Episode:
15: Elementary

Star's investigation puts herself and others in increasing danger, but she is determined to bring the ones responsible to justice. Adam makes some major breakthroughs in his attempts to return home.

That evening, whilst mulling over the revelations of the investigation, Star was sat across from Adam in their room at the inn. Adam had set out a plate of wumpafruits for both of them on either side of the small little round table, for which admittedly Star was appreciative. He had even gone to the lengths of cutting and cooking the fruit, preparing it with what few ingredients he had.

True to what Adam had said, wumpafruits were delicious. They were the most delicious fruits Star had ever tasted, and they were even better cooked than raw, somehow. They had this tangy, sweet taste, sort of halfway between a mango and an orange. Here Star thought the only thing Mewmans really specialised in growing was corn, but Adam seemed to have extensive knowledge of the various fruits that were endemic to Mewni.

For whatever reason, Adam had given Star much more to eat than he had himself. She wasn't sure whether he was trying to be noble, trying to make her fat, trying to give her a wumpafruit addiction or prioritising her needs over his. She didn't think there was much point in complaining. There definitely had to be a reason – Adam didn't do these kinds of things by accident – but she opted not to push it.

'Maybe you were right about Kelly,' she spoke up, after a long silence. Adam glanced up at her, raising an eyebrow slightly. 'The thief got around through the vents, I'm sure of it. Kelly's the only one I can think of who would know the inn's schematics so well.'

'Maybe. I'd love to say I told you so, but that's probably in poor taste.'

'Yeah, that's not all,' Star told him. 'After I found out the thief went round the vents, I asked around town for a few hours to see if this was a regular thing. Turns out, there's been a litany of thefts around town! And not just today, it's been happening for months. People all across town have been losing all their expensive items under "conspicuous circumstances". Even the Meriff was stolen from, surprisingly. He lost a few expensive paintings.' Adam frowned at that. 'According to Flora, his maid, he had to beef up security quite a bit. Despite that, Draper has done very little to address the thieving problem. No matter how many complaints are made, nothing ever happens. I guess Kelly really isn't in danger of losing her job.'

'Not sure Draper actually cares,' replied Adam disinterestedly. 'He only responded when it affected him. Unless he thinks showing off all his possessions to make himself more of a target is his way of "caring".' He took another bite of the fruit. 'Strange, though, isn't it? If the thieves were able to steal from the Meriff, why waste their time on anybody else?'

'I dunno…' she muttered. 'It's just…something weird is going on here. The various thefts across town were coordinated. To pull it off, you'd have to know a lot about the layout of both the town and the buildings. I'm starting to think this is some kind of conspiracy.'

'Or…it's someone with access to the blueprints to the town and every building in it.'

Star frowned. 'Like who?'

'Whom,' he corrected pedantically, prompting an unenthusiastic eyeroll from Star. 'Who do you think? The Meriff, obviously. Or someone who works for him.'

'Hm…maybe,' she considered. 'What do you think I should do?'

'I really don't care,' confessed Adam. 'But since you're so impassioned about it, maybe you should investigate the Meriff's Offices. See if any of his employees are involved. You mentioned Draper's maid? Maybe she can give you their schedule, so you know when to break in.'

'Thank you, Adam,' Star acknowledged.

'Don't mention it,' he said, shrugging. 'Since it's painfully clear you aren't gonna drop this, I guess I can do the bare minimum. I'm still your friend, after all.'

Star smiled softly at him before returning to her meal.

Next morning, Star had a better handle on what to do next.

She had a fairly nice sleep, considering how cramped it was. Adam kept whimpering in his sleep, relics of nightmares gone by. Marco had mentioned once that he used to scream in his sleep, so maybe this was what he meant. Nevertheless, she managed to drown out the unpleasant noise and go to sleep. She wished he could have done something to alleviate Adam's nightmares, but the last time she tried that, Adam attacked her out of instinct and told her to let him deal with it on his own.

There had been little time for a proper breakfast. Only a quick bite out of a wumpafruit had been what she had time for. It transpired that Adam had picked so many wumpafruits because they were meant to serve as their primary source of food for the next two weeks, rather than the next few days. Any remaining that they didn't need, they could sell. Apparently, wumpafruits held for a very long time without rotting, and could be protected from the elements by magical means. Star suspected she was going to have to get used to the taste of wumpafruits very quickly, although admittedly they were absolutely delicious.

Now, Star was standing outside the door to Flora's room. She reached forward and knocked on the aged wood three times.

'Yes?' said Flora, as she opened the door. 'Oh, hello Estrella. I trust you are well?'

'I'm doing alright, thanks,' Star replied, smiling brightly. 'How have you been doing?'

'No word from the plumbers…' the maid confessed, sighing sadly. 'There must be some kind of…delay.'

'I'm really sorry to hear that, Flora,' she apologised sincerely. 'I, uh, I don't wanna seem disingenuous, but I came here to ask you for help.'

Decora raised an eyebrow. 'Help? Why would you need my help?'

'I think the person behind all these thefts works for the Meriff,' the princess told her.

'Yes…it would make sense,' admitted Flora. 'Nobody could steal from his office without intimate knowledge of its layout.'

'Exactly,' Star said. 'The thing is, I, uh, I want to break into his offices.'

'Forgive me, but I think I misheard you. It sounded like you said you wanted to break into the Meriff's Offices.'

'It was no mistake, you heard me right. I need to know their daily schedule so I can investigate any possible evidence linking any of the employees to the serial thefts.'

'I'm…I'm sorry, Estrella, but…I'm not sure I am so willing to be an accomplice to a crime,' Flora responded reproachfully, lowering her voice to a tiny whisper. 'What if they trace it back to me? I would lose…everything.'

'Flora, I promise I will do everything in my power to keep your name out of it. Nobody will know about your involvement.'

Flora looked nervously about the hallway. She let out a huge sigh and ultimately gave a nod. She leaned forward close to Star and kept her volume low.

'The optimal time to break in is at lunch time,' the maid whispered into her ear. 'Meriff Draper enforces strict periods of lunch from 12:00 to 12:30 every day. They frequent one of the cafes downtown, but you'll have to figure out a way past the door locks.'

'Thank you, Flora, you won't regret this, I promise,' she assured her. 'And don't worry about getting past the door locks.' She smirked. 'I've got a way.'

