A thick, unsettling layer of anticipation and mild fear settled among the Red Cloaks. Even they began to tremble as the arrival of the Shadow grew near. While everyone else anxiously awaited the Shadow's arrival, Emily stayed tucked away in her room.

She was sprawled out on her bed, engrossed in trying to pick dirt from her nails. To say the least, she was stressed. Stressed to no end. She and Samson were waiting for the exact second in which the snowstorm calmed down, but it hadn't yet. They were careful when they talked, still keeping an eye out for Wells. Emily would need to inform Finley and Felix of the plan, but it needed to be at the last minute. 

Emily had never laid eyes on the Shadow, but the way other Red Cloaks tensed as soon as his name was mentioned said a lot. It said too much. The Red Cloaks were supposed to like him, but they all were fearful when his name was spoken. Even Celosia herself seemed to act this way about him, which further confused Emily about the situation.

Celosia had practically banished her, saying she had things to take care of which didn't involve Emily. If Emily didn't know any better, she would have guessed Celosia was stressed about the Shadow arriving as well.

But Emily had no intentions of actually meeting the Shadow, hoping they would be long gone before he even arrived. She was almost certain that the snowstorm would be probably slowdown his time of arrival as well.

Celosia was most likely hoping for a delay as well.

After all, this place was in quite a state of disarray and Celosia was the one who was supposed to fix it. But Emily knew deep down that this was a good thing. The Red Cloaks being in a state of disarray was exactly what she wanted to happen in the first place, so in reality, she should have been celebrating this. At the same time, she almost couldn't help but feel somewhat bad for Celosia. She was in a bad situation, and the fear in her eyes regarding the Shadow sent chills down Emily's spine.

She wasn't quite sure as to how Celosia was handling it, but the way she sent her away, probably meant not very well. If Celosia wasn't handling it well, that really didn't bode well for the rest of the Red Cloaks. Even Emily, who would most likely be under even more supervision than the rest of them considering she happened to be the Phoenix. Well, the Phoenix who had been sent away to do absolutely nothing even though she had completed her apprenticeship. In some ways, the entire thing felt almost pointless.

A knock at the door startled Emily, and deep down she hoped it was Samson. But when she opened the door, she was surprised to see Celosia standing there.

"Is something the matter?" Emily questioned, filter immediately coming off. "You look ill."

"I'm quite alright, but I need you downstairs now," Celosia answered. "Quickly, pull on your cloak. The Shadow will be here shortly."

Emily knew all of the blood had drained from her face, her hands growing clammy. How had the Shadow made it to the Fortress despite the weather? How were they going to escape now? This place would be under extra surveillance if he had arrived. What were they going to do?

She tried her best to compose herself, inhaling through her nose. There was no point in passing out. Celosia would definitely be suspicious if she did that.

Emily grabbed her cloak and briskly followed Celosia down the stairs. Her brain was screaming at her to run right out of the door and never look back.

She didn't want to meet the Shadow.

She never wanted to meet the Shadow.

"Now remember," Celosia began. "Only speak when you are asked to, don't speak up otherwise."

Emily nodded. As they walked side by side, Emily realized Celosia's hands were trembling, visibly shaking. She suddenly felt nauseous. If Celosia was this scared, then what was Emily supposed to think?

"Stop here," Celosia said, holding out an arm to stop Emily.

Emily's heart began to beat faster, waiting for the Shadow to walk through the door. Yelling from outside must have meant he had arrived. Celosia and Emily simultaneously held their breath as they watched the wooden doors creak open.

Two Red Cloaks walked on either side of whom Emily assumed to be the Shadow.

She finally looked at him and was horrified.

His face was almost skeletal looking.

His eyes sunk low in his skull, and his hair was wiry, thin.

Face; as pale as the moon on the brightest of nights.

His eyes were two black, beady coals, and she could have sworn she never saw him blink.

He barley look human, and now she knew why people called him the Shadow. He looked as if he came straight out of nightmare. A nightmare which would never go away.

Emily knew if she ever made it out of this place, she would never forget the Shadow.

"Welcome," Celosia said, but the Shadow pushed her aside. He swiveled around to Celosia and Emily.

"Once again, you have disappointed me," the Shadow began, voice at such an eerie tone it shook Emily to the core.

His still unblinking, soulless eyes shifted to Emily, and she desperately wished she could melt into a puddle then and there.

"So, this is the one you chose. The one people are talking about," he said, grabbing Emily's chin and looking at her. "This is the Phoenix."

"What a pleasure it is to finally meet you," Emily said, voice almost a snarl.

