The Journal of Adelia Claydon

April 17th

Uncle Morbid had told us to prepare for outdoor exertion, so for  our next visit to the Mortal Masquerade we set aside our ballgowns in  favour of tennis skirts and blouses. Our Mother commented on this being  odd attire for us to be wearing to an evening event, we told her we had  been invited for a late game of badminton. She considered this as  unladylike as everything else she saw us do, but as she had no more  influence over us than our ridiculous Father she could only watch us go.  I was quite civil about it, but Larkin would surely have said something  unduly sarcastic had our carriage not arrived to end the conversation.

Upon arriving at Morior Hall we were directed away from the main  house and through a small copse to a beautiful spot on the side of a  small pretty lake. There were tables and cabanas set around a central  square glowing slightly in the evening sun as masked guests began to  gather. Uncle Morbid came to welcome us and invited us to take a seat  next to a pair of gentlemen and their lady companion, who got up at one  point to perform an adept and skilful fire dance in the centre of the  square. They acted as if we had met before, though Larkin and I could  not recall any such encounter. Apparently they ran a small magic theatre  nearby. It sounded quite charming, we must pay it a visit.

Our opponents arrived shortly after we did. Elbert Makabra had  exchanged his opera dress for a dark blue riding suit tucked into long  boots. On anyone other than this wretched individual it might have  looked quite dashing. Amethyst Annie wore her usual red skirt with an  extravagant seafaring blouse, looking like the Queen of the Pirates.  Knowing the manner of brigand this person was, this was an appropriate  image for her.

Uncle Morbid called for everyone's attention, to explain the  rules of the wide game to come. This time we would be joining in  competition with all the attendees of the Mortal Masquerade, although  the real contest as far as we were concerned would remain between  ourselves and Elbert and Annie.

"Welcome to the Jungle," Uncle Morbid began. "We have added some  new areas of interest this year, one of which will be the main venue for  our game this evening that I'll come to in a moment. Northwest of here  you will find the quicksand beds, while dotted around the paths you  might run into various automotive animals. Most of them are currently  harmless, but a couple can and will consume you if you happen to linger  in the wrong spot. There will be entertainment provided here in the main  square, but the real business of the evening will be the great egg hunt  in the area just around the lake, that we call the Hungry Garden."

He produced a painted egg about the size of an apple and showed it to the crowd.

"Playing alone or in pairs, you will be given a satchell which  you must fill with plastic eggs like the one in my hand. You will find  them in various locations around the garden, but they are guarded by a  variety of carnivorous plants that will trap and consume the unwary. You  may not take more than one egg from the same batch – the eggs are  marked so we know where they came from.

"You will have ninety minutes to search the garden, after which  all surviving players will meet in a circle of torches at the centre,  where a particularly special tree awaits. This tree, the Madagascan Sacrifice Tree, holds golden eggs which are worth five regular eggs, but  has a much higher probability of eating those that go near it. It will  be your decision, should you reach that point, whether to try your luck  with it. Until the proper time, please do not enter the circle of the  Sacrifice Tree, anyone doing so will be disqualified.

"If you are trapped by a plant you will find escape near  impossible, leaving you to be slowly digested. If this happens and you  are unable to free yourself, you may consider yourself eliminated from  the game and your avatar deceased, but our angels will be unable to take  you to Limbo until the game is completed. I wish you all the best of  luck, those of you that survive will return here afterwards where the  winners will be declared."

Elbert Makabra stared across at us with a foxy grin.

"May the best man win," he said.

He thought he was being clever, but I detected a glint in Amethyst Annie's eyes as he spoke.

I wondered if we were the women he ought to be most worried about.

The Journal of Larkin Claydon

April 17th

At the appointed time we assembled at the entrance to the Hungry  Garden, satchels prepared, waiting for the signal to begin our hunt. A  pistol sounded and throng moved forward into the woodland. Adelia and I  waited for the crowd to disperse before advancing, leaving us with  Elbert and Annie, who chose likewise.

"I'd say 'see you at the end', but I fully expect the pair of you  to be eaten by then," sneered Elbert. "So far you've given yourselves  up to be hanged and beheaded, then went and buried yourselves alive. Are  you sure survival is your strong suit?"

I gave him a wry smile.

"Sir, your idea of recklessness is our idea of courage," I  replied. "Whatever lies ahead, we will deal with it together knowing we  each have a sister that will look out for us. Tell me, what gives you  such confidence in your companion?"

Annie spoke up.

"We have an agreement that is mutually beneficial," she said.  "Let's just say it is in neither of our interests to let the other die  until our business is complete."

