Hi everyone! Sorry, I was really busy yesterday and didn't get any pictures of the snow and now it's mostly gone... Today I went over to my bro's to hang out with some friends, it was so much fun! We play Star Wars games, it was awesome!!! I loved it! Anyway... I just about killed my hand last night! I was helping my mom make these bookmarks that we're handing out a a dance coming up soon. Let me tell you, tying 75 bows HURTS!!!! My left hand hurt so bad last night! It's better today though, but I get to tie more bows! YAY!!!! (Sarcasm!! =P) So I'm done talking about Star Wars awesomeness and hurting hands... Enjoy chapter 17! =D

Chapter 1 7

            I left the room and as soon as I was in the hallway, I got a phone call.

            “Logan here,” he said.

            “Yes?”

            “Alright. Savannah wants me to translate that article for you. I don’t know what it was you said to her, but whatever you did to get her to talk about that paranormal garbage you need to knock it off!”

            “Excuse me? I can’t promise that.”

            “You really don’t get it, do you? This ghost stuff isn’t a joke, especially not to her. Since I’m the one left picking up the pieces after she gets to wrapped up in one of her cases, I’m telling you. Leave it alone for her sake, and yours,” he told me.

            “What happened to Savannah? Why doesn’t she work paranormal cases anymore?” I asked.

            “It’s not something she likes to talk about,” Logan said with a sigh.

            “I gathered that, but can you tell me?”

            “When we’re travelling, I spend weeks with her touring on buses, long plane flights, we talk a lot. I know everything about her childhood, her best friend’s dog’s name from when she was five, her favorite ice cream flavor, she’s very chatty.”

            “Then what has she told you about-“

            Logan cut me off, already knowing the end to my question, “Nothing, not a single word.

I’ve asked, and when I do, she just goes quiet and excuses herself. She’s never told me to stop bugging her about it, but I can tell that she wants to. That’s why I don’t want you bothering her about it either. Whatever happened when she was writing the second ghost book… it really got to her.”

            “Second ghost book?” I asked. This was the first I had heard of it.

            “Wasn’t supposed to mention that. It’s a secret, and it’s not done so don’t think you’re going to get your hands on it… I don’t even know if she still has the manuscript. She had me tell her publisher she burned it, but I don’t know if that’s the truth.”

            “Well, speaking of her books, I need a copy of the first ghost book she wrote. Could you help me out with that?”

            “Sure! Bookstores are a great start. Or the internet is helpful, but I’m more a brick and mortar person, honestly. I suppose you could also go the books on tape route – TV’s Ralston Popplers does an excellent job with the text… really makes it come alive,” he said, back to the guy who hung up on me… twice.

            “No, I meant, could you send me a copy?”

            “Oh! Nope, but thank you for asking.”

            “Have you finished translating that article yet?”

            “Just about, I’ll have it sent to you as soon as I finish.”

            “Thanks. Talk to you later.”

           

            “Goodbye,” he said and hung up.

Improvising... This is a pic that I took and edited myself. Thought it looked sorta spooky! (insert cute ghost smiley here) =D

Hi everyone! Again I'm sorry for not posting a chapter every day. I'm going to say now that I'm going to be really busy until at least the 27th of this month. I have tons of school stuff coming up and just tons of other stuff as well. Thank you for understanding! So before I move on to today's chapter, I want to tell you some exciting news! The abriviation for Nancy Drew 26: Tomb of the Lost Queen is TMB! Thanks to my friend Marissa (aka Future HeR Animator) for letting all of us Nancy Drew fans know that! She figured out a clever puzzle on the Amateur Sleuth Blog that I never would have gotten in a million years! Ok well... maybe in a million years... ANYWAY!!! (teehee!) It's snowing here again! It's so gorgeous! All the trees are covered in this light layer of frost and snow! I'll try and take some pictures and then I'll try and post them on here! Well, enough chit chat, time for chapter 16! In this chapter we have, what I think, is a very intriguing/funny conversation with Logan! Enjoy! =D

Chapter 16

            I grabbed an envelope and put the article in it to give to Miwako at the front desk.

