Hey guys! I just want to take some time to thank all of you for your reviews and constructive criticism.

...thank you. Ha ha ha!

life1428: Well thank you, I'm glad that my little riddles are appreciated. As for your theory...well, this chapter will prove whether or not it's correct. I wish you the best of luck!

K: Awww! Thank you! The thing that I strive for most in this fan fic is to keep the audience on the edge of their seats and to keep them entertained.

The-b00k-was-better: Well thank you, and I really truly appreciate the criticism. Unfortunately, I don't have time or the patience for betas. (People on Fan Fiction tend to leave me on hiatus, so I've learned to work strictly alone. Otherwise my works don't get published for months, because I'm waiting for the other person.) But feel free to tell me how my characters are being OOC, so that I can correct that. Once again, I really don't mind it when people criticize my work. Thanks! :D

Anyway, here's the new chapter! You'll find that things are starting to really get serious and dramatic. (Don't worry, comedy will not be in short supply.) And without a further ado, here's the new chapter!

Milligan slammed his fork down on his plate of pancakes as if it were Mr. Pressius' head and chewed on his piece violently. "It's outrageous! Threatening you with blackmail when all you were doing was trying to help these kids out!"

Number Two nodded curtly. "I have to agree with Milligan for once, it's simply dreadful! And to think that we offered him some of our good pie!"

Mr. Benedict yawned. He had slept terrible last night and was in no shape to agree of even talk to his fellow companions at the breakfast table.

Reynie just stared down at his food. So did the rest of the Mysterious Benedict Society, except for Kate who Milligan said was feeding Madge outside. It made him sick to his stomach thinking that Carter and Diana would be sent back to their orphanage where they probably didn't have any friends. And they were even starting to grow on him. Carter with his upbeat attitude, and Diana with her maturity and intelligence.

But what could they do against Mr. Pressius?

Diana and Carter were both absent from the dining table, so was Kate and Rhonda. Everyone guessed that they were all probably sleeping in. It would be very hard trying to explain the situation to them.

"What do we do?" Sticky whispered to Reynie, his leg was still up in a cast, but his parents had allowed him to come down to breakfast for a quick meeting about Diana and Carter.

Reynie held his head and frowned. "I-I just don't know. It's so frustrating! Nothing seems to make any sense anymore!"

Constance glared down at her pancakes. "I hate Mr. Pressius. Remember when he accidentally spilled all of those diamonds with identical fakes when we were staying with Cannonball?"

Reynie and Sticky groaned at the memory.

Just then, Carter and Diana came into the room wearing a new pair of clothes that Number Two had bought from her brief visit to the flea market. Diana's dark chocolate brown hair flowed past her shoulders on the silk ribbon straps of her shimmering turquoise blue blouse and teal skirt. Her dark green pupils sparkled slightly when she spotted Mr. Benedict smiling at her from across the table.

Carter was wearing a white collared shirt with a navy blue tie and grey dress pants. His dirty blonde hair was neatly washed and combed thanks to Rhonda, and he scanned the room with bored dark blue eyes and his hands clasped behind his back. He frowned at everyone and regarded them all by nodding his head slightly.

They seated themselves and began digging into their food. Everyone else at the table remained completely quiet and silently continued to eat their meals. Diana looked around at everybody's anxious faces and adjusted her glasses, which Reynie guessed she did as a habit to keep her mind off of an uncomfortable situation.

"So, what's the bad news?" she asked, taking a bite of her blueberry pancake.

Sticky stared at her in bewilderment. "How could you tell?"

She shrugged and smiled at him. "Sensitive empathetic nerves I suppose. I've always been skilled in reading people's emotions."

Mr. Benedict coughed into his hand. "Well then I suppose that we shouldn't delay any longer. You see-"

Suddenly a bloodcurdling shriek came from the hallway. Everyone turned to see Rhonda and Kate burst into the room, Kate's hands covered with a strange white powder and Rhonda's face completely pale.

Milligan stood and held Rhonda with his strong, firm hands to comfort her. "Rhonda, what's the matter? Tell me."

She sobbed and bit her lip, trying to get the words out of her now, very shaky vocal chords. "Mr. Pressius is-is-is..."

"Dead." Kate finished, hugging herself with her coated hands.

Everyone gasped.

