CHAPTER THREE: MAGIC WAND
The
next morning, everyone emerged from their bedrooms with lines under
their eyes. It was hard to get any sleep knowing that there was a
killer on the loose. Mario tried to remain calm as he stepped into
the kitchen and turned on the stove. Luigi and Peach sat at the
counter silently, staring at the tiled floor. Wario and Waluigi
entered the kitchen.
"'Ey, what's for breakfast?" asked
Wario, scratching the top of his exposed head. Nobody answered.
Waluigi nonchalantly opened the cupboard next to the
refrigerator.
"Whoa!" The cupboard was filled with
mounds and mounds of cakes, pies, puddings, donuts, pastries, and
other delicacies. Wario turned to look and immediately began to
drool.
"Holy..."
He lunged in front of his brother
and reached out for a vanilla frosted cupcake, but pulled back
immediately. He tried again, this time slowly extending his arm
forward, but when his hand reached the cupboard, it was as if a plate
of glass was protecting the treats. Waluigi did the same, with the
same results. Mario approached the cupboard and examined it
thoughtfully. After a few moments' consideration, he gave up and
announced, "I don't get it."
After everyone had
eaten, they migrated to the dining room where they conversed
casually. Wario stayed behind for further examination of the
mysterious cupboard. He noted that it was connected to a larger
cupboard directly below it, though he doubted the importance of this
detail.
"Wait a minute..."
He opened the bottom
cupboard and peered inside. The top of it, which also acted as a
floor for the cupboard containing the treats, seemed to be attached
to the sides with a pair of shafts, inside which the ends of the
board were placed. If he were to simply slide the board through the
shafts toward himself leaving an opening just large enough for his
arm, he could reach up from the bottom cupboard and pull down items
from the top. Delighted at his own discovery, he carefully slid the
board back and reached up to grab a yummy-looking tart.
A few minutes later, Wario, satisfied, strode to the sink to get a glass of water. While he turned on the faucet, he noticed his own hat behind the sink. It had been missing all day. He picked it up to put it on his head, revealing a strange object: a magic wand. It was a blue rod with a red gem on the end. He picked it up and waved it around. He heard something shatter somewhere in another room. Nervous, he anxiously repeated his cupboard trick and hid the wand behind a box of chocolate muffins.
"What the heck just happened?!"
Mario exclaimed as he stepped over the remains of a ceramic
vase.
"This vase just exploded!" Bowser Jr. replied with
a large grin on his face. Beads of sweat dripped down Wario's face as
he stepped into the dining room with everyone else. Donkey Kong
grunted in displeasure as he saw him fake surprise and point his
finger at Mario.
"How could I have done it?" Mario said.
"You saw me, I didn't even touch it!"
"Wario was in
the kitchen, he didn't see you," Luigi responded sensibly.
"What
was Wario doing in the kitchen?" Shy Guy inquired monotonously.
Wario began to sweat worse than ever.
"I-I-I was g-getting...
getting a glass of water," he stuttered.
"Thirsty, eh?"
Bowser replied, smiling threateningly. "Why so thirsty?"
Wario gulped.
"Alright, alright, this is getting out of
hand," said Toad. "Wario didn't do anything, he was in the
kitchen. It's impossible. And nobody touched the vase, so it was
probably just a freak thing. Bad sculpting or something. Let's just
leave it at that."
Mumbling and grumbling, everyone returned
to their activities. Wario entered the kitchen and reached into the
cupboard. After peering cautiously at the door, he grabbed the wand
and pocketed it.
That night, Peach entered the bathroom with a towel. She hung it on the rack and pulled back the shower curtains, and gave a blood curdling scream at what she saw: a cryptic message engraved on the wall, and a limp body in the bathtub.
