Day Three, Part Three 

~~~~~~

When the sun finally rose the next morning, it had finally stopped raining! 

“IT’S A MIRACLE!!!!” Dynasty shouted, waking up the whole mansion. 

When the other CBers saw the lack of rain, they felt as if a miracle had happened as well. Today was a new day, a gorgeous day, a day where nothing could go wrong! 

But, of course, this is a ski lodge. Nothing goes right. >;)

Because it was the first pretty day the CBers had found for a while, they decided to head outside to enjoy the fresh air. The front door was locked, as well as the back door, the kitchen door, even the little door that Night found was locked! 

A tiny locked door… now isn’t that suspicious? 

In the end they used a large window located on the first floor to escape. The minute they got outside they squished their way over to an outdoor furniture set. Sitting around, enjoying the sounds of morning birds and dripping trees. How peaceful. How nice. How… unnerving.

“Does anyone get the feeling that we’re being watched?” Jade whispered.

“Yay…” Moonshine said. “I don’t know why though…” 

A loud rustle in the bushes caused the CBers to all jump in their chairs and a knife to fly from

Agent Winter’s hand. A loud thunk answered from where the knife landed.

“Ooops…” Agent Winter mumbled. “Sorry, I guess I’m a little jumpy too.” 

Curious, the CBers walked over to where the knife landed. Pinned to a large oak tree was a little

orange tabby cat. It’s icy blue bandana was what trapped it to the tree, but curiously it didn’t meow or move at all. It calmly watched them approach and blinked it’s big blue eyes. 

“Mrrrow” it said.

“AWWWW!” they cooed.

The cat seemed to swell under their adoring coos and was soon rubbing itself against their legs.

“Hey…” Agent Winter mumbled, “How’d you get out?”

The CBers were beginning to grow drowsy… sleepy… and soon they were snoring on the ground. 

While Agent Winter was asleep, she dreamed of the little orange tabby cat. It walked up to her

and said:

“Not everything is as it appears. Lies built this house, and lies will bring it down again. Trust no one, but everyone.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense?!” Agent Winter wailed. 

“Solis Ros wasn’t very good at latin…” the cat purred. “She thought ros meant dew.”

“Wait! The others need to know this too!” Agent Winter yelled. 

The cat was leaving, jumping into the air and flying away.

“I’ll tell them!”

And then the ground broke under Agent Winter and she fell down...down...down…

~~~~~~~

The CBers were woken up by the loud rain that was falling. It never seemed to stop raining here!

The CBers had slept in late and stumbled down into the kitchen, which seemed to be their

meeting place.

“I had the weirdest dream.” Mary said. “It’d stopped raining and we all went outside and we found

a strange tabby cat.”

The CBers and the AEs felt a chill run down their back.

“Did Agent Winter pin the cat to a tree?” Bluebell asked.

“Yes… how did you know?” Mary asked.

“I had that dream too…” Bluebell said.

They all did. And somehow they all had a collar around their neck, which was unnoticed until

then.

“Eww…” Dynasty said. “Only girls wear necklaces.”

On the collars were notes, each reading the same thing.

And then Night burst into tears, tears that had been held back.

“What’s wrong!?” Cynthia asked.

“It’s… it’s Agent Winter!” she gasped through hiccups. “She’s disappeared.” 