"How romantic," said Adelia. "Come along, Larkin, the game is afoot."

We came upon the first patch of flora soon after setting out, a  field of large flat flowers at ground level with small thorns on the  petals. Each flower had a small batch of eggs placed at its centre,  apparently within easy reach. But a few had closed up vertically and  were now oozing a foul smelling brown fluid, on closer inspection we  realised there was a person inside each one. Our task was to retrieve  one of the eggs without triggering the grim petals and becoming plant  food. Adelia volunteered to make the first attempt, selected a flower  and carefully advanced.

It was necessary to set foot upon the wide petals of the flower  to reach the cache of eggs, so Adelia trod carefully to avoid undue  disturbance while I held her hand from the edge for as long as I could.  She reached the centre and carefully crouched down in preparation to  gather up one of the eggs.

While this was going on another player came into the area, a  woman in a soft pink trouser suit and headdress mask. She saw what we  were doing, chose a flower of her own and carefully made her way to the  centre, where she snatched up an egg with ill advised haste, causing the  petals to suddenly rise up around her. She was trapped within seconds,  the grim brown juice beginning to ooze moments later. 

Adelia turned back from this awful spectacle and back to the  batch of eggs before her. She took a moment to steady herself, selected  an egg and very carefully cupped her hands around it, slowly lifting it  away with as little disturbance as she could manage. This done, she  turned and made her way back, again causing the least commotion possible  as I helped her back to safe ground. She later said she could feel the  flower quaking slightly beneath her as if the slightest shift in weight  would be enough to set it off.

Our first egg successfully banked in the satchel, we set off in search of the next.

Adelia Claydon

We retrieved our second egg from a tree sprouting large jaws on  the end of its branches like a giant venus flytrap. It was now necessary  to enter between the jaws to retrieve the eggs adhered to the inside of  the plant, carefully avoiding the protruding feelers which would surely  have triggered the trap if disturbed. Larkin took her turn to enter  this peril, with care and patience she was able to capture the prize and  exit safely. 

Further on we discovered a tangle of vines which appeared to be  blowing in the wind, but as we got closer we realised it was moving all  of its own accord. Some of the lower vines had tangled into a tight  parcel oozing the vile brown liquid indicative of a meal in progress. As  I reached out to touch one of the snaking vines it immediately began to  coil inwards attempting to trap my hand, which I withdrew hurriedly.

The eggs were nestled in the centre of this writhing mass. It was  unclear how we could get in to collect them without drawing the  attention of the creeping vampire vines, until Larkin had the idea to  find a long stick to use as a tool. Having confirmed that the stick she  found was indeed an innocent stick and not some kind of  carnivorous automaton, she carefully fed it through the vines towards  the eggs, poking one free from the batch in the manner of a billiards  player wielding a cue. At one point the questing vines found the stick  and coiled around it, causing it to break into pieces. We found another  branch, moved to the other side of the shrub and carefully rolled the  egg out along the ground towards us. With patient perseverance we  finally brought the egg clear of the horror vines, placed it in our  satchel and continued on our way.

Larkin Claydon

Further on the ground dipped away to a deep pit, at the bottom  were a group of large bell shaped plants containing deep pools of  liquid. Leaves curved over the top forming an open lid, suspended from  which were the eggs we needed to retrieve. The pit had steep sides of  loose dirt ending in a precipice next to the waiting nepenthes.

"Still alive, I see," said a voice. I turned to be met by the sneering countenance of Amethyst Annie.

"Likewise," I said. "So how have you two been doing against the plant traps?"

"Mostly we've been watching them eat all the other idiots," said  Elbert Makabra. "Sometimes they dropped their satchels, so we haven't  actually needed to fetch any eggs ourselves. Seriously, why people even  bother with the whole fair play and honour mularkey is beyond me."

"Once again you fail to surprise me," said Adelia.

The four of us stood at the edge of the pit looking at the waiting pitchers.

"So the task seems to be to climb down the slippery slope,  collect the egg and climb back up without falling in," noted Annie.  "Well, good luck with that."

I suddenly felt a sharp push on my back and was sliding  helplessly down the scree, into the waiting maw of the nearest plant.  Inside I dropped into a deep pool of vile smelling liquid, which fizzed  and reacted against the exposed skin on my hands and face. I stood up  shoulder deep in the liquid looking up at the far away opening and  unclimbable sides, when I realised I was not alone.

At the edge of the pool, leaning against the wall of the plant, was a friendly looking gentleman in a simple eye mask.

