Sailor See, Sailor Die - Chapter Three
A Fic Challenge Response by Una Moonstar
ANs: I'm glad so many of you seem to be enjoying this one. I had lots of fun writing it. So what's going to happen next? You'll have to read and find out! Enjoy!
(fade out...)
(begin chapter...)
After the two of them put their clothes away, changed clothes, and otherwise settled in for the night, Darien sat in one of the burgundy velvet overstuffed armchairs situated to either side of the fireplace on the right wall and contemplated his temporary roommate.
Serena sat on the four-poster king-size bed against the black walnut East Lake headboard playing with the ruffle of one of the floral-patterned pillows, lost in thought. Her pink bunny flannel pajamas contrasted sharply with the burgundy velvet comforter, and her golden blonde hair, still in its typical style, stood out most of all. Her sapphire blue eyes seemed trained on the bedside table where her letter from the drawing room had been placed upon their arrival. She sighed.
"What did your letter say, Serena?" Darien asked, absently fiddling with his own.
Serena jumped a bit at the sudden break in the silence. "It was a warning. It said the story wasn't complete and I should beware the traitor in our midst, because there's money involved. I should also seek out the rest of the story." She met her companion's gaze. "I have to admit I don't understand what it means."
"I'm not completely sure either. Mine says the same thing, although it's addressed to me personally."
"So what do we do?"
Darien adjusted his navy blue silk pajamas. "For right now, I don't think there's much we can do. Tomorrow we'll talk it over with the other girls, and maybe Eli as well, and do some digging around the house. Hopefully we'll come up with something."
Serena nodded and dropped her gaze to her lap. "Hopefully."
Silence fell between the two. Darien put his letter on the small black walnut table beside his chair and lost himself in thought. Finally he brought his head up and looked at the petite blonde in the bed speculatively. "Hey, Serena."
Her head snapped up. "What?"
"Do you have any books with you?"
"Uh, yeah, I brought along my homework and a few others. Why?"
"I was thinking you could come over here by the fire and read to get your mind off the letters. If you want, I could help you with your homework."
Serena stared at the ebony-haired young man seated by the fire, noticing the softness in his midnight blues. "That would be really nice, thank you."
She brought over her school bag, and the two of them lost themselves in the world of numbers and variables.
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
A few hours later, Dr. Nathaniel Blake decided he was feeling in the mood for a snack, so he meandered on down to the kitchen to satisfy the craving. He found that the servants had all headed for their beds and started for the refrigerator. Ten minutes later found the doctor making his way through the dining room and into the drawing room with a large plateful of finger foods, desiring to take a closer look at some of the woodwork and furniture. He had set his plate down and was examining the stained glass lamp Mina had earlier declared not to be a Tiffany, smoothing the wrinkles in his red silk pajama top when a shadow fell over him.
(cut to...)
(scene change...)
Two twin sized beds with black walnut East Lake headboards had been moved together in the room the four teenage girls were sharing for the weekend. A large homemade quilt lay atop the makeshift queen sized bed along with a variety of pillows. Mina finished fluffing said pillows in a fit of nerves and stepped over to a curtained doorway that hid a sitting area. As she reached the curtains Raye and Amy stepped out, causing everyone involved to jump and shout. "Are you scared?" Mina asked after she regained her composure somewhat.
Raye held a hand to her chest and fought to control her breathing. "Yes and no." Mina nodded. "Mostly yes," Raye continued as she pushed by the blonde and made her way to the bed. Amy followed after the dark-haired priestess.
Mina took a deep breath and turned around, nearly crashing directly into Lita, who had come out of their private bathroom. It was a repeat of the previous scene. "Don't do that!" Lita said through gritted teeth. "Let's go to bed."
Both girls proceeded to join Raye and Amy, who had already climbed into bed. The four of them shifted and maneuvered themselves for a bit, then Lita turned off the stained glass lamp on the bedside table next to her. As they attempted to get to sleep, the wind began to pick up, causing the tree branches just outside their room to scrape noisily against the glass doors leading to a balcony just as a crash of thunder was heard. Four sets of eyes popped open, and four bodies stiffened in fear. "It's just wind and thunder," Amy said softly.
