"So, let me get this straight," Vidia commented, raising a questioning eyebrow to the small leaflet of paper in her hands as she stared at the checklist of tasks to be completed. Make a cake. Put five pieces of paper into the drawer. Simon Says, "we're supposed to just fly around the house and do these made-up chores that have absolutely no purpose whatsoever?"

"While trying to determine which one of us is trying the sabotage the other's progress," Tink confirmed as she fluttered around, handing out everyone's responsibilities. "Yes, Vidia, exactly! You've got it!"

"I've got nothing," the fast-flying talent groaned, "but okay. It's a human game," she muttered, running an exasperated hand down her face. "It's not supposed to make sense. If the others want to make complete idiots of themselves, it's okay. Just go with it. It's just for fun. Just for fun."

"So, what exactly are the rules of this game again?" Sil asked as she took her paper, promptly holding it away from Rosetta as the redhead attempted to peek over her shoulder. Tink relayed her question to Lizzie and the girl grinned as the nine fairies gathered close.

"We're trying to keep a spaceship from crashing into a meteor from outer space," Lizzie explained, "but during our last refuel, something jumped on board that wasn't supposed to be there. It disguised itself as one of the crewmates-us-and it wants to take over the ship. But to do that, it has to take out every member of the crew who actually belongs."

"Uh...define 'take out'," Iridessa requested.

Vidia made violent slashing movements across her throat and added sound effects to boot.

"Oh..." the light-talent shuddered, stepping closer to Fawn. "Never mind."

"But, there is good news too!" Lizzie went on. "Every one of us has been given a list and on these lists are a series of jobs that need to be completed. If everyone can complete their jobs before the Imposter catches us, we win and they lose. Every time a body is found, we can call a meeting to discuss who is acting suspicious and when that happens, we will come back here to my room." She gestured around to the very cozy room. Clank and Bobble were already taking advantage of this, leaning up against some kind of giant cat plushy, looking much too smug for their own good.

Vidia decided to keep an eye on the two of them. Chances were, one, if not both of them, were Imposters. An interesting possibility, considering how terrible they were at keeping secrets. If one of them was an Imposter, the other probably already knew about it and was aiding and abetting. Well, the joke was on them because now she was so on to their hair-brained scheme.

"Seems pretty straightforward enough," Terrence decided. "We complete our lists before whoever the Imposter is gets us and we win. We can call meetings if we find a body or if we suspect we know who is after us."

Lizzie nodded, guessing what he was saying. "Exactly! Well done, Terrence! Okay!" She clambered to her feet excitedly. "Everybody ready?"

"Ready!" the group cheered.

"Great! Now, don't forget your whistles! Blow them if you see anything suspicious and good luck!" She was almost hopping up and down now and Mr. Twitches glanced up from his pile of catnip tiredly. "On your mark, get set, go!"

Upon her whistle, the fairies immediately scattered.

Vidia flew higher to observe everything at once. Iridessa and Fawn were the first to dart from the room, heading toward the stairs, while Clank and Bobble went toward one of the more obscure tasks in the corner of the room (one of the sets of wires, if she recalled correctly). After a moment, Tink and Terrence followed in the same direction as the girls and Rosetta raced after them. They would disperse further apart upon the first floor and then they would be much more difficult to track. Lizzie had given them a rundown of where each task had been before they had begun, but she highly suspected Tink was the only one who actually remembered all of the locations.

She groaned, glancing once more at her list of tasks.

Okay...okay...make a cake. Right. I can handle that. Okay, so I need to start in the kitchen then. So, I'm going to go that way and really hope nobody is there yet.

Ugh. Five seconds in and I've already been drawn into this stupid game. This is what I get for hanging out with this group of fairies instead of staying back at camp and helping bring in summer. I get lured into a game of murder and trickery with no preparation whatsoever.

Somehow, she wasn't nearly as disappointed about that as she thought she'd be, not that she would ever tell anyone. She had a reputation to uphold after all.

The kitchen was a good flight across the house, so she decided it would be best to try and locate as many of her tasks as she could along the way, thus saving some time later on for snooping around on the others. She was still very suspicious of the boys. They had seemed just a little too comfortable upon starting. On the plus side, though, they were both awful at lying and she could easily interrogate the truth out of them at the first meeting called.

Assuming the imposter didn't come after her first.

That was really not a pleasant thought.