            “Hi Miwako. Can I leave this envelope here to picked up? It’s for my friend Logan.” Logan wasn’t exactly my friend, but I guessed he was on my side now.

            “Sure,” she said, taking the envelope from me.

           

            “Thanks!” I said, then I thought of something important I should have told her, “I’m really sorry, the mirror in the baths broke. Something really strange happened before it broke though. I saw an image of a woman who wasn’t there with me.”

            “Don’t worry Nancy, I’m sure it was nothing. I’ll have Rentaro take care of it right away. Until please stay away. I don’t want you to get hurt,” she said. She obviously didn’t believe that I saw anything.

                                                                                                            

            “But I saw something, I’m sure of it!”

            “You work to hard Nancy-san. Up to late, off to teach so early. You must rest more. Your judgment suffers if you don’t get enough rest.”

            “I know what I saw!”

            “Nancy-san, please. I have to get back to work,” She said, turning away from me.

            I guessed that was the end of that conversation… I decided I’d go to see Takae and take another lesson. I walked into the room and there was a bunch of colored paper on the table. I sat down and Takae greeted me kindly.

            “Nancy-san. Today I have an important lesson. We will learn origami,” she told me.

            “Great, Let’s get started!”

            “Origami has been around in many forms for centuries. Master Yoshizawa brought back the art before it could disappear. There is a grave danger, Nancy-san, in forgetting. If the whole world forgets a thing, or a person, then it is gone forever.”

           

            “What do you mean by that?” I asked.

            “I have for you here, a selection of origami patterns a few steps away from the last step. You must simply match the pattern to the completed design,” she said, ignoring my question.

            I finished all of the origami. It was kind of fun and they were really cute!

            “They are perfect, absolutely perfect! You have many talents Nancy-san!” Takae praised me.

            “Thank you! We fixed the portrait, I think it’s back up in the lobby.” I hadn’t actually seen it but I figured that Rentaro would have already put it back up.

            “It is, yes.”

            “Rentaro tells me that’s it’s very important to you.”

           

            “Yes, it is very important to all of us.”

           

            “Why were you so upset when it fell?”

            “You would be upset if something you loved broke.”

            “There was more to it than that.”

           

            “No. That was all.”

            I figured I’d better go before I made Takae even more upset with me.

            “I’ll let you get back to the origami.”

            “Goodbye.”

            Well, I had managed to make two people mad at me and hadn’t learned anything. Great…

I wrote chapter 17 at the same time that I wrote this one and I almost posted them both! Tricky chapter 17... ;P

Hi! I'm sorry about not posting the past few days. I have just been so busy! On Saturday, I went shopping for a dress with my sister. On Sunday, I went to church and then my family had a bunch of friends over for the Super Bowl. Yesterday, I was busy doing school. Me and my parents have been talking a lot about high school. (I'm going into 9th grade.) Tonight we're going to a meeting at the school I want to go to. I'm kinda nervous and at the same time so excited!!! Anyways, I finally got the time to write chapter 15! In this chapter we finish our conversation with Savannah. Enjoy! =D

Chapter 15

            “What’s the story with your assistant, Logan?” I asked Savannah.

            “He’s like my own little Georgia bulldog! He can be a little aggressive sometimes, a little dopey others, but always loyal. He’s one of the good ones when you get down to it.” she replied.

            “How long has he been working for you?”

            “Not long, he started right before I switched my interests to tech reporting.”

            “Why did you change careers?”

            “It’s a long story, but chasings not the safest career there is, ain’t nothing shocking in that.”

            After hearing about her little ‘Georgia bulldog’ I decided to tell her what had gone here so far. “I saw really creepy shadowy figure on my balcony, do you think that could be faked?”

            “Course, nothing hard in that. It’s as easy as shadow puppets. All you need to be able to do is practice. In my experience, people like scaring people with shadows a lot more than ghosts do. Way I see it, if it’s something a person could plausibly do, then there’s a person behind it. If it’s something a person can’t do that’s scaring you… well, y’all don’t need me to finish that sentence,” she told me.

