[I'm sure everyone's gotten it by now, that the Baba Tribe is a reference to Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. Mala's name is supposed to sound like "Ali" kind of, but her character is a genderbent reference to the greedy brother of Ali Baba in the story--who actually gets killed by the thieves because he wants their treasure. Also her name is a play off the Latin word "mal" which means "bad/evil/wrong". The previous leader, Gene, was a reference to the Genies of the story of Aladdin--or any other Arabian Nights, really. The genies are a lot less nice in the original stories than they are in the Disney version. Usually more sadistic too. Mala's mother, Hellena, was both a play on the "hell" sound and could be seen as reference to Helen of Troy, who was kidnapped for her beauty and wanted to get back to her previous husband... However, that story had a happy ending, unlike this Hellena's.

Esmeralda is, as I'm sure was guessed, a reference to The Hunchback of Notre Dame story, but she's actually a combination of Quasimodo's and Esmeralda's characters both.

Now that I've gotten everyone caught up on the lore, back to our story.]

Before Mala found out about the incident in the "medical area", she had other plans for Royal.

At first she just asked him if there were any more of them coming.

Since he didn't answer, of course, she got bored.

"I guess we'll see if you're as good as they say," she said. "Come on, boys."

She motioned for them to follow her.

Their hideout seemed never ending. Every time you thought it was over, there was another bend and nook in the cavern that held other things.

The Grimm were still all over it.

"Just so you know," Royal said, as they went, "whatever you do to me, I'm not going to help you."

"You're not the first to say that--initially," Mala said. "In fact...hold up." She held up her hand. "This might be a good chance for a teachable moment. You, come here."

She'd spotted someone.

Royal didn't know who to expect, but the man who came over to them, slowly, was... At first he didn't recognize him, but then he thought he did.

Wasn't it Ali? Jasmine's husband?

But he was much changed. Much thinner, with a rough beard now, and dark circles under his eyes.

Also, not his usual sharp expression. Royal had only met him once, but he recalled him being a very alert sort of guy.

"This is one of our newer initiates." Mala pointed at him with her knife. "We're calling him Lamp, since he's got so many bright ideas... Yes, the others come up with the nicknames." She rolled her eyes. "But whatever. Perhaps you remember him."

"What did you do to him?" Royal asked.

"We gave him a chance to serve us," one of the guards spoke up. "He's a good man for a fight."

"Yes, that whole Menagerie business was partially his idea, you know," Mala said. "Inspired, thinking of sneaking things on, using that ship and that orphanage."

"You... No, Ali would never do that to those people," Royal said. "You're lying about this to make me feel intimidated."

"Am I?" Mala said.

Ali looked up. "It was necessary," he said flatly. "To survive."

"Survive?" Royal said. "Sir...Al...what have they done to you? But I can't believe you actually are under their control, totally. What about Jasmine? Don't you remember her?"

Ali flinched.

"Jasmine?" Mala said. "Are you really going to lie to him, pilot? We both know she's dead."

"She's not dead," Royal said. "You're the liar, Mala."

The guards clenched him harder.

Ali stared blankly at Royal.

"Oh, you just want to avoid punishment," Mala said, and there was a strange quality to her voice suddenly. "You want him to have hope, is that it? That's adorable, but the truth is harsher. He's seen for himself... She's dead."

"I did see it..." Ali said oddly.

"It was a Mind Grimm trick, I bet." Royal ignored the guards who were trying to get him to shut up. "Not real. Ali, I know you're smarter than this. They probably just tortured you into accepting it, but there's no reason to believe them. Do you see what they do to people? You're a good man."

"Shut up," Mala cut him off. "Don't torment him further. He has us for that."

She shoved Ali away. "Go back to work."

Ali walked away obediently. Like a zombie.

Royal gave Mala a look of hatred. "You know," he said, "I wouldn't normally say this to a woman, but, you're an evil b----."

"Wow, how unrefined." Mala didn't care at all. "I like that anger, though. Anger is good."

She said that very creepily.

Royal suddenly had a bad feeling.

Anger...that was the Irasci.

