(Y/N)'s POV
"No! That's not true!" Shiner says to defend herself from Trinity's accusation.

"You don't have to lie to me, Shiner," Trinity says. "I know it was an accident. I know you're not the White Pumpkin."

"Ah, thank goodness. That's such a relief. Yeah, it was an accident. I've felt awful about it ever since. It's such a relief to talk about this. It's been absolutely tearing me up inside!"

Across the room is another painting, one with glowing yellow eyes that are . . . moving.

A sharp gasp escapes my mouth and I whip around to face the others. "The White Pumpkin!"

"In there?" Aiden asks.

"Yeah!"

"Then let's go kick their butt," Faith says, withdrawing her stone sword. I punch down the painting and we hop through.

"What on Earth!" Shiner cries.

I stalk up to the painting, but before I can go in for the attack, I hear the clunk of a lever and the back of the fireplace opens, distributing spiders from every angle. Fish {finding places to put in Fish is so harddd without Reuben being in the game}, who had settled near the fireplace, jumps up and hides behind me. A gate closes over the door, disabling any chance of escape.

"What's happening in there?" Lukas calls, banging on the door.

"The door's locked!" cries Jesse.

"Spiders . . . everywhere!" I shout.

"We'll find another way in!" says Lukas.

Everyone draws their swords, as do I, contemplating whether I should help my friends or go after the White Pumpkin.

You know what? You win this time, White Pumpkin. My friends are more important than you.

I slash the spiders that jump at me until they're all gone. And once they're gone . . . so is the White Pumpkin.

"They're only gone for now," I say. "We have to figure this mystery out." I'm all for a good murder mystery dinner party story, but that doesn't mean I actually want to live one! "Also—Shiner. I heard your conversation."

"What? No! I'm not the White Pumpkin; I swear!" she says. "What do I have to do to make you believe me? I could . . . I could go sit in the corner very quietly and not touch anything—button or otherwise—for the whole rest of the night."

"Shiner, don't worry; I believe you," I say.

"Oh, that's a relief. That is a huge relief," she says.

"Wait—you came out of that portrait in the wall, right?" Trinity asks.

"Yeah . . . ?" I say.

"I saw one just like that upstairs!" she says. "What if . . . Yes! Maybe the White Pumpkin—"

The lights go out. Trinity shrieks, and when they come back on, she's on the floor not two seconds before disappearing into a pile of her inventory. {Sorry, Trinity. ;(} Behind it stands the White Pumpkin, who sweeps Trinity's inventory into a hopper.

"Enjoying the party?" they ask. I brandish my sword at them and they say, "That's my cue," before running through the fireplace.

"Let's go!" I command the others. I run after the White Pumpkin, but before my friends can follow, pistons close the passage behind me. Why does this always happen to me?

"(Y/N), are you okay?" Aiden asks.

"We have to break through!" Ivor grunts out, trying but failing to smash the cobblestone. The White Pumpkin cackles.

"I'll be fine," I say, and chase after the White Pumpkin, ready to solve this before one of my friends becomes a victim.

I round a corner and the White Pumpkin stands at the top of a set of stairs. "Try and keep up!" they say before hopping on a wooden pressure plate. Wooden planks in the ceiling slide away to reveal a four by four of dispensers. I duck out of the way before the poison-tipped arrows shoot out, sizzling when they hit the ground.

Climbing the stairs and turning another corner, I meet the White Pumpkin, who's standing by a lever. I start toward them, but they flip a lever and the floor collapses underneath me, dropping me into soulsand. Lava starts pouring out from behind me and I move as quickly as possible to the other side, breaking a block to allow me to get out of the hole.

"Your luck's about to run out," White Pumpkin says, throwing an enderpearl down the hallway. I chase after them, descending the staircase. Around another corner, they break through a painting and jump out. I follow them through and end up in the little foyer room {or whatever you want to call it lol}. Aiden comes through the door, much to my pleasure.

"This person is . . . way more fit than I," I pant.

The White Pumpkin cackles, running up a staircase.

"I'll cut them off," Aiden says, chasing after them. I follow him as quickly as possible, still totally out of breath. When I reach the top of the stairs, I walk into a dark room.

"Aiden?" I say nervously. The lights come on and there stands the White Pumpkin. My immediate reflex is to tackle them to the floor. The pumpkin rolls off their head and underneath it is Aiden.

"I am so sorry! What happened?" I ask, rolling off him.

"I don't know!" he says. "I was chasing the White Pumpkin and I thought I had them, but they stuffed this pumpkin on my head."

"What's going on in here?" Faith asks, followed by everyone else.

"No!" Ivor cries.

"You caught the White Pumpkin!" Beezie says. "Grab him! Quick!"

"On it!" Mooncake says. She and Cassie pursue Aiden and I step in front of him.

