[618] where is she?!

[Yin]

Yikes.

Packing all that stuff on her own got her snatched by the ghost? Hmm.

[roboticelf]

Even if it wasn't for the hair, I'd put her down as a fae just from the personality similarities with red.

The hilarious similarities.

[edzepp]

Like a complete lack of empathy and the tendency to overreact to the slightest things ?

Let's just hope no one gets killed.

[eightyfour]

Ha! Janet doesn't have any problems with ghosts! ;D

[jon77]

Sept 16, 2009 7:10:02 GMT eightyfour said:

Ha! Janet doesn't have any problems with ghosts! ;D

The poor ghost might need rescuing more than Janet...

[jon77]

Does anyone else smell a rescue mission coming up?

[judgedeadd]

This is all looking more and more like some kind of a spectacle which has been set up as some sort of a lesson or a test for the students.

Another theory: could Jack have something to do with it?

[Aris Katsaris]

Marcia is either a very bad person (if Janet is really in danger), of a very bad actor. Or a very good actor pretending to be a very bad person.

Other than that... if Janet gets killed off, I'm gonna cry. Please don't make me cry, Tom!

[judgedeadd]

Wait a minute...

A ghost which abducts people?

A ghost about which people are reluctant to talk out loud?

It all makes sense now! Janet has been kidnapped by Candle Jack - you know, that villain from Freakazoid who kidnapped everyone who said his na

[jercos]

May not seem like such a great guy, but he does always press submit after kidnapping someone after all...

[wanderer]

Sept 16, 2009 7:44:31 GMT judgedeadd said:

This is all looking more and more like some kind of a spectacle which has been set up as some sort of a lesson or a test for the students.

Yeah, it's too suspicious that she'd deliberately set someone up to be left alone right after asking nervously about a ghost that takes people who are left alone.

[Aris Katsaris]

In fact it seems so obvious a set up, that I'm starting to get worried it isn't.

Unless... wild spec here -- the twist is that it's a set up and EVERYONE knows it, including the kids, and they're all just role-playing a mystery game. That'd be amusingly weird, but I guess no more weird than Dr. Disaster's classes.

[Miri]

Sept 16, 2009 10:14:29 GMT Aris Katsaris said:

In fact it seems so obvious a set up, that I'm starting to get worried it isn't.

Same.

On the other hand, I'm sure Marcia's ghost is a set-up, but I'm starting to think that some other ethereal being will make a surprise appearance - one the adult/s aren't prepared to let the kids handle. (Mr. Young seems like a good guess, seeing as it's his park and all.) We could have the start of a Thirty Ghost Pileup here.

On another note, why does Winsbury bother? x) Everyone must know about him and Janet by now.

[starburst98]

i don't think janet's reaction to mort would count in this case. it depends on what the ghost does. if it is actively hostile, like jeanne, then janet may be in a bind. but if it is just messing with people, just on a much higher lvl (the clown thing would be the least scary thing it could do)

[judgedeadd]

Jack will cause some sort of a disturbance which will turn the perfectly controlled spectacle into an actually dangerous situation.

Another theory: People will now start disappearing one by one.

[idonotlikepeas]

I'm just waiting for Winsbury to confess dramatically and everyone around him to just say "Uh... yeah. We know."

[todd]

This raises another question. The children are taken out camping to an area haunted by a dangerous ghost. The school starts off by taking a sensible precaution - sending Eglamore to protect them. But when an emergency develops and Eglamore's needed back at the Court, he leaves them there with only the clearly inadequate Marcia - who, furthermore, knowing the dangers, places Janet in peril. Either Eglamore had exaggerated notions of Marcia's ability to handle the situation, or he's being extremely careless. (Granted, it would probably be out of the question to cancel the Recreational and take the children back to the Court - especially if it was dangerous there as well. But it still makes you wonder what the faculty were thinking.)

At least, since Janet's father is the headmaster, Gunnerkrigg's in no danger of parents from outside the school protesting over the disappearance of their children and even threatening a lawsuit for negligence - though if any more children start disappearing, children whose parents aren't faculty members....

[cantabile]

I still posit that the cows have something to do with it. Eglamore does seem careless, but he probably knows that a) Marcia is certifiably nutty and b) the kids will be fine.

If, of course, this whole thing isn't a ploy. I personally think it would be a lot more interesting if Marcia really was mentally unstable.

