Guest: your question will be answered in chapter 29.
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Thorn rose from the chair, but Shaggy was faster. He shot out of the chair as if he had been shot out of a cannon, and kissed her full on the mouth.
Debra froze in shock. Just what had happened between her leaving to find the other girls, and now?
Stepping back Shaggy smiled at Debra, whom he had left in a daze.
Elsa laughed. "Well that is sure a declaration of love if I've ever seen one."
Shaggy smirked at Elsa. "And when would you have seen one?"
Elsa smirked back at Shaggy. "My parents."
Shaggy blinked for a second before letting out a laugh. "You got me there." Shaggy turned to Debra as she was coming out of her daze. "So how are the others Debra?"
Debra smiled a quiet little smile at Shaggy. "Just fine Shaggy. The solved the clue we found here, and were able to find the last clue for the treasure."
At this everyone gave her their full attention. Smiling Debra showed the clue to Shaggy. As Shaggy read the clue Thorn and Elsa leaned over his shoulders reading along with him.
Shaggy looked up after finishing. "Are the other girls still stuck in the room where you found this?"
Debra shook her head. "A door appeared in the back of the room, and they followed where it went to try and solve this clue."
As Debra spoke a door appeared on the wall next to the mural startling Elsa. Shrugging Shaggy walked over and opened the door.
Beyond the door stretched a hallway leading to a circular room ringed with doors at each point of the compass. Each door looked the same. Each door had a brass handle, was painted brown, and stood about the same height Shaggy stood at. Thorn frowned.
"How do we know which door to start with?"
Debra looked thoughtful. "I would guess we look in each door until we find the one that has a room that looks like spring."
Her words caused Thorn and Elsa to stare at her in surprise.
"Why Spring?"
Debra shrugged. "The clue says to start in spring. So logically that's where we should start, and I'm sure Crystal, Sibella, and Tanis have already found the starting point already."
Shaggy blinked. Then reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Elsa and Thorn both groaned causing Shaggy to smirk as he made a call. He nearly dropped the phone when it was answered.
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Sibella looked around the field she and the other girls were fighting in. When they had approached the 4 doors they had opened the one on the north wall. Looking through it they could see what looked like a winter wonder land, causing Crystal to realize this was not where they needed to start. The next door on the east wall had opened on to a field filled with flowers. Sibella was scared to enter the room, worried she would come in contact with a rose. Crystal and Tanis had promised to watch out for roses and to keep her away from them.
As they enter the room the door had slammed shut ant the room had spun. Sibella had transformed into a bat, and taking flight had watched as doors on the other walls had rotated around. She had noticed a barrier in the middle of the room, and worried how they would get to the next door. That was when the cell phone Shaggy had given her rang.
"Hello?"
"Hi Sibella. It's Shaggy."
"Shaggy it's great to hear from you once again."
"Same here Bella" Shaggy said in a voice that made Sibella flap her wings in surprise. It sounded like Shaggy had made a choice, and it was 1 she was going to like very much. "I need to know where you, Crystal, and Tanis are at the moment though."
Sibella smiled to herself. "We're crouching in a field of flowers. Well Crystal and Tanis are, I'm flying around the field."
"Witch Door did you all enter."
"The eastern door."
As Sibella watched a door opened, and Shaggy walked in with Debra, Elsa, and Thorn. The strange thing was that they were on the other side of a mirror. Because of this they couldn't get to her and the others.
Thorn and Elsa looked around while Debra watched Shaggy. Just like she had done the first time they had split up. Sibella frowned as she could see Elsa talking, but no sound could be heard. Shaggy frowned at a mirror, and then lifted his phone back to his ear.
"Sibella? Can you hear me?"
Sibella smiled to herself. "Loud and clear Shaggy."
Shaggy look in the direction of the mirror again. "It looks like you 3 are cut off from half of the room."
"Yes we are. A barrier divides the room. It seems to only cut off 1 door out of here though."
Shaggy laughed. "Something tells me that it is blocking the door needed to proceed with this little trek."
