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YUP it's break and I'm pretty bored so, you're welcome everyone (aka Leafy). 

Day five, part one

There was no way around it; this ski lodge was not normal. It was complicated and significant to something it was never meant to be part of. The part of it that had glitched was being tried and broken, and so its ruin spread to this ski lodge. The truth and delicacy, crafted so carefully, many years ago, was beginning to fall apart. There was something wrong with the workings of the ski lodge. Some of them were doing just fine; others were falling apart. Secrets were being realized.

Yet there was one thing that kept this particular ski lodge in place. While the murderer thought they knew everything they were never supposed to, there was one secret kept from them still. They knew it was there, but it was unreachable. They didn’t know how to obtain that special knowledge… but that was a rather good thing, because they knew that having said knowledge would destroy the ski lodge as we know it. The murderer did know that- except for when the out-of-control mystery had control of them, that is. Since the mystery was broken and malfunctioning, it took hold of the murderer at random, making them do things to keep the ski lodge going… but because of its unpredictable nature, it could also end up victim to itself, destroyed because of what they made the murderer do.

Things were only barely staying together. It was a dangerous time. The ski lodge was beginning to crumble- literally. The fenced-in area was in danger of collapsing if any more secrets were found out.

From the outside, it might look like everything was at ease…

But you can never judge a book by its cover.

~Early morning~

Song, formerly Dewy and formerly at ease, decided to continue their job as a member of the now unofficial TAMPS, pacing the halls of the life corridor. They were shaken by their own encounter with the murderer, and now what they had done to Sea Glass… Xe never did a thing!, Song cried out in their own head. Xe was always too nice…

It was so late, so early… Song didn’t know. They were oblivious to their own lack of sleep. They were so anxious, mostly for all of the others around them. For their friends sleeping in the life dormitory… for their fellow AE Sea Glass… for their sister Estrella, Boo the CAPTCHA, and their late CB Soren… all of Song’s family hung around them like ghosts, haunting them…

But soon they would be the one doing the haunting.

Song heard the creaking of a door from behind them. Heart pounding and hands shaking, they turned quickly to find…

Nobody at all.

Promptly, Song began to panic. “W-who- who a-are y-y-you?!” They whipped around to the door where the other life students were. “GUYS! THE MURDERER’S HERE!! LOCK THE D- AAAAAHHH---”

Those who remained in the dormitory screamed. But the murderer did not come after them. They left as mysteriously and as silently as they had come.

~~~~~

A few hours later

“It’s official,” announced Devin, “This is the worst game of hide-and-seek ever played.”

“Devin,” Leeli cried, exasperated. 

“What?? Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Well you’re not wrong, just… inappropriate.”

“Come on. That’s not inappropria-”

“GUYS STOP ARGUING ABOUT IT,” Agent Winter finally shouted.

“Thank you,” Terra grumbled, clearly annoyed.

“Here,” Jwyn interrupted, “Let’s split here and meet back up.”

Leeli, glad to get away from Devin, went with Jwyn and Wren while Devin, Winter and Terra went the other way at the fork.

“Sorry Devin’s been acting like such a turd,” Leeli apologized grumpily. 

Jwyn shrugged. “It’s alright. I mean, it’s not like any of us have done anything like this before. We could react in lots of different, I guess.”

“Yeah, well, he should at least be more serious… I mean, he knows Sea Glass!”

“You never quite know… Devin’s definitely not, you know, normal,” Wren shrugged.

“Girls are no weirder,” Leeli pointed out. 

“I guess, yeah,” Jwyn replied sceptically.

“H-have you guys seen anyplace where Sea Glass could b-”

“You GUYS!!”

The shout came from Winter. She, Devin and Terra, followed by Night Vison, Gracia, and Bean came barreling around a corner, looking shocked and out of breath. “Guys, we were in the life hallways, area- whatever, near the life dormitory- and- and we found Song- they were dead!”

“Oh my gosh, no!” Leeli exclaimed.

“We started making noise and stuff, I mean, cause, y’know, and then Night and Gracia and Bean poked out of the door, and they were like, ‘Well we didn’t want to open the door in case we were next’, and now…” Winter trailed off.

There was a silence in the group. Even those who barely knew Song felt a kind of sadness- the feeling of being in that situation, knowing that people had been killed and more were on the way, and the life of another was depending on you… it was a very heavy feeling to deal with. 

“We should get Simul,” Terra said eventually. “Have a funeral like the others.” Everyone else agreed numbly.

“I- I guess this is going to be normal for us now,” Wren said quietly.

“Yeah…” Leeli looked back at her quiet, sweet AE. “Unless we could still try to stop it.”