"Unlucky," he said. "They pushed you in, didn't they? That's really nasty."

I could hear Annie and Elbert laughing as they walked away and  Adelia calling after me in concern. I could hear her carefully  scrambling down the bank until her face appeared above the top of the  pitcher plant.

"Larkin, are you OK?" she asked.

"A bit soggy and this stuff smells disgusting, but no bones  broken," I replied. "I don't know how I can get out of here, though."

"Well, of course you're not meant to," said my new found  companion. "We're plant food now. All we can do is sit and wait to be  digested."

"Certainly not," I said. "I'm not letting those two villains win like that. Adelia, can you find anything we can use as a rope?"

"I'm afraid not," she said. "It's all loose dirt up here, and the vines up in the woodland want to eat us."

I thought hard about what we had and realised I had something suitable about my person.

"What about our skirts?" I said. "If you could tie them together they might just be long enough."

"Good idea," said Adelia. "Um, did you say there was someone down there with you?"

"Don't mind me," said the man. "I'll look away, but I can't really see anything down here anyway. Especially underwater."

I unfastened the waistband of my skirt and wriggled out of it  beneath the surface of the liquid. I still had my petticoat on anyway to  preserve my modesty, for possibly the first time ever I was glad of the  cumbersome excesses of feminine attire.

Adelia moved back from the edge to do likewise, soon she returned  to drop the dark fabric of her skirt down towards me. It fell to a  point just out of reach, about six inches away from my outstretched  hand.

"Would you like a lift?" said the man at the edge of the pool. "My name's Jim, by the way."

"Thank-you, Jim, that would be lovely," I replied. "If you can  just get me high enough to reach, I can tie the two skirts together to  make a longer rope".

We move to the edge of the pool beneath the dangling fabric. Jim  ducked down beneath the surface to give me a lift beneath my feet. It  was precarious and I fell back down on the first few attempts, but  eventually I was able to get enough of a purchase to tie my soaked skirt  to Adelia's dry one in a rough approximation of a reef knot. This done,  Aldelia tied the top of our crudely fashioned rope to the beam holding  the leaf over the top of the pitcher. With another lift from Jim I was  able to slowly climb the rope, the juices from the plant pouring from my  drenched petticoats as I pulled myself up. When I reached the top,  Adelia helped me back on to the bank where I lay for a minute to regain  my energy.

"Jim, are you coming up?" I shouted down.

"No, you two go on without me," he said. "I can't reach without a  lift, but I was resigned to being eaten down here anyway, I'm just glad  I could be of assistance. I hope you get to the end, you deserve to  beat those two bullies."

"Thank-you, Jim," said Adelia. "We really don't like leaving you to die down there."

"That's OK," he said. "It's relaxing, like a spa pool. Don't forget to take the egg with you when you go."

Adelia Claydon

After we had scrambled back up the bank to safe ground we knew  there couldn't be much time left to get more eggs, especially as we now  knew our opponents were cheating in order to build their own collection.  We were both tired, tattered and muddy in torn petticoats and blouses,  but with a new resolve to push on and defeat our rivals.

The light had faded significantly by this time, so when we saw  large shapes moving around in the clearing ahead we weren't immediately  sure what we were looking at. As we drew close, we discovered them to be  tall shambling creatures resembling giant green bulbs of garlic. The  moving ones opened out on one side, while others were closed up and  stationary, leaking the telltale brown ooze from the line where the leaves joined.

The walking trees did not appear to sense our presence, so I  surmised these to be moving versions of the plant traps we had already  encountered. The fact that they were moving made it much harder to  approach cautiously to collect the egg which had to be waiting inside  the open front of the plant.

After Larkin's exertion with the pitcher plant it fell upon me to  tackle this challenge. I walked alongside one of the wandering plants,  trying to gauge the manner of its movements. Sometimes it would turn and  change direction without warning, causing me to hastily retreat lest I  be suddenly gobbled up, but eventually I felt confident enough to  approach the opening. There I saw a clutch of eggs waiting inside,  though I had to move quickly if I wanted to avoid being eaten by the  advancing monster.

Summoning all my courage I moved forward to grab one of the eggs.  As I took it I heard a roar as the leafy walls began to close around  me, but was quickly pulled back by Larkin's arm around my waist. We both  fell to ground as the plant closed up completely. Had we dallied a  second longer I would have been trapped.

We placed the egg in our satchel and scrambled away just as a  horn sounded across the night air. That was the signal that our time was  up, that we must now make our way to the centre of the garden for our  final challenge.

The Sacrifice Tree awaited.