I woke abruptly as Jimmy yelled in my ear, "WAKE UP PEARL'S GONE!!"

I screamed and sat up suddenly. My head knocked into Jimmy's. "OW!"

Scar snickered.

"Don't search for her," I said, remembering the dream. "She'll be fine."

My head started throbbing. I put a hand to it.

Scott looked around. "No, she won't! They're going to kill her, just like last time!"

I shook my head, which made the pain worse. "I talked with the Listener last night. They're going to try to recruit her. If she accepts, they'll send her back alive. If not, well, then we can worry. I just hope she takes the offer and becomes a mole."

Scott, Jimmy, and Scar nodded uneasily and looked around in silence, hoping for a hint that she was there.

She came back an hour later. "I escaped," she panted. "We need to get moving."

Then she shot us a significant look. We'll talk later, when we're not being spied on.

Or at least, that's what I got from it. So I stayed quiet.

We had our stuff packed and were walking in less than ten minutes. Pearl kept glancing around, so much that I couldn't help doing a little myself. But other than a glimpse of yellow once, I saw no sign that we were being watched.

"So, what are we going to be doing next?" Pearl said.

"Dunno," I answered, playing along. Scar and Jimmy obviously had no idea what was going on, so they stayed quiet.

We stopped in a clearing for lunch. Pearl pulled out a book and pen and started to write.

"What are you writing?" I asked her.

"Just a little story," she answered. "Pass the time, you know?" She handed me the book.

She was in fact writing a story. But I skipped to the bottom, where she had written, They offered to recruit me. I accepted and volunteered to be a mole. Don't worry, though, it was just to stay alive. They're spying on us to make sure I'm trustworthy and don't give away anything. Don't say anything important.

I passed the book to Scott. "That's really cool," I said, hoping that the Red Army, or whichever member of it was watching us, was far enough away to not be able to read the page.

Scott passed the book to Jimmy, who read the message and passed it to Scar. Scar seemed to want to read the whole thing, story included. We were going to be here a while.

Might as well flex, while the Red Army was watching.

I pulled out the Nether Star and turned it in my hands. Take that, Red Army, I thought smugly. "So what are we going to do with this?" I asked.

"It's yours," Scott shrugged. "You decide."

"Very helpful," I muttered.

"I think we should destroy it," Jimmy said.

Everyone stared at him. Then Scar said, "No!"

I looked at the jewel. "Maybe we should. We're going to be moving around anyway, there's really no place to put a beacon. If we're not going to be using it, then maybe we should just drop it into the next lava pit we find."

"There's a lot of cactus at the Shadow Tower," Pearl said. She wasn't actually trying to get us to go there, she was just trying to get our kidnapping eavesdroppers to think she was trying to bring us, and by extension the Nether star, there.

"No," I said. "I'm not going back there."

Pearl slumped her shoulders just barely enough to be noticable. She was a convincing actress.

We broke camp and got ready to get moving again. I made sure the Nether star was very visible when I put it into my pocket. I would have put on Ren’s sunglasses, but that would probably give away that I knew the Red Army was there. I had taunted them enough.

But I did make sure to keep them hooked onto my water bottle so any spies could see them very clearly. I was positive the bush next to me huffed in anger. It took all my willpower to keep a straight face.

We started wandering aimlessly again. We weren't sure what we wanted to do. We just needed to keep moving while we waited for further instruction from the Listener.

The day passed with the only sign of eavesdroppers being the occasional rustle as they moved or shifted positions. From the noises, I was pretty sure that there was only one person watching us. But I didn't know for sure.

That night, Scar kept watch, which probably would end badly, while the rest of us got some sleep.

It is time to strike. The next Boogeyman will be chosen soon, which will be you, Pearl, or Martyn. And Joey will have succeeded in a few days.

Get one of the reds to kill Martyn. He's the one following you. Then destroy the Nether star. Go to the Shadow Tower and take out the Army. You have almost double their numbers, and as long as they attack you, you and Pearl are completely allowed to kill them.

Take the Red Crown, if you can. If you destroy it, it can't inflict its magic on anyone else. But beware Ren, because the Crown enhances his strength and speed. He's already bad enough when he doesn't have magical abilities.

Once Ren is dead, Tango should see reason. But Martyn… you may have to kill him.

I woke up fresh as a daisy and ready for murder.

When thunder clapped the sky, I wasn't even that scared. If it was Martyn, then he'd have to separate us first before he could kill me or Pearl. If it was me or Pearl, we could kill him. Simple.

3…

2…

1…

You are…

The Boogeyman.

Fine.

Pearl gave a cry of despair. "Again?"

"Are you Boogeyman?" I asked.

"Yes!"

Oh, no.

"So am I," I said.

My plan had depended on there being only one Boogeyman. Pearl or I had to kill the other, because Martyn was yellow and reds weren't valid Boogeyman kills.

