Chapter Ten

A/N: I don't own clue.

Everyone was slowly waking up. I had stayed awake the entire time as the man had tied my hands and feet together. I had been dragged back into the lounge where an unconscious Jackson and equally unconscious Heather were already waiting for me. Next came a slightly dazed, but still conscious, David. And last of all, a very pale and (you guessed it), unconscious Peter.

Madison hadn't been caught.

The man had disappeared long enough for me and David to exchange a few worried words and a groggy Jackson to come back to life. As the electricity was booted on, Peter groaned and slowly sat up. He blinked as he gazed around, but didn't seem surprised by our situation.

The man came back into the room as Heather joined us in the land of the living. I caught my breath as he entered and closed the door behind him.

"I TOLD you it was the gardener!" Jackson cried out triumphantly.

The creepy gardener was indeed the one standing in front of us, milky-eyed and all. He carried with him a cane that came to a very dangerously sharp point. I glanced quickly over at Heather who was not in the best of shape. One half of her body was covered in mud and her sweater had been ripped and her torso stabbed. He must've used the cane to attack her.

"I see that you've all woken back up," he smiled around at us. No, not smiled, smirked. And an evil smirk at that.

"What're you doing to us? Why have you done this?" David demanded, trying to struggle his way out of the rope.

"Now, now," The man shushed him. "All will soon be explained. What I want to know is where the girl is, the one I haven't found yet." He started to pace.

"Why should we tell you?" Peter demanded, a little too boldly. The man turned back to him, giving him a blistering glare.

"You know where she is, don't you?" he threatened Peter, "You probably hid her yourself and then distracted me just so that she wouldn't be caught, didn't you?"

Peter looked away. The gardener reached out and twisted Peter's face back towards him.

"Why?"

When Peter didn't answer him, he suddenly thrust his cane to the boy's throat.

"Why would you do that?" he asked a third time.

Peter stared at the man a minute longer before finally hanging his head in defeat. I could see that his breathing had become heavier.

"Because I-I… I love her." He whispered, redness creeping onto his face in embarrassment. The gardener stared at him a long moment before suddenly straightening back up and bursting out in wild laughter. Everyone in the room didn't quite know how to react.

"You love her? You love her?!" he roared before quieting himself quickly. "This is all that love can get you!" he yelled, swinging a powerful arm out at Peter. It slammed into his face with a nauseating crack that made his head snap to the side. We all winced as Peter's closed eyes started dripping in tears.

It was humiliating for him. We all knew about his feelings for Madison, but making him confess them out loud was humiliating and cruel.

The man stared around at us with wild eyes. We were all avoiding everyone's glances.

"What, nobody wants to tell me?" he laughed. "Well, that's alright with me. I'll find her... eventually!"

I stared at Peter as he slowly blinked his eyes open. Turning his face back around, I could already see a dark bruise blossoming on his cheek and around his eye. His head remained low and I could see that the tears were still running down his face. Anger swelled up inside of me.

"Who are you?" I asked loudly, determined to draw attention away from Peter.

The man turned his one good eye to stare at me and I squirmed a little.

"I am Alfred Black, the groundskeeper here." He replied, his voice returning to normal.

I saw that David was gazing over at the battered Heather and I glanced over quickly myself. I got just a good enough look to notice the glint of her ornate dagger, still tucked away into a side pocket on her jeans. With all the struggle, it had started to fall out. A plan suddenly popped into my head. I turned back to the gardener quickly.

"Okay, that doesn't explain very much. Why have you tied us up? How did you become the groundskeeper?" I stalled, nonchalantly scooting closer to Heather.

"You want to know how I became the groundskeeper? I'll tell you. You see, my mother married about a year before Alfred here threw this little shin-dig, and he didn't even care to invite her. You see, she was his sister, which would make me his nephew. I wasn't born until almost ten years after the murder; you do know about the murder, don't you?" he asked us, taking a seat in an ornate chair.