Not all anger was bad--he'd been taught that by the group and their book...but anger that had no righteous outlet, that was just anger. That was too easy to get lost in, and here Mala was provoking him on purpose. Maybe that gave her an edge. Hadn't Sand said that people with more of an edge were people the tribe liked?

He'd always been a goody two-shoes, he thought...but it was true even he had seen some darker sides of himself lately. Was it really so impossible that he could be swayed by them?

Then he wondered if that fear also was their effect. Wasn't fear another problem?

Uh oh...she was getting inside his head.

She knew how to do that so well.

Mala seemed to read the fear in his expression.

"I see you're starting to understand," she said. "You can't really escape us. The sickness is inside you. Inside all men. There is no escape. And once we find that thing that you can't get rid of, no matter how hard you try, you belong to us."

"That's...twisting it." Royal struggled to maintain his clarity of mind. "All people might have things that bother them...but that doesn't make them all evil. Actions count for something."

"Yes, and their actions always fall in line, as you just saw," Mala said. "What was your point?"

She made him sound stupid.

One of his weak points was to be mocked in this manner. It was like she knew.

"Come." Mala motioned. "We're still not there yet."

A few more minutes of walking and they came to an alcove in the cavern that had way more Grimm around it.

"This room, Milady?" one of the lackeys said. "Does he deserve it?"

"Everyone should get a chance," Mala said. "You all wait out here."

She grabbed Royal and yanked him into the room. She was nearly as strong as a man.

Royal tripped on the way in, and then he was past some kind of...it was like a curtain.

Inside the room were odd, unnatural looking lights that were made so by colored covers over dust bulbs, making the room purplish and green and gold by turns.

That wouldn't have been disturbing in of itself, but what the light showed was.

More Grimm...ones that looked like plants, and they had flowers of a weird purplish color on them.

And there was a strong smell, sickly sweet.

It seemed familiar in some way, though he'd never seen it before. Emerald would have know what it was.

"This is Nirvana," Mala announced, with a surreptitious glint in her tone. "That's what we call it. This is where the magic happens. The tribe uses this room to come and meditate, to think about what they want to accomplish. I planted this stuff ages ago now. It's grown nicely."

"It's...sick," Royal said. "Those things are monsters."

"Oh, they don't eat you." Mala pushed him further in. "Watch."

She touched one of the flowers and nothing happened.

"Perfectly harmless," she said, petting it. "Let me tell you a story, pilot. About 5 years ago now, just around the Deliverance Day festival that your friends all were celebrating, I was visiting Vacuo, looking for recruits, and also curious to see what the fuss was about. I heard of Watts while I was there, but that's a story for another time. People were swapping a lot of stories of the heroes and their trials... One group was talking about a story one of them had told about finding these Grimm that looked like plants and gave people strange visions."

Mala had this kind of twisted. Whether it was on purpose, or she just had gotten it confused at the time...it was hard to say.

"I thought it was quite interesting. And they said the Grimm lands were destroyed now." She tapped her chin. "So I decided to go see for myself, me and a few other men. The Grimm lands did look very different. They were growing real plants, and I really couldn't believe the stories about them...but we went far enough north, and we found these." She pointed to the plants. "They were still growing... The other Grimm seemed to have fled mostly, into the kingdoms, but these plants couldn't run, so there they were. I saw their effect on people then. And I had an inspiration. So I brought them back here. I wasn't sure they'd grow out of that land, but they did. Smaller...but still."

Now, that she'd survived this at all was proof that the Grimm truly had weakened with the gods' departure. But Royal didn't know this.

"I see," he said. "Well, you and my ancestor have something in common then. They once went to the Grimm lands also and came back alive...but they knew better than to bring those things back with them. They saw them tear people apart--anyone, not just who they wanted."

"So clearly they didn't know how to use them," Mala said.

She stepped away from the plants. "But I do. I was already top dog in this tribe then, but I knew we could be more than that. So here we are. So far, it's working."

"That won't last," Royal said.

The smell was making him feel sick.

"If you say so," Mala said. "This room has an effect on everyone. All of our members come here at least once. Sometimes more than once. I think the Grimm can awaken dormant desires in people. Why should you be afraid of it?"

She stepped closer. "All men do what they desire anyway. Anyone who says different is a liar. And if you know what they desire, you can control them."