"Get out of the way, (Y/N)," Cassie says.

"Yeah, it's all out in the open now," Shiner says. "You can't protect your boyfriend anymore."

"No! I know that one of you is still the White Pumpkin and you tried to frame Aiden for it," I say. "I'm not letting you do anything to him."

"Yeah. Bold words," Cassie says.

"Especially coming from someone with a knack or locking up innocent people," Mooncake.

"What are you talking about? That was Shiner's decision!" I say.

"It's the facts, (Y/N). Aiden had a button These horrible things only started happening when you showed up," Beezie says. "And now Trinity is gone, too."

"I say we throw him outside and let nature take its course," Cassie says. I instinctively protectively grasp Aiden's hand.

"What? Outside outside?" Shiner says, nearly taking the words out of my mouth.

"Where the monsters are?" Beezie says, also almost replicating my thoughts.

"You can't do that. I won't let you," I say, uttering the last bits of my thoughts.

"Yeah, I don't know. I still have my suspicions about Aiden," Shiner says, "but (Y/N) did save me. And she tried to save Trinity. I don't feel right about chucking your friend—lover or not—out to the zombies."

Notice how I've stopped bothering to correct people when they assume Aiden and I are together.

"Thank you," I say to Shiner. "See? You all heard Shiner, right?"

"Fine," Cassie says.

"Thank you," Aiden says, relieved.

"Don't go celebrating yet," she says. "We've still got to do something with you so you're not roaming around freely."

"What, like, lock me up in a closet or something?" Aiden asks sarcastically.

"There was a closet in the hall with a lovely metal door," Beezie says. "Seems like a perfect place to lock someone up." {Come on, Beezie, why are you always so against me?}

"Wait, wait, wait, I was joking—," he starts.

"I guess that's fair," Cassie says. "But I'm keeping guard because I still don't trust him."
"If you're locking him up, I'll come too," I say.

"Are you kidding? You'll probably try to break him out or something," Cassie says.

"But—"

"Just go, (Y/N)," Aiden says. "I'll be fine. We can't solve this mystery without you." He smiles and it's almost enough to trick me into returning it.

"But I can't do it without my Watson," I say. "My Ned Nickerson." {The ironic thing is I'm trying to refrain from shipping Johnlock but here I am.}

"It's fine, (Y/N)," Ivor says. "I'll watch over Aiden."

"Great," Aiden says, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Come on, Cassie," Ivor says. Ivor leads Aiden out of the room. Cassie follows, shooting a glare at me. "But don't go getting any ideas, Aiden. This isn't because I like you or anything."

"No. Of course not," Aiden says, and I can hear the smirk in his voice, which makes me briefly smile.

Once they've disappeared from sight, Faith asks, "Why are we going to do now?"

"We have to clear Aiden's name, most importantly," I say. "Someone here still knows more than their letting on. I think this calls for a little more interrogation."

"Good luck," she says.

"I'm sure I'll need it," I say with a sigh.

I join Mooncake by a painting she's examining.

"What do you want now?" she asks.

"You were pretty aggressive accusing Aiden," I say. "If you ask me, it sounds a little suspicious."

She rolls her eyes. "Not as suspicious as Aiden."

I try my best to restrain the glare wanting to spread across my face. "Where were you when we—Aiden and I—were chasing the White Pumpkin?"

"Making cookies. I get a sweet tooth when I'm nervous," she says, and I honestly can't tell if she's kidding or not.

"Don't go anywhere, Mooncake," I say, my suspicions raised.

She sighs. "Sure."

I mill over to Shiner and Beezie and sit on the couch across from them. "Shiner," I say, making her jump a little, "I know you're innocent, but, Beezie, you're still a suspect. I have a couple questions for you."

"Seriously?" Beezie asks, scowling at me.

"Where were you when Aiden and I were chasing the White Pumpkin?" I ask.

"I— I don't want to say," she says.

"Aw, come on, Beezie," Shiner says. "You're just making yourself look guilty. Where were you?"

After a couple seconds, Beezie answers, "Fine. I was sitting in corner and humming to myself. It calms me down."

"Ah . . ." Hey, who am I to judge? "Okay . . . I'll leave you two to it."

"Sounds good," Shiner says.

After I've left them and there's no one else to interrogate, my next instinct is to look around for anything that might be connected to the White Pumpkin. I look over at the paintings and punch one of them, curious what might be behind it. I hold back my chuckles as everyone jumps at the sound of the breaking painting.

Aha. Another secret passage.

💕A/N💕

Aaah sorry this took so long. Only one more chapter before episode seven!
Oohh I got plans for thaaat
Heheh
I apologize if there are mistakes; I didn't get a chance to look over this.
Also this is chapter eleven.
*insert Stranger Things theme song here*
Word count: 1,813