Hey everyone!

This is definitely still alive, though the next part will be a bit delayed. I've been kind of busy lately and haven't really had time to sit down at the computer and write.

And thank you all so much for your comments! It means so much to me <333

I'll have the next part out as soon as possible, but in the meantime, here's a little picrew of Wraith.

~Socie/pangolin

FiNaLlY--

sorry about the wait, guys :/

also, it's come to my attention that Sterling had (has?) an AE named Carnelian. The Carnelian mentioned in this ski lodge is in no way related to their AE.

so um yeah enjoy~

Day 9, Part 1

Socie dreamt of ivy.

A dense wall of waxy, dark green leaves blocked out the sun, and vines wrapped around her, cutting into her wrists, wrapping around her throat, strangling her. She wrestled against the ivy, but it overpowered her. It bound her to Lockaria House, it kept her captive in its beautiful prison, and it rustled gently in the wind, wide leaves brushing against each other, whispering Socie’s name, but it wasn’t her name. Was it? 

Socie jerked awake, rubbing at her arms. She could still feel the ghosts of the ivy vines wrapping around her, keeping her hostage. She felt for Wraith’s comforting presence, but the foot of her bed was cold. Wraith was gone. 

She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Her throat ached and her eyes stung with tears, but she promised herself she would not cry. She would not. She would not.

But Socie certainly had a habit of breaking promises, didn’t she?

~~~

Echo awoke slowly, still tired from the events of the day before. She hadn’t had another chance to share her findings with Writing after lunch — Socie had ushered them all outside to play hide and seek tag, and then Sterling’s body had been discovered by Hex, and they had held a small service for the dead guest. But although Echo hadn’t had a chance to talk to Writing, that didn’t mean she was going to stop investigating. Echo had stayed up after curfew that night reading Carnelian’s diary and making notes. 

The story was eerily familiar; fifteen people had been invited to Lockaria House by a certain Irene Camice, and one by one, they had been murdered. Carnelian’s tight cursive spoke of the same fear, grief, anger, and other complicated emotions that Echo and all the other guests had experienced, and of Carnelian’s search for answers.

But then, somewhere around the twelfth day, it ended. There had clearly been pages ripped out, leaving jagged edges behind. Echo felt like those pages were important, somehow, but she didn’t know where to even begin looking for them. 

And then there was whatever she had seen in Socie’s office. It...confused her, to be honest.

There were forms. Forms with her name and the names of the other guests here, forms filled with information on them. Echo hadn’t had time to fully examine the papers, so she hadn’t turned them over, seeing the words scrawled across the back. Even without that bit of information, something about the forms still scared her. Something just didn’t feel right. 

Echo lay on her bed, staring up at the wood panel ceiling. The early morning sun streamed in from her open windows, casting dancing beams of light across her bed, and a spider was weaving a web in one of the ceiling corners. Her breathing was slow, even. It was nice, she reflected, to just lie here peacefully. With everything that had been going on, Echo hadn’t had a moment to just relax.

Of course, Echo’s peace didn’t last long. A few quiet footsteps and a rustling noise just outside her door snapped her to attention. She sat up, eyes darting to the source of the noise. A folded piece of paper had just been slipped underneath the door. Echo sat in her bed for a few minutes, hardly daring to breathe, until she was sure that whoever had slipped the note under her door was gone. Then she slid from her bed, tip-toed over to the note, and gingerly picked it up. 

STAY SILENT OR YOU’LL REGRET IT – NIGHTSHADE. 

Echo sharply sucked in a breath. The note was written in the same mismatched magazine letters as the note left at the scene of Kyanite’s death. 

The murderer was on to her.

~~~

Firelily absentmindedly rolled a chapstick tube back and forth on the rough uneven wood table, and looked at the weary faces of the guests around them. Just over a week ago, they had all arrived here, smiling and chattering amongst themselves, excited for their vacation. Now they were little more than a shadow of their former selves. The eight murders had taken a toll on them all. 

On the other end of the long wooden table, Writing and Ronin sat, picking at their toast, talking in hushed, worried tones. Silver Crystal passed a jar of jam to Hex, but they didn’t speak more than was polite, and they didn’t make eye contact. Reuby was feeding Wraith and Wiccan, but her movements were jerky, automatic, as if her mind was someplace else. Echo had stumbled in sometime in the middle of breakfast and grabbed a piece of bread and bit into it without toasting it or anything. Her eyes were red as if she hadn’t slept much, and she kept glancing around, agitated. Firelily decided they should talk to Echo later, and make sure everything was okay. 

Of course everything isn't okay. Eight people are dead.

