And here's the next chapter... hopefully where the action begins...

Enjoy :)

26. The Paranoia

Lumina sat in the icy, cold water, it was the first day of winter and she felt the frigid water trickle down her back, freezing her nerves. She gasped from the shock, closing her eyes and breathing heavily. She opened her eyes again, feeling clean and comforted now, she could still feel the warmth of Rock from the night before. She smiled, she hadn't felt so loved in a long time, perhaps she had never felt like that with Jack. Closing her eyes she bobbed under the water quickly, resurfacing with her hair forming in cold tendrils, she breathed in the icy air. She felt her hair stand on end and began to shiver from the cold, she knew bathing in the pond was a sure way to get pneumonia in the winter, but she couldn't help herself.

She prepared herself to leave the bath when suddenly a huge rock fell from the waterfall, landing where she had just moved from with a loud icy "plop", followed by a huge splash. She breathed heavily, her eyes widening when she saw how close the boulder had been to crushing her. She raced from the pool, wrapping her robe around her and hurrying to the inn. She found Ruby, Rock and Tim and explained what had happened fearfully.

"It was just a freak accident; you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lucky that you moved." Ruby reassured her and she nodded. She still couldn't help feeling her mortality, after all she had been so close to death. That thought frightened her hugely, she knew that she was too young to die, to go the way of her parents and her grandmother.

"It was a close one, Lu, but just an accident, why are you obsessing?" Rock asked her, while he had an arm wrapped around her and she was still shaking.

"It's just... I almost died..." She whispered, her lips were still pale blue from the cold and the shock and her eyes were still wide.

"But you didn't, thank your lucky stars and move on..." he said calmly, Lumina frowned. It was easy for him to be calm; he hadn't almost lost his life an hour ago.

Lumina walked down the path, trying to work out how the boulder had fallen, but she couldn't work out scientifically how.

"A rock has never fallen down there, besides, what would have caused a heavy rock like that to fall? It has to have been pushed..." She said aloud, still she had to put her mind at rest so she headed back to the pond. "I'm so paranoid…"

"There's no way it could have just fallen..." She whispered, she then shook her head, she was definitely paranoid.

She returned to the inn quickly, hiding in the safety of her room and locking the door and windows, worried that something might get her. Her thoughts seemed to tell her that the world was trying to kill her, and if it truly was her time to go, she wasn't going without a fight. Of course she was paranoid, her mind told her the honest truth, but she still needed to remain safe.

Eventually she calmed down enough to unlock the door and she took a step forward, she tripped over a piece of string stretched from end to end just outside the door and fell backwards with a small thud. She shook her head, gazing in wonder at the string; how had it got there? She looked up to see a sharp floorboard that was sharpened into a point in front of the string, in an angle across that would have speared her had she fell forward. She screamed loudly, gaining the attention of Rock, Ruby and Tim. Crying while she spoke she explained exactly what had happened while Tim removed the floorboard and took away the string.

"Someone's trying to kill me..." she whispered, tears falling down her cheeks as she sniffed.

"No one's trying to kill you Lu, it's just a coincidence!" Rock told her, a suspicious coincidence it was, but definitely a coincidence.

"That floorboard wasn't like that when I entered the room," she said, her voice shaking as she gritted her teeth. "And there was no string."

"Something could have dropped onto the floorboard to make it move like that and break, and maybe you put the string there to keep people out. Nobody has been in this inn except for us." Ruby informed her, looking at her as though she was some nutcase.

"And none of us are trying to kill you." Rock promised with a small laugh and she frowned in confusion.

"B-but I didn't do any of that..." she whispered, her voice cracking slightly.

"Maybe you should get some sleep." Ruby suggested, taking Lumina into the room. "Change into your pyjamas and I'll fetch you a nice hot drink, which I'll keep my eye on to make sure it's not poisoned. I'll even try a sip before it gets to you."

Lumina nodded and they turned to leave the room but she held on to Rock's hand before he could. "Please stay with me," she begged, her innocent eyes wide with fear.

"Lu, this is all in your head... but I'll stay." He promised, closing his eyes like a gentlemen as she changed then lying down next to her.

Ruby then brought up the steaming drink which she had taste tested and Lumina took a sip, before closing her eyes and rolling over in bed.

Rock hushed her and held her as she drifted off, worried for her health, he knew he had to help her through this strange paranoia. He watched her, she had a frown on her face as she slept and she looked far from peaceful.

"Don't worry Lu, I'll protect you... even if I have to protect you from yourself." He promised, stroking her shining hair.

"She's not well," Ruby informed Dr Hardy, as he took Lumina's temperature. "I think she's suffering from some kind of mental disturbance after she found out her family was murdered... I'm surprised it hasn't appeared before."

"I'm not mentally disturbed." Lumina protested, spitting out the thermometer and folding her arms. "I'm not imagining this, I swear."

"Lumina you're sick, your mind is telling you that someone's trying to kill you, so you won't know how sick you really are." Hardy explained to her as though she were a child. She sighed angrily, realising that it would be pointless to reason with them.