[Aris Katsaris]

Heh, todd. I know you didn't mean it like that, but you make it sound as if the faculty would be more fearful of the prospect of lawsuits than with the disappearance of their own children.

Hmmm...
Anja: Oh, no. Katja has disappeared. Ah well, better her than the kid of a stranger.
Donald. Yup. No need to worry about lawsuits.

[Casey]

IMO... welcome to the beginning of whatever Tom was worried that people would have a problem with. IMO.

[judgedeadd]

Sept 16, 2009 16:18:48 GMT Casey said:

IMO... welcome to the beginning of whatever Tom was worried that people would have a problem with. IMO.

Elaborate.

EDIT: Oh, I see.
Quoth the Twitter:

Oh, the chapter people are gonna have a problem with is the current one. Starts properly tomorrow!

Holy (laser) cow, now I'm worried. I have a nagging, terrible feeling I know what will that be. Hopefully I'm wrong There's no way I'm telling you though.

[Amethyst]

Sept 16, 2009 16:48:34 GMT judgedeadd said:

Holy (laser) cow, now I'm worried. I have a nagging, terrible feeling I know what will that be. Hopefully I'm wrong There's no way I'm telling you though.

You're saying someone is gong to die.

Finally.

[King Mir]

I'm not confident enough to say outright that this was staged, but if it was I bet Jannet 's totally chillin' at Marcia's house.

[Casey]

Janet probably saw whatever the "ghost" is, and proceeded to pick up a stick and chase it all across creation. She's probably still after it! That's where I think Janet is.

[gaia]

"I Wonder What is Keeping My True Love"

From the Kate Rusby album also including "The Maid of Llanwellyn" and "Sir Eglamore".

I'm hoping it's a test and Janet is in no danger whatsoever. Or at least, no danger she can't get out of by hitting an unearthly spectre with a flute.

[Mishmash]

People are going to have a problem with this chapter because Tom will drag it out until April of next year and then there will be a page that says APRIL FOOL THIS CHAPTER DIDN'T REALLY HAPPEN.

This speculation is no more wild than anyone else's!

[omegax123]

Sept 16, 2009 18:33:24 GMT @gaia said:

"I Wonder What is Keeping My True Love"

From the Kate Rusby album also including "The Maid of Llanwellyn" and "Sir Eglamore".

Nice catch!

[todd]

Sept 16, 2009 15:19:32 GMT Aris Katsaris said:

Heh, todd. I know you didn't mean it like that, but you make it sound as if the faculty would be more fearful of the prospect of lawsuits than with the disappearance of their own children.

I didn't mean it that way, of course - I'm sure they wouldn't want their own children disappearing - but I don't think that the Court would desire the kind of attention that lawsuits would bring. The first members of the Court were apparently fleeing some kind of trouble, and their descendants are presumably still pursuing etheric investigations that they probably want to keep secret. They wouldn't want people from the outside world showing up to investigate disappearances and discovering too much about the Court's secrets.

Maybe that's why many of the children at the school (at least Kat and Janet - possibly Annie since her mother used to be the Court's medium) are the offspring of faculty members - or, in some cases, originally non-humans (such as Red and Blue).

[Max]

You know, it's really hard for me to imagine the Court being sued, since we know absolutely nothing about it's relationship with the outside world. I've always kinda pictured the school as somewhat untouchable, though I guess it does exist in the real world.

[Jiminiminy]

Sept 16, 2009 23:15:56 GMT Max said:

I've always kinda pictured the school as somewhat untouchable, though I guess it does exist in the real world.

Like Hogwarts! Only better.

Anyhow, the way I see this, if the incidents herein are really a deception, either the ghost is in league with the people, or a non-existent deterrent for being alone outside of the tenting area. And I don't seem to recall having a clear view of their house before, but that's really a rather nice place for anyone, let alone a gardener. I like the castle tower and the numerous chimneys, adds a certain amount of unnecessary extravagance.

Their last name is Sutton! Who knew? (I didn't)

And finally, that seems like a pretty simple deadbolt lock. I'm sure that if Annie had Rey with her, it'd be pretty easy to pick. Did she get new ones? I'm not certain.

Edit: Other note, Kat seems to have gotten over any previous hostilities towards Winsbury. Or maybe she just wants to help him. Either way, there you are then, but their actions seem to have drawn a crowd, I count a half-dozen up there at the door.