And she did. She was gone, completely. The CBers searched the house but came up empty handed. 

~~~~~~~

RIP Agent Winter, you will be missed.

Day Four, Part One

The next morning the CBers were all caught up doing detective work, re-interviewing the suspects, poking their noses everywhere, reading books in the library. The four AEs who came with their CBers were rather bored.

“I say we go exploring!” Dynasty shouted.

“Uhh… we could go read some books.” Arrow offered.

“I like that idea.” Night whispered.

“No offense guys,” Ivy said. “But I’m with Dynasty. We should go explore!” 

“Maybe we can find some secret passages!” Dynasty said, “I imagine an old house like this would have a plethora of secret tunnels.” 

So, without even quite knowing how, Night and Arrow found themselves following Dynasty and Ivy as they toured the houses, searching for secret passageways.

The first place they checked was the ground floor roaming the kitchen, parlar, foyer, music room, and the arcade (which they had to drag Dynasty out of) before they moved on to the first floor. 

The large stairs creaked under their weight as they climbed them, where they were disappointed to find only bedrooms and more bedrooms.

“Where’s the library, again?” Night asked.

“I think it’s on the second floor?” Ivy offered. “Or maybe the third?”

“Hey!” Arrow shouted, “Listen to this!”

Arrow was standing at the end of a hallway, with bedrooms on either side and a large painting of a strange green dinosaur-looking creature, with a flower on its back. It’s red eyes seemed to be staring at them disapprovingly. Arrow knocked on the wall, which produced a hollow thump.

“So?” Dynasty asked.

“So?” Arrow asked, confused. “Isn’t it obvious? This wall has a secret tunnel through it!”

“Do you really think so?” Ivy asked.

“I know so.” Arrow confirmed.

But that, in itself, presented a problem. How were they to get into the secret passage? They pulled the old fashioned lights on the wall, ran their hands over the carpet searching for secret buttons, they even tried begging! Nothing seemed to be working. So they sat down in front of the painting and groaned. Seems like their plans for fun were being squashed.

Dynasty leaned back against the picture and huffed.

“WAIT!” Night shouted, “In all of our searching, I can’t believe we forgot to check this strange painting.”

They leapt to their feet, of course! How could they have forgotten? They tried to pull it off the wall, but found it stuck very firmly in its place. Ivy tried to lift up the edges, to make it crooked, and it did not budge. 

The AEs were grinning now, they could taste the adventure! Just a few more moments, they would soon have this figured out. 

It was Dynasty who found the answer, surprisingly. Hidden along the edge of the painting was a small key hole, that fit in perfectly with the canvas. 

“There's a key hole here,” he said. “Anyone know where the key is?”

After some searching they found the key. It was hidden amongst the golden vines that decorated the closest light to the painting. They triumphantly stuck the key into the hole and twisted. They could hear clicks and pulls as they key twisted around until it stuck.

Holding their breaths, the AEs pulled the painting, which opened up on hidden hinges. They were greeted by a dark, slightly cold tunnel made of stone. From the meager light they could see a stair going deep down into the house. As one they stepped onto the first step, descending into the depths of the house. The painting closed slowly behind them, sealing their fate.

~~~~~~

Ohhhhhhhhh. Be careful guys, you never know whats going to be hidden in these sort of tunnels... 