She landed among the potted catnip, spotting the simon-says toy sitting on the back patio. The glass-paned door had been cracked open just enough for one fairy to slip through at a time. From where she hovered, she could hear the musical tones of the device. Someone was already on the game. Moments later, a flash of orange and smothered giggle told her it was Fawn.

Now she knew where one of them had gone.

One down, seven more to find.

Perhaps this was going to be easier than she'd thought.

Continuing on her way, she found herself in Mr. Griffith's office. Now, cleared away of all pinned butterflies and anything else that could be considered cruel and inhuman, the desk and chair were actually the perfect place to hide a task, and she could see random clips and pens and crumpled pieces of paper flying from the second drawer down, as well as hear Tinker Bell's frustrated huffs as she dug around inside for something. A specific note of some kind, if Vidia recalled the instructions Lizzie had given.

By the sounds of things, the tinker was having less than fortunate luck in finding anything of substance.

Correction, anything of importance, she altered as a giant eraser come soaring for her head and she narrowly threw herself out of the way in time. She couldn't say anything to the blond, since the rules stated communication with the other players outside of meetings was cheating, so she simply hurried on her way, rounding the desk and finding herself emerging into the kitchen.

Okay, kitchen, check. Time to temporarily become a baking-talent.

Now, if only she remembered how to make a cake.

Well, for starters, I'll need something to bake it in. A pan of some kind. And eggs. We use robin eggs but those would be rather small for a human. Perhaps there are certain ingredients around here that I'm supposed to use instead. Lizzie said she'd gone ahead and set everything up for us and-

There! She spotted a large pan sitting out on the counter. Lying next to it was a piece of paper that Vidia quickly realized was the instructions for making a cake. She supposed it had been a precaution in case one of the others who didn't know how ended up with it as a task.

Combine together eggs, water, and mix.

Okay, simple enough. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

It was surprisingly calm here, secluded in the back of the house, while the others ran and fled for their lives throughout the rest of the building. She didn't know if that was a good thing in terms of the game, but she didn't really care about it one way or another. So be it, if she had to make a cake to get some peace and quiet around here, then she was all right with that. Perhaps this was more enjoyable than a day spent back with the other talents, showing off her powers to the new arrivals, after all.

And then the first whistle was blown.

It was so distant and shrill that she almost didn't hear it, but she jerked her head up from her hand and fluttered into the air instantly. Around the corner, she could hear the drawers to the desk slam shut, meaning she hadn't been the only one to hear the summons.

She was the first back to the "meeting table" (A.K.A. Lizzie's bed), and she made herself comfortable amongst her numerous stuffed animals to wait for the others to trickle in. She wasn't sure what all could be considered a clue, but by doing this, she could at least know firsthand who was missing from the group.

It didn't take long to realize Iridessa wasn't along with the rest of the group, nor did the other fairies neglect to notice this.

"Wait..." Rosetta commented first, turning away from the rest of the group to scan the remainder of the room in concern. "Where's Iridessa?"

"She's dead!" Fawn exclaimed, popping up between Clank and Bobble and sending both diving away from her loud exclamation. "I found her near the reactor!"

"So, you reported the body?" Tink inquired, already looking thoughtful.

"Yeah!" the animal-talent nodded fiercely. "I was on Simon Says and then I turned around to go and fix the wires and I found her just lying there! At first, I thought she was playing a trick on me, but then I realized she wasn't and that someone had killed her!"

"But why would anyone want to hurt Miss Dessa?" Clank whimpered. "She's always so nice to everyone!"

"Aye," Bobble agreed, patting him reassuringly on the back, "but we all knew someone was goin' to go. Perhaps she was simply in the wron' place and the wron' time."

"You have thirty seconds to discuss who you think the Imposter is," Lizzie cut in as she plopped herself down at the top of the bed and began a stopwatch.

"Okay, so maybe we should try and account for our whereabouts," Tink suggested. "So that way we can narrow down who was around and who wasn't. I can start. I was in the study-"

"With a candlestick, no doubt," Terrence snorted as he adjusted himself on the end of the bed and fiddled with his cap.

"I was in the study," Tink repeated, shooting him a look. "Trying to figure out how to solve one of the riddles."

"She was," Vidia spoke up. "I can vouch for her. I passed her on my way to the kitchen."

"But how long was she there?" Rosetta asked. "Could she have gotten Iridessa first and then came over to the study afterward?"

