Part 1: Dionysus Follows the Tracks

  It was around six in the evening when the payphone in Dionysus' office rang—just as he was pulling a bottle of drink from the fridge.

  On the other end of the line was a Neshama claiming they had heard screams coming from the greenhouse but were too afraid to go in.

  Without hesitation, Dionysus stuffed the drink into his pocket, grabbed his Hoverboard hammer, and mounted it to glide down the hallway. Dodging the wandering Neshamas along the way, he reached the elevator and pressed the button for the greenhouse, which had appeared randomly among the other options.

  The soft elevator music felt painfully out of place in that tense moment.

  As soon as the doors opened, Dionysus shot out, flying toward the source of the screams.

  There, a carnivorous plant had snatched a tiny fairy and was moving her toward its mouth.

  Dionysus yanked his hammer from under his feet and struck the plant squarely, forcing it to release the fairy, who immediately clung to Dionysus’ shoulder, sobbing.

  The plant, dazed from the blow, wobbled in place. Dionysus gently set the fairy down on a petal and said,

  "Calm down, you're safe now. What's your name?"

  The fairy sniffled loudly, her crying subsiding.

  "Chepi!" she said.

  "Can you tell me what happened?"

  *Sniff... sniff.* "That plant wasn't there before."

  "A case of attempted murder... Time to shift gears."

  Dionysus tore off his clothes to reveal a Sherlock Holmes-style coat and hat, complete with a magnifying glass.

  He snapped a Polaroid picture of Chepi and tucked it into a folder marked for the case.

  Chepi asked, "What are you going to do?"

  "I'm going to find your killer, madam."

  Dionysus began following Chepi’s tracks, hoping to reconstruct the murder plot by tracing her previous locations.

  The tracks led into the hallway and toward the elevator. Dionysus followed.

  On a dark floor, he found the continuation of the prints and kept moving until he encountered a cloaked man standing in the shadows of the corridor.

  Approaching cautiously, Dionysus could make out the pale, ghostly face—it was none other than Nick, the outcast skeleton from the Jewel Shine Tower.

  Dionysus shivered uncontrollably.

  The skeleton stepped out from the darkness and uttered,

  "Give me your soul."

  Frozen with fear, Dionysus suddenly snapped out of it and leapt toward the elevator, catching a glimpse of Nick moving closer as the doors shut just in time.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, Dionysus returned to the greenhouse.

  Following the tracks had been a foolish idea—fairies don't walk; they fly, leaving no footprints.

  Instead, the only traces left behind were shimmering trails of fairy dust scattered on the ground.

  Magnifying glass in hand, Dionysus resumed the search, this time following the sparkling dust.

  Part 2: Dionysus Gathers the Suspects

  The trail of fairy dust led to the Dollhouse.

  To enter, Dionysus had to use the tiny elevator door, so he drank the contents of the glass bottle he had tucked in his pocket—the one labeled *"Drink Me"*—and shrank down to thirty centimeters tall.

  The Dollhouse was bathed in a pinkish hue. Dolls were scattered around the house. Charlie, the monkey without a mouth, was abandoned on the tea party table. Cabot hung from a clothes hanger, and Lola was sprawled on the couch.

  Dionysus asked,

  "What are you all doing?"

  "We’re not playing," Lola said without even moving.

  "And what were you doing before?"

  "Playing!"

  Dionysus showed Chepi’s photo to Cabot.

  "What do you know about this one?"

  Cabot replied listlessly,

  "She didn’t know how to play."

  Dionysus snapped a photo of the tea table and started jotting notes in his notebook.

  "Did she upset you?"

  Lola raised her head,

  "Yeah. A little."

  Dionysus scribbled it down.

  "And after the game, were you still upset?"

  "Feelings only happen during the game. Don’t you like to play?"

  "I’m in the middle of a game myself."

  Still writing, Dionysus added,

  "Alright, another time then."

  He left a letter on the tea table, grabbed the last remaining piece of cake from the tea party, and pulling his hat down low over his eyes, said,

  "Good day, dolls."

  The dolls waved goodbye, and Cabot called out,

  "Good luck with your detective game!"

  Inside the elevator, Dionysus ate the piece of cake, which had a little note saying "Eat Me", and returned to his normal size.

  He continued following the fairy dust trail, which now led him to the Happy House floor.

  The club atmosphere was filled with the air of the song "Ibisco" by Talk To Her.

  Away from the dancing and celebrations, a boy with glasses and a juice in hand stood under a sign with blinking lights that read:

  "Losers Here!"

  He smiled, standing there. The trail of fairy dust passed right by him, leading toward the dance floor.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Holding Chepi’s picture, Dionysus approached him:

  "Did you ask her to dance with you?"

  The boy said,

  "Yeah, and she rejected me. Like everyone else."

  "Did she dance with anyone else?"

  "Honestly, no one here was her size."

  Dionysus handed the boy a letter from inside his coat and moved on to his next destination, leaving the Happy House behind.

