Whodunnit? Murder On Mystery Mountain

14 Acidic Answer

Giles raised the microphone to his lips, prepared to deliver a message. All the staff were gathered into an outdoor auditorium complete with foldable chairs and under a large roof. Giles stood on the stage holding a microphone and a small piece of laminated paper. Lana sat behind him, hands in her lap, waiting for the game to get even harder.

"The killer has asked me to introduce a riddle. With this riddle, you might be able to solve the murder of Trinity Garrison. Beware, if you do not solve this riddle, your head is liable to be left spinning, and your body buried." Giles gulped as he spoke. The killer had not lost their sense of cruel humor. Almost as though they were the same person. He reached behind him to a table. On the table was a bowl of scrolls. Giles picked one up and began to read the riddle aloud.

Find this where the moor meets the mountain. Find this where the light can not reach. The truth will be unlocked like a fountain. All you have to do is recite this speech.

The scrolls were passed out accordingly. There a long pause as the staff felt the heaviness all at once. This very moment could define their lives. Giles pitied them. Well, he pitied everyone but the killer or killers. Although he had not a clue who it could have been, despite Lana's investigation. He looked over at her now. "Follow them." He mouthed to her quietly.
She nodded and Giles turned back to his audience. "You may go!"

Everyone ran out of the auditorium at once, full adrenaline pumping through them. The first idea came to Cole. The clue fountain had brought him to the conclusion that it must be near water, he raced off to the waterfall. Brooklyn and Zayne both found themselves racing to the waterfall as well. In fact, every person ran to the waterfall in different directions, except Audrey.

She had done her own research on what kinds of things happened at Dawson Manor. Audrey remembered the police finding dozens of small papers with riddles and notes scrawled on them. She thought about them now, how they might have tricked so many of the others. Audrey found herself walking toward the edge of the woods, where the mountain sloped up.

A few feet away, stood a shack. It was wooden and looked a hundred years old. Audrey knew she had solved the clue when she saw the dried blood stains leading up to the door of the shack. "Oh my god." She slowly walked to the door and tried the handle, it swung open with ease. Audrey took a breath and stepped through the door.

There was no way to miss the giant bucket standing in the center of the room. It was metal and had handles on each side. Audrey stepped closer to look inside. There was a light colored bubbly liquid inside and it looked like it was steaming. By the looks of it, Audrey knew it was acid. She shuddered to herself. Was this the answer to the clue? The girl took out her scroll and opened it to the riddle clue. She breathed in and released it as she recited it aloud.

"Under the burning flow, the key lies waiting." Audrey realized she was going to have to retrieve something from inside the acid. With some difficulty, she managed to stick a long metal pole into the acid and find what she was looking for. Tough luck for the others, she thought to herself.

What she pulled out was a clear box with a latched lid and inside of it lay a remote with a single button. To Audrey's luck, the box was unlocked. She tore it open and grabbed the remote, not wasting a second to press the button. A curtain ripped open, exposing a small window and - Audrey shrieked - hanging from it, were bones. They were indeed ribs, just like the ones she had suspected were torn from Trinity in the morgue. Next to it, hung a pair of pliers. Finally, hanging right beside the items was a projector.

Audrey walked over to the projector and switched it on. She could see she was in full of view of the top of camp. In fact, the shack's window looked directly onto the fire pit that Trinity had died in. Flames danced into view inside of the pit. Except they weren't flames, they were images, just as harmless as mist. Audrey couldn't help but cry out as she realized she solved the crime. She would live another day and maybe Phillip would finally notice her.