"Not without passing me in the hall," Fawn interjected. "I went almost immediately for Simon Says and I was there the whole time."

"Okay, but the space between is rather large, isn't it?" Terrence put in. "I mean, if Vidia is being truthful and went straight to the kitchen, she must have passed the both of you. Fawn, did you see her while you were outside?"

"Hold on!" Vidia snapped, wheeling on the sparrowman challengingly. "Just what are you implying here?"

"No," Fawn admitted, her wings drooping solemnly. "I guess I didn't. Fluff bunnies! I thought I was on to something there!"

"And ye still might be," Bobble assured her. "Since whoever did this must have done it right before ye came out, but after Miss Bell went to solve the riddle and Miss Vidia entered the kitchen."

"Okay, so who else was around during that time?"

"Uh...we were," the redhead confessed, gesturing to himself and Clank. "We were on our way to the livin' room because I had a task down there."

"But you didn't see anything?"

"Uh...no. It musta' happened before we got there, but I only got through my first wirin' task before the call went out."

"And I didn't see anything up ahead when I went to start on my tasks either," Clank put in.

"So...wait...you guys weren't together the whole time?"

"Well, uh...I mean...technically...not the whole time, but..."

"Ten seconds!" Lizzie warned.

"Oh, guys! We gotta vote!" Rosetta cried.

"So, it could have been one of you!" Vidia exclaimed, pointing at the two boys triumphantly. I knew it! I called it from the beginning!

"Aye, but it wasn't!"

"It wasn't us, Miss Vidia! Honest!"

"Okay, we don't know anything for sure, so let's skip for now and we'll keep an eye out for anything suspicious," Tink suggested.

"Five seconds!" Lizzie announced.

"Okay, vote! Vote!"

"I don't know anything! I'm going to skip!"

"Skip!"

"Skipping!"

"Time's up!" the girl said, stopping the timer and holding it up for them all to see. "And it looks like no one was ejected! The game goes on! Go back to your tasks and good luck!"

And just like that, the fairies scattered a second time. Vidia watched them disperse, from Tink taking off like a shot to finish her task in the desk, to Bobble preferring to inch his way down the stairs instead, using the miniature stair rail Lizzie had helped the tinker trio build to steady himself.

Neither of them seemed especially suspicious. Actually, they both looked rather unnerved. That was good. It would keep them alert...and possibly in the game.

But no time to dwell on that now. She had a cake to finish baking.

Sil waved to her as she hurried on the back deck to sweep out a pile of leaves. She glanced back the fast-flyer's way and then quickly snatched the broom and hurried out of view.

Well, that wasn't at all creepy.

Okay, forget it. It was time to get to work.

Combine eggs, water, and mix.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

She could do that. Lizzie had shown Tinker Bell how it worked on a previous visit. Vidia remembered that experience well, as it had been one of the few she'd agreed to come on. Clank and Bobble had begged to come along as well, both fascinated by the idea of baking something without the use of untamable fire. The cookies they had attempted came out scorched and burned and far too blackened to be safely edible. Clank hadn't cared, however, taking the hit for them and eating his way through two of them before announcing that they were burnt.

There was a shriek of terror and a second whistle flooded the deserted halls.

Vidia groaned, rotating the dial back to the off setting once again and fluttering back down to retrieve her list of tasks.

Next time for sure.

She passed Silvermist in the living room and came up on Fawn coming in from the opposite direction as they reached the stairs. The animal-talent's eyes were wide and it didn't take a psychic to guess she'd been the one to find the body.

It had been three rooms and one hallway away from Vidia.

"I found them!" Fawn cried the moment her feet touched the mattress. Clank and Bobble were right behind them and Tink and Silvermist arrived a moment later.

There was no sign of Rosetta or Terrence.

"I found them both!" Fawn exclaimed again as she began hopping up and down on the bed. "Rosetta was lying just outside of navigation! The door was open beside her like she was about to go inside when she got jumped from behind. And Terrence was just a little way down the hall. I think he was trying to follow Tink to comms!"

"Two kills in the same round?" Tink gasped, ignoring the last part of the brunette's accusation. "How is that possible?"

"Well, while we've been lollygagging about, someone's clearly been busy sabotaging our ship," Vidia remarked, folding her arms. She refused to admit it, but she was actually beginning to enjoy this game. If only they would let her finish her cake!