Sibella nodded in agreement. "Any ideas?"
"Hang on a minute."
Sibella could see Shaggy talking with Debra, Elsa, and Thorn.
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Shaggy scanned the room he and the girls with him had entered. He had taken Sibella's advice and entered the eastern door on the wall. He and his girls had entered a room laid out like a field of flowers. The sun shone gently down from a clear sky, or at least what looked like the sky. Hanging in midair was a large mirror. The strange thing about the mirror was the fact it seemed to reflect a different room. After all it was possible to see Tanis and Crystal in the mirror, but not Elsa, thorn, or Debra. Not to mention himself.
Looking around Shaggy saw what had to be a switch of some kind. The only problem was it was protected by a large collection of what Shaggy could only call bees. The problem was their size. Each bee was the size of Elsa. Turning to his girls Shaggy asked, "Any ideas for dealing with those", and he waved at the bees.
That was apparently the wrong thing to do, for when Shaggy waved the bees left the switch and flew right at the girls. Caught off guard Shaggy barely avoided being stung. Elsa wasn't so lucky for a bee flew toward her left shoulder and stung her right away. The other girls were now running around the room, doing their best to stay ahead of the swarm. All of them that is except for Thorn. At the first sign of trouble she rose her hands and began chanting. Without warning fire erupted from her hands incinerating any bee that came near her.
It took a few minutes, but the others realized that Thorn was taking down the bees with ease. Shaggy Ran near her and ducked down allowing him to duck below the bee's attack. Elsa wasn't able to use this tactic because of her height.
While the bees were distracted Debra turned intangible, and dashed for the switch. Waiting for just the right moment Debra went solid and slammed her hand on to the switch. To everyone's surprise all the bees disappeared, except for those fried by Thorn. Looking through the mirror the group saw the barrier drop on Sibella's side.
"Shaggy are you all ok?"
Shaggy checked over his girls and Elsa. "We're all ok except for Elsa. She took quite a few stings."
"I'll be ok Shaggy. It'll take more than that to take me down."
Shaggy smiled at Elsa and turned toward Thorn. "I'm proud of you Thorn. You protected us all from an unexpected attack by keeping your own personal cool. Even if it was by frying everything else."
Thorn laughed while she blushed.
Smiling Shaggy watched to see which door Sibella and the others entered. He was surprised when he saw them unable to open it. "Sibella which door is that?"
He heard a sigh over the phone. "Northern door. Do you think our guess was wrong?"
Shaggy shook his head. "Let's see what happens when we open it on this side."
So saying Shaggy walked to the northern door, and pulled it open. Beyond the door he could see what looked like a summer corn field.
"The door just opened over here" Sibella said.
Shaggy smiled. "Well then, let's see what we have to deal with this time." With that Shaggy and the other girls entered the door.
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Tanis grinned to herself as she followed Crystal and Sibella through the door into a room that was obviously sub post to reflect summer. The sun beat down from a clear sky. Just like the spring room there was a mirror hanging in midair. Tanis wasn't tall enough to see what it reflected, but she was willing to bet her sarcophagus it would show where Shaggy, Debra, Elsa, and Thorn were standing. Looking around she saw a strange switch. Above it was a large hive.
Sibella, what did the others have to face in the first room?"
Sibella smiled at the curious mummy. "Large bees."
Tanis paled. "You mean just like what's in that hive above the switch?"
At Tanis's words Sibella spun around and gaped at the large hive hanging above a strange switch on the wall. "Uh Crystal."
At Sibella's voice Crystal turned and looked in the same direction Sibella was looking. Her eyes brew quite big at the sight of the hive just hanging there.
"What do we do?" Tanis was very frightened.
Crystal and Sibella gave each other a look. "We need to get to that switch."
"How do we do that without getting ourselves killed?"
Tanis listened while the older girls discussed options for fighting their way to the switch. She frowned as each idea got wilder and wilder. Sighing Tanis used her bandages to fully cover herself, and began walking toward the hive. Nobody noticed as she drew near the switch. When she was only a foot from the switch the hive seemed to come to life as hundreds of wasps flew out of the hive.
