Morning stared at the book for thirty seconds, thinking of theory after theory about why it would be relevant. After solving a cipher and following an easy riddle to a potted plant, she had found a copy of Frankenstein with a note tucked into the front cover telling her that the premise would be relevant to their mystery, and that she could now report back to the main area. 

Frankenstein? What did that have to do with anything? She couldn't make any sense of it, try as she might. Eventually, Morning gave up on deciphering it and headed back towards the main sitting area. She discovered Nerd there, but was concerned to see the look on her friend's face.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" she asked.

"Yeah, something happened," Nerd replied, trying to keep her worry at bay. "The Murderer really misunderstood the assignment. Tealeaf is dead."

Morning clapped a hand over her mouth. This couldn't be happening. The mystery couldn't have gone this far... Ellis gone, now a fellow CBer dead?

Darkvine burst into the room, out of breath. "Have you two heard the news?"

Nerd nodded. Morning hadn't recovered enough yet to respond.

Darkvine shook her head. "What should we even do now? We can't continue with the mystery."

"But that's the only lead we have on Ellis," Nerd pointed out.

Sabrina entered the room. By her expression, the others could tell she knew what had happened.

After a few minutes, they uneasily decided there was only one thing to do- put their clues together in the hopes of helping Ellis and getting the investigation done as quickly as possible. As they worked, more CBers trickled in to add their own discovery and theorize over why someone would do such a thing to Tealeaf.

While they worked, the murderer formed more plans for themself. They didn't have much time to do what they wanted, and with almost everyone in the same place, it would be hard to accomplish what they wanted without being noticed... they thought about how lucky it was to have an ally.

"So, we know a woman important to this house died," Darkling said. "Does anyone know who she was?" 

Tsuki listened to them, unaware of the murderer sitting next to her- though she was soon aware of the sharp pain in her back. The murderer had stuck her with a fast-acting poisonous spike and tossed it under the table near Darkling's feet. The chaos would begin soon enough.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Hmm," Ellis mumbled. "They're very efficient." They began to think this could go a lot quicker than they anticipated. 

~~~~~~~~~~

it took much longer than what would be ideal, but the CBers managed to calm down after the sudden death of Tsuki. And though the spike was planted by Darkling's feet, they figured the murderer would be better at keeping their secret, and it was just a lazy attempt to create a red herring. That was true, the murderer agreed, but it's not like they had much time to get their job done. The mystery was already mostly pieced together. They needed to split the group up...

"Bakerloo and Leo are the only ones not here yet," Darkvine reminded them, "and we need their pieces to fully understand the mystery.

The murderer suggested that some go out and look for the two while some others stayed behind to continue to review the clues they had and theorize what was missing. Sabrina, Nerd, and Darkling went looking for the two while Morning, Darkvine, and Peri stayed behind.

Morning and the other two reviewed what they had discovered once again. This house was old- they weren't sure how old- but it was passed down through generations of one family until the youngest, Gemma Alston Kilmer, sold it to Ellis. She soon regretted this, though, and sought to get it back. The CBers had figured that this person was the one who had kidnapped Ellis. Then there was Morning's Frankenstein book, which still didn't fit anywhere.

"I'm wondering a bit about the motivation of this youngest family member Gemma," Peri wondered out loud. "Why does she want the house back so badly?"

"Maybe it's a cover-up," Darkvine suggested. "Like, one of their other family members did something, and the evidence is in this house?"

Morning stared at the clues they had laid out, thinking over Darkvine's suggestion. A horrible idea struck her. She put a hand over her mouth, unable to accept it. Before she was able to share the terrible thought with the others, she was interrupted by a crash from the shadows.

I know I've only posted four installments, but this is a very short ski lodge; there will probably less than ten parts total. I'd love to hear some thoughts, suspicions and theories!

Bakerloo and Leo almost smacked into Sabrina, Nerd, and Darkling as they rounded a corner, an uncomfortable reminder of Tsuki's announcement that Tealeaf was dead. It was made even worse to discover Tsuki herself had recently become the next victim.

"We came to find you so we could put all our clues together," Sabrina explained.

"What did you find?" Darkling asked.

"Nothing that we like," Leo said. "We got some information about the people we assume bought this house, and a letter from the husband saying his wife was dead and he'd do anything to get her back. It's pretty awful, honestly."

They didn't spend much time reflecting on this and decided to get moving. Darkling then realized that their shoelaces were untied. As the murderer had hoped they would, they got a bit behind the rest of the group to retie them. When everyone else was distracted, the murderer turned and took careful aim with a knife and lodged it in Darking's head. The murderer tried to hide their shock at actually doing that and listened to the conversation going on. Could this actually work out for them?

It took a few agonizing seconds for the others to realize Darkling wasn't following, and a terrible moment where the discovered what had happened to them. Then there was panic; they knew that the murderer was one of them. But that didn't bother the murderer. One more down. And if their ally was doing their job, their traps would be put to use...