"Well, it's not me!" Clank announced determinedly as he took a large drink from a plastic cup nearly as big as him.

"Uh, Clank?" Tink asked, fluttering down beside him. "What is that?"

"Fuel task," the sparrowman replied. "I was gonna take it to refill the tanks, but I guess I got a little distracted instead."

"I'll say," Bobble commented, hopping up on the bedpost behind him and leaning over his shoulder to peer inside. "There's hardly a drop left in there! Clank, you're supposed to take it to the kitchen and dispose of it there, not drink it all!"

"I know that, but I got thirsty!"

"Well, now ye have to go and do it all over again!"

"Not until we figure out who the imposter is, you don't!" Fawn warned.

"Guys," Tink put in. "There's only the six of us left! We need to be careful who we vote off here!"

"Well, I think Clank is being really suspicious!" Silvermist offered quietly. "He's just been drinking his task this whole time! And Bobble admits they weren't together the whole time! He could have slipped away and killed Iridessa and then got Rosetta and Terrence this time!"

"Now, wait a minute!" Clank protested. "Why would I want to do that? I like Miss Dess and Miss Rosetta and I don't 'ave a problem with Terrence! Besides, I can't be the imposter! I have the fuel task, see?" He held up the cup pointedly.

"Yeah, but imposters can fake their tasks too!"

"So says the fairy who is literally jumping on board and accusing everyone in sight!" Tink countered. "I think Fawn's the imposter and is trying to throw suspicion onto an innocent crewmate!"

"Yeah!" Clank agreed. "What she said!"

"Wait...no!" Fawn protested, waving her hands in front of her face. "It's not me! I was just trying to make a point! Guys, don't vote for me, please!"

"I think it's Fawn."

"I agree, Tink. She's actin' mighty suspicious."

"Are we going to vote her out?"

"I think so."

"And time's up!" Lizzie called. Five of the remaining fairies pointed to Fawn who let out a sad sigh and hopped down from the bed to join the land of the dead underneath.

"So...that's it then, right?" Tink asked, turning to address the girl. "We got the imposter out so the game is over now?"

But Lizzie only smiled and shook her head.

The weight of that response suddenly descended upon the remaining five.

"But, that means..." Bobble began.

"We just voted off an innocent," Sil finished, her hands flying to her mouth in horror.

"Your tasks are now officially halfway done," Lizzie alerted them. "And there are only five of you remaining. You'll really want to start being careful now!"

It's one of the boys, Vidia decided as the whistle was blown once again and the game could recommence. It has to be one of the boys.

She still hadn't completed her cake task, or either of her other two tasks, but none of that was going to matter if the imposter got another double kill like they had the previous round. The game would be over anyway. She needed to be sure that the two sparrowmen were in the clear. Or, if she got really lucky, observe one backstab the other and try to pin it on someone else.

"Where are we headin' now, Clanky?"

"I think one o' my tasks is in the garage...er...O2," came the response. "So maybe we should go there first and then come back and pick up your tasks?"

"Sounds good to me. Lead the way, old buddy."

Vidia quietly darted after them. This was perfect! They were together and neither of them had any idea that she was behind them. She was so good at this! Perhaps she should have become a private detective or something.

"Psst! Vidia! Whatcha doing?"

Vidia nearly leaped out of her skin. She whieeled around, glaring at the sheepishly grinning blond she knew she was about to find standing there. "Tinker Bell!" she hissed. "Shhh! Can't you see I'm busy here?"

Tink tilted her head. "What are you...oh, oh!" Her bluebell eyes grew round. "You don't think it's..." She pointed in the direction her guildmates had gone. Vidia raised an eyebrow and Tink inhaled sharply. "You do," she realized. "You think one of them is the imposter!"

"Hey! You guys!" Sil suddenly interjected, fluttering up behind them. "No talking, remember?"

"Yeah, Tinker Bell," Vidia echoed saucily. "No talking."

"Eh, I'm already breaking some rules," the girl responded with a shrug. "What could hurt from bending a few more? Sil, what are you doing here?"

"I'm on my way to O2," the water-talent replied. "I have to clean those vents and all that."

"Great!" Tink laughed. "That's on the way to electrical. I need to do some...switches of some kind, according to this." She tapped her sheet of tasks. "Why don't we go together? We'll be safer if we stick together."