"You can kill Martyn again," I said. "I can just go red."

But I found my dark side coming up with a plan to kill her. If I could wait until it was my turn to keep watch, in three nights, I could kill her and then get away before any of the others noticed. I could go alone, find some isolated corner of the map to live in… what was I thinking? Why was I planning to kill one of my best friends?

Now I knew how hard it had been for Scott.  I needed to try extra hard to stay normal.

Or I could just have one of the reds kill me… that would give me my head back early.

I grimaced. Dying was painful. I could wait.

“The Listener contacted me last night,” I said, hiding the conflict in my mind. “They said to kill Martyn.”

I didn’t know why I said that. He was watching us. But who cared? If he went to report back to the Red Army, he would lose our location. We didn't know he was there, or so he thought.

Pearl looked around. "But we killed him a few days ago…"

I knew she was trying to act for Martyn's benefit, but it still made me mad.

"He's probably plotting how to kill us right now, or at least Jimmy and Scott, and probably me as well. We don't have much time. We need to do something!"

"We do," Scott agreed, playing along. "But can't we just stop them, not kill them?"

"The Listener said to do it, so we should. Since when do you doubt them, Pearl?" Jimmy asked, putting a little suspicion into his voice.

"I just… I don't want to kill people!" Pearl protested..

"You're Boogeyman," Scar said. "The Boogeyman always wants to kill people."

"I want to kill you," I said unhelpfully. "I'm not going to, but I want to. If I want to kill my friends, you definitely want to kill your enemies."

Pearl hung her head. I hoped we weren't actually hurting her feelings. She knew we didn't mean what we were saying, right? "I'm just sick of how much this curse has affected our alliance."

"Me too," Scott said. "But we have to keep going. We have to do what the Listener says."

I didn't want to do what the Listener said. But just this once, I agreed with them.

Martyn had to die.

Maybe it was the curse thinking, but still.

We packed and got going, but this time we had a purpose.

I wondered smugly what Martyn was thinking at that moment. Was he confident that we wouldn't find him? Was he scared that Pearl would turn on him? Was he angry that she wasn't doing more to stop the mission?

Scar knew where a lava pool in the northeast corner of the map was, so he led us there. I hoped that Martyn would show himself once I was about to destroy the Nether star.

We got to the lava pit just after noon. I pulled the Nether star out of my pocket and held it over the pit. If all went well, it wouldn't be the only thing in the pool but the time we left.

The others were a little farther back, getting lunch ready. Pearl and I had discussed the plan on whispers, with lots of giggles. Hopefully that made Martyn think we were talking about stupid girly stuff and not listen to us.

The plan was that I would be at the lava pool, ready to drop the Nether star into it. We would leave the others at camp and Pearl would be hiding in the forest undergrowth.

Martyn, seeing me alone with the Nether star, would hopefully come out of his hiding place to steal it. Pearl would run out of the trees, push him into the lava pool, and get her kill. Then I would actually drop the Nether star into the pit. Two problems, out of the way.

I stood at the side of the pool. Martyn couldn't push me in unless he was Boogeyman, which I didn't think he was, otherwise he would have killed me already. Our entire plan depended on Martyn taking the bait without intention to kill the person holding it.

Surprisingly, it worked.

Martyn silently dropped down from a tree and approached me from behind. I cupped the Nether star in my hands, pretending to hesitate. Then I held the Nether star over the pit.

Martyn yelled, "NO!" and grabbed my arm, pulling me back. I fell over from the momentum, dropping the Nether star. It bounced once, twice, and fell into the pit.

Martyn ran to the edge and looked in, trying to see if the gem had landed on a ledge. It apparently had, because he yelled triumphantly and reached down. His hand withdrew the glowing crystal just before an arrow hit him in the back.

Screaming, Martyn fell into the pit, Nether star in hand.

Martyn Littlewood tried to swim in lava to escape Pearlescent Moon

Now that Pearl was cured, the urge to kill her was stronger than ever. All it would take was a little shove and my own curse would be out of the way.

I shook my head. I was not going to kill Pearl. I was going to endure this curse until I turned red.

I turned around, still grappling with my dark side, and went back to the campsite.

"Did you do it?" Jimmy asked us when we came into the clearing.

Pearl nodded. "Martyn's dead."

"Yay!" Scott cheered.

"We could have sold that," Scar grumbled.

"Who would we have sold it to?" I asked. "The Red Army? That's exactly the reason we destroyed it: so they wouldn't be able to have it."

Scar leaned against a tree and pouted. "I guess so."

After a quick lunch, Scott looked at me. "So, to the Shadow Tower now?"

"Yep."

We threw any sign that we had been there into the lava pit, and then headed southwest.

Now that we were free to talk however we wanted, we discussed what had happened and why Martyn had been watching us in the first place.

"They came out of the shadows. All three of them, wearing really dark clothes. The only way I saw them when they were under the trees was their masks. And also Tango's eyes. Did you know they glow in the dark?"

Scar nodded. "Oooh, cool," Jimmy said.

"Anyway, they pulled me into the forest and said that they weren't there to hurt me, although Martyn seemed like he wanted to, for the Boogey kill. They offered me a position as a spy. They didn't make it super tempting like Scar or Blue would, but they made some pretty good points."

I was a little flattered that Pearl had put me in the same league as Scar in the verbal category, but I was more intrigued by her story.

"They said that we argue really easily, which is actually kind of true between Scott, Blue, and Scar. And they said that we have no appreciation of the value of things like the Nether star or Wither skulls."

Scott looked like he wanted to argue, but bit back his anger before he proved her point. Scar looked both ashamed about the first statement and smug about the second. He had been trying to convince us not to get rid of valuable objects the entire time.

It was a little painful how honestly Pearl had said them. She knew that we needed to work out our differences, and so did I. I was sad and angry at myself.

"I accepted the role, and they told me that until I finished a certain task, they would be watching me. My job while they were there was to say things out loud and get you guys to say things out loud about our plans and stuff. You almost blew our cover when you were showing off the sunglasses and the Nether star, Blue."

I grinned. "It was worth it."

Pearl rolled her eyes and continued, "The task I had to complete was to kill either Scott or Jimmy. I wasn't about to do that, so I hoped I would be Boogeyman so I could kill Martyn. They didn't tell me anything about their plans or anything, but they'll be out to kill me from now on. They were hunting us anyway, so it doesn't really change anything."

Scott and Jimmy looked disturbed at narrowly escaping death by their own ally. Pearl's loyalty to her fellow Emperors had probably been the only thing keeping her from killing them. But I knew that wouldn't waver anytime soon. It was stronger than Netherite.

We arrived at the Shadow Tower just as night was falling. So we could see what they were doing, Scott and I snuck inside. We didn't really trust Scar or Jimmy with a stealthy task like this. And I was pretty sure that the Red Army wouldn't be very happy to see Pearl.

Scott and I stood at the top of Skizzle's Pit and listened to the conversation happening at the bottom.

"-Kill Pearl," Ren was saying. "We have three people to kill now. But it would be much easier just to kill all five, because they have proven which side they're on."

"I can kill Pearl," Martyn volunteered.

"It doesn't matter who you kill," Tango reminded him. "We just want them dead. I do feel kind of bad about Scar, though…"

Ren huffed dismissively. "He's used to dying. He'll be fine."

"Joey should be here in a few hours," Martyn said. "Then we'll only have to kill Scar."

Scott and I exchanged glances. How did he know Joey? The same way he knew Xornoth, I guessed.

"Don't underestimate him," Ren warned. "He can be really tricky with words. His strategy is to give us a good distraction with a bargain, and then run away."

Tango snorted in disbelief.

"You know it's true," Ren said. "Let's just get out there and kill them all in their sleep."

"But we can just wait for Joey. If ghosts are passionate enough, they can communicate and even make physical contact. But if we wait, they'll all be gone and we won't have to worry about them," Martyn said.

"Let's just kill them tonight. Go back to the lava pit and follow their tracks."

"No, let's just wait for Joey. He's going to be here in the morning."

Martyn looked at Tango.

"Why do I have to decide?" he whined. "I don't know!"

"I'm not telling you to decide," Ren growled. "This isn't a democracy. I am king, and I say that we go after them tonight and get them out."

Martyn straightened up. "No."

Ren, who had turned to leave, looked back. "No?"

Martyn jumped, ramming into Ren. They both tumbled to the ground, and in a flurry of dark purple, Martyn put a blade to his king's throat.

I barely followed the twist in events. I watched with horror, knowing what was about to happen but with no way to stop it.

"That crown isn't yours," Martyn said. "It may have been, once. But the moment it got its magic, you were only borrowing it."

Ren struggled. "What are you… Get off me, Littlewood!"

Martyn did not get off. "I spent all of Third Life biding my time, waiting for the right moment to strike. Several times, the Watchers told me to. But something held me back. But now, the Red Crown will finally be mine."

Ren's eyes widened as he realized that Martyn, his closest friend, was going to kill him. Not because of Ren's wishes, like in Third Life, but because of someone else's.

Tango sat frozen in his chair. He wasn't able to hurt Martyn without getting Ren, too.

Martyn continued, pressing on the blade of his axe. Dark blood oozed from under it, and Ren grunted in pain. "The Watchers intend for me to have the Crown. So I'm going to get it. I was never your friend, Ren. Savor these words, because they're the last time anyone will ever call you a king. Your Majesty."

And with one tiny push and a clap of thunder, Ren was dead.

~~~

DUN DUN DUNNN bet you never saw THAT coming!

Lion King vibes with the "Your Majesty."

I'm so proud of myself

-Indigo