~~~~~~~~~~

Morning's heart didn't stop beating a mile a minute even after she discovered the noise was just Andrew. She was too on edge, after multiple murders followed by her formidable theory about the Alston House.

"What are you three doing? trying to piece the mystery together? And where's everyone else?" Andrew seemed on edge as well, so Peri tried to sound calming as she explained their current situation. Andrew already knew about Tealfeaf's death, but he was still shocked to hear about Tsuki's. As a normal person would be.

"So I guess all you can do is wait for the others to return," Andrew decided. "Well, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. Hopefully we can find Ellis soon, and this will all be over."

"About that," Morning started hesitantly. "I think I have an idea-"

"Wait a minute, what is that?" Darkvine asked. She pointed to a ribbon hanging from a vase that she hadn't noticed before. She crossed the room to go examine it. Underneath the ribbon was a torn sheet of paper with something scrawled out on it... and underneath Darkvine's foot was a tripwire. She was too interested in the paper to notice.

"It says even with Leo and Bakerloo's clues, there's something we're missing... something right in front of us." She turned to go back towards Morning and Peri. "Maybe it's something w-"

An arrow flew from a crudely made dispenser in the wall and struck Darkvine in the back. She cried out and the other two CBers and Andrew rushed to help her. But there was little they could do.

Andrew pointed to some sticky substance near the top of the arrow's shaft. "The tip is probably poisoned," he theorized. Darkvine would surely die from it.

Morning sat back and started to cry. Peri couldn't bring herself to comfort her; honestly, she felt just as hopeless. How could they possibly save another person when so many of them were dying this quickly? Was it even worth it anymore? They'd come here to solve a mystery; now they were part of a murderer's game.

Ellis watched this unfolding from their spot. They wanted to comfort Morning; she was kind, and smart, and didn't deserve to be hurting like that. But they knew what had to happen. They knew what it was all for. And they knew the CBers would find them, no matter what it took.

Andrew couldn't bare to look at the guests. Unlike Ellis, he doubted what the point was. His certainty in what he had done wavered. But he couldn't let himself be swayed like that. He needed to pull himself together. Everything was at stake for him.

Slowly, Morning, Peri, and Andrew stood up. They returned to the table where all the clues lay out, trying to approach them in a slightly different way. They looked at the first letters of everything and tried to spell a message out; scrambled the names of important people in the story; rifled through the Frankenstein book for any clues or highlighted words. They found nothing.

They only had to wait a few minutes, though, before Bakerloo, Sabrina, Nerd and Leo appeared. They didn't question the missing Darkling. They just wanted it all to be over.

Bakerloo and Leo shared their clues. Morning sighed. She was right; she had to be. "I think I know what we're missing," she said. "We know Aaron was a biologist who would do anything to have his wife back. And we have my Frankenstein book. I think... he tried to bring her back."

"He wanted to reanimate his wife? That's our mystery?" Leo asked, clearly unsure and uncomfortable. 

"What does that have to do with the other clues, about Gemma? And Ellis, where they could be?" Peri questioned.

They had no solutions. The murderer had no plans. They could only look... 

Bakerloo was looking. And he noticed something. Maybe there was a solution.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ellis watched the six CBers that remained try to piece everything together. It wouldn't be long before they found xem. And when they did, Ellis would have to explain... the guests wouldn't forgive them. And that was okay. Ellis knew how it would all turn out. What it all was.

