Yaayy this is so good! Can't wait to keep reading!

//This is an automated message from RoboTOP. RoboTOP copyright 2009 by Silicon Intelligence.

Hellloooooo everyone!

I just wanted to say. 

KEEP.

ON.

WRITING.

PLEASE.

Lady Ellingham (or Flora), your writing is AMAZING. You have captured everyone's personalities and made everyone a part of the story. Thank you so much. This is amazing. DO NOT LET THIS DIE. PLEASE. 

- Nightfall :D 

Thank you so much, Nightfall! I probably should have explained - new installments are now going to be posted on Sundays. 

See you all Sunday - oh and guess me if you can! 

Chapter Three

“The Menagerie”

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” said a voice. 

Kitten rolled over in her bed and groaned. That was some dream - the carriage, and the mansion, and the robots… She really ought to be getting to bed earlier.

“The door is pretty creaky, and I didn’t want to wake you up, so…” the voice trailed off.

Kitten opened one eye and looked around. She was in the Manor. A smile spread across her face as she remembered last night. Luminescence was standing near the door in a purple sweater and blue jeans. Her hand was on the doorknob. Kitten wondered how long she’d been waiting as she glanced at the brass alarm clock on the bedside table. It had six hands, all moving at different speeds and in different directions. “What time is it?” she asked groggily.

“Nine a.m,” replied Lumi, opening the door with a creak. “I’m going to go downstairs now - see you there! But take your time if you want to. Or hurry. It’s your choice really.” The door slammed shut. “Oops, sorry! Hope I didn’t wake anyone… or hurt anyone’s ears…” Kitten smiled and sat up. She looked out of the bedroom’s window. There were a few trees, and the lake just beyond. A trellis ran up the wall right beneath the window. Kitten stretched, and went into the bathroom to begin the day.

Lumi continued her banter all the way down the corridor and into the entrance hall. She met Nyx on the stairs and they made small talk as they headed into the dining room. 

“Luminescence, can I tell you something?”

“Of course! You’re gonna say you saw Spirit walking in the grounds early this morning. That was weird, right?”

“Um, no,” said Nyx, raising her eyebrows. “I wanted to apologize. For what I said when the carriage tipped over.”

“Pshaw! It’s nothing,” Lumi said earnestly, waving a hand in the air. “I talk a lot when I’m nervous. It’s annoying. I know that because-”

“Welcome! Welcome!” The girls recognized Lady Ellingham’s voice as they stepped into the dining room. “So glad you two made it downstairs! The Week of Wonder and Whimsy is starting soon! We’re just waiting for the last few guests to make their way downstairs. Have some brioche - Roxann made it.”

“I didn’t cry in it,” Roxann promised.

Lumi and Nyx served themselves toast with marmalade and sat down next to Lady Ellingham, who was scribbling furiously on a sheet of paper.

“What are you doing?” Nyx asked.

“Writing out our itinerary for the week,” Flora explained, not looking up from her work. “There’s so much I want to share with you, I don’t know how I’ll fit it all in…” 

Luminescence, Darkling, and Mary were huddled together, theorizing about what would happen during the WWW. Queen was talking to Magnus, who had a thoughtful expression on his face. Agent Winter and PygmyOwl were staring out the window at the grounds. A layer of mist sat gently on the land as the wind blew. The place was peaceful, but the CBers were becoming more and more excited about the Week of Wonder and Whimsy.

Lady Ellingham, meanwhile, was becoming more and more impatient. Finally, she sent Barnaby to fetch the two remaining CBers. Quill arrived, bouncing on her toes, but there was no sign of Kitten.

“She’s not feeling well,” Barnaby croaked. “Roxann, would you come and help me - hm - take care of her?”

Roxann quickly followed as Lady Ellingham stood up on the table. She was still shorter than most of the CBers.

“Sorry I’m late,” Quill whispered to Agent Winter as she sat down, grabbing a slice of toast. “I was exploring the house - there’s some really beautiful stuff that I found. You should come and see it.”

“Maybe tonight?” Win suggested.

“Sounds good.” The two CBers now turned their attention to Lady Ellingham, who had been saying something about what a pleasure it was to have the CBers and how it had been ages since there were guests at the Manor. She looked down at the table for a second, cleared her throat, and continued.

