Stardust // Reggie Mantle (3)

Chapter Fourty-Nine

Caia was staring in shock at the figures near the head of the table. To see both serial killers that had been terrorizing the town for so long in the same place was simply chilling. She glanced worriedly around at the other teens, who seemed just as shocked and scared as Caia was.

Penelope chuckled as she glanced admiringly at the two villains. "What have I told you?" Penelope chided the two figures. "No masks at the dinner table." She shot her head forward. "Take them off."

The Black Hood was first. It came as no surprise to anyone in the room to see Hal Copper's face emerge from under the ski mask. Betty sighed and looked away. "Oh my god," She muttered.

Hal started forward to his place at the table as the Gargoyle King reached for his mask. "Wait, King, before you do," Penelope commanded. "Hellcaster. Care to take a stab?" Penelope emphasized the last word by stabbing her knife into the wood of the table.

Jughead's eyes flirted back and forth between Penelope and the Gargoyle King. "Sure," He replied shortly. Jughead took a deep breath in before beginning. "Arthur Conan Doyle famously said, 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,'" Jughead quoted. Caia glanced warily at Hal, who had been seated across from her. She felt like he was staring into her soul. "In which case, whoever it is underneath that mask, must've had a connection to Hal, and to you, Penelope." Penelope nodded. "But it's not Jason, because he's dead. Even though his corpse is missing."

Caia's eyes grew wide. What the hell? She hadn't known that part of the story. That must've been what Jughead had been doing when she was busy getting attacked by her rouge father.

Penelope seemed shocked by this revelation as well, as she turned a wide eyes gaze to Jughead. "The one corpse that hasn't been accounted for, and who was last seen by the Black Hood." Jughead paused, Caia assumed just for dramatic effect.

Betty's eyes were wide with anticipation and shock. "Chic," she muttered.

Jughead followed with the same words. "Chic."

Caia turned a pained gaze out to the Gargoyle King. He slowly pulled his mask off his head to reveal exactly the person who had been guessed. Chic. Only one thing different from the last time he had been spotted- his hair was now red.

"What the hell?" Caia and Archie muttered almost simultaneously.

"Since when does Chic have red hair?" Veronica questioned.

Chic began walking to his place at the foot of the table as Jughead answered Veronica's question. "I'm guessing since he started working with Penelope. Doing her bidding. But this was after he got the Gargoyle symbols tattooed on his back. It's why Ethel said the Gargoyle King was Jason." He paused to turn to Penelope, and Chic sat down, setting his mask next to him. "Because you called him Jason. Because you dressed him up like Jason."

Betty turned to Hal, finally putting the pieces together. "You didn't murder Chic," she concluded. "After you chased him through the woods, you-"

"I recognized a kinship in him, and I spared him," Hal finished, cutting Betty off. "He begged for Mercy and pledged his life to me in service of my mission."

"But it wasn't just your mission, was it, Mr. Cooper?" Jughead speculated harshly. "Maybe not at first, but eventually, you started working with someone else who also had a grudge against Riverdale." For once, Caia had an idea of where this was going. She turned her gaze down the long table. She could see the wheels turning in both Archie and Veronica's heads as well.

"In the middle of all that stuff with the Black Hood last year, my dad was having an affair with Penelope," Betty reminded.

Penelope lowered her head in pride. "Yes, I did cultivate your father's," She pasued, searching for the right word. She sighed and looked back up. "Murderous impulses. It's true." Caia shook her head in disgust. This woman was crazy. "To take my revenge on a town that allowed me to be sold as a child bride to the Blossoms." Penelope crossed her fingers together, letting her elbows rest on the table. "Your parents knew. I told them. And they did nothing but mock me." Betty's gaze fell to the table in shame. "And years later, when my Jason was murdered in cold blood, do you think one of them reached out to me?" Caia glanced over to make eye contact with Veronica and Archie who looked both shocked and guilty. "No, they were too busy ignoring the rotting, fetid truth. That Riverdale is a hideous and cruel place, twisted and cursed."