"Look, I'm fine, we need to find out who's behind this, because that's the person who killed my parents." She told them and they just shook their heads more.

"You believe me, don't you Rock?" She pleaded, her eyes wide like big, brown puppy-dog eyes. He shuffled guiltily and looked away. "Don't you?"

"I'm sorry Lu, but you're sick and you need help, you need to know that." He said softly. She growled in frustration, standing up and throwing the blankets they had heaped on her off.

"She must have caught something when she bathed in the cold pond..." Ruby said shaking her head worriedly.

"Why don't any of you believe me? You know my family were murdered, the murderer is here! You have to do something!" She protested, realising that really she must sound a little crazy, but she expected her loved ones to believe her.

"Okay sweetie... we'll keep a look out." Ruby said patronisingly, as though to calm her down. Rock just looked sadly down at the ground, desperately worried for his girlfriend's health. She sighed, giving up on reasoning and storming out of the room.

"What's changed recently?" She asked herself, thinking over the new changed. "Sebastian... he just arrived... but he wouldn't. I've been getting closer and closer to figuring out the murderer, maybe the murderer was here all along and they've figured me out. But Ruby said no one was in the inn yesterday..."

"We'd better keep an eye on her," she head Dr. Hardy explain. "We'll lock her in her room."

"And I'll climb out of the window." She thought, going straight to her room and waiting until she heard the door lock.

Once she heard everyone head to the kitchen to discuss her "illness", she opened her window quietly and climbed down, thankfully it wasn't too high. She then headed to the mansion to hide in the garden and think things over.

"So who is the murderer...? I've figured out that it must be someone that was in the village when my grandmother was murdered and where my parents were murdered, my hometown in America..." She said aloud. "Nina said it was something to do with a locket, but this one won't open... I have to open it."

She reluctantly removed it from her neck, taking a deep breath as she took a brick and shattered the inside, it was empty except for a small engraving.

"Why's there no picture of my parents like Romana said there was... I can't read the inscription... I need a magnifying glass or a telescope or something..." She murmured, squinting at the writing. "Daryl, he'll have one."

She hurried to the scientists lab, finding the door unlocked she entered, he was in there somewhere and would no doubt see her. Still she hurried to find a telescope, ignoring the diagrams that suggested ways to kill Carter. She placed it under the telescope and focused in on the writing.

"Herman jewellery fakes ltd. Bronze, gilded gold."

She read it and frowned, it was a fake... but her parents wouldn't have given her a fake locket, her eyes widened. "Someone must have the real one..." She whispered.

"The real what?" The voice of Daryl came, like the sound of noisy bats. She cringed and turned to face him.

"Uh, it's nothing... I was looking for something..." She mumbled, blushing red from guilt.

"Snooping eh? What do you want?" He demanded, a greasy hand on his bony hip.

"It's nothing... honestly... I just left something here that's all," she held up the locket. "And now I've found it... thank you, bye." She then hurried out of the lab before he could accuse her of stealing or something.

"A fake locket... so the murderer must have the real one... and the real one must have the code that was needed to get the money from the will..." She said softly, her eyes widened in realisation and she continued to stare at the locket. She looked up to see Dr Hardy walking around town looking for her. She quickly darted to the nearest house, which happened to be Jack's farm.

She took a deep breath and knocked on his door, praying that he would answer. She was relieved when he did and she hastened to explain everything that was going on.

"And they all think you're paranoid?" He checked and she nodded. "Well no offence, but you sound it, I have half a mind to turn you in."

She stood up quickly and shook her head," please don't, I'm not paranoid honest!"

"Fine, you can stay here if you like," he suggested and she smiled, nodding quickly. "Well make yourself useful and make us both a mug of hot chocolate, I think we have some talking to catch up on."

Celia headed down the dirt path, her brown skirt blowing slightly in the winter breeze as she made her way down to Gustafa's hut, she wanted to wave the young couple off before they made their way on a honeymoon in America. She arrived at the bright door and rapped her small knuckles upon it; they were pale from the cold making her hairs stand on end. There was no answer on the door but she pushed the door open anyway, after all Gustafa wasn't known to answer his door, he was welcoming to all.

"Good evening," she greeted with a bow of her head when she spotted him, sitting on his bed and twiddling a flower pensively. She could see that his wife was absent and she knew she would have to either wait or return later.

"Good evening, here to see Nami?" He asked, his voice mellow and even, relaxing to the ears.

"Both of you actually," Celia corrected. "Do you know when she'll be back?"

"Give her half an hour, she'll be back when she gets hungry," he told her with a wink. "Tea?" He offered her a mug of herbal tea which she accepted with curiosity, as much as she enjoyed a good cup of herbal tea she wasn't sure what would be in a brew made by Gustafa.

Celia took a seat on the bed next to Gustafa and they began talking, as they waited, discussing nature and the weather and slowly realising how much they had in common.

