anyone?  Then we’d all be happy.”

“Do you think I’m an idiot!?” Vyolette said incredulously.

“Yes,” Shadow confessed.

Vyolette growled at her.  Shadow smirked.

For two long minutes, no one moved a muscle.

Suddenly, there was a great burst of smoke.  When it cleared, Vyolette was gone, along with the serum and the antidote.

“Well, that solution works for me,” Quill giggled shakily.

By 12:00 PM, the adventure was all but over.

“So I’ve been thinking about everything wrong with this Ski Lodge,’ Shadow said as they walked down the hall.  “First off, why didn’t Mice die?”

“I think it’s because she was a tiger,” Aspen said thoughtfully, “And she was a bit bigger than the two in the zoo.”

“Also, what, Random just fell through a trap door?  That’s pretty unoriginal.”

“Or Moonforst slipped away while we were in the reptile house,” Aspen speculated.

“And why were you a pigeon!?” Shadow asked incredulously, “I guess if that’s the animal you identify most with…”

“No, Moonfrost told me it was becau-”

“Why.  Why on earth is she telling people these things?”

Aspen shrugged,

“Anyway, when Vyolette was out of the room she used her remote to make us fall.  She was planning on firing at me from the window, but she only had one serum with the nightshade in it and used that one on Quill.  So she fired a bottle of the other one at me.”

“All in one fall?” Poison asked curiously.

“Well, I was holding onto a flying giraffe, so that slowed my fall a bit and gave her time.  I tried to find you, but nobody heard me banging on the window…” Aspen laughed suddenly, “Let’s do this again sometime, Quill.”

They high fived.

Yes, not killing anyone was  a cop out. I’m new to this, so I probably did numerous things incorrectly.

But I tried, here you go.  Survival for everyone! EVen Moonfrost.  A team of professionals are designing a habitat that will provide maximum comfort for a griffin-turtle even as we speak.

*Applauds* *cheers* Wow! That was a crazy brilliant idea, Zookeeper! I really enjoyed reading this story, and can I just say? I really love your writing style! Especially how the dialogue flows, and I also like how you incorporated my knitting needles into my spy-gear stuff. XD  This is the first real Ski Lodge that I've participated in that actually finished! Great job! *applauds once again*

~Special Agent V of something-or-another-organization-that-I-can't-remember-but-is-still-really-cool.