What Star considered "a way" was, unsurprisingly, a really bad idea. Really bad, and really risky. And, also, the only way that she could think of. Magic. Granted, there wasn't much her wand could achieve when limited to only one-percent power, but she was confident in her own abilities to pull this off.

A few hours later, just prior to twelve o'clock, Star hung around the side of the Meriff's Offices. Her peasant appearance let her blend in with the other beggars and vagabonds strewn about the streets. Nobody looked upon her with much more than contempt, or simply disinterest. Yesterday, Star might've condemned the town residents' refusal to help or even acknowledge the homeless, but right now, it was the only thing keeping her safe.

Star reached down and felt her wand through her handbag. She traced the cylindrical outline of her wand's handle. Such a significant and persistent depower was going to have an evident impact on the success of her plan. If Adam hadn't been such a cornhead, he could've cast an invisibility spell on her himself. At least then, the spell would last much longer.

As it happens, it fell to Star to accomplish that task. As she watched a flood of employees leaving through the wooden double doors to the building, Star took out her wand from her bag. When nobody was watching her, she quickly scanned herself with it.

'Super Utility Invisibility.'

The wand flashed gold. In less than a second, Star's entire body became totally invisible, blanketing her from the world and any prying eyes.

Woah, she thought, examining her transparent limbs. This is insane.

Quick on her feet, Star shuffled through the crowd of employees going for their lunch. She managed to get through the doors before the last person left and presumably intended to lock it. The double doors to the Offices snapped shut behind her, making her jump slightly.

The Meriff's Offices looked dark and murky without the people present to populate it. Somehow, without all the people, the cobwebs in the top corners of the ceilings became vastly more noticeable. The beams of sunlight seeping through the windows did little to alleviate the strange breeze that ran up her back. A subtle creaking echoed through the building, but Star could not tell if it was coming from the walls, or the floor. Or both.

The invisibility spell wasn't going to last long. If her wand were on full power, there was little doubt in her mind that she could remain invisible indefinitely. She wasn't sure how much time she had left, but she knew she needed to be quick if she wanted to find what she needed.

Star took the first secretarial office she saw. It was an office on the right, with a large plaque that read, "CARLA JACKSON" on it.

'Okay, Carla, let's see if you got some skeletons in your closet,' she muttered to herself.

In truth, there appeared to be little that was conspicuous in this office. The office was clean and tidy, but not too clean that Star thought they were trying to hide something. There were rows of file cabinets lining the walls of the office, all looking appropriately worn with use. A sizeable, semi-cluttered desk sat in the centre of the room, complete with a computer and a set of papers, along with a number of pens and pencils strewn across the flat wood.

Upon searching through Carla Jackson's drawers, Star was again left disappointed. All she found were a few business letters, a rolled-up piece of gum, a joker playing card (which she felt was unfortunately accurate to how she was feeling right now), and a few stray business cards. The most exciting part was finding a winning Butterfly Lottery ticket, although the winnings were a reduction in Butterfly tax in three months, rather than any cash. As if the Dark Butterflies would ever show any charity.

Upon looking through the desk cabinets, Star couldn't find anything out of order. All the paperwork was in its proper place, or at least she thought it was. In truth, she wasn't exactly a secretary or office clerk. There was nothing to indicate that this Carla individual had any involvement in the supposed plot to steal from the town residents. Normally, she would expect some hidden receipts, secret messages, or something along the lines of a thinly veiled admission of guilt. Admittedly, Star didn't know exactly what she was looking for.

However, what Star did know was that, if you wanted to hide something well, you should hide it in plain sight. Sometimes it's so obvious that you don't even notice it. That's why the princess became inevitably compelled to check the metal lockbox at the back of the room.

Taking out her wand, she tapped the side of the lock with it.

'Tag, you're it,' she muttered, as the crystal flashed slightly. 'Heh. That'll never get old.'

The strongbox flipped open like a book. Star took an admittedly greedy look of what was inside, but what she found was especially unremarkable. There were several gold coins held inside, along with a bright and shiny engagement ring that to Star didn't look worn yet. If Adam were here, Star guessed that he would implore her to take the coins for herself. Something about them needing the money despite having more than enough in her purse.

Alas, Adam was not here. Star shut the lockbox and relocked it with her wand. She felt her invisibility flicker for a moment, but it then went back to normal immediately.

Can't keep using magic if I wanna keep this spell going, thought Star.

With little else left to investigate, Star left the office and returned to the hallway of offices. She looked along the doors of the offices and sighed at their relative uniformity. Except, she noticed that one particular door had about three more locks than it should have. The sign above it read "GAZTON JONES" on it. Multiple padlocks on the door indicated to Star that the occupant definitely had something to hide.

Of course, Star immediately wanted to break the locks and get in, before she realised how risky that would be. If the individual, who was evidently hiding something, came back to find the padlocks broken, she would be drawing unnecessary heat.

Better option…make me incorporeal as well as invisible.

She tapped herself again with her wand and modified her invisibility spell. It would increase the strain on her wand, as well as the drain of mana, but she only needed to use it for a second. The second she stepped into the office, she undid the spell, just as her invisibility flickered again. Star remained perfectly invisible, and now she was in the most conspicuous office in the whole building.

The first thing she noticed was that the desk was extremely cluttered. Ordinarily, Star would've expected the desk to be so squeaky clean out of paranoia, but she supposed having such a cluttered desk made it difficult to find anything suggesting foul play. Piles of different coloured sheets of paper were scattered across the aged wood. Only the keyboard and computer set off the side was left untouched, but the computer itself looked somehow less hi-tech than Marco's old Altair 8800. Star doubted she'd find anything of substance on that dinosaur. A black office telephone sat on the other side of the desk. Intrigued, Star looked through the call history.

Dozens of calls to an unknown number, she realised. Strange. Very strange.

Star looked about the rest of the room.

Curiously, there was a spot in the back of the room where a safe had evidently been, but it had been removed. In its place, there was only a tongue-in-cheek note proclaiming an IOU.

Star began to search through the paperwork that was evidently supposed to be out of sight. The more she read, the more confused she was. There were massive gaps in the logs where Star would've expected this Gazton person to have documented their actions. Instead, the attendance logs indicated that Gazton had been making random and unauthorised absences that they failed to report. There was never a good reason to be hiding your serial disappearances. Or to be serially disappearing in the first place.

