The last day of October dawned bright and early. Jimena awoke from a surprisingly dreamless sleep and smiled at the sun. Then she got out of bed and came face to face with Grian.
"Ahh!" Jimena shrieked, her wings flapping outward in a flight or fight defense mechanism, purple energy at her fingertips ready to strike until she realized who it was. "Grian!" Jimena scolded. Grian laughed. "Surprise!" He giggled.
Just then, False shot through the door and pinned Grian to the floor, blade at his neck. He let out a strangled, surprised cry. "False, I'm fine!" Jimena said quickly, wrenching the sword from her hands. "He just surprised me!"
False reluctantly let Grian go and the two of them got up, scowling at each other. "What was that for?" Grian asked, rubbing his neck, which was a startling shade of burgundy. "I heard Jimena scream so sorry if I jumped to conclusions just to be safe," False said.
"Maybe I should be more careful with my surprise wake up calls," Grian muttered. "Yes. You should. I do not like surprises." False huffed. "Uh, good morning," Jimena tentatively waved, trying to diffuse the stiff mood. "Morning." The other two said. "Um..." Jimena said, hesitating, "Anyone want eggs?"
It did the trick. Soon the three of them were laughing and choking on False's cooking and seemed to have forgotten the rough start the morning had gotten. But Jimena knew False well enough to know that the tinkerer had filed away the incident to memory, or at least had tried to, what with her confusing memory. Jimena just wondered what was going on in her head.
"Anyway, Jimena," Grian said, "Today's the day we give Timmy his Halloween surprise party!" "Yay!" Jimena cheered childishly. "Halloween surprise party?" False asked. "The one I told you about, remember?" Jimena reminded. False thought for a second and then lit up. "Oh yeah, I remember." She paused. "Am I supposed to go?" "You don't have to if you're uncomfortable," Jimena said comfortingly. False let out a relieved smile.
"Anyhow," Grian said with a mischievous grin, "Let's go surprise Timmy now!" "Okay, I'll go get my costume," Jimena said, finishing off the last of her burnt egg and rushing to her room to go and change. Ten minutes later, the rogue Watchers were in their costume and flying to Tumble Town.
When they arrived, they weren't the only ones there. Joel and Lizzie were there dressed as dolls; Lizzie wearing the tag hat despite how it clashed with her Halloween costume and several hermits were cautiously keeping their distance from her. Scar had come as a Mr. Potato Head toy with interchangeable add-ons. Keralis was the embellished spork. Scott wore the frilly pink dress that he'd been looking at, and Gem was a cowgirl.
Jimena stared at the two of them, remembering what she'd seen. She glanced at the cowgirl's head and noted no antlers. Jimena wondered what was going on between Scott and Gem and if it was anything she should be worried about. Just then, though, her throughts were distracted by the arrival of the sheriff.
"Surprise!" Everyone shouted to a very surprised Jimmy. His eyes darted around, noting their costumes, and then it all clicked. "What is this?!" He shrieked, marching over to them. "Why are you all dressed up like Toy Story characters?!" "Wait, that was the theme?" Jimena asked Grian, who merely gave a knowing smile.
Jimmy suddenly noticed her, the little girl standing next to Grian in her pink bear costume. "You converted her?!" Jimmy shrieked in protest. Jimena held up ber hands, slowly figuring out what had happened. "If I did anything wrong, sheriff, blame Grian." She said. "Jimena, you snitch," Grian groaned, but he was laughing pleasantly. Jimmy started shouting at Grian for roping Jimena into the prank.
Eventually Jimmy just gave up screaming and just looked sadly, and a little betrayed, at Scar, who was showing off his wacky costume. Then Jimmy shot a double take. "Wait, Scar, your costume- how-?" Jimmy said uncomprehendingly. Scar just giggled and showed off his doodads even more.
Eventually Jimmy chased everyone out of his empire and they all flew away, laughing, except Jimena and Scar. "I'm sorry, sheriff," Jimena said to the toy. "That's fine," Jimmy said, groaning. "I blame Grian." Scar giggled. "And I'm sorry too, sheriff," Scar said. "I just wanted the wacky costume." "It is really wacky," Jimena agreed. "Yay!" Scar cheered.
---
False slowly assembled her thoughts in order. There was something important she had to do. Ah, right, the murders. She had to start investigating. Maybe she should get help. From someone other than Pix, who seemed a bit too busy attempting to find his stolen emerald ore. Perhaps the sheriff, since that was probably part of his job. But something kept her from walking to the telephone and ringing his number.
Jimena's with him. The thought came unbidden. "Oh, right, she is," False said aloud. "The surprise party I totally didn't forget about again." He's a good ally, I guess. He deserves to live. She thought. Wait, why am I thinking like this? She shook it off. She had a mystery to solve, killings to stop. She didn't have time to worry about her degrading mental health.