The wasps flew right over Tanis's head as she had crouched as she crept toward the switch. Sibella and Crystal hadn't noticed anything until the swarm headed straight for them. In a panic Crystal pulled a small hand-gun and started shooting the wasps. While Sibella started casting ice spells at them. Crystal would shoot some of the swarm, while Sibella would freeze a group of them, only for more to appear from the hive.
Tanis mean while wasn't having an easy time herself. One of the swarm had taken upon itself to guard the switch. Circling the switch, and diving at anything or anyone that got to close. Nothing Tanis did could draw the wasp away from the switch long enough for her to teach the switch. Finally in frustration Tanis struck out with her bandages at the wasp. With a count of 1, 2, 3! Tanis slapped the wasp strait into the path of Sibella's ice attacks. As the wasp sored through the air, Tanis made 1 last dash toward the switch. Just as she slammed her hand down on the switch 1 of the wasps found her with its stinger. Tanis cried out in pain as the wasp got her in the right arm. Fortunately just like the last room the hive and wasps disappeared as soon as the switch was hit.
Sibella ran over to Tanis lying on the floor crying in pain. Crystal hurried over as well and pulled out a device she pointed at Tanis before pushing a button. A red beam shot out of the device and when it touched Tanis she fell asleep.
"I can't believe she tried that without us heling her."
Sibella shook her head. "Tanis has always felt like she had something to prove. If not to anyone else, then to herself."
Crystal shook her head as they headed for the door on the western wall.
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Shaggy shook his head as he and the others entered the next room. This room was clearly representing forest in autumn. The trees were covered in leaves in all different colors. Mushrooms seemed to grow everywhere. The wind was much cooler than the last 2 rooms, and just like those rooms there was a mirror hanging in midair. Shaggy looked around and spotted a switch guarded by a brown bear.
"Well that's a little easier to deal with than the last one."
Debra and Thorn gave Shaggy a strange look.
"What's easier?"
"There is only 1 creature to avoid this time. Instead of a whole group of them."
Debra shrugged, turned intangible, and flew right at the switch. The bear never noticed her until it was too late as she slammed the switch. Just like the other rooms the bear disappeared as soon as the switch was hit.
With a smile Debra returned to the group. "That only leaves winter. Let's see what happens next."
So saying Debra lead the group to the only door not previously opened.
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"I would just like to go on record with saying Shaggy and the others have it easier with Debra", Crystal said as they entered a room covered in ice and snow. Sibella laughed as Tanis having recovered from her encounter with the wasps was skating all over the place, and laughing while doing it. "Maybe so, but at least we get the room of fun."
Crystal scowled. "Fun! You think getting berried in snow is fun?"
Sibella looked at Crystal in surprise. "You don't like snow Crystal?"
Crystal shook her head. "Can't stand it."
"Then let's find the switch we need quickly."
Crystal nodded at this, and started scanning the room. Sibella did the same while keeping an eye on Tanis.
Tanis meanwhile was using her skating all over the room to look for the switch like the others. She was careful this time to not run into everything she saw around her. That all changed when the ice seemed to form into a giant monster, and start chasing her around the room.
Sibella was the first to notice the monster made of ice chasing after Tanis. "Crystal, I think Tanis must have gone near the switch."
Crystal was about to ask why Sibella thought that, until she saw what was chasing their mummy. "I'll see if I can help Tanis stay ahead of that beast. Why don't you see what you can find in that corner?" So saying Sibella ran at the monster, and launched a fireball at it.
Crystal moved over to the corner Sibella had pointed at, and saw not 1, but 3 switches. One red, 1 yellow, and 1 green. Crystal examined each switch before pressing the red switch. It depressed with a soft click, but nothing else happened. Shrugging Crystal next pressed the green switch. However this time there was a sound of a buzzer, and the red switch returned to its original position.