Looks like I hit jackpot, thought the princess.

Inevitably, her eyes fell on the most obvious and yet most easily missed detail: the bin. Honestly, the fact that she hadn't even considered checking the bin was quite embarrassing. Upon inspection, she discovered a tiny, wadded-up piece of paper dumped inside. She bent down to pick it up and unfolded it.

To…ugh, name's crossed out… "I can't continue on with this. Sooner or later, the whole town is going to find out. I don't care what you do, this is the end of it." Letter ends there…I guess Gazton decided not to send this letter after all. This confirms it. This has to be about the thefts, but why –?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hurried footsteps nearby, followed by the systematic unlocking of the padlocks on the door. Alarmed, Star scrambled to shove the paper in the bin again and hide in the corner of the room.

A rugged man in his late thirties, whom Star could only assume was Gazton, scurried into the room, jumping behind his desk. He began shuffling through the paperwork on his desk, sending various bits of stationery off the side. Either he was looking for something, or he was looking for a place to hide something.

'C'mon, c'mon…' muttered the man, as he searched his drawers. Before he could finish, his telephone rang. Instantly, he was paralysed. 'Oh no…'

Shakenly, Gazton reached out towards the phone. Once he reached the speaker button, his fingers fell under their own weight, as though relieved to have made the distance. There was a tiny click that left him still frozen with fear.

'Hello Gaz.'

Star couldn't tell who the owner of the voice was. It had been heavily modulated; it was too deep for her to identify. Its cadence was smooth, slow, like every syllable had been perfectly calculated to fit a rhythm.

'S-Sir…' stammered Gaz.

'Do you have it?'

'N-No,' he replied. 'I hide it…in the spot, like you told me to.'

'It wasn't there, Gaz.'

'Somebody must have stolen it!' he pleaded.

'I am disappointed in you, Gazton,' the mysterious man threatened. 'You should be more honest with me.'

'I-I'm telling you, really! I'm…I'm not lying.'

He was met merely with pure silence. Only the whirring of the telephone line existed to establish the other person on the other end. Star could hear the quickened breathing of the poor man intensifying when another fifteen seconds of silence welcomed him.

'I do not like liars, Gaz,' the man finally spoke up again. Four red dots suddenly appeared on the officer worker's chest. 'Perhaps you would like to be more transparent with me?'

'Alright, alright!' blurted Gaz, finally cracking. 'I…I kept it for myself! I just…after so many months risking my hide stealing these things for you, I thought I deserved a reward. I'm sorry!'

Star felt her invisibility flicker again. She widened her eyes in alarm. There wasn't much time left with the spell, and it was evident that this mysterious blackmailer had eyes on the area. The princess hid behind a part of Gaz's desk.

'I do hope your office is secure.'

Star gasped slightly. There was no way that they had seen her! Not a chance! It was only a second's falter in her magic.

'Yes, of course…I keep locks everywhere.'

'I would hope so…for your sake.'

The princess breathed a sigh of relief. It appeared that this man was only trying to threaten Gaz and hadn't seen her. She took some relief in that fact, although it did mean this man was being threatened, which she took no pleasure in.

'Well, Gaz, I must be transparent myself,' the mysterious man admitted. 'I already knew about your little…transgression.' He sighed. 'I discovered Ms Decora's necklace in your apartment this morning. I must say…I'm very disappointed in you. First, you disobey me, then you lie about it.'

Star's eyes widened larger than saucers. It had been Gaz to steal Flora's beautiful necklace! It was him in the vents yesterday. She supposed it made sense; it wasn't like the Meriff, with his bouts of vertigo, could steal all those things. However, as Gaz wasn't a master thief, Star could believe he'd been clumsy enough to break her clock.

'I'm sorry, I swear I'm sorry!' pleaded Gazton. 'I'll do anything to be forgiven! If you would just give me the chance –!'

'No need for that,' said the man. 'Your wife already paid the price.'

'No…' he gasped. 'You didn't…?'

'Force myself upon her?' He goaded. 'I'm insulted you would think I'm so depraved.' He laughed. 'I only had her murdered. My Dímios agents are staggeringly quick at their jobs.'

'You…You're lying.'

'Don't believe me? Go home. You can see for yourself.' He chuckled to himself. 'Oh, and Gaz?'

'Y-Yes…? What…what is it?'

'The small police of town are under my payroll,' the man threatened. 'If you attempt to rat me out to them, I will know about it. Goodbye, Gazton Jones. I will be in touch.'

There was a click again. A long-drawn-out beep indicated the conclusion of the phone call.

Star felt her invisibility beginning to fade. She knew she didn't have much time, so she became incorporeal and bolted it out of the building as soon as possible, leaving the distraught Gaz frozen in fear.

Taking a sip out of a glass of water, Adam sat back in his seat. He hummed in perplexity to himself.

'The Dímios, huh?' remarked the warlock. 'Why would they be involved? Why would they care about some discrete fishing town in the middle of nowhere?'

'I don't know,' Star replied, gulping down her own glass. 'But whoever that man was…he said he had the police force on his payroll. This has to be some coordinated conspiracy or something.'

'Any idea who he was?' asked Adam, curiously.

'Who was that leader of the Dímios on my world?' mused the princess to herself. 'Mr White! That's the one! Maybe it's him?'

'Could be,' he acknowledged. 'But why? This whole thing…let's be honest, it's probably about money. They could be taking all this stuff so they can sell it off, presumably to the Black Market. Why would the Dímios need to do that? They're an assassin's guild. I imagine a lot of people in this world would pay good money to assassinate other people.'

'Maybe they're a thieves guild in this multiverse,' Star suggested, before looking down at the table guiltily. 'Who…also casually murder people.'

'Star, there wasn't anything you could have done for that Gazton guy,' he reassured her. 'I don't know why he was helping them, but the moment he started, he was a dead man walking.'

The disguised princess sighed.

'Well…what do you think I should do?'

Adam shifted uncomfortably in his seat. 'Ugh, are you gonna keep asking me for help with this?' He earned an eyeroll from his friend. 'Whatever…look, your best option is to expose the whole operation to the public. You could set up some kinda…I dunno, sting, to catch Gaz red-handed. Then he can reveal the whole thing to everyone.'

Star perked up an eyebrow in curiosity.

'You really think that could work?'