Socie looked the worst, though. Her hair, normally meticulously braided, was pulled back in a messy bun, and she had dark circles the color of bruises beneath her hazel eyes. She seemed distant and exhausted; she kept picking up the teapot, putting it down, and picking it up again, like she couldn’t remember what she was supposed to do with it.

Firelily got up from their seat and walked over to Socie, taking the teapot from her hands. They filled it with water and, while the water was boiling, grabbed a tea cup from the cupboard and dropped a tea bag in. Once the water was boiled, Firelily poured the water into the cup. The black tea instantly stained the water, turning it a rich amber color. 

“Thank you,” murmured Socie, gently stirring sugar into the tea. The metal spoon clinked rhythmically against the china. “I—I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be,” said Firelily immediately. “None of this is your fault.” 

Socie shook her head ever so slightly and went to sit down, carrying the steaming cup of tea. 

It wasn’t Socie’s fault. It wasn’t, Firelily forced themself to believe. But they couldn’t deny the resentment they felt towards their host. Maybe Socie wasn’t exactly responsible for the murders, but she had invited them all here. If not for her, those eight people would still be alive.

That sort of thinking isn’t going to help anyone. 

Firelily placed the teapot on the counter and went back to their seat.

~~~

“Writing, I need to talk to you,” Echo said. She had walked over to him and Ronin, but didn’t bother sitting down. She stood beside Writing, one hand resting on the table, the other gripping a piece of half-eaten bread. 

“Not now, okay?” Writing replied. “Ronin and I are talking. It’s important.” 

“But so’s this!” Echo hissed, keeping her voice low enough that it wouldn’t be overheard by anyone else. “This morning—” 

“Echo, we’ll talk after breakfast, alright?” Writing said. 

“Fine,” said Echo, even though it was not fine. The image of the murderer’s note was burned into her mind. 

She stalked out of the dining room, intending to go up to her room and read some more of Carnelian’s diary. But before she was out of the entrance hall, she heard the dining room door close softly behind her. Echo turned around, but there was no one there. “Hello?” she asked, whirling back around. 

Someone grabbed her arm and clapped a hand over her mouth. Echo struggled, trying to bite down on the hand keeping her from calling out, trying to kick the shins of whoever was restraining her. But before she got a chance to do so, something hard came down on her head and her vision grew fuzzy.

The piece of bread fell from her hand as she collapsed into the murderer’s arms.

~~~

Alive: 7

Dead: 8 (Pangolin, Oliver, Daisy, Eclipse, Kyanite, Artemis, Sterling)

I'm so sorry for the wait! It's been a rather busy summer. I wrote and rewrote this part, and I'm still not quite satisfied with it, but it'll have to do. 

And tysm for the comments! They always make my day <333 

Day 9, Part 2

Echo’s absence went unnoticed until after breakfast. At that point, everyone was in the game room. They were tired, and all trying desperately to have a good time while they still could. 

So it wasn’t their fault they didn’t realize Echo was missing. Not really. 

What started as a simple Uno game between Hex, Silver, Reuby, and Firelily quickly escalated. Reuby skipped Hex’s turn, which made Hex bribe both Silver and Fire with Skittles to team up on Reuby, who was already holding half the deck in her hands. 

Wiccan ate seven of the cards. Reuby tried to stop him several times, to no avail.

On the other side of the room, however, Writing and Ronin were having a very different experience. Even though they were having a rather private discussion, the two sat in the game room because there was a murderer running around, after all, and they felt much safer around the others. They sat on squishy bean bag chairs at the back of the room, where the others couldn’t pick up on their conversation. 

“Are you okay, Ronin?” asked Writing. “You...you’ve seemed weird all day. I mean...only if you want to talk about it.” 

He had been acting very strange, reflected Writing. Ronin had a habit of getting up late, but this morning, when Writing went to wake him up, he was pacing his room. The purple half-moons beneath his eyes and his dazed expression made it clear he’d been awake for hours — or maybe hadn’t slept at all. When Writing had tried to talk to him at breakfast, Ronin had seemed distant, agitated.

“When we went to Starr’s Island,” Ronin finally said. He swallowed and said haltingly, forcing out the words, “We saw a - a ghost. He - his name was Lucky.”

“Yeah, Sterling told me about that,” said Writing gently.

“Lucky - he said he wanted to protect his CBer, but he...he couldn’t.”

“Ronin....” 

“I don’t want you to die, okay?” Ronin looked away, clenching his hands until his knuckles shone bone-white. “Oliver’s dead. Heck, eight people are dead. I don’t want you to be next.”

“Oh,” Writing said in a small voice. The thought of death — it scared them. But he needed to be strong. For Ronin. “It’ll be okay, Ronin,” he lied. 

