Blood Flower

Chapter 4

"Empty?! As in, nothing inside?" Natsuki yelled in disbelief.
"That's what she said! We need to go in to investigate!" Yuri yelled back.
"But first, we will need a body for Libitina. I'm sorry, Maddie." Irina pressed a carefully hidden needle into Maddie's arm.
"Wait! What are you-"
The girl stopped mid sentence. Her heart began to slow.
"Quickly, Libitina! Before she expires!"
Suddenly, she jerked up.
"I'm back. It's me, Libitina," she said.
"Poor Maddie, she got into a car accident and just when she finally woke up for real, she died again." Sayori said, a sad smile on her face.
"What did you see in there, Libitina?" asked Kai, fiddling with the door.
"Nothing, just an envelope," Libitina replied, pulling it out of her bag.

It was a perfect white envelope with a red seal on it. Yuri gingerly opened it and began to read aloud.

"Hello. I'm afraid we've moved since a certain...incident where someone managed to escape. Our new location is somewhere more secure and secret.
If you want to find that place, well, too bad! You can't. Our security personnel have designed the directions to be absolutely impossible to find.
This envelope and its contents are everything you'll need to find us. Not like you can, though.
That girl we mentioned? She is the key to start everything.
But why leave her and mix things up?
-RM "

"Uhh, what?" Natsuki looked weirdly at Yuri, confused. "What does that mean?"
"It means they knew I escaped," Yuri said solemnly. "It also means we're gonna get thrown into a scavenger hunt for where the Markovs are."
"I don't wanna do this anymore," Monika cried, burying her face in her hands. "Why do we even need to look for them, anyway?"
"Monika, that's not like you," Kai barked. "You're always the last to give up."
"But what if we're just getting our tails in a twist?"
"We're doing this for my sister," Yuri said. "We need to get her back, because if we don't, the Markovs will kill her, and she'll disappear forever!"
Monika began to smile. "You're right. What's at the back of the note?"
Scrunching up her face, Sayori began to read. "It says...uhh..."
"Hm?" Irina looked at Sayori.
"It's gibberish! Look at it!"

Xxq Qlmhp Bci tqpmvue lri jtfrk.
Qza aluzbzih fei qeak mw qf fxw iqzsrt bomqu,
Qsivoaki, Mdgqmpym xrh Ujfqmdmb epywb,
Wlqdb mxi blaih mkh kbaoc.
Ueedsj eno lzi Thwdze Lhgwtwwk

"Uh, what?" Monika's eyes widened at the sight of the note.
"Ugh. I'm done for today, can we head to the hotel?" Sayori moaned, collapsing onto a cobweb covered chair.
"I guess we could work on it in our rooms," Monika replied. "Irina's taking us to a hotel."
The older woman nodded. "Okay. Let's go to the hotel, rest for a bit, and we can figure something out there."

***
The hotel was large, to say the least. Chandeliers hung from the ceilings, lit by thousands of glittering candles. Several signs pointed to different parts of the hotel, to the restaurant, golf club, tennis court, pool, and lots of other places that Libitina dared not count. She took a seat on a soft velvet chair, beside Yuri and the others. A kind-looking bellhop took their bags, smiling at them before putting them on a trolley.
She saw Irina running towards them, a key card in her hand.
"I got us a suite," she said excitedly. "Three rooms, a minibar, Jacuzzi, and free room service."
"You're that loaded?" Libitina said in shock.
"I know people," Irina replied with a smile. "People who owe me favors. Anyway, Libitina and I, Monika and Sayori, and Natsuki and Yuri, we will stay in the rooms. Kai can sleep on the couch, if that's okay with him."
"Oh, heck yeah it is," Kai said. "I get to watch movies all night!"
They all laughed as they entered the elevator to their whole-floor suite.
Luxury life, here they come.

***
Monika couldn't sleep.
It wasn't because of Sayori's obnoxiously loud snoring from the bed beside her. Nor was it because of Natsuki watching the Parfait Girls movie on max volume on TV. She could easily tune those out and focus on relaxation and sleep.
Every time she closed her eyes, the gibberish letters flashed before her.
It can't just be random, she thought to herself.
She pushed back the covers and began to pace the room.
This envelope and its contents are everything you'll need to find us...
That girl we mentioned? She is the key to start everything.
She is the key...
Key...
Monika's bright green eyes flashed, like they always did when she had a great idea.
The text looked like a cipher. It probably was, too.
And to get the cipher to make sense, she needed a key. And a key meant...
"Vigenere cipher," she said out loud.
She quickly opened up a decoding website on her phone and copied the text, word for word, letter for letter.
That girl we mentioned? She is the key...
"She means Yuri! But Yuri wasn't called Yuri back then, she was called-"
"Elyssa!"
Startled, Monika turned around.
"Don't be scared," Sayori laughed. "You were talking to yourself again."
"Sayori! You almost gave me a heart attack!"
"Hey," Sayori said teasingly, "I figured out the key."
"You're right. Let's find out our next clue."
Monika hit the 'decode' button.
And the next clue was...
More gibberish.