'The public can't ignore cold, hard evidence,' he replied, pointing at her compact at the edge of table. Star nodded.

'Thank you, Adam. It means a lot. Seriously.'

'Yeah, whatever,' he dismissed. 'This is the last time I'm helping you. You better get it right this time. Getting back home is all that matters right now.'

Star tapped her cheek, dissatisfied.

'Honestly, if you really cared about other people, you would help.'

'You think I managed to survive this long by being Little Miss Perfect?' Adam derided, folding his arms. 'You haven't been around here as long as me. What you think is pretty unimportant compared to me.'

'It's because I haven't been here as long as you, that what I think isn't unimportant,' argued Star. 'I'm not like you. Innocent people are suffering. That's all I see. I know you care about innocent people, even if you like to pretend all the time that you're just on the opposite team.'

He faltered for a moment, his eyes glancing away. He clenched his jaw and righted himself.

'Look, I'm just sick of getting people killed,' Adam confessed. 'I'm tired of seeing death, especially when it happens because of me. I'm…I'm not gonna stop you from helping these people, but I'm not going to get involved and that's final.'

'Ugh, fine then. Be like that!' snapped the princess, getting out of her chair and storming off. 'I'm going to see Flora about this whole sting operation. You can wait here and play it safe all you like, but I'm going to help!'

With the exact opposite of spring in her step, Star stomped her way to Room 12. Flora Decora's room. She knocked on the door perhaps too hard, but right now, she didn't care. She bounced impatiently on the balls of her feet as the door opened to reveal the visage of Flora Decora.

'Estrella? Is everything okay? How did your investigation go?' she enquired worriedly. Star looked about the hallways nervously.

'Can I come in?' asked the princess worriedly. The maid's eyes dilated in worry, but nevertheless, she beckoned for her to enter. Thankful, Star hurried inside the room and shut the door behind her.

Flora helpfully directed her to a chair at the back of the room. She collapsed onto it and let out a huge sigh.

'Thanks,' Star acknowledged. 'And…to answer your question, I found out who was stealing from everyone. It was this guy called Gazton.'

'Gazton Jones? Seems so unlike him…maybe he was trying to support his family.'

'No, not quite,' she said sadly. 'He's being blackmailed by the Dímios.'

'The Dímios?!' sputtered Flora. 'Wh-what would they want with our belongings?'

'Their leader made it out like they're secretly in control of Polaria,' Star told her. 'They're running some sorta scheme, selling off the stolen goods to – I'm guessing – the Black Market.'

'Woah, that's…that's crazy,' she remarked. 'But…why come to me about it?'

'The thing is…I…I need your help.'

'Again?'

Her question was not born out of annoyance, instead, she sounded merely confused.

'Yes, I need to expose this whole thing to the rest of the town,' Star explained abashedly. 'So, I…I need your help to set up a sting. So that I can show everyone what's been going on under their noses.'

'No, no, I…I'm sorry, but I can't,' she stammered reproachfully. 'I…I'm just a maid. It's all I have! I can't risk losing that!'

'I know, I know, but surely you can't just turn a blind eye to all of this?' the princess pointed out. 'People are suffering because of this. We've got to take a stand against the Dímios! Besides…if this works, you've got a shot of getting that precious necklace back.'

'You promised to keep my name out of this, Estrella.'

'I know, and I will,' she pledged sincerely. 'If I'm caught, I'll just say you had nothing to do with it.' Despite that, Flora still looked unsure. An idea came into Star's head. 'Hm…if you don't help me stop this, you'll just keep being the Meriff's maid, right? Well…how long before the Dímios realise you don't have anything left to steal? What's stopping them from replacing you with a…more attractive target? Be real here, you're probably gonna get replaced soon.'

The maid fell totally silent for a few moments. She looked down at the ground contemplatively.

'Meriff Draper does go through a lot of maids…' she confessed nervously. 'I always thought he was just…really picky. But if it's the Dímios doing all this…then I'm not safe. And neither is the Meriff.' The maid sighed. 'Okay…okay, I'm in. What's the plan?'

'Simple,' claimed Star. 'Gaz is meant to be on the lookout for the things to steal pretty much at any opportunity. If you turn up to work with a sparkly new necklace, he's gonna notice. And it won't be long before the Dímios orders him to steal it. Then I can use this' – she showed Flora her compact device – 'to expose him. Then he'll have to expose the Dímios's plot to the rest of Polaria.'

'But…I don't have any other necklaces.'

'Don't worry, I do.' She reached into her purse. She took hold of her wand and used it to produce the best necklace she could with the magic she had available. Star took it out and handed it to her. 'Here you go.'

'Estrella…' she uttered. 'I…I can't take this. This necklace is yours. I can't just let you lose it.'

'It's fine, Flora, I promise,' Star assuaged. 'I'll get it back anyway.'

Reluctantly, Flora took the necklace from her. She inspected it curiously. It was beautiful, constructed with dazzling blue sapphires. Looking at it, there was probably no way Flora would have known it was made from magic. Star felt pretty chuffed with herself for how impressed Flora looked. She'd made it while on her wand was on low power, too!

Flora nodded resolutely. 'So, when do we start this little operation?'

'When do you finish your shift this evening?'

'6:00.'

'Hm…yeah, that'll do it,' Star decided. 'I'll have to let Kelly know, too. If this works out, we can return all the stolen goods to their proper owners. Except maybe that Jimothy guy…I think losing that stupid sweater might humble him a bit.'

'Good luck,' she bid happily, as the princess was leaving.

'You too! Oh, and…' Star stopped herself just as she stood in the doorway and hung back. 'Thank you. For everything.'

Flora smiled. 'Glad I could help, Estrella.'

Later that day, Flora walked nervously through the Meriff's Offices at the beginning of her afternoon shift. She could feel the eyes on her from all directions. Ordinarily, that would have made her feel good about herself, to show off such a flashy belonging of hers. However, now armed with the pretence that this building was the centre of a mass theft operation, the maid was perhaps a little apprehensive.

Regardless, the necklace that Estrella had loaned her truly was beautiful. She loved the way it twinkled in the afternoon sunbeams shining through the windows. The dazzling emeralds must have been real, because otherwise, Flora wanted to know who could be able to forge fake gemstones that looked so accurate.

As she walked by Gaz's office, she made sure to hang around there for a few moments. She took a deep breath.

