A/N: Hi guys! So, I'm really glad to see that people seem to think my story's dandy. :) I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've had some crazy personal stuff going on, the least of which is starting college and work again. I shall try to update this more often. Thank you for being so patient. (And to the readers of my other story, I'm working hard on an update for you guys!) On with the chapter!

Quick disclaimer: I totally don't own the song used for this chapter, 'Fly' by Ludovico Einaudi. It's a really gorgeous song.

Chapter Two

Mike held the door and Santana ushered everyone into the theatre, snapping her fingers to get them to hurry. There simply wasn't time to meander from one clue to the next. She had everyone split up into sections of the theatre and comb for anything that looked remotely like a clue or it could be related to Rachel. After ten minutes of intense searching, Sugar voiced what everyone was thinking. "I'm pretty sure we would have found something by now."

"Sugar's right, it's not here. I can't believe this is happening." Santana sighed, rubbing her temples. "Where the hell else could it be?"

"Yeah, well, some people don't have one central location where every important conversation in their relationship happens." Puck said, rolling his eyes.

Santana sharply looked up. "What did you just say?"

"What? I'm just saying, the Cheerio lockers were like totally predictable." Puck shrugged.

"Fuck. Fucking fuck of a fuck." Santana muttered, punching one hand with the other in frustration.

"What the hell is your problem?" Quinn said almost violently. Her fingers unconsciously twitched toward her stomach.

Santana looked at her in anguish. "I gave them the wrong location, too. Dammit. The first place I told her I loved her in public, and meant it. Our first kiss in public- everything- was at our lockers. Like, our normal lockers, Q."

She quickly pulled out her phone and began scrolling through her contacts for Finn's number.

Sam observed the action and quickly stepped into action, slamming her phone closed before she could hit 'send'.

"What the hell, Sam?" Santana spat, rounding on him angrily.

"Santana, chill! In case you forgot, we're only allowed to contact them every half an hour. If you had've called them, Rachel would have been killed." Sam defended, throwing his hands up in surrender to her.

Santana stared at her phone, shaken by what she had almost just done. She looked to Sam helplessly.

"This is so freaking fucked up." She said, looking at him, as if he had the answers.

"I know, Santana. The only thing we can do is play his sick, twisted game." He replied, shuddering. "We can't have anything happen to the others." Santana shook her head, agreeing sadly.

"Hang on." Quinn said suddenly. "Finn proposed to Rachel the same day Mr. Shue proposed to Ms. Pillsbury, but Rachel didn't accept his proposal at first."

"How do you know that?" Sugar asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Rachel told me." she answered, shrugging. "She obviously accepted his proposal sometime after that."

"Well, the first time I remember seeing her wear her engagement ring was when we performed for the Warblers at the end of Michael week." Everyone turned to stare at Sugar, bemused. "What? It's major bling; did you expect me not to notice it? She was rockin' a fresh new manicure, too" she finished, looking wistfully in the distance.

"That's right! Rachel said yes in the choir room!" Quinn explained excitedly, remembering the details now.

"Well, what are we waiting for, then?" Mike asked.

As they were running down the hallway, Santana yelled out to make sure someone was keeping track of the times for when they should call and talk to Finn. Sam called back that he was on it "like butter on toast."

They skid into the choir room, immediately spotting the envelope on top of the piano. Puck muttered angrily "I can't believe it! He was just here? We must've just freaking missed him!" Quinn touched his bicep reassuringly, and Santana quickly shot him an understanding, frustrated look, and tore open the envelope and read it out loud.

"In marble walls as white as milk,

Lined with skin as soft as silk,

Within a fountain crystal clear,

A golden apple does appear.

No doors are there to this stronghold-

Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.

Solve the riddle, and the answer will lead you to your next clue."

"Um, okay. Okay, let's work this out." Santana said, shuffling through the backpack that was still over her shoulders from Mr. Shue's office for a pad and pen.

"Okay. So, it's something that you can break into, but it doesn't have any doors." Santana repeated, jotting the thought down.