            “I think I ran across a trick mirror here.”

            “Did it break?”

            “Yeah, how did you know?”

            “That’s how you know it’s a trick. Y’all know what the difference between truth and illusion in my line of work is?” she asked me.

            “No, what’s that?”

            “Time. An illusion can only last so long before it gives up its secrets. Now I don’t know exactly how that mirror was fixed, but the fact that it broke means that whoever rigged it knew that if you examined it close enough you could figure it out.”

            Interesting… “So the mirror broke so that I couldn’t figure out how it was faked!”

            “Exactly. That is… if it was a trick. Nancy, I can tell you how things might be faked, but I can’t you if they were faked. You’re the one who has got to stand there and know how the room feels when these things happen.”

            I was about to say good-bye when I remembered something. “Can you help me translate an article I found? No one else is willing to.”

            “Sure, leave it at the counter and I’ll have Logan swing by and pick it up.”

            “Great! Thank you for all your help. Bye.”

            “Y’all stay safe now,” she said and hung up.

            So… everything that had happened so far could have been, and probably were, illusions. Interesting, very interesting….

Ah, the laughs that come from not having a picture to go with the theme of the words! haha! =D

Hi everyone! It's snowing here!!! YAY!!!! Take that weather man who didn't think there was anyway the snow was gonna stick!! Haha! We have a bunch of snow outside, it's awesome! This chapter is interesting; we get to talk to Savannah. I was hoping something would happen as I walked aroud the ryokan but nothing happend and I'm following what happens in the game. I could have changed it but it would have been a real big hassle later on. Oh well, maybe next chapter. (Actually I kind of doubt that because I think we're just gonna spend next chapter continuing our talk with Savannah.) I'm still trying out writing more of the dialouge myself. So you guys think that's better? Let me know! Enjoy it! =D

Chapter 14

I headed up to my room; I didn’t want anyone to hear me talking to Savannah. When I took out my phone, it rang. It was another cool picture from Yumi, this time of Bess and George! After seeing that I called Savannah.

“Hello.” answered someone with a heavy southern accent.

“Hi, is this Savannah Woodam?” I asked.

“Let me guess. You’re that Nancy girl whose been driving’ my assistant crazy lately.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that but… yes.”

“What’s so important that you had to ruin my perfectly good assistant? Since you started calling talking to him has been like talking to a rock… a rock that I pay too much money.”

“I’m at the Ryokan Hiei and some really strange stuff is going on. Could you tell me anything about it?”

“Is this a joke? It’s not funny.”

“No, I promise. I saw your book and thought maybe you help me figure out what’s going on here.”

“Honey, whoever you are, my best advice to you is to pack your bags and head back to wherever it is you came from.”

“I’m not leaving until I find out what’s really going on here.”

“Is there any way I can change your mind?”

“No. I’m gonna get to the bottom of this with or without you… I could really use your help though.”

“I left there before I could finish the chapter about it like I was supposed to. Between us, I’m glad of that. You getting anything out of the family?”

“Nothing real useful”

“Uh-huh. Tell you what. You end up following through with this bad idea of yours of staying at the ryokan, I’ll help you as much as I can. Nancy…”

“What?”

“You’d better be careful now. You understand me?” she asked me.

“I’ll be careful,” I promised her, “Do you know where I could get a copy of your book?”

“I’m guessing you’re looking for the ghost hunting book I wrote. I can’t help you there. I’m outta copies myself. To be honest Nancy, I don’t mind helping you but this ghost thing is a phase I’d sooner put behind me.”

“Why’s that?”

“Now, don’t you worry about that now, just a choice I made.”

“There must be some reason. I understand you were pretty well known.”

“Put it this way Nancy. There are some jobs were being well known leads to a dangerous life. Sometimes it’s smart to move on.”

For those of us who still had school despite the snow...

