"Why?" The question rolled off Thana's lips before she even realized it. Her hand was still on her chest, but due to the warning, she knew better than to pull out the chain. "That's the reason I was taken, isn't it?" she continued, seeing Saskia glance nervously at the door. Thana noticed she had finally found the questions she had wanted to ask earlier. "Why me? And why here?" she went on, "And where am I, for heaven's sake?" She looked at Saskia almost pleadingly, but Saskia seemed just as uncomfortable as she was.

Thana wanted to scream and felt the urge to turn the neatly arranged room upside down. She wanted everything to be as chaotic as her own life. Saskia walked over to her: "Girl, many questions." Thana wanted to snap back—was it so strange that she had all these questions? She felt stuck and clueless about what to do! But Saskia continued: "I not allowed to answer. You just trust, okay?" Thana let out a deep sigh.

However, she decided to shake her head: "No, I don't want to just trust! I want answers! I want to know what's going on here!" With each word, she felt herself getting angrier. All the patience she had earlier was gone, and now that the monster wasn't around, she felt much more confident. "I want an explanation and I want it now!" she demanded, keeping a challenging eye on Saskia. But Saskia wasn't looking at her; she was looking at a spot behind her.

"Problems?" a new voice filled the room. Startled, Thana turned towards the door and the spot where Saskia had been looking. Davion had returned and was leaning against the doorway. "What a lot of questions she can ask," he said with a crooked smile to Saskia, causing Thana's mouth to fall open. Was he talking about her in the room where she was standing?

"I wonder why that is?" she responded irritably, feeling his eyes burn into her skin. "A little explanation might clear things up?" she suggested, hoping the two would finally realize she was there and not just a topic to talk about. They had brought her here, and they would soon regret it. It wasn't much, but it was a plan.

However, the two other occupants didn't seem to care much. "Many questions, Kilnusis," Saskia agreed with Davion, causing Thana to look at him in surprise. She began to giggle softly. Kilnusis? Was that Davion's real name? She could understand why he had introduced himself with a different name. Her giggling seemed to have caught their attention, though they looked at her as if she had gone mad.

Somehow, Thana did feel a bit crazy; were her thoughts playing tricks on her? "Your name is Kilnusis?" she responded, laughing. What happened next occurred far too quickly for Thana's eyes to follow. Saskia had turned towards her and swung her arm. Thana's cheek turned bright red, and she felt a sharp, stinging pain take hold. "Ouch?!" the girl cried out, grabbing her cheek. "What was that for!" she shouted, looking to Davion for help. He might not be on her side, but she had seen Saskia keeping an eye on the door. She had figured that much out before his arrival.

Davion merely shrugged. "You should have been able to dodge that." Thana's mouth fell open at his nonchalant answer. "I must say, I expected more, knowing you attacked my Klaida with a book." He calmly walked in and sat on one of the stools that were there. "But to answer your question, my name is still Davion as I told you before. Kilnusis is the title Saskia must address me by." Again, the tone was as if she should already know all this, but Thana was too busy dealing with the pain. Saskia's slap had hit hard, and she glared angrily at the taller woman. Saskia didn't even look guilty. "Bitch," Thana muttered angrily, lacking a better word to describe the whole situation.

"Any more questions? Or can we get to the real work?" Davion continued boredly, "Or are you planning to stomp your feet like a toddler?" Thana had to admit that the second option sounded quite appealing, though she doubted it would help in the situation she had landed in. She also didn't want another slap; Thana feared it would leave a noticeable red mark. Davion's face seemed to soften. "Look, I know it's a lot to handle, being back here, Mara, but believe me, you'll be back to your old self soon, okay? I know the shield will fade quickly, and you'll get your old memories back." Thana stared at him, her mouth open. He then stood up and extended his arm towards her.

Thana took a step back, anything but comfortable with his words. "Of course, I have questions!" she snapped at him. "And what do you mean by being here again? What shield? Who is Mara? My name is Thana!" Had they taken the wrong person? What would happen to her now? "Stay away from me," she warned quickly, glancing at Saskia. "Both of you!" She had nothing to hide behind and took up a fighting stance. Thana had never landed a proper punch on anyone, but the duo didn't need to know that if she had any say in it.

Davion only looked at her with hurt. "Saskia? Can you leave us alone for a moment? The magic seems to have more hold on her than I anticipated. I had hoped that the sight of her old room would have done more." Thana didn't know which presence she preferred: Saskia or Davion. Saskia had slapped her, but she felt somehow more trustworthy than the strange man before her. With every word he spoke, it felt as though a cold hand was clutching her heart. Seeking help, Thana looked to the side, but Saskia merely made a brief reverence and left the room. "Mara, please let go of the tension, nothing is going to happen to you here," Davion continued soothingly.

It made Thana feel as if the ground beneath her was giving way. Her head spun. "Nothing will happen?" she repeated incredulously: "I was kidnapped, bitten by your beast, nearly suffocated, and slapped. And nothing will happen to me? I don't know who Mara is or who you think I am! But I am of sound mind, and I want to go home!" Living in a magical world had seemed like a dream, but this was wrong. Everything in her body screamed that she needed to get away, away from him. Yet his gaze towards her did not change.

He leaned towards her, causing Thana to shrink back. Davion stood up again and calmly walked towards her. "Mara, don't worry. Before you know it, you'll have everything back, and things will be just like before," he continued, speaking as if to a wounded animal. Thana indeed felt like that as she literally backed up against the wall. She was quite sure her memory wasn't partially obscured by some kind of shield he had mentioned earlier. "You'll see, my dearest," he continued, causing Thana to look at him in shock.

"Dearest?" she repeated, stunned by his words. It was as if her heart had taken a blow. Was that the reason he had brought her here? Thana didn't know any Mara, but she knew well enough that her heart did not belong to the jerk before her. "I am not your dearest!" she sneered. "And don't call me Mara! My name is Thana!" Without losing sight of him, she looked around for anything within reach to defend herself with.

But there was something else, as if Davion was shocked by something. "Thana?" he repeated, thrown off balance, then shook his head as if disappointed. "What do the gods do to us, having you take on the name Thana. Don't worry, before you know it, fate will be on our side again, and we can be together like before." Thana clenched her fists. Had the bastard even listened to a word she had said? "The shield that separates us should disappear the longer you stay here," he continued unperturbed. "It will disappear, even if I have to ensure it personally." Those words made her cheek tingle again from where Saskia had slapped her earlier.

"My name is Thana because my parents named me that," she insisted, while spotting a hairbrush nearby. The chair was a bit further away, but close enough to try, she decided. She had thrown a book at a monster before; a hairbrush wasn't much worse. "And I am not your beloved, and there is no 'us'!" she reiterated, then took a deep breath. "My heart belongs to Izara and only to her!" she shouted.

It was the first time she had spoken those words, and it felt as if her heart began to bleed. She had finally said it out loud, and the girl wasn't even nearby. Thana hadn't been able to say it in one of the hundreds of ways she had dreamed, but she had shouted it at the man who thought she was someone else.