Was she really doing this? Attracting the attention of an interdimensional multifaceted organisation like the Dímios wasn't something she ever thought she would do in her lifetime.

'Hi, Flora.'

She turned around gracefully, trying to make it look like she had just recently crossed past the office door.

'Gaz,' she greeted, bowing her head slightly. She avoided eye contact, but she could see that his hair was unruly and dirty, and his eyes were grey and overcast. Clearly, this whole operation was starting to take its toll on him. 'Is…everything alright?'

'Fine,' he claimed, looking away. 'Uh…how are you doing?'

'I'm doing fine,' Flora replied. 'Still looking for my necklace.'

'Yes, I…I think it's awful really, for someone to steal it,' said Gaz, causing the maid to roll her eyes when he wasn't looking. He gestured stutteringly at Estrella's emerald necklace. 'You…seem to have gotten a new one, though.'

'Oh, this?' she inquired, looking down at it. 'It's nothing new, really. My mother gave it to me when I was a child, but after she died…I never could bring myself to wear it. Now, though…well, since my other one was stolen, this is the only one I had left.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' admitted Gaz. From what Flora could tell, his tone was sincere. More sincere than she was expecting. 'For what it's worth…it's a beautiful necklace.'

'Thank you,' the maid acknowledged. 'Well, I best be off. Meriff Draper is expecting me.'

'Of course. I'll see you around then, Flora.'

As soon as Gaz ducked away into his office, Flora let out a huge breath. No doubt he was going to alert the Dímios about this new "development". Estrella's necklace was going to be the latest in a long line of stolen goods from the town of Polaria. She wasn't sure how comfortable she was about letting Estrella lose his necklace, but the girl had been right when she pointed out that only terrible things would happen if she did nothing.

She hurried off to Draper's office, hoping to get as far away from Gaz as possible. Being around that guy was sending shivers up her spine. She didn't know why Gazton was doing all this. Judging by his dishevelled appearance moments ago, he didn't feel good about it.

Yet he still did it.

The Dímios could be threatening him, or something. Estrella had declined to mention why he was doing all this, or why he was complying with the guild's demands. Then again, Gazton had allegedly been doing this for months, according to Estrella. In all that time, Flora never would have guessed that he was doing something so underhanded and illegal. He put on such a perfect façade…yet today, that mask had partially dissolved. Why? Had something happened?

She shook her head to dispel the thoughts. It didn't matter why he was feeling down in the dumps. He was complicit in a mass thievery operation and Flora was going to stop him.

Flora Decora reached forward and knocked politely on the doors to the Meriff Draper's office. She heard the click of a telephone line ending, followed by the good Meriff's voice.

'Come in.'

Flora stepped into the office with a bright smile on her face, patting down her maid uniform. She beamed at Draper.

'Good afternoon, boss,' she greeted, doing a small bow. She took out her trusty duster from her purse and began dusting the office silverware.

'Afternoon to you, too, Flora,' the Meriff returned, smiling back. 'That's a lovely necklace you have there.'

'Thank you, sir,' the maid responded ebulliently.

Early that evening, at the conclusion of Flora's shift, Star waited behind the back of the inn, where the access to the vents was.

It was probably a bit of a gamble to assume that Gaz would use the vents again to steal the necklace, considering Room 12 was on the ground floor, and the vents led to the top floor. However, Star had instructed Kelly to beef up security. Kelly responded by giving everyone a padlock for their rooms, so Flora used it to prevent access into her room by any other means. Sure, Star could have locked the door herself, but she didn't want to make Gaz suspicious by singling Flora out as the only individual to have increased their security. It made sense to make it seem like everyone was doing it.

Among other things, Star had told Kelly that she had uncovered what had happened to the stolen items. She assured her she would have the items returned by midnight, and Kelly told everyone in the inn the same. At least that would prevent the uproar from the people in the inn, although Jimothy was, of course, still threatening to talk to the Meriff. Not that talking to the Meriff would even accomplish anything, anyway.

Although the Meriff may not be evil, like Adam seemed to think, he proved to be ineffectual at best. He was far more interested in putting an expensive rug over the issue than actually address it. How this man had led the town, and its previous location, for so many years prior, Star really didn't know.

Star had also taken the opportunity to ask Kelly a burning question.

'How'd you end up an innkeeper in some random village? I thought Woolletts preferred…y'know, being soldiers and warriors.'

'It's really none of your business.'

'C'mon…I just helped ya out. In a MAJOR way. You could at least give me a summary.'

'Let's just say…some of us Woolletts have standards for who we want to fight for. I smuggled my way to Mewni to get away from that. This whole "innkeeper" thing was about keeping a low profile. With the Resistance gone...now it's just my whole life.'

'Oh…I'm sorry.'

'Yeah. I really shouldn't be telling you this. You could still be a Butterfly spy or something. But…'

'But…?'

'I dunno. You just have one of those faces, I guess.'

Flora had told her she would be at her room no later than quarter past six. That didn't surprise her at all, really. It couldn't take long to walk across town from the Meriff's Offices to Kelly's inn. Gaz was probably gonna follow her home, too, so it wasn't gonna take long before he showed up.

Currently, Star was waiting round the corner, laden in an invisibility spell. Her fingers tightened around her compact device. Any minute now, she was going to catch Gazton in the act, and then she could expose this whole operation. And put a stop to it.

Any minute now. Soon.

Even after what felt like an hour, though, Star didn't see anything. Or anyone.

There was so hint of life in the bleak darkness behind the back of the inn. It was almost like someone had drained all the life from the ground and sky and poured it into the Great Solarian Storm as fuel. The flickering, swirling green thunderstorm hung in the far distance, its tendrils of emerald lightning seeping across the dark blue evening sky. She could hear the cracks of thunder echoing across the land for miles across, almost laughing at her.

Flora had to be home now, right? There was no way of knowing. They didn't have a direct line of communication. Flora was much too poor to afford a compact, if you could even get a hold of one in this dimension.

Star shivered. A thin breeze was wafting about, sliding up her back and rattling her spine.

She wasn't sure how long she could wait for Gaz to show up. Her invisibility spell was slowly but surely starting to fade. Maybe Gaz had decided it wasn't worth it to steal the necklace?