Hi here is chapter 13! I hope those of you who read yesterday's post enjoyed. I tied seeing what happens if I don't post a link to here on HerInteractive's page on Facebook. I didn't get as many views. Well, with that bit of research done I now know that I should always post links! haha! Any way, I'm trying something new with this chapter. I decided to write the dialogue myself instead of just copy it from the game. They say pretty much the same thing I just worded it a little different and I made a few changes that I thought would be fun! Let me know what you think! =D

Chapter 13

            

            After a long day of teaching, I decided to have a long night of investigating! I went and talked to Rentaro, it felt like it had been a while and I thought he might have some more information for me.

            

            “Hey,” he said as I walked into his shed in the garden. Something was different about it.

            

            “Hey. Is that the portrait from the lobby?” I asked finally realizing what had changed.

            

            “Yeah, I’m reframing it,” he told me, “although, it’s way harder than I thought it would be. It’s got a really strange backing.”

            

            “Could I take a look at it?”

            

            “Have at it, this thing is officially making me nuts! Everything you need is right there.”

            

            I took a look at the portrait; Rentaro was right, it did have a really strange backing. It had a big mess of wires and it looked like I had to make it so that none of them crosses. Yeah, that was fun. It took forever but I eventually figured it out.

            

            When I took the backing off, I found a couple of things that were very interesting. First, I found a ‘Certificate of Spirit Removal’ signed by Savannah Woodam. The Second thing was an article that would have been much more interesting if I could read Japanese. I noticed that it had the same picture on it as the portrait.

            

            I went back to talking to Rentaro. (He had congratulated me when I figured out that strange backing.)

            

            “Hi Rentaro!” I said, wanting to be the one to say hi first to someone around here.

            

            “Hi. Can I help you with something?”

            

            “I just have a few questions about the ryokan.”

            

            “Ask away,” he said. With an open invitation like that, I just couldn’t hold back.

            

            “Have seen this strange certificate before? I found it behind the portrait. Who’s Savannah Woodham?”

            

            “She was an… investigator. She helped with the investigation after Kasume died,” he told me, reluctantly. He was the one who said ‘ask away’…

            

            “What kind of investigator? This certificate seems a little less than official.”

            

            “She was a paranormal investigator – I don’t really believe in that stuff, personally. Takae was the one who wanted her here.”

            

            “Why did Takae want her here?”

            

            “I’ve known Takae since I was a kid, and let me tell you this from experience, it is impossible to guess what she’s thinking or why she does… what she does.

            

            “What do mean?”

            

            “I’m sure you’ll find out… if you stay that long.”

            

            “Can you translate this article for me?” I asked, handing him the article from behind the portrait.

            

            “Sure,” he said, but then he looked at what it was… “No! Put this back where you got it.” He gave it back to me and turned away. He didn’t really look like he wanted to talk so I left. As I walking away, my phone rang.

            

            “Nancy!” George said hurriedly, “operation distract Logan is a go! Call Savannah, gotta go!”

            Well, I guess I knew what I was going to do next.

I didn't have a picture set up for this chapter so I decided to post this. It's a picture of my pillow pets! Tomoya (He's the zebra!) and Mori (He's the Tiger!!) Both of their names are Japanese so it sort of fits.... right?

Today I'm going to ramble on about awesome stuff and then I'm gonna do something special for my story!

First awesome thing, Does anyone know who Vic Mignogna is? Well, for those of you who don't, he is only the best voice actor EVER!!!!! He's done voices in a lot of my favorite animes! Anyway, I emailed him a few weeks ago and he emailed me back!!! He was so nice! He said that he was really glad that I was enjoying his work and that there's an anime convention in Denver that he's sometimes a guest at! I really want to go and meet him some time!!!! (Me: *FAN GIRL ATTACK*)

Second awesome thing, my website is now officially part of  HerInteractive's 'More Nancy Drew' section on their website!!! YAY!!! It's so cool! I know I've said this before but last time something happened and it didn't make it. This time it's official!!! I saw it!!! It's just sooooo cool!

