They weren't able to call him.

The medical personnel had taken away everyone's phones to decontaminate the area. Their only option was to sit and wait, though Rhysaenya was more inclined to run away and just deal with the fallout later.

"Who is that guy talking to Dad?" asked Josie, seeing the man in the blue jacket speaking with Alaric.

"This creep we met in Kansas when you guys were in Europe," muttered Hope.

"Why were you in Kansas?" demanded Lizzie. "Oh, wait, let me guess– it involved you insinuating yourself into a situation where only you could be the hero."

"As a matter of fact, yeah," said Hope sarcastically.

"I swear to god, you will do anything to get attention."

"Said the narcissist."

"Said the–" she faltered, "other narcissist."

"If you don't shut up," said Rhysaenya lowly, "Headmaster's daughter or not, I'm going to beat the shit out of you."

"Actually, you know what?" said Hope. "Maybe I was jealous. Maybe I wanted what you had. A simple day with my family. I lost half of my stuff in that fire, including the only painting I made with my dad. Why would I do that to myself?"

Lizzie was silent. Hope had delivered the punch without need for Rhysaenya's fists.

They waited quietly as Hope and Alaric walked out to talk with the guy in the blue jacket. Rhysaenya could hear the man, 'Clarke,' saying he was part of an organization that kept monsters from public view. According to him, the plagues were the work of a mummy that was trying to retrieve the urn.

He needed their help to get rid of the mummy, which sounded suspicious to Rhysaenya, but Hope seemed willing to give them the aid they needed, which they discovered was only because this 'Clarke' guy worked for a company called Triad, bearing the same symbol of three triangles characteristic of Malivore, and based in Georgia where Landon and Alaric had had their memories wiped. The plan was to help Triad to see what else they could learn, which didn't seem like the best idea, but was also the only idea they had.

"Some people find it helps to clear their conscience before heading into battle," said Lizzie as they walked down the street to intercept the mummy.

"Like you'd know anything about battle," said Rhysaenya coldly. "It's really not the time for this."

"It's always time for the truth. Last chance, Hope. If you didn't start that fire to keep us from going, then why were you so mean to me after? I'll tell you why– because you were guilty."

"Girls!" hissed Alaric. "Quiet back there, please."

"I wasn't mean to you!" exclaimed Hope. "You were mean to me."

"Because you were telling people about my episode."

"Your what?"

"My episode. The one I had when our trip got canceled. You told everyone that I was witch bipolar."

"I would never do that!"

"Guys, seriously," said Josie, "what is the point of even talking–"

"Just drop the act!" said Lizzie. "I had my first... occurrence. My mom took me away to get help, and you decided to use it against me."

"I didn't even know!" said Hope. "I swear, I would never do that."

"Shut up!" said Rhysaenya, pointing ahead. "There it is. Think you guys can direct my fire right at it? I'd go into my dragon form but I don't think the buildings here would survive."

"We got it," said Josie, holding Hope's hand. "Go."

She opened her mouth, spitting fire and letting the witches direct it right at the mummy, which burst into flames immediately and turned into a pile of ash on the floor, the urn resting neatly on top of it.

Hope summoned it into her hand, bringing with it a scarab that'd been in the center of the mummy's chest. Because of their deal with Triad, they had no choice but to take both items back for them to examine. Rhysaenya was sure she could have flown away with them and made sure Triad didn't get to see the urn or scarab, but Alaric was stubbornly insistent on doing things by the book.

Kaleb had been one step ahead, unbeknownst to them, making sure that the urn ended up back in their possession, so it would seem like they cooperated with Triad, but really had run their own agenda the whole time. The twins siphoned the scarab in front of Ryan Clarke, ridding them of the mummy's curse and the plague. The man glared at Rhysaenya as she entered the van again, as if he knew exactly who and what she was.

They were just on their way to retrieve Dorian and Emma from the bridge when a car sped up behind them, flashing its lights as if to tell them they needed to stop. Alaric pulled over, seeing through the rearview mirror that Ryan had climbed out of the front seat, with Emma and Dorian led out from the back, handcuffed.

"They know we have it," said Rhysaenya. "We can take them. What will humans be able to do against us?"

"Stay in the car," said Alaric, taking the urn from Kaleb and climbing out.

Rhysaenya refused to listen. She climbed out behind him, but didn't get very far before Alaric shot his hand out, the man behind Ryan lifting a rifle with a laser aimed right at Rhysaenya's throat.

