I was going to post this yesterday, but I wasn't able to...here it is now, anyways. Many, many thanks to 64K the most fabulous for beta-ing this chapter! :D
And another happy birthday and fanfic anniversary for Pip the Dark Lord of All, though they're long over by now. But you still deserve it.
The twins ran down the hallway, away from Erestor's rooms. Then they saw Lindir.
"Lindir!" gasped Elrohir. "Quickly; you must help us!"
Lindir stopped playing his Lyre, looking at them oddly and scaredly. "Help you with what?"
Elladan and Elrohir looked around to make sure Erestor or Glorfindel weren't anywhere around. Then, they leaned closer and whispered, "We need you to hide us."
"Why?" said Lindir.
"Don't ask us questions; just hide us!" Elladan ordered.
Lindir put the Lyre in his pocket. "Fine, come with me," he said. He walked away. The twins followed him.
A few minutes later, Lindir stopped outside his rooms. "Here," he said. "You can hide in there. Who are you hiding from anyway?"
"No one," said Elrohir.
"Suuuuuure," Lindir said. "Fine. Hide in there, and don't touch anything or you'll break it. And leave the instruments alone, especially the flutes. And don't look at the harp in the corner; it's very fragile and might break. And try to not touch the floor either."
"I don't really see how that would work," said Elrohir. Then, he and Elladan went into Lindir's room.
"This is boring," Elladan said, looking around at the very musical room. Elrohir went over and poked at the flutes. Elladan looked at the harp in the corner. It broke.
The twins looked down. Their feet were touching the floor.
"Let's sneak out the window and creep around," Elrohir said.
"Okay."
The twins snuck out the window and crept around.
"Hey, look, there's Arwen!" said Elrohir a few minutes later, when they had paused on the balcony to Arwen's rooms. They looked inside.
Arwen was watching Snow White and the Thirteen Erebor Dwarves. It was about some girl who liked birds and deer and lots of fluffy animals and one day stumbled upon this cottage in the woods. There were a bunch of dwarves inside, who gave her a gold ring and a glowy stone and said that she was awesome. It was one of Arwen's favorite movies.
Elladan and Elrohir snuck into her room and crept up behind her. Elladan opened his mouth to say something really loud and scare her, but Arwen spoke first.
"I know you're there," she said creepily.
"That was weird," Elrohir said.
"Yup," said Elladan.
"Hey, do you want to watch Snow White and the Thirteen Erebor Dwarves with me?" Arwen asked.
"NEVAHHH," said the twins.
"Fine." Arwen pressed play and this black-haired, white-skinned lady danced onto the screen, singing with a dozen or so weird animals.
"That's weird," Elrohir said.
"Yup," said Elladan.
"Ohh, I love this movie so much," said Arwen. "Isn't the girl adorable? She reminds me of Lindir!"
"Our sister is weird," Elrohir said.
"Yup," said Elladan.
They snuck out of the room and crept around again. Suddenly, they saw Glorfindel and Erestor walking scarily towards them.
"My alert just went off again," Erestor said scarily. "They were in Arwen's rooms a few seconds ago."
"Let's get them and give them a big hug!" Glorfindel said.
"No," Erestor said.
"Two hugs?" said Glorfindel hopefully.
"NO."
Glorfindel kicked a rock.
"Run," Elladan whispered dramatically.
They ran back to Lindir's rooms.
Lindir wasn't there.
The twins flopped down on his bed and broke something, but they ignored it.
"So now that we're hiding, what do we do?" Elrohir wondered.
Elladan flopped his head sideways and stared at the wall. Then he saw a door on the wall. "Hey, look," he said. "There's a door on the wall."
Elrohir looked at it. "That's a closet."
"I knew that," Elladan said.
"Lindir has a closet!" Elrohir suddenly exclaimed.
"Duh..." said Elladan.
"I wonder what's in there," Elrohir mused. "Harps? Lyres? A few flutes? Maybe a bunch of books on the history of music?"
"A dead body?" Elladan suggested.
They looked at each other, then leaped off the bed and ran at the closet.
Elrohir got there first and excitedly turned the doorknob.
It was locked.
