Miranda tapped the table with a finger repeatedly as she waited. They had finished eating almost an hour ago… What was taking so long? She stood up from the table and began pacing up and down the hall. Everyone had remained in the hall waiting for the announcement about the trial, but Miranda could tell several of them were growing impatient as well.

“I thought we were doing this right after lunch!” Miranda said out loud to no one in particular. “The longer we wait the more time the villain has to formulate a story!”

“Maybe we’re waiting for M-” Olivia began before the screen flicked on and the woman with green hair suddenly cut in.

“Sorry for the wait, everyone!” She said in a rush, “That took longer than I expected but lets get this trial started! If everyone could, please head back to the dungeon. We will be holding the trial there.”

Everyone looked around at each other for a few moments before slowly they each stood from their seats and made their way downstairs. They hadn’t been to the dungeon since they arrived… The entrance to it had been sealed off.

Yet… When they got to the first floor there it was, a wide open doorway. The women began shuffling in, Olivia gently guiding Anne along as she seemed to mindlessly go where ever her boss directed her.

Miranda gave one last look around before entering herself. Misty was still nowhere to be found…

The dungeon had a large table now in the center of it, with the chairs they had all been sitting on at the beginning arranged around it in a semi-circle. On one end of the table where everyone could see was a television screen displaying the woman with green hair on it.

“Is everyone seated comfortably?” Helen asked with a friendly tone in her voice.

“Not everyone.” Miranda replied, “We seem to be missing Misty still.”

“Oh. I didn’t notice!” Helen replied, giggling a bit. It was subtle but… This giggle was different from her usual giggles… Was she… Nervous? “Well, you know how she can be! She’s probably off playing or something.”

Miranda opened her mouth to voice her skepticism, but before she could, the woman continued. “Well she’s not the villain anyway, so we’ll just do this one without her! You may begin your discussion, and please stay on topic!”

Miranda paused… Stay on topic…? Was she telling her not to question Misty’s disappearance? But… If the Mistress didn’t want her to talk about it, there must be a reason. She was still suspicious, but now wasn’t the time to make a scene.

“Very well. I think we should start with the witness testimony. Olivia?” Miranda said calmly.

“Right…” Olivia said slowly, “Well… We were just on our way up from the first floor. We were going to see if we could find Silvia in the dining hall. I was talking with Anne and she stepped ahead of me and turned around to walk backwards while we talked. She does that sometimes…”

Olivia paused for a moment before continuing. “She started to say something, but then she stopped and grabbed me. She pulled me out of the way and got hit by the dart. I think… She must have seen the villain aiming at me.”

Miranda shook her head. That was irritating… “If she saw the villain strike, she could have told us exactly who it was if she didn’t take the shot for you…”

“That’s just not the kind of person she is.” Olivia said, looking down. “When she sees danger, she doesn’t think before her body moves. She had to get surgery on her hand once because she noticed a jack slipping in the shop. She gave me time to get out from under the car, but it pinched her hand pretty badly. Its fortunate that it healed as well as it did…”

“I see.” Miranda said calmly. It wasn’t entirely relevant but she couldn’t blame Olivia for reminiscing. “So did you notice anything yourself? Did you see anything?”

“No.” Olivia admitted, her head still down. “I was too focused on Anne. She… Did say the word blue before she went completely blank though.”

“Blue…” Miranda said, pondering… “With her mind fading, perhaps that detail was all she could manage to communicate. The villain must have had blue on them.”

“You see?!” Raven said, standing up suddenly with both hands down on the table “I’m innocent! I don’t have a bit of blue on me!”

“Yes. Fine. Now settle down.” Miranda replied, looking over the group. “So… Our suspects would be Holi and Samantha then.”

“Eliza too!” Samantha chimed in, “Maybe she couldn’t tell the difference between purple and blue while she was fading.”

“Its possible… But unlikely.” Miranda said calmly “Because of our next piece of evidence.”

“The weapon?” Olivia asked.

“Almost.” Miranda replied, “I mean… Its disposal method.”

“What do you mean?” Holi asked “How was it disposed of?”

“It was attached to a painting, in such a way that it is nearly indistinguishable from the painting when viewed from the proper angle.” Miranda explained. “A high tech android or a magician, I could buy pulling a trick like that off. But Eliza… I don’t think so.”

“Its not that hard.” Samantha said “Anyone could have done it if they were given instructions.”

“Almost anyone.” Miranda corrected. “I do not say this to be insulting in any way, so I apologize in advance but… Eliza is not the brightest among us.”

Eliza huffed “What do you mean by that?! You don’t know me! I could be smart!”

“For one thing,” Miranda said calmly “If you were smart you would have kept your mouth shut rather than argue for your potential guilt.”

Silvia spoke up “She did bring us some fruits and asked if they had… Nutrients in them last night.”

“H-Hey! I helped you and now you’re calling me dumb too?!” Eliza protested.

“Sorry… But isn’t it better to prove your innocence?” Silvia said, shrinking away slightly from the table.

