Chapter 21: Lacerations Part 2

Flashback

Kelley was well aware of Clarisse's plans to investigate the files in the Study, and was on her way from the Library to help out. However, she ran into Teresa loitering in the Common Hall.

"Ah, Kelley!" The Sphinx called out, a smile on her face. "Good, come here, follow me!"

"w-Wha'?" The Banshee responded, caught off-guard by the other girl's openness.

"Victoria wants everyone to meet up in the Conservatory, and quickly." Teresa explained, moving closer. "Apparently, she got through Alexis's ego long enough to work out an escape plan with her."

"Wai', really?!" Kelley exclaimed, surprised. "Why w'sn't this mention'd earlier, we jus' left fr'm dinner half'n hour ago!"

"Apparently they couldn't risk any of the staff noticing anything when we were eating, plus they only finalized everything afterwards." The older girl clarified. "They're heading upstairs to find anyone else they can, while I get anyone that was already on this floor." She started down the hall, waving for the Irish girl to follow her. "C'mon, they'll all be there soon, we can't waste any time."

Not having many other options, and wanting to believe the Greco-Egyptian was telling the truth, Kelley followed her. Quickly, they made their way into the Conservatory.

"s-So, why meet in 'ere?" Kelley asked, glancing around nervously. "Aren't th'plants liable t' eat us?"

"It's fine." Teresa waved her off. "As long as we stay away from them, they won't attack. Besides, only some of the plants in here are even alive." She walked over to the side of the room that provided a view of the forest outside. "Now, we just wait for everyone else, and we can leave by tonight."

"Uh, t-that sounds good, yeah." Kelley nodded in agreement, still keeping an eye on the foliage around them. She almost felt like she could feel something in the room with them, but-

"Kelley." Teresa spoke up, sounding oddly subdued. Turning around, Kelley saw she was still staring out the window walls, wings draped around her shoulders like a feathered cape. "Did... did you ever consider, I don't know, actually taking that cursed motive, trying to escape like that?"

"wh- NO! Obvio'sly not!" Kelley shouted, shocked and horrified at the very suggestion.

"Really?" Teresa asked skeptically, looking over her shoulder at the younger girl. "A free trip off the island, a chance at getting your talent removed, no risk of your friends getting killed in turn. All for the price of, say, setting the asshole scarecrow on fire and booking it for the hedge maze before you have to start screaming." She raised an eyebrow. "That's not even a little appealing to you?"

"NO, actu'lly!" Kelley insisted, disgust and anger at the idea also cropping up. "I don' care if i' woul' ben'fit me, I don' care if i' wouldn' direc'ly hurt m'friends, I refuse t'murder anyone here, ev'n som'one as unlik'ble as Shawn!" She felt her fists clenching as she glared at the other girl. "No'on' shoul' hav' t'suf'r in a damn Killin' Game, alrigh'!"

Teresa was silent as she processed this, looking over the Irish girl with some surprise. Then, she chuckled. "Well, even as nice as you seem, I wasn't expecting such ferocious refusal to compromise your morals. I'll admit, I'm a bit jealous of your resolve."

"Well, happy t' s'rpise ya, then." Huffing and trying to calm herself down (honestly, she'd surprised herself at how intense she'd been), Kelley turned back to the door. What was taking everyone else so long to get here?

"Oh, one more thing, Kelley." The Sphinx spoke up.

Rolling her eyes a bit, the Ultimate Banshee turned around again. "Wha-"

SLASH

Claws suddenly raked across her chest, just above the breasts and below the neck.

She was too shocked to even scream, watching the blood flow out across her clothes.

SLTHUNK

A spear rammed into her gut. Stumbling back, she fell back against a tree, blood starting to stain her dress around the golden blade.

"I don't have your morals." The Sphinx explained, a cruel smirk across her face.

Kelley was already starting to feel light-headed. Looking past the killer in front of her, she was vaguely aware of a pale ghostly outline looking at her from the trees near the windows. A young soul, younger than her, snuffed out brutally and cruelly, yet still full of goodness. It wanted to help her, protect a fellow Irish girl from sharing a similar vicious fate, but it seemed constrained somehow(why did she know all of that?).

"Nothing personal, deary." Teresa stated casually, roughly yanking the spear out of Kelley's stomach, releasing a fresh wave of blood. "But if anyone else died you'd just let off a scream and send everyone running." Smiling, Teresa hefted the spear up, aiming it at Kelley's head. "And I couldn't have that."