“Ellingham Manor is a lovely place,” she said grandly. “It’s full of secrets, so I suggest you search behind every door. However,” she added, just loud enough for the room to hear, “please keep in mind, not all secrets are rewarding.”

The guests shared looks of confusion. There was nervous laughter from some, which was quickly stifled. “What on earth?” Darkling muttered to herself.

“Today,” said Lady Ellingham, “I’m taking you all to the Menagerie. Put on your best coats, it’s a bit misty. Off we go!”

The group filed out of the dining room and through a door onto a large outdoor balcony, with Magnus (carrying Lady Ellingham) leading the way. They marveled at the quiet, still grounds as they trotted along a path, past a large reflecting pool, and through an iron gate into a large garden. Flowers, cacti, and other plants of all shapes and sizes seemed to greet them as they walked along the narrow pathways. Nyx had never seen most of the plants in the garden, and the mist made the scene look like a different planet. The group wound its way through the gardens until Magnus held open the door to a greenhouse. The greenhouse was warm and dry; most of the CBers took off their coats.

“Welcome,” said the Lady, “to the Menagerie.”
The CBers looked around. There were a great many tables lining the walls. Cages sat on top of these tables, and in the cages were-

“Mechanical animals,” said Agent Winter. She was right - in each cage was a small group of animals, meticulously created to resemble the real thing. There were insects, butterflies, spiders, cats, dogs, teacup pigs, and birds. Farther away, there were paddocks for larger animals - horses, a cow, elephants, lions and tigers - all with brown leather skin and glinting eyes. The sounds of clinking and clunking gears and wheeshes of steam punctuated the stillness.

The CBers ran in between the tables, examining the beautiful animals. Only Luminescence stayed behind. She waited for Magnus and Lady Ellingham to join their guests and made a run for the door. She desperately wanted to stay, but there were other, more important things. She used the plants that she remembered to guide her back out of the gardens - left at the two-headed venus flytrap, right at the tree with silvery leaves, left at the sunflower-like plants that stared at you with unblinking “eyes”. She ran through the rusty iron gate and past the reflecting pool. Into the dining hall, down the corridor, up the stairs, to the left. She opened the door to the bedroom she shared with Kitten. The room was dark - the curtains were drawn. Kitten lay sleeping in the bed that Lumi had slept in last night - the bed farthest from the door.

“Kitten?” Luminescence creeped up. The room was silent. She lifted off the blanket, knowing and dreading what she would see.

Kitten wasn’t there. A bunch of pillows had been bunched up to look like her. Lumi felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes. There was a crash and some muttered cursing. Lumi turned round. The sound was coming from the window. She ran over and opened the curtains.

No one was there. Broken pieces of wood - pieces of the trellis - lay on the ground.

“Oh no,” Lumi breathed. “This is bad.” The floor rose to meet her as everything went dark.

Lalalala,

TOPPING!

Continue this please! It's really great :D 

//This is an automated message from RoboTOP. RoboTOP copyright 2009 by Silicon Intelligence.

TOPTOP!

PLS PLS PLS CONTINUE ITTT

please. im begging you 

Chapter Four

“The Truth Will Out”

“This is the end,” Roxann whimpered. 

“No, it’s not,” protested Barnaby. His flat metal feet made a dull clunking sound as he paced the length of the room. “The Lady hasn’t said it’s over yet.”

“She will soon,” sobbed Roxann.

“She will not.”

“Will too!”

“Will.”

“Won’t.”

“Oh, shut up!” Magnus whispered. “You do realize that Agent Winter’s listening at the door, don’t you?”

Win gasped and scrambled for her chair. She had barely sat down again before Barnaby  opened the door, gazing suspiciously at the nine guests, who were all sitting in uncomfortable wooden chairs.

“Can a robot not get any privacy in this house?” he asked indignantly.

“No, he can’t,” said Nyx, her temper flaring. “Not if one of us has been murdered and we’re not even being told about it.”

Quill, who was sitting next to Nyx, squeezed her hand.

Barnaby looked at Winter and sniffed haughtily (even though he didn’t have a nose). “If anyone else is caught listening in on us, I’ll… I’ll… I’ll do… something!” he said and shut the door again.

PygmyOwl immediately turned to Agent Winter. “Well, what were they saying?”

“Nothing particularly interesting. Roxann cried, Magnus was pacing. They’re waiting for Lady Ellingham, I think. Dunno what she’s up to.”