Royal stepped away from her. "And you think you can control me...but you have nothing I want here."

"I have Cinder," Mala said, twisting her hair in a creepy way.

Royal frowned. "You're going to kill us all or torture us. Why would that be appealing?"

"Well, to some people it is," Mala said. "But if you really think that's not for you...I'm sure there's a compromise we can reach somewhere. All you have to do is tell me what these heroes really know about us."

She walked around him in a circle. "After all, it won't make any difference now. You're here. You're at my mercy. If they could have saved you, they'd have been here by now. With Branwen's power, it would be easy. But I guess she's not going to risk that. Your other friends are here too. If I was to think they would be a problem...I might have to kill them all...but maybe if you give me what I want, I can let them live. Even provide them with reasonable comfort, provided they don't step out of line. There are way worse things."

"I can't believe a word you would say." Royal would have found it easier to say no to her if the smell wasn't making him feel dizzy, but it was like it sucked all the air out of the room...or was it the Grimm themselves?

"No? But you saw--there are some people who survive," Mala crooned--and her crooning was worse than her threatening was. "They're all useful assets. I'd prefer them to live. I'd even let Cinder live, maybe. She's got potential. Don't you want to save her? Isn't that why you came in here? Or did you actually think it was a good idea?"

"Even if that was right," Royal said, "I have nothing to tell you. I'm just a pilot."

"If that's true, you're in big trouble," Mala said. 

She twisted her knife. "But I don't believe it. I'm sure you know more. I'll give you some time to think about it. Horace and Jasper won't allow you to leave this room till I come back. Think carefully about it. I'm not usually generous enough to give people more than one chance to save their skins."

Royal suddenly lunged at her in an attempt to take her down.

Mala was ready for it. She sidestepped him and then shoved him into the wall easily.

"Not good enough, Zapato," she said. "Maybe if you were stronger, you'd be more useful on this. What a joke. I can't believe Fall would even pick someone like you. But then, you're all so weak..."

She left the room.

"He'll need some time to be convinced," she told the bandit guards.

They nodded.

"I have to check on the other projects. I'll be back," she said. "Do not leave this post. If I catch you in that room, you're both dead later."

They stiffened.

She left.

Royal started to make a break for it, but the guards were more than willing to shove him back into the room, and no amount of him protesting would shake their resolve. They just told him to shut up.

So, trapped in here, Royal had no idea what to do except pray and hope that whatever these things were wouldn't work on him.

[Creeped out yet? Ugh. This is like that scene from The Silver Chair.]

* * *

Surprisingly, no one stopped Cinder or Esmeralda while they were sneaking around the edge of camp.

Cinder recalled how the bandits of the town had all not seemed to see her while she had her cloak on...and no one had removed it from her yet. Was it possible that, unless they were looking for her, these ones also didn't notice?

Esmeralda looked around warily at each corner.

"I don't dare go too far," she said. "But that way leads to the doctor's quarters." She pointed down one creepy-looking hall of rock. "There's an exit that way also...but you'll never get out. You're high profile."

"No one has seen us so far," Cinder said.

"But we've been on the edges... They don't usually walk close to here--the Grimm like to snag most of them if they do." Esmeralda pointed.

The Grimm had snagged at them once or twice but missed, and Cinder had kicked them away, and they'd recoiled.

However...

Cinder was running out of juice. Her extra reserve of Aura had not been enough to make up for the drain, and she didn't know if she'd be good for another fight. Or even another 100 yards.

And Esmeralda was no help; she could hardly walk herself well enough, let alone aid anyone else.

"Anyway, the scouts know everyone who leaves and enters this place," Esmeralda added in her low voice. "So you'd never get past the woods."

Cinder slowed. "I don't think I could make it anyway..." She sank onto a rock that did not have Grimm on it.

Esmeralda paused. "Are you giving up now?"

Cinder rubbed her face. "This idea was crazy. What did I think I could do? Fight them all at once?"

Esmeralda pursed her lips.

"I could...look over there, maybe," she said. "Sometimes I have to bring them new materials...like dust."

"What would you do? You won't rescue them," Cinder said.

