Chapter 18: Poison

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When they got to the Dining Hall, again, everything was normal. The paper was still on the stage.
"What should we do about the paper?" Brice asked.
"No one else should see it, we don't need more people with access to poison and who knows what," Quentin growled.
"Then how do we get rid of it?" Tyler asked.
"I know," Jerome said.
He walked up to the stage and picked up the paper. Without opening and unfolding it, he crumpled it up, stuck it in his mouth and swallowed.
"...Jerome, did you just eat the paper?" Quentin asked.
"Yes," Jerome replied.
"Well, no one'll see it now," Tyler said, and laughed.
Everyone joined in, but suddenly Jerome stopped, his face suddenly becoming serious.
"Jerome? What's wrong?" Brice asked.
"I smell poison again," Jerome growled, and strode over to the kitchen. Quentin, Brice and Tyler followed anxiously.
In the kitchen, Jerome swung open the door to the fridge and began rummaging through food.
"Someone poisoned the food?!" Brice exclaimed.
"W-what if we ate some?!" Tyler cried out.
"Relax, do you think the culprit could have poisoned all the food?" Quentin asked, but he still looked scared.
Jerome stopped going through the fridge, and pulled out something.
"There's only one kind of food in here that reeks like poison," Jerome growled, and held something up.
It was a raw fish.
Everyone gasped.
"How do you know?" Tyler asked.
"Here," Jerome said. He grabbed a kitchen knife and put the fish on the counter. He sliced its head off, and held up the body for everyone to see.
"The meat's even tinted green, that's probably the poison."
Tyler nodded, the inside of the fish had a green taint.
"Jerome, don't you eat raw fish?" Quentin exclaimed, tensing.
Jerome shook his head. "I haven't eaten all day today-I'm starving, by the way-but the last time I ate was-" He broke off, eyes wide.
"What?" Brice demanded.
"Oh, god," Jerome muttered. "The last time I ate was at that contest with Adam. I hadn't touched a single fish, but he had a mouthful."
Everyone stared at the fish in shocked silence.
"You mean..." Tyler said quietly, "Adam was poisoned by eating the fish?"
"I...I think so," Quentin said in shock.
"Jerome, you swear you never had any fish today or yesterday?" Brice asked. Jerome nodded. "I swear, there was no time for breakfast this morning, and yesterday I had lost my appetite for dinner because of the steak."
"Oh god, someone poisoned the fish, to obviously kill Jerome instead," Quentin muttered.
"D-Do you think Jerome just set Adam up to eat it and make it look like someone else did it?!" Brice exclaimed.
Jerome looked baffled. "Adam had suggested the contest, not me! It was sheer luck that he ate the fish!"
"Either way, there's still plenty of information pointing to you as the culprit," Quentin said thoughtfully.
"Huh?!" Jerome exclaimed.
"For instance, how did you smell the poison so easily?" Quentin asked.
"Baccas have a good sense of smell!" Jerome shot back. "And if I were the culprit, would I be showing you the poison?"
"Hm, and then you were alone with the paper..." Quentin went on. "Only for a minute! And Adam ate the fish before that!" Jerome said defensively.
"Give it up, and save it for the trial!" Tyler told Quentin.
Quentin sighed. "Sorry." He threw a suspicious glance at Jerome, then turned away, walking over to investigate some kitchen cupboards.
Brice, looking uncomfortable and scared, exited the kitchen to go investigate the Dining Hall more.
"Ugh," Jerome muttered frustratedly, putting a paw on his forehead.
Tyler watched Jerome walk away as he left the kitchen. He didn't know why, but he didn't really suspect Jerome. Tyler supposed it was just because of what Jerome said; it made sense anyways. If he was only alone with the paper after lunch, how could he have poisoned the fish?
Tyler sighed and left the kitchen, and the Dining Hall, deciding to see what the others had found out with AlterSorcerer.
Halfway down the halls, he met up with the rest of the group.
"Hey Tyler," Ryan said.
"Hey. Did you find anything?" Tyler asked.
"Nothing much, really," Matt replied. "AlterSorcerer didn't seem to know anything about where the secret passage to the fourth floor could be."
"He did tell us something useful, though!" Jason added. "Apparently, the dead person who knew about the fourth floor was Seto."
"Really? Did AlterSorcerer know anything about where it was?" Tyler asked.
"Nope! That Seto had made sure to keep his little AI friend quiet," Suiko said in annoyance.
"Someone seems eager to get to the fourth floor," Ryan growled.
"Of course I am!" Suiko replied. "There could be really good weapons up there. Baseball bats, metal pipes, more crowbars..."
"Hey guys. You found anything?" Jerome's voice came from behind Tyler. He turned around to see Jerome, Quentin and Brice walking out of the Dining Hall towards them.
"AlterSorcerer told us Seto knew about the fourth floor, but he either didn't know where it was or couldn't say where it was. No info on where the fourth floor is."
"On top of the third floor, maybe?" Suiko suggested.
"Shut up, you!" Ryan muttered angrily as Suiko started cracking up.
"Anyways, we found out what had poisoned Adam, thanks to Jerome's nose," Brice said.
"Oh, really?" Matt asked. "What?"
"All the raw fish, and only the raw fish, was poisoned, and the last person to eat a raw fish was Adam at lunch yesterday. Jerome hadn't eaten one since then," Quentin explained.
"Wouldn't you have smelled the poison back then at the challenge?" Jason asked Jerome.
"I thought I smelled something, but I thought it was just the steak, because it tasted terrible," Jerome replied.
"Was the steak poisoned, too?!" Tyler asked.
Jerome shook his head quickly. "No, I'd be dead by now if it was!"
"That's enough investigation time, don't ya think?" Herobrine's voice blared through the halls. "Please make your way to the elevator, for our fourth Class Trial!"

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