I WANT TO AVENGE ROGUE BUT I'M NOT IN THIS SKI LODGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Literally just caught up on this. Great job Luna!

*Smiles* Thank you, SSW, for those ominous teaser posts. However, dear readers, those past two parts are more attention-grabbers- and I see they worked well.

Now, for the next part.

Day three, part seven

The murderer instantly regretted not joining the team working against them. They could easily set up traps and safety precautions that they would fall victim to if they didn’t know what the group had decided to do.

This problem, however, was easily solved. As Dewy stood up to go to the meeting, they pushed their plate away from them and left the table too, following her out casually. Once the door to the dining room was closed and they were a good distance away from all of the other guests, they put the device behind their ear, looked around quickly, then pounced on Dewy, one hand around her eyes and one on her mouth. They dragged her behind a tapestry. They could feel her terror under their hands.

“You will go to the meeting and listen carefully,” the murderer growled in a voice much lower than usual, “You will remember everything that was said. Then, when I come for you, you will tell me everything. Understand?”

Dewy nodded fearfully. The murderer felt tears under their right hand. They released her.

Dewy spun around, trying to see who the murderer was. But they had already vanished.

~~~~~

Marigold watched as Artimerrx sat down next to Mor and waved at her cheerily. She turned to her right, looking at Leafy, who had evidently seen that the table had been filled. Marigold folded her hands in her lap as Leafy stood up and cleared her throat. What chatter was still hanging in the air vanished as everyone directed their attention to Leafy.

“Okay, everyone. I have a list of things we need to do in this meeting. First, we need a President, a Vice President, and a Secretary.”

“I vote for you as president!” shouted Leeli. 

“Me too!” added Artimerrx. There was a general murmur of agreement. Leafy blushed ever so slightly, smiled, and continued, “Okay, thanks. Who wants to be Vice President?” Leeli raised her hand beside her. She looked around, paused for a few seconds, then asked, “Does anybody else want to?” Leafy was answered with silence. “Okay then, Leeli is Vice President. Who wants to be Secretary?”

Seconds passed. Leafy opened her mouth to ask again when Wren inched an uncertain hand into the air, fingers curled halfway down to her palm. “Okay then, Wren’s Secretary.” Wren’s eyes widened with shock. Leafy sat back down.

“First, I think we need a name, something that says what we want to do.”

“Um… The We Don’t Want to Die Association?” Artimerrx suggested. Mor laughed lightly.

“Or maybe The League of Murder Preventers,” chimed in Marigold.

“Or, I, um, I was thinking the- The Anti-Murder Protection Squad?” Dewy suggested nervously.

“Why don’t we have a vote. Anyone for The We Don’t Want to Die Association?” Leafy asked authoritatively. No-one raised their hand. Leafy did the same for the next two, and The Anti-Murder Protection Squad (soon to be known as TAMPS) won. 

“We should write every suspect down and see if anyone has any clues pointing towards them,” Leeli said. Wren hastily extracted a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and started writing down the names of everybody in Magicae Palace. 

“Twenty-seven guests, one host, five magic instructors,” confirmed Marigold. 

“Think back to the murders,” Leafy urged. “There’s got to be someone we can eliminate.” 

“How about when Hazel was killed? She wasn’t there before the funeral, but then when we came back, she was there,” Leeli reminded them.

“Does that mean Aqua isn’t a suspect?” inquired Wren. “I- I mean, he was drying us all off, wasn’t he? So- so it doesn’t make sense that he would have the time.” She gripped her pencil tightly.

“Yeah, that wold make snse,” Mor agreed. Wren looked surprised at the murmur of agreement around the table. She almost forgot to cross him off the list.

“And the instructors are never at meals,” Marigold chimed in.

“Hmm, true…”

“Wait, guys. Autumn Artist and Quill died from poisoning, right? And Simul makes the food. She could have easily poisoned one of the dishes!” Leeli cried.

“True, but someone else could also have poisoned something when no-one was looking,” Leafy pointed out. Leeli looked disappointed.

“Wait, Leafy and Leeli, you guys weren’t there during lunch when Quill and Autumn Artist got poisoned, right?” Artimerrx asked.

“Oohh yeah!” cried Mor.

“So… um, safe to say that you guys aren’t- you know, the- the murderer?” Dewy piped up hesitantly, her statement coming up as a question.

“I- I think so,” agreed Wren, crossing the two off the list. Leafy and Leeli exchanged looks of relief. 

The meeting continued in a similar fashion. By the time Leafy announced that it was over, they group had decided on several things- one, that they should interrogate Simul to see what she knew and how suspicious she was, two, that they should patroll their element corridor at night and keep this a secret from the rest of the guests so they could catch the murderer at night, and that they should search the dormitories for all of the weapons that the murderer gathered (and keep this a secret too). At the end, Dewy had a sick feeling in her stomach, hating herself for what she was about to do and wondering where to find the murderer- but she didn’t need to find them. She was the last one out, as the murderer had suspected she would be, and they leapt out of the darkness and covered her eyes once more. Dewy let out a stifled cry, so scared she could hardly breathe.

“You’re allowed a breather,” the murderer growled, “But I’ll have you know that my patience only stretches so far.” Dewy whimpered. She gasped and took several deep breaths.

“I… I… we’re… there’s…. We- there’s- we’re going to patrol the corridors at night,” she wheezed, “And- and search everyone’s stuff- for the weapons- the weapons we brought, that- that you have. And we’re… we’re interrogating Simul.”

The murderer considered this. It seemed informative enough, and they knew Dewy was not one to lie. And even though something crude and evil was compelling them to do that act, a part of their mind was just dying to let her go, not wanting any part of what they were doing.

They started to let her go, then hesitated. “Do you know who I am?” Dewy shook her head wildly.

They let her go, darting away before she could glimpse at them. 

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