Hazu insisted on waking me up early for the dance, which scared me so much that I nearly killed her with Blazewing, which I had hidden under my pillow the previous night. Seeing that I had scared the poor Japanese girl, I profusely apologized for nearly turning her into a Hazu-kebab. After my daily training session with Talia, the three of us went out to breakfast. We picked up Kallan along the way and decided to head out to the dorms and watched a bit of anime until the time rolled around 1:00, which was when we decided that we would actually start getting ready for the ball.

True to his word, Madoc had sent students on campus to our dorms around that time to do our hair and makeup. The four of us sat down as our hair started to get stylized. Kallan and Talia ended up getting really elegant updos, while Hazu left her's down in a cute style of curls, using a lot of product to make it look flawless. I watched as my own hair slowly became exactly like what Hazu had drawn for me. It was beautiful.

Once the girls were done with their hair—which took about two hours—the stylists began to put accessories into our hair. Hazu had white roses weaved into her carnation pink hair, and Talia had a silver and copper tiara placed atop her head. Kallan wasn't as flashy. She just had a ribbon tied in the back of her hair.

I was interrupted by the girl who was doing my hair tapping me on the shoulder. I turned around to look at her. "Do you want any sort of accessory in your hair?" She asked me.

I shrugged. "Well, I don't know." I answered honestly. "I mean, you probably know a lot more about fashion than I do, so the choice is all yours whether or not I would look better or worse in it."

The girl thought for a minute and suddenly snapped her fingers. She reached into a bag that was behind her and produced a string of beads from it's contents. She placed them over my head and shook hers in distaste, throwing them back into her bag. She then pulled out a few plastic flowers. She shook her head again. Once she reached into her backpack a third time, she pulled out a beautiful golden tiara. It was small, but intricately woven into a beautiful headpiece. She placed it on my head. It was perfect. It looked like it belonged there. It felt so...natural.

"I love it." I immediately said.

The girl smiled. "Hold on just a minute. There's another piece that goes with this crown." She pulled out two white hair clips that were shaped like angel's wings and placed them on either side of my head. It was beautiful. I looked like a seraph that fell straight from heaven. I loved it.

"There. All done!" She announced. "Now all we have to do is your makeup, and then we'll be set to go."

I had never put makeup on before, so I didn't exactly know what to expect. It was quite fun to watch as my face was transformed. First came the foundation, then the cherry red lipstick, then the bronzer, and then golden eyeshadow that was complemented by black cat-eye style eyeliner. By the end, I was concerned that I had been placed into the body of some kind of supermodel by aliens.

I looked to the other girls. Hazu had been given minimal makeup; just some green eyeshadow and a bit of concealer. It really helped with her 'natural' personality. Kallan wore some blush and blue eyeshadow, but like Hazu, her makeup was otherwise minimal. Talia, like me, had the works done on her. She wore a darker red lipstick than I with blush, silver eyeshadow, brown eyeliner, mascara, and foundation. She looked like a Russian Barbie doll. Once our makeup was finished, the ladies left and Hazu and I left to our dorms to change into our dresses.

I watched as Hazu walked out of the bathroom in her dress. She was wearing a sage-green, silk dress with golden trim around a sweetheart neckline and sleeves that hung off her shoulder. She wore a simple green, beaded necklace, a pair of white, opera-length gloves, and a pair of white slippers. She looked like a fairytale princess.

"You look great, Hazu!" I said, helping her zip up the back of her dress, which she then helped me to zip up mine.

She smiled and blushed a little. "Thanks, Scarlett. This was my mother's dress that she had gotten as a gift from my father. I-It was too big for me when I first got it, but I did some alterations so it would fit me."

I nodded as I slipped into my golden gladiator heels. "It looks great on you, like it was meant for you."

She laughed. "Domo arigatō. Now come on! Let's go see Kallan and Talia's dresses." Hazu took my hand and took a look at my dress. "Hmm..." She muttered.

"Hmm, what?" I asked.

"Now that I see this dress on you, I think that maybe it would look better if it was shorter instead of longer. Wait here for a moment." She walked to her dresser and dug around until she found a pair of scissors. She walked back over towards me and kneeled down, expertly cutting the fabric so it ended just above my knees. I took a look in front of the mirror. She was right. It actually did look a lot better.

"I like it!" I said honestly.

She giggled happily. "Great! Now let's go see Kallan-senpai and Talia-senpai!" Hazu took my hand and led me out of our dorm room. It wasn't too much longer later that our friends came out into the hallway as well.

Kallan was dressed in a beautiful royal blue halter dress with a poofy skirt that went down to her knees. She accented her outfit with a pair of sapphire drop-style earrings and a pearl bracelet. When she bent over to adjust her wedges, I noticed that she was wearing spandex underneath. Smart idea.

Talia also looked amazing in her dress. It fit her body perfectly, showing off her toned figure and drawing attention to her skin, which perfectly complimented the silver. She had decided to wear a pair of gray pumps and a pair of diamond stud earrings. She had a silver necklace with a sword on it and wore silver gloves that were a little shorter than Hazu's.

"You guys look great!" I said.

"So do you." Kallan complimented. "Luc is going to be all over you in that dress."

"Speaking of which," I started. "Does anyone plan on going with a date, or is it just me and Luc going?"

Talia nodded. "I'm going with Adrian. I hope he got his tux like he promised he would and didn't end up procrastinating."

Kallan giggled. "Congratulations. As for me, I'm going to go with Jian. We're going as friends, though."

Hazu smiled sheepishly. "I-I just planned on going with Lavender and Ruby. We're going in a friend group as well."

I smiled. "Wow. You all need to send me pictures."

Talia rolled her eyes. "We're all getting pictures taken later, Scarlett. Don't worry about that."

"Why don't we take some selfies instead?" Kallan suggested, pulling her phone out of a purse that she was carrying.

The four of us started laughing like idiots as we took a bunch of photos on Kallan's phone, each one about ten times dorkier than the last. Kallan then posted a lot of them to Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, only one of which I was actually familiar with. She placed her phone back in her purse and we all walked to the boy's dorms to pick up our dates.

Once we arrived there, I was immediately greeted by Luc's face in the hallway. He was all dressed up in a white tux with a golden undershirt and a red bow tie. He had a beautiful red rose tucked into his lapel and a smile painted on his lips. His hair was done up with hair gel in a way that made him look like the stereotypical guy that any girl dreamed of dating.

"You look rather handsome." I complimented him.

He nodded and rubbed my shoulders. "And you look absolutely fantastic."

My eyes averted his gaze for a bit. "That's only because I'm all dolled up."

Luc shook his head adamantly. "No, it's because you look happy. You're the most irresistible when you're happy about something." He pulled a box out from behind his back. Inside was a corsage made of red roses. He took it out and placed it onto my wrist. "You're always beautiful, though, no matter what you look like. It's your personality that I love the most."

I felt myself blush. Luc was not going to make this easy, was he? Could he be the traitor? No. I needed to stop thinking like that. The traitor would be revealed one way or another tonight, and I had a strong feeling that it wasn't Luc. Besides, I could always double check later at the dance tonight if I got suspicious.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door flying open and some sort of 80's music playing in the background. There was Madoc, dressed up in a pink glitter tux with a matching top hat. "I have arrived, señors and señoritas!" He announced, swinging a cane and placing a monocle over his eye. "Y'all ready for some fabulousity?"

Luc's jaw dropped. "Bruh!" He exclaimed, spreading his hands angrily. "You told me that you didn't have any monocles that I could wear!"

Madoc snapped his fingers sassily. "Yep. None that I was going to let you use!" He retorted. "Those are mine, boy!"

Luc groaned. "But...monocles!"

"Exactly!" Madoc snapped. "I'm going to be the only one that looks this fabulous, and you can't do anything about it."

Jian finally came out a few moments later, dressed in a black suit with blue accents and formal black Converse. He had his stage makeup on and wore piercings in his lips and ears. He looked like every teenage fangirl's demon emo boyfriend that daddy would never approve of.

"J-Jian-kun!" Hazu stuttered. "You look like that one character from Tokyo Ghoul!"

"You mean Uta?" Kallan asked. "That guy is da bomb!"

Jian laughed. "Yeah, Kallan. That's kind of what I was going for. You look great. Both of you. Kallan's got this sort of edgy from the sea vibe going on and Hazu, you look like a princess of the forest."

Hazu's eyes widened and sparkled. "Arigatō gozaimasu!"

An angry stomp from Talia interrupted the happy mood. "Where is Adrian?! What in the world is taking that boy so long!?"
"Uh...I-I'm right here." A small voice called from Luc's dorm.

Talia sighed and crossed her arms. "Well, don't just keep me waiting! Come out here and let me see you so we can get ready!"

No reply came from the dorm.

"Come on, Adrian. This isn't funny!" She snapped.

"Um," Adrian's voice squeaked, sounding a little nervous. "I'm not exactly sure that you would approve of m-my attire. You'd be embarrassed to be seen with me. Are you s-sure that you want to see me?"
"Adrian, I'm sure it can't be that bad." I tried to console him.

"I-I don't know, Scarlett." He stuttered, his worry prominent in his voice.

"Adrian Skalanias, get your sorry excuse for a carcass out of that dorm room immediately or I vill knock the door down and pull you out myself!" Talia ranted, her Russian accent making a guest appearance.

"Y-Yes, ma'am."

The door to Luc's dorm room opened, revealing Adrian with a full tunic and cape over his body. He wore medieval-style armor and carried a sword by his side. He even had a helmet yo hop it all off.

Talia angrily turned to Madoc, who was trying to restrain himself from chuckling like an idiot. "What in the name of all that is holy did you do, Madoc O'Brien?"
"Well," Madoc started, trying his best to not burst out laughing. "I did give him another option—my second best glitter tux—but obviously he had something better to wear." He lost it and started laughing like a maniac.

Talia's eye began to twitch crazily. "Why, you son of a—"

Kallan quickly covered her mouth before she could finish that sentence. "Hey, Luc, you and Adrian wear about the same size, right? Why don't you lend him one of your suits to wear?"

I looked at Luc with curiosity. "Other suits?"

"Well, of course." Luc replied. "I go to church on Sunday's and stuff like that; so it would only be natural that I have multiple suits and stuff." He looked to Adrian. "Come on, man. I've got one that will suit you better."

Luc walked back into his dorm, and a few minutes later, came back out with Adrian, who was dressed up in a charcoal gray suit with a brown undershirt. I looked in Talia's direction to see the brunette Russian with a slight smile on her face, nodding approvingly.

"Much better." She praised, walking up to Adrian and taking his arm. "Now, we have pictures next, so Hazu, where are Lavender and Ruby?"

"They said that they would meet us by the courtyard." Hazu answered.

"That's fine." Talia pulled out her phone from the brown clutch purse she was carrying and began flipping through it. "I have a full schedule planned for today so we don't waste any time. I hope that's okay with everyone?"

"Sure." Kallan said, followed by soft mumbles of agreement from everybody else.

"Can't we just, you know, actually be spontaneous and have fun before the dance?" Madoc asked, crossing his arms. "Just saying."

Talia narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't care about your opinion."

And, just as promised, our day was jam-packed, starting off with pictures. Just like Hazu had said, Ruby and Lavender were waiting for her outside. Lavender was dressed in a pink dress accented with crystals that was a bit darker than the color of Hazu's hair. Ruby wore a blue dress a bit lighter than Kallan's with purple accents and red gems.

The courtyard was packed full of people taking pictures. I couldn't blame them. The courtyard was well taken care of. It looked like you had just stepped into a forest straight out of some fantasy world full of fairies and elves and unicorns. Somehow, we managed to find out photographers and get our pictures taken. We started out with a couple of group photos, then moved on to couples—with a trio in Hazu's case. The photographer told us the pictures would be sent to us in a week and then left once he was done.

Next, we ended up going to the school bowling alley—yet another thing I didn't know existed—and played a few games. We split into two groups. The group I was in lost every time against Ruby, who got nearly all strikes in all of the games, but Kallan ended up winning a couple of times in the other group. After Madoc decided it would be fun to take some more pictures, he accidentally found a karaoke machine. We decided to see if it still worked. We hooked it up to a TV, and surprisingly, it fired up.

Madoc was the first to go, singing an off-key version of "Baby" by Justin Bieber that nearly made my ears bleed. Jian and Luc went next, getting way into a duet for "Carry on My Wayward Son", filled with a complete air show and singing along to the instrumentals, which I had to say was rather entertaining to watch. Hazu, Ruby and Lavender stole the show with "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry. I tried not to laugh when I saw Ruby and Lavender make gestures to Kallan when Hazu wasn't looking. Kallan and Talia then sang "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy.

I was hoping I could get out of it, but no such luck. Due to peer pressure, I was next up to sing. To get it over with, I decided to sing "Pity Party" by Melanie Martinez. As the music started, I pretended no one was listening to me, and I was just singing in my own room. I took a deep breath and began to sing.

"Did my invitations disappear; Why'd I put my heart on every cursive letter; Tell me why the hell no one is here; Tell me what to do to make it all feel better."

As I continued to sing the song, I realized how true this song was. I never got invited to any birthday parties, sleepovers or anything like that. And vice versa, no one ever came to any parties that I threw. I felt so alone. I had cried so many times because I was convinced that nobody liked me. I started to lose all sense of reality and started to sing the song with a newfound passion.

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, Cry if I want to; I'll cry until the candles burn down this place; I'll cry until my pity party's in flames."

By the end of the song, I opened my eyes and realized that I was in front of the karaoke machine. Oh, that's right. I looked behind me to see my group of friends staring at me with their jaws wide open in awe. Everybody began complimenting me on my voice, causing me to blush. It wasn't like I was that good, so why were they giving me so much praise? Instead of it being over, I got pressured into singing one more song with Jian. We chose "Monster" by Skillet, then put the karaoke machine back where we had found it.

We finished off our outing by going out to eat at Jake's Diner. Tanya and Shelby looked quite surprised that I had brought so many kids to the diner, but surprisingly, they didn't complain. They probably figured it meant more money for them. Once all of us were done eating, the bill came to about $243. Talia paid for it and paid with a credit card and left a wad of cash on the table for a tip. I kept forgetting that Talia was raised by a filthy rich family.

At last, we all arrived to the dance, which was held in the main gym. Talia bought all of our tickets and we walked in. The gym had been transformed from a place where sweaty teenagers were forced to work out into a romantic space, complete with vases full of roses on each table and a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. I wanted to stare at it and revel, but now was time for me to do some undercover work. In other words, I was about to do some mind searching.

It was fairly easy to make physical contact with Luc. I hugged him and began rattling my mouth about how I was so thankful that he, Kallan and Talia had been my friends while his memories flowed before me. Nothing. He was innocent. I mentally breathed a sigh of relief. I broke off the conversation at a good place so he wouldn't get suspicious and moved to the dance floor.

I danced for a bit before I finally bumped into Kallan. I leaned on her shoulder, which again was easy to do since the dance floor was crowded. Again, the memories flew by. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

So that left Jian, Madoc and Hazu as potential suspects. Which one of them could it be? I was about to start moving in towards Hazu when I was suddenly hit by a massive migraine. I should have listened to Adrian's warnings. I tried to walk towards the table where Luc and Madoc sat even though my vision was extremely blurry and my head was pounding like crazy. Once I managed to sit down, Luc gave me a look of concern.

"Scarlett," He began. "You don't look so great."

I shook my head. "Don't worry about me, Luc. I'm fine. I just have a headache, that's all." I told him, downplaying how bad I really felt.

Luc nodded. "I see. Do you want me to get you a cup of water?"

"That would be nice." Maybe something to drink would help. Luc got up from his chair and walked off. I began rubbing my temples, but that did nothing to ease the throbbing. There was so much pressure in my head, it felt like it was going to explode. Maybe I shouldn't have done that.

I looked to the dance floor to see Hazu dancing happily with Lavender and Ruby, enjoying herself. With all the Kage drama in her life, she deserved a break to just be herself.

I then saw Jian with the other members of Die For Tomorrow talking to what appeared to be a group of fans. I inwardly laughed. I tried to picture what Jian was saying to them. He was probably sharing stories of amazing things that had happened on tour, or giving the girls false promises that he had no intention of keeping. Nah, that didn't sound like Jian. He was more of the soft-spoken type that didn't really like to make anybody feel bad about themselves. He wasn't the the type to spread needless pain and jealously.

I was interrupted from my train of thought by a tap on my shoulder. I looked behind me, expecting to see Luc, but I was instead greeted by Madoc.

"Oh." I breathed. "It's just you.

"Excuse me?" Madoc asked, placing his hands in his hips. "That is no way to address a friend of yours that is as fabulous as I am!"

I laughed nervously. "Sorry, Madoc. I was just waiting for Luc to get back with some water for me. I've got a bit of a migraine and he thought that it might help."

Madoc scoffed. "Water may help a little, but do you want to know what the best cure for a headache is? 100% bonafide oxygen! Let's take you out for a breather, chica."

"But, Luc—" I tried to protest.

"Will understand." Madoc finished my sentence. "Trust me, I know exactly what will help you, and that's going outside for a nice breath of fresh air." He helped me to my feet and held onto my arm for support. "Trust me. You'll thank me later."

I sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine."

Madoc helped me to start walking and led me out to the door that led outside. Surprisingly, there weren't very many people outside. Madoc led me out further until the pounding music was little more than background noise. Now that I was away from all of that chaos, I could actually hear myself think. Don't get me wrong, I'm usually all for that kind of thing, but it doesn't make a migraine any more sufferable.

"Better?" Madoc asked me.

I nodded. "A little bit, yeah."

"I told you." He said, giving me a sly smile.

I gave a dry laugh. "That you most definitely did.

We stood in silence for a while, and surprisingly, my migraine was gone. After a few minutes, Madoc spoke up.

"Hey, Scarlett, can I ask you a question?"
"Go right ahead." I said.

Madoc's posture got defensive. His muscles tensed up and he looked at me with an expression that seemed foreign on his usually joyful face: anger. His eyebrows were furrowed together and he wore a disappointed frown on his lips. "What's it like to lead a perfect life?" He asked, his voice suddenly becoming very harsh.

I laughed. "I wouldn't know, Madoc. My life is far from being perfect."

"As if!" Madoc snapped. "Your father cared enough to send you to a foster parent that cared for you enough to send you to a home where you were loved and treated like you were their own! You have the attention of everybody when you walk into a room, and you don't even have to try! You have six people who believe in you as their friend and countless others who look up to you as their savior! Hell, you even almost fooled the soul of the body in which I reside, but they know better! No one cares for them! Nobody actually cares!"

"Madoc," I started, unsure of what to do in this situation. "What are you talking about? You aren't making any sense right now!"

"Well, why don't I just put this into terms that you can understand, then?" He snapped. "The soul in this body was sexually abused as a child. The day that they finally stood up for themselves, they went home to find their father murdered. They fled their home country because they didn't know what else to do. When they arrived in the U.S., I found them. They were in so much pain. I took them to my mistress, Kali. They had all their pain taken away after allowing me, the great Shadow General Skarn, to take residence in their body. Together, we are unstoppable, so it's only natural that I was chosen to hunt you down."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "You mean—"

"Yes." He answered. "I am the one that's going to kill you."

BOOM! I bet you never expected that, did you. Now, I know that a lot of you have a particular fondness towards Madoc, but please don't have an aneurysm. Also, thanks for all of your support! I know you've been waiting for this moment for a while and I really hope that I did it justice. It's been an honor to get to know all of you guys and it will be an honor to know that you've been supporting me through This whole entire crazy thing. I'll almost be sad to finish this book. Thank you.

Signing off, Kiera Savage.