The spear pulled back.

The world around her grayed out.

Kelley opened her mouth

and SCREAMED.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Dropping the spear, the Sphinx staggered back, clutching her ears as the wall of shear NOISE crashed into her at terminal velocity. How could one slip of a girl be so loud? This seemed louder than usual, even.

Damn it, if she'd just aimed a little better, she'd've probably muted the Banshee entirely. Clearly, hoping the shock from her injuries would silence her was too much to ask for.

Never mind, fuck it. She didn't have time to bother with semantics.

She haphazardly made her way to the door. She didn't spare a glance back at the screeching banshee.

She was as good as dead already.

And Teresa was going to capitalize on that.

Making for the back door of the mansion (less likely to run into anyone that way), she made her way to the hedge maze.

7:17 P.M. Day Eleven

Brooke marched down the hall to the front door, Victoria trailing behind her. With an angry kick, Brooke knocked open the door, and stormed across the empty courtyard to the Hedge Maze.

Alexis was already standing in the maze's entrance when they arrived, turning to the sound of angered footsteps. "What's happened?" She asked, somewhat neutrally.

"Have you seen Teresa? She just murdered Kelley." Brooke growled out bluntly.

A genuine look of surprise crossed the Brazilian's face, as she stepped back. "n-No, I haven't seen anyone," she pointed down the corridor, "I was just heading into the maze to see if I could head off whoever provoked that scream."

"Rrrr. C'mon," Brooke stalked by and continued into the maze, "there's someone who needs her wings plucked." Victoria following after her, seeming unsure of what to do with her bloodied hands at the moment.

Alexis turned around and followed the transformed girls. "Well, this I'd like to see."

The three moved through the pathways, passed the hedges and the small creatures skittering nearby (were those the gremlins they'd all been told about?). They ignored anything of their immediate surroundings, however. All thoughts were on finding the Sphinx.

Brooke wouldn't accept it. Kelley was the nicest girl on this cursed island, for her to be murdered like this, so one bitch could just run off and leave the rest to suffer... Brooke would take nothing less than Teresa's death.

Victoria was still unsure of what was happening. She wanted to catch Teresa, no complaints there, but Brooke seemed set on outright murdering the Sphinx herself, and damn the consequences. That didn't sit well at all. And why did all that blood have to soak into her bandages like that?!

Anything Alexis was feeling, she kept to herself. She just followed the other two, a hand on her knife's hilt.

Eventually, the trio reached the room full of hedge creatures.

... Brooke really wasn't expecting the sight before them.

Teresa Enchino lay on the ground, several gaping injuries upon her body.

Her head lay several feet away from the body, hair splayed wildly and eyes lifeless. A bloody scythe lay nearby.

The Ultimate Sphinx was quite dead. And it appeared to have been a rather recent killing.

"w-What th-?" The Floridian stuttered, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.

Alexis went wide-eyed for a moment, before shaking her head to clear it. "We have to keep moving." She strode forward, pulling the stunned Floridian along. "Whoever did this might try to escape themselves."

"uh, r-Right." Victoria mumbled, following after them.

Continuing ahead (as quickly as they found capable), the women reached the maze's center.

Everything seemed undisturbed. The crystal was still in its spot on the pillar. And only one person was in the room.

Kinsei Momota was leaning next to the pillar, staff cradled in his arms and an air of smugness surrounding him. "Evening ladies." He greeted, waving at them. "Here hoping for a free ride off the island? It won't be cheap, and some of you might be better coming in the morning."

Kinsei's annoying presence - and vague innuendo - seemed to snap Brooke back to attention. "Shove it. Did anyone use that crystal?" She demanded, in no mood for games.

"Nope. You're the first people to show up." The Alchemist informed them. He plucked the crystal off the pillar and looked it over. "And this motive is officially off the table effective immediately, by virtue of the only viable recipient dying before receiving it. Next, comes the trial."

"Really? Whoever killed that Sphinx didn't show up?" Brooke asked, somewhat dryly (or maybe that was the regular growl of the form she was in).

He scoffed. "Even if they did, it wouldn't help. The crystal was a first come, first serve deal, remember? Once someone killed, only that person could use the crystal. That right isn't inheritable by killing its owner." He explained.

