Part Three.

When the remainder of the Chatterboxers reached the top of the stairs, they were greeted by the odd sight of an albatross with a bow in her feathers and a penguin wearing a tie standing next each other. Before they had time to laugh, each Chatterboxer hard a high, throaty voice, which could only belong to the albatross, speaking in her mind.

"Hello. I am Alligator the albatross and this is Mr. Bartleby. Welcome to the Water-zone. Please use extreme caution, but endeavor to have fun. If you are breaking any rules, we will immediately inform you."

"That's right." Mr. Bartleby telepathed.

The next few hours contained such wonderful watery fun that the murder was able to slip back into the group unnoticed. The waterslides really were the Best Waterslides Ever.

One, called the Great Ape, included actual drops into the air. Another, called the Dirt Bike, involved a huge plunge down and then a climb up an almost vertical wall before another plunge. A third, the Vortex, spun you around to the right, then around to the left, then over and under in such complicated loops that when you reached the bottom you didn't know which way was up and which way was down. The hot tub was huge and the wave pool was thrilling. No one noticed Luna's absence. 

Jubilee was just getting ready to go down the Armageddon when she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she had asked, no one except her wanted to go on the Armageddon, so Jubilee was surprised when she turned around to see another Chatterboxer standing behind her.

"Oh, hi." Jubilee said.

The other Chatterboxer smiled. "Hi. Are you the only only who wants to go on the Armageddon?"

"Yup. When I asked, everyone else wanted to stick to safer waterslides. I tried to tell them that this isn't super dangerous as long as you have an innertube, but they wouldn't listen." The other Chatterboxer frowned, and Jubilee hastened to explain. "See, when you come out of the slide you're waaaay underwater, and it isn't possible to swim up to the surface without the help of an innertube."

"I see." The other Chatterboxer pulled out a pocketknife and flicked it open with the skill of long practice.

Jubilee frowned. "Isn't that Luna's pocketknife?"

The other Chatterboxer stabbed Jubilee's innertube. With a hisssssthrump it deflated.

Jubilee's eyes narrowed. "What are you--" Her words were cut off in a muffled shriek as The Murderer shoved her down the Armageddon.

Three hours later, Mr. Bartleby, who had been swishing down the slides with enourmous speed, finally telepathed that it was time to get out. Reluctantly, the Chatterboxers trooped out of the water and dried off. Captain Phillipa told them through the intercom that it was time to visit the planetarium, and they started down the stairs to get back to the bunkroom. 

Barnswallow led the way, chatting and laughing with IvoryPint and Luminescence. They were having so much fun that they almost fell through the floor. Everyone stared down. Black, singed lightsaber cuts crisscrossed the entire length of the stairs, leaving them brittle and unstable. Alligator fluttered down, telepathically yelling for everyone to back up. The Murderer hid a smile. Allie examined the stairs, then flew down to the landing where Luna's body lay.

Alligator groaned telepathically. "Killed with her own lightsaber." She telepathed. "Hurry back to the bunkroom at once. Use the grand staircase."

The Chatterboxers needed no more prompting. They fled through a heavy wooden door, down a red carpeted staircase, and through a maze of passages to the bunkroom. They stayed there for the remainder of the day, refusing to go out even for dinner. Captain Phillipa had it brought to them instead.