Third thing (this is actually more creepy than awesome....), like a week ago I got a text from some random number saying that I won a $1000 shopping spree at Best Buy. Weird thing was that I had never given Best Buy my number or signed up for anything... weird, right?!?! I instantly deleted the text. I just felt like sharing that.... haha!

And finally for the special thing that I'm doing to go with my story!! (I know that sounds weird but I really couldn't think of another way to say it.... haha!) *drum roll* *still drum roll...* *still continuing the drum roll* *wow, really? when is this gonna end!!?!!*  It's the list of common superstitions  in Japan list that I mentioned in the last chapter!!! YAY!!!! (I hope... haha!) So, here it is:

When on the search for ghosts, you'll want to make sure you don't call in any additional bad luck. Here are 13 Japanese superstitions to be aware of:

1.The number 4 is pronounced shi, the same as the word for death and is considered very unlucky. As a result, many hotels do not have a room #4 or a fourth floor.

2.The number 9 and the word pain also share the pronunciation ku. Though not as unlucky as 4, 9 is still frequently skipped in numbering rooms or floors in hospitals.

3. Whistling at night will attract snakes.

4.Avoid sticking chopsticks upright into a bowl of rice as this is traditionally part of the funeral ritual.

5. Don't sleep with your head pointing north.

6. Breaking a comb or the strap of your geta sandal will bring bad luck.

7. Never write another person's name in red ink - something bad will happen to them.

8. Seeing a spider in the morning is good luck, but seeing one at night is bad.

9. Badgers, not cats, are considered unlucky because they wear masks to hide their eyes.

10. If you lie down immediately after eating, you'll turn into a cow.

11. Hide your thumb if a funeral car passes you.

12. Blood type influences one's personality.

13. Never pass food from chopstick to chopstick - this is another funeral ritual.

First of all, SORRY!!!! This is so late! I usually post around noon or early afternoon! I'll try to write tomorrows chapter tonight... Second of all, this chapter is really long and the last chapter was really short. I know it's kind of weird but I don't like splitting up conversations and avoid it when I can. The next chapter might be something different from what I've been doing lately... It'll probably be a regular post (aka me rambling on about pointless stuff, haha!)/ something kind of fun that goes along with my story! (It's my way of getting all of you people who are only here to read the story to come back even when I don't post a new chapter! *insert evil laugh here*) And, in this chapter I made Nancy really, really like pink... kinda like me! Haha! I just couldn't resist! Anyway, as usual, I hope you enjoy today's chapter! =D

Chapter 12

            

           After my bath I looked around a little. They had some baskets for people to put their clothes in. Most of the stuff in there that people had lost were just random things but I did find a couple objects looked useful. I found a little card that a picture of some animals on it. I would have to ask someone what it was for later. I also found a list of common superstitions in Japan.

           

           I went up to my room, laid down on my bed and tried to get to sleep. I thought about all that had happened. All of it was pretty freaky. Thinking about the case didn’t make it any easier to sleep. Since I couldn’t sleep I decided to call Savannah, the ghost hunter.

           

           When the phone was answered I was surprised to hear a man’s voice, “Savannah Woodham’s office. Logan speaking.”

           

            “Can I speak to Savannah Woodham please?” I asked him.

            

            “Are you one of interviews?”

            

            “Interviews?”

            

            “I’m Savannah Woodham’s assistant. Is she interviewing you, about the expo?”

            

            “No, actually I wanted to talk to Savannah about a book she wrote,” I told him.

            

            “Oh, great! I’m so glad you called.”

            

            “Really, why’s that?”

            

            

            “It’s been like three days since I’ve gotten to hang up on someone. I wonder if I’m still good at it.”

            

            *click*

            

            He had just hung up on me! I couldn’t believe it. I dialed the number again.

            

            “Logan speaking,” he answered.

            

            “Did you just hang up on me?” I asked, very upset.

