"bronze, steel, brass, copper?" Jed asked, after a few moments of careful consideration.

Glenda paused for a moment, quietly adjusting the keys into the order Jeff suggested. "No, no, the steel key doesn't belong on the second hook; that's where it was when I started. But... that seems almost right...."

"Well then, I suppose it might have to be bronze, brass, copper and then steel."

"Well, the bronze being first certainly looks right." Glenda agreed, taking that key and hanging it on the respective hook. She glanced at the other keys, and arranged them in the order he said. "No, the copper key doesn't belong on the third hook; that's where HE left it."

"Oh, I used to work at the bakery, Death by Pastry. Moira, the owner, is a banshee and she said my aura was causing a feedback loop with her powers that was giving her constant migraines. So I ended up quitting and going to work at Dressed to Kill. I can't make the clothes since I don't have any talent for magic, but I can take measurements and run the register and things like that," Anna said. "It's actually a lot of fun. Alice has been teaching me how to fight with knives when we're not busy."

"This wasn't suppose to happen! Not here... not yet..." Selena sobbed sitting next to Malcom's body. This whole venture was starting to become more of a nightmare than just a bizarre dream. Sure, with other people dying that opened up the possibility that anyone could die... but she had always thought it would be her to go first. That's how it should have been.

-----

Not knowing any comforting words to say, Neal knelt down and checked for a pulse knowing full well there would be none. As he stood up, something shiny caught his eye. Laying a foot or so away from Lawrence was a familiar object... a small metallic cylinder.

Picking up the now all too familiar object, Decker looked for any markings. The number 11 was carved into one side of the cylinder. "Here's another one for the collection..." The Darkling mused before sticking the object in his pocket.

"Come. We better tell Delia that we have another accident." Decker said offered Selena a hand. A slight glare was all he got in response as the red-haired woman took his hand and started walking back to the cottage.

Kai looked back and laughed. She hadn't expected that. "Well, I feel safer. If any murderer comes, I've got you with your knife fighting skills."
They walked up the cushioned stairs, not making a sound. The mansion had many floors, and it seemed a while until they rose. The grandeur faded with every step. The last two flights of stairs led to the servants' quarters, which had a faded wooden door, and the attic, whose door was even more faded than the one below. Right by the door to the left of the stairwell was a large window, looking outside.

Kai opened the door to the attic and let Anna through. The dim light from the stairwell seemed as bright as day in contrast to the attic. The darkness enveloped around them. What if the murder was here? There was the smell of... was it mothballs? Kai had read about them. She felt some rolling under her shoes, and she bent to pick one up, afraid for a moment that someone would jump up from the shadows. The smell of camphor was now her hands. Kai fumbled through her pockets, her heart beating faster as she tried to keep her calm, and found her compass light. She flicked it on, and soon there was a blue glow illuminating the attic. The attic was dusty, but there were chests neatly stacked against a wall. Kai saw something else. It looked like...

"Are those books?" she said aloud, her voice rising and betraying her excitement. She glanced back to make sure Anna was in the light too.
"Sorry," she explained, "I've never seen these..." she grabbed one from the shelf and balanced the compass flashlight between her fingers while gripping the book. She flipped the leaves, sending up a storm of dust. She coughed. "My great great grandfather--he told us about these! You know, they don't have that many where I'm from. All the ones are for reference at the important city libraries, and it's impossible to..." she fingered the thin, yellowed, pages, "to actually touch one." She looked over the pages for a moment then realized how foolish she looked. "Sorry, we're looking for a key back."

She shut the book and slipped it back in its crevice on the shelf.
She was about to turn to look elsewhere, for a window perhaps, when one gleaming title caught her eye. The Treasure Hunt. "Sorry," she laughed embarrassedly and picked it up. But when she opened it, she realized that it was not a book with bound papers. The book was a box only shaped like a book.
Kai started when she saw what was in the box. There was a sleek metal cylinder, untouched by the coat of dust in the attic. It looked like the one in the conservatory.

"Anna, look," she dropped the box, and held up the cylinder. "They found this in the conservatory. They seem to be planted around the mansion...but by whom?" Kai looked around, " Why don't we go out and open it?"
They escaped from the shadowed attic into the stairwell. Kai twisted the cylinder open, and a paper fell out. Kai opened it, and saw a map. She opened it, and angled it closer to Anna so she could look. As soon as they finished examining the map, Kai noticed from the window that there was some disturbance in the plain grey ground outside. In the distance, a hollow strip was forming. There was a dry river bed stretching far on the horizon.
Kai looked at Anna. "I suppose the next step would be to follow it. Maybe we'll find water." They ran down the stairs.

