It has been two weeks since I weeded all the snakes out of the council. Two glorious weeks. Since my own people have been appointed, I have finally been able to set into motion all my plans for Vivelle. Being able to have proper council meetings without being talked over or blocked every time I dared even put forward any ideas has been so refreshing. My brother, however, has been acting a little odd. I cannot explain it. He has been quieter than usual. Locking himself away and staying up in the early hours of the morning. It is highly unusual. I want to know what is going on. However, if I send people to spy on my own brother, how would that make me look? I have been trying to see with my visions. But, I have not been able to see as much as I have been. It is strange. They still come, but they are of nothing useful anymore. It is so frustrating. I spent so many years terrified of them and now, when I finally accept and understand them I am failed by them. Still, I look for the book that my grandmother had told me about. Hoping that it will help me. But it is nowhere. My victory two weeks ago was a major milestone. However, I feel there is worse to come. There are still those who scheme against me. I will find them. When I do, they will feel pain like they've never imagined.

~Diary of Orianna Dulavelle

Fallon, Rayana and Shaelyn all gather in Shaelyn's room. Night has fallen over the city and they ready their black cloaks to sneak out.

"Are you sure this plan will work?" Fallon asks Shae. She shrugs.

"It's a longshot, but maybe," she replies.

"I trust you," Rayana replies as she pulls her hood up.

"Let's go," Shaelyn replies.

Sneaking out of the castle gets easier every time they do it. The longer Illyana is out there, the more knights that would usually be guarding the castle are sent off to find her.  Though the secret passages still help. It isn't long before they are outside in the city. Shaelyn leads her sisters through the city to the spot she left the Knights of the Pheonix. The small, run-down square is oddly silent and still as the three girls stand in the middle of it. It is dark also, the high decrepit buildings blocking out the little light from the moon.

"What now?" Fallon whispers.

"We track them," Shaelyn replies. "A large group of fighters and brutes leaving at the same time should leave some sort of mark," she continues as she crouches down to the spot that she had pinned their leader too. Her hands skim over the stone ground. A gasp ripples through her as her surroundings change.

The images she sees are blurry and unfocused. She sees the man who attacked her slowly stand up and stare at her own retreating figure.

"Come on, let's get out of here before the Red Guard descend upon us," he orders and runs to one of the passages. The vision disappears. Shaelyn gasps again, falling backwards.

"Shae," Rayana asks, rushing toward her. Shaelyn stands, ignoring her sister.

"This way!" she whispers and rushes off to the ally she saw him disappear through. When she gets to a fork. She skims her hands against the stone walls, feeling the rough rock against her fingers. The visions appear again as another Knight brushes against it as he runs down the left passage.

"Shae what's going on?" Fallon asks. Shae turns to her sister.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to fight it," she tells her sister as she follows the direction she saw the figure running. Shae's heart races with excitement as she continues to track the figures through the empty streets. When it gets to the parts that are usually busy, the visions become more difficult. Before long, the trails of so many people begin to cloud what she really wants to see and a headache begins to form. As she presses her hands against the stone, trying to pick up any sort of trail, a burst of pain springs in her head and she falls to the ground with a whimper. Fallon and Rayana are quick to help her and lean her against a wall.

"Shae, what's going on?" Rayana asks as she tucks strands of Shaelyn's golden hair from her face.

"I think I have The Gift," Shaelyn replies. The two girls stay quiet for a moment. Fallon then sighs and sits down against the wall next to Shaelyn. Rayana follows, sitting on Shae's other side.

"There have been lots of strange things happening recently," she says and leans on her sister's shoulders. They stay silent for a few moments as they observe the quiet, dimly lit streets and enjoy the peace that night brings.

"I have noticed some strange things happening too," Fallon says. "For years actually but I've always shrugged them off as flukes," she tells the girls. They look at her.