Alexis didn't seem to care. "Right, well where did the new killer run off to?"

"I'm afraid that's up to you and other test subjects to figure out." Kinsei shrugged off. "I can help in one manner, though." He added with a smirk. Walking forward, he thrust the crystal out before them all. "Off we go!"

Suddenly, the crystal began glowing a bright purple, and-

FLASH

-the four of them were teleported back to the maze entrance.

As they arrived (and wasn't that an odd experience for those who weren't used to it), they found Eric approaching the maze from the mansion, while Elle was running up from the front gate. Understandably, they seemed a bit surprised to see several people suddenly appear in front of them.

"wh-What happened?!" The Cryptozoologist questioned, coming to a stop in front of the teleported group.

"In brief, Kelley was murdered, and now the murderer has been killed as well." Alexis explained succinctly, looking over the new arrivals. "And where were you two in all this?"

Eric looked shocked and horrified at what he'd been told, but kept calm enough to respond. "i-I heard Kelley scream and came here, tried to find whoever was trying to escape into the maze. I was using the bathroom when the scream hit, getting ready to do anything took awhile." He explained, running a hand through his hair (and looking slightly uncomfortable at admitting that last part).

Elle (looking surprised and nervous as well) added her two cents, stepping away slightly from Eric while adjusting her hat. "i-I'd been out near the forest, looking for anything that might, um, resemble my field of work. I must've gone deeper than I thought, I only just got in sight of the mansion." She looked stricken. "So, they're really two deaths, even Kelley?"

"Afraid so." Victoria responded, sounding downtrodden (understandably).

The Alchemist was rather disinterested in all this. "Mm, yeah, intriguing and all that. Well, I'll leave the rest to you, toodles!" With that, Kinsei turned and ran off into the mansion.

"Of course he just had to drop us at the start of the maze, not where the body already was." Brooke grumbled as she watched him go.

As he left, Syd appeared from the mansion and approached the hedge maze, medical bag in hand. Gary was following behind him, looking worried.

"What are you doing here?" Brooke asked him.

"Same as always, I'm here to do my job, go over the body and put together the case file for the deceased." The Surgeon bluntly informed them. "I already finished with the Banshee, which leaves -"

"Yes yes, quite right." Alexis interrupted, stepping away from the rest of the group. "I think I'll go check on the Undertaker. Is Clarisse still with her?" Alexis asked Brooke.

"Yeah, send her over if you can." the amphibious girl responded. "She could help here."

"I think I'll stay out here." Gary stated, wringing his hands. "I wouldn't be of much help with this."

"Probably for the best. Too many bakers, and all that." Victoria agreed, hands behind her back.

"I think I'll stay too." Elle added, hugging herself. "We can fill Shawn in whenever he shows up."

"I'll just, try and organize alibis while you work." Eric shared, prompting an agreeing nod from Brooke.

"Well, let's do this then." Victoria stated, turning back to the maze and clapping her bandage-wrapped hands. It was a half-hearted thing this time.

They all split up.

7:26 P.M. Day Eleven

Outside

Hedge Maze

The duo stood before the Sphinx's dead body, silently. Syd had done his work quickly and left the maze, leaving the rest to the two of them.

"Well, let's see what we can see." Victoria stated without much delay, crouching down next to the body.

"Seems pretty straight-forward to me." Brooke commented unsympathetically as she circled around the corpse. "There was a fight, the Sphinx was cut several times, then decapitated." She looked around the ground. "I'm not seeing any distinct footprints around here. Not even sure the ground's soft enough for that in this area." Sh sniffed the air, glancing around. "I'm not sure I smell anything out of place, but I haven't exactly cultivated my senses like this."

Victoria looked closely at the injuries across the Sphinx's body, trying to determine how fresh they were. "... I'm not the expert at these things, but I think the death was fairly recent."

"Yeah, I think that part's kinda obvious." The currently-amphibian woman pointed out.

"No, I mean, like, she had just been killed by the time we got here." The other girl clarified. "Like, a minute before, give or take. I think."

"Ok, so where did the killer go?" The Floridian asked, looking around. "We didn't pass anyone on the way here, the tunnel between the entrance and this room is pretty linear, and I'm pretty sure none of us can climb these walls."