Xe looked around at the room. It was pretty empty, but they didn't have much time beforehand to make it comfortable. There were monitors from the security cameras all around the mansion, the chair Ellis was seated in- equipped with emergency buttons for any possible situation- and a door for Andrew's access. Xe knew he would probably check in once more before the CBers came to try to maintain his cover that Ellis already knew was fake. His plan was beyond ridiculous, and so was the fact that he thought he could keep this from Ellis, but xe'd known he was a idiot from the start.

Though they had masterminded everything about the Alston House mystery and the secrets it held, the murderer had one more thing up their sleeve that Ellis wasn't expecting. The endgame they'd imagined could only get more complicated... 

"Look at this!" Bakerloo gasped. The other guests gathered around. He held up one of the pieces of paper laid out before them. There was ink visible from the other side.

"Oh my gosh, we didn't check the backs of the papers?" Sabrina said, exasperated.

Bakerloo flipped the paper over. It wasn't some new message; rather, what looked like part of a drawing. "Start flipping the other papers over!"

Once everything was flipped, Nerd could recognize what it was- "It's a map of the mansion," she realized.

"Does anyone have their map?" Peri asked. "We can compare them to get everything in the right spot."

"Here," Leo said, offering his. Working together, the remaining six pieced the map together.

"It's taking us to where Ellis is being kept, I assume," Morning guessed, "but what does that have to do with the Frankenstein situation?"

"It's probably... like, Aaron's secret lab," Sabrina theorized. Nobody was happy about that idea, but they knew she was probably right.

while all of this was happening, the murderer tried desperately to piece together a plan between contributing to the map and participating like normal. How could they take out everyone in this group before they reached Ellis? Or would their plan have to change? They couldn't get away with more murders like Darkling's. Whatever they were going to do, they had to figure it out fast; they knew their goal, their purpose- why it was so important to finish what they'd started.

The guests worked together to visualize where in the mansion the secret room was. Once everything was in order, they set off to find Ellis. The murderer hid any usable weapons in various places on their person; nobody else had brought anything but their map pieces. They walked through hallway after hallway until they came across a bedroom. The map illustrated that there was a trapdoor underneath a dresser, so they shuffled it out of the way and found what they were looking for. Nerd opened the door; it was near impossible to see.

"Nobody would happen to have a flashlight on them, would they?" Morning asked. Everyone shook their heads.

"I'll go first," the murderer volunteered. A plan was forming in their mind...

The trapdoor lead to a set of stone stairs. The murderer put a hand on the wall to keep from falling. Everyone else followed behind. As they walked, the murderer dug in their pockets for the right weapon... the one that could actually allow them to get away with all of this, and continue like they'd planned.

Nerd tried to look around in the dark, thinking to herself... she was the Murderer, told to sabotage her friends, but she hadn't done that at all. It seemed cruel to hinder them when Ellis was on the line. And she wasn't the real killer, either. It seemed so strange and twisted to her to be given this title, then find out someone was actually murdering people. Maybe once they all reported to Ellis and made sure they were okay, the CBers could work together to solve the other mystery- who the murderer was and why they did it...

She had no idea she wouldn't be pondering for much longer. Through the shadows, Nerd could see Sabrina, who had taken the lead of the group. And now they noticed what Sabrina was doing- but now it was too late.

"Guys, turn back! Turn-"

Sabrina turned around with what seemed to be a grenade in her hand. Nerd tried to knock it out of her hand, but they couldn't get there in time. Their momentum took her and Sabrina to the ground in a small room, and left everyone else behind. Someone grabbed the two and dragged them away from the explosion. 

"So," Ellis said, looking at Sabrina, "Andrew picked you, did he?"

Sabrina's heart was already racing before Andrew burst into the room. Everything was happening quickly- but she could keep to her plan. She could still salvage this.

Ellis knew of Andrew's betrayal- Sabrina figured xe would. They were a great detective, after all. Andrew was just stupid enough to believe Ellis wouldn't figure him out, and stupid enough to believe Sabrina didn't plan to double-cross him once Ellis was taken care of. Nerd was something else to consider, though; could she and Andrew both take one of them, even in such a small space with the element of surprise left far behind?