Celosia glared at her and Emily's gaze hardened. The Shadow let go of her. His stare landed back on Celosia.

"I believe we have many matters to discuss," the Shadow said. "Dismiss her and follow me."

"You can go now," Celosia said, monotone.

Emily awkwardly stood there, legs trembling and eyes wide as she watched the two leave her in the dust.

Celosia trailed close behind the Shadow, matching his stride. She was in for it today, she really was. The Shadow would tear her apart for this. Red Cloaks passing by averted their eyes. They made it to the Shadow's room, and he slammed the door behind them.

"Disappointment after disappointment," he began. "Just as I left you by yourself, thinking you could handle it, you messed everything up."

Celosia didn't reply.

"Is there anything you have to say?"

"Sir, we did find Felix—"

The Shadow's pale lips pressed into a thin line.

"Oh, did you? Well, this piece of news makes up for everything else; not capturing Autumn."

Celosia stood tall. "Sir, I have more news for you and I highly doubt you will like it."

"Well, go on then."

"Yesterday, I received some information from a Red Cloak, claiming the Phoenix has sided with Felix," Celosia said.

"Is that so? Which Red Cloak told you this?"

"Wells, from Finley's squad. He believes Finley is in on this whole plan as well. He claims she's the reason Autumn and Felix escaped in the first place," Celosia explained.

"And why does he claim this?" the Shadow asked.

Celosia sighed. "Because it was a setup. Finley left Felix alone in the prison so he would have enough time to help Autumn escape."

The Shadow's eyes were set on Celosia, and as he spoke, his uneven yellow teeth protruded from his mouth. His mouth opened wide, as if he were unhinging his own jaw.

"You mean to tell me that while I was gone, Felix helped Autumn escape, Finley assisted this, and now the Phoenix is, the person whom YOU chose?"

"She had potential!" Celosia retorted. "And I sent her to Samson to be sure she would be ready to be my right-hand man."

"Now I feel like the moron. Leaving you alone to lead this place by yourself. You are obviously not ready. You are not even capable of competing a simple task of selecting a right-hand man. That girl Sylvia would have even been a much more competent right-hand man than the one you chose."

"For someone who didn't show at the Placement, you seem to know an awful lot about it," Celosia sniped. "Sylvia stabbed someone during the Placement, that person being the Phoenix. I watched to see where it would go, but the Phoenix fought back, even with a dagger in her shoulder! Looking back now, I realize how unprofessional Sylvia was. A tournament is a place of honor and she cheated after losing. You want someone to lead who lacks honor and attempts murder?"

"You are asking the wrong person that question. We want cunning here. We want people fighting with what they have regardless of consequences. We do not raise the weak," the Shadow answered darkly.

Celosia's throat tightened. "Then what is the point of using rules in the Placement if we do not seek to follow them?"

The Shadow scoffed at her. "It is an illusion. To simply build up the trust of Red Cloaks. We must keep our reputation. We want people to believe we have good morals."

"Why must we make people believe? You said we do have good morals."

   The expression on the Shadow's face said it all. The Red Cloaks never had good morals. All of them believed they did, but they didn't. It had been a façade all along.

Celosia gulped down the sick sensation in her throat. "Are we done now?"

"Not quite," the Shadow said. "There is something else you said which has been bothering me."

Celosia tried conjuring up ideas of what she might have said, but nothing seemed to come to mind.

"Aren't you going to tell me?" she asked.

"What bothered me, was when you mentioned Samson of all people. Why would you place your right-hand man as apprentice? Isn't your job to train her?"

"Sir, I wrote you about the matter," Celosia replied.

"Oh, did you? I must have missed the letter," the Shadow said as he began organizing the few belongings in his room. "How has Samson handled her?"

"They seemed...hesitant at first to work together. But they became close it seems," she answered, breath hitching when she realized the horrible impact of her reply.

"They became close?" the Shadow mocked. "Do you not understand the gravity of this situation? Samson's parents are immensely loyal to me and requested I be the one to train him. All of that may be gone now. Washed away in an instant. Because of one girl you horribly handpicked!"

"Perhaps it is your training which is the problem," Celosia snapped.

"I think I will be staying here for a while to make sure nothing else goes wrong," the Shadow said. "Now leave before I find something else to be angry about."

Celosia rushed out of the room and into the hallway. She tried to compose herself and not appear as flustered as she felt.

Nevertheless, her cheeks began to heat up and she flushed red, the embarrassment seeping in. She had been made a complete fool of. The Shadow placed all of the blame on her, and yet he hadn't even had the decency to read her letter. Honestly, how could he have missed it? All of her letters had a giant C on the envelope and a messenger delivered the letters straight to the Shadow.

