how vee, quite casually, disappeared from the earth

chap 2

"Come on!!" serrie whispered fiercely as they tiptoed down a cobblestone path that had twisted brambles on either side of it. Sana, ananya, payton, cherry, and a talking pumpkin followed serrie.

"I don't even know why we're doing this!" sana whispered angrily towards serrie.

"Oh shush, underboss," serrie said, exasperated. Payton raised her eyebrows. Sana was gonna eat serrie when they went back to the casino, haha-

"That reminds me," ananya asked in a questioning tone, "has anyone seen vee?"

"No, but she'll turn up eventually. She always has a knack for going on adventures." cherry laughed.

"Yeah, remember that time when she found those clues? She was out for 1 week and we were all wondering what happened to her." payton commented.

"SSSH," serrie shushed them, "remember- we can't let dystopian hear us."

Payton rolled her eyes humorously. "Dystopian campers don't even come at night. They go back to bed, remember? Only birdi, vienna, and that other one - mira - will be awake now."

Serrie scoffed. "It doesn't hurt to be cautious."

Sana suddenly stopped in her tracks. "I don't really think we should do this... i'm gonna go back to the casino. I won't tell alyelle, but still." they all watched her leave.

"Anyone else wanna leave?" serrie asked sweetly. No one left. ouch-

"Yeah. we could try and find vee?" ananya asked inquisitively to everyone after they watched sana hurry back to the casino. She really was worried; where was vee?

"As i SAID," cherry said with a touch of annoyance, "vee probably wandered off."

But ananya wasn't so sure. She slowed down her walking; it was hard to walk and think at the same time, but she kept with the group. Maybe a raid on dystopian's castle would take her mind off of all this. They crossed a bridge that was over a moat that looked surprisingly clean- the bridge, on the other hand, looked old. And unstable.

"Ew, i don't wanna fall." payton muttered and crossed the bridge on her tippy toes.

Ananya was the last one to cross the bridge. Just as she was about to step on the unstable wooden bridge, something caught her eye in the darkness. A hat? Was it a hat? It was definitely on someone who was hiding behind the bushes; some sort of hat, though. She shook her head, and the floppy hat had disappeared. She was just seeing things. She crossed the bridge, holding her breath, hoping it didn't give away. It didn't.

The doors to the castle where one of their greatest enemies lived was surprisingly majestic, but ananya get to have a quick glance at the doors, which were dark brown, before getting pulled into a circle by serrie.

"Alright, so what's our plan?" cherry asked.

"We had a plan?" payton seemed confused. This is why plans to raid places don't really work most of the time.

"YES, WE DID." serrie sighed, tired. "One of us is checking their reserves. The other is finding their cabin war strategies. The other is finding all their secrets. And one other is, uh, protecting everyone. Or figuring out what the leaders are up to. Or something."

"I CALL CABIN WAR STRATEGIES!" cherry squealed loudly. Like, really loudly. Serrie shot a withering glare at cherry and pushed them against the wall as a window opened.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" birdi's voice rang out in the silent night. "Okay then. Hold on, vienna." she closed the window and went back in.

"Omigod," serrie facepalmed quietly, "first off- no one is allowed to talk loudly now unless its a raid and we're all happy. Second off- omigod is the best variant of omg."

"Actually, i like oh my lord better-" payton started. Serrie cut her off. "Alright, cherry is doing cabin war strategies. I'm doing the secrets. Payton's doing their reserves. Ananya? Can you protect everyone and figure out what they are planning?"

Ananya nodded, and they opened the doors, which wasn't as hard as it looked. "Be quiet now, until they realize we're in here. Then we can make as much noise as possible. Alright?" everyone nodded again. Serrie was kind of the ring leader here.

They slowly tiptoed to the main lobby, and there were 4 staircases. Perfect. One staircase was labeled 'cabin wars' so cherry went there. One staircase was labeled 'writing' so since payton thought it was a good place to start, she went there. The third staircase was labeled 'documents' which somehow translated to secrets. At least in serrie's language.

They had all went to their staircases to go and sneak into dystopian except ananya. "Well, i guess i'm taking this way?" she said to no one in particular, pointing to the 4th staircase. She shrugged and ran up the staircase. She could hear birdi and vienna talking in the room. Where's Mira? Ananya thought. As you can tell by now, she is, by far, the most observant of the whole group.

"HEY!" an unfamiliar voice startled her, sort of soft and lilting- she turned around. Her breath froze with shock. It was mira- she had just never heard mira talk before.

"MYSTERY CAMPER? GET O-" mira was cut short as a pumpkin hit her on the head and she collapsed. "A pumpkin?"

Ananya looked up. Where did a pumpkin come from? The same floppy hat, and a hand quickly retracted up. The mystery person, who was maybe on their side - considering how they helped her - was a human. Good to know. It wasn't like Ananya thought anything else, though. She wondered how the others were faring, but she couldn't really get to them. They were, of course, on different staircases. She flattened herself against the wall with vienna and birdi in it and spied on them.

"...so for cabin wars, lets attack the last hour, alright? Mythology has been acting awfully suspicious lately, but I think it's just to put up an act for mystery." birdi's voice echoed through the walls.

"Yes. with sini just in prison, they'll be happy. They won't suspect anything." vienna laughed, "they may have won march 2021, but we'll win july 2021."

Ananya seethed. Mystery will win july, she thought,. Just wait and see.

She leaned closer to the door, suddenly unable to hear them.

"Birdi-" vienna's voice came through, and although the walls were terrible with project noise, there was clearly panic in hers.

"What?"

"The security system for our documents have been breached. Same with cabin wars. And our writing. Our campers private writing. And..."

"And?" birdi asked, outraged.

"Our private notes on a certain cabin?" she sounded unsure of herself.

"THOSE MYSTERY CAMPERS-" ananya heard birdi's chair being pushed away as she stood up. "I'm dealing with them right now." ananya was stuck. For one, she could go back down the stairs - but risk having a pumpkin dropped on her head. Or, she could make a run for it down the hall before birdi and vienna saw her. She chose the latter, but all too late. Life sucks that way. Birdi's office door opened so quickly that ananya could practically feel the breeze.

Ananya and birdi were face to face, with vienna peeking behind her shoulder. It certainly was awkward.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?? GET OUT I'M CALLING ICY AND ALBA-" birdi's furious yelling was cut off because, of course, another pumpkin fell in rapid succession on birdi and vienna's head.

"What-" ananya felt a blade push into her back, and immediately her eyes were blurry and everything was spinning.. And spinning... she fell down, just like poor vee, her eyes even more blurry by now. The perpetrator towered over her.

"I swear," she said, in a voice that ananya recognized. Sini. what was sini doing? She was supposed to be in jail. "These mystery campers are so easy to-" ananya didn't hear the rest, because the world suddenly became black.

And that was the last anyone heard of her, for quite a while.