Day Four, Part Two

~~~~~

The AEs had felt like they were walking for the past few days, when will this endless staircase end? It ended very quickly, with a rather large drop off. 

“WHO ENDS STAIRS LIKE THAT?!” Dynasty bellowed, which echoed down the tunnel.

“Ow.” Night muttered, “I think I sprained my ankle.”

“Ouch, are you OK?” Ivy asked.

“Yea, I’m fine.” Night said, “It just stings a little.”

“Hey…” Arrow whispered, “Look.”

He was pointing down the dark tunnel, towards the end of the hallway. Somewhere along the long stretch a light was shining., illuminating the gray brick with warm yellow light. 

“Someone else is here…” Arrow whispered.

And so, with hesitant footsteps, the AEs walked to where the light was shining through. A door stood open, with the strangest room.

It was full of tables, full of bubbling liquids and strange jars of creatures. Along the walls were shelves full of strange dust, some of it glowed, some pulsed, and some just seemed to the suck in the light shining from the ceiling. A small corner of the room was dedicated to a simple wooden desk, covered in random bits of paper and food crumbs.

And then they saw who was in the room. It was a rather skinny, strange man, with sandy blonde hair and a fancy blue coat. He was standing in the middle of the room, muttering to himself. 

“No no no… that would. A hmm… oh thank you Foofoo.”

To the AEs surprise, a small gray poodle had just brought the man a small, empty bottle. 

Of course, if the AEs had bothered to read the case files they would have realized that this was Professor Insolitus.

“Who… who’s there!?” he shouted.

And then the AEs fell into the room. This is why you shouldn’t lean around door frames, you’re liable to fall at the smallest breath. 

“Oowww.” they moaned.

The dog, Foofoo was soon in their faces, barking as loud as she could.

“Oh dear, oh dear. No Foofoo, stop.” he groaned. 

Foofoo stopped, sulkily, as the AEs got back to their feet. How many more times would they be falling down like this? 

“How did you find us?” he asked.

“HEY!” Dynasty yelled, “We found you, so we’ll be asking the questions.” 

“O-kay…” he muttered.

“First, who are you?” Dynasty asked.

“My name is Professor Insolitus” he said, “Aren’t you the detective’s helpers?”

“Wait…” Dynasty started.

“Yes, yes we are.” Arrow cut in, in a quieter voice he told Dynasty: “We just asked a question, it’s fair that he should go next.” 

“Oh yea…” Ivy said. “We are supposed to be helping out our CBers.”   

Dynasty, Ivy, and Night frowned. Their CBers had perished, so who were they helping? The answer was simple, they would finish their CBer’s work here… even if they too would die.

“Well, why don’t you tell us what happened the night the opal brooch was stolen?” Arrow asked.

“Yes… yes… I remember the night well.” he started.

I had stayed up late, trying to finish a few formulas when I realized how late it was. 9:00. So I decided to go up to bed, you see I was down here in my lab, but when I reached the top of the stairs I saw that Lady Sparrow was standing in the hallway, she didn’t seem to be leaving soon, so I left through the outside entrance. It was raining of course it never seems to stop, so I snuck around the edge of the house, trying to stay as dry as I could… it didn’t quite work out. Anyways, as I was walking the lights in the house went out, and I found the door that goes into the kitchen. Some weird thing to take note of, the doors can only be opened from the outside… unless you have a key. Only the Secretary has keys though. I quickly hurried inside, but bumped into Henry in the kitchen. I didn’t know what to do, so I just muttered something… don’t quite remember, and hurriedly left. The clock said 12:00… but I doubt that was the real time. It just reset when the power went out. I went up to my room and fell asleep. I’m sure you know what happened next, the brooch was found missing blah blah blah. Now can you please leave, I have work to do.

And then, still trying to process, Professor Insolitus quickly shuffled them out of his lab and locked the door. The AEs still had more questions for him… well one really.

Why did he have a lab in the mansion if he doesn’t live here? 

~~~~~

End of part two.  

Day Four, Part Three

~~~~~~

When the AEs started to back down the long hallway, the way they came, they found that the tunnel had apparently given up. The ceiling was laying flat on the floor with a sign that read: sigh.

What sort of weird place have they got themselves into?! The sort of place where hallways give up and turn into ramps that lead out of secret tunnels. 

“Why?” Night asked, as they made use of the new ramp.

“No idea.” Dynasty said, “Let’s just be glad that we don’t have to go up the stairs again.”

“That is a good point,” Arrow said. “But I imagine that the ramp won’t be that much better.” 

Indeed, the ramp was not that much better. It was long, and steep, and so boring, and did I mention that spiders had infested it as well?

“Uhgg” Ivy groaned as she scraped off an inch of webs off her face. 

The ramp soon smoothed out and turned into a straight hallway, which the AEs were grateful for. Of course, if they knew what would happen next, they would have been a lot more scared. 

Arrow, poor guy, was the one who found the booby trap. He stepped on a stone that sank under his weight and mechanical clicks soon filled the air. The AEs watched with fascination as part of the wall slid back, to reveal a life sized copy of Mousetrap (the boardgame), blocked off by a thick glass wall.

And then the most dangerous thing in the world made its appearance, a bowling ball.

Nothing good ever comes from bowling balls. It rolled down a ramp, into a cup that was kicked by a giant shoe, shot into the air where it landed on another track, that dropped the bowling ball onto one end of a seesaw. The seesaw launched the fake diver into the air, he landed in a bowl, and dropped another bowling ball onto the track. This was a short track and led to a big red button, which the bowling ball smacked into with a loud clack! 

The next thing the AEs heard was the sound of a trapdoor being opened, then quickly closed.

Dynasty counted heads: 1...2...3… where had Arrow gone? 

They AEs ran out of the tunnel after that and came out of the oven in the kitchen, surprising the CBers who had stopped for a lunch break.

“What in the world?!” Bluebell asked.

“Where have you been?” Moonshine asked. “And why are you coming out of the oven covered in spider webs?”

“We were in the secret tunnels, you know, exploring, and um…” Dynasty started.

“Guys.” Mary said in a very serious voice. “Where is Arrow.”

Dynasty hung his head and said, “It’s my fault. If we’d just gone to the library like how he wanted… he wouldn’t have fallen down that pit.”

Thunder punctuated his words, making the CBers and AEs jump, it seemed the rain wouldn’t be stopping anytime soon. 

Mary sat down with a thump and started to cry as the rain poured down… and down… and down…….

