Accidently posted as myself, Hawkstar hehe

Day 3, Part 8

“That’s IT,” Celine said, slamming a palm onto the round table and making Lyric, Bushy Tail, WildWolf, and Peri jump. 

“What?” Lyric asked anxiously.

“Did you find something out?” Bushy questioned. 

“Nope,” Celine said, sitting down. She glanced around the library towards a group of noisy older teens on a table nearby. Using their loudness for cover, she leaned forward. “But we need to find something out.”

The four girls blinked at her. 

“What do we do?” Peri asked.

“What if I don’t want to be involved?” Lyric looked worried, as though not helping made her the person with the golden touch.

“We investigate suspicions,” Celine answered the first question. “And if you don’t want to be involved, you might as well leave now. I won’t be updating you, though, if you do.”

Lyric gulped, and stayed where she was.

“Okay, any suspects?” Celine asked, splaying her fingers out over the table.

“Mm, Harrison?” WildWolf said hesitantly. “And… Dewey?”

Celine and the others swiveled to face WildWolf. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah…?” WildWolf looked highly uncomfortable. 

“We can’t just make unjust accusations,” Lyric said nervously.

WildWolf sighed, and then told the group all that she had some sort of vision about Dewey with a golden knife.

“And then we found Cillian and Marin a while after that,” WildWold indicated to herself and Peri.

“Ohh, that’s when you fainted or something,” Periwinkle looked understanding.

“Okay…” Celine nodded. “We’ll investigate her too, then. Though I highly doubt it’s her.”

“Why don’t we split into two groups, one to Dewey, the other to the cafe, and then meet back here in an hour or so?” Bushy Tail suggested.

“Sounds great,” Celine said, getting up and hooking her arm through Bushy and WildWolf’s arms. “We claim Dewey.”

“I thought you said you highly doubted it was her,” WildWolf grumped.

“We can clear her, then,” Celine said cheerfully. 

They approached the front desk, where Dewey was checking out books for a lady.

“We need a distraction, or excuse to get behind that desk,” Celine said, considering options.

Bushy Tail pulled forward, saying, “Leave it to me.”

Once the lady left, Dewey smiled at Bushy. “Yes?”

“Oh, we were wondering if we could help with something, like checking books back in. I see you have a lot,” BT said.

“Oh, why, thank you, I do need help with that,” Dewey rose and gestured for the three to come around the desk. “Come here and I’ll show you the ropes. I’m grateful for the help!”

Stifling a smile and silently thanking Bushy’s idea, Celine hurried to the gap in the desk, followed by the two girls. Dewey was over where a large drawer was.

“So just open it like this,” Dewey opened the drawer as you would a dishwasher, revealing a large bin full of books. “We just are gonna drag this out, and then replace it with another bin while you empty this one.” She did just that, rolling out the bin that was on wheels, then putting another in. 

“And how do we check it back in?” WildWolf asked.

“I believe it would work if one of you checked it back in, and then the other two put the checked in books on carts would work best. So who wants to check back in?”

Bushy shrugged. “I’ll do it,” she volunteered. 

“Alright, come here then,” Dewey showed BT how to check stuff back in, and then smiled. “You’re all set!”

Celine hauled the book bin closer to BT, and then Bushy started to pull books out, stacking them on the counter once they were checked in. WildWolf and Celine started to neatly pile the books onto separate carts; one for the children's section, one for juvenile and young adult, and one for adult section.

Celine watched Dewey out of the corner of her eye, wondering how to get her to go away. But before she could think of any ideas, Dewey rose from her chair. 

“Someone needs me. I’ll be back! If you need something, just wait until I get back.”

With inhuman speed, she was gone.

“Woah, how’d she move so fast?” Bushy Tail stared at the spot she had apparently vanished.

Celine shook her head, unable to answer.

“We need to get behind that door,” WildWolf hissed. “I’ll go. Cover for me?”

Celine nodded. “Of course. Now hurry!”

WildWolf hurried over to the door, opened it, and disappeared inside.

Dead: 4 (Moon Wolf, Cillian, Marin, Endless Parodies [Parody])

Alive: 11 (CelineBurningBright [Celine], WildWolf, Hex, Lyric, Periwinkle [Peri], pangolin, Eclipse, Scuttles, Silver Crystal [Silver], Seadragon, Bushy Tail [BT, Bushy])

Day 3, Part 9

“Wasn’t me,” was Harrison’s first words as soon as Lyric and Peri approached him at the counter.

“Erm,” Peri looked awkward, feeling caught in the act.

“We’re hungry,” Lyric said hastily.

“No, you’re not,” Harrison said knowingly. “Already have been interrogated by another of your lot- Seadragon, was it?”

“Well…” Peri said, glancing at Lyric. “Oh, alright. We are here to ask you.”

“Uh huh,” Harrison pushed up his glasses and peered at the two girls. “I’ve never made those in my life, never mind filled with golden poison. I mean, some of my treats of jam fillings that are yellow in color, like peach or mango. But that stuff? It literally looked like golden paint.”