"That's the same with me!" Shaelyn replies. "For years..." she begins as she looks up to the starlight sky. "It happened so rarely," she whispers. "But sometimes, when I touched things like a wall I would see things. I would see everyone who had walked past that wall and what direction they walked in. I always brushed it off. It was easy to think I was just daydreaming. But ever since Illyana left, I've been getting them more often," she frowns.

"That's the same as me," Fallon says. "Sometimes, very rarely, I would be stronger or faster. It mostly happened during training. I would punch or kick someone and they would go flying or I would break one of the training devices. Again, since Illyana left it's been happening more often."

"What does it mean?" Shaelyn asks.

"It means, we have The Gift," Rayanna replies. They go silent and look at her. Her eyes are distant as she gazes up to the sky.

"I have it too," she whispers. "I see things, but not like Shae. I don't have the Centaur gift..." she looks down at her hands and picks at her fingers. "I see horrible things..." her voice goes weak and she closes her eyes, a single tear falling down her face.

"Oh Ray," Fallon sighs. A few more tears begin to fall.

"I have the same gift as the Mad Queen," she begins to sob. "I'm going to go mad," she gasps between sobs. Fallon and Shaelyn wrap themselves around her and hold her tightly.

"You aren't going to go mad, we aren't going to let you," Fallon says sternly. Rayana continues to cry and the three sit together in a tight embrace. Finally, when Rayana has calmed down they begin to stand again, remembering why they were out here.

"Why do you think that our gifts are appearing now?" Shaelyn asks.

"Perhaps because we are going to need them," Fallon says, her voice dark. The two girls think about it for a few seconds.

"Do you think Cordelia and Illyana have The Gift?" Shaelyn asks.

"Illyana for sure, we've seen it a few times without even realising," Fallon replies.

"Cordelia will too," Rayana replies. "If you have the strength and speed gift of the Lupine, I have the vision gift of the Fae and Shae has the tracking Gift of the Centaurs that means that leaves two more sisters and two more gifts. The Gift of the Mer and the Gift of the Sirens. Five Parts of The Gift, five sisters..."

"So which sister has which?" Shae asks, talking about Illyana and Cordelia.

"I don't know," Rayana replies.

They go silent again. Shae takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, the pain in her head now having eased away. She presses her palm to the floor. She whimpers as the pain erupts again as she sees all the hundreds of people who have walked through this street. She manages to catch a glimpse of the people they are hunting. She ripes her hand away from the ground with a pained gasp as she clutches at her head.

"I think that's enough of that tonight," Fallon says.

"They went that way," she says breathlessly as she points. The three girls begin to move in the direction Shae had pointed in.

"Don't use it anymore, not until you learn how to," Fallon tells Shae.

"How do I learn?" Shae asks. "There is no one here who could train us, there are no books about The Gift. We are alone with these abilities with no guide."

"We are just going to have to help each other," Rayana replies. "Because we cannot tell anyone that we have The Gift, it would cause a lot of trouble. Father especially cannot find out." The three girls nod in agreement.

They follow the path around and Shae goes to use The Gift again but stops. She spots a figure on one of the roof houses. Wearing all black, the figure is a shadow.

"Fallon," she whispers.

"I see him," Fallon replies. "Thanks to the Lupine Gift seeing in the dark is a little easier," she chuckles. The figure disappears behind the roof.

"Was it one of them?" Shae asks her.

"Oh yeah, his clothes matched what you described," she replies.

"Well, care to go after him?" Shae asks. Fallon smiles and takes off running. Excitement fills her veins, almost causing her body to shake. Her breathing quickens as she thinks about what Shae and Rayana have been saying. They have The Gift! All those years hiding from it, being scared of it, longing for it. Fooling herself into thinking that the strange bursts of strength or speed had just been flukes. No. Fallon is not going to allow herself to be scared of it any longer. She isn't going to hide from it or push it down. It is time to be free.