"Maybe so," Raye conceded, "but I don't think any of us will get some sleep unless we post a watch. Lita, turn on the light, will you?" The tall brunette did as requested. "Now we need to choose who's taking the first watch."
All four girls scrambled out of bed and gathered at the foot of it. "Are we ready?" Lita asked. The others nodded. "Okay then. One, two, three, shoot!" Four hands shot out with two fingers extended. They all pulled back.
"One, two, three, shoot!" Two fingers each again.
"One, two, three, shoot!" As the last word was said, and the hands shot out, once again with everyone showing two fingers, a gunshot rang out through the quiet house.
"That was a gun!" Amy exclaimed, her hands flying to her mouth.
"Come on! Let's find out where it came from!" Lita said excitedly.
"Right!" the others said in unison.
After they grabbed their robes and dashed into the hall they were joined by Serena and Darien. "Did you guys hear that?" the meatball-headed blonde asked nervously.
"Of course we did, Meatball Head! Why else would we be out here?" Raye snapped.
"Cool it, Raye. We have more important things to think about – like the source of that shot," Darien quickly intervened.
"Right! Let's go!" Serena said as she led the way down the hall, Darien right on her heels.
Halfway down the hall, their trip was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Madam Roselle in a dramatic pose. They all jumped as they crashed into each other. "I've had a vision of Dr. Blake! Either he's going on a long, pleasant journey, or he's dead!"
Serena looked at the woman quizzically as Raye rolled her eyes. "Well, which is it?"
"Six to one, half a dozen on the other," Madam Roselle replied with a somewhat smug expression.
Serena just shook her head and pushed by the older woman, continuing the trek downstairs.
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
The group of teenagers had picked up the rest of the guests as they scurried down the stairs. Barely managing to skid to a halt outside the double doors to the drawing room, Serena caught herself by grabbing the door handles, inadvertently pulling them open.
Everyone gasped at the sight that greeted them. There, sprawled awkwardly over one of the overstuffed chairs, was Dr. Nathaniel Blake, a stream of blood running from a bullet wound in his temple. Serena screeched and brought her hands up over her mouth. Darien drew her into his embrace as his features hardened and his eyes shot around the room taking in all the details.
"Well, I wasn't expecting to be right," Madam Roselle muttered guiltily as she gazed at the scene, horrified.
"What's going on? Let me through! I can't see!" Hewett Doyle yelled from the back of the group.
Mina and Lita silently separated to let the small lawyer through as they looked on in shock. As the little man stepped into the room, Eli moved up behind Lita and put his hands on her shoulders; she unconsciously leaned back against him.
Amy moved into the room as soon as the shock wore off and went over to the body to check it over. She quickly checked for a pulse. "I'm sure you've all figured this out, but Dr. Blake is dead," she said quietly.
"Don't touch anything else, Amy," Darien said softly. "We don't want to interfere with the crime scene for when the police arrive." He gently moved Serena into Raye's arms since the dark-haired girl had taken an almost protective position next to them. "I'll call them now."
As the ebony-haired man moved to the library desk where a candlestick phone stood at the corner, Doyle stepped over to the body and Mina and Serena joined Darien at the desk, Raye a few steps behind. Darien scooped up the phone, placing the earpiece next to his ear and using one of the fingers of the hand that gripped the stem to jiggle the cradle. "Hello, operator? Hello? Operator? Hello? Hello?" He began to trail off as he finally noticed Serena pointing silently to the cord dangling from the base of the phone. "The line's been cut," he muttered dejectedly as he replaced the earpiece and picked up the end of the wire.
"It's been tied in a bow," Mina added.
"Well," Serena continued ruefully, "at least we know the murderer is neat." Darien glared at her as Raye looked on with a smirk.
"I say, what do we do now?" Kingsly asked from the doorway.
"Looks like we're going to have to wait until morning and send someone on the ferry to contact the authorities," Darien shrugged.
"What about the body?" Amy asked clinically.
"We're not going to just leave him there, are we?" Lita asked with disgust.
"I'm sure he's staining the chair," Madam Roselle added. "What?" she said as everyone turned an unbelieving expression toward her.
"Isn't there something like a meat freezer in the back of the kitchen, Ralph?" Barrett Ward asked quietly.