"Snappity snoop doop dop whammy whammy slammy!" said Elrohir, kicking at the door in frustration. He missed and kicked the oboe leaning against the wall.
His toe broke.
He fell over screaming.
Elladan stepped over him, took a key out of his pocket, and unlocked the door. He opened it.
A skeleton fell out, with black hair and a shriveled mummified apple stuck in its bony teeth. It fell on top of Elrohir.
Elrohir passed out.
Elladan looked inside the closet and saw harps, lyres, a few flutes, and a bunch of books on the history of music. He shut the door and locked it again, then fainted and fell beside Elrohir.
"Glorfindel, stop poking their eyes to see if they're awake," Erestor said, flipping a page in his notebook and continuing to write.
"Okay," said Glorfindel. He didn't stop.
Lindir was sitting on his bed hyperventilating.
"And Lindir, stop hyperventilating," Erestor said, his pen moving swiftly over the paper.
"Hhhhhihhhh," said Lindir. He didn't stop.
Elrohir twitched, opened his eyes, saw Glorfindel and Erestor standing over him, and passed out again.
Erestor erased something, rewrote it, and put the notebook and pen in his pocket. "I find these two very annoying," he said, accidentally kicking the unconscious twins. "They're getting into other people's closets and are frankly being very annoying."
"Hhhhehhhhh," went Lindir. He was still hyperventilating.
"Ooh," said Glorfindel. "Do you think they've found the List?"
Lindir doubled over and gasped.
"Of course not," Erestor said. "How could they? I keep it in my pocket at all times."
"Why wouldn't you hide it somewhere?" Glorfindel said.
"Because these two snoop around everywhere and get into everything except my pocket," Erestor said. "Now shush, they're waking. Lindir, you may do the honors."
Lindir hyperventilated.
"Never mind," Erestor said. He kicked Elladan and Elrohir and they woke up.
They both screamed.
Elrohir looked at Lindir in shock. "Lindir, I can't believe you would kill your sister! You're so sweet and nice most of the time!"
"That's what he wants you to think," Erestor muttered creepily.
"Actually, he didn't kill his sister," Glorfindel said. "He was too wimpy and nice to do it, so Erestor poisoned her apple and gave it to her so she died."
Elladan and Elrohir looked at each other weirdly. "Could it be…?" Elrohir said.
"Nooooo," said Elladan. "It couldn't!"
"Brb," they said, and dashed out of the room.
Glorfindel brushed his hair.
Lindir fell over on his bed and continued hyperventilating.
Erestor was putting the skeleton back in the closet. He locked it, shut it, put the key in his pocket, and looked around. "Glorfindel!"
"What?" said Glorfindel, brushing his hair.
"You let them get away again!"
"Sorry," Glorfindel said. "But personal appearance is more important to me than holding two innocent twins hostage."
Erestor turned angry red. "THEY'RE NOT INNOCENT, THEY'RE CONNIVING LITTLE SNEAKSTERS."
Glorfindel tossed his head. "That's it! I shall take no more of this getting bossed around by a mere adviser–"
"You have a smudge on your tunic," Erestor said bossily. "Go clean it."
Glorfindel's shoulders slumped and he walked out.
Erestor walked over to the bed and punched Lindir. "Stop hyperventilating," he ordered.
Lindir stopped hyperventilating, buried his head in one of his pristine white pillows, and whimpered.
"There, there," said Erestor, comfortingly patting his head. "It's going to be okay."
"No it's not!" Lindir squeaked. "Now they think I'm evil and I would poison my own sister! My reputation will be in tatters! No one will listen to my music now!"
"Don't worry, they know I'm the one that killed her," Erestor said. "And really don't worry, no one listens to your music anyways."
Lindir burst into tears.
Erestor sighed and patted his head once more, then stood up. "Well!" he said. "I'm going to go find the twins and drown them now!" With that, he dashed out of the room.
Lindir waited until he was gone, then sat up. An evil grin crossed his face. "Kill my sister, will you?" he said evilly. "I'm going to help the twins – I won't stand for any more killing!" With that, he stood up and walked out of the room. In his hand he held a piece of paper. It was…
The List.
Lindir is a pickpocket. O.O