She feels strength begin to fill her legs and she grins widely and leaps. Her body flies into the air. For a few exhilarating moments, she feels completely free and weightless. Then, she lands on the rooftop with a small thud. With heavy breathing she narrows her eyes, watching the figure disappearing down an alleyway in the next street over.  She grins and begins to run again. She jumps onto another rooftop. She lands silently and watches the figure running in the street below her. She takes off again, leaping with effortless and silent grace. After a few minutes of jumping along the rooftops, the buildings begin to spread out until there are no more to jump across. She stops and looks out with a frown. The buildings all come to a neat stop as the ground starts to slope down. Muddy slopes lead down to what looks like a large trench that sits beneath the wall that surrounds the city. Sat in the trenches are close-knit houses. Not the same as the stone houses that make up the vast majority of the main parts of the city. She jumps down off the building and begins to run after the shadow who runs down the slope. There is no cover to hide behind, though thankfully he does not turn around. He disappears in the mass of buildings at the bottom of the trench. They are small cubes and made from any materials that could be found. Mostly mud and scraps of wood, brick or metal. Fallon gulps and enters the narrow, muddy streets. It is quiet here, as most of the city is at this time of night. However, people here are much more aware and hostile. That is why the Princesses rarely helped the slums. The people who live there are too suspicious of any help and refuse it. They are all about protecting their own. Even if it means starvation or cold nights. They would rather scavenge and struggle than risk outsiders coming to their homes. It is no secret that the king and his nobles like to use the weakest in the city. They were easy targets who could do nothing against those with so much more power. Young girls especially seemed to disappear.

Fallon twists around a corner, blending into the shadows. She watches as the man stops outside a small hut. He looks around and Fallon quickly hides and stays completely still. After a few moments, she peeks around the corner again. The man moves aside the curtain that covers the entrance and walks in. She hears the sound of footfalls in the mud behind her and turns quickly, ready to attack.

"Fucking hell!" she snaps with a harsh whisper as her sisters appear. "How the hell did you get here?" she snaps.

"It's easier to track when the trail is fresh," Shaelyn shrugs.

"Well don't sneak up on me again, I nearly punched your lights out," she tells the girls. Rayana and Shaelyn give each other looks. Fallon sighs and raises her eyebrow.

"Come on," she sighs.

The three girls rush over to the small house and stop outside it. Fallon draws her dagger and slightly opens the curtain. She peeks inside and closes it again, looking back at her sisters. She holds up her hand with all her fingers up. Five inside.

"Just don't kill them," Rayana tells her.

"Fine," Fallon says with a sigh, sheathing her weapon and opening the curtain slightly again. "Just stay out here and don't come in until I tell you too," she tells them. The two girls nod. Fallon takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders. She then charges inside.

"Hey!" a man shouts as he rushes toward her. Fallon slams her fist into his face before he can even begin to attack. Before he even hits the ground, Fallon is already charging to the others. She arches her back as a blade goes flying over where her chest just was. She grabs the arm of the attacker and spins it around. He goes to let out a scream is his bones crunch but Fallon swings her leg up and smashes it into his face before a noise can leave his mouth. She moves onto the next three who now surround her. She attacks quickly, not giving them any more of a chance to raise any alarm. She ducks past another blade and quickly reaches her first target. Her knee quickly meets his stomach and he keels over. As he does so, her elbow connects to the side of his face. His body goes limp immediately. She quickly twists as a blade comes at her from behind. She kicks it out of the attacker's hand before spinning around to build up momentum. When she's at the right angle, she swings her other foot up high. It collides with the face of her attacker. The heal of her boot smashing into his cheek, sending him flying off to the side and crashing into the final opponent. He falls beneath the unconscious body with a grunt. Before he can move the man out from on top of him, Fallon is dragging him away and holding him around the neck. He struggles beneath her but she holds him tight. It is the same man she had followed. Fallon lets out a whistle. After a few seconds, her sisters appear.