The Mummy girl was silent for a moment, thinking over the details. "My question is: what was Alexis doing already here?" Victoria questioned. "In fact, didn't it look like she was walking out of the maze?"

"Well, I was walking pretty loudly on the Courtyard's stone floor." Brooke admitted, looking down at her large webbed feet. "She probably just turned around to see who was coming her way."

"Hmm." Victoria didn't seem convinced. "Regardless," she stood back up, "I think I'll be keeping my eye on the Brazilian for now."

Normally, Brooke would agree with that assessment (she wasn't a fan of the Brazilian mythologist or her off-scent, by any means), but...

... She'd seen the look on Alexis's face. The surprise about Kelley's death. Knowing Teresa, she would've probably mentioned what she'd done if she'd gotten found by anyone, or if the killer had been turned away from the center, what Teresa had done would've almost certainly been told to them by Kinsei. But Alexis was getting the news for the first time in that moment, Brooke was almost certain of it.

As for the rest, well, she just wasn't sure about any of that.

Finally, Clarisse decided to show up. "What do we have so far?" She asked without preamble.

"Well, we won't be matching anyones shoes to the scene, and I'm guessing that the scythe-wielder didn't get blood on them." Brooke summarized, running a hand over her scaly head.

"How do you figure?" Clarisse questioned.

"Besides Shawn, we've seen everyone that wasn't with Kelley. No one has any blood on them, and I'm pretty certain there wasn't enough time to change any clothes." Brooke explained.

"Even Alexis's tank top?" Victoria asked skeptically, unwilling to let a possible lead go.

"Even that red wouldn't cover blood." Brooke argued.

"Hmm."

"I guess they could avoid getting blood on themselves," Clarisse admitted, "but that obviously doesn't help much."

"I realize that." The Floridian said, somewhat crossly. She sighed/growled. "Let's just, keep at this. We still have some time, let's make the most of it."

The girls continued looking over everything, trying to make sure they hadn't missed anything important.

Hopefully, they could actually work this mess out in the trial. They had to.

7:34 P.M. Day Eleven

First Floor

West Hallway

Sabishī quietly tidied up Kelley's body. Smoothing out the dress, straightening her legs, folding her ams over her chest. Alexis - having come and swapped positions with Clarisse - leaned against the wall, keeping an eye on the situation. The Surgeon had already come by to examine the body beforehand, then left for the unexpected second corpse. The Undertaker definitely hadn't expected that, but for now she was focusing her attentions on her departed friend.

"At least you don't need to keep screaming anymore." Sabishī commented softly, brushing a loose strand of green hair into place.

Moving away from the wall, Alexis quietly kneeled down next to Kelley's body. She looked legitimately saddened for once. She ran a hand over the Banshee's hair, before gently closing the girl's eyes.

"Descanse em paz, pequenino."

There weren't many times anyone in the mansion could say they'd heard honest emotion in the Brazilian's voice. This was one of those times.

"I'll admit, I'm surprised you seem so affected by this." Sabishī confessed, looking over at the Latin-American Mythologist.

Alexis looked over at the Undertaker, an odd look in her eyes. "I'll admit my past isn't exactly clean. I've done what I needed to in order to survive ... sometimes, perhaps, things I didn't need to do. But, at the end of the day, I'd like to think I'm still a good person." She looked back at Kelley. "And I know she was."

"... Yeah." Sabishī looked down again. "We should've brought her to the study with us when we started searching. I should've thought of that when Clarisse got me. I-"

"Stop right there." Alexis interrupted sternly. "Don't blame yourself for anything, especially not this. I've heard you've got a habit of doing that."

"I ... I'm trying not to, but every time someone here dies, I just ... I feel like I could've done something to prevent it, I should've done something more. I just-"

"Well, I'm quite certain you couldn't, so stop worrying about it." Alexis bluntly responded. She stood back up, moving to the wall. "If you do, then you'd never get anything done, sim?"

"r-Right."

"And, if it helps," the Brazilian added, "think of it this way. Do you honest think Kelley would blame you for any of this?"

"... No."

"Well alright then." Crossing her arms and propping a foot up of the wall, Alexis went silent, seeming to have finished saying her piece.

Mackenzie showed up, sketchpad in hand. She looked down at Kelley's body with disappointment and slight disgust. "Ugh, did you have to move her from where she was? I prefer these things to be authentic."

