Day Eight, Part One

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The rain was back. It was pouring down harder than ever, as if to make up for the lack of it yesterday. 

The CBers rolled out of bed late in the afternoon, having spent the night staying up late watching movies and talking. 

Jade, with the best intentions, forgot to mention the clue she found on the blueprints yesterday and vowed to tell the CBers today. 

So, after laying in bed slowly convincing themselves to get up, they made their way down to the kitchen for some brunch. 

But when they got there, they were quite startled to see a stranger standing in the kitchen, peering curiously over the blueprints. 

She had bright, auburn hair that was cut short, just above her shoulders. She was wearing a black leather jacket and dark blue jeggings, which were tucked into her black combat boots. 

“Who are you?” Cerinthe asked.

Startled, the stranger turned around, showing her face. She had a smattering of freckles across her nose and the strangest eyes ever, they were slanted and seemed to change color constantly. 

They went from red, to orange, to yellow before settling into a kind of yellowish brown color. She regarded them with guarded eyes and said, in a fast peppy voice:  

“I’m HeroesOfOlympus!” 

“Oh, nice to meet you.” Cerinthe said, a tad confused.

“What are you doing here?” Mary asked.

“I’m here to help, of course!” HeroesOfOlympus said cheerfully, “Oh, right, you can call me Olympia if you want, it’s easier than using my full name.” 

“Wait, you’re here to help?” Cynthia asked, confused. 

“Well, duh! I already figured out the clue on the blueprints.” Olympia said. “It says ‘Everything is clearer at night’.” 

“Wait… what clue on the blueprints?” Sirfire asked at the same time Jade demanded.

“How do you know about that?” 

“Jade didn’t tell you?” Olympia asked, confused. “She found them yesterday.” 

Everyone stared at Olympia with shock, how could she have known that if she’d just got here?

“What is she talking about, Jade?” Moonshine demanded.

“Oh, uh… I meant to tell you yesterday, but I uh… forgot.” Jade mumbled. “Here I’ll show you.” 

The CBers crowded around the table while Jade pointed out the details on the wood, which were actually numbers.

“Wow, good job finding that!” Cerinthe said. “I doubt we would ever have found it ourselves.”

“Thanks.” Jade said shyly.

“But that still doesn’t answer the question of how she knew about it!” Dynasty shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Olympia.

She looked at them and smiled a mysterious smile, “Oh… I have my ways.” 

The CBers looked at her uneasily, until they started fidgeting under her constantly changing eyes. 

“Well… I guess we’ll just have to wait until night time and do some searching…” Jade said thoughtfully. 

“I wonder if we’ll find anything different?” Cerinthe asked.

They looked at each other and shrugged, they were up late last night and didn’t find anything… so how will tonight be any different? 

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Welcome HeroesOfOlympus! So sorry you got to the mansion late, you’ll find a room prepared for you on the second floor. 

~The Secretary 

Day Eight, Part Two

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When the CBers decided to wait until dark to get some serious clue sleuthing done… they found that waiting for dark was extremely boring. To pass the time, Night was teaching Jade sign language and Moonshine was working on her strategy puzzles. Cerinthe was curled up in a comfy chair, searching the information they found and trying to piece some more things together. Cynthia had disappeared with Olympia, to "search for clues" they'd said. 

And Mary was thinking about Sirfire’s story, how Mr. Miscellus disappeared before Sirfire could say goodbye. The more she thought about it, the more obvious it was! There had to be a secret passage in the library. She desperately wanted to search for it, there was only so much origami you could do before getting bored.  

“Where are you going, Mary?” Sirfire asked. 

“I thought I would go explore the library, I can’t shake off the feeling that there’s a secret passage in it…” 

“Oh, cool!” Sirfire said, “I’ll come too, if you don’t mind.” 

“That’s fine, feel free to join me. I wasn’t looking forward to exploring on my own.” Mary said, with a smile.

“I’ll come too,” Dynasty offered, “I'm bored.” 

And so the fearsome threesome made their way up to the library. Where they amused themselves knocking on the walls and pulling at random books, hoping to activate the entrance. They did this for a good thirty minutes before collapsing into the chairs, close to giving up.

“Where, exactly, was Mr. Miscellus when he disappeared?” Mary asked.

“He was standing in front of the fireplace… I think.” Sirfire said.

Dynasty, he seemed to have a knack for it, was the one who ended up finding the entrance. A stone on the fireplace was slightly out of place, and when grabbed Dynasty found that you could pull it all the way out. Tucked inside was a button, which was quickly pressed. The fireplace slowly spun around, revealing a platform that they stepped carefully onto. 

It spun them around, into the wall, and they blinked their eyes, trying to get used to the dim lighting in the tunnel. 

Old fashioned torches lined the wall, giving off the smell of smoke and making the tunnel slightly foggy. There was only one way to go, right, so they took the path. They walked quickly down the tunnel, wondering where in the world it was going. 

But, when they reached the end of the tunnel, they were disappointed to find a plain room, full of various paintings, drawings, and scraps of paper. They covered the walls, the various desks, and even the floor.

“Well… I don’t know what I was expecting… but it sure wasn’t this.” Sirfire said. 

“Right?” Mary asked. “I was not expecting an art room.”

“Hey… look at this!” Dynasty called, seemingly from behind a large, empty piece of paper.

Sirfire and Mary looked at each other with surprise, where was he? It turned out that the paper was hiding the entrance to a hallway, which led to another room. This one had a large wall directly in front of the hallway, and it showed a very interesting picture.

It was a giant painting of the moon, edged with frost, and surrounded by stars that covered the slightly purple night sky.

“Wow… look at that.” Sirfire said.

Who knows what would’ve happened to Mary and Sirfire if Dynasty hadn’t come with them. Dynasty, with his excellent hearing, could hear the quiet clicks and rumbles of gears and cogs moving out of sight. They’d somehow tripped a trap.

Poor Dynasty, still feeling guilty about leading Arrow to his death, and wanting to do something to apologize to him, did they next best thing.

He saved Arrow's chatterboxer and Sirfire. 

“Watch out!” he shouted, and quickly pushed them out into the hallway.

Mary and Sirfire, confused, landed on their backs in the hallway. They looked up just in time to see the room collapsing, burying Dynasty inside of it.

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RIP Dynasty, your sacrifice will be remembered.