"I know a thing or two about dragons," said Ryan with a crooked grin. "I think you two know what you have to do to get them back." He gestured toward Dorian and Emma.

"Don't move," said Alaric, keeping Rhysaenya still. He held out the urn, jaw clenching as Ryan took it, smiling and heading back into his vehicle. The man in the rifle remained there until Ryan had turned the car around, then climbed in and left them on the road.

"I can still fly over them," said Rhysaenya as Alaric beckoned her back into the car. "I can chase them down, burn them to a crisp, I can get the urn back–"

"I told you to stay in the car," said Alaric. "And you didn't listen."

"How could you just hand the urn over to them?!"

"I didn't want to, but there were lives at stake! I wasn't going to let Dorian and Emma get hurt just to keep the urn."

"We could have saved them and kept the urn!"

"And you would've had to kill people to accomplish that. I'm not letting you have that on your conscience!"

"What does my conscience matter if I get things done? I will kill anybody associated with that wretched Malivore and I won't feel bad about it!"

"It's still murder and if you don't feel any remorse from it, that isn't a good thing, Rhysaenya! You promised me you wouldn't kill if the situation really didn't require it. It was not absolutely necessary for those people to die. We'd have been risking too much. I want you to sit down and think about the risk you were willing to take."

The drive back was solemn, everyone upset with the day's results. Rhysaenya refused to ponder on what Alaric had instructed her to, so sure that Dorian and Emma would have been just fine if they hadn't just given up. They were all stronger than that... it wasn't fair. Why was she being scolded for his lack of belief in them?

She was distracted by Hope beginning to talk again, bringing up the previous conversation even though Lizzie was (thankfully) too exhausted to argue with her anymore.

"If you really thought that I said all those things," murmured the tribrid, "about you, then you hating me all these years makes perfect sense. But with a father and a grandfather like mine, I'm probably not immune to those issues myself. I don't take it lightly and I would never make fun of you for it."

Lizzie was silent for a moment. "I believe you."

"What I don't get is why anyone would accuse me of that. Who did you hear it from?"

Rhysaenya's heart dropped into her stomach when Lizzie turned to Josie.

When they finally returned to the school, Kaleb and Rhysaenya went right to the kitchen for some food, while the witches made their way upstairs to talk about what they'd learned. Hope came to find Rhysaenya while she was braiding her hair, letting her know that Josie had had a crush on her when she was little, and hadn't wanted Lizzie to become aware of it, so she'd made up awful things and when she slipped a note into Hope's room and ended up regretting it, accidentally started the fire that ruined Hope's possessions, including her dad's painting.

"Some way to show someone you like them," said Rhysaenya with a light scoff, prompting Hope to sit in front of her so she could braid her hair, too. She loved the color of Hope's hair, a beautiful auburn with natural curls. Not the easiest to braid, but entertaining.

"Yeah," agreed Hope. "I won't ever be able to consider romantic feelings for her after that, but I'm hoping with everything out in the open now... we can at least all be real friends. Listen, about Lizzie calling you 'princess,' I think she was just jealous that everyone was paying attention to you when you arrived. Now that you had me bleach your hair, you two look very similar. Same hair color, except you're a little taller than her and... I guess one of the guys said you're prettier than her, like a real princess. After today, though, I don't think she is going to be bothered by that as much. She was able to see that all you want to do is help. You're not competing with her, you're trying to better yourself and fix things so we're all safe."

"One of the guys said that?" said Rhysaenya, making a face. "That's mean. I don't think you should compare people who look similar and say one is prettier when you know they will both likely find out. MG was telling me something about how women shouldn't be pitted against women."

"Yeah, well, not everyone understands that." She smiled. "I bet you want to know who said it."

"Maybe I am curious. But like I told MG, I'm not up for romance yet, I want to have fun. I also promised Raf I'd stay single with him until we're both ready to date."

"So... do you want to know?"

"Ah... I feel I should say no and let that person come to me. But go on. Tell me."

"It was Jed."

"Huh? Jed, who didn't like me when he met me, said I was pretty like a princess?"

"As outdated as these beliefs are, maybe he was rude because he liked you. Maybe he didn't want to accept it."

"Okay, but we're not talking about 'like' like, right? There's no way he has romantic feelings for me."

"No, I guess not, but he definitely thinks you're attractive. You two spend time together now, right?"

"We study together and I teach him High Valyrian. But he hasn't made a move or anything."