We all looked around at each other, shrugging. Alfred gave a sigh.

"Mr. Boddy was murdered here the night of his dinner party by one of his guests; one of your ancestors." He told us grimly. Everyone's eyes opened in surprise.

"But- but, that means…" Jackson furrowed his brow.

"That one of you is going to be very sorry." He glared at all of us. A collective gulp was heard. "Now, you'd think that he'd remember his dear little sis in his will, wouldn't you? Well, he didn't!" he slammed a fist on the table, making everyone jump.

I gently nudged Heather. When she looked over at me, I gestured slightly at the dagger around her waist. For a moment she thought about what I could possibly want with a dagger, and then her eyes opened in surprise. A little twist of her waist, and the knife slid into my open hands.

"The will was never found; again the work of your sniveling grandparents, no doubt. And so we lost everything with the depression. My father left and the only work we could find was here at the dilapidated house of my uncaring uncle." He spat, his face sour. I started to saw away at the rope that held my hands together behind my back. Alfred glanced back up at all of us.

"I've been watching you, all of you, all night. You all have a streak of your ancestors. My mother would tell me about all of them over and over again until I knew each of them by heart." He slowly stood and walked over to David first.

"Michael Mustard, a strong, brave man who could never look weak in front of others." He moved on to Jackson, "Elizabeth Peacock, a woman who was frightened of everything and cowardly enough to cling onto others for protection." Next came Peter, "Peter Plum… indeed, you have his very name, but not all of his forgetfulness. No, you seemed to inherit his annoyingly constant compassion to a woman who never knew he loved her." And then, he was standing in front of me. I stopped sawing through the rope and hid the dagger in my cupped hands, "Ah, Blanche White. You are perhaps the one most like your ancestor. You're just as quick-witted and stupidly brave as she once was, always needing to be in charge. She often openly mocked my uncle." He gave me a glare before ending up in front of Heather. "And Ms. Evelyne Scarlet. Indeed, you are just as beautiful and courageous as she was."

He stepped back into the middle of the room, fixing us all with a stare. I was so close to snapping through the rope…

"The only one who surprises me is that girl, Madison, or whatever her name is." He thought aloud, "Jonathan Green was a ruthless brat who always had to get his way, even if it meant hurting someone. He was a heartless jerk who nobody liked. In fact, after Scarlet's father died, he took all of his business partner's money and opened a speakeasy with it. Threatened Scarlet to keep her quiet, eventually killing her with the stress of it all."

The rope broke that held my hands together. I didn't move, waiting until the right opportunity. I quietly passed the knife to Peter.

"And yet, that girl doesn't seem to be anything like him. In fact, she's just the opposite. Innocent, nice, caring… I was hoping to extract most of my revenge on her, yet she does share one trait with Green. She somehow weaseled her way out of my reach."

Peter finished sawing through his rope before passing the dagger to Jackson. Alfred got up and walked slowly over to Peter. He kneeled down in front of him with a wide grin.

"You know, when I find her, I think I'll start by putting her in that pretty little wedding dress she tried on up there in the attic; the one that you liked so much." Peter glared at the man with so much hate I had never seen in him before, "And after that, I think I'll just slit her neck with my cane right here, and watch her beautiful blood run everywhere."

I turned pale as he spoke so calmly, my entire body felt cold and a shiver went down my spine. This man was totally insane! Apparently Peter thought so to because he lunged at the guy, a strangled yell escaping his throat. And that was all it took.

I slipped the rope off of my feet and rushed to help Peter who had started to wrestle Alfred to the ground. Jackson finished freeing himself before going over and helping David out of his bindings. After stealing Alfred's cane, I rushed over and cut through Heather's bindings.

"Are you alright?" I asked her hurriedly, glancing down at her cuts.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she nodded, standing quickly.

"We have to go find Madison; Come on!" I pulled on her hand, dragging her out into the hallway with me. I almost ran into Jackson. We all gave a small scream.

