Angel was hungry when she blinked awake. Because of that, and that she's a morning person, she couldn't sleep no matter how many times she rolled over. She sighed to herself and kicked off her gold blankets, catching sight of the time as she did so.
It was 7:00 AM. Darn. Angel was feeling a bit sore from the pillow fight they had yesterday. It was surprisingly violent. But still, it was fun. Maybe they can do it again.
When Angel entered the kitchen, she saw Seri hovering over a jar of cookies, wearing a slightly manic grin that Angel associated with Axel when faced with hundreds of cakes.
"Good morning," she greeted. Seri looked up.
"Good morning," Seri said, smiling. "Why are you up? There's only an hour until the news comes on."
"I was hungry," Angel said, "and I'm a morning person. It drives everyone mad when I wake them up at 6:00 AM," she added. Seri laughed. "What about you?"
"Same as you. Want a cookie? There are tons in the cupboards," Seri said excitedly. "There's chocolate chip, raspberry, super, snowball, peanut butter, raisin, and so much more!"
Angel suppressed a snort. Seri and Axel could get along very well with how they're obsessed with sweets.
"Raspberry, please. I'm surprised you didn't come here earlier," Angel remarked as Seri reached for the jar with raspberry cookies.
"Ann asked me not to raid her kitchen on the first day," Seri said sheepishly as she handed Angel a raspberry cookie. "Said she didn't want to sic Ra—er, Annabelle on me."
Angel immediately knew why Seri didn't raid the kitchen for cookies after the first day and didn't voice it. "I see… who else is awake?"
"Kate, William, Tacey, and Mu—Renee," Seri said, hastily correcting her slip up. "I am not going to get used to calling them by their real names… anyway, Kate, William, and Tacey are in the training room, and Renee's in the living room, surrounded by documents. I think she's been there since last night."
"Why?"
Seri shrugged, "I don't know. She was asleep when I found her and I really didn't want to wake her up, so I left her a plate of cookies. Not cookie clip though. You can check on her if you want."
Angel was curious about why Renee didn't sleep and being the mother hen she was, she decided to go and check on her.
She found Renee sleeping with her head in her arms and her long hair up in a messy bun with a blanket resting on her shoulders. There were documents spread out over four tables and a plate of cookies next to her. There was also a letter under one of Renee's hands, but Angel didn't want to read it without her permission. Angel reached out to pinch Renee's neck (that always worked with everyone) when one of the papers caught her eye.
MISSING
Ingrid Connors
Last Seen: Near Aurora Mountain
Missing Since: May 21, 20XX
May 21… wasn't that nearly eight months ago? Angel recalled from the news yesterday that there was another group that vanished. And Aurora Mountain… that's the mountain nearby…
She decided to look more into it. Unlike them, Ingrid Connors vanished along with ten others. Venka and Sven Apostolova Dinerva, Annabelle DaVille, Kassum Hariri, Ted Tyler, Daniel Booth, Jay McKnight, Rashid and Sera Hariri, and Angela Connors.
There was another list of a vanished group, but the list was under Renee's other hand, and Angel didn't feel like explaining why she was nosing around.
She searched through the documents and discovered most of the documents weren't documents at all. No, they were Renee's notes in her neat, curly handwriting, written in Latin. Thankfully, Angel understood it thanks to her uncle.
Group Disappearances: Connected?
4-8 months apart
Eliza and others: Nova Mountain
Ted and others: Aurora Mountain
Our Group: Esther Mountain
Mountains are near each other
Mountains have names relating to the night sky
Mountains have strange histories
Black Musical responsible for disappearances?
What is her motive? Why does she want to keep us here?
What is the connection between the disappearances?
Is she the reason the group disappearances happen?
What is going on?
"Snooping, I see?"
Angel startled and dropped Renee's notes. Annabelle was leaning against the doorway, raising an elegant eyebrow at the human.
"Ah, sorry. Was curious," Angel said sheepishly, stepping away from Renee.
Annabelle smiled, "It's alright. I did it a few times in the past. Just remember to put back the notes, though. Rin hates it when you snoop around her research."
That just made Angel wince. At least Renee didn't wake up while she was reading her notes.
