Yo secretary!

Are you Luna-Starr or, I dunno, Fidelity? 

Nope, nope nope! I'm not them~ 

We're getting down to the wire here! It's almost done!!!! XD

~~~~~~~ 

Day Twelve, Part Four

  The library had been completely transformed. The usual books and comfy chairs had disappeared, replaced with a giant chessboard. Sirfire and Mary looked at it closely, it was an exact replica of the giant chessboard from Harry Potter. 

The only pieces missing were the kings, which meant that Sirfire and Mary would be taking their place. 

“Good luck…” Mary said softly as they took their places.

During this game, they would be deciding who would live or die. But not playing wasn’t an option. Because if they didn’t play, then they would never fully be able to understand the mysteries of the Moonless Hunt Mansion. 

Mary was on red’s side and Sirfire was on white’s and as they stared across at each other they frowned. Why were they fighting one another like this? They didn’t know, but some strange force seemed to be pushing them into it. 

The game went slowly, as each person kept having to look through the rule book thoughtfully provided to make sure they were playing correctly. 

They looked at the giant clock sitting over the mantle, it was 10:00, they only had two hours to finish the scavenger hunt before the lunar eclipse was completed. 

As they went through the game the moonlight shining through the library windows slowly turned darker and darker and darker…

Five minutes go by, ten minutes, thirty minutes, and then an hour passes by.

It was 11:00 and Mary was winning. She had the advantage from the beginning, she’s played chess before and was able to keep a cool head during the entire process.

Sirfire lost one of her knights early and couldn’t come back from it. 

And as the grandfather clock let out its long dings to show it was eleven o’clock, Mary whispered softly.

“Checkmate.”

Light flashed and thunder roared for the last time as Sirfire fell through a trapdoor and out of sight.

Mary pants, winning was harder than she thought it would be. Not because Sirfire was playing good, but because Mary had the power of Sirfire’s life in her hands.

Mary had the ax and she let it fall. Sirfire’s death was Mary’s fault, even if the murder had been the one to push the button. 

But as Mary was thinking this, the puzzle pieces began to click in her head.

The mansion, the mission, the opal brooch. It was never about finding the opal brooch, the suspects’ importance was a lie. No, this was about who could live and survive the longest. 

It was a game. And the puppet master was watching it all gleefully from a hidden attic in the mansion.

But how to get there? Where was the entrance to the attic. And from the ceiling dropped down a single piece of paper, with three pillars on it, with the middle one circled. 

Mary looked at it blankly, it seemed that this was the final clue. The most important clue of all. And as she looked out the windows, she saw far in the mansion’s backyard three, giant trees. In a row… like pillars.

Mary’s eyes opened in shock, they were looking at it the wrong way the whole time. What if it wasn’t pillars, but trees the whole time?!

She left the mansion quickly, closing the kitchen door with a kind of final formality. 

It was time to confront the murderer for the last time.

Cynthia had better look out, Mary was coming for her. 

~~~~~~~

RIP Sirfire, you almost made it.

Aren't I evil? Leaving you all on a cliff hanger just as we were getting to the good parts.  

Day Thirteen, Part One

As Mary ran outside into the misty, wet, dripping garden, the grandfather clock inside struck 12:00. The last of the moon’s whiteness was covered over by red, and the garden was lit with a strange red glow. 

Mary shivered, what would happen now that the lunar eclipse was complete? But nothing happened, at least, not that Mary could see. What she didn’t know was that the whole mansion was slowly shrinking, at least on the inside it was. 

She ran through the tall grass, water from the grass sliding over her legs and making her feel itchy and cold all over. By the time she climbed to the top of the hill where the giant trees were, she was out of breath. The distance from here to the mansion was quite a bit further than she’d thought. 

But she was here, finally, about to face the murderer.

All though, how would she find the secret passage way that would lead to the attic? It was easier than Mary thought, as she stared at the giant, twisting roots of the oak tree, a door opened. 

They were expecting her.

It didn’t take long for Mary to traverse the brightly lit, warm hallway. She was expecting a dirt tunnel, perhaps filled with spider webs and hanging tree roots, but she was pleasantly surprised by the reality. 

She soon found herself standing in front of a wooden door, intricately carved with cats, random Pokemon, flowers, art supplies, and, for some reason, a large carved doughnut was right in the middle of it all.

Mary went to open the door, but hesitated, remembering a recent conversation in a warm, fire-lit library.

The note said “Remember, five knocks.” 

Mary knocked on the door five times and it surged open, nearly popping her on the nose. A wind blew over her, reminding her of chilly, frosty, fall nights and the smell of a fresh, frosty, new morning. 