"Jackson, what're you doing?" I asked him, out of breath.

"Do either of you have a cell phone? I'm going to call the police!" he replied quickly, his gaze jumping from my face to Heather's. A small smile twitched onto my face. Jackson was being… heroic?

"Here, you go." Heather quickly tossed him her bright pink phone. He caught it and then nodded to us as Alfred, David, and Peter came bursting out into the hallway in an all-out brawl.

"Alright, I'm going to lock myself in the bathroom!" He waved back at us as he ran away.

Okay, so maybe not heroic, but at least slightly courageous.

I rushed into the small closet-sized bathroom, slamming the door and locking it as I caught my breath. The fight out in the hallway was growing louder; they were getting closer. I glanced around, and found that the only place to sit was on the dilapidated toilet.

Holding my breath, I reached out and shut the lid. Sitting down, I opened up Heather's cell phone. My fingers shaking, I punched in 9-1-1 as fast as I could. Something banged against the door and I cried out, backing away from it slightly.

"Hello, 9-1-1," an operator answered. I took a shaky breath. "Is this an emergency?"

"Yes!" I shouted, something being thrown against the door again. "Yes, we've been locked inside this house and now this madman is attacking us, and…"

"Where are you calling from?" the operator asked, cutting me off.

"Um," I suddenly blanked on the address, "It's, we… the Boddy mansion, in Raven Brook! I don't know the address!" I yelled. A knife was shoved through the door and I screamed.

"Is everything alright sir?"

"No, someone just tried to stab me!" I cried out hysterically.

"Alright, I'll send someone right over."

"Oh thank you." I sighed, hanging up. And then I looked down at the floor. A large rat was staring up at me.

"Ahhhh!" I screeched, jumping up on the toilet lid. This house did not like me.

David and I had wrestled Alfred into the billiard room after he practically destroyed the bathroom door, trying to get to Jackson before Jackson got to the police. Anyways, we were now defending ourselves with what few pool sticks we could find.

"How're you doing?" David grunted as we attempted to jab the gardener to death.

"Alright," I nodded, wincing on the sore side of my face.

My mind wasn't on myself right now, but Madison. I had practically spilled my guts out to her in the study and now she probably thought I was dead, but at least she was safe. At least she hadn't been in the lounge when… when I had said what I had said. It made my face go pale thinking about how she'd react to me saying something like that to her.

And then a pool ball flew past my head. I shook myself out of my thoughts and tried to concentrate on what was going on. David had fallen down next to me, his pool stick broken in half. I glanced back over at the gardener.

Alfred picked up one end of the pool table.

"No way…" David and I breathed out in unison.

And then, the table was thrust towards us as the very disturbed man rushed out into the hallway. We both ducked as the large table came crashing towards us. There was a loud noise, and a few pool balls fell, and then it was quiet.

Looking up, I saw that David and I were stuck underneath the table, which had been stopped by the wall from collapsing down on top of us. David sighed.

"Great, now what?"

"Guys, are you in here?" we heard Alex cry out.

"Yeah, over, I mean, under here!" I called out to her, trying to climb around the bulky piece of furniture. Alex rushed over towards us, helping us pry the table out of the way.

"Heather's trying to coax Jackson out of the bathroom." She explained, offering David her hand.

"Where did Alfred go?" I asked her hurriedly, glancing past her into the hallway.

"He was heading towards the stairs, or something; maybe the attic?" she offered.

"We have to hurry," I said before running out of the room. He was after Madison.



Peter and Evelyne were in the library when it happened. Scarlet happened to pull a heavy book out from one of the shelves, and found it to be a little too heavy. It fell out of her hands and clattered to the floor, landing on Prof. Plum's foot.

The young man gave a yell as he tumbled onto his back, landing on the floor with a dull thud. Evelyne opened her mouth in surprise before stooping down next to him.

"Oh my, I didn't hurt you, did I?" she asked timidly, blinking as Peter fixed her with a gaze. He slowly lifted a shaky hand out to her face, gently placing one of her curls delicately behind her small ear. The two stared at each other for a long moment before Scarlet glanced down. Peter sighed.

"Here, let me help you up," The young woman offered an outstretched arm to the professor. He took hold of it and stood up hastily, unfortunately causing a large bulky object to fall out of his coat pocket. It landed on the ground with a metal clunk, and made the couple freeze.

Scarlet's eyes fell down to stare. The object had been messily wrapped up in Peter Plum's untidy handkerchief, which happened at this moment to be covered in a dark sticky substance. For a moment everything remained still, and then Scarlet bent over and unfolded the handkerchief.

It was the wrench.

It was the wrench, and it was covered in blood; blood and hair.

Scarlet blinked her eyes a few times, trying to banish the tears in the corners, but as she turned her gaze back to the man that she loved, she felt an anger overtake her. Standing again, she pushed professor Plum up against the shelves of the dark library. He avoided her glares as best as he could.

"Why, why did you do it?" The scared woman demanded, sure that the boy in front of her had just ruined his life; both of their lives. He didn't answer her, only stared off to the side.

"Peter," She demanded again, her voice straining, "Why?"

As he gazed into her tearful eyes, Peter could feel himself breakdown.

"Because… he had the will, and he wanted to be killed." He replied softly. "He had the will, and I knew how much you needed it. I figured if I didn't, Jonathan would be the one who murdered him." He spoke slowly and deliberately. Scarlet stared into his emotional eyes, trying to understand.

"Want the will? No, Peter, what I want is you!" she cried, burying her head into the young man's shoulder. He was quiet for a moment as the usually strong and fearless woman sobbed into his coat. And then his arms wrapped themselves hesitantly around her shaking body, running his fingers through her short hair.

"I-I'm sorry…" he whispered, letting his head fall onto her shoulder. The two remained embraced until all their tears were shed. And then, as they slowly locked eyes on each other again, a silent pact was made between them.

The will was inside Peter's other coat pocket. They would get rid of his handkerchief, clean the wrench, and hide the will. Maybe then no one would find out, and they could have each other.

I went immediately to the attic. I had a feeling that the will would be up there somewhere. That, and it was the farthest away from the bad guy. Or, at least it felt like it. As I re-entered the chilly room, my eyes found the old steamer trunk that Peter and I had sat down together on so short ago.

The wind picked up outside and I could hear it howling through the torn wall. Glancing out into the night, I could see that another storm had blown in, and it had begun to lightning and thunder. Shivering, I turned my attention back to the trunk.

I kneeled down in front of it before slowly unclasping the locks and lifting the heavy lid. Glancing inside, I held my breath.

Nothing.

I huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of my face. Closing the lid with a creak, I gazed around the room. Where would I hide the will? Well, who hid the will anyway?

I looked down at my feet to find Scarlet's journal. What if Scarlet had been the one to hide the will? Where would she put it so that no one would ever find it? My gaze lifted off the floor, and my eyes locked onto the wedding dress. I lifted an eyebrow, wondering if it was too crazy of an idea.

Looking around, I stood and walked over towards the mannequin again. Studying the dress, I started going through the folds. Where would you hide a will?

And then, as my hand traced over the waist-line, I felt something strangely stiff. Giving it a tug, an ancient slip of paper slid away from its secret hiding place. I smiled and almost laughed in amazement; I had found it!

Suddenly, there was a creak behind me as someone stepped into the room. My smile faded as I realized that I was holding our bargaining chip out where it could be easily taken. Glancing down at myself, I quickly tucked it into my bra, hoping that it was hidden well enough away. Clutching my jacket closer to my shaking body, I turned around.

The gardener was standing in front of me, smiling and staring with his one good eye.

"Hey there, pretty girl. What are you doing up here all by yourself? It's dangerous."

A/N: Oh no! Madison's been cornered by the creepy bad guy! What will she do?! I'll tell you if you review (hint, hint)!