"Is it… like, a tower? If it has marble walls and no door…" reasoned Puck, scratching his head.

"That's actually pretty smart, Noah." Quinn states approvingly. Puck smiles sheepishly.

"Okay…" he said, still clearly trying to stay in Quinn's favor; "Um, this may sound crazy, but is the tower underwater? Because it says "within a fountain crystal clear". Maybe it's talking about one of those fish bowl decorations?"

Quinn simply raised an eyebrow, considering. It wasn't a terrible guess.

"Skin as soft as silk… thieves steal the gold…" Sam thinks aloud, eyes squeezed shut tightly. They fly open less than a moment later. "Um… gold, soft skin, marble towers… they're not talking about Rapunzel, are they?"

"That could totally make sense." Sugar says, nodding.

"No it couldn't." Santana says sharply. All five other heads turn to look at her questioningly. "No, seriously," she explains, "That might make sense for Britt, but this is Rachel we're talking about. Tangled seems like a really obscure reference for Rachel, if it is one."

"She's right." Mike pipes up. "The Rapunzel- or even the tower thing- it fits for part of it, but not the whole riddle. Riddles work so that once you know the answer, the question makes total sense."

"So… we're definitely giving up the idea of it being an underwater secret tower?" Puck says sadly, totally bummed out.

Santana stroked her jaw, pondering. "Is it a baby? Like, the white walls could be a crib… maybe this guy's taking about a kidnapping?"

"But what does that have to do with Rachel? She's not preggo, is she?" Sugar inquired. Quinn answered with a quick shake of her head. "She definitely would have told me."

"Since when are you and Berry close?" Puck spits.

Quinn glances at him, concerned and surprised.

"A baby…" Mike mumbled. Santana and Sam turned to him, grateful someone was still trying to figure the problem out. "White walls with no doors, lined with skin. Thieves break in and steal the gold… not just normal gold, a golden apple." Mike pinches the skin at the bridge of his nose.

"Does… it have anything to do with King Midas?" Sam asked tentatively.

Mike and Santana shook their heads; it was doubtful.

"Um… I remember reading somewhere about golden apples… I'm pretty sure it was in one of the Chronicles of Narnia?" Santana squinted thoughtfully at the sheet music still sitting on the piano from yesterday's rehearsal.

Sam looked at her as if he had never seen her before. "How do you know about Narnia?" he asked breathlessly.

"Um, I read it to Britts. You know, ah, when we were younger." Santana shuffled from side to side, hoping Sam couldn't read minds. She had, if fact, read it to Brittany only a month or so ago.

Mike's eyebrows were still furrowed, and looked like he was running through the riddle in his head, so Santana turned her attention back to him. He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts away, and glanced up at Santana, eyes clearing rapidly.

"I've got it. It makes sense now…" he trailed off.

"It's an egg." He whispered. Santana's mouth dropped open.

"That makes complete sense! You're awesome, man!" Sam shouts in jubilee, clapping Mike on the back. "But…" he said, his smile fading, "What on earth does that have to do with Rachel? Isn't she a vegan? She wouldn't eat eggs."

Puck sits up at this. "I sometimes call Rachel a 'hot Jewish omelet.' I have ever since we were sophomores. I… I don't really remember why, though." He finished dejectedly.

"Wait, Puck, that's it!" Quinn shouted. "In our sophomore year- do you guys remember when Rachel was dating Jesse St. James?" Sam and Sugar looked puzzled, but Santana and Mike's eyes widened in recognition. "He broke up with her by turning her into a human omelet! He and the rest of Vocal Adrenaline threw eggs at her in the parking lot!"

"Yes! You guys did awesomely, Quinn and Mike!" Santana praised, throwing the supplies in the backpack and tossing it back over her shoulder. "Okay, let's go, parking lot, stat!"

It took a few minutes to figure that the next clue might be on Rachel's car. And sure enough, that's where the next envelope was. This time, it was taped to a shoe box.