~~~~~

Estrella stood behind the castle, Boo under her arm. Soren was already gone, and now Song. She was almost numb with the sadness. She had always loved Song… they kept the rest balanced and in place…

“Ssong,” Boo squeaked. Estrella only sniffed in reply. She looked away.

Watching the sun rise, somewhere in her poetic, mourning mind, Estrella couldn’t help but think…

The murders have only just begun.

She wasn’t quite right…

It was the beginning of something unstable about the ski lodge. It was worsening now, even though nobody was deliberately destroying it from the inside...

Something was harming the mystery from the outside.

Wow this really has sunk. But! I'm back! Alive! I was never dead! So that's good! Top! Why am I using so many exclamation points! Sorry!

Day five part two

Several of the guests were rather disgruntled because they were involuntarily woken at such an early hour, but they didn’t show it- the reason was another friend’s death, and they could never show how uncomfortable they were in the wake of Song’s murder. Even if someone hadn’t known Song personally, they would know that Song was Soren’s AE, and rather a sweet one. Fellow AEs, such as Bean, Far, and Night, who had known Song by sight, were hit with a kind of regret at their death; those AEs had never really known Song, but liked to think, in their own guilt, that they had shown Song kindness; because even though losing someone close to you is far worse, there comes a terrible pain with the loss of someone you never bothered to know.

What could you have done, could have said? These painful questions were asked by many a CBer, many an AE rather to themselves, thinking not just of Song but of all those who had been murdered throughout the past few days. So many they had known, but never that well, had been killed, leaving a gaping empty space of words that were never said between the living and the dead. It was so haunting to think of, so tantalizing to the minds of all those thoughtful guests left to mourn over what had never happened. 

The murderer, too, felt sympathetic to those thinking these guilty things; they knew of Song’s famed innocence, but they also knew of the risk of keeping Song alive. The murderer had threatened them and very near revealed their identity. It was, in the end, for the best… but they wished Song could have known that too.

It was getting so routine for most of the guests to skip meals that some even forgot about breakfast altogether- even with the scent wafting out from the dining room. Per usual, many of them found solace in libraries or the craft room, some chatting lazily with others in their dormitories. Many of them gratefully took the time to be alone and think.

Jwyn, however, had different plans.

She still carried with her the secrets of the ski lodge, as well as a headache, pounding like waves against her skull- high tide and low tide, smashing and powerful, seemingly innocent yet deceptively fatal. There was only one secret still kept from her (as well as the murderer), and though she knew well of its existence, Jwyn also knew that knowing that one last piece of information would destroy the ski lodge as she knew it. Nothing would make her thirst for that knowledge; she was already so burdened from all that she already knew.

This was never supposed to happen. Jwyn knew that was for certain. I was never supposed to know, and neither was the murderer.

Her head pounded and throbbed. Crashing on the shore, receding, crashing once again. 

~~~~~

The murderer hunched over their book with their knuckles pressing into their temple. At least they were alone in the library, sitting in darkness, their attention hardly on the words on the page. Everything was just beginning to spiral out of control, and they knew it. The troubles of the Mystery at Magicae Palace had only just begun. The murderer couldn’t even bear to think about what might happen in the days to come. So much of the outcome of the ski lodge rested on their unstable shoulders. The Mystery had a tight grip on them at some points, to where they hardly even recognised themselves or the other guests. But more recently, it seemed to be causing the murderer more physical pain than trying to take over their mind. This was both a blessing and a curse; the murderer was now more often on control of their own actions, but they were distracted from blending into the other guests by their constant headache. The murderer clutched a loaded bow under the table like a lifeline.

They almost didn’t hear the door creak open. Almost. But, still, even though their nerves were shot, the murderer’s heightened caution kept them alarmed at the slight sound. Silently, they rose from their chair, a bow knocked with an arrow in hand, when suddenly, Jwyn called out, “I know you’re the murderer.”

The murderer paused. “Who am I, then?” They asked in gruff voice that was not their own. Jwyn gave them confirmation. 

“How did you find out?” They questioned.

“I heard you on the walkie-talkie with Simul. Plotting stuff,” Jwyn replied.

“So then you just… knew.”

Jwyn nodded. “Not just that it was you. I knew… I know all of it. All that I know I shouldn’t.”

The murderer’s eyebrows shot up, as did their stomach. Is that why the pain of their headache had escalated? Because all of the secrets had been leaked to Jwyn, too? Because the Mystery failed to remain anonymous to yet another guest, and its defenses were weakened once more? Warning signs flashed across their eyes. Danger. This meant danger, to the rest of guests, to the ski lodge, to the Mystery itself.

A vicious, unwitting part of the murderer’s mind knew what had to be done. But Jwyn already knew it. That’s why she was there.

“You want me to…?” The murderer’s unfinished question hung limply in the air.

Jwyn, going pale, nodded, biting her lip. “Y-yeah. I mean, it should happen. It has to. And… I know it’s not real, right? I know where I’ll be.” She was pale, yet her face and mind were set. “This is how it’s got to be.”

The murderer drew the bow they had been concealing, fingering the feathers as they drew back the string, dreading the release just as much as Jwyn was. 

(Boo says rgibv. Roy G. Biv?)

YAAAASSSSS IT'S BAAAAACK 

And wow, this is getting good!! You're an awesome writer! 

You'd think quarantine would give someone more time to write a ski lodge. While that might be true, it also gives them more time to procrastinate (and maybe even close the ever-present tab that contains said ski lodge and not re-open it for a week and a half.) Oops. :/

Day five, part three

Simul was reading Shakespeare when she heard a knock at her bedroom door. She first felt like grumbling quietly, ignoring it and pretending like she wasn’t there, but then she realized that would be rude since she was hosting over 20 teenaged-ish guests and it could easily be one of them. So she tossed her book on her bed, rolled her eyes, and tossed open the door.

“Yello,” she said tiredly as she looked down at Caspian, Marigold, Artimerrx and Mor. There was a moment of silence as she examined them through groggy eyes, and they shuffled around and stared at the ground and shared looks of understanding mixed with a kind of tired sadness that can’t quite be captured.

It took a large blink and a vanished thought for Simul to understand. Someone was dead.

All she needed to do was ask “Who”. 