While Crystal was working on the switches, Sibella and Tanis were fighting with the ice monster. Sibella would launch fireballs at it while Tanis would attack it from behind with her bandages. The 2 of them were getting tired with all the moving around they had to do in order to dodge the monster's attacks. The monster seemed to be getting smarter as well, for at 1 point it ducked Sibella's fireball which struck the bandage Tanis had whipped at the monster. This set the bandage on fire, and in Tanis's surprise she whipped the same bandage at the monster again. The monster wasn't expecting that, and stood up right into the fiery bandage. This attack finally started melting the monster. All though it wasn't giving up without a fight.
Crystal during this had tried a few combinations with the switches. She decided to try the yellow switch, and then the red switch. To her delight both switches stayed depressed. With anticipation she reached out and pressed the green switch. There was a 3 toned chime, and the room seemed to shimmer as the monster Tanis and Sibella were fighting disappeared.
"Yay!" Tanis yelled as she and Sibella dashed over to Crystal.
"Well done Crystal" Shaggy said from Sibella's phone. "That just leaves reentering the spring room to complete this challenge."
As Tanis followed the other girls through the door, she couldn't help feeling they weren't quite done yet.
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Shaggy, Debra, Elsa, and Thorn stepped into the room representing spring again. To their surprise the room looked quite different. For 1 thing the mirror hanging overhead was much larger. For another a new door had appeared in the center of the room.
Looking around Shaggy also noticed that not only did they have a barrier dividing the room, but so did the other girls. "I wonder how we're sub post to get to that door."
Sibella spoke from the phone. "I think we need to press the switches in the corners in the order we solved these puzzles."
Looking around Shaggy saw a switch in each of the corners. Each was softly glowing a bright royal blue.
"The question", Crystal said, "which switch do we press first?"
Looking closer shaggy noticed a tiny picture on each switch. The northwestern corner had a picture of a flower. The northeastern corner had a picture of the sun. The southwestern corner had a picture of a mushroom, and the southeastern corner had a picture of a snowball.
"I think we need to first press the northwestern switch on this side" Shaggy said into the phone.
In the mirror Shaggy could see Sibella and Crystal looking around in puzzlement. "Why is that Shaggy?"
"Because that switch has a picture of a spring flower on it." He could hear the girls discussing something in the background.
"None of the switches have any pictures here."
Upon hearing this Thorn walked over to the northwestern switch, and pressed it. With a click the switch depressed, and all the pictures disappeared from all the remaining switches.
"Hay pictures just appeared on the switches on our side!"
Shaggy smiled. "Someone on your side needs to press the switch with a picture of a sun next."
Shaggy waited while he watch the mirror. He saw Tanis look around, and with a quick movement lash out with a bandage at the southwestern switch. Shaggy wondered about that, until he realized he was looking in a mirror. As the switch was depressed, the switches on his side of the mirror regained the pictures. Understanding what needed to be done, Shaggy walked around the room until he reached the switch with a picture of a mushroom, and pressed it.
As the pictures disappeared again he said, "Now all we need is for 1 of you to press the switch with a picture of a snowball, and we will be done with this puzzle."
As he watched Crystal pressed the last switch, and all hell seemed to break loose. /The barrier on both sides of the mirror disappeared. At the same time the mirror shattered into millions of tiny shards that rained down on both sides of the room, which was now twice the size it was before. This of course gave them all access to the door in the middle of the room. With a smile Shaggy walked over and opened the final door.
The door lead to a storage closet about 5 feet square. On 1 side was a shelf containing a small blue gem. This gem glittered in the light all around them. Shaggy reached out and picked up the final treasure. As his fingers closed around it the whole group was teleported out of the rooms, and back into the dining room. On the table was another sheet of paper.
"Looks like we have 1 more mystery to solve."
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An: wow! I think this is 1 of my longest chapters ever. I meant to have this uploaded yesterday, but I was suffering from 1 massive headache, and I just couldn't write beyond the spring puzzle. If you can call it a puzzle. If all goes well I should have the next chapter up tomorrow, and the last chapter on Friday. Till next time.