"Maybe you could if you knew what to expect...?" Esmeralda offered. "I want to get out of here as much as you do. I've already risked enough to get beaten black and blue by the tribe... What's one more risk?"

Cinder smirked. "So you're not a complete doormat?"

"I don't know what you mean by that."

"It might help..." Cinder said, "if I don't get found while you're gone."

"Better hide then," Esmeralda said.

Cinder found a more hollow spot that didn't have Grimm in it and crouched inside it.

* * *

Esmeralda managed to get closer to the medical cave, and other bandits rushed past her.

No one paid her any mind.

They just ran inside the medical door.

"They said there was a spectre here," one of them said, "but I see nothing--What the h---?! They're...dead!"

"What?" one of the others cried.

"Stabbed, looks like it," they said. "Oh no! What if there is a ghost?"

"The ghost carries blades?"

"Who's to say what a ghost would use to kill someone? Maybe they just clawed them."

"Better tell Mala then."

"Yeah--ah!"

There was a sharp cry and a thudding sound.

The other person tried to run, and then they thudded also.

The other bandits, who had followed them and then waited at the door, yelped and ran for it.

One of them ran right into Esmeralda, who was standing there in terror.

"Get out of my way, Slave!" He shoved her to the ground.

They ran back to the main camp.

Esmeralda was as superstitious as the next bandit, if only from peer pressure, and her first thought was it was either the Grimm or it really was a ghost.

"Oh no!" She got up and stumbled towards the exit tunnel in blind panic.

Then she wondered if this was, in fact, maybe the people's Cinder had mentioned doing...but how could they have done it without being seen?

Suddenly something grabbed her by the back of her neck and yanked her off her feet.

"Oh no! Please!" she gasped. "You can't kill me!"

"Who is this?" Suddenly someone materialized in from of her.

It was that grey-haired boy.

But then...so it was just Cinder's allies?

"Wait!" Esmeralda gasped. "I'm...on...your...side."

"Oh, sure you are," the guy said.

"Wait." A very pretty girl with green hair suddenly appeared next to him, like it was out of thin air. "Who are you?" She pointed a knife at Esmeralda. "Are you one of the captured ones?"

"Not...exactly..." Esmeralda maybe should have lied there.

"Then you're a bandit," Mercury said.

"Cin--Cinder," Esmeralda gasped.

"Wait, stop," the other girl said, tugging his arm

"Of course she's saying that. She just wants us to let her go." Mercury frowned.

"Grimm...slayer..." Esmeralda gasped, "Cinder sent me to find you."

"Let's at least hear her out," the other girl said.

"She just wants to stall us so the others will find us," Mercury said.

"They shoved her aside and left her for dead--are you so sure they'd come looking for her?" the girl pointed out.

"They wouldn't. They hate me," Esmeralda said, which wasn't the smartest thing to say if you thought about it. But then again, they had her at their mercy.

Well, they'd probably just kill her, then. They had no contractual obligation not too.

If this was the end, then she was never getting out of here. To think she'd lived her whole life under the thumb of the tribe... It was a little too cruel.

She started sniffling.

"Are you kidding me?" Mercury said in disbelief.

"Just loosen your grip a little." The girl pulled at him. "Listen...can you give us some sign that we actually can trust you?"

"Nothing comes to mind," Esmeralda blurted. "You won't believe me if I say I know where Cinder is and she's trying to help me escape--and Kate... Mala will not care if you kill me anyway. It's just so bloody unfair--it was my first chance ever to actually leave this dump."

"She seems serious to me," the girl said. "And if she wasn't, why not just call for help or use the Grimm...? Plus she was limping--I don't think she's a fighter."

"Fine." Mercury dropped her finally and held up his foot, which had guns in it. "Talk."

Relieved, Esmeralda hugged her bad leg. "Cinder killed some of the guards and is looking for you and the handsome blonde guy right now...and that other guy..."

"You expect us to believe she's just walking around free?" Mercury said.

"Not for long," Esmeralda said. "They'll realize she's gone soon. If it weren't for you distracting them, they would have already. But there's a commotion over here. There was a ghost."

Mercury glanced at the girl.

She shrugged.