~~~~~~~

RIP Arrow, your time was short and sweet.        

Day Five, Part One

~~~~~~~

The CBers woke up feeling hopeful, the dreadful sound of pounding rain had finally stopped! However, when looking out the window, it was revealed to only be drizzling. Softly raining in other words.

“One of these days we’ll see the sun again.” Bluebell sighed.

“The sun?” Cynthia asked. “I’d forgotten there even was one!”

This brought about a surge of laughter, something that had been lacking the past few days.

“Can you believe that it’s only been five days sense we got here?” Sirfire asked.

“No, I really can’t.” Jade said. “It feels more like 12 days.” 

“I think we need to talk about what clues we’ve found!” Cerinthe said, slapping her hands on the table for attention. 

“Uh… why?” Cynthia asked. “Aren’t we all against each other?”

“If this was a normal case I would agree, but there's a murderer among us!” Cerinthe said. “It’s better if we all try and finish the case as quickly as possible, to avoid more deaths.”

“I think she’s right.” Mary said. “I don’t want to lose any more friends.” 

The CBers looked down at the table, how selfish of them! Who cares about a possible award when their friends are disappearing? They should start comparing notes.

“I guess I’ll start…” Sirfire said.

She quickly told them about her chat with Mr. Misellus, which the CBers listened to very attentively. And then the AEs went over their little adventure, which the CBers found quite a lot more interesting.

“That is very suspicious.” Cerinthe said.

“I know, why would anyone need a lab below the mansion?” Jade asked.

“Well, it’s obvious what we need to do.” Cerinthe said, taking charge. “I think we should have two groups, one group to try and find Professor Insolitus and ask him some follow up questions. And the other group should try and find Lady Sparrow and ask her questions.”

“And some people need to go check outside.” Dynasty offered.

“Good point… good point.” Cerinthe said. “OK, let’s do it!” 

After much arguing and hand waving, it was decided that Dynasty, Cerinthe, and Jade will go try and ask Professor Insolitus more questions.

Moonshine, Mary, and Bluebell would try and explore the gardens around the mansion.

And finally, Cynthia, Ivy, Sirfire, and Night would try and find Lady Sparrow to interview. 

And so they split up, each to their separate jobs.

The murderer was furious, they wanted everyone to distrust each other, be at a distance… this alliance was troublesome. 

It’s that Cerinthe… they thought angrily, she can’t stay to pull the CBers together…    

Day Five, Part Two

~~~~~~

Dynasty led the way upstairs to the secret passage that leads to Professor Insolitus’s lab. When they got there they were astonished to see that the large picture, of the strange dinosaur-thingy, was gone. Left in its place was a large window that showed the dreary skies and the large garden behind the mansion. Lording over the garden were three giant trees, spreading shade over the whole back of the house. 

“Those are some giant trees.” Jade said.

“I don’t understand,” Dynasty growled. “It was right here! This should be the entrance to the secret tunnel we found earlier…” 

“Hmm… are you saying the whole thing… moved?” Cerinthe asked. “Is that even possible.”

“I dunno.” Dynasty shrugged. “We should check the stove next.” 

But the stove entrance was locked as well, it seemed that entering the lab was a one-way ticket.

“Now what are we going to do?” Jade asked.

“Maybe we’ll find him somewhere else?” Cerinthe said. “Let’s check the house.” 

A loud bark echoed around the house and then, flying as quick as possible, a pigeon flashed through the kitchen, into the small parlor nearby. Racing behind was a small dog, Foofoo!

“Hey!” Dynasty shouted. “That’s the professor’s dog!”

And then he charged after the dog, who was chasing a pigeon, who was trying desperately not to be caught. 