            

            “Oh absolutely. Just between you and me, it was awesome. In fact-“

            

            *click*

            

            I just sat there in a slight shock. I couldn’t believe someone had just hung up on me like that - twice! Well, the first call hadn’t been a total waste. I had learned that Savannah Woodham was actually here in Japan, at the expo. There was only one thing to do – call Bess and George!

            

            

            “Nancy, what’s up?” asked George.

            

            “Not much, I’ll tell you in a minute. How’s Kyoto?”

            

           “It’s the best! Yumi’s been showing me some of the coolest parts of town. The fashion sense here is crazy! Yumi took me to a store – I don’t even know how to describe this place… it was pink! Really, really pink! It had the pink version of everything you could imagine!” Bess told me.

           

            “Wow that sounds awesome! I wish I had gone shopping with you guys!”

            

           “I was horrified,” said George, “But then she took us to the Gion district – so cool! She was a little grumpy that we wanted to see some traditional plays, but I think she had fun anyway.”

           

            “Sounds fun! How’s the expo going, George?”

            

           “It’s crazy! I’ve never seen so many clever people in one space – I’m defiantly dealing with a little bit of that small fish, large pond anxiety. I’m still trying to get tickets for you, but it’s not looking good,” she replied.

           

            “That’s ok, thanks for tying,” I told her, “What do you guys think of Yumi?”

            

            “She’s so much fun, a little pushy sometimes, but I feel like we’ve known each other for years, and we just met,” said Bess.

            

            “She seems to really dislike the ryokan. Do you think she’d want to see it closed down?” I asked.

            

            “Well… I can’t say for sure. She does really seem to resent that place. But I’m not sure if she’d go as far as to see it shut down… I just don’t know,” said George.

            

            “I found this strange book about ghosts in Yumi’s apartment with a note from the author.”

            

            “What do you mean?” asked Bess.

            

            

            “It had a dedication from the author, Savannah Woodham, to the Shumizu family, but the really weird thing is, there’s a chapter missing.”

            

            “What was in the missing chapter? Nope, strike that. That is a dumb question,” said George.

            

            “That’s pretty strange. Maybe you can find another copy of the book somewhere,” suggested Bess.

            

            “There’s a business card with the authors number inside, but more importantly, the table of contents says the missing chapter was about the ryokan,” I told them.

            

            “Weird! Did you call?” asked Bess.

            

            “I called Savannah, but she’s got a really protective assistant.”

            

            “Yeah?” asked Bess.

            

            “Apparently she’s in Kyoto now, covering the expo for some tech magazine, so she’s pretty busy. If I could get past her assistant, I could finally figure out what this whole book is about.”

            

            “Wait, so this guy is at the expo?”asked George

            

            “Pretty sure.”

            

            “Then we’ve got this one!” said George

            

            “We do?” asked Bess

            “Yup. We’re going to find them, and you are going to flirt up a distraction,” said George, sounding excited about this.

            

            “I am?” asked Bess.

            

            “Yes. You are,” George told her.

            

            “Well, at the very least this will be interesting,” said Bess.

            

            “And if it’s a mortifying failure or anything – which it might be, we do live thousands of miles away!” said George.

            

            “Solid point, we’ll keep you updated, Nancy,” said Bess, sounded a little excited herself now too.

            

            “Thanks!” I told them, “I looked in this mirror, and instead of seeing my reflection, I saw a ghostly image.”

            

            “Ugh, creepy!” said Bess.

            

            “Cool!” said George.

            

            “… Actually, I’m gonna side with Bess on this one.”

            

            “No! I’ve heard of stuff like this before. There’s a thing you can do with glass to throw a false image… but it’s a really fussy process, it’s hard to do without breaking the mirror,” George told me.

            

            “Yeah! The mirror broke… so do you think it’s possible it was rigged?”

            

            “More possible than the other option…” said George.

            

            Knowing that Bess and George were working on the thing with Logan I could finally get some sleep, but thanks to that mirror trick it wasn't much…

A pink store! If you look real close you can see the Hello Kitty logo on one of the shirts! I love Hello Kitty!!! Haha! =D