Chapter 10

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Kitten was pretty lonely. It really sucked to be down here. She’d been in this underground maze for days and she had heard the others, but never seen them, because she always got lost.

She really needed to find a way to combat her extremely terrible sense of direction, so, she sat down in a gallery with no paintings, pulled out a sheet of paper and pencil, and started drawing a map. 

Kitten had barely gotten to the third room, when she heard a scream.

What was that?!

Kitten looked up, alarmed. It seemed to be coming from above her. As far as she knew, there was no passageway up to the surface.

I’ll just have to hope for the best, she thought, sighing.

Two seconds later, a resounding crash sounded, and Agent Winter came flying through the ceiling. She landed with a loud thump on the ground.

“Ohmygosh, Agent Winter, are you okay?!” Kitten exclaimed, hurrying over to Agent Winter’s side.

“Um, no, it kind of hurts,” Agent Winter groaned, squeezing her purple eyes shut.

“Oh, do you have any broken bones?” Kitten asked.

She checked. By some miraculous magic of this mysterious place, Agent Winter only had a couple of bruises.

“Can you stand up?” Kitten said.

“Yeah, I think I can, if you help me,” Winter said.

Kitten helped Winter up, and peered through the gaping hole in the ceiling. There was a rainbow arching high above, illuminated by bright sunlight.

“I got lost, and I decided to climb up the rainbow. Bad decision,” Winter sighed, “I fell off.”

“Really? That’s unfortunate. Did you find the others though? I hope they aren’t doing too badly,” Kitten fretted.

“No, I didn’t see the others either. Actually, I saw Basil, but that was it.”

Kitten heard a scraping sound. She looked up. Metal plates were slowly grinding together, closing the gap that was caused by Winter. She noticed a scrap of yellowed paper, with inky black words on it.

Taking a chance, Kitten let go of Winter, leapt up, and snatched the paper out of the way, just as the metal plates slammed shut.

“What does it say?” Winter asked, looking over Kitten’s shoulder.

Kitten read it aloud.

“... during the golden period of Quendor, in 668 G.U.E., the empire of Quendor encompassed all land, below ground and above ground. However, in the eighth century, specifically 750 G.U.E., Lord Dimwit Flathead came into the spotlight as the predecessor of the Flathead Dynasty, who would rule Quendor until their execution in 779 G.U.E. During this period, Quendor was known as the Great Underground Empire. In 779 G.U.E., the great wizard Megaboz cast a curse on the Great Underground Empire, killing the twelve flathead rulers, and causing Quendor to tip into a steady rate of decline. Finally, in 883, the mighty empire collapsed, the royal treasury was sacked, and everyone left.

The curse still lingers in Quendor to this day, under the rule of the First Dungeon Master. The curse can only be broken when the second dungeon master comes into power, through acquiring the twenty sacred treasures, and escaping the curse through the ancient stone barrow. Treasures included are: the jewel encrusted egg, clockwork canary, Leonardo Flathead’s masterpiece, brass bauble, pot of gold, platinum bar, ivory torch, gold coffin, sceptre of Ramses II, trunk of jewels, crystal trident of Poseidon, jade figurine, sapphire bracelet, huge diamond, bag of zorkmids, crystal skull, jeweled scarab, large emerald, and the silver chalice. Collecting all treasures in the trophy case of the Flathead mansion will result in the revelation of an ancient scroll, leading the way to the ancient barrow.

- J. Flathead”

There was a pause.

“I think it’s part of a history book,” Kitten said, studying the yellowed paper.

“So to get out of here, we have to get all of those treasures,” Agent Winter said.

“Yeah. Problem is, I have no idea where any of them are. I didn’t see anything,” Kitten sighed.

Agent Winter pulled out a sparkling crystal trident. “Well, I’ve got at least one of them, it’s a start,” she said.

“Why don’t we go back to the white house, and put the trident in the trophy case like the paper said, and then we can look for other people and find the treasures,” Kitten suggested.

“Sure, we can do that, and . . . hopefully we’ll find the . . . other people,” Agent Winter said.

Kitten couldn’t detect the sarcasm in her voice.

“Okay, let’s go! Wait, I have no idea how to get there!” Kitten exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, I know the way,” Winter said.

And they were off!

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Perfect. The perfect puppet for me.

To escape . . . once the curse is broken, this place will crash and fall to the ground. Burying the others with it. My host . . . I’ll leave her behind too.

We’ll just have to wait for the others to find the treasures, and then go there to place the final one. They won’t know what hit them.

Soon. Very very soon.

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Kitten, you're finally in! Three more chapters until the end! 

Chapter 11

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Arithmancy had originally been pretty positive about them finding Agent Winter originally, but the next day, both parties came back, with downcast faces and not a single trace of Agent Winter.

“It’s like she disappeared,” Braoin sighed as they pored over online articles on Alex’s tablet.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Arithmancy said, “we just have to find a way out of this. Agent Winter should be fine, it’s just that this personification of her will disappear once we get out of this ski lodge and-oh wait, sorry, I broke the fourth wall, nevermind.”

“You’re right, I guess,” Leafy said, squinting at her phone, “but why are we researching Quendor?”

“I don’t know, we just need to find out if there’s some sort of secret passage or something,” Arithmancy said.

Arithmancy had been put in charge of researching a way out of this place, and it was proving pretty difficult.

“Wait! Arithmancy! Read this!” Leafy exclaimed, shoving her phone in front of Arithmancy.

Arithmancy looked over the tiny letters on the screen. After speedreading it, she looked up excitedly.

“It’s the lore for the way out of this stupid place!” Arithmancy said, “Guys, come over! All of you!”

Everyone came over, and sat in a circle around Arithmancy.

“So, basically what this thing is saying,” Arithmancy said, “is that, in a nutshell, we have to collect twenty treasures and put them all in the trophy case, and then we’ll get a map to the barrow, which is also the way out of here.”

So wonderfully ignorant of the curse, yes, Arithmancy and everyone else was ignorant.

“Well, what do we have to collect?” Starlight asked.

“Hmm, let’s see,” Arithmancy said, scanning the list.

“We’ve already collected most of the treasures. All we need to do is find the bauble, clockwork canary, and a bag of coins,” Arithmancy explained.

She was forgetting something. Forgetting the trident.

“Um . . . guys?” Quill said.

“Yeah?” Cairi said.

“I think we have the clockwork canary,” Quill said, pointing to Basil.

“But . . . Basil’s not a canary, and not clockwork,” Surrounded said.

“It’s a metaphor, obviously. Haven’t you heard of the canary in the coal mine? Basil’s been our messenger all this time, it’s pretty reasonable that Basil is the clockwork canary,” Quill explained.

This made sense to Arithmancy. “All right then, we just need to get the bauble and bag of coins then,” Arithmancy said, nodding, “We’ll split into two. Surrounded, Cairi, Yi, Beau, leafy, Hazel, Quill, Harper, Ace, Basil, Reese, Night Vision, Alex, Gecko, and Mcguff, you guys go search the area for the bauble. And then that leaves Heroes, Starlight, Barnswallow, Kestrel, Emekittycon, Gemstone, Kitty, Squeaky, Summer, Autumn, Breeze, Candy, Mahriel, Galaxy, Braoin, and Pepsi to go look for the coins. I’ll stay here to guard the treasure case, in case Agent Winter comes around.”

“I feel like we’re missing someone,” Emekittycon frowned.

“Right we are, we’re missing Kitten!” Candy yelped.

“Well . . . you guys have to search for her too then,” Arithmancy said, “and let’s hope that she doesn’t get caught by Winter. Check the Styx just to make sure though.”

“Alright! We’re going to get out of here!” Summer cheered.

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Welp, short chapter this time :). All the action is in the next chapter! Things are coming to a close soon . . . y'all ready? 

This is so interesting! I really love all the worldbuilding you’re doing, I haven’t seen a ski lodge this complex in a long time. And oooh, what am I being controlled by? Why are my eyes purple? I can’t wait to read the next chapter! 

Chapter 12

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“We’re on a time crunch here, kind of. We have to hurry and find that bauble as soon as we can,” Quill said, as the group walked through the tall grass.

“I think it’ll be easier to search if we all split up,” Gecko suggested.

Hazel frowned. “But we’ve already split up,” she said.

“Yes, but if we split up even more, we can cover more ground,” Gecko said.

“I mean, that’s probably the best thing to do right now,” Surrounded said.

“What if Agent Winter comes to us though?” Harper worried.

“We want to find Winter, right? That’ll be fine then!” Reese said.

“Right, okay,” Gecko said, “Let’s go!”

Gecko grabbed Mcguff’s hand, and ran backwards while waving. “Seeya! I’m heading to the forest with Mcguff!” Gecko called.

Inside the forest it was cool and shady. Dappled sunlight shone on the floor, full of dead leaves and twigs. Gecko crunched over the dried leaves, looking up into the trees. Maybe the bauble could be hanging from one of the trees.

Mcguff hurried behind.

“What is Winter finds us?” Mcguff said, glancing around as if Agent Winter might jump out from behind a tree at any second.