"Yes, of course," the butler responded.
"Wait a minute. Why is there a meat freezer here?" Mina asked, confused.
"Considering how far away we are from civilization, my great uncle thought it best to be able to store large quantities of food for a long period of time. The weather is kind of unpredictable out here, so he never knew when he'd be caught out here unprepared," Eli explained.
"Master Eli is correct," Ralph concurred. "And speaking of unpredictable weather, the ferry has been canceled until Sunday evening due to the fog. We are in the middle of the foggy season." Groans from around the room greeted this revelation.
"Hold on – foggy season? What foggy season?" Darien asked incredulously.
Ralph smirked. "The foggy season goes from, say… 1923 to sometime around 2015."
Eli laughed at Darien's resulting glare. "Actually, Ralph isn't that far off. It's almost perpetually foggy around here. The ferry gets canceled quite often. Hence the meat freezer. You should see the pantry."
Darien rolled his eyes and nodded in understanding. "Fine. Then we're going to need two volunteers to carry Dr. Blake to the freezer."
"Who put you in charge, young man?" Hewett Doyle asked with a sneer.
Darien's eyebrow rose as Serena moved to get in the lawyer's face. "Well, I didn't see you stepping forward to do anything about this situation! And it took you long enough to complain! At least someone thought about doing something instead of just standing in the doorway gawking at poor Dr. Blake! And you have the gall to criticize him for it? Where do you get off?" The petite blonde's tirade was cut off by Raye's hand on her arm and Doyle's surprised step back.
"Easy there, Meatball Head. I'm sure the man would prefer his head on his shoulders." The black-haired priestess looked back over her shoulder as Serena continued to glare at the attorney to see the look of utter shock on Darien's face and Mina stifling a giggle. She smiled slightly. "Come on, Serena. It's time to back off." She pulled a reluctant blonde back toward the library desk.
Eli cleared his throat, taking note of Lita nearly choking on her held-in laughter, and stepped further into the room. "I'll volunteer, if someone could help me."
Darien's attention was drawn back to the matter at hand. "Thanks, Eli. Anyone else?"
"I should be able to help," Kingsly said, moving to the chair where Dr. Blake lay unmoving.
Amy stepped back as the two men came over and lifted the dead man. Ralph then proceeded to lead them to the meat freezer, and the blue-haired girl knelt down to pick up the spilled plate of finger food. "He must have come down for a late-night snack," she reasoned.
"I could have gone for one myself before this happened," Serena said in response.
"Figures," Raye said, rolling her eyes.
"When those three get back, I suggest we all go to bed. We could all use the rest," Darien said, moving next to Serena.
"I know I could," Madam Roselle muttered.
Doyle just looked at the others from his seat on the love seat, where he ended up after backing away from the enraged Serena. "You know, we never talked about who could have done this. How do we know one of the rest of us isn't next?"
Darien glared at him. "We don't. I was hoping to have this discussion tomorrow morning after we all got some sleep. None of us need someone going off half-cocked because a tired imagination ran away with him or her." Doyle merely smirked.
Serena gulped. "It's going to be hard enough to sleep as it is, Mr. Doyle. There's not a whole lot we can do right now, except maybe make sure no one goes anywhere alone. Please, everyone, if you need to go somewhere in the house, have someone else go with you." Her voice shook as she looked around at the others in the room, and Darien wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"Serena's right. It looks like it's time to use the buddy system," Amy agreed. Nods of agreement followed.
"But what if we end up paired up with the killer?" Madam Roselle asked meekly.
Darien sighed. "The only thing I can say is to be sure to only go with someone you trust. Beyond that, there's nothing anyone can do until we figure out who did this." The older lady nodded.
Just then Eli, Kingsly, and Ralph came back from their grisly task. "So what's next?" the youngest of the trio asked.
"We go to bed. There's really nothing else we can do. Just be sure to take someone you trust with you whenever you need to go somewhere in the house," Darien responded. The three men nodded in acknowledgement and the group headed for the stairs, closing the double doors behind them.
As the twelve of them reached the landing where the stairs branched to reach the two wings of the house, Eli put his hand on Darien's shoulder. "Thanks for taking charge back there. I couldn't have kept a cool head otherwise."
