Muses, Mishaps, and Murder!

Chapter 3: Spy on Everyone, All at Once

Muse Paisley, The Next Day, Inside Mason's Apartment.

It was early morning, and I turned the dials of my narration chair. Thousands of years ago, the knobs and switches were made of crystals and powered by the sun and shadows, but the technology had improved.

The terrible scene of a living spaceship partially exploding wasn't real but a terrible dramatization. Mason forced me to watch the monstrosity of a documentary repeatedly because he thought he was being clever. I refuse to call, rifling through a box of files while watching TV, solving a mystery! He only used his magnifying glass twice the entire morning.

A celebrity voice boomed over the TV. The cartoon of the shuttle crash-landed on a deserted planet, accompanied by a cheesy melodramatic score. "Eighteen years ago, famed industry leader Quin Salamander and her preteen daughter, Vash, were injured because of a sabotaged living spaceship and left to die on an uncharted planet."

Footage of a man in a spacesuit played on the screen, showing space detectives examining the part of space where the ship went down.

More photos and videos flashed on the screen.

The family stood in a photo together, but Vash was not included. Dozens of images of a chubby Vash by herself flashed on the screen. Plastic surgery bandages covered her face. All but Quin's wolf royal husband were part pixie, and their wings were feathered, but Shanna's wings shimmered. A heavenly light poured over her.

Did I have to hear this again? I glared at Mason. He grinned to himself and turned up the TV's sound to full, ear-splitting volume.

"Vash was a child prodigy and graduated from a top college at twelve, but passed away on her thirteenth birthday. While many speculated Dina was Vash's and Shanna's birth mother, it proved to be a false rumor."

"Stop it! I don't need to know why Quin hired surrogates," I said to Mason.

He stretched and fluffed his pillows. "But the supposed surrogate hired for Shanna's birth was Dina. Gaining full custody of her fourteen-year-old sister might be a motive to kill her mother. The fact that Deb and her name start with the same letter is not a coincidence."

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

"I want to save my half-sister! The corporate orphanage took her from our family due to my father's debts."

"Yes, but before you were born."

"That's not true. Did you read the notes? I visited Lexi before they moved her. Forced plastic surgery falsely guarantees adopted children blend in with the new family or orphanage, but surgeons can't hide everything." He sped through a half-hour of the documentary, and I was thankful for it.

The announcer spoke again. "Rob left university early to take care of the family business, which includes electric companies, restaurants, and corporate orphanages."

I tried to ignore the TV and focused on the decor of Mason's living space.

Playbooks, a few boxes of nonperishable food, and a laptop covered a metal desk, which was the only furniture in the room beside the bed, but at least his bathroom contained a small closet and a full tub.

He sighed to himself, not speaking.

"Two-bedroom ship quarters were only given to couples," I said out loud.

"Paisley, I paid extra for this cabin. I refuse to live with three hundred soldiers in a barrack, or worse, my mom's sewing room. Her life shouldn't be endangered because of my choices."

"You have no one to share your private space with."

"Stop telling me how lonely I am. I don't need to be reminded that I'm dateless tonight."