Annabelle walked over to Renee and tightened the blanket over her shoulders, narrowing her eyes on the notes. "Dear Hecate… Rin had a brainstorm… I never saw her write so many notes…"
"You mean she near wrote this much?"
The Succubus shook her head, "No, the most she writes can fill about one table. Damn, wish I can read Latin… I'm really curious what gave Rin such a brainstorm…"
Angel glanced at the notes, "They're mostly dates, questions, and connection the group disappearances with each other."
Annabelle raised her eyebrows in surprise, "You know Latin?"
Before Angel could answer, Axel walked in and answered for her.
"Yeah," he said, yawning. "Her uncle got super offended when her dad remarked that he doesn't seem to be the type of person to be fluent in Latin. So her uncle spoke to baby Angel in Latin for months and it drives her dad up the wall. Then somewhere in baby Angel's mind soaks it up and remembers it forever and never mentioned it."
"Oh yeah," Olivia said as she walked in, rubbing her eyes. "I remember. Imagine our surprise when she easily translates the Latin books I got for my birthday."
"That's a very interesting story," Annabelle remarked, smirking when Angel scowled at both of her friends ("Answering questions for me now, eh?"). "Rin learned Latin so we couldn't read her notes."
As everyone came in, yawning and stretching (in Kate, William, Tacey, and Seri's cases, chattering away), Renee still hasn't woken up. Adrian, Annabelle, and Ann advised them not to wake her up, as she can literally blow up their heads with sound (Angel didn't want to know how they know that).
The news started without Renee waking up. An hour and a half passed without anything interesting happening. However…
"We are here to announce that we have received word from one of the missing people from yesterday."
"Wait, what?!" Tacey blurted out. Angel didn't blame her. She was just as shocked and from the looks of it, so is everyone else.
"Renee Joanne Lycan—"
Twenty pairs of different colored eyes turned to the sleeping woman at once.
"—has sent a letter to her brother, congratulating him on the engagement, telling him that she's definitely coming, before asking to bring a few friends and to have his own friends keep their hands to themselves."
Despite themselves, they couldn't help a loud snort of amusement.
"She does on to ask Aaron to tell her sister and mother that she loved them and that she's healthy and fine on her own. Skipping over family matters that we are unfortunately not allowed to say—"
"'Unfortunately'," Kate said coldly. "Why is it so 'unfortunate' when it's a private family matter? Are they really that nosy enough that they have to be told not to gossip about family matters?"
"If you think this is bad," someone said sleepily, which turned out to be Renee. "Then you should have seen it when I ran away."
She looked so resigned and miffed at this, Angel didn't know whatever to laugh or to curse nosy reporters.
"—but the next part tells us that she and the other missing members of the group are aware that they are missing. The Lodge that they are trapped in is unplottable, which means we can't locate it."
"What?!" Jesse yelled, sounding annoyed. "Then there's no use in calling our friends and family for help!"
Lukas patted her back reassuringly. It was amazing to see the change between the first day and now. To think Lukas was asking Angel for advice to ask Jesse out.
"The letter ends with 'Don't assume all of us will be alive and uninjured because there's a chance one of us will get a few injuries or worse. I love you, and I hope we'll see each other soon,' sighed Lots of Love, Rin."
"Rin, you couldn't be more optimistic?" Angel heard Adrian mumble to Renee, whose hair was slowly coming down out of its messy bun.
"There's no reason to be," she said loftily, and she didn't say anymore.
"Now, where are they? What is with this ominous message? We still don't have answers, and we may find out more soon. Yesterday, we promised to have interviews with friends of the Order of the Stone. However, reporters say that they were banned from BeaconTown."
"Good," Jace said nastily. "Get the fuck off our town and never harass our friends or else we'll come after you."
This, from the looks of it, surprised the Deviants and the assistants (should they call them that?).
"So, unfortunately, we don't have an interview for you. See you tomorrow at 10:00 AM folks!"
"Renee Joanne Lycan," Ann said icily as soon as the TV switched off. "What on Earth were you thinking?! You knew what she said and yet you still did it?"
