When Elvenia woke, she thought she was in the Above with Grandpa Cyrus and Father, maybe perhaps even Mother. However, the light faded as she heard noises around her. She sat up, wincing, as she felt a tug on her wrists. To her horror, she was bound to a bed in a strange room with rope. The bedroom was filled with Lamia Folks, having blindfolds on as they whispered.

One of them was a young boy, though not the one she fought with, and noticed her. "She's awake!" he realized, coming over to her side. He had chestnut hair and light brown skin, but with a gray-ish undertone. He had a black blindfold on, but he seemed like he was completely aware of his surroundings. "Come, Daphne."

"Hold on, Fani," another brown-skinned girl with chestnut-haired braids came to the bedside, holding a wet towel. Elvenia shrunk back, sinking into the pillows as the girl, Daphne, wiped Elvenia's forehead. "Aye, girl, stop squirming."

"Be kind, Daphne," an elder warned sternly. He had pale skin with the same gray-ish undertone and graying blond hair in dreadlocks. He wore black robes similar to the ones in Naim, but they had different patterns. "Ah, so this is the Rhoswen girl."

Then Elvenia noticed something chilling. All the Lamia Folks had beady, black eyes. The infected buckshot and Ramarisk, she whimpered. Maybe it was true that the Lamia Folks were behind this.

I'm in Naga, she realized. Elvenia was in the belly of the beast. "You must let me go," she protested, sighing heavily. Other Lamia Folks surrounded her bed as she shook her head furiously. "My people will discover I'm missing soon and they will come for me," Elvenia fibbed. The Rhoswen Folks could care less.

But they didn't know that.

"I am Slyde," the old man said, crossing his arms. "Last night, you encountered one of ours and decided to attack. You slashed his blindfold and stared into his eyes, but you survived his gaze." His words had an edge. "That can not be possible."

"Then let me go," Elvenia begged, tears rimming her brown eyes. "I won't ever come back to Naga and I'll leave your folks alone."

"We can not condemn that, we are keeping you in Naga to avoid conflict. If you're able of surviving a Lamia Folk's gaze, then we must find out why." Slyde nodded at Fani and Daphne. "These are the Quill twins, they will look after you during the day until you recover."

Elvenia looked at her side, seeing that a bandage was wrapped around her waist. These people healed me, she thought. But they don't even know me. The older Lamia Folks filed out of the room as the brown-skinned boy looked at Elvenia.

"I'm Fani Quill."

"Yeah, I understood that much," she muttered under her breath. Fani's sister disapproved, frowning gravely. She was a short and squat person, but she looked feisty. Daphne tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Elvenia to introduce herself.

Elvenia couldn't tell these people, her people's enemies, her real name. "My name is Venia." Daphne gave her a confused look—Elvenia guessed her name wasn't common in Naga—but dropped the towel back in a basin.

"I'm Daphne, my brother and I will be taking care of you." She also had the same lilt as her attacker. That boy... What had happened to him? Daphne didn't look too keen on staying in the same room as a Rhoswen Folk. When she spoke, Elvenia noticed a slit on her tongue. In fact, so did Fani.

"What are you lookin' at?" Daphne snapped, wrinkling her nose.

"Uh..." She was kidnapped, and Elvenia was not in the mood for chit-chat. "Your tongue is..." She could just picture Grandma Elodie scolding her for her rude manners. It was very different from how people looked back in Naim.

"We are creations of Nyoka," Fani said, sticking out his slit tongue. "All Lamia Folks have tongues like this, it's how we speak, a gift from our goddess. Our language is Lamian, but there are no words involved, it is just hisses and tones." He hissed something to Daphne who then laughed.

Elvenia looked at her bound wrists, wondering if she could find something sharp enough to cut the rope. The Quill twins soon left and went to do odd jobs around Naga, leaving Elvenia stuck in bed.

Grandma, she thought. Would she be worried? What was happening in Naim? She sighed as she thought helplessly about how to escape. The Lamia Folks had abducted her! Elvenia felt the delayed panic now settle in as her breathing was laboured. She squirmed around the bed until she was exhausted.

From the corner of her eye, she spotted a glass vase on the desk next to the bed. "Yes, yes," Elvenia murmured, tilting her head to make the vase crash onto the bed. SHATTER! Thankfully, the blanket was thick enough to cover Elvenia's body from being cut. She grabbed the closest glass shard to her left hand and began to slice through the rope. Her hand bled, but she didn't care.

Finally, she managed to cut through the rope, freeing her left wrist. It was swollen and slightly bruised from the tight binding, but Elvenia wasted no time slicing through the rope on her right wrist. Once she was free, she jumped off the bed, feeling dizzy on her feet. Her ankle ached, Elvenia suspected that she must have sprained it when attacking the Lamia Folk by the Peregrine Border.

