Mission: Mansion - Task 5

"I've got it!" you shout triumphantly as you throw down your pencil and wince at the loud echo that ricochets around the room. "Here's the poem:

Intruder who is not of death

Wait and watch your doom befall

For you will fade to a mere breath

Because death is master of them all.

A cold will come, chilling your bones

As death pervades your body and mind

You'll join the ghosts in silent moans

It was a mistake to come, you'll find.

But if you are of death, rejoice!

For you are noble, shrewd, and clever

You'll help us to complete our choice

To end the other schools forever."

Emma winces. "So basically...everyone who enters the mansion and isn't death is cursed. They'll feel a freezing cold and slowly turn into a ghost. Then they die and haunt this place forever unseen. We'd better get out of here fast. I need to make sure the others who are still here know." She takes a moment to relay the message about the curse to the others in whisper chat. Then, she glances uneasily around the library. "I wonder if there are any ghosts haunting us right now?" You shiver at the thought and notice that you're starting to get a little cold, too.

"Come on," she says. "We'd better hurry and meet up with Elizabeth. We need to finish this unpleasant Bartleby business as soon as possible. I think she's in the study upstairs." She dashes out of the room and you follow her, panting to keep up. 

She runs up the grand staircase in the entryway and turns right into a smaller room. The first thing that you hear is a monotonous voice repeating the same words over and over: "I'm not going to die...I'm not going to die...I'm not going to die..." 

"Elizabeth?" calls Emma softly. "We're here." The droning monotone stops and a girl dressed in bright yellow appears around a corner. At least, her robes probably were bright yellow before she became a ghost. Her semi-transparency mutes the colors significantly, and the outlines of the books and scrolls on the shelves behind her are more pronounced. 

"Great!" says Elizabeth. "Thanks for everything. I can take it from here." Emma nods, clearly looking relieved, and teleports away. As soon as she's gone, Elizabeth breaks down. She's obviously really scared at the moment. "The curse...is working on me...and before you know it...I'll be a permanent ghost!" she wails. "Please help me end the story another way! Please!"

You look at her in wonder. "End the story another way...yes, that's exactly what we need! So here's what's going to happen next..."

Congratulations to Destiny SoulTamer, who solved the poem perfectly! On a sadder note, we need to eliminate Isabella StarSong since she didn't turn in her entry.

Elizabeth is convinced that she won't escape the mansion. To help her through it, you need to end the story another way like she asked. Start with the scene above, rewriting it in first person from Elizabeth's point of view including her thoughts. After that, finish the story with a happy ending such as escaping the mansion or thwarting the curse. The part completely written by you should be longer than 200 but no longer than 2,000 words. 

Since my real life friend Elizabeth helped to contribute the prizes, she'll be judging this contest. Just email your entries to sophiaeb at live dot com with the subject line Mission: Mansion Task 5 and I'll forward them to her. The person eliminated is chosen by her personal opinion and I have very little say in the matter, so please don't complain if you get eliminated. I'm going to give you a lot of time for this one. The deadline is February 10th at 11:59 PM EST.

- Sophia E