"Oh I don't like that," Petra said, shuddering a little. "I really don't like that. Guess he already had all the X'ed out ones ready to go."
"Yep," Jesse sighed, turning back to the chest and poking through the portraits some more. "Besides Petra, we've got Lizzie, Dan, Stampy, Lukas, Ivor, and, hey, there's me..." Jesse blinked a bit at that.
"But what does it all mean?" Petra mused, tapping her lip curiously. "The cats... the crossed out portraits..."
Jesse looked at the cats, then at the portraits, and then her eyes lit up as the cogs in her head started turning and turning and turning. "Yeah, the portraits. There was one person who didn't have a crossed out portrait. Someone who's a known cat person..." Jesse looked at the chest, and then back at the others, eyes practically glowing. "I think the White Pumpkin..." and Jesse grinned, "is Cassie Rose!"
Stampy's mouth fell open in shock at that, and Petra looked at the cats. "Oh. Oh yeah!" and her eyes lit up as well. Literally, her eyes started glowing as her brain worked it out as well, before her head snapped to face Jesse, eyes sparkling with interest. "We HAVE to go back and tell the others!"
Jesse gave Petra a grin, her red eye glowing in the darkness. "Time to close up this murder mystery once and for all," she said, crossing all of her arms.
"I'll go round everyone up!" Stampy exclaimed as they came back out through the tunnel, and then bolted out of the room. Presumably to go track down Cassie and the others.
"What's going on?" Stacy asked, Lizzie and Dan both looking rather intrigued as Jesse said, in a bit of a rush, "We know who the White Pumpkin is!"
"Really? Who?"
"Yes, what's up?" Cassie asked, trotting in.
Jesse gave the red-haired girl a long, even look. Cassie returned the stare evenly.
Jesse didn't know why... but Cassie seemed familiar. Not- familiar familiar... but, familiar...
"Auntie, are these the hybrids you've been telling us about?"
"Yes dear."
Jesse sat up, wincing as the scientist partner- the one with beautifully red hair and grayish eyes came in, the door open and letting lots of light pour in.
Except behind her was a little girl, who looked as though she was about Jesse's age. Both of the Jesses. The little girl could've been the scientist's younger doppelganger, with the same bright red hair, but green eyes that sparkled like emeralds in her pale face.
Jesse tilted her head curiously at the little girl as the scientist partner continued, "This is Jesse. Although, don't tell anyone- Jesse's just their birth name. I'm not supposed to use it, but they respond to it, so I don't see the harm."
The little girl came closer to Jesse, who stared at her unabashedly, her own green eyes practically unblinking as she stared. It was strange to see someone as small as her without extra limbs or furry ears. "What's your name?" she tried to say, except what came out was a sort of hiss that made her chest thrum in a funny way. Oh yeah...
The girl shrank back. "Auntie, she hissed at me!"
"The DNA is still trying to get used to its new body- Jesse's going to be speaking in Spider for a very long while after this," the scientist partner said, rather calmly.
"Aunt Cassie, do you think she'd play with me if I asked?"
The scientist partner shrugged, a faintly amused look on her face. "I don't know, dear. But we should get back to the others- they're probably missing us right now."
"I don't like Mr. ... Mister... uh, Mister Purple Suit." Jesse giggled a bit at the funny nickname, and the little girl looked pleased that she'd made Jesse laugh. "He just keeps calling us the Cassies."
'Aunt Cassie' seemed to be trying to stifle her giggles now, gray eyes sparkling with mirth. "Ah, he does that to everyone. He's probably going to be calling you Rosebud if I let him find out your last name. So it's a secret, okay?"
The little girl nodded vigorously, eyes round and pretty. "Okay Auntie!"
"Now say bye to Jesse."
"Bye Jesse!"
And even though the little girl didn't look back at Jesse once, Jesse waved until the door shut again.
Jesse jolted up, blinking sleepily. "Jess? Wuzzgoinon?" he asked, rather fuzzily.
Jesse turned to look at her brother, blinking a bit at the little sleepy wolf hybrid, whose ears were all fluffy and whose hair was sticking up every which way. "Ah, nothing. Go back to sleep." Her voice came out more like a hiss, but with a great effort Jesse managed to speak English.
Jesse squinted at her, before plopping back down onto the pile of blankets, snuggling into her as if she were a personal heater or something. "'Kay."
Jesse shivered violently, chills shooting up her spine, as she looked up and mentally compared the little girl and the one wearing glasses in front of her. The murderer.
Well, if they weren't the same person, they sure looked it. Cassie Rose's hair was the same shade. Her eyes were the same shade. Heck, if you compared the facial structure, it was scarily similar.
"Couldn't find Cassie, but- oh!" And Stampy, accompanied by Ivor and Lukas, jumped back a bit, looking startled.
"So, what's going on?" Cassie repeated, green eyes harder than diamond.
"I have reason to believe I know who the White Pumpkin is," Jesse said, deceptively calmly.
Lukas's eyes widened, and he straightened up. "Y-you do?!" he sounded excited about it. Maybe even a little happy.
Jesse glanced at Lukas, and sent him a little nod as Winslow sat on the floor, giving his owner a funny look.
"So? Who is it?" Stacy asked, looking rather curious now.
Jesse took a deep breath, and lowered her arms, except for her uppermost pair- one of which touched her chin. "The White Pumpkin..."
And then she raised her right arm, drew it back, and levelled her finger in a dead point right at the red-haired, cat loving culprit. "Is Cassie Rose!"
A/N: DUN DUN DUN!
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