"Stay focused," she grumbled to herself. The room she was kept in was mainly empty except for the bed, the desk, and a closet by the bed. There was a window, but there were flower-patterned curtains covering it. Elvenia ran out of the bedroom, rushing through a dark hallway, and glancing around.

The house that Elvenia Foster was kept in was empty, she worried about why so many rooms had no one else living in them. Were they killed? She doubted it, but she knew nothing of the Lamia Folks. She found a wooden spiral staircase, and quickly sped down it, tripping on the last step. She slammed onto the floor, wincing and letting out a pained gasp.

Elvenia sat up, rubbing her chin as tears welled up in her eyes. Stop being such a weak baby, she scolded herself. She gathered her skirt, standing up while taking in her surroundings. It was too dark to see most objects, but she could see that in the room she was in was the living room, connected to the kitchen. She stepped into the kitchen, going through drawers until she found a large knife. Elvenia didn't know where her spear and dagger were, but the kitchen knife would have to do.

To her right, she spotted the foyer. Yes, I can escape! Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming from the basement and Elvenia panicked. "Shit," she hissed, dropping to the floor. Her ankle flared with pain as she bared her teeth, willing herself to not make a single sound. The footsteps came louder and closer as Elvenia hid behind the counter, clutching the knife to her chest.

Please, don't hurt me, she prayed to Rowan. Let me live another day for Grandma Elodie. All of a sudden, the boy she battled with appeared at her side, crouching. Elvenia screamed, crawling backwards. "Get away from me!" she yelled at the Lamia Folk boy, whimpering. She was certain she was going to die.

He glanced at her knife. "That's mine, darling." Elvenia huffed, eyes blazing with rage, but mainly fear. He had his chest exposed where a large piece of gauze was wrapped around his chest, where she had stabbed him. Elvenia flinched, feeling guilty. Suddenly, she realized he wasn't wearing a blindfold and she was staring into his black eyes.

It's true, she thought. I can look into the Lamia Folks' eyes without turning into stone.

"Get up, you're no good on the floor of my kitchen.

"T-This is your house?" Why were there so many rooms, but it was only them inside?

"I'm not in the mood for talking." The boy stood back up, cocking his head. He had a lamp with him, and Elvenia could see his face more clearly. He had fair skin with a grayish undertone and black hair that matched his beady, black eyes. He had no pupil or iris, both of his eyes were just pure black. Images of the dying buckshot and Ramarisk's corpse came back in Elvenia's mind.

"Your people can't keep me here, you folks kidnapped me," Elvenia snapped back, feeling defiant. She had deemed the boy not very dangerous if he didn't try to kill her a second time. The boy's face twisted into confusion and he chuckled. "Don't laugh at me!" Her face was red as Elvenia felt like she was embarrassing herself. Last night, she was fighting one of her folks' enemies and now they were having a decent—mainly laughable—conversation.

The boy went to the connected living room, throwing on a shirt as Elvenia kept her gaze averted to the floor. It was awkward, to say the least. "I bet you were trying to escape, eh?" the boy asked, scowling, in his light accent. "Typical of Rhoswen Folks."

"Pardon me?" Elvenia shot back.

"Well, for starters, even if the doors are unlocked, it's nightfall and Naga is an unknown land for you. Stumbling around in the dark in a foreign place while injured—" He gestured to Elvenia's ankle and waist wound. "It's not very reasonable."

Such to Elvenia's dread, the boy was right. She wouldn't get very far, she didn't even know how far away the Peregrine Border was from the house. "I just want to go back to my cottage with my grandma," she told him. "Let me go."

"Can't do. The Lamian Council suggests otherwise. The Quill twins will drop by during the day until you are fully healed, this is my house and you will respect it. Now, give me back the knife before you try to stab me again." With hesitance, Elvenia handed the weapon over. Great, now she was weaponless against someone who tried to murder her.

"I guess I will have to be tolerant of you," Elvenia muttered, clasping her hands.

"Stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours," he said coldly.

"How lovely." She was feeling spiteful and angry. She was resentful—how could she not? This boy tried to murder her and now she was staying in his house. At least lower the sass, she wanted to scold him.

"I overheard the Quills, you're Venia, correct?" When Elvenia didn't answer, the boy crossed his arms. "Fine, be like that with the silent treatment. The name's Dante D'Arey. Welcome to my humble abode, darling." He did a quick bow, seething with rage and clenching his jaw, before sulking off to the basement.

Elvenia glanced at the foyer, seeing the outline of the door. The boy, Dante, said that the doors were left unlocked, she could easily run away. But what Dante said... Elvenia cursed his name as she stomped back upstairs.