“It’ll be fine then. I know a little about exorcism, or at least someone else does, we’ve all read too many fantasy novels,” Gecko shrugged, continuing to search the trees for the bauble.

Because she wasn’t watching where she was walking, Gecko tripped over twigs and logs quite a few times.

She kept searching for the bauble, however. And thinking.

What’s possessing Agent Winter?

What’s happening to her?

All of a sudden, Gecko’s foot caught on a twig, and she slammed into a tree.

The tree shook, leaves fluttering down.

“Ow!” Gecko yelped, clutching her shoulder.

Something thumped beside her.

Gecko turned around. An extremely fat canary had fallen down from the tree, and now was laying on the ground.

“Oh my gosh!” Gecko cried, and dropped down to help the canary.

The canary rolled over, and made a weird choking noise.

Gecko hurriedly picked up the canary, and studied it. It looked fat. Really fat. The canary made another retching noise, and choked out a brass bauble.

“Ewwwwwwww,” Mcguff said, as the canary fluttered away.

“It’s the bauble!” Gecko exclaimed, “We have to go back and tell the others!”

Gecko rose unsteadily, and broke into a run, with Mcguff following behind. She burst out of the forest, just in time to see the others, splitting up and starting to walk separate ways.

“Guys! I found it! A canary ate it and then spit it out in my hand!” Gecko yelled, raising up the bauble.

Leafy gasped. “Come on! We have to get back then!”

The whole group ran toward the white house in the distance.

Gecko slammed the door open, and threw open the door to the living room. She stopped dead in her tracks.

“Miss me?” Agent Winter said, smirking.

Gecko scanned the room. Arithmancy was on a couch, out cold. Unconscious or worse . . . no, just unconscious, if she was . . . deceased, she would’ve gone to the Styx.

“What do you want,” Alex said shakily.

“Nothing! I’m here to welcome you, of course,” Agent Winter smiled, “Just kidding! Hand over the bauble now.”

“Winter . . .” Night Vision mumbled, staring blankly at Agent Winter.

“Oh, I won’t hurt you darling. Just as long as I get the bauble, of course,” Winter said.

“What if we don’t,”  Yi said stiffly.

“Well then-”

“Winter?!”

Kitten stood behind Winter, her eyes wide and her mouth open. “Oh! Kitten! Glad to see you, I’m just doing my job,” Winter said, turning back to Gecko, and pulling out a nasty knife.

“You-you-you’re the murderer,” Kitten gasped.

“Sure,” Winter said boredly.

“But you can’t just-”

In a flash, Winter pulled Kitten close to her, and flipped the knife so it was over her throat.

“Hand over the bauble, or Kitten dies,” Winter said, her eyes extremely purple.

“What do we do?!” Surrounded hissed.

“Five seconds,” Winter drawled.

“I don’t know!” Gecko whispered.

“Four.”

“Why . . .” Reese said blankly.

“Three . . . you know what, nevermind,” Winter said, the knife moving.

Kitten disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Gecko stared at the spot where Kitten had been, horrified. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t act. She couldn’t do anything.  She couldn’t—

Barnswallow darted past Gecko, and plunged a knife into Winter’s arm.

“What . . .” Winter began, shocked.

Winter fainted.

“Back away!” Barnswallow yelled, her voice cracking.

Winter’s eyes flashed purpled, and suddenly, a purple wisp encircled her, and then darted away.

“Catch it!” Leafy shrieked.

Gecko slammed a jar over it, almost breaking the wall, and screwed the lid on tight.

“What is it?” Surrounded asked in a hushed tone.

Gecko studied the purple thing carefully. It thumped against the walls of the jar, almost knocking it out of Gecko’s hands.

“It’s a glitch,” Barnswallow said, “one of those rancor monster things from the chatterbox.”

“So that’s what was possessing Winter,” Alex whispered.

“Winter!” Reese and Night Vision cried, rushing to Winter’s side.

Hazel hurried over as well, picking up a length of bandage. Night Vision crouched beside Winter, while Hazel bandaged the knife wound.

Winter’s eyes fluttered open. They were no longer purple, and instead, her regular blue eyes.

“I’m back . . .” she rasped, “I’m so sorry . . . I’m back.”

Reese hugged Winter tightly.

“What happened??” 

Gecko turned around. The rest of the group had shown up, with Emekittycon holding a clinking bag of coins.

“We thought-” Mahriel began.

“-That Barnswallow got caught by Winter-” Candy continued.

“-But what actually happened??” Summer finished.

Explanations happened. Long explanations. Gecko told everyone about the glitch, and they all took turns to hug Winter. Barnswallow explained that she had read up on Quendor before the train had arrived, and had suspected something about a glitch ever since she saw Winter’s purple eyes. Mahriel decided that she would go get Kitten alone, once they found the exit from this place.

