The Despicable Murders On Blueberry Lane

Chapter Nine: Star Hunt

The three remaining dinner guests walked down the stairs, as they were being guided by Andria. They went downstairs, and they entered the sitting area. Upon entering the room, they realized there was a door, hidden by the bulky black bookshelf. Andria opened the door, and everyone except Gunther filed in. He handed Andria the tablet, before closing the door behind them.
It was an indoor garden room. The room had a big glass circle in the roof, which allowed for light to pass through. Hanging from hooks in the ceiling were azaleas, irises, dandelions, and dahlias, all arranged neatly. Along the walls, there were different ferns and brightly colored flowers. In the middle of the room, was a circular sun design, that matched the size and position of the glass circle in the roof.
Andria reached into her pocket and pulled out a yellow, sparkly star. It was badly misshapen, but you could tell from certain points what it was.
"The name of Prince's game is called "Searching for Stardom." She held out the star for everyone to see. "In this garden room, there are twenty different stars hidden in different spots. Your goal is to find as many as you can within the time limit of fifteen minutes. The people with the most stars found will live." She puts the star back in her pocket. "If everyone ties with each other, you will all roll dice to determine who wins. If two people tie for the least stars found, the same dice routine will be done. If one person miraculously manages to find all of the stars, the other two people will have to play the dice game. If everyone gets a different number of stars, the one with the least amount of stars loses." She walks to stand in front of the doorway, as a way to prevent escape. "The loser of this game will die by taking a bath in acid. Your body will burn, and slowly crisp, until you die a slow, painful death." Everyone's face grew nauseated, as they imagined the possibility that they would have to meet that terrible death.
"Your time begins now. Good luck."
Beatrice dashed off to go and look for stars.
Prince also began to wander, but noticed that Ivy was frozen.
"Is-um...Everything ok?" Prince asked her, walking to where she was. She looked at him, and shook her head sadly.
"I can't play this game knowing that someone is going to end up dead regardless. It would be like I aided in their death. And after the deaths I just witnessed." She put a hand on her mouth to prevent her from releasing dinner. "I can't, I don't want death anymore. No more." She glared at Beatrice and Prince back and forth. "How can the two of you sit back and agree to a game that will kill someone? It's unjust and wrong, and it makes me sick."
Without even finishing the word sick, Prince started to put his hand on his head and shake.
"Ivy...I am terrified for my life... I don't want anyone to die, I don't... but if there is a chance for me to live, I want to take it no matter the consequences." said Prince.
That awoke something inside of Ivy. Not anger, sadness, or worry.
Confidence arose in her.
"If I can't save every life, at least I can save my own. I can't sit here and waste time."
She pushed past Prince, and began to search for the stars.
Five minutes later, everyone was somewhat successful. Beatrice had found one star tucked under one of the potted daffodils. Ivy found one star hanging from one of the hooked azaleas. Prince had found two stars; one was buried in the dirt in a tiny pot for a venus fly trap, and another was trapped under several bags of soil.
"I have searched everywhere! There's no more stars to be found!" Yelled Beatrice, as she slumped to the floor.
"Nothing good will come from just sitting there Beatrice. At least try to look around." Ivy said to Beatrice.
It seems something reached a boiling point in Beatrice, because suddenly, she snapped.
"I am so absolutely sick of you Ivy. You just go about helping people because you think you're better than them, and I can't stand it. I hope you and your ego DIE this round."
She gets up, and pushes Ivy back.
Ivy, flustered, pushed Beatrice back.
Beatrice returned her action with a hearty slap to the face, which caused a loud sound to ring out into the room.
Enraged, Ivy punched Beatrice in the stomach, HARD.
"I knew you weren't perfect. Only scum punches like that."
Her words received another punch from Ivy, this time to the face, breaking her aviators as they fell to the ground.
"RAH!" Beatrice screamed, as she jumped on top of Ivy, scratching her face.
They tossed and turned, punching and hitting each other, like savage cats fighting for sustenance.
"Guys... break it up!" Prince says, trying to ease the fighting.
A giant ball of spit came flying from Beatrice's mouth near Prince's shoe. "Shut up Prince."
Ivy rolled on top of Beatrice and proceeded to slap her over and over again.
Slurs and curses were flying into the room. If they kept going, someone was going to end up dead.
At last, Andria broke up the fight, kicking Beatrice in the stomach, and smacking Ivy in the back of the head.
"Ten minutes left to find stars." She said dryly, as she went back to her position in front of the doorstep.
Ivy brushed off the dust from her hair, which was messy from the fight, and took a deep breath.
Beatrice picked up her broken aviators, and a frown formed on her face.
"These were my favorite aviators, you monkey of a woman." Ivy looked like she was about to initiate a round two, but she bit her lip and continued to search for stars.
Prince, looking high and low for stars, found two more additional stars next to a bottle of fertilizer, and another one in a pot next to a beautiful marigold, putting him at four stars, while Ivy and Beatrice remained at one.
Ivy stubbed her toe on one of the pots.
"Ouch!" She reached for her heels to try to take them off so she could massage her toe, but ended up finding a star in one of the empty pots.
"Bingo." Quickly forgetting about her pain, she added the second star to her roster.
There were three minutes left. Prince had managed to find three more stars, keeping him in the lead with seven stars. Ivy had managed to find one more, putting her at three stars. Beatrice, still lost, only had one measly star.
"Oh god, I'm going to die." She said to herself.
Just as she was starting to worry, she stopped. She looked at her competitors, and a sly grin appeared on her face. She had a plan.
One minute left.
No one was able to find any remaining stars, keeping Prince at seven, Ivy at three, and Beatrice at one.
"Your time is up in ten, nine, eight, seven..." Andria started to count down.
Beatrice eyes glinted mischievously, and she executed her plan.
Running as fast as she could, she crashed into Prince, causing all of his stars to fly into the air.
"AAH!" Prince exclaimed.
Beatrice, who saw her chance, attempted to take some of Prince's stars.
"HEY! I worked hard for those!" At this point, both of them were scrambling to pick up the fallen stars.
"Three, two, one. Freeze. Your time is up."
Prince managed to get back five of his stars, leaving Beatrice with only two stars to swipe. Prince, flustered from the encounter, eyed Beatrice, which she returned with an ignorant wink.
"Give me all of your stars, and let me count them up." Andria ordered, completely ignoring the skirmish.
Prince, Beatrice, and Ivy all handed their stars in.
A few seconds later, she produced the results.
"Prince, you gained five stars, so you will remain alive." Prince let out a thankful sigh as she gave the results to the others.
"Beatrice and Ivy, you both possess three stars. You will have to roll dice, and whoever gets the higher number will live."
Ivy stared at Beatrice with a heated rage, while Beatrice returned it with a chilling glower.
Round two appeared before them in a life or death situation. One of them was going to die.
Both of them were scared, but it was overpowered by the powerful hatred and anger towards each other.
From one of the tables in the garden room, Andria reached behind a big golden chrysanthemum, and revealed a red die.
She handed it to Beatrice, giving her the opportunity to roll first. Shaking her hand, she let go.
"Four" said Andria, picking up the dice and handing it to Ivy.
"The probability of you getting a five or six is out of the question! So long Fagolbold." She laughed out loud, as Ivy grinded her teeth.
She shook the dice real well, and blew into it, as if blowing luck into it.
When she let go, the life and death of Beatrice and Ivy all tied into this number.
It landed on the ground.
"Three."
It continued to roll.
"Six."
It lost momentum.
"One."
At last, it remained still. The number that would determine the cruel fate of these two ladies.
"Five."