"But what if you're the imposter?" Sil asked fearfully.

"She's not," Vidia assured her. "I can clear her. We were in the study together and she didn't kill me then when she had the chance. I think she's a crewmate."

Sil swallowed hard. "Okay," she decided. "Let's go."

"If the two of you can keep an eye on the boys for me, I've got a cake to finish," Vidia suggested and the two girls nodded in agreement.

"We can do that!"

"On it!"

And with that, Vidia was left alone to complete her tasks once again.

Combine eggs, water, and mix.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

She sighed in relief, closing the oven and sitting down on the counter to reread the rest of her tasks. The cake was going to be a while so she might as well go on to her other tasks while she was waiting.

Simon Says or the drawer task she had seen Tink attempting earlier? Either of them could be risky, especially since all of the other fairies were grouped together. There would be no one there to verify that she had completed them at all. It seemed kind of pointless to do them without an audience.

Fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately, the peal of a third whistle blast saved her from having to make the decision.

But if all four fairies had been together besides her, then that meant-

"It was Clank!" Bobble cried, pointing a quivering finger at his best friend as he scooted away to hide behind Tink. "He killed Silvermist right in front of me! I saw him goin' to do what I thought was a task but when I turned to see how he was comin' alon', Sil lyin' on the floor!"

"I didn't do it!" Clank protested. "I was with Miss Bell the entire time! Right, Tink?"

"I don't know!" Tink confessed. "I mean, you were with me, but then someone turned out all of the lights and you went awfully quiet but-"

"I'm scared of the dark!" the bigger sparrowman protested. "But I didn't kill anybody!"

"-but you did have the fuel task," the blond went on. "And we all saw you attempting that one, so that means it has to be Bobble or Vidia."

"What?" Bobble yelped, eyes growing even larger than usual behind his goggles.

"I was in the kitchen making a cake!" Vidia countered. "If you don't believe me, just use your nose! It's blueberry and vanilla! Check the recipe!"

"I can smell it," Tink granted.

And then all eyes drifted once more toward Bobble who seemed to instantly shrink under their suspicious stares. "It's...it's not me!" he yelped. "I'm tellin' ye, it's Clank! He killed Miss Sil and is framin' me for the whole ordeal!"

"No," Vidia decided. "It has to be you. Clank has an alibi and I saw Tink right before Iridessa's body was found so I know it's not her."

"Well, I'm not so sure," Clank put in. "She could 'ave got her before coming to the desk, right? Someone mentioned that, I think? I'm going to vote for Tink."

"Say what now?" Tink exclaimed.

"Well, I still think it's Bobble," Vidia announced.

"Ye know who I'm votin' for. Ye're both wron', just so ye know."

"Five seconds!"

They all closed their eyes and cast their final votes.

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

The final whistle blew through the room and the fairies opened their eyes to observe their fate.

Tink was pointing at Clank.

Clank was pointing at Tink.

Bobble was pointing at Clank.

Vidia was pointing at Bobble.

That was two votes against Clank. The sparrowman was out. With a groan of defeat, he flew down to join the others. Iridessa whacked him roughly in the shoulder and shook her head in mock disappointment.

"And that's that!" Bobble laughed, leaning back on a beam and letting his wings droop tiredly against his back. "The game's over! We've won, lassies!"

"Did we?" Tink inquired, twisting once more to Lizzie and posing her question. "Is that it? Did we win?"

The human girl remained impassive, her expression giving nothing away.

"Wait..." Tink froze, her wings going straight up into the air as she whipped back to the two fairies standing triumphantly behind her. Vidia watched her questioningly while Bobble clung to his hopeful grin of victory. "But if Clank was the imposter...then that couldn't have been...but that would mean..."

She had figured it out. At last, the final trick up her sleeve, the last ace she had been saving for just the right moment to strike. It didn't matter now, for there was nothing she would be able to do to prevent it.

"Oh, second star to the-Bobble, look out!"

Her warning came only moments too late.

He turned, just as she drew the toy knife from a hidden loop in her costume, and lunged for him. His eyes widened and he attempted to flee at his guildmate's cry, but there was no hope for him on foot. She was upon him in moments, the tip of the dagger grazing his chest as she drew back from him, victory flooding every part of her face as he crumpled and fell limp against the mattress.

And then she turned on Tinker Bell, the last of the crewmates.

She smiled.

"Game over, Tink."