“Okay. Game time,” Gecko said, taking a deep breath, and putting the trident, bag of coins, and bauble into the trophy case.

A blinding light emitted from the case, and it grew brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter . . . 

A scroll dropped into Gecko’s hands. And then everything started moving.

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Yes! Another update! It's called motivation :D Anyway, that was a cliffhanger! Seeya again next chapter, where everything gets wrapped up! 

Chapter 13

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As soon as a scroll fell into Gecko’s hands, Mahriel felt the ground shifting and rumbling beneath her. Everything started vibrating and moving around, the sofas sliding around and the chairs collapsing on themselves.

“Read it! Hurry!” Mahriel yelled.

Gecko unrolled the scroll, and yelled over the shattering of treasures and the thumping of furniture, “It says . . . it says, it says that the barrow is UNDER US!”

Mahriel looked at everyone else, her eyes widening. “Oh no . . .”

“We have to leave before this place caves in!” Barnswallow shouted.

“Run!” Autumn shrieked.

“Wait for me!” Mahriel called, snatching the crystal skull from the trophy case, and dashing out the door.

“We have to wait for her!” Summer yelled.

“We can do that outside! Come on!” Winter croaked, grabbing Reese and Night Vision’s hands, and stumbling outside.

The ground was collapsing under their feet. Holes caved in, grass was torn up, metal plates crashed down. 

As everyone watched, the white house split in two, creaking apart to reveal a set of stone steps underneath.

“Mahriel had better hurry!” Emekittycon cried, hopping over a section of ground that had just fallen.

“I’m here! I’m here!” Mahriel yelled, running toward them, and dragging Kitten along behind her.

“Winter! You’re okay?!” Kitten said, “Mahriel told me all about it!”

“Yeah!” Winter rasped, “But we have to get into the barrow right now, or else this whole thing is going to cave in with us in it! Come on!”

The whole group ran down the stone steps, not pausing for a moment.

As soon as Mahriel and Kitten’s feet hit the last step, they toppled over into a blinding light.

And everything was quiet.

Quiet . . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

Mahriel couldn’t see anything around her, except for a white light. It was completely silent. She couldn’t even hear her own breathing. She was completely alone. Kitten materialized beside her. Then Gemstone. Then Emekittcon. Then Gecko. Then Winter. Then more and more and more until everyone else was sitting beside her, looking very confused.

And then with a flash of white light, a train compartment materialized around them, rushing past landscape.

Mahriel sat there, stunned for a moment.

Then she got up slowly, as did everyone else. There was a gaping hole in the train car, revealing a dry desert flying past as they continued to drive along the train tracks. “We’re . . . on the Quendor Express,” Reese muttered.

“I hope you enjoyed your tour of Quendor,” the Conductor said, entering through a door, and looking for all the world like she had just given them a perfectly normal tour of a nice place, and not accidentally driven off a bridge.

“Well anyway,” the Conductor continued, mistaking the shocked silence for maybe tiredness, “we’ll be arriving back at Chatterbox Station soon, so pack your bags.”

“What happened-”  Heroes began.

The Conductor gave a mysterious smile, and put a finger to her lips. “Shhhhhh, no questions. I’ll be leaving then, good luck on your future adventures.”

“Hold on,” Kitten spoke up, “you still haven’t done something.”

The Conductor looked at her quizzically.

“She’s right, you still need to tell us who you are,” Mahriel said.

The Conductor smiled, a big, slightly creepy, but genuine smile. “Of course!” she said delightedly, “I mean, Arithmancy, oh so cleverly figured it out quite early on, but nevertheless, I’ll tell all of you.”

With that, the Conductor waved a hand over her face. It shimmered for a second, like a mirage, and then her face was replaced with that of Raining Rainbow’s.

But only for a second. The next second, the Conductor was gone, closing the door behind her.

Mahriel was about to speak, when she heard the chatter of people, and the sound of a train’s whistle.

She looked out the gaping hole. They were back where they had started. Chatterbox station.

“That was an adventure,” Mahriel whispered.

“It was . . .” Winter mumbled.

And with that, they stepped off the train.

This adventure over.

The next adventure? Well, it would come.

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Two updates in a day? I'm spoiling you guys XD. Well, that's that, and it's over! This was really fun, and even though y'all figured it out already, I still needed a dramatic reveal for who I am :p. This was really fun to write, and I hope it was fun for you guys to read!

What do people say at the end of a ski lodge?? I'm really bad at commitment so I never finish anything XD idk what to say!

Welp, that's that I guess, yay!

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