That seemed unlikely, given how evidently greedy the Dímios had proven themselves to have been. Yet, it had been at least a third of an hour by now, and still, there was no sign of movement behind the back of the inn. Something was definitely up.

Reluctantly, Star stumbled out her hiding place. She crept around the back of the building, as she felt her invisibility spell dissolving around her.

'Gaz…if you're out here, you need to stop what you're doing,' she whispered warily, as she inched around the corner. 'I'm sorry about what happened to your family but...if you help me, we can make sure it never happens to anyone ever again. You just need to help me!'

She heard a slight thud in the ground behind her.

Alarmed, the princess spun around in time to receive a swift blow to the head. Star felt to the ground with a similar, but louder, thud, unable to escape the violent silence as it dug its claws into the recesses of her mind.

Star's mind retreated into darkness in an instant. All she could hear was the faint sound of breathing down her neck.

As her mental faculties were slowly returned to her, Star truthfully didn't know how long it had been since she was knocked out. Everything felt hazy for a while. Mixtures of blacks and blues from the night sky bled into her vision as she slowly opened her eyes.

Star looked down to find herself tied down to a chair. Rough layers of rope were wrapped around her limbs as tightly as possible. She shuffled and squirmed in her restraints, but still the ropes would not budge.

Eventually, her eyes drifted over to her right. Her eyes widened.

'Flora!' she gasped. Indeed, the maid was lying there unconscious, tied down to a wooden chair. The necklace Star gave her was missing. 'Flora, wake up!'

The maid stirred for a few moments, before opening her eyes. She looked over at Star.

'What…what's happening?' she asked, before looking around the room. 'Wait a minute, we're –'

'Out of time.'

Star flinched and jolted towards the source of the voice. She recognised it all too well, and she wished she hadn't.

Meriff Draper was standing in front of his desk, in his office. A frown creased his brow and added wrinkles to his pale, old skin. His eyebrow quirked upwards impatiently. A black colt pistol sat on the desk next to them. Standing on opposite sides of the room were two police officers, carrying assault rifles. Star had no idea how they got a hold of those.

'It's you!' uttered Star in shock. 'You're the one running this whole operation! The guy on the phone! You're…you're the leader of the Dímios!'

'Yes and no,' Draper snorted, dissatisfied. 'I'm not necessarily the leader of the Dímios. I certainly like to consider myself as such, but…well, you see, the Dímios have been out of business as an assassin's guild for a very long time. Until I came along. They're more like my personal mercenaries now.' He slid off his desk and brandished his walking cane at her. 'Fascinating, isn't it? You make one little lie about having vertigo and everyone treats you a little bit nicer.'

'You lied about having a disability?!'

Draper smiled devilishly and nodded. 'The easiest way to divert suspicion. That and having a few of my own items "stolen". Really, I only let the fakes I had been scammed out of to be taken. I never even sold them.'

'So that's how you accrued all this wealth,' the princess deduced. 'By stealing from people and selling things you don't even own! Do you have any idea how many people you've hurt?'

He merely shook his head disapprovingly.

'You know, from the moment you and your brother showed up here, I knew you'd be no end of problems,' Draper scathed. 'I could just tell, but…' she turned to Flora. '…you, Ms Decora. I'm just disappointed how you were involved.'

'Flora didn't have anything to do with this!' She struggled against her restraints. 'She's innocent!'

'I doubt it.' He paced anxiously about his office. 'I order that stooge Gazton to steal my maid's necklace, and then the very next day after it is stolen, she turns up to work with a brand new one. Lovely coincidence, isn't it? Or perhaps, a trap?'

'I have more than one necklace,' piped up Flora innocently.

'You're poorer than pigeons, my dear,' he said, folding his arms. 'Think carefully before you lie to me. You are the latest in the long line of maids, Flora. I could replace you quicker than you can breathe a word of it.'

'Leave her alone!' cried Star.

'And you, you're obviously the mastermind of this whole affair,' he identified. 'I was watching from afar during my telephone conversation with Gaz earlier today. Imagine my surprise when I see you…pop into existence for a second, before disappearing. Very strange, don't you think? Impressive, that trick you use to turn invisible. How'd you do it?'

When Star refused to say anything, he continued.

'I warn you, I'm not a patient man.'

Star bit her lip. 'Wraith powder.'

Draper simply laughed and took a firmer grip of his cane. 'My dear, wraiths have been extinct on Mewni for centuries.'

Without another word, he struck her on the side of the face with the blunt end of his walking stick. Star cried in pain.

'Please, stop!' Flora begged.

'I think I've made myself very clear about how I feel about liars,' he threatened, making Star roll her eyes slightly when he wasn't looking. She glared up at him but said nothing. 'You don't want to say anything, then?'

'Screw you.'

The Meriff turned away and went back to leaning on his desk in front of him.

'No matter…I already know how you were able to do it,' he said confidently. 'It's clear from that Glamour you're wearing.'

Star's eyes widened larger than saucers. Draper grinned fiendishly.

'Yes, I can see that little disguise you've got there. The slight shimmer to it is a dead giveaway of a Glamour. I'd ask you to remove it, but, well, you can't.' He reached over behind his desk and produced Star's wand, showing it off in front of them. The Meriff inspected it with interest. 'Very interesting. A pale imitation of the real Royal Magic Wand of course, but still capable of casting magic.'

'Don't play with that,' she warned. 'You don't have any idea what you're messing with there.'

'Oh, don't worry, I have no intention of using it,' the Meriff admitted, slipping it seamlessly into his pocket. 'I'd rather just sell it off to the Black Market. Well, I'd much rather pawn it off to the Butterfly Family, if it wouldn't make them intensely suspicious of me.'

'The Butterflies? You…have a direct line to the Butterflies?' Flora realised, gasping uncontrollably.

'How is that possible?' asked Star.

'Well, who did you think I was providing all these stolen items to?' Draper mocked, pointing his cane at her dismissively. 'Not just the Black Market. The Butterfly Empire is the number one purveyor of my goods. It's how I avoid their constant taxes.'

'Wh-why are you doing this?' sputtered Flora, tears brimming in her eyes. 'I thought…I thought you were a good man!'

'Maybe I was, once,' he responded callously. 'But good doesn't keep you alive. I learned that pretty fast.