~~~~~

Night stared at her feet as she climbed up a set of stairs. They were more interesting than looking up. They were moving, after all, and parts of her, and they did support her and allow her to move. That certainly was interesting. 

Just as she was concluding that feet are far more interesting than they’re given credit for, she heard her name.

“Night,” said Bean, “I wouldn’t go in our dorm. Alex’s in there, and she really wants to be left alone. I checked on her, but she really doesn’t want anyone there. Sorry.”

Night nodded slowly. She wouldn’t get to read her book right then, but that was okay. Alex deserved whatever she wanted right now. Night couldn't imagine what losing her CBer would be like. Besides, she thought, there probably was a copy of The Goblet of Fire in one of the many libraries…

On her way, she saw many strange things; Nihil experimenting with her air powers and her shadow powers simultaneously, Nymph sporting some tentacles and other various inhuman appendages, Aqua’s very forced smile, a sign covered in weird words with tiny hinges on its-

That sign has hinges.

~~~~~

Sea Glass’s eyes were closed. Xe couldn’t even bear to keep them open. Xyr mouth hung open a sliver, and xyr breath was fast and wheezy. Every thought was slow and painful and inhaling. Xe didn’t want to think anymore at all.

Xe was forced to, however, when a loud noise came from somewhere near them, followed by someone calling xyr name…

Everything was sort of blurred and surreal. Night Vision was there, trying to get xyr attention…, she asked xyr to wait.. no choise there,.. bean was there too and they talked to each other.., they were so loud but their words made no sense., then xe fell to the floor and xe was no longer bound., any joy was lost in the struggle to stand,... and darkness kept flickering all around xyr…,

from then things only got louder and more confusing and harder to remember. ...it slipped away quickly like water in cupped hands…

water... 

Yes, and there was water at last. a little, a lot, the details are lost; there was water, and sea glass could finally drink some.

~~~~~

“So they found Sea Glass.”

“That is what I told you. Several times. Are your ears working okay?”

“Is your face? Anyways, who was it?”

“Night Vision, aided by Caribbean. Though Bean won’t be taking any credit for it.”

“Poor kid.”

“Which one of them?”

“All? And we’re not doing anything to make it better.”

“It’s my job not to.”

A pause. A pair of hands is folded. Eyes dart around.

“We were supposed to have a meeting.”

“As we are now.”

“No, not like this. There would be others with us.”

“Who.” Not asked like a true question. Flat as this plot could only dare hope to be.

“People who actually know what the crud is going on.”

“You certainly need some of that.”

“Weren’t you nice to me a little while ago?”

“‘A little while ago’ obviously is not right now.”

“Maybe it can be.”

“Ah, but it’s not. You were saying?”

“I’m not sure, honestly.”

“How can you not be sure? You were just-”

“Ah, right! The meeting. Yeah. Meet me at the drawbridge at midnight.”

“Fine then. I will.”

One more pause, sadder this time. More intense.

“What will you do about Sea Glass?”

A wry smile. “I doubt you’d like to know.” 

~~~~~

Ohh fun times... Sea Glass is saved! People are plotting! Who are they meeting with? Theories are welcome!

Anyways, I am sorry for the delay. I kind of had no excuse on that...