The seven of them stood around Enders' small table, studying the plethora of papers filled with scribbles.

Odix pointed to a small drawing of a knife.

"This knife is the one found after the rulers' deaths. The royal detectives, or whatever, searched practically the entire country to find something even remotely close to this."

"Then how do you have it?" Candy ignored the stares that fell on her. She was thankful for them to be drawn back to Odix.

"We made sure they couldn't find it . . . and if you're gonna ask why," he said pointedly to Candy, "it's because they'd probably just kill a bunch more people - innocent or not - either to get this or because they were involved in the making of it.

"We tracked the place where the knife was made, and after way too many hours of prodding people, we found what we were looking for. The constructer of this particular weapon was retired from the business - that's how old the knife is. He lives a happy, retired life in Jade's Town. Apparently, this was the first weapon he ever made, so it's not very well done and very cheap."

"But wouldn't he want to keep it close to him, since it's his first weapon ever?" Scorpian leaned on her arms on the table.

"Yeah, and he did just that, up until one night when someone broke into his house and stole a few things. The knife was one of them. Of course, trying to find out who it was in such a crime-ridden town is even harder than it sounds. Although we managed to find a little shop where the manager told us about a few recent strange buys. He said someone had traded an entire ounce of starfire in return for an outfit."

"I have two questions. What is starfire, and what outfit?" Candy searched the papers, wondering if she could find what she was looking for.

"Starfire is what almost all Starsky dragons are capable of breathing. It's pretty rare that anyone would find it outside of their well-protected hoard, much less get some. Any little bit of starfire is really precious, especially in little crimey towns like Jade's. The criminal ordered a guard's outfit, complete with a face covering."

"But he wouldn't have an easy time getting in that way, seeing as it's only on a full moon that guards wear those. Besides, the guards that do have to report to the captain and then they can go. Also, they don't even go into the castle so how could he have?" She said.

"Plus, if he is a shape-shifter or whatever, wouldn't it be easier just to steal someone else's face and kill them?" Night's eyebrows were furrowed together.

"Oh, please don't put it that way," Silver groaned. Scorpian rolled her eyes.

"That's where it gets a little foggy, but as far as we can tell, it was a full moon that the rulers' were murdered," Odix put his hands on his hips.

"I wouldn't know because I was locked . . ." Candy said it under her breath, but after glancing at a few of her friends' faces, she had a feeling they'd maybe heard her. Eager to change the subject, she pointed at the knife.

"So where could he have kept that? Royal guards are searched thoroughly and are only allowed to wield one weapon."

"The knife's only about this big," Odix measured air between his fingers to make about three inches."So it'd be easy to stick it into a boot or under a helmet."

"The problem is, he'd have to have it with him before getting searched and - unless he snuck in when they were already doing rounds," Night interrupted himself.

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Candy shook her head. "The guards are basically always doing a headcount in their 'free time' while guarding the castle grounds. It helps that they have uniquely tailored armor with personal patterns and swirls no other guard has. Our killer had to have carried it with him while being checked and then gone outside."

"How do you know so much about guards?" Odix asked.

"I grew- I was best friends with the captain of the guards. I got bored a lot," She didn't want to think about living and growing up in that castle, not knowing any of her friends and living under the thumbs of her not-parents who actually hated her.

"Do they all have to be a certain height?" Scorpian asked.

"Yes. Five-seven. Although some of them have gotten away with an inch or two or less," She shrugged.

"That's good. This narrows it down," Odix picked up a nearby charcoal stick and scribbled something down.

"There's one more thing," Night said. "This guy would've had to have lived at the castle or worked there or known someone who worked as a guard because how else could he plan for everything . . ." He searched their faces, desperate to know what they thought of his observation.

"You're right!" Odix grabbed a spare paper and eagerly scribbled something else down. "What's the more possible position, work at the castle, or hear it from someone else?" Everyone turned to Candy.

"Uh - um," She racked her brain for the more possible answer, not wanting to let any of them down. "Honestly, I can't say for sure. I can tell you that the information given to me about the guards was pretty top-secret stuff. It took the majority of my life to get what I did, and I wasn't told half of it - I figured a lot out by myself."

"So we're gonna go with a previous castle member . . . who though?" Odix pushed some papers away, reading new ones and pushing those away to read others. He finally shrugged. Candy looked over to Night for some reason, who was already staring at her. She didn't show it, but he'd scared her half to death.

"What are you thinking?" she turned everyone's focus to him now. He scrunched up his mouth in thought.

"I think . . . I think you should tell us."

"What?"

"If anyone knew the castle staff, it'd be you. Was there anyone who seemed suspicious?" he narrowed his eyes, trying to figure it out himself.

She looked down at the papers. One of them had a long list of names of the guards that worked there in the past and did now. She picked up the paper as her eyes trailed down the list. With just about every name, a face came to mind, along with how they treated her as a little girl. Many of them were nice, but a few angry ones came to mind as well. One, in particular, stood out.

"And we're sure it's not the captain?" Scorpian yanked her out of her thoughts.

"Yes. The captain, whoever fills the shoes, doesn't go with the outer guards. He stays and manages the inners so you can scratch him off the list," she didn't know how she felt about the captain anymore. She sure didn't love him or admire him like she did when she was young, but she only slightly hated him. Come to think of it, the more she thought about him the more she hated him.

"It had to be someone who'd been wronged by the queen or king," Night said.

"Or someone who was avenging someone wronged by the rulers," Odix added. Candy looked at all her friends. Her eyes fell onto Enders. He sat more in the shadows of the room, intently listening from a distance.

He sure is being quiet. Hmm . . . she looked at Night, hoping to catch his attention. It didn't take long - maybe ten seconds. She glanced at Enders, then to him again.

Maybe he's fallen asleep? She asked with her expression and arms. He shook his head ever so slightly.

This is a case he's worked on a good deal of his life. She read from him. The silence in the room drew her attention to it. She looked around, noticing the others had fallen quiet and were looking back and forth between Night and her.

"Is there something you guys want to share with the group?" Odix still had his arms locked straight, holding some of his body weight as he rested on the short table.

"We just think . . ." Candy didn't know where she was going with this. She wanted the others to be intuned to the off Enders, but she didn't know how to make them. "That this guy is definitely a shape-shifter," Night cut in, fortunately for her, "and that obviously since he's hurt, he can't be far. This is a big city, though. We do know a few things about him . . ."

"His brown eyes," Scorpian said, starting to catch on.

"He's about five-foot-seven," Odix added.

"And he can't be far," Silver turned his gaze to Enders (or not).

"Plus," Night said, his gaze falling to under the chair Enders slumped on. "He's hurt." Their eyes all turned to under the chair, very, very silently pit-patting onto the floor fell drop after drop of blood.