They take in the room. It is a small cube, lit by a few candles with crumbling walls and a now broken table. There is also a large fireplace in the corner. They see the four bodies lying around the small room. Still breathing, but a little bloody. Overall, the attack had lasted seconds and apart from the odd thump from a body landing, had been pretty stealthy.

"What now? This is hardly a massive criminal organisation?" Fallon asks. Shae just looks at the men. She takes in the jackets they wear in their dark colours. The scarfs around their mouths and noses, their hoods and the small phoenix pins on their collars.

"This is definitely the place," she says with a frown. "There must be an entrance to a bigger part of the building," she says softly. Fallon presses tightly against the man's throat.

"Care to tell us where?" she snarls into his ear. He struggles, going red.

"Fuck you," he manages to rasp.

"Just be done with him, we don't need him anyway," Shae says to her sister. Fallon tightens her grip around his throat. He struggles further, clawing at her arms. Eventually, he goes still and Fallon lets go.

"Don't worry, he's just unconscious," she says as her sisters glare at her. Shae rolls her eyes and begins to walk around the room, her hands skimming the walls. Fallon and Rayana watch. Shae opens her mind as she walks around the room. She takes in the sensation of the rough stone against the tips of her fingers. It isn't long before she sees what she wants. Her eyes open widely as she looks toward the fireplace.

The fire blazes inside and Shae can feel the heat against her skin as she reaches up inside the chimney.

"Shae?" Rayana asks.

"Got it," Shae grins before wincing as the heat from the fire warming the stone burns her skin. She grits her teeth and pulls at the little ledge she found inside the chimney. There is a rumbling before she quickly jumps back. The fire pit begins to move backwards, revealing a hole beneath it. The three girls walk closer and inspect the gap. A rope ladder hangs down a small tunnel cut out of the ground. At the bottom, is what looks like a cavern, dimly lit by fire.

"I'll go first. Then you Ray, then Shae." Fallon steps down onto the ladder and begins to descend. She is quickly followed by her sisters. As Shae passes the fireplace, she pulls another leaver on the wall, making the passage close behind her. The tunnel is tight and the ladder wobbles with the three of them. It isn't until they near the bottom it begins to open up around them. They are in a small cavern with a single passage leading away to a brighter lit area. The girls look at each other as they hear the muffled sound of voices.

"Follow me," Fallon whispers, drawing her knife. They begin to walk around the passage and soon come to a stop as it opens into a huge cavern. The cave is lit by one great big fire in the centre along with various lamps hanging off the stone walls. Large wooden tables sit around the room, full of people drinking ale and eating stew. There are multiple caves leading away from the cavern and the three princesses stare in awe.

"How big is this place?" Fallon whispers.

"Huge," Rayana replies with a gulp. Shae scans the mass of people. They wear the same coats and outfits that the other knights wore. Though now they don't have their hoods up or scarfs covering their faces. Shae's eyes fall on one man in particular. She smiles, recognising him instantly. He doesn't party like the others. He just sits at the table, drinking his ale slowly. Watching. Shaelyn steps away from the rocks and begins to walk into the cavern. Her sisters follow her on either side, their hoods up and black cloaks swirling around them. The man spots them immediately and stands up slowly. Those who see his movement stop what they are doing, before pointing their eyes in the same direction he is looking in. Soon, all the sound from the room is gone as everyone stares at the newcomers. The man puts his hand on his weapon and steps around from the table, coming to a stand in front of the fire opposite them.

His crew begin to draw their weapons around them. Fallon tightens her grip on the blade hidden in her cloak.

"Who are you?" he asks. "State your business." The three princesses all reach for their hoods at the same time, pulling them from their faces. Gasps fill the room and many drop to their knees. Others pale, fear filling them.

"Princesses," the man says, his voice sounding confident yet his fingers still lingering on his blade. Shae smiles at him before walking into the cavern further. "What brings you here?" he asks, confused. "How did you find us?"

Shaelyn begins to speak, her voice coming out smooth and faultless.

"We are here because you need our help and we need yours."