Okie dokie! Just thought I'd give you guys a heads up, this chappie's a little bit borin'! You see, Elinor's very tired and not really taking many things into giant detail. And also, we'll probably see the chracters Elino meets in this chapter in the next one too, just so their fans don't feel that they're getting left out.

Oh! And as a bonus, there's a small cameo of a guy who scares the HECK outta me! If anyone can guess 'im, PLEASE DON'T SAY HIS NAME OUT LOUD! Even his name give me the creeps... .''

'Okay,' thought Elinor, 'let's do a recap. So far, I've met a red head who seems to be at least six years old living with a mansion full of monsters, a black cat called 'Doom Kitty' if I recall, who only makes violin noises instead of meows, a talking bat and crow with a monocle, and a Cyclops who's obsessed with adrenaline.

Well, I certainly didn't expect all of that to happen when I woke up this morning.'

Elinor was in the mansion's library (Yes, she became almost ecstatic when she found out), having some quiet time. Lately, her day had been so full of surprises and screaming she was curious as to know why she hadn't had a mental breakdown yet.

Probably because they were all younger than her... except for the crow, but he was ridiculously small, so he didn't count*.

Elinor was scanning she shelves; most of them were drama, with a few Horror novels here and there. Elinor, unfortunately, was fond of neither. It was actually a little strange to her; she was one of the creatures that most people would think to put in a horror story, yet she couldn't stand them herself. She guessed it was because she got paranoid pretty easily...

'I'm never going to stop flinching at anything in a suit ever since that stupid game... GAH.' Elinor shuddered at a bad memory. A very, VERY bad memory.

Just then, Elinor saw something move out of the corner of her eye... it was dark, tall and seemed dreadfully familiar...

Without thinking, Elinor whipped around, bared her fangs and talons, and snarled.

To a girl sitting at the table.

Oh.

'Well... that's a relief.' Elinor thought, while sighing.

Then Elinor took a double take on the girl. She noticed that she had grey skin, and bloodshot bags underneath her eyes, with streams of tears running down her face... oh, how nice.

'I wonder what this one is...' thought Elinor 'A witch? A zombie? OH! A vampire?!'

Elinor took a step closer to the girl, who had long black hair, with a purple veil over it. At the closeness of Elinor's presence, the girl looked up from her tragedy novel.

"So," she said a croaky and flat voice, "you must be the 'crazy new girl' Scaredy told me about. Don't worry; being crazy doesn't always mean you have rabies... except if you're my great uncle on my father's side..."

A flare of annoyance kindled in Elinor's chest at the, 'Crazy new girl' name tag, but was quickly replaced with slight disturbance at the girls' last comment.

"Don't worry," the girl continued, "It doesn't spread to future generations, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about."

Just then, a lightning bolt came out of nowhere and electrocuted the girl in her chair, leaving her with burnt clothes and hair.

"Ow." was all she said.

'Impressive,' thought Elinor, 'I'm pretty sure I would've at least thrown a hissy fit!'

Elinor remembered that after she had been taken away from Iris' clutches, Ruby had suggested to Elinor that she try and make friends with the few other kids in the mansion. The lightning girl was obviously one of them, but due to her lack of luck... well, let's just say Elinor wasn't entirely fond of thunderstorms.

BUT, she decided to give it a try anyway.

"So..." Elinor started, "...My name's Elinor. And I'm probably not as crazy as the bat made it sound. Probably."

The girl's corners of her mouth made a hint of a twitch.

"That's kinda funny," she said, "My name's Misery. But you should know, I'm not always like that."

'To be honest, I wouldn't blame her for being miserable all the time if you were struck by lightning on a regular basis.' thought Elinor.

There was a moment of silence in the library.

"Well," said Misery, standing up, "It was nice talking with you, Elinor. I'm just going to go now... I should practice my singing voice for Frank and Len."

'Frank and Len...' Elinor thought, 'I could have sworn I've heard those names before...'

"Bye," said Elinor.

Misery just left the room, without even turning around. Elinor guessed that Misery was a little short of hearing, which would make sense.

But who were these, Frank and Len? It made Elinor curious, and when her interest was sparked, she couldn't help but get into the nitty gritty of it.

...

Right after a nap... yeah...

After all, it was around 11 at night. Normally she wasn't so easily to tire, but since the days' earlier events, she was beat.

Elinor then realised; where the heck would she sleep?

Elinor groaned, "Time for another adventure," she almost grumbled.

Elinor walked out of the library door, then called, "RUUUUUBYYYYYY!"

Elinor waited for a moment, then heard a faint, "YES?" from somewhere outside the house.

"WHERE DO I SLEEP?!" Elinor shouted.

"WHAT?!"

"WHERE-DO-I-SLEEP?!"

"OH!" Ruby shouted back, "JUST A SEC! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"AT THE LIBRARY!" Elinor shouted back.

"Hey!" a new voice shouted, "Could you keep it down over there?"

Elinor was interested... this was a new voice. New voice meant new kid to meet!

It was coming from down the hall, to Elinor's left. She turned her head that way to spot someone... very skinny. Very skinny... he literally looked like he was skin and bones! That could not be healthy!

The skinny guy (who looked to be in his early teens) seemed to only just realise he didn't really know the girl he had just shouted at.

"Oh!" he said, "Uh, heh, um... sorry?"

Elinor arched an eyebrow. This guy was a little... tentative.

"I mean for shouting," the teen clarified.

'Huh,' thought Elinor, 'So he's polite... good.'

"Sorry Skull Boy!" the voice of Ruby said from about a corridor away, "Elinor was just wanting to know where she could sleep."

"That's okay, Ruby," the teen called Skull Boy (strange name...) replied, "But maybe next time you should tell her where you're going before you leave her alone," he added with a slight chuckle.

"Eh-hem," Elinor said, "Y'know it's rude to talk about someone when you know they can hear you."

Ruby gave Elinor a look of slight surprise. Elinor almost face-palmed.

"Sorry," she said, "Sometimes I can be a real pain when I'm tired..."

"Well," said Ruby, starting conversation again, "Why don't I show Elinor to her room? Wanna join us, Skull Boy?"

Ruby looked hopefully, and a hint of something else that Elinor couldn't quite place, at Skull Boy.

"No thanks, Ruby," Skull Boy said, "I've got some reading to do. I think I might be related to a long line of librarians!"

Skull Boy then dashed right passed Elinor and into the library. During the brief moment that he was close to Elinor, the girl noticed that he didn't have skin... at all. He was an animate skeleton. Well, that would explain the skinny-ness. Strange that he had a mouth and eyes though... huh.

"Come on, Elinor!" Ruby gestured Elinor to follow her through the labyrinth of a mansion to where she would be sleeping.

"I'm comin'..." Elinor said drowsily.

* Oh, Elinor, stop judging by size!

Da-da-dala-da-da-daaaa! There ya have it!

I apologise for the drowsy-ness of the chappie once again! BUT, as always, there'll be a new chapter next Sunday! Have a good one, guys!

Ruby Gloom doesn't belong to me

But Elinor DOES, baby!