The ebony-haired young man flashed him his quirky grin. "No problem. Just did what needed to be done. We'll have a discussion over breakfast in the morning. Try to get some sleep, folks." He aimed his last two statements at the entire crowd. They then separated into two groups based on which wing they were sleeping in: Serena, Darien, Lita, Mina, Raye, Amy, and Madam Roselle in the South Wing following the left branch of the stairs, and Eli, Barrett Ward, Kingsly, Doyle, and Ralph in the North Wing to the right.
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
After watching Darien lead Serena into their bedroom with his arm around still around her shoulders, the remaining four teenage girls hurried into their own room and locked the door behind them. They stood there for a moment, leaning breathlessly against the closed door before walking shakily to the bed.
Lita watched the others climb silently onto the bed before moving to the window to the left of the balcony doors and opening it. She pulled out a couple pieces of bread from her robe pocket and started to crumble them up and spread the remains along the sill.
The others noticed what she was doing and moved to lie on top of the blankets, feet toward the headboards, to see what was going on. "What are you doing?" Mina asked.
"Well, we need to get a message out of here desperately, so I thought I'd spread these bread crumbs along the window sill to attract a carrier pigeon. Then we attach a message to its leg, and bam! We're saved!" Lita grinned as she finished her explanation.
"Uh, Lita…" Amy started.
"You have got to be kidding," Raye said incredulously.
"Nope!" Lita responded. Just then, defying all logic, a pigeon landed on the sill, scattering the crumbs and cooing. Lita smiled a grin of triumph and gently picked up the bird while the others looked on in awe. "Now we just have to tie a…" She looked closer at one of the pigeon's legs. "Oh. There's already a message strapped to its leg." She started to unravel it.
"What's it say?" Mina asked.
"Please don't strap a message to my leg. I am not a carrier pigeon." Lita's face fell while Mina's jaw dropped and Raye covered her face with her hands, shaking her head in disbelief.
Amy merely looked on with a knowing expression. "I was trying to tell you, Lita. The carrier pigeon became extinct in the 1920's. Besides…"
"Really, Lita," Raye scolded, interrupting the blue-haired genius. "You should think these things through before putting us through such lame-brained schemes."
Lita re-strapped the message she had read and let the bird go out the still-open window. "Oh, and you've never had a less than stellar idea."
"Not that I can recall." Raye smirked as she watched Lita close the window.
"Selective memory," Lita retorted.
"Guys…" Amy tried again.
"Oh! I've got an idea!" Mina shouted as she started dashing around the room, opening doors and drawers.
Lita took Mina's place on the bed. "What are you thinking?" she asked warily.
"This could be scary," Raye muttered.
They could see the blonde had an armful of something as she scurried out into the hall. She returned a minute or two later, placing a large bone every foot or so. "Here, doggy! Here, big fella!" she called as she finished her trail into the room.
"Where'd you find the bones?" Lita inquired curiously.
"Oh, they were in the closet."
"So what are they for?" Raye asked, confused.
"Well, I was thinking, Lita's plan didn't work, but maybe something like it would." Raye slapped her forehead. "So I was thinking, St. Bernards are that big breed of dog that are supposed to rescue people in trouble, so I figured I'd lure one here with these bones. Then we can strap a message to its barrel of… whatever… and get help!"
"Oh, Mina," Amy moaned as she shook her head.
Raye looked completely skeptical. "I'll believe it when I see it."
Just then, a big old St. Bernard came padding into the room following the trail of bones Mina had put out and stopped just in front of the blonde who was still kneeling on the floor at the foot of the bed. She smiled smugly at the stupefied looks on her friends' faces and reached for the barrel that was attached to the dog's collar. "You see! Now we just strap a message to the barrel here…" She trailed off as she noticed a slip of paper sticking out of the barrel. "Oh. There's already a message."
"Read it!" Raye said impatiently.
Mina unrolled the tiny piece of paper. "There's a message for you on the pigeon." She bit her lower lip as she replaced the message in the barrel and offered the dog a bone. It took it and padded off.
"You both are hopeless," Raye said into her hand as she dropped her face into it and shook her head. Mina stuck her tongue out at the priestess as she started to pick up the bones.