She walked in carefully and gasped, she was in a library. But not just any library, this one had many uncompleted books on the shelves and books whose titles she recognized as having read before. Art supplies, mostly colored pencils and paint, were spilling out of buckets and onto the floor, which was covered in a fluffy white carpet. 

A desk was in the corner, this one had a laptop on it, closed, and a small table lamp. And in the huge, arched windows, which looked out onto endless hills, was a window seat. Sitting in the seat was none other than Cynthia. She was reading a book, titled “Thunderstruck right outsi…” 

“Hello, Mary.” Cynthia said, quickly putting the book down.

“You!” Mary shouted. “It was you the whole time! You were the murderer.” 

Cynthia shrugged and said, “Guilty as charged.”

Day Thirteen, Part Two

Mary stood there, mouth gaping, when she won the chess game she knew it would be Cynthia waiting for her. However, Mary was not expecting Cynthia to be staring at her so calmly.

“But how? Why?” Mary asked.

“How?” Cynthia said, tilting her head. “Simple. I had a control panel in my room that I used to trip the traps around the mansion. And why did I do it? I can’t really say, it was like I was pushed into it…”

Mary slowly nodded, she understood the feeling Cynthia was talking about. She’d felt it as she and Sirfire duled to the death in a game of chess. 

“Puppets.” Mary sighed, with a small nod.

“What?” Cynthia asked, confused.

“I felt the same feeling when me and Sirfire were playing chess. It was like I was a puppet and someone was pulling my strings.” 

From the distance thunder rumbled and growled, Mary was standing at the edge of a cliff and was about to fall in after Cynthia. 

“Puppets… imagine that.” Cynthia murmured. 

Mary looked closer at the book Cynthia was reading and frowned, something about it was so familiar to her… as if she’s read it before. She walked over to it in a trance, coming ever closer to the cliff’s edge. And when she picked the book up and read the first page she finally fell into the deep chasm below the cliff. She remembered reading this, yes she did, and she remembered writing down this same entry that was staring her in the face. 

Yesssss! Count me in!

Mary sat down with a thump as the mansion shook and groaned from the impact of two people finally reaching the bottom of a chasm. 

“Did you know?” Mary asked, rubbing her head.

“... Yes.” Cynthia said. “I knew. I knew the moment I first found a letter written by one M.F.” 

“M.F?” Mary asked.

“I suspect that M.F is the puppet master.” Cynthia said, flipping the book closed and pointing to the author.

Written by M.F

“Greetings.” a voice said, from behind.

Mary and Cynthia whipped around to see… the Secretary.

Day Thirteen, Part Three--The Final Part

It was the Secretary, but how Mary and Cynthia knew is a mystery. For the person standing before them looked nothing like the old Secretary. She had long, black hair, hanging down to her mid-back, with a blue butterfly clip holding it away from her face. She had big, dark, blue eyes and was surprisingly tan. She smiled and scratched the chin of a small, orange cat in her arms. 

“Hey…” Mary said. “I recognize that cat.” 

The stranger smiled and said, “I think some introductions are in order.” 

She set the cat down and bowed. “You knew me as Secretary, and thought about me as Madame Suspectum, but my real name is Moonfrost.”

Mary and Cynthia blinked, they knew Moonfrost. Or rather, they’d seen her name on a few posts.

“This is Holly, my CAPTCHA and this is one of my AEs, Shadow. My other AE was here in name only, Rosemary.”

Mary and Cynthia watched with a kind of blurry wonder as Moonfrost’s shadow rose up and leaned against the wall. 

“Have you figured out who stole my brooch yet?” Moonfrost asked with a small smile. “I’ll admit it, I’m not very good at writing mysteries. They all had a hand in stealing the brooch, but it was Henry who actually took it.” 

“Uh…” Mary stammered. 

She’d just figured out that she was a participant in a Ski Lodge and was not ready to meet the author of it. She didn’t quite know what to say, or do. It was like she’s been climbing up hill for ages, and now she was suddenly at the bottom of the hill. Mary knew that this adventure was coming to an end, the ski lodge was over and the murderer had been found. 

Moonfrost bowed once again and said, “Well, I hope you enjoyed it. But this is, unfortunately, the end.” 

TiL nExT tImE… tHe EnD! 

~~~~~~~~~

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this! I had a lot of fun writing and I’m so happy that I finished it. This is my first ski lodge that I actually finished and I’m so happy it’s done! Tell me what you thought of it, what were your favorite parts? 

Well, thank you for reading once again. 

*bows*

WoOoAaHh! I can't believe it's over! And Mooonfrost, I never would've guessed. Wow. This ski lodge was great. Congratulations on finishing. I can't believe I actually made it to the end. Everything was so well tied together. Way to go!