"Hmm... well, tonight is the full moon. He's not going to be in good spirits but maybe tomorrow, you can talk to him. He might appreciate some food because he's going to be really tired."

"That may be a good idea. I would just like things to be out in the open. Because he's not bad looking, and if he's willing..."

"The benefits of having your own room," said Hope sweetly. She stood, admiring her braids. "Thanks. I haven't had someone do my hair since..."

Rhysaenya didn't need her to finish the sentence to know what she was going to say. "Same here," she said quietly. "My mom always braided my hair. She said old Targaryens loved their elaborate hairstyles, but after Daenerys Targaryen, it became a custom to follow Dothraki customs and braid after each battle won. She used to count all my little victories as a kid. When I learned to walk, when I was able to speak our old tongue fluently, the first time I transformed."

"Maybe, if you're willing, I can braid your hair next time."

"I'd like that. Goodnight, Hope. See you tomorrow."

She couldn't sleep through the knife, hyper-aware of the wolves down in the cellar crying out in pain. She had gotten up to get a drink of water when she saw Hope rush past, holding her head in her hands.

"Hey!" said Rhysaenya worriedly. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Landon and MG are missing," she said, panicked. "Raf is with Emma and he's experiencing lunar psychosis, some trauma forced him to shift back too early and he's agitated, I don't know what to do. They went to see MG's dad family and something went wrong..."

"Slow down," said Rhysaenya, holding her shoulders. "What else do you know?"

"Um– um–" she wiped tears out of her eyes, "Kaleb and Dr. Saltzman went to question MG's mom. Raf said something about a monster, but Triad has the urn so there shouldn't be any more monsters. Emma sedated him but maybe if I can use this spell from the Crescent Wolf Pack, I can give Raf control over both sides of his mind so he can tell us what happened."

"Is that safe?" asked Rhysaenya, following her upstairs. "What if it hurts him? Isn't there some sort of clear divide there?"

"Can you control yourself in dragon form?"

"Yeah, probably because the witch who made my mother a dragon didn't want a feral beast storming through the skies. I know everything I do in dragon form and I can control it."

"I just want to give Raf that same control. It'll be fine. We need to find them."

Emma was not on board with it.

"Absolutely not!" she cried, seeing a small bottle that Hope was holding in her hands.

"This elixir has been in my family for years," insisted Hope. "Dr. Saltzman said that I–"

"Dr. Saltzman, bless him, is not a medical doctor. Nor am I. And most definitely neither are you. The division between the two sides of Rafael's mind exists for a reason, to protect his sanity and to–"

"Emma, please! Obviously something terrible happened. Landon and MG are out there somewhere!"

"Do you think I'm not concerned about them? Of course I am."

"Then we need to do something!"

"Hope, I said no. And i'm not gonna let you–"

Raf sprang up from the bed, reaching for a sedative and stabbing the needle into Emma's throat, pushing its contents in. "I'm sorry, Emma," he said, catching her as she fell. "But Hope's right." He looked at the tribrid. "Do what you gotta do."

"You two handle this," said Rhysaenya, not sure where her place was in this. "I will try to find them. I should be able to recognize their scent by now."

"We're going to have way too many people to compel if you are soaring around overhead looking for them. Stay here until we know where to go looking."

Though she wasn't comfortable with it, she sat on Landon's bed where Emma lay unconscious, watching as Hope sat Rafael up and offered him the elixir.

As soon as he took a sip, she knelt in front of him. "You said you saw a monster."

"I did?" muttered Raf. "I don't remember that..."

"Tell me what you do remember."

"We... we went to look for MG's dad after his mom shooed us away. Landon was insistent, I told him to leave it alone but he wouldn't. And we got there and MG's dad was acting like it was a miracle that he was there. He didn't know he was a vampire... he thought he was dead. We didn't want to leave MG behind to talk to him, but it was getting late. And we knew that I had to get back before I turned, and..." he began to shudder, "we didn't make it back in time. Landon chained me up in the woods and then we saw something coming closer. I told him to run– RUN!"

Rhysaenya lunged out to shield Hope as Raf snapped his jaws at her. The tribrid forced him to down the rest of the elixir, keeping him calm. He groaned, holding his head, "I don't know what they were running from, I can't see the rest of it!"

"Okay, do you remember where the woods were?" asked Hope desperately.

He nodded. "I think so. I can drive us there."

