Twig’s scooped up some of the grape salad. “Ouch,” she cried as she spit the mouthful back out. She looked at her bowl and reached in and pulled out the emerald. She used a napkin to clean it off. She got up walked over and handed it over to Miss Nordin. “I found this in my grape salad bowl.” She explained.
“Oh, thank you so much!” Miss Nordin grabbed the stone and tucked it into her purse. “She pulled out some money. And handed it to Twig’s. “I don’t need a reward,” Twig’s protested. “Nonsense! You must take it, or I shall be very insulted.” Ottillia shoved the money into her hand as the staff looked on jealously.
“Great,” Twig’s muttered. “I keep finding myself getting unwanted attention and handouts from the rich.” Twig’s glared at Pittersticks on the way back to her seat. She knew he couldn’t be responsible for her getting the gem, but she was quite sure he wasn’t innocent in the matter. “And,” she thought. “Now the whole staff is mad at me.”

Mel leaned up against Kaelin, tail thwapping the girl's leg in what she hoped was solidarity, but was probably just slightly annoying.

She wrinkled her nose, trying to sort out all the new scents that had appeared since they descended the stairs. Dust, yes, lots of dust. Old tree--probably from the ornaments stored down here. And something else...

Faye watched the exchange as Twigs gave the emerald back to Miss Nordin, and despite her best instincts insisting, she couldn't quite find it in her to apologize to Pittersticks. She had never believed he'd steal it for the sake of having it, but stealing it for the sake of causing trouble? That she could believe. Instead, all she said was, "All you did was speak to him and he found reason to chase you? Why, that's so difficult to believe."

Faye accepted her bowl of grape salad and, upon tasting it, she had to admit it was good, but... she still wasn't understanding what was making it "essential". Well, so long as she didn't find any emerald pieces or squirrel hairs in hers, she wouldn't complain.

It was only then that she finally saw Molly Brown across the room. She smiled and waved. "Molly! It's so good to see you!"

---

Cody froze in place for a few moments, mentally smacking himself upside the head. One of these days, he was going to un-master the art of saying exactly the wrong thing. Or, maybe this Kaelin girl was just impossible to please. At this point, "both" seemed like the best answer. He took a deep breath; he was going to need to start over. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't know. I didn't...." He stopped. Anything beyond "I'm sorry" would probably just make things worse.

"Look, I came here with my boss. And... I don't want to know what she'll do if she finds out about this. None of us should be down here and I can't just go back up by myself. Can we please just go back upstairs?"

Kaelin looked at Grace and shrugged.

"Fine, but if you really don't want anyone to notice, we should probably use the stairs by the main entrance," she hedged, picking up an ornament that seemed of proper fetching size. "That way it will just look like we were hanging in the hall, instead of coming back up in the middle of the grape salad demonstration."

Grace glanced down at her new dress. "I suppose my parents would be upset if I got this all dirty." She didn't seem too worried about poisonous spiders, however.

"How many ornaments we need?" she asked, selecting another one similar to the one Kaelin had while looking toward the stairs her friend had indicated.

Well, it sure was fun having you all visit! Unfortunately, it is time for our visit to come to a close, as some spectral spooks elsewhere are in need of my attention. Fear not, however! There is more fun in store. On the 28th of this month (that's January, for you temporal Earth-dwellers) a new Flash Fiction Challenge will commence, and you can expect the Mansion to re-open its doors on March 15. Until then, you are welcome to discuss this Mansion or any other salient character and plot points in the Cavern Tavern, or simply hang out with your fellow writers and Dittotopians in the Town Square, as the weather is usually fair there.

Poisoned Kisses,

Delia