“No, it won’t,” Ronin snapped. “How can you say that, when over half of the guests are dead? When Oliver is dead?” He stood up. 

“Ronin, please. Echo and I — we’ve almost got it all figured out!” Writing said, forcing himself to smile, forcing cheer into their voice. It was all fake, but he had to at least try. For Ronin. “Just a little longer, and we’ll get to the bottom of it. We’ll be out of here. No one else will die. I promise.” 

“You can’t promise anything,” Ronin said, his tone going flat once again. 

Then he looked at Writing, his gray eyes meeting Writing’s bright blue and dark brown ones; the color of an ocean and of rain-soaked earth. 

An eternity passed between blinks.

And then Ronin stalked off to ask the Uno-players if they could deal him in for the next round. 

Writing sunk into his bean bag chair, sighing. They knew Ronin would do anything to protect them, but at what cost?

Writing felt the urge to do something. They couldn’t just sit here and wait for someone else to die. He’d meet with Echo, discuss her findings, figure out what was going on, and then no one else would have to die. Yeah, that should work. Echo did say she had something important to tell Writing. 

Writing stood up and scanned the game room, but he didn’t see Echo. They ran up to Echo’s room, knocked several times, and pushed the door open when there was no answer. But Echo wasn’t there. 

“Echo?” Writing called into the empty hall. 

When there was no response, a bad feeling settled over them. Like a thundercloud shrouding an azure sky, it stained his consciousness until all he could think was find Echo.

He raced around Lockaria House, searching for Echo in every place he could think of, but he returned to the game room, defeated.

Find Echo.

“Guys? Have any of you seen Echo?” Writing asked. Their voice was high and thin with panic.

He was met with a chorus of “no”s. 

The guests looked around, realizing for the first time that Echo was missing. “What if she’s dead, or setting traps, or something?” asked Silver. “We have to find her!” 

Everyone began to talk over each other, trying to figure out where they had last seen Echo and where she might have gone. The din of their voices was overwhelming and did nothing to calm the guests’ panic.

After a moment, Hex, who had been mostly silent during the discussion, said, “Um, guys? Has anyone else noticed the paper taped to the door? I think...I think it might be another note.” 

Writing grabbed the note from the door. It was written in the same colorful cut out magazine letters as the murderer’s last note. The guests all gathered around them, and he read it with a trembling voice. “‘Let’s play a game, shall we? I have your little sleuth, Echo. If you want her to live, you’ve got to find her by 8 o’clock tonight. Good luck. Signed, Nightshade.’”

A shiver went down Ronin’s spine. He didn’t like hearing the murderer’s words coming from his CBer’s mouth.

“So...there’s only one thing we can do, then,” said Firelily. “We’ve got to find her.” 

~~~

Ten minutes later, the guests were all ready to go searching for Echo.

Firelily had organized the search. They’d recruited Socie (who had been in her office, staring broodingly out of the window at the deep green pines), and told her to search the house. Firelily supplied each guest with a flashlight and compass — the days had been getting darker earlier, and no one wanted to be stranded in the forest once night fell.

Hex and Silver were to search the grounds and gardens. Hex was armed with an onion, a spray bottle, and assorted candy for bribery. Also in case she got hungry. Looking for a missing person could be a lot of work, after all. Silver had Eclipse’s pocket knife. Just in case.

Reuby — along with Wiccan — and Writing had been assigned the forest, and Ronin was told to look along the stream and beach. But he got into an argument with Firelily about how he should search in the forest with Writing, because they were his CBer, and besides, the forest is very big for just two people and a wolf to search by themselves.

In the end, Hex offered to look along the water instead, and Ronin was granted his wish. He didn’t look as smug about it as he usually would have.

Just as they were about to set out, a rumble of thunder sounded overhead, and rain began to pelt the ground.

Socie began, “Do you still think we should—”

“Of course,” snapped Firelily, their eyes glowing with a defiance that hadn’t been there at the start of their stay at Lockaria House. A flash of lightning flickered outside the windows of the entrance hall. “We’re finding Echo, no matter what.”

The guests stepped outside, the rain pounding down around them, immediately soaking them. A wild wind snatched at their clothes and hair.

But they didn’t complain.

Find Echo.

~~~

Alive: 7

Dead: 8 (Pangolin, Oliver, Daisy, Eclipse, Kyanite, Artemis, Sterling)

hey friends!! this is definitely still alive!! i just started high school and i've had barely any time to write. i'll try to get the next part out by this weekend-ish, maybe? we'll see.

thanks so much for your comments and for keeping this topped! it means so much to me <33