The funeral was held a week after the incident. Apparently, Mr. Pressius didn't have any close friends or loved ones (big surprise) so nobody but Mr. Benedict and the children attended. Not too strangely, Rhonda said that she refused to go to the ceremony and insisted on staying home.

Mr. Benedict stared at Mr. Pressius' stone grave and shook his head as he placed a bouquet of daffodils beside it on the freshly wet grass. "His life could have been so much better if only he had made better decisions."

Kate, Sticky, and Reynie all nodded in a solemn agreement.

Constance spat on the grave's surface.

Carter frowned and rubbed his chin. "Isn't it weird that they found dawnsroot in his system? It's not a very common plant and can only be found in some exotic places."

Reynie frowned. "Are you suggesting that he was poisoned by someone?"

Carter gazed quietly up at the partly hidden sun in the dreary grey sky as a chilly breeze blew past them. "Maybe..." he paused for while in contemplation, and finally after a couple of minutes continued. "I think that it's far past time for the Mysterious Benedict Society to regroup. I think that there's foul play in Benedict Manor. Maybe Diana and I could help all of you and-AGH!" all of a sudden Carter clutched his head in pain and fell to his knees. Reynie reached down to help him out but Carter held up his hand behind his back and shook his head. "I'm fine Reynie." he said weakly.

Everyone, including Reynie stared at Carter in concern. But as he did, something strange happened. For a flicker of a second, Reynie could of sworn that he had saw Carter's pupils turn deep red and then mellow down into it's original blue color.

Carter stood up and brushed himself off. "Forgive me for that Reynard. I just had a brief migraine for a second. It happens sometimes."

"What happened to your eyes?"

Carter blanched for a second, but quickly regained his composure and turned away. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Perhaps it was a trick of the light." and with that he just stalked off without another word.

Reynie pondered for awhile as he stood there, lost in thought. Something about Carter wasn't right. And that color in his eyes...Reynie was sure that he had seen it somewhere else.

But where?

"I don't like it." Reynie said, crossing his arms as he leaned up against Constance's bed. He had called up an emergency meeting with all of the members of the Mysterious Benedict Society to discuss Mr. Pressius's supposed murder.

Sticky frowned and sat up from the bed. "What do you mean?"

Reynie looked at him. "Has it just been me, or has Carter and Diana been acting weirdly lately?"

"Maybe Diana is just stressed again." Sticky reasoned. "She can get that way a lot. I'm actually surprised that she didn't fall asleep when Rhonda and Kate said that Mr. Pressius was dead."

"Speaking of Kate, where is she?" Constance asked. She was sitting cross legged on the rug with a handful of shiny wrapped candies spread across the floor.

"She's in the bathroom. I think that she's still trying to wash off that weird dust off of her hands from last week." he said.

Constance snorted. "That, or she's putting on more of that weird spritzy stuff. I got mad at her because it was making my room smell like a Ten Man and when I asked what in the name of limericks it was, she just said that it was perfume."

Reynie just nodded at Constance's remark and suddenly wheeled around toward Sticky. "Wait a second, Carter said that Mr. Pressius was poisoned with dawnsroot. Doesn't Mr. Benedict has powered dawnsroot in his lab?"

Sticky and Constance both gasped. "You're right!" said Sticky, but then he frowned at Reynie's serious expression. "But you don't think that Kate..."

Reynie sighed heavily. "At this point, I don't know who we can trust. But we'll need more evidence before we can make an accusation."

Just then, Kate ran in the room, her cheeks bright red and tears running down from her bright blue eyes.

Reynie stood up. "Kate, what's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"It's Madge! I went outside to go and see if she was hungry and found her dead on the porch!" she cried.

Sticky, Constance and Reynie stared at each other in bewilderment.

"This is getting serious." Reynie muttered.

"Reynie!" Constance yelled, gesturing for him to come over to the window.

He ran over and looked down at the busy street to see Carter and Diana running at top speed out of the mansion. Both had backpacks slung over their shoulders and jackets slightly covering their facial features.

Reynie recognized them and gasped in panic. Sticky looked over his shoulder in curiosity at his friend's horrified face and paled at the sight of a bus pulling up toward the street.

"They're making a run for it!" he yelled.

Well, that's it for now. I hope that you guys enjoyed it. Aaaaaaand, here's next chapter's riddling hint!

4 9 1 14 1 1 14 4 3 1 18 19 5 18 1 18 14 ' 19 15 18 16 8 1 14 19