Rhysaenya tagged along because she didn't think Raf was going to make it all the way there. His behavior was becoming more and more erratic, and she wondered if maybe Hope had pushed him too far. What happened if the elixir didn't work? Would he snap into his wolf mindset while in human form and go rabid? Would he go unbelievably still and go into a vegetative state? There was so much she didn't yet know about what could and couldn't happen, and it scared her.

It was still dark when they reached the woods, led by Raf and Rhysaenya, who could hear voices up ahead. "I smell blood," said Rhysaenya. "I can hear MG..."

"Hey!" Hope yelled as they approached. "Dr. Saltzman– oh my god."

"What happened to him?!" cried Rhysaenya, dropping down beside MG and examining the wound on his side, a clear bite from someone with very large teeth. He was sweating and slurring his words, barely able to keep his eyes open...

"MG has a werewolf bite," said Alaric. "He doesn't have much time."

Raf looked like he'd seen a ghost. "I bit you."

"What?" said Kaleb.

"This is all my fault," moaned MG. "Raf, I'm so sorry."

"What, sorry?" demanded Kaleb. "What are you sorry for? He's the one that should be sorry! He's the fool that bit you!"

Alaric lunged between them, keeping Kaleb from attacking Raf. "Stop it, stop!" screamed Rhysaenya. "How do we fix it?"

"I remember now," said Raf shakily. "The elixir... his face... being back here. I remember who the monster was. He... he hit Landon for what he did... he made him bleed... he couldn't stop himself, he fed until he was drained of blood..."

"No!" cried Hope, bursting into tears. She turned away, holding her stomach and leaning against a tree for support.

"I did it, it was me," said MG, grabbing onto Rhysaenya's hand. "I'm the monster."

Alaric deduced what'd happened. "You turned, you got loose, and you bit MG. Watching Landon die was too traumatic, too human, so you reverted back and scrambled your memory."

"I don't want to remember any of this," said Raf weakly, starting to tear up. He started to storm away. "I have to get out of here before I finish the job. Landon's body is out there. I'm gonna find it."

"We have to do something!" said Rhysaenya, feeling MG's grip losing strength. "He's– he's gonna die, how do we fix it?! How do we fix it?!"

"I have to die, I'm a monster, I'm a demon," murmured MG. "I wanted to hurt Landon, I wanted his blood, I needed it."

"I need your knife," said Hope softly, coming closer. Alaric offered it to her, and she cut her hand, letting MG feed on her until he was healed. As soon as his symptoms improved, she ran off in the direction Raf had gone.

"You're okay," said Rhysaenya, holding MG to her chest. "It's okay, just breathe, you're okay."

"Take him to the car," instructed Alaric, gesturing to Kaleb. "Wait for me there. Rhysaenya, let's go find them."

It almost felt like her legs couldn't work on their own. Kaleb had to pull her up, beckoning her to following Alaric deeper into the woods. They found Hope and Raf cradling Landon's dead body, already cold but not yet smelling like death, which Rhysaenya found a little odd.

Despite the instructions given to them, Kaleb and MG followed. As soon as he saw them, Raf shot up, probably intending to kill MG for what he'd done.

"Raf, Raf, stop!" she pleaded. "Landon wouldn't want this. He wanted us to be better. Give him that respect." With a slow nod, he leaned onto her, letting her hug him.

"I smell smoke," said Rhysaenya suddenly. "We should get out of here."

"Wait, it's him," said MG, pointing at Landon's body. "Am I still delusional, or are you guys seeing this?"

"It's coming from him," said Rhysaenya, holding her arm out to keep Hope away as Landon burst into flames. "What the..." she knelt down as the fire went out, an ashen clay mold remaining in the shape of Landon.

"Hold on," said Alaric before Hope could try and touch him. "We've been wondering if he's supernatural. We have our answer."

The clay began to melt away, broken pieces falling away as Landon climbed out, perfectly fine. "What's going on?" he asked, confused as to why they were all staring at him.

"You ever heard of the legend of the phoenix?" asked Alaric.

Phoenixes were all Rhysaenya could think about for the next several days. Alaric and Dorian were buried in books performing research, and Hope hadn't let Landon sleep in his own room, keeping him close as she braved recurring nightmares of his death, reliving it over and over.

Rhysaenya was letting them be on their own, focusing instead on MG, who insisted on learning to control his hunger.