"We weren't going to just leave her in there, she was still alive when we found her!" Sabishī argued, rapidly becoming angry at the Painter's lack of empathy. "How can you just be so, heartless over people's deaths! I heard you even helped her with something earlier, did that just not mean anything to you?! Don't you even care?!"

"Of course I care!" The Painter insisted, looking angry herself. "I just want to capture the honest truth of a person's final moments, no matter how upsetting the image is. Would you rather I lie, bury away the truth of their death until it's lost to time, until those that died are completely forgotten with not even anyone left alive to speak of them?!"

Sabishī was silent, though her glare lessened somewhat. "I'm not against them being remembered. But I think that, since she died out here so recently, Kelley would prefer if this," she gestured at the Banshee's more 'dignified' presentation, "be how she's 'remembered'. Don't you think that what she would've wanted might matter?"

"..." Looking away, Mackenzie huffed. "Fine. I'll just, cover things as is. I suppose it would be a nice change of pace to my usual work load." She sat down and started sketching.

"Thank you." Sabishī responded, leaning back.

The Alchemist - who had most definitely not been lingering back watching the most recent pieces of conversation - finally approached, eyes on the scene, and especially the Undertaker.

"Shouldn't you be helping investigate?" He asked/demanded.

"s-Someone needed to stay here, with her." Sabishī explained.

"Eh. Whatever. The rest probably have it covered." He turned away, starting to leave.

"I have something I want to ask." The Undertaker spoke up, stopping him.

"Oh? And what might that be?" The Alchemist turned back to her.

"I want you to leave Kelley's body here, untouched." Sabishī asked. Kinsei and Alexis looked surprised (Mackenzie was currently in an artist's fugue, she didn't notice a thing going on around her).

"Why?" The Alchemist asked, curious.

"I ... I want to give one of my friends an actual burial." Sabishī admitted, fighting sudden tears. "I j-just want t-to do that for one of them in this h-horrible game."

"What about Teresa?" Kinsei asked, crossing his arms.

The younger girl looked down at the Banshee's body. "... did she actually kill Kelley?" Sabishī trusted her friend's dying words - she wanted to, at least - but to get confirmation from one of the staff...

"... I probably shouldn't say, but yes, she did." Kinsei admitted.

"Then what about Teresa?" The Undertaker said sharply, a scowl overtaking her features.

The Alchemist smirked. "Good to know."

"The Undertaker should get a chance to use her talent at least once in this game." Alexis commented from her spot against the wall. "I for one would like to be buried peacefully when I pass on, and quickly so the rot doesn't start to ruin my good looks on the mortal coil."

"Hmm. Good point." Kinsei agreed. Rolling his eyes slightly, he turned back to the undertaker. "Fine. You'll get your burial."

"... t-Thanks."

"Mmm. Don't go thanking me yet. Who knows how the rest of the night will play out." Turning, he stalked down the hall.

7:42 P.M. Day Eleven

Outside

Graveyard

The group was quiet as they made their way across the graveyard. At the section containing the dead participants, they found Shawn, sitting across from the graves on a headstone.

"What are you doing here? Where have you been?" Brooke demanded of him.

"I had decided to wander out here for a change of scenery." He explained, crossly. "When I heard the scream, I figured that we'd be having a trial soon. Considering I wouldn't be much help with that, I settled for just waiting here for the rest of you to get it over with and show up." He held up his journal. "Now who bought it, my journal still hasn't updated yet."

"I'll get to it at the trial, alright?!" The Surgeon muttered to himself, sounding annoyed.

"Well, if our current line-up wasn't enough of a hint for you," Alexis commented dryly, waving her arm at the assembled mansion denizens, "Teresa murdered Kelley, and we need to find out who murdered Teresa in turn. Is that succinct enough for you?" Shawn rolled his eyes, saying nothing as he stood up to join the procession.

"Honestly, I'm still annoyed I didn't have time to get to that last body." Mackenzie grumbled, clutching the sketchpad under her arm. Shiro rubbed her back for comfort.

"Don't worry, we'll leave the body as-is for you to sketch after the trial." Kinsei assured her. The Painter seemed to perk up at that.

Finally, they reached the mausoleum.

Sabishī strode forward silently, unlocking the door.

They entered the trial room.

Once again, it was time to begin.

[9 participants remain]

A/N: So, who do you think coulda done it? Find out next chapter.