"Well it's getting late and Nami's still not back," Celia sighed, she stood, deciding to say her goodbyes to him and catch Nami another time.

"Ah, you're leaving. Good night." He told her and she smiled.

"Thank you, have a great time on your Honeymoon, we must meet when you get back." She said politely, leaning in for a hug. He leaned in too and both were equally shock when their lips met, and more shocked when the kiss was returned with a fervent hunger. They then pulled away shocked, as though they had been shocked by electricity.

"I must be off, let's never mention this." She said quickly, running away from the crazy hut as quickly as possible.

Lumina sat opposite Jack on the kitchen table, sipping at the hot chocolate she had made, her mind buzzing like a hive of wasps.

"So what did we have to chat about?" She asked, mainly to break the silence, but she was also curious.

"I wanted to talk about us," he said softly, his eyes searching for hers meaningfully. She almost choked on her hot chocolate, coughing for a second then looking at him wide eyed.

"There is no us remember, you broke up with me." She pointed out, after recovering from her choking fit. "You picked Muffy over me!"

"No I didn't, I had no feelings for Muffy then!" He shouted, the truth pouring from his lips, like water from a cracked flood gate.

"What are you talking about?" She asked with a frown. She remembered their break-up as though it were yesterday, he had told her he was in love with Muffy, she had said nothing about loving Rock. "You're the one who told me I was in love with Rock, I had barely even thought about it."

"But you had thought about it, and you'd dismissed it out of duty. You didn't love me Lu, how could I do that to you?" He asked, looking at her sadly. She sat glued to her chair, her whole body had turned numb with the news that the break up had been her fault.

"Rock and I... I never cheated on you." She promised, glancing at him to check he knew that.

"I know, but I knew you'd deny that you loved him, so I had to tell you I had feelings for someone else." He explained, still feeling guilty about the way he had treated her. "Besides Muffy liked me enough, but I knew she wouldn't love me, so she wouldn't get hurt." He added.

Lumina looked at him solemnly, feeling pity for the poor blonde that he had abused so selfishly. "But she does love you," she told him sombrely. "The question is, do you love her?"

"No..." he admitted softly, "do you love him?"

Lumina looked to the floor and nodded, she had begun to see that Jack was right, she had loved Rock since she had moved to the inn.

"See? I couldn't let our relationship be a lie. I couldn't let you be completely oblivious to your feelings for him. But I... I still love you Lu!" He told her, leaning forward to kiss her. Her eyes widened in shock, too shocked to push him off, she heard the door open and saw Muffy standing there brightly. As soon as the blonde saw them her smile faded and her green eyes filled with tears.

"How could you?" She shouted at Jack, who pulled away quickly. Although he didn't love Muffy, he still cared deeply for her, and the pain hit him like a slap in the face for hurting her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." He began, but found himself unable to find words to justify his actions.

"It was an accident Muffy, it meant nothing!" Lumina told her honestly, it wasn't even an accident on her part, it was slow reaction time.

"Shut up you whore! You think it's alright to do this? To steal other girl's boyfriends?" Muffy demanded, her emerald eyes blazing like green fire, angry and spitting.

"Muffy I'm not like that! I told you it meant nothing!" Lumina repeated, her eyes wide with worry.

"Jack, how could you?" Muffy asked again, the tears in her eyes fizzling out the fire of anger and turning her feelings into sorrow, the guilt was eating Jack alive at that moment.

"Muffy... I care deeply for you... but I don't love you." he told her, he was unable to lie to her, to tell her that he loved her.

"It's not enough, I love you Jack! I can't even look at you right now!" She shouted, she then turned on her heal and headed out of the door, slamming it shut.

They both stood for a moment, registering what had happened and the shock before they could react. "Follow her," Lumina ordered and they both headed for the door, heading in the direction that the blonde had left in. They arrived on the path to the forest, looking around for the blonde, but it was too dark to see a thing.

The murderer, yes, he decided that was the suitable term, sat in the bushes, cleaning the cold metal gun with a rag, he'd been sitting out there far too long waiting for Lumina to come out. Did he feel guilty about what he was doing? Of course. He didn't want to kill the girl, but she was getting too close, she had left him no choice. His other attempts to kill her hadn't worked, his safer attempts that looked like accidents, even her loved ones had been fooled. But now it came to this, he would have to shoot her, they would investigate afterwards of course, but the fools would never suspect a thing.

He heard a rustling nearby and the sound of footsteps, his hands were numb from being out in the cold as he clasped them defensively around the gun. His hand was shaking, he wasn't sure if it was from the cold, or the apprehension of killing again, but he'd done it enough times before, so why would it bother him now?

He placed a finger on the trigger, it was so dark that he could barely locate his target. But he knew it was her, he could tell from the footsteps and the breathing that she was female. He aimed and pulled the cold, metal trigger, cringing a little as the bullet rang out with a bang and running into the night. He had heard the body fall and a high pitched scream, he'd hit his mark.