"Before you attempt to kill me, I'd like to tell you a story," Ellis announced calmly while Andrew and Sabrina were still processing everything. "Once in this house lived a man named Aaron Alston. You all know about him now. A sad story of a successful man torn up by grief, yes? But there's more to know about him. Gemma was protective of this house because once, in this room where we stand, Aaron tried to bring his wife back from the dead. But there was also evidence of his own treachery. His wife didn't die tragically and accidentally- he killed her, and used her as an excuse to conduct his experiments. Above a happy life for himself and his poor wife, he prioritized the fame of the macabre. He would be written about in the history books for doing the impossible, for being one of a kind. And in his quest, he killed an innocent person."

They looked right at Sabrina, who lowered her head. She knew what Ellis was trying to get at. How wrong she was. How badly she had messed up. But it didn't matter what she'd done; she'd still be on top, getting the recognition she wanted. A gathering of detectives, and she's the only one standing? A mansion full of brilliant minds, and she's the one who cracks the case and leaves still breathing? Nothing could be more impressive. She just had to finish the job, and she could leave it all behind.

"The ends don't justify the means when so many suffer for the benefit of one," Ellis told her. "You can't expect a glamorous life after this. But you can stop now, before it gets worse."

Sabrina met Ellis's gaze. And in response, she turned towards Andrew with a knife in her hand.

Ellis and Nerd sprang into action, holding her back. Andrew shouted in surprise, looking at the knife inches from his chest- a knife he had given Sabrina, driving towards him with the passion and madness he had given to her as well. He should've known better- he founded his alliance with Sabrina on their plan to betray everyone else. How could they possibly trust each other?

Nerd was still reeling in shock from all of it- based on the monitors in the room and the handcuffs on the ground, Ellis had staged the kidnapping themself. They were never in danger. Yet they knew all about Andrew and his plan to set a killer loose. They knew the guests were in danger, and still continued on with their plan. Was there anybody left that Nerd could trust?

Ellis had a plan, as usual. Everyone needed to understand- the purpose of what they'd done, the lesson Sabrina should have learned, the greater things at work.

"I need you all to listen to me, now, and not kill each other, because we don't have much time," Ellis commanded. Sabrina struggled a little longer, then gave up. She couldn't see a way out of this that landed her on top.

"You can't understand everything that's going on here. You can't know everything that's at work around us; what brought us here; what's behind it," Ellis began, careful with their words. "But you can know this. There is more to the Alston Mansion than us. Than the Alstons who lived here through history, and who they were and what they did. What's more important is what we are trying to achieve. Sabrina and Andrew, you want so badly to be known, you would give up what makes you human for a chance at it. But you can never reach this goal. Being revered by the masses isn't all there is. Because in the end, this world we live in will only be known by a few."

Ellis thought of everything they knew. About the Alston House and its true origins, about who they really were. It was sort of comforting to know...

"Nerd did right by her friends. She didn't want to betray them when she thought I was in danger. Her motives were never petty."

"Where are you going with all this cheesy stuff? You think it's going to work? Like I'll drop all my ambitions cause you told me to play nice?" Sabrina asked, incredulous.

Ellis shrugged. "I'm doing what I can. My words aren't for you, after all." They were nearly out of time now, they could tell.

"Who are they for, then?" Nerd asked.

"For the ones who stuck around. Whoever is still listening."

The scene dissolved, and the four remaining in the Alston House disappeared. The End was upon them.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ellis stood in front of the fireplace once more, all alone in the big mansion. They remembered standing here not long ago, waiting for the CBers to show up. They remembered seeing the ski lodge unfold just as it did. They remembered the stories that came before them and the history that made the Alston House what it was.

Once, there were ten CBers who signed up for a ski lodge, craving a mystery and a good time, knowing what might happen to them.

Once, not really so long ago, a man named Aaron Alston lived not in the mansion, but in the mind of an author. They penned his story, knowing what he would do. Hoping that others would not be like him. Sharing something awful with the world, so it would never happen outside of the pages.