“How do we know your claim is authentic?” Peri asked.

“And what pastries were those?” Lyric added, quite obviously out of curiosity.

“I don’t have any proof,” Harrison said calmly, “Other than that I have no reason to harm anyone. And the treats were flourless bran biscuits- dry and gross, and they have no filling. And yet, there it was. And the filling seemed to make it taste better? I’m assuming, anyway, since Parody seemed to eat quite a few of them.”

“How do you know that it was flourless bran biscuits without tasting them?” Peri pounced on what she assumed was a slip.

“Easy,” Harrison smiled slightly. “They had the same smell and texture- and they looked just as un-appealing in the light.”

Lyric and Periwinkle glanced at each other. It was clear he was telling the truth, and Peri had to admit that this lead was a dud.

“Well, sorry for bothering you,” Peri backed away from the counter, gesturing for Lyric to come on.

“No trouble,” Harrison said, waving them goodbye before turning to help another customer.

“I hope that the others are having more luck,” Periwinkle muttered to Lyric as they left the library, glancing at the desk where Celine and Bushy Tail were apparently quite busy. She didn’t see WildWolf.

“Let’s hope,” Lyric agreed.

~~~

The door shut quietly behind WildWolf. She was quite glad it hadn’t been locked, and she stepped back from it and turned to face the room. 

She stood in a short, small hallway. At the very end, there was a door, curved and golden brown. WildWolf tiptoed down to the door, trying the knob. It turned smoothly, and WildWolf stepped into the room beyond. Inside, it seemed to be a cross between living room, book making room, and bedroom. In the corner, a smaller bed was tucked away, and a couch in front of a painting of two girls.  

On the other side of the room, there was a table, long and narrow, running from wall to wall. WildWolf walked over to it.

Evenly spaced, 15 books were lined on the table. The first four were closed, and WildWolf’s stomach clenched as she recognized the covers of the lost CBers stories. She turned away from those and to the next story. 

The book was open, a pen busy scribbling away by itself on the page. She leaned in closer, and then tried to flip back. But as soon as her hand touched the page, the pen glowed a hot red and attempted to stab her finger. WildWolf jumped back, expecting the pen to come at her, but it merely cooled to its normal black and continued writing. The process reminded her of something she’d seen before- or was it read? The Storian was the pen’s name. Glancing along the table, she saw the same looking pen writing busily on the rest of the books, the pages gently turning when the pen reached the end of the last page. Approaching a different book, she looked to see what the pen was writing.

-“Well, sorry for bothering you,” Peri backed away from the counter, gesturing for Lyric to come on.

“No trouble,” Harrison said, waving them goodbye before turning to help another customer.

“I hope that the others are having more luck,” Periwinkle muttered to Lyric as they left the library, glancing at the desk where Celine and Bushy Tail were apparently quite busy. She didn’t see WildWolf.

“Let’s hope,” Lyric agreed.-

WildWolf’s eyes widened. This was obviously Peri’s story, being written before her very eyes! How extraordinary! She then wandered over to the next book, looking down at the words.

-WildWolf leaned over curiously, watching the words appear on the page. Feeling a twinge of surprise, she realized that this was her story being written!-

WildWolf jumped back, amazed at the fact that at the same pace her thoughts had come, and her actions had happened, then pen wrote it down at the same time. How interesting! She longed to stay here, and watch her story take place, but then realized with a giggle that her story would just consist of her standing by her book. 

A thought crossed her mind. This was obviously Dewey’s room. She could read from her story that she’d been snooping in here! She knew everything about all of them! She probably knew that WildWolf herself suspected Dewey’s innocence!

But another thought calmed the rogue one. She could not turn the page back, not until the story was finished. So neither could Dewey. Dewey would only know what she saw when she was in the room, watching a book be written. WildWolf assured herself that she was safe.

She turned away from the line of books, going instead over to the couch and painting. Below the painting, there was a mantle, and a fake fireplace burning below that. 

The painting was of two girls. One, the smaller, had bright, cheery eyes and a wide smile. Two bunches of curly brown hair were on her head, and she had coco brown skin. The other girl held the younger in a side hug. This girl had slightly darker skin, and her hair was in several braids with fiery beads. She wore round glasses, and her eyes were soft and thoughtful, a small but happy smile on her lips.

WildWolf considered the two girls, deciding that the two were sisters. The elder looked like Dewey with her glasses and smile, and sure enough, below the girl was the name Dewey. The younger girl had the name Story.

Looking at the mantle, WildWolf noticed a fat book shut tight, and so she reached up and brought it down. The cover was a soft mahogany, with golden writing; Dewey’s Story. WildWolf raised her eyebrows, fingering the cover. Sitting down on the couch, she flipped to a random page.

Dead: 4 (Moon Wolf, Cillian, Marin, Endless Parodies [Parody])

Alive: 11 (CelineBurningBright [Celine], WildWolf, Hex, Lyric, Periwinkle [Peri], pangolin, Eclipse, Scuttles, Silver Crystal [Silver], Seadragon, Bushy Tail [BT, Bushy])