"Are you guys ready to listen to me now?" Amy asked politely.
"Sure, Ames. Go ahead," Lita said, surprised. Raye raised her head while Mina quickly dropped the bones back in the closet she had gotten them from and dashed back.
"As I've been trying to tell you from the beginning, we could just use our communicators and contact Luna and Artemis. Then they could contact the authorities for us." The other three scouts looked at each other for a moment then collectively smacked themselves in the foreheads.
They all waited patiently as Amy proceeded to press the cats' call button. Pained looks crossed all their faces as only static filled the air. The blue-haired scout pulled out her computer from her extra-dimensional pocket and scanned the small pink device. "Nothing's wrong with the communicator. Let me try using the Mercury computer to reach them." She typed in a few more commands and waited. "Nothing. This storm must be affecting communications."
"Is there anything you can do about it?" Mina asked.
"Not with the supplies I have on hand. We'll have to wait out the storm and try again."
"If we last that long," Raye muttered under her breath.
"I guess the only thing left to do is figure out who the killer is and stop him," Lita said forcefully.
"Or her," Mina added. Lita bowed her head in concession of the point.
"Well, there is one other thing we can do," Raye said.
"What's that?" Amy asked.
"Go to sleep and worry about it in the morning." A sudden crash of thunder made everyone jump. "Well, we can try," she amended.
"Right," the others said, nervousness showing in their tone.
They proceeded to crawl under the covers and attempt to go to sleep after Lita once more turned off the light by the side of the bed.
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
Once they were inside their room, Serena broke free from Darien's hold and moved over to the fireplace, where she sat on the floor in front of the fire and lost herself in the dancing flames. Darien followed silently, pausing briefly to add a couple logs to the diminishing source of light before sitting beside the obviously troubled blonde.
Neither said anything for quite a while as the tongues of red, orange, and yellow began to devour the new fuel. Finally, Serena shifted position, drawing her knees up to her chin and folding her arms around them, and sighed. "I wish I could have done something."
"I know." He mimicked her position.
"If this is really about money, like the notes said, then it's even worse. I'd give up everything I'm supposed to get if only this person would stop!" Tears began to stream down her cheeks, rosy from sitting before the heat of the fire so long.
He trained his midnight blues on the girl to his left and took in the tears. They wrenched at his heart. "At this point, I don't think that would stop him." He stopped to think for a moment. "Why do I get the feeling there's more to this inheritance than we've been told?"
"What do you mean?" she gasped, turning her gaze to face him.
"Well, I can't think of any other motive that would be strong enough for murder. No one seemed to be tense or on edge when we arrived. No strained conversations. So money seems to be the only motive left."
"But no one would benefit by anyone else's death according to the will the way it was read earlier. Is that it?"
Darien smiled. "Exactly. But Doyle seemed insulted when Amy asked if he had arranged for the letters to be left for us, like she thought he hadn't done his job to completion. The only people I can be one hundred percent sure did not commit this crime are you and me."
"The girls would never do any such thing!" Serena cried indignantly.
"I was thinking the same thing," he said conciliatorily. "But as they weren't in the same room with me, I can only be ninety-nine percent sure. They aren't the types; I know that."
Serena relaxed at his reassurance. "That leaves everyone we were introduced to this afternoon."
"I… I don't think it was Eli," the petite blonde said hesitatingly.
Darien cocked his head to the side and gave her a quizzical look. "Tell me why."
"Well, first, he got the biggest inheritance. Over half again as much as the rest of us combined if I understood the figures Mr. Doyle was reciting before he got to how it was going to be divided." Darien nodded. "Second, Mr. Cunningham talked about how Eli turned down money when he really needed it to do it on his own. That suggests that he places greater worth on money he earns through his own efforts rather than that which is handed to him on a silver platter." Her dark-haired companion stared at her wide-eyed and somehow managed to nod. "Third, Mr. Cunningham said Eli had made him love him and cried. This is not a man that strikes me as easily brought to tears, and for anyone to make that kind of impression on such a jaded man he'd have to be something special." He nodded dumbly again. "Fourth, Eli cried when his great uncle did. I know it could have been an act, but something about the way it all happened seemed genuine. And lastly," here she smiled sheepishly, "I just don't think he did. I saw his eyes and I don't think I saw a killer." Her smile turned impish. "What?" she asked with a giggle.