Eliza flopped onto the table dramatically, “Fine! I admit it! I’m dumb! I don’t study, I skip my classes, and I never even tried to get home because I don’t wanna be a queen okay?!”

Miranda did her best not to groan at the display Eliza was making. She didn’t want to upset her but… Sometimes it can be unavoidable. When you’re trying to get to the truth… Sometimes unpleasant truths have to be said out loud…

“Anyways. That leaves us with two possibilities. Holi, and Samantha.” Miranda concluded. “Holi could have analyzed the painting to find the perfect spot to pin the weapon to, and Samantha’s experience with slight of hand and other magicians tricks may have devised the plan in advance.”

“So.” Dominya spoke, “We have one who could have done it. And one who might have been able to do it.”

“That does seem to be the case.” Silvia said softly.

“If I may offer some assistance.” Holi said, in a polite yet cheerful tone. “It would be impossible for me to be the criminal.”

That was an interesting statement… “Do tell.” Miranda said, her mind running over the possibilities. What would make it impossible for Holi to have… Wait… She was an android.

“As you know, I am a next generation digital assistant.” Holi explained, “Though I am designed to appear as human as possible, I am still made from artificial materials. Thus, I do not have the ability to leave behind finger prints.”

“And since the weapon had finger prints on it…” Miranda continued “The villain had to be someone who can leave them.”

Everyone turned to look at Samantha who shrunk back in her chair sheepishly. “So. Would you like to tell us your story before we vote?” Miranda asked.

“Fine…” Samantha said with a sigh. “It all started this morning…”

“I was downstairs at the time. I skipped breakfast and was trying to see if there were any hidden levers or buttons around the throne.” She explained, “I figured with my experience performing magic tricks on stage, I might be able to recognize a hidden switch when I saw one.”

“That’s when Mistress’s voice called to me in my head…” She continued “She said that I was chosen to be villain, but to wait a few hours before doing anything. I was alone with Eliza for a little while and that would have been perfect but… You know… I was supposed to wait.”

“Eventually, Holi, Olivia, and Anne had gathered downstairs and we were all examining different parts of the floor. The first floor was big enough that we didn’t really bump into each other much, but… Upstairs is more crowded. I figured, I’d wait for someone to try to go upstairs and get them then.”

“I noticed that the blowpipe I suddenly had looked just like a spot on that painting. So, I kept an eye on the left side of the hall where the painting was. When Olivia and Anne started up the stairs, I followed them. I shot a dart and just as I blew… Anne turned around and saw me. She pulled Olivia out of the way and took the hit.”

“I ran down stairs as fast as I could and put the blowpipe onto the painting, then tried to sneak up the other stairs. But… Miranda was already there.”

Samantha looked around at the other girls, a nervous smile on her face as she finished her story. “D-Did I do good? I… Feel like you guys figured me out too easy… Its a little embarrassing…”

“If you had waited a bit longer, you may have had a better opportunity. Had you gone for someone when they were actually alone the plan would have been more effective.” Miranda said, it felt so unnatural to give advice on how to get away with a crime… “Unfortunately, your haste lead you to a scenario where you were the only possible suspect in the end.”

“Yeah…” Samantha said sheepishly, “I’ve never been the patient sort. My Master always used to…” She paused suddenly, looking down at her chest where now a small dart was sticking out of her breast. She plucked it and held it up to look at it. “This… Looks just… Like…”

She never finished her sentence. Miranda moved over to her, and examined her quickly. Her eyes had that tell tale blankness to them, and she led her pose as though she had no drive to do anything else. Her skin was still warm, and she did have a steady pulse though.

Miranda looked over to the television screen to see the Helen smiling.

“Sorry, I might have jumped the gun a little there, but she confessed, and she was the villain. So… I didn’t think we needed to go through the formality of voting!”

“Its your game, Mistress.” Miranda said in reply “I won’t complain about getting a win here.”

“Very good! Now that that’s done, let’s free all the slaves.” She said, raising a hand as a green glow filled the room.

Miranda felt something within her… Something… Changing… Fixing it’s self. Wait… She was enslaved? She shook her head, thinking back…

Right… From yesterday… She didn’t even realize she was still Raven’s slave at all. The glamour must have stuck even after being revived. Though… If that was the case, how was she able to consider Raven objectively in this case? And she hadn’t thought of Raven as her mistress once...

No… None of that made…

Silvia.

She looked up at Silvia. Last night… When she pressed her down onto the bed. She thought she had felt her strength failing her but… It was Silvia all along. She used her magic to subdue her willfulness and make her agree to be taken care of.

She didn’t know how to feel about that… It was kind in a way… But also rather manipulative… She could appreciate the intention, but she couldn’t shake feeling embarrassed by falling for it…

“Anne! Anne, are you feeling okay?!” Olivia’s voice interrupted Miranda’s chain of thought. She looked over to see Olivia hugging Anne tightly as Anne struggled to escape her grip.

“I’m fine, Boss!” She said, flailing uselessly against Olivia’s grip “It was just a little mindlessness, I’ve had that loads of times!”

Well… That was one mystery down… How many to go…?