'You see, once upon a time, I was nothing but a meek commoner like you, with dreams of grandeur. Nobody appreciated me; I was nothing more than dirt under the rich man's shoe. I desired to be something more. Something greater. I was sick of being the underdog, forced to lick the boots of whoever gave me the time of day. The only way I was going to achieve power, and riches, was to appeal to the commonfolk. The refugees, the peasants, the dispossessed…all of them would know my name.

'So, I started out simple: back in the original village, I worked my way up the ranks. I did things I can't say I'm proud of to reach a higher status. Began working with the Underworld Black Market to fund my rise up the ranks. I met the Dímios, struggling on leashes, and brought them under my wing as my own personal mercenaries. Consider me their most charitable benefactor.

'Eventually, I rose to the position of the mayor's personal assistant. Mayor Quincy loved me, obviously. He never knew the forces that were mounting against him. That was why, after I had gained both his trust, and the trust of the people, I had the Dímios assassinate him. Then I forged his will. I added a clause that stated that I, Jackson Draper, would be named his successor. With that, I took over as the mayor. Or Meriff, as I have come to prefer.

'After our original village was destroyed by the Great Solarian Storm, I was the main driving force behind our relocation. The public loved how I championed for a new home. Everyone knew Meriff Draper as their saviour. Once I had finally established myself as Meriff of Polaria, I used the Dímios's contacts to open a direct line of communication between myself and the Red Queen herself, Moon the Malevolent. Her and that wooden oaf she calls her husband agreed to my little scheme…a scheme to provide her with expensive items in exchange for independence and protection from the Butterfly Empire's ridiculous taxes.

'She had to agree. She really had no choice. For the Empire has been on the decline in recent years. It all began after her stupid daughter got this idea that the outer colonies of the Empire were "weak" and "helpless against adversity". She thought they needed to be culled, so she massacred them by the dozen. No wonder she got banished to Earth. Point is, Queen Moon needed the riches to save the Empire. Although…I do have to keep that detail hush hush. Nobody is really meant to know that.'

'Why are you telling us all this?' Star asked, her voice wavering.

'I think you already know the answer to that, Estrella,' he responded, smiling wickedly. 'If that even is your real name.' He nodded to his two officers, and they motioned to grab hold of the two women.

'Hey! Let me go!' the princess demanded, struggling as her ropes were untied. She was helpless as one of them punched her in the face, making her go limp.

'Obviously, I have to dispose of you, but I am not going to dirty my room with your blood. Especially now that I will be without my maid to clean it up.'

The two guards dragged Star and Flora out the back of the building, as the Meriff followed them calmly, pistol in hand. The pair of them were dragged down to the waterfront, just at the foot of the lake next to the entrance to the small town of Polaria. It was already in the dead of night, and the only observer to the cruel deed was the Great Solarian Storm watching impassively in the distance.

By the time Star had regained her senses, she and Flora were lying on their knees at the base of the lake, their limbs rebound with rope.

'Please, let Flora go,' the princess pleaded. 'You can kill me all you like, but Flora…she's innocent in all this!'

'Kill you? I don't want to kill you, Estrella,' the Meriff derided, laughing savagely. 'I have a far better option. A trade. You see, I already made contact with Queen Moon. If I hand you over to her, she has promised me complete diplomatic immunity from the Empire. The Butterflies will never touch this town again, and its residents will remain forever free from their wretched influence. And everybody will know that I, Meriff Jackson Draper, was the one to grant them their freedom!'

Star's eyes widened. The Dark Butterflies were on their way. She needed to act fast.

'You…you can't seriously think that the Queen will ever return their side of the deal!' She spat out the blood in her mouth. 'The Empire would much rather keep you under their control than give you freedom! Even if you let them take me, what's stopping them from enforcing their rules on you anyway? Right now, I'm the only leverage you have. You give that away, and you're screwed!'

'I don't think so,' the Meriff disagreed vehemently. 'My little scheme provides the Empire with vital GDP per capita! They need me!'

'You think they'd have any qualms about taking you out? If you really think the Butterfly Empire actually cares about you, then you're even more arrogant than I thought!'

'QUIET!' commanded Draper. 'My patience is wearing thin, my dear.' He took out his pistol and placed the nozzle flush against Flora's forehead. 'I am sorry about your necklace, Flora. I really am. If it's any consolation, the Magic High Commission are no doubt enjoying them right now.'

'Please…please don't do this!' Flora beseeched, unable to stop the overflow of tears spilling down her cheeks. 'I…I never wanted to hurt anyone! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!'

'You betrayed me, Flora,' he rebuffed. 'You acted out against me. You turned on me. You deceived me. Now you must pay the price for your deception.'

Star knew she was running out of time. Letting Flora die simply was not an option. And there was one option Star had been sitting on this whole time. She knew she could transform into her Full Butterfly form right now and easily dispatch these gremlins. Although the princess knew for a fact that this would be exposing herself to Omnitraxus, what did it matter? The Dark Butterflies were already on their way, and they already knew about her in some capacity.

It's now or never. I just have to –

She was saved by a bright beam of green light that shot past her peripherals. It hit Draper square in the chest, sending him flying back several feet. A second later, and the two guards were dispatched by similar beams of energy, taking them out in an instant.

Star looked over at the source of the magic and beamed in delight.

Adam Butterfly had arrived on the scene in the nick of time, his face illuminated only by the glowing star mark on his hands. He held out a hand and did a quick gesture, and Star saw her bindings evaporating into yellow mist in an instant. Beside her, Flora was given the same treatment and was set free from the ropes.

'Go!' Star ordered, standing up. 'Get out of here, now!'

Flora didn't hesitate. She only gave a nod of appreciation before fleeing off back to Kelly's inn, leaving only Adam and Star with Draper and his men.

'Adam! You came!' she cried in gratitude, enveloping him in a tight hug. 'Thank you thank you thank you!'

'You were right, I should have been trying to help,' he confessed guiltily. 'It's what Beru would have wanted.'

'He would be proud,' she assured him warmly. 'How'd you know I was in trouble, anyway?'

'I dunno, I just felt it,' replied the warlock, letting go of the hug. 'I think it's that connection we share through the wand. Speaking of which.' He bent down and picked up Star's wand from the ground, as it had fallen out of Draper's pockets moments ago. 'I believe this is yours.'

'Thank you,' Star acknowledged, giggling as she took back the wand.

'Keep that thing hidden, okay? There's a whole host of people for which it would be much worse if they found out about your wand than Draper. Please be more careful.'