False went around Cogsmeade, awkwardly knocking on people's doors and asking them what they knew about the killings. Whatever she heard, she listed down in a spare notebook. The reports were far and few, but False needed all the information she could get. She'd spent too long dawdling and worrying and not enough time trying to fix the issue.
By late afternoon, False had hung up a map of her small but growing empire on the wall and had some red pins and strings pointing out the sites where the corpses bad been found. False took a step back, absorbing all her information, trying to find a pattern. In some places she could almost sense one forming, but then the next report would tear all similarities down and dishevel her logic into chaos.
Why is it all so random? False wondered, frustrated. Sometimes the corpses are hidden away and only found days later, other times it's left out in plain sight. Sometimes the death was quick, sometimes prolonged. Why is there no pattern? Why is it so unpredictable? Why is it all so chaotic?!
Chaos is a state of nature. Nature is naturally unpredictable. She found herself thinking. "But chaos and unpredictability isn't helping this right now," She said, still trying to figure things out.
You already know the answer.
"I wish I did. Questions without answers are annoying."
You already know the answer.
"Shut up, me," False grumbled. "This isn't helping." She leaned back and took a deep breath, shutting her eyes for a few minutes, calming the raging storm in her head. When she opened them again, she took an even closer look at her map and her notes. "This seems familiar," She murmured.
Suddenly a pattern revealed itself in the chaos. She couldn't put it in words but she had a sudden sense of where the unpredictable murderer would strike next. And she would be there waiting for her. "No surprises." False told herself firmly, but the thought ran clear through her mind again. Nature is naturally unpredictable.
Soon False was hiding inside a cramped dumpster in a back alley, waiting. For prey. "No, the murderer," False hissed almost inaudibly. Her brain was coming up with the most surprising stuff lately and she had to whip it back into shape. She sat there, still, peeking through the smallest crack in the lid. She wasn't worried about anyone coming to empty the trash; that was her job. False just thought that stake outs were more glorified in the television.
Eventually what felt like long hours passed by and False was still waiting in the stifling hot dumpster. She got the feeling that she'd dozed off even once; maybe that was why she didn't feel as cramped as she thought she should be. Pleasant surprise, False thought. Not surprising, her mind echoed back.
Just then, a lady came running through the back alley, looking absolutely terrified. False instinctively got out of the dumpster, which really surprised the woman because she let out a bloodcurdling shriek. "It's okay, it's just me," False said, trying to calm both of them down.
Both women looked at each other, judging, examining. False didn't think she knew her, but the lady looked familiar enough. Probably just because she was one of the few Cogsmeade residents. The little empire was just a small world after all.
"Grand architect False," The lady said suddenly, regaining her composure enough to recognize False. False nodded. "Yes. It's me. Why were you running?" She asked. You already know, she chided herself. She had a very good idea as to why the lady was running. It was why she was there, after all.
"She was chasing me," The woman shuddered. Her hand strayed to a small, blood red nick on her shoulder. "Who? Did you get a good look? Do you know who it was?!" False asked in quick succession, somehow both excited and terrified at the same time. "No!" The woman shouted. "I was too scared to see." For some reason, that made False both disappointed and relieved.
That's because you already know who's doing all these murders. "Shut up." False said aloud, and the woman looked affronted. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean you," False said quickly. "I was talking to myself." The woman stared at her skeptically. "That's the sign of a psychopath." She said bluntly.
"I'm not a psychopath," False said, while her mind said, I'm a psychopath. "Anyway," False hurried on, "Do you have any idea why that person was trying to kill you?" "She was trying to kill me?!" The woman shrieked, getting slightly hysterical at the end. False raised a eyebrow. "It seemed kind of obvious."
"She was chasing me with knives!" The lady started to say hysterically, swept up in her own words. "She was throwing them everywhere! It was like she didn't even care whether they hit me or not!" "So..." False said, not surprised at the woman's testimony for some reason, "Do you have any idea why she did that?"
"I don't know," The woman said, shaking her head. False sighed. A dead end. She slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out three bloodstained knives. The lady looked at them curiously and then screamed when she realized what they were. "Surprised?" False called out jestingly. The lady turned to run down the alley, but she was stopped by a tall brick wall. A dead end.
And False was standing in front of the entrance, blocking it off. The woman whimpered, backing up as much as she could. False slowly stretched her mouth open in a deranged grin, tossing her knives up and down and catching them again, cutting her fingers slightly but not caring.
"I knew you were trouble the instant I saw you crawl out of the trash," The woman whispered. "You are a psychopath." False paused. "Well, surprise. I am a psychopath and proud of it." She said, smiling as she slit her throat.
False grinned as the corpse slid lifeless to the ground in a growing pool of blood. Maybe she should pin it to the wall with knives for good measure. It sure would surprise anyone walking by. But then she would lose some very nice kitchen weaponry. Whatever she chose to do, though, one thing was certain. This really was Halloween.