Renee's lips twitched. "She said we're not allowed to ask for help."
"Exactly, so why—"
"Oh, you son of a bitch," Adrian said abruptly, laughing. "You didn't ask for help, you told them about our situation!"
The werewolf looked smug at this. "Well, she needs to look for loopholes before telling us. And even if she changed it now, it's useless because everyone already knows."
"Oh, I knew I should have checked for loopholes or else this happened! Darn!"
The TV turned on again, revealing The Black Musical in all her nonexistent glory. She was frowning, which was a bit disturbing sight since she was always smiling.
"But anyway, today's the fourth Hunting Game, please check for any missing possessions or else you will be more than missing!"
Angel merely grimaced and reached for her pockets. She was slowly getting used to The Black Musical's psychotic antics to care. However, she barely placed her hand inside when Aiden's shout of alarm stopped her in place.
"My scarf! It's gone!"
Angel was gobsmacked. She can kinda understand the earring (if the person's distracted, you can easily steal it), the bow, and the sword, but Aiden's scarf? It was around his neck and she literally saw it seconds ago—how?!
"That's right!" The Black Musical said jovially, unaware of the confused thoughts spinning in Angel's head. "Aiden's scarf is the item for this Hunting Game!"
The Black Musical was immediately replaced by Aiden's scarf. Angel still remembered the day when Maya gave him the scarf. It was a simple red color with an ocelot playing with a blaze rod stitched onto it. It was a bit rough around the edges but Aiden loved it. It was very fitting in Angel's opinion.
"Oh!" Angel heard Maya gasped.
"And now for the victim…" She smiled at the looks of horror and fear on everyone's faces. "Let's wait, shall we?"
A loud scream happened almost immediately after. Chains and shackles dragged Maya away despite her vicious struggles. Then, a shackle closed around Angel's neck. Her mind flashed to the grinder and her breath hitched from panic. She clawed desperately at the shackle as they were dragged away.
"OW!"
Angel was dropped roughly on the ground. She rubbed her neck, remembering how she slowly lost consciousness, losing air as she dangled above the grinder…
An arm suddenly snaked around her shoulders, and she didn't have to turn to know that it was Jace. He got up, dragging her with him.
"Lina, look…"
She was about to turn to shove him for using that blasted nickname, but she followed where he was looking and stopped. Forget the nickname—the sight before them was more important.
Maya was on top of a 20 feet long platform, pulling at the chains that have yet to release her. There was a fence surrounding the platform, with the space between the platform and the fence ten feet wide. What made the sight so bizarre was that there was a gigantic ocelot inside, prowling around the platform, hissing at Maya occasionally.
Everyone else arrived by now. Olivia went straight to them and placed a hand on Jace's should. The curiosity in her eyes told her she was curious what the trap is about.
The TV screen appeared and switched on, showing The Black Musical.
"Welcome everyone, to the Claw Room!"
Angel's went to her hairline. Claw Room? Sp the trap was something with claws—oh… no…
From the way Olivia blanched, she got it too.
"You are to find Aiden's scarf and bring it to Aiden before the hour runs out. If you don't, that platform will be lowered, and those claws will rip through Maya's body!"
Angel saw Maya dramatically paled. She didn't blame her; having a cat rip apart your fresh is very unsettling.
"Anyway," The Black Musical sighed, clapping her hands. "Please go to your teams, everyone. Yes, Angelina, you can go to Jace and Gill.
Angel snorted as Jace lead her to Gill. It's not like she had a choice anyway. All the teams are full except Jace's team.
"So we're finally a team," Gill said, grinning, though it was a bit forced. "I was getting a bit impatient."
She just rolled her eyes. "Oh shut it. I just never seen to stay on the same team. You alright, Gill?"
"Yeah, just uneasy."
Angel's eyes softened. "Don't worry. We'll save Maya."
"I hope so…"
But as they walked to the black circles and got teleported, she had a horrible feeling that something was going to go wrong.
A/N: There is font in the chapter the page and it is right here, just remove the spaces: foreverfairy . deviantart art / Rewrite-The-Lodge-Chapter-19-737573474?ga_submit_new=10%3A1522364763