That night, all of the Chatterboxers went to bed hoping to be alive in the morning. 

~~~ 

RIP Jubilee. We'll miss you.

Death Toll: 3. aqua, smothered by a beanbag chair. Luna, killed with her own weapon. Jubilee, drowned in a waterslide.

@Jubilee: What a terrible way to go! I hope you'll stick around to see if vengence can be meted out. We shall hope for the best. 

Next post up this weekend!

Have you ever played laser tag? 

The mystery deepens.  And I have no idea who the murderer might be.  The idea that they might not have their own knife because they used Luna's is a good one though.  And I've never played laser tag, but I think it would be fun to.

I've played laser tag a few times with some boys from my school at a place with all sorts of activities. I've also played with the same guys in my actual school building because we all do an extracurricular together and one of them owns a laser tag set, it was super fun.

I have never done laser tag. It sure looks like fun though!

Part four.

All of the remaining Chatterboxers were alive in the morning, but a couple of the Chatterboxers were very confused by Jubilee's absence. At breakfast, Queen asked Captain Phillipa about it. The captain frowned.

"She wasn't with you when you went to bed last night?"

Queen shook her head.

"Hmm. Do you remember where you last saw her?"

After a moment, Queen shook her head again.

Captain Phillipa strode into the middle of the Sunlight Breakfast Room. She whistled for silence, and everyone quieted down. "Jubilee has been missing since last night. Does anyone remember seeing her before that?"

A low murmur rose from the Chatterboxers. They glanced at each other nervously. Finally, Strawberri spoke up. "I think the last time I saw her was when she was about to go down the Armageddon."

Captain Phillipa showed no outward signs of alarm. Instead, she strode over to the intercom and asked for Alligator and Mr. Bartleby to check the Water Zone for Jubilee. "I assure you, if Jubilee is up there, she will be found." She told the Chatterboxers. They didn't seem reassured, and suddenly the breakfast of fried potatoes and sausage seemed much less appealing. Several Chatterboxers pushed their plates away. Half an hour later, Allie returned. Captain Phillipa pulled her off into a corner and had a quiet conversation with her. Then she opened the window and Alliegator flew off.

Captain Phillipa turned to the rest of the Chatterboxers. Her voice was perfectly calm. "Jubilee's body has been found in the pool at the bottom of the Armageddon. Her innertube was stabbed with a pocketknife and she was unable to get to the surface in time." She held up a blain brown pocketknife. "This was found at the top of the waterslide. An anyone identify it?"

Em nodded. "That is--I mean, that used to be Luna's."

"Are you sure? Does anyone have a similar pocketknife?"

Summer spoke up. "I've got a pocketknife like that, but I have it here." She held up an identical pocketknife. 

"Right." The captain thought for a moment. "That makes three dead so far: aqua, Luna, and Jubilee. I believe that we can now assert that there is a murderer at large."

Heroes threw up all over IvoryPint's shoes.

Captain Phillipa continued as if there had been no interruption. "Where there is deceit and treachery, there are always clues. Does anyone have any ideas about who The Murderer could be?"

The Chatterboxers anxiously at each other.

"Well," Kitten said. "Weren't Agent Winter and aqua fighting over the beanbag chair that aqua was killed with?"

Agent Winter's eyes widened. "Wait, no! Are you suggesting it was me? I didn't kill aqua!"

Quill's eyes narrowed as she thought. "The beanbag chair is a good point, though, because The Murderer is obviously creative. They haven't used their own weapons for any of the...incidents...so far. Maybe they don't have weapons of their own?"

Summer spoke up again. "That's true. If The Murderer stabbed Jubilee's innertube with Luna's pocketknife, it stands to reason that The Murderer wouldn't have a knife of her own. And the only person who doesn't have a weapons suitable for stabbing an innertube..." She paused for a moment. "Is Darkling!"

Darkling jumped in her chair. "What? Noooo! It wasn't me! I would never do such a thing!"

Agent Winter sent Darkling a sympathetic glance.

"The evidence is against you, Darkling." Summer said.

"It's also against Agent Winter, though..." Kitten added.

"Wait, that doesn't make sense!" Emekitty said. "If Darkling is The Murderer, sorry Darkling, she could have just killed Luna or aqua with her Battleaxe, couldn't she?"

"Sure, if you bring your battleaxe with you when you go swimming." Luminescence said.

"So that suggests that The Murderer doesn't have a lot of easily available weapons." Emekitty said. "Who here didn't bring many weapons?"

"Um." Raining Rainbows said. "I asked to see everyone's weapons earlier, and Barnswallow doesn't have a lot of weapons."

"What!?" Barnswallow interjected. "Do you mean--"

"But," Raining Rainbows continued, "neither does Summer."

Summer's face paled. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, it wasn't me! I didn't do it! I'm the one trying to figure out who did, and I still think it was Darkling!"

Darkling leaned forward in her chair. Her face was flushed. "I did not kill aqua, or Luna, or Jubilee, okay? Is that clear?"

Captain Phillipa stepped back out into the middle of the floor. "All right, that is enough. I think we will take it easy on dangerous activities today. Please take your time on your breakfast, clean up the vomit, and then return to the bunkroom. However, I would first like you to hand over all of your weapons."

"What?" several Chatterboxers cried.

"Think about it. We just asserted that two of the three deaths were accomplished with a weapon. The fewer weapons there are in circulation, the better."

It made sense, but the Chatterboxers didn't like it. However, the captain was adamant, and eventually the Chatterboxers agreed on the threat of having their laser tag privileges revoked. A couple of the Chatterboxers agreed quickly, assuming that they could keep their hidden weapons, but somehow, Captain Phillipa found them all. The Murderer frowned. With fewer weapons in circulation, she would have to be more creative in the future.

That afternoon, they held a sea funeral for aqua, Luna, and Jubilee. In proper shiphand style, the three victims were buried in the sea.

After the funeral, the Chatterboxers retreated to the bunkroom and refused to come out for dinner. Captain Phillipa had their meals sent down to them.

The next three days passed in a similar manner, with the Chatterboxers staying holed up in the bunkroom. The Chatterboxers amused themselves with reading, talking, and playing with IvoryPint's chess set. A couple of them tried to organize a game of poison dart frog or Mafia, but no one was surprised when the other Chatterboxers refused to play.

When the forth day dawned without another death, the Chatterboxers started to get restless. The bunkroom seemed ridiculously small, and no one could bear to stay still for another moment. So, when the captain inquired through the intercom if the Chatterboxers wanted to come out for breakfast, the Chatterboxers were happy to oblige. The Murderer was especially happy.

~~~ 

Death Toll: Still 3. aqua, smothered by a beanbag chair. Luna, killed with her own weapon. Jubilee, drowned in a waterslide.

Yeah, yeah, I know, nobody was killed in this post. How disappointing! (Jk XD) However, I felt that it would be a bit unnatural not to show all of your reactions to the deaths that have occured. I also wanted to include a few more clues as to who is or is not The Murderer. Guess away!

Um, I don't really have a good question this time, so...

If you could visit another planet, galaxy, or nebula, and assuming that you had enough technology that you would not immediately die, where would you go? 

RIP everyone! 

(Including me xD) 

"iiiid"

-Sherry 

What are the questions for? are they just random questions? If so, I can answer them? Nebula then!

This is so fun, being my first ski lodge.  I think I'd like to see a nebula, but "not immediatley die"?  That's ominous.

Planet. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was younger.

But now... I'm scared of REALLY high hights, UNLESS someone I know and trust, like one of my friends, I'm good.