'I promise I'll be more careful.'

'Don't even try to move!' a voice ordered desperately. The pair of them looked over to see that Draper, having rapidly recovered from the blow to the chest, was pointing his gun at them. 'Make even the slightest movement and I shoot! Now put your hands up!' Adam rolled his eyes, but complied, as did Star. 'Hand over the wand. Now!'

'Ugh, fine,' Star agreed, reluctantly throwing it at his feet. Meriff Draper stumbled over to pick it up, keeping his wand trained on them all the while. He kept it focussed on them as he examined its beauty.

'Fascinating…' he mused.

Except, it wasn't long before he was stopped. All three of them heard the sound of ripping in the air. Adam was alarmed to see a bright, fiery purple portal, with dark purple outlines, opening a few feet away. It shimmered there for a few moments, no sign of the creator from the outside.

'You two! Over here!'

The Meriff directed them over to the entrance of Polaria. As if to accost him, the noise seemed to have attracted the whole town. One by one, the residents of the town emerged from their respective houses to watch the spectacle. Draper was confused for a second, before his eyes fell on Flora Decora, smirking at him from the back. She had gone and woken up the whole town in revenge.

'What's going on?' somebody asked.

'Why is the Meriff threatening those two?' cried another.

'What's that portal?'

'It's the Meriff!' Kelly identified. 'He's been stealing from us! Now he's trying to cover it up!'

Draper laughed nervously.

'No, well...y-you see, I –'

'Star!' Adam interrupted, catching everyone's attention. 'We've gotta get the hell out of here. Right now!'

Star looked at him in concern as his breathing quickened. He nodded towards the portal at the back, just as somebody stepped out of it and the portal closed.

A short woman with flowing, galaxy-purple hair emerged from the portal with a pair of dimensional scissors in hand. Her dress was like a long gown, sectioned in different shades of purple. It frayed at the ends like the tendrils of a flame. Her skin was pale, almost alabaster, with a hint of lavender chalk, complete with jagged forearms and thin hairs. She rocked two fangs, somehow pearlier than her skin, and as sharp as knives. The bangs of her hair covered on eye, but the other was visible. It glowed rosy-pink, a subtle contrast against the rest of her palette. She wore a black crown, which was a black head crest that tied back her long hair. Two bone white horns sprouted from underneath her thick hair, like two traditional Viking horns, but far deadlier.

Worst of all, a bright, ominous, purple flame hovered above her head, bathing her hair in a terrible purple hue.

Who else would be present to address the town of Polaria about their boss's wrongdoings?

None other than Negative Hekapoo herself.

DUN DUN DUN! It's Negative Hekapoo. Shit. They're pretty much boned.

Hello, everyone! Another chapter of Adam and Star's perilous journey in the Negative Multiverse continues!

I did want to visit the other dimensions in the Negative Multiverse, but the thing is...narrative-wise, it's difficult to find a reason for it that doesn't just create more plot holes. Let's break it down why:

1. Adam and Star are trapped in the Negative Multiverse because they can't find a space-time fracture to access the Positive Multiverse. And Adam hadn't quite got the hang of Multiversal magic yet.
2. But if they could visit other dimensions, they could easily find one that DOES have one. Which means staying on Negative Mewni would be pointless. It also means that they could just move to Negative Earth, which isn't controlled by the Butterfly Empire and is probably safer.
3. And they can use portal-hopping to travel much faster across Negative Mewni, which eliminates the need for them to hide out, which eliminates the chance to show Negative Mewni culture, flora, fauna, etc.
4. But Adam and Star can both create portals of their own accord. Hence, the idea of a portal suppression field was devised. And Star's low-power wand move was introduced on the basis that Omnitraxus would notice the warps that her magic would cause. (Because it acts equally and opposite to anti-magic.) Dimensional scissors are also stated to be illegal, and rare, and many knock-offs exist which can't access every dimension.
5. But Adam could open portals next to his bunker home in Chapter 3. So, the idea that Glossaryck can bypass this was created.
6. But then we still need a way of making sure Red Gloss can't bail them out, so it was mentioned that all his spells eventually drained away because Red spent so long disconnected from his local multiverse.
7. Point 4 is also why Star asked Jimothy about his dimensional scissors in the previous chapter, where it was established that the MHC will also confiscate them for those passing to Negative Mewni legally.
8. However, if they were to find dimensional scissors, wouldn't this conflict with Point 2? Not if you recall that Hekapoo, and by extension the MHC, regulate dimensional travel. They probably wouldn't notice portals that don't cross dimensions (i.e. portals solely used to traverse Negative Mewni), but they would notice people crossing dimensions. Especially if Hekapoo happened to know about her dimensional scissors being stolen.

That's my thought process. I wrote myself into this corner, admittedly, but oh, well. I'm thinking of making this a series, called Tales from the Negative Multiverse, where I explore other parts of the Negative Multiverse. So I can do it there.

As for the actual chapter itself, I hope you enjoyed it! I didn't want to drag out the mystery for too long, but I wanted to wait till the end to reveal that Adam's instincts were right, it was Draper behind the whole thing.

I did throw some red herrings in there, obviously. I'm hoping I did it right. I tried to really convince you that Draper wasn't the bad guy. That's why the chapter's written from Star's point of view. So that there could be paragraphs describing her thoughts about Draper, and because they're shown in prose, the reader takes it as fact rather than opinion. As if this what they are supposed to also be thinking. If that makes sense.

If you couldn't already tell, I originally didn't include the short lines of dialogue implying Negative Kelly's origins. I decided to add it in after people in the comments showed some interest about it. I didn't want to give TOO much away about her. Just a few details.

One thing I did always intend was for Adam to show up at the end. His magical connection to Star made another appearance here; it's been a LONG time since that's been relevant. That's how he knew that she was in trouble, by the way. It wasn't really a deus ex machina, given the idea that the two have their magic 'linked' has been introduced before.

Oh, and, the Dímios are back! Sort of. The Dímios in the Negative Multiverse, which are more like hired mercenaries than an elite assassin's organisation. Mr White didn't make an appearance, although I did admittedly tease that with the possibility that the mystery voice was him. It wasn't, but...well, it wasn't a dumb conclusion for the characters to make at the time.

Anyway, I'm actually running out of characters. Thanks for reading!