"I still don't know if we can believe you," Mercury said.

Esmeralda scrambled for anything that might help. "Cinder told me that your people were coming here to save us... If I was truly against you, why would she tell me that?"

"Because you tortured her," Mercury said.

"Cinder could beat this girl," the other girl said.

"Easily," Esmeralda agreed. "With glass."

"She doesn't seem like much of a liar..." the girl said.

"Em, you are always way too trusting," Mercury said.

"I'm Emerald," the girl said, holding out a hand to Esmeralda.

Esmeralda stared at it for a second, and then slowly she took it.

Emerald's Aura activated.

Nothing happened.

"No Grimm..." Emerald seemed surprised. "One of you doesn't have it."

"I don't... They don't want me to fight..." Esmeralda said shamefacedly.

"So that's why you're not bats--- crazy." Mercury lowered his foot. "Unbelievable. But I still don't trust you."

"Where is Cinder?" Emerald asked. "What's your name?"

"Esmeralda... Huh, that kind of sounds like your name," Esmeralda replied.

"Yeah, weird," Emerald said. "So you want to get out of here? Why?"

Esmeralda pointed at her face. "I'm not used to the ways you top dwellers think, but...isn't it obvious?"

"Huh," Mercury said. "Who did that to you?"

"Mercury!" Emerald said.

"My sister," Esmeralda said. "And my father. This one." She pointed to one down her cheek. "Mala also gave me this." She pointed to her leg.

"Classic. My dad gave me these." Mercury pointed to his metal feet.

"He gave you metal boots?" Esmeralda said blankly.

"No, you idiot, the injury," Mercury protested. "Watts did the metal boots...which is gross."

"Watts? The same Watts who's coming here later?" Esmeralda said.

"Watts is?" Emerald said.

"Why?" Mercury said.

"Mala doesn't trust him," Esmeralda said.

"Okay, she has to be legit." Emerald turned to Mercury. "No way she'd just tell us that if this was a trick. And who would use that as a red herring if we didn't already suspect it?"

"Fine, I guess trusting her is only slightly more crazy than coming here at all was," Mercury said. "Can't get much worse... Anyway I like our odds better against a limping bandit."

"I'm not really a bandit. Don't you have to go on raids for that?" Esmeralda said.

"So who are you?" Emerald asked.

"Mala's sister."

"What?" Emerald and Mercury both almost choked.

"She has a sister?" Mercury added.

"I'm told it's common..." Esmeralda said blankly.

"Sorry, it's just no one ever mentioned you..." Emerald said.

"They wouldn't. They never think of me," Esmeralda shrugged. "I don't care about them either. The prisoners are nicer...so I help them. But today is the first time they offered to help me back. Cinder said we can escape, maybe."

"We could all go now," Emerald said, pointing to the exit. "We could get Hazel and Cinder and just get out of here... And Royal, where is he?"

"I don't know," Esmeralda said. "I could look, but he could be anywhere...if he's not in there." She pointed at the medical area.

"He wasn't," Mercury said. "They were going to dissect me, though."

"They do that to people," Esmeralda said. "I don't come by here often... Did you kill the doctor?"

"What if we did?" Mercury said defensively.

Esmeralda shrugged. "I never liked him either. Good riddance."

"I'm starting to like her," Mercury said. "You're d--- lucky Emerald was here, though, girl. I'd have shot you no questions asked--and any other bandit here."

"What about the other prisoners?" Esmeralda asked. "I thought you were going to save us."

"We...uh, don't know who they are," Emerald said.

"I do," Esmeralda said.

"Fine," Mercury said. "Can you take us to Cinder?"

"Easier for her to come to you, if the others weren't in the way..." Esmeralda mused. "How did you hide from the others?"

"I...uh, I can make people not see me." Emerald didn't want to explain it, just in case.

"If you could make them not see her, then we could get out," Esmeralda said. "But Mala will come to check what happened here... She'll send in the Grimm who can sniff people out. I don't know if we could even be back in that amount of time."

"So we should just leave," Mercury said. "I don't want to get captured by those freaks again. I think Hazel offed the two who went in there, so that takes care of them."

"Could you sneak them over here?" Emerald asked.

"I'm not allowed to move prisoners," Esmeralda said. "But perhaps... I don't know, how powerful are you? Can you kill Grimm?"

"Of course," Mercury said.

"Maybe you could handle it...just as long as Mala didn't put any of the prisoners in Nirvana," Esmeralda said.

"What's...Nirvana?" Emerald asked warily.

"It's the room they go in before they join the tribe," Esmeralda said. "After they go in there, people want something so bad they'll do anything to get it. At least...eventually. I've never been allowed in. Mala doesn't want me to want anything at all. But the others...she says it opens their minds to what they could have. I think it gives off a strange energy if you're near it. Just like those other Grimm. They're so...ugh..." She made a face.

"How is it you've never been touched by a Grimm?" Emerald asked.

"I've never been touched by anyone." Esmeralda didn't understand her meaning.

"Uh...wait, no, I didn't mean that," Emerald said. "I mean...inside your head?"

"The can get inside your head too," Esmeralda said. "That room is weird. It smells odd, too. But I never get that close. I saw through the curtain once though. There's strange plants in there. Anyway, the thing is, if she puts Cinder or whoever else you said in there, they probably will be affected."

"And she's going to do that?" Emerald said.

"I thought with Cinder, no, she just wanted to torture her," Esmeralda mused. "But with the other guys, maybe. With you..." She glanced at Mercury, "I don't know. They're pretty afraid of you people. Your eyes are beautiful, by the way."

"What?" Mercury said oddly.

"Can I see?" Esmeralda said eagerly. "I've heard they shoot out light that devours Grimm. Like bright sunlight."

"What? Get away from me." Mercury stepped back.

Emerald snickered. "Well, you do have nice eyes."

"Shut up!" Mercury looked red.

"Was that...wrong?" Esmeralda said nervously. "I just...thought anything that powerful that destroys Grimm would be beautiful."

"No, it's cool," Emerald said. "He's just shy."

"Oh...yes. A lot of people are." Esmeralda nodded. "They always say they can fix that... I don't really think so."

"This chick is weird." Mercury leaned over to Emerald.

"What do you expect?" Emerald hissed. "But she's not malicious, I think."

"I don't know, Em. Malicious and Mala's sister aren't that many syllables different."

"You've really been hanging out with Yang too much." Emerald frowned.

"What did I say?" Esmeralda asked.

"You have no filter," Mercury said.

"What is that?" Esmeralda asked.

"It's what tells you when something is weird to say," Mercury said. "You don't have that."

"I suppose...to you... But how would I know? I've never met you," Esmeralda said timidly.

"She's got a point," Emerald said. "Why would she just read our minds? Stop being so sensitive, Merc. Now...about this Nirvana place--if it's what it sounds like to me, we're in big trouble...but it might not work on Royal. Can you at least find out if they've been taken to it yet?"

"I might be able to do that...if I listen around," Esmeralda said. 

"Then we'll hide here... Come back after you know," Emerald said. "Bring Cinder if you can...but if you don't show up soon, we're out of here."

"And if you bring anyone else to us, it's on sight." Mercury made a slashing motion.

Esmeralda knew what that meant, and she winced. "I understand."

She hobbled away.

"Relying on that girl to help, even if she's serious, is nuts," Mercury said.

"Okay, Pretty Eyes." Emerald was still laughing about it. "But we don't have a lot of options right now. What else can we do?"

"Run?"

"I doubt it... Maybe we can take out a few more though, if they keep coming over here in small bunches like idiots."

"You know, I missed this side of you," Mercury said. "The hero mercy thing is all good, I guess, if you have to be original, but sometimes you just gotta freaking stab someone who's a major psychopath and not make any bones about it, and I can appreciate that in a woman."

"Ew," Emerald said. "Stop flirting with me while we're in the Baba tribe's hideout. It's weird."

"You started it."

"It was a joke. Come on, we have to hide again." Emerald moved back towards the tunnels.

[Romantic or weird? Votes?]

* * *

Esmeralda got her answer about the pilot sooner than she thought. As she was sneaking back, Shep, one of the newer recruits, accosted her.

"Slave," he said, "go to the Nirvana room and tell Mala there's a spirit upon us."