  The trail led him to the Ovala Morala restaurant, where Avigdor was the head chef.

  The moment Avigdor saw Chepi’s photo, he said,

  "She wasn't a good customer. Didn’t eat my turkey."

  Dionysus asked,

  "Did she order anything else?"

  "Yeah. Vegetable soup. But she didn’t touch the turkey I made with so much love."

  Dionysus took some more notes and then handed Avigdor a letter before leaving.

  Avigdor opened it—a formal invitation to the Chimney Hall two hours later.

  Part 3: Dionysus Solves the Mystery

  Back in his office, Dionysus pinned the photos to the wall, connecting the clues together.

  Once everything clicked into place, he confidently set off toward the Chimney Hall.

  The dolls, the loser boy (Bane), and Avigdor were all seated on the large couch facing the fireplace.

  Dionysus slowly paced in front of the couch, while the suspects grew increasingly aware of how awkward the situation was.

  Avigdor broke the silence,

  "Well?"

  Dionysus clapped his hands together and said,

  "This evening, exactly at six o’clock, someone attempted to murder Chepi by planting a carnivorous plant in the greenhouse, knowing that it was part of her usual route."

  He paused for effect:

  "And that person is among us."

  The suspects gasped.

  The loser boy said,

  "What do you mean by that?"

  Avigdor added,

  "How can we trust your judgment?"

  The dolls began whispering among themselves.

  Dionysus said,

  "To prove my powers of observation, I can describe events that happened in places where I wasn’t even present—with full details. Shall we start with the Dollhouse?"

  The suspects agreed.

  The dolls were seated around the tea party table when Chepi entered.

  As soon as she sat down, Lola said,

  "You're half an hour late."

  "But I arrived right on time," Chepi replied.

  Cabot pointed to a toy clock on the wall, frozen at four-thirty, and said,

  "We always start the party at four o’clock."

  Confused, Chepi said,

  "But it's always half past four. That’s not a real clock."

  "That’s why we're usually in the middle of the party," Lola said.

  "Could you pour us some tea?" she asked.

  "Of course," Chepi replied immediately, picking up the teapot.

  She tipped it over a teacup, but nothing came out.

  Tina said,

  "This tea is for Cabot."

  Still confused, Chepi kept tilting the empty teapot over the cup.

  Cabot suddenly shouted,

  "Tea’s spilling over the sides of the cup onto the table! What are you doing?"

  Startled, Chepi dropped the teapot.

  Tina then said,

  "Charlie wants some cake. Could you bring him a slice?"

  Seeing the cake on the table, Chepi sighed in relief and thought,

  "Finally, something real here."

  She cut a piece, placed it on a small plate, and set it in front of Charlie—only to realize Charlie didn’t have a mouth sewn onto his face.

  "Charlie doesn’t have a mouth. How is he supposed to eat this cake?"

  Lola gasped and said,

  "Don't talk about him like that. He would never talk about you that way."

  "But... how is he supposed to talk at all without a mouth?"

  Lola, now furious, snapped,

  "He just told me he wants more cake!"

  The plate in front of Charlie was empty, and he was dabbing at his nonexistent mouth with a napkin.

  Terrified, Chepi stood up and backed away from the table.

  Cabot hugged Charlie tightly and asked,

  "What’s your problem with him?"

  Chepi, panicking, flew toward the door and cried out,

  "Sorry, everyone! I didn’t mean to—it's just that you’re all way too confusing for me!"

  Dionysus, having finished telling the story, looked proudly at the suspects.

  The dolls began clapping and nodded approvingly at him.

  Dionysus resumed pacing and said,

  "So, as it stands, Chepi, in one way or another, upset each of you. Avigdor’s food was snubbed. Bane, the loser boy, was rejected. And the dolls’ tea party was ruined.

  Still, none of that justifies the action taken against Chepi. Isn't that right, Avigdor?"

  He turned sharply toward Avigdor with the last sentence.

  Arms crossed, Avigdor said,

  "Yes, I completely agree with you."

  "But," Dionysus said, tossing a dirt-covered trowel at Avigdor’s feet, "the dirty trowel found in your restaurant’s storage says otherwise."

  He leaned closer.

  "You couldn’t stand it when she chose vegetable soup—something anyone could cook—over your special turkey."

  Enraged, Avigdor shouted,

  "She’s just a stupid little fairy!"

  "But you knew fairies only eat plants. She had no other choice."

  "Then if she loves plants so much," Avigdor sneered, "it’s only fitting she got eaten by one!"

  At that moment, the double doors of the hall burst open, and two police officers entered.

  As they handcuffed Avigdor and led him away, he shouted,

  "I’m proud and happy to have defended my food!"

  Then he broke into mad laughter.

  Dionysus, wearing a crooked smile, left the hall for his office.

  Behind him, the dolls and the loser boy sat in stunned silence, secretly admiring him in their hearts—and for Dionysus, that was enough.