The Cheshire Cat Diamond

Chapter 5

Everyone gasped. Trisha looked on the verge of tears. Immediately, people started to leave, leaving behind dinner plates filled with half-eaten food. Making my way through the stampede of scared people I found Trisha's dad at the podium.

"Excuse me sir, do you know where Trisha is?" I asked as politely as possible. The troubled man had been looking out at the fleeing people, and helping people get to their rooms.

"She just left darling. Talk to her tomorrow kay? This isn't a good night for her." he said sympathetically. Disappointed, I shuffled to where the big picture hung. The paint on this picture wasn't old. It looked maybe 5, 6 hours fresh. I took out my phone and snapped a picture of the color of the paint. Maybe it would be useful. Now though, I really had to go to sleep.

After a un-fitful night of tossing and turning, I went to go see how Trisha was doing. She was a very delicate person. I found her in the lobby, speaking with some of the staff. I waited until she was done, then pulled her aside.

"Trish, what's going on?" I asked her quietly.

" I don't know, that picture was printed last week and a lot of people touched it. I have no idea who would have done it." Trisha said frantically.

"Okay, take deep breaths. Panicking won't help anything."

"But I don't know what to do! This could ruin the gala and ruin me! RUIN ME!" she wailed. I grabbed her shoulders and shook her really hard. At first Trisha winced, but then I saw some of the light come back to her eyes.

"Trisha, don't let hysteria control you. I promise you we will find out what's going on." I said.

"Reading Nancy Drew novels does not make you a detective Nancy." Trisha screeched.

"Oh my god. Nancy and Desmond. They left before you made your speech. What were they doing?" I gasped. Trisha put her hands on my shoulders.

"I don't know Cia, but it's up to you to find out." she said. Jeez, no pressure huh?

I decided to go to the lounge. Hopefully I could find some of the other guests and maybe speak to them a bit. The first person I found was Stephanie. Honestly, I wasn't looking forward to a nice little chat with Stephanie, but I had to help Trisha.

"Hi Stephanie!" I said as brightly as possible as I took a seat next to her. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Yes" she grumbled from behind her fashion magazine. I tilted my head to look at the magazine she was reading. After all, it was about fashion right? Ignoring the jibe, I continued to talk as brightly as possible. "Oh, we go to the same college! That's the latest fashion magazine that I released!" Stephanie snapped the magazine shut, and stuffed into her purse.

"Listen up Nastia, or whatever your name is. I don't have time for this. I was just reading that because a friend recommended it to me."

"Really?" I shot back. "Cause you seemed really hooked." Flipping my hair I said

"Plus I know all my fashion designs are amazing. Want some tips?" I asked snottily. Now, I had never been this rude to someone, except for mean girls who wanted a piece of my mind. Stephanie was no exception.

"Ugh. Your designs are the worst. I've designed way better. I don't even have time for this. See you later Nastia. Not!" she sniped, as she stood up and sashayed away. Whatever.

I went to the game room after that confrontation. While doing so, I passed the gleaming staircase where there hung a new banner saying "Welcome to the Cheshire Cat Halloween Gala!" in spiky letters. Speaking of Cheshire Cats, wasn't the Cheshire Cat a character in Alice in Wonderland? He could turn invisible and teleport and was a sneaky little fella with the creepiest smile in the history of mankind. Why did Trisha call her gala the Cheshire Cat gala. Whipping out my phone, I texted Trisha. In a few minutes she replied,

"I named the gala the Cheshire Cat gala, because the Cheshire Cat seemed like the perfect Halloween character. He's creepy with a mouth full of sharp teeth and a sinister smile. Also, given that we found the Cheshire Cat diamond, it was perfect"

Reading this, something popped into my mind. Wasn't Desmond reading that book last night? You know, something about that diary about Oscar Damaris. That couldn't be a coincidence. I ran to the game room, determined to find Desmond. He left early last night too! There was foul play going on here!

I reached the game room in 30 seconds, breathless and heaving. I leaned against the wall to give myself a few seconds to catch my breath. Once I could breathe normally, I shoved open the door.

In the room I found Nancy. She was reading a book. Wait..that book looked familiar. It was the diary about the Cheshire Cat Diamond!

"Nancy! Isn't that book Desmond's!" I shouted. The poor thing, she nearly jumped 6 feet.

"Yeah. It looked interesting, so I just grabbed it when we came here. He kept hiding the book from me, so I waited for a chance to read it, and swiped it last night. He kept muttering something about seeing that diamond. Once he found out Trisha invited me here, he forced me to take him with me." Nancy said sadly.

"What? I thought that you brought him because you wanted to!" I asked, flabbergasted.

" No Stace. I never even really liked him. We just dated because he asked me out, and wouldn't take no as an answer." Nancy said, hanging her head down.

I plopped down on one of the plush sofas. That's why Nancy didn't let Desmond call her Noodles! She didn't even really like him. At this moment, Trisha came in. I had never seen Trisha look so tired in my life. It was so bad.

"Hey Trisha. I was just going to go check the lobby to see if I could find Kyle. Wanna come?" I asked her. Nancy shut her book and sprang to her feet.

"I'm coming. I haven't seen Desmond all day anyway, and I've been here for hours." she said, energized. Trisha simply groaned and put her hands on her face.

"Noodles, how can you be so energetic? I'm like, dead inside." she muttered. Nancy leaped across the room and pulled Trisha up.

"Well, with that attitude, you're dead outside too. Let's go!" she chirped. Nancy dragged Trisha to the lobby, with me following behind, extremely amused. The second we opened the door to the lobby though, all that amusement vanished, replaced with horror.

*****

A/N:

Best way to end a chapter? End with a cliffhanger that doesn't really seem like one but that's if people read this in the first place. Oh joy, I'm so optimistic.

-Acelyst

A/N

 Cliffhangers? That's my jam bro, so don't worry.

-Solarys