“Dynasty!” Cerinthe shouted, before sighing and chasing after him. 

Jade shrugged and charged after them as well.

Their chase lasted forever, they went up many stairs and through several hallways. The pictures blurring together into a blob of color as their feet made small whumps on the heavily carpeted interior. They skidded around corners and pounded up the stairs, until they were on the third floor and thoroughly out of breath. 

Thankfully the chase ended in the library, where they were treated to the pigeon hiding amongst the books, with Foofoo pacing eagerly below.

“Go on.” Dynasty said, “Shoo!”  

He grabbed the dog and firmly closed it out of the library. The pigeon let out a tweet and flew down onto Dynasty’s head. 

“Aww…” Dynasty said. “You’re a sweetie.”

The pigeon fluffed its feathers out at the praise and took off, it flew out of an open window hidden in the tall ceilings, but the CBers and AE didn’t notice, they were too busy looking at a piece of paper the pigeon had dropped.

“Is this… the opal?” Jade asked.

“I believe so…” Cerinthe said.

“Well… I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving.” Dynasty said. “Let’s go eat!” 

~~~~~

Day Five, Part Three point Five

~~~~~~ 

The gently falling rain gave everything in the garden a sense of life and dread at the same time. Three huge trees were at the far end of the garden, covering the whole backyard in shade from their large spreading branches. Cobblestone paths meandered through the flower beds and there were many iron benches and chairs spread throughout the garden. 

Shade loving plants, such as foxglove and primrose were featured, as well as some stranger plants like spurge and lady’s mantle. Hosta and ferns were found in great abundance, mostly at the edge of the pathways and around the small lakes that were scattered through the garden. 

Water lilies covered the pond’s surfaces, gently bouncing up and down from ripples caused by the falling rain and filling the spaces between the lilies was water lettuce, which made it seem like a field of green was simply bouncing on a field of green.

And, perhaps the most interesting thing about the garden, was the large abundance of carnivorous plants to be found. Because of the almost constant rain here at the mansion, they thrived extremely easily and were oftentimes hidden among the shade loving plants. There were pitcher plants, venus flytraps, butterwort, and bladderwort plants that grew in the many pounds around the house. 

Moonshine felt a chill go through her when she noticed the carnivorous plants, she was the only CBer to have done so. 

This innocent garden hides many dangerous plants, like the simerily innocent house that holds more secrets than truths.

“Wow… this garden is gorgeous!” Mary exclaimed, stopping to examine a primrose plant nearby.

“It might be pretty, but I would not suggest leaving the path.” Moonshine said. “I see some poison ivy and oak threading its way among the plants.”

And indeed, when they looked closer, they found Moonshine to be right. Poisonous plants and stinging nettles were carefully hidden among the harmless plants that filled the garden.

“Why in the world would anyone not get rid of these sorts of plants!?” Bluebell demanded.

“Madame Suspectum finds them relaxing.” a strange voice said, it appeared to be coming from an especially healthy patch of elephant ears.

The CBers rounded the bend and found a lady sitting at a small table, peacefully enjoying the drizzly day.

The lady was obviously Lady Sparrow, with her bright auburn hair and dark olive-shaped eyes who else could it be? Lady Sparrow was wearing a simple red dress, the kind made from soft T-Shirt material and used when you wanted a comfortable, fancy outfit.

She smiled at them, showing off her beautiful white teeth, and waved her hand at some empty seats.

“I know it’s terribly wet, but I find that sitting in a garden can have quite some calming effects.” she said.

The CBers sat down, stunned, they were here searching for clues or hidden passageways. They instead found Lady Sparrow.

“Do you know Madame Suspectum?” Bluebell asked.

“I met her at a cooking class I was taking.” she said. “Quite a stubborn woman she is. A good friend, though.” 

The CBers sat in silence, what Lady Sparrow said was true. The garden was relaxing and soothing, even if it was raining and people’s clothing was getting wet from sitting on the soaked chairs.

“Do you mind telling us what happened the night the opal was stolen?” Bluebell asked.

“Not at all, I remember it like it was yesterday…”

~~~~~~~

Mwhahaha! I did, I did leave this at a cliff hanger! I am sorry, but this is a long one and needs to be split up into two parts.