"I can't talk to Mala." Esmeralda pulled out of his grasp, since he was not known for being particularly vicious. "Why would you want me to do it?"

"Shut up and do as you're told," Shep said. "To get there, I'd have to pass near the area again."

"It's not really near it," Esmeralda objected.

"Wow, you're mouthy today," he said. "It's close enough. I'm going to the other entrance, as far away from it as possible. Anyway, who cares if it eats you?"

He pointed.

"And what are you going to do about it if I don't?" Esmeralda said. "It could sneak up on you at any moment if you stand around here. Maybe it likes people who try to make poor, crippled girls go fight it instead."

This level of intimidation was not usual for her, but she'd heard plenty of people in the tribe use it.

Shep yelped and ran for it.

No one had run from her before... It was kind of a rush.

This was a very strange day already.

Esmeralda finally found Cinder again. Thankfully she was still in the same place.

"I found them," she said.

"Alive?" Cinder asked.

"Yes, alive right now," Esmeralda said. "And I suppose they had that...whoever Hazel is... Is that the big guy or the blonde one?"

"The big one," Cinder said. She paused. "What about the blonde one? Did Mala...?"

"I don't know where he is," Esmeralda said. "But Mala apparently went to Nirvana...and if she wasn't using it herself, she was putting someone else in there. With new recruits in the camp, he's the one I haven't accounted for yet. But you can't go in there if she's there."

"What does Nirvana mean?" Cinder asked.

Esmeralda explained it again briefly.

"What? That sounds like Mind Grimm," Cinder said.

"That's what you call them, huh...? That makes sense," Esmeralda said. "Yes, that is what it is, but I don't know how it works."

"I do." Cinder stood up. "She'll make anyone who goes in there a hapless fool... They put you in a trance. One of my team almost ate a Grimm plant because he thought it was a fruit. It nearly killed him."

"That's disgusting," Esmeralda said. "They eat you."

"Yes... How long does it take to work?"

"I...well, I think usually it's hours at least, sometimes days of repeated exposure for some people... I've never seen it in person..." Esmeralda said.

Cinder grabbed her arm, startling her. "Where is it?"

"It's...well, back that way, but you shouldn't go in. If it turns your head..."

"If it turns anyone else's, we're all in danger," Cinder said. "I see what she's doing. She wants to break him so that he'll tell her everything going on. It might work...but he might keep it off for a bit, if we hurry."

"We?"

"Me. The others should probably just run..." Cinder stood up. "After all, I doubt this response will prolong my lifespan...but better than the whole operation getting blown over this."

"If you go against her that much, she'll give you hell to pay for it," Esmeralda warned. "You've seen nothing yet, Cinder."

"I know that...but that's going to happen anyway..." Cinde replied. "If it's just to me, we have not as much to lose."

"Wow..." Esmeralda couldn't believe anyone would think that way.

Cinder couldn't believe she was saying it either. When had she become so sickeningly noble?

But, on the other hand, her plan literally was going to be ruined here. There was personal pride in your work to think about.

Esmeralda was so impressed that she showed her the right way anyway.

As it happened, no one stopped them because most of the bandits in there had been spooked by the other ones telling them about the spirit, and then the ones who'd gone to see not coming back. So unless Mala gave them the signal, they intended to say out of the area.

How fortunate for them.

Finally, Esmeralda stopped. "I shouldn't go any closer than this. It's that doorway there... Horace and Jasper are guarding it."

They weren't paying that much attention.

Cinder formed a bow... By now she'd recovered a little from the Aura drain, but she would still have to make every shot count. She needed the extra oomph of the bow.

She shot both of them by notching two arrows. They fell over, dead almost instantly.

Esmeralda didn't react.

"Is there any dust here?" Cinder asked.

"Dust...in the torches..." Esmeralda pointed.

Cinder shot one of them. It broke, and the dust fell to the ground, still burning.

Cinder bent to scoop it up.

"No idea if this will work...but...if you see Mala coming, run," she said.

"If I see Mala coming," Esmeralda said, "it will probably be too late to run. But you'll suffer more for it."

With that hopeful thought, Cinder moved toward the doorway.