"I heard all the stories," said Rhysaenya, holding a knife to her palm. "Stefan Salvatore was a Ripper who learned to control his hunger. I read something about it being similar to drug addiction and people conquer that in this day and age. You can conquer this, too."

"I don't think this is a good idea..."

"Today, we can work on you controlling yourself around the smell of my blood. After that, we can give you small amounts of human blood per day. A drop at first, then three, adding more and more until it becomes normalized to one small cup per day. You'll learn to be satisfied with it and each month we'll increase the amount by the same drop amount until we've got you doing two cups. Then three. And we'll stop once you have grown used to the amount of one blood bag."

"Don't take offense to this but I don't think you are the right person to be teaching me this."

She held out her arms. "Do you see anyone else here trying to help you. I'm a dragon, I don't think my blood will taste good to you and I don't think you'll be able to kill me even if you tried. We have to at least try. If you just force yourself to stay with bunny blood, you won't conquer your bloodlust. Little by little, you can get used to it. It has to work."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Listen, you don't have to do this, Rhysaenya."

"MG, the rest of the school is being rude to you. I'm not going to be like them because I know that what you need is support, not to be left to fend for yourself. You are not broken or a demon. You just have a condition you can learn to magic. I'm here to teach you about that. But if you give up before we even start, then obviously this won't amount to anything."

"Fine. Let's try it."

She pricked the tip of her finger with a knife. "Smell it," she said, holding her finger out, staying still as the bulged veins rose beneath his eyes, a small snarl escaping him. "That's blood, yes, you know that. It sustains you. But like everything else in life, too much is bad. You can go to a diner and eat three of those round sandwiches–"

"–hamburgers–"

"–yes, that, and you'll feel ill, won't you? Too much of a milkshake hurts the same way. Your body needs just enough to survive. Tell me, what's the amount you want to be able to ingest just to be comfortable?"

"Just one blood bag a day," he said in a strained voice. "Like other vampires."

"Good. Do you want to have a little bit of blood? You can have one drop today."

"Yes, I want blood."

She reached out her finger, placing the drop on his lips. He licked it off hungrily, and made to grab her hand, but she flicked the knife up, placing it beneath his chin.

"I can't kill you with this," she said, letting it press to his Adam's apple, "but I can hurt you. Take a step back."

He did as told, and she held out her finger again, pricking it once more. "You already had your drop of blood," she said. "You're satisfied. Say it to yourself."

"I had my fill for the day," he muttered, though he didn't seem to believe it. "I don't need more blood."

"Again."

"I had enough blood!" he said, louder. "I don't need more! I don't need to feed!"

"You say it, but I don't believe you, because I can still see those veins on your face!"

He groaned, breathing heavily and closing his eyes, repeating the process until the veins faded away. He stared at the drop of blood that remained on her finger, but instead of reaching for it, he motioned for her to get rid of it.

"Good," said Rhysaenya happily. "That's a start. Now, tell me about this pageant we're apparently hosting."

"Oh, it's this thing that rich girls get to participate in," said MG, leading her back to the school. "It's a bunch of BS, in my opinion. Penelope hates it for pitting women–"

"–against women," she said with a smile. "I can see how that's problematic. So, what's going on with Penelope and Josie? I heard a rumor they made out."

"Not just a rumor, they did make out. They were together, then Penelope dumped Josie. She really hates how Josie always accommodates Lizzie and not herself. She wishes Josie was more selfish, but you know, codependency and all. She's trying to patch things up but Josie isn't interested."

"Well, that sucks. But I understand why Penelope would be aggravated with that and why Josie wouldn't want to get back with her... she won't see how damaging her own behavior is until it's too late."

"Yeah, that's what Penelope says. So..." he stopped in front of her. "There's another rumor that Jed thinks you're hot."

"Oh, come on, Hope told me about what he said days ago, how does everyone already know? Besides, it's not anybody's business."

"Mmm, no, but as your wingman who knows you want to have fun and also knows you are trying to stay single along with Raf, I have a suggestion to make. Dress up for the pageant, enjoy the festivities, and talk to Jed. Maybe get a little action tonight. How about we help each other pick out our outfits and then–"

"Sorry," said Hope, suddenly appearing around the hall. "I need her help first."

"You people have got to stop doing that!" said Rhysaenya, shivers running down her spine.

Hope smiled weakly. "Look, I need to help out with the pageant and I can't do this alone. I'm on-edge and Lizzie just called an emergency meeting for the girls. Which now includes you."

Rhysaenya wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing.