Chapter 8


After getting back inside with everyone else, Blossom puts her witch hat back on her head and floats up to Brick. "Alright Brick, what does the next clue say?"

Brick fishes the letter from his pocket, opens it and starts reading, "Ok, it says, 'You're nearer the family jewels than before, a broken key unlocks the next door.'"

"A broken key? How does a broken key unlock anything?" Asked Buttercup.

"If this clue is anything like the first one Buttercup, it isn't being literal." Replied Blossom.

Buttercup blinked, "So it could be another pun?"

"Maybe." Said Blossom.

"Wonderful." Buttercup replied sarcastically.

Then Butch said, "You really don't like word play do you?"

Buttercup narrows her eyes and says, "You have no idea."

"Alright enough." Said Brick. "Assuming Pinkie here is right, what else would you call a key that isn't literally a key?"

Everyone looked down and thought hard.

"Umm, a keyboard?" Supplied Bubbles.

"Uhh, something that is out of key or out of tune?" Supplied Boomer.

"What?" Brick deadpanned.

"Hey you asked. We're just thinking of words or phrases that have the word 'key' in it." Said Boomer.

"Yeah but that still sounds stup-"

"No, Brick, wait." Said Blossom.

Brick turned toward Blossom. "I think they are on the right track but I can't quite put my finger on why."

Brick blinked and glanced at the others before looking back to Blossom. "Ok, then, what kind of keyboard? One for, like, a computer or something?"

"Well when you say something is out of key or out of tune, you're talking about an instrument right?" Asked Buttercup.

"Right," replied Blossom. Then Blossom's face began to light up as she turned back to Brick, "and the word 'keyboard' isn't solely linked to computers, there are keyboards in music as well."

Brick blinked at Blossom's facial expression and laughed softly, "It looks like you're on the verge of figuring it out."

Blossom nodded, "It's on the tip of my tongue but I can't quite reach it. UGH! This is driving me nuts!"

Brick laughed out loud this time, "Wow, really Pinkie? You don't say." Blossom gave him a sideways glare. Brick flinched, "Alright, alright, alright. What musical instruments have keys or keyboards?"

"Xylophones have keys." Said Bubbles.

Brick turned to Bubbles with a raised eyebrow and asked, "What the hell is a xylophone?"

Blossom explained, "It's basically a table with these musically keyed metal bars that you strike with a stick."

Bubbles nodded and said, "Yeah, what Blossom said. Also, it's kind of an annoying instrument."

"True." Said Blossom.

"Ok, what else has keys?" Asked Brick.

Everybody thought again and this time, Butch spoke up, "Pianos have keys, right?"

Everyone turned to Butch and Blossom said, "Yeah they do." Blossom then blinked as something just hit her, "Hey wait, isn't there a grand piano in the house?"

Bubbles nods, "Yeah, I saw it near the living room when we split up earlier."

Blossom nods back, "Yeah, I saw it too just after Brick and I left the den on our way to the study."

Brick shakes his head, "Ok, so?"

Blossom looks at Brick and says, "Maybe the piano has a 'broken key.' Let's go check it."

Everyone flew off to the living room and found the piano. They floated up to it and Blossom opened the cover to reveal the keyboard and sure enough, there was a broken key.

Everyone looked at each other, then back at the keyboard. "Ok, so how does a broken piano key unlock a door? It's not like we can pull it out and use it." Asked Boomer.

"What if we push it?" Asked Butch as he did just that. The key gave an out of tune note and suddenly a nearby wall unlocked and swung open to reveal a hidden room.

Everyone was stunned. "Whoa, dude nice work." Said Brick.

"Thanks bro." Replied Butch. Everyone flew inside and looked around. After a moment of searching, Buttercup found what they were looking for, "Hey guys, look what I found." Everyone turned and saw Buttercup holding the next clue and yet another diamond. "Alright!" Everyone cheered.

"Come on, let's get out of this dark room so we can read it." Said Blossom.

Back out in the living room, Buttercup opened the note and started reading, "It says, 'look for a relative who is quite old, whose face can not see, and whose hands can not hold.'"

Brick whistles and says, "Woof, that's a toughie."

Blossom nods, "Yeah, that it is. 'A relative who is old, whose face can't see, and whose hands can't hold anything.' This one is going to take a minute."

Just then, Boomer says in a harsh whisper, "Guys, hide!" Everyone quickly turns to Boomer with wide eyes but he just simply points to a moving shadow just outside the window. Buttercup, Butch, and Brick hide behind one of the large chairs in the living room and Blossom, Boomer, and Bubbles hide under the couch just as the British soldier walks past the window, he stops however and looks inside. Everyone holds their breathe as the apparition scans the room for any sign of movement. Boomer can feel Bubbles tremble in absolute terror beside him as well as hear Blossom's quickening breathing. "Blossom, I understand why you're freaking out a little since you and Brick were face to face with him earlier but why are you getting worked up too Bubbles? You didn't react like this when we saw the skull ghost earlier."

Bubbles turned to Boomer with fear in her eyes and said a timid, sad voice, "Because Boomer, unlike the skull ghost, which is some kind of demon or something else inhuman, this one used to be a human. It used to be a person just like you or me. He used to have a life before he lost...lost half of his face." Boomer blinked and looked back out the window. Bubbles was right, that soldier was once a living human being before half his face was blown off by who knows what and was now walking the earth as a lost soul.

Over with Brick, Buttercup, and Butch, Brick was trying to will his heartbeat to slow down as he was looking at the ghost close up again. Outside when the ghost took that pot-shot at them, it was a good 20 yards away from them so he wasn't close enough to see all the gruesome details of its exploded cheek. However, now it was on the other side of a window less than 20ft from him and he could see things a little too well.

Beside Brick, Buttercup and Butch were somewhere between scared and ecstatic. "You know Butch, maybe there really is something wrong with us if we're getting an adrenaline rush off of being this close to a ghost that just tried to shoot us earlier."

Butch glanced over at Buttercup and had to crack a grin, "Yeah, maybe."

Brick just shook his head and said, "You two really are weird, you know that?" Both greens snickered at that. Suddenly, the ghost, deciding there was nothing there, moved on and walked away from the window.

Everyone crawled out of their hiding spots and regrouped. Blossom notices Brick is sweating and looks a little pale, "Brick, you ok? You don't look so good."

Brick scoffs and replies, "Look who's talking Pinkie." Blossom looked just as spooked as Brick was.

Blossom shakes her head, "Look, let's just get out of this room before he comes back." Everyone nods and they all float out of the living room. As they are passing the den nearby, Blossom stops. Something caught her eye for some reason so she turns around to see if she can figure out what it was. The others notice Blossom stopped and come back to her.

"Pinkie, why'd you stop?" Brick asked.

"Something around here made me stop but I don't know what it was."

The other looked at each other in confusion before Brick asked, "How can something make you stop?"

Blossom shook her head, "I noticed something, something that is supposed to be important but I can't figure out why."

Buttercup comes over and says, "Blossom, you're not making any sense." As she is saying this, the clue she found earlier falls out of her costume. "Whoops. Let's not loose that shall we."

Blossom blinks, "Wait, what was the clue again?"

"We're looking for an old relative, whose face can't see, and whose hands can't hold anything." Buttercup replies.

Blossom turns back around and looks for whatever caught her attention again. The others are wondering what's gotten into her when she suddenly snaps her fingers and says, "I've got it!"

Everyone jumps at the volume of her voice and asks, "What?"

"The clue." Blossom says smiling.

Brick says surprised, "Whoa, wait, really?"

Blossom nods.

"Well, ok, what is it?" He asks

"It's the grandfather clock." Blossom says as she turns and points at it.

"Huh?" Everybody says in unison.

"Yeah, it's an 'old relative', with a 'face that doesn't see', a clock face, and 'hands' that don't hold anything." Blossom finishes proudly.

Everyone looks up stunned but started smiling a moment later.

Brick shakes his head in disbelief, "Oh, ho, ho, ho, wow. As much as I hate to say this, good job Pinkie, I would've never been able to figure that out."

Blossom smiles smugly at Brick and said, "Wow, you of all people are admitting you couldn't figure something out?"

Brick gave her a flat stare and said, "Don't push your luck."

Boomer and Bubbles had just opened the compartment where the mechanics are located and are currently looking inside when Bubbles says, "Blossom you're right, look!"

Everyone turns and sees Boomer come out holding the next clue and another diamond.


Hey chapter 8 was written and posted within 18 hours of the last one, a new record for me. This was a short chapter so that helped a lot but hey, that just means the next one will be posted just as soon if not sooner.

Also, and this is the last time I'll say this, if you do recognize the riddles/basic plot of the story, please don't spoil the rest of them for the other readers. Thank you.