Darien struggled to regain his composure, and, consequently, put his jaw and eyes back into place as he convinced himself of just whom he was speaking with and what she had said. "Are you sure this is the same Meatball Head that fails every other test?"
She frowned. "What about our truce?"
Darien flinched briefly. "I wasn't trying to be insulting, Serena. It's just… except for your last point, that was a very well thought out argument, and a wonderful defense. Although that last point is very you," he said with a smile. "You've obviously been hiding quite the brain under those meatballs of yours. I'd been suspecting as much, but this is concrete evidence."
Serena bit her bottom lip and smiled shyly. "Thank you," she breathed.
His smile grew wider. "Any time."
They stared at each other with undisguised tenderness for a few moments before Serena brought them back to the subject at hand. "So where does that leave Eli?"
Darien blinked a few times before responding. "I'd say he's pretty low on the list of suspects. We can't count him out completely, but he's not a very likely candidate."
"Good," Serena said with a smile. "I like him."
Darien returned the smile. "Who do we consider next? Think anyone else is innocent?"
"Well, I don't think Barrett Ward did it, but I don't have a lot of evidence to back me up. He's really old, doesn't move very fast, and obviously doesn't expect to live too much longer, if Mr. Cunningham's comment about having money to leave the grandkids and that whole thing about if he was listening to those comments he won the bet mean anything."
"It may not be a lot of evidence, but it is compelling. Someone that old really doesn't have a lot of need for money, as long as he's healthy, which Mr. Ward is. And he was talking buddy-buddy like with Dr. Blake in the dining room at dinner."
"True. I'd say put Mr. Ward toward the bottom of the list too."
"I agree." He paused as Serena yawned. "Why don't we finish this tomorrow with the girls? Amy especially will be able to help us sort through the rest of the guests." She nodded. "Go on to bed. I'll grab some of the extra blankets from the linen closet and set up camp here."
"No, you don't have to do that, Darien. The bed is plenty big enough for the both of us," Serena protested, shaking her head.
"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable," Darien retorted.
She smiled. "I won't. And the last thing I want is for our glorious leader to wake up with cramps and a crick in his neck from sleeping on the floor. Really, I want you to share the bed with me. That way we both sleep in comfort." She grinned impishly. "And I don't have to feel guilty."
Darien laughed and gave in. "Fine. You win. I don't want you to feel guilty either. As long as you're sure." She nodded. "Okay. Then let's get to bed."
They both climbed under the covers a bit shyly and turned off the lamps on the tables to either side of the bed.
"Good night, Darien."
"Sweet dreams, Serena."
(fade out...)
(scene change...)
Raye, Amy, Mina, and Lita had actually managed to fall asleep, even though the storm that had started earlier raged on outside. Between rumblings of thunder the room was quiet, with only the sound of soft breathing to be heard.
Suddenly a gunshot rang through the empty halls, and a second later all four girls sat up ramrod straight in their bed and screamed simultaneously. "What was that?" Mina asked in a panic.
"A gunshot," Amy answered breathlessly. "That was a gunshot."
"We have to find out what happened!" Lita exclaimed.
"Right," Raye agreed.
The four of them scrambled out of bed and grabbed their robes only to run into Madam Roselle who had dashed into their room and struck a dramatic pose. "I've had another vision! Ralph, the butler, will be shot in ten minutes!"
"But we just heard a shot!" Mina refuted.
"Really?" the older lady asked, dropping her arms. She brought the wrist that held her watch up to her ear briefly. "My watch must be slow."
Raye rolled her eyes and led the others into the hall. They caught sight of a pair of golden streamers flying down the stairs followed by an ebony-haired young man and rushed after them.
The five ladies joined the couple on the stair landing where they found Ralph lying amidst the remains of a crystal vase that had been decorating the black walnut table next to his head. Amy moved forward quickly to help Darien check the fallen man. "Can you tell us what happened, Ralph?" Serena asked from where she knelt next to his head.