“I saw her heading up the stairs after Roxann came to fetch us,” Majestic Mary offered.

“She must still be upstairs,” QueenOfWolves mused.

The room broke out into smaller groups, all discussing Kitten’s disappearance. Spirit, on the other hand, leaned back in her rickety oak chair and surveyed the room. It was small and windowless - probably designed as some sort of servants’ room. A lone picture portraying a young boy and a mastiff dog decorated the unpapered walls. One of the heavy wooden doors was locked - Flora’s robots had barricaded themselves behind the other. A chill, both literal and figurative, swept through the room. There was a flurry of activity in the next room. Lady Ellingham’s high-pitched but surprisingly commanding voice could now be heard among the others. There was a silent scuffle as Nyx, Win, and Darkling all tried to listen at the door. Winter and Darkling were pushed away as Nyx put her head to the floor, trying to see the feet of their host.

“We need answers,” she said gruffly. “Sorry.”

Darkling huffed crossly and walked over to the other side of the room. Win sat down, her arms crossed tightly across her torso.

“I guess no exploring the mansion tonight,” Quill said.

“Yeah,” Win said. “I mean, I was kind of expecting this to happen - in the back of my mind - but I was also telling myself things would be okay. Do you think Kitten’s… alive?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Quill said. “Hey, do you wanna go see the armour gallery?”

“Isn’t the door out of here locked?”

“Hah! A mere technicality.” Quill whipped a bobby pin out of her pants pocket. 

“You're going to pick the lock,” Winter said.

“Yep.”

Winter was about to take Quill up on this offer when she saw Luminescence out of the corner of her eye. Poor Lumi had barely spoken since Roxann and Barnaby had found her unconscious in the room she had shared with Kitten. Why am I thinking in the past tense? We don’t know for sure that she’s… gone, Win thought. Lumi was now staring intently at her, shaking her head almost imperceptibly.

“Um… I don’t think so,” Win found herself saying. “This whole business has really shaken me, and I need to rest my nerves.”

Quill looked disappointed. “Alright then. See you later,” she said as she headed for the locked door.

Agent Winter waited until she was busy at the keyhole before slumping in her chair. If Lumi wanted to sure that she didn’t leave with Quill, and Lumi was the first to arrive at the scene of the crime - again, thinking like Kitten is… not going to finish that thought.

Realization hit Winter like a runaway freight train. She might have just missed being the next victim of whatever happened to Kitten - not murder, not murder, not for sure… Maybe whoever was responsible for this turned people into pillows. Hey, it was possible.

Across the room, Pygmy was straining her ears in a desperate attempt to catch the conversation going on. With Nyx holding her ear to the door, there was no room for anyone else. Pygmy thought she heard something about “past crime”... or was that “last time?” Suddenly, she didn’t have to strain to hear anything.

“No!” screamed Lady Ellingham at the top of her voice. The CBers jumped. Mary fell out of her seat. The door burst open. Lady Ellingham stepped into the room. She was shaking so hard that her knees knocked together.

“As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, Kitten has been murdered,” she said gravely. There was a dull pain in Win’s stomach as the room 

“You will be escorted to your rooms,” the Lady continued.

Winter suddenly thought of Quill and turned to see if she was there. The door was closed. Quill wasn’t there.

“We shall do our best to find the murderer,” said the Lady. “In the meantime, your stay will continue as normal - at least, as normal as it can be.” Roxann, Barnaby, and Magnus marched out the door and began to escort the CBers to their rooms. They didn’t notice the locked door. The group walked out through the dining room and into the entrance hall. Spirit noticed that the big doors had been locked up. There looked to be nearly fifty locks on the door of all sorts - padlocks, combination locks, even a bike lock. The CBers were all subdued as they headed down the hallways. QueenOfWolves, however, was lost in her own thoughts. Things were cropping up - all sorts of strange things with the Manor, and now the murder… What did Lady Ellingham say? “Search behind every door, but please keep in mind - not all secrets are rewarding.”

The door to the room she shared with PygmyOwl was locked. She tried pushing and pulling, but the door didn’t give. “Who’s in there?” she asked. 

“No-one,” Magnus answered. “That’s a locked-off room. Come on, I was worried when you weren’t there.”

Queen walked down the corridor, not taking her eyes off the door until she rounded the corner. There was only one thing to do, even though she doubted Lady Ellingham would approve. 

Her stay would not continue as normal.