Santana very carefully took the envelope off the box, counted to three, and threw the lid off the shoe box. Luckily, there wasn't a snake in it and nothing came popping out or anything, so the group peered over the edge cautiously. Nestled in the center of the box was a bird's nest, with an intricate, ornately carved wooden egg lay in its confines.

Santana pulled it out, studying it curiously.

"What is it?" Sugar inquired.

"It looks like one of those fancy jewel eggs from, like, Russia." Santana answered, turning it over in her hands.

"Okay, okay, let's focus, guys. Let's worry about the mystery egg later. San, what does the clue say?" Quinn asked, bringing the focus back.

Santana carefully handed the egg to Quinn, and the box with the nest to Puck, as she opened the second clue.

"The music stopped, and then she died. What am I?"

"Wait, seriously? That's all it says?" said Mike, bewildered.

"What the hell are we supposed to divine from that?" Puck snorted angrily.

"Maybe if we solve the riddle, the answer will so obviously relate to Rachel that we'll know where to go next." Sugar stated sagely.

Santana raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay…" Quinn mused, looking at Sugar strangely. "Um, anyway- I heard about a lady who blindfolded herself before tightrope walking between buildings. An orchestra played a tune for her and stopped when she finished, signaling she could take the blindfold off. The conductor was sick one day, and the substitute didn't know the rule. When they stopped, the woman figured she was safe, stepped to the side and fell to her death."

Realizing she had bewildered everyone, she quickly backtracked with "They talk about everything in those birthing classes." Puck nods his head in agreement, making a turtle face.

"Okay. That's kind of obscure, Quinn, but good guess." Santana looked at her friend warmly.

"Hey, what about one of those jack-in-the-boxes? That would make sense, right?" Sam asked.

"Oh! Rachel collected things like that when we were little. She would always bring them to temple. Hers had a ballerina on top, though, not a clown." Puck nodded, thoughtful.

Santana looked at him with wide eyes. "Puck, do you mean she collected music boxes?"

"Yeah. Must be that, then." He said, still confused why Santana was harping on this.

"That's totally the next clue! A music box!" Santana chattered excitedly.

"Santana!" Sam yelled, "Time for you to call Finn!"

Santana whipped out her phone for the second time, frantically pressing the buttons to connect her phone to Finn's. He picked up after the second ring.

"It's not the theatre!" he said at the same time as she yelled "It's our normal lockers!"

"Wait, you figured out we sent you the wrong way, too?" Santana inquired.

"Yeah. Luckily we had Mercedes on our team, who heard you guys talking there a few times. Do you have a question for me?" Finn said all in one breath.

"Yes. Where does Rachel go to get the music boxes she collects from?"

"Um… the flea market downtown. My turn- who is Brittany's favorite Disney Prince?"

"Wait, are you serious? That's your question?" Santana said skeptically.

"Yeah, I don't really get it, either. But Kurt says this is definitely what we need to know." Santana could almost hear him shrugging.

"It's Prince Phillip, from Sleeping Beauty. She always thought he was really brave and strong to break out of those chains to save the princess." She blushed, remembering Brittany had said that she thought Santana would do that and more in order to save her. She was right. Santana really would do anything for her.

She hung up with Finn, squared her shoulders, and turned back to the group.

"Well, pack everything up. We're going to the flea market."

"Thank God," Sugar remarked, "I'm sure they sell nail polish there."

Sugar was demoted to the trunk.

One Hour.

A/N: Weeeee, second chapter! Okay, time to correct an error I found while reading over chapter one- there will be twelve clues given in total in order to find both Brittany and Rachel. The first six for Rachel will be solved by Santana'a team, and then they will take over for the last six for Britt, and vice-versa. There will be twenty four clues they need to solve to save Artie. Okay. Hope that clears things up. :)

Let me know what you think of this chapter! And leave any suggestions and/or crazy scenarios you can think of the team might get themselves into, maybe I'll incorporate them, who knows... ;)

Thank you for R&R!