If Anna were to actually take the time to think about it, she would have to admit she was actually kind of enjoying herself. Running around through the Mansion, searching for hidden secrets, puzzling over mysterious maps; it was all rather exciting and unusual. It was a shame those people had had to die for it to happen, but still, it was kind of fun.

As they rushed down the stairs, Anna suggested to Kai," When we're finished with this, we should start trying to figure out where everyone was during the murders. There were a lot of people in the basement when the first man was killed, but the death in the pool was during the night and we were paired up in rooms. Maybe someone noticed their roommate leaving and didn't think to mention it."

In Glenda's House
Cynthia rubbed her dainty, pointed chin and stared at the keys thoughtfully.

"Is the order bronze, brass, steel, and then copper?"

"Yes, yes that's it!" Glenda relaxed considerably as she put the keys back on the hooks where they belonged. Compared to her earlier behavior, she was positively serene. She took the bronze key off its hook and turned to Jeff and Cynthia. "Well, you were kind enough to help me with this--here, take this key. I'm sure it will do you more good than it will me."

With that, Glenda must've noticed something on the table, as she immediately wheeled around, found a nearby cleaning rag, and started scrubbing it furiously.

In Glenda's House
"Aha!" said Cynthia, smiling and twirling the bronze key on her finger as she turned to Jeff and Delia. "Now aren't you glad I came along?"

"Yes, very glad," Delia muttered, dodging Cynthia to talk to Glenda. "Sorry, but...apple?"

"Oh yes, that." Glenda had set the apple down on the table. She retrieved it, giving it to Delia. She went back to cleaning the table, but asked as she did, "Was there anything else you wanted to ask me?"

After she asked that, she glanced around, peering out the still-open door into the front yard. "Didn't there used to be more of you? What happened to the others?"

They rested for a moment at the foot of the stairwell. Kai responded, "That's a good idea. If more people give us their account of the time, we can probably try and make some sense out of this. Although, I kind of ignored the pairing advice and went to my own room, so maybe others did the same?" Kai shrugged. "It's worth a try. I would probably want to ask others for their alibis about where they were at the time of the murders, but I'm not sure how smoothly that would go, suspecting everyone." She shuddered at the prospect of the murderer being one of the guests in the mansion.

"Well, onto following the river bed. We were....." Kai turned her head and tried to remember where the window was located. "We'll need to cross the house." They both opened the large door of the mansion. Cold, white light from outside streamed in. The ground was dusty and dry. There was only silence; the wind did not sigh, and there were no birds in sight. They went around the house and located the rift. It was further out than Kai had mentally calculated from the mansion, and she was exhausted and out of breath by the time they had reached.
She pulled the skirt of her dress, looking less grand than it did the previous evening, having now a generous coat of the grey dust. "What a delight to have to run around in party clothes," she muttered.
They found the riverbed and followed it to the left of the mansion. It was nothing but a deep, wide break in the ground for a while. There were trees whose bark was nearly as grey as the ground and whose branches were bare. It was getting hot, and Kai had to roll up her sleeves. She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket, ripped it in half, and gave the other half to Anna while daubing her own sweaty forehead.
After some time, there was a change in the meandering narrow crevice. There was the sound of rushing water. They ran towards it, mustering enough strength after their treck with the promise of water, and soon they found themselves above a large waterfall. It rushed down. Around it were trees with thick, full leaves. The waterfall flowed into a location of lower elevation, where there seemed to be an abode with windows and a door.
"Well, we found water!" Kai exclaimed. She knelt and was about to cup some into her mouth when she halted. What if it wasn't safe to drink? Kai looked at the house. If someone was in there, they surely would know if the water was alright to drink.
"Should we see if anyone's in the house?" Kai asked Anna.

With the recent demise of her friend (boyfriend?), Neal wasn't expecting much from the red-haired woman. To his surprise she seemed to have become even more determined and resilient to this strange world than before. It didn't take them long at all to reach Glenda's cottage with Decker quickly slipping past Selena on their way into the garden area. "Better if I tell them than you..." the Darkling said pushing the brim of his fedora up with his thumb.

A curt nod from the steely eyed young woman was all the response he received.

----

"There's been another death... and we have another canister for the collection." Neal informed the group as he stepped inside the cottage while holding up the familiar object for all to see.