His brown eyes were filled with pain as he shifted his gaze to meet the sympathy-filled sapphire one of the girl to his right. "Well, I had decided to check on everyone considering what had happened earlier, and the fact that the storm was causing the electricity to flicker on and off. I had finished with the gentlemen in the North Wing and was about to start down the stairs to check on everyone in the South Wing when I thought I heard a noise coming from the linen closet at the head of the stairs. I turned to look and a flash of lightning reflected briefly off what I suppose was the barrel of a gun. I managed to duck just as the shot went off, but lost my balance and fell down the stairs."
"I hate to tell you this, Ralph, but your right leg is broken. Is there anything we can use for splints around here?" Darien asked, having finished his examination. Amy continued her own on the other leg.
"I know there's a special section of the pantry devoted to medicinal supplies, but I don't think there are any splints." The butler paused to think for a moment. "There are some long stakes Mr. Cunningham's gardener used for the tomato plants in the shed out back. Would those do?"
Darien shared a look with the blue-haired girl on the prone man's other side. She nodded. "That should be fine." He looked up at the girls to his left and men on his right. "Could a couple of you go get some of those stakes?"
"I'll do it. I know where the shed is," Eli volunteered.
"I'll go with him," Lita offered.
"And if a pair of you could get us some damp cloths to clean out these cuts and scrapes that would be most helpful," Amy added.
"I'll go," Raye said quickly.
"I'll show you to the kitchen," Kingsly said. The four volunteers left for their respective tasks.
"Well, this just goes to show you aren't old, Ralph," Barrett Ward said from his position on the stairs.
"How do you figure that?"
"If you were old, it would be your hip, not your leg, that was broken," the white-haired man finished with a chuckle.
Ralph smiled. "You may just be right, Barrett."
"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your left side, Ralph," Amy announced. "Other than a few cuts and bruises."
He turned his head to face her and smiled. "Thank you, Miss Mizuno. And you too, Mr. Shields. I'm glad you were here to help."
"So are we," Darien responded.
"Should we move him back to his room?" Doyle asked awkwardly from his place next to Barrett Ward.
Darien shook his head. "No, not until we get those splints on him. I don't want to chance making things worse." Amy nodded in agreement.
Just then, Eli and Lita returned breathless with a handful of stakes. "Is this enough?" Eli gasped.
"Yeah, that's fine. Did you guys run all the way there and back?" Darien asked.
"Yep," Lita confirmed. "We figured it would be best to get Ralph back to his room and resting as soon as possible."
"Good thinking," Amy murmured as she helped Darien get Ralph's leg ready. "We have to make sure the bone is set so it heals properly, alright?" she asked the suffering butler. He nodded and grit his teeth.
"Eli, Lita, hold him down to be sure," Darien said as he took hold of the older man's leg.
The process was quick, and soon the splints were in place, held there by Darien and Amy's robes' waist ties. Then Eli and Darien lifted Ralph up carefully and took him back to his room, with Doyle rushing ahead to open the bedroom door for them. They had just gotten the butler settled under the covers when a loud "No!" followed by a thump reached their ears. "Oh my god, that was Raye!" Serena shouted and dashed out the door, soon followed by the rest of the walking guests.
The group rushed down the stairs and headed for the kitchen, where it sounded like the voice and thumps were coming from. Serena and Darien reached the door first and shot each other worried looks as two more "No's" and thumps went by. Darien threw open the door.
The sight that greeted them caused a collective gasp. Raye was backing away slowly as Kingsly stalked forward pulling books one at a time out of a previously unnoticed bag slung over his left shoulder. "Dining Out In Greenland?"
"No!" Raye shouted, annoyed, with another step back. Thud.
"Philadelphia, Where To Find It?"
"No!" Thud.
As the last book hit the floor, Raye took one last step back into Serena and Darien, who were staring silently in shock. The dark-haired priestess turned, took in the sight of everyone staring at her, and threw herself into Serena's arms. "I never thought I would be so happy to see you, Meatball Head!"
Serena just numbly put her arms around her friend and patted her back, while Darien stared blankly at the girls.
"Alright, Kingsly," Amy said as she stepped forward with a slight smile on her face. Kingsly finally noticed the crowd and grinned sheepishly. "The chapter's over."