Fuming, Celosia opened the door to her own room. The room itself was bland besides the blood red colored pillows and blankets. Her eyes scanned every item in her room, lips forcing themselves up into a smile once again. Her lips trembled, and she brought her hand up to stop them. The red was making her dizzy, a queasy sensation building up in her stomach.

She would remain completely and utterly composed. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she replayed the conversation she had with the Shadow. It was far from perfect, that was for sure. The Phoenix had handled the meeting fairly well overall, but something seemed off. There was only so much she could do.

Until the fiasco involving Autumn and Felix, she had actually done quite well in the fortress. She managed to keep most things in order, but ever since Felix helped Autumn escape, it was like a domino effect. The Phoenix also being a traitor? She would have to observe more before she could confirm it to be true.

And if it were true, she really was in for it. Whatever she worked for and put up with all this time would be gone in an instant.

She turned to her desk, the papers arranged to seem neat, but truthfully it was only an illusion. Celosia, prior to the Shadow's arrival, scrambled to make sure the papers appeared neat when in reality they were all out of order. Now, she would need to go back and reorganize all of them.

The more time she spent away from the Shadow, the more she begun to realize that she probably hated him. Was hated too much? She wasn't quite sure. It some word similar to that though. She enjoyed finally being able to have the place to herself, not being under his watchful eyes almost every second of the day. She enjoyed not having to listen to his constant sharp remarks and constant berating. She finally found a place where she could lead and have her own set of thoughts and ideas. The Shadow used to steal her ideas as well. Using them and taking credit when they ended up being successful. Meanwhile, she was left standing there looking like an idiot.

He did it on purpose. The things he did were never an accident. Celosia wiped a hand across her face, the little makeup she had on smearing under her eyes. She was so tired, so exhausted. She just wanted to go to bed, dream away what had become a horrible nightmare of a job. She wanted all of this to go away, for everything to go back to normal. To go back to before Autumn and Felix escaped the fortress. It would make everything so much easier.

She wouldn't have people questioning her, people thinking she wasn't cut out to be leader. People believing the Shadow was the best of the two.

But unfortunately, it seemed as if that time had passed.

Emily still felt the firm, chilling grasp of the Shadow's hand on her chin.

She shivered and continued eating her early lunch. Samson hadn't shown up to eat with her which, even though she now knew why, was still disappointing.

Eyes trailing to the dining hall door, she finally spotted Samson walking through the entrance, hands shoved in his cloak pockets. She waved in his direction, hoping he would see her.

He slowly turned toward her, waving back with a small smile on his face. As soon as Wells entered though, he stopped waving and his smile disappeared. Seeing this, Emily stopped waving as well and her smile vanished too.

She needed to be more careful, but it still saddened her.

No one else sat with her besides Samson for whatever reason. It was quite possible that she wasn't the easiest person to be around, but she really did want friends. She just wasn't very good at making them. No one seemed to like her because she was the Phoenix. She had tried a couple of times to talk to other people at different tables, but unfortunately it only resulted in countless glares, forcing her to sit elsewhere.

With all of the tension in the dining hall, Emily finally made the executive decision to talk to Felix. After all, she was the right-hand man, so technically speaking, no one could question why she was going there. All she needed was some company.

Samson did notice though. He noticed her dart out of the dining hall, but he chose not to follow. If he followed, then so would Wells. And now the Shadow had arrived, which made keeping secrets even more of a challenge. Wells had warned Samson. If he continued hanging around Emily, then the secrets would leave his mouth.

So, he let her go, and he remained at the empty table and continued eating.

Meanwhile, Emily carefully slipped past the Shadow's room and made it to the prison staircase. She sighed, glancing over her shoulder once more before heading upstairs.

The door creaked open, much to Emily's displeasure. She wanted the least attention drawn to her, and yet she always seemed to get the opposite result.

As she grew closer to the prison cell, Felix stirred. Emily sat herself down next to the prison door.

"Did I wake you?" she asked. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Felix answered, but narrowed his eyes at her. "Wait, why are you here?"

Emily mumbled something incoherent, and Felix craned his neck to hear her.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I need a friend to talk to..."

Felix's expression softened. "Oh."

"I know you probably wouldn't understand why I do what I do, why I'm here in the first place," Emily said. "You didn't see my Placement."

"I was gone that morning," Felix replied, leaning against the prison wall.

"This place sort of scares me," Emily said, laugh strained.

"Well, it's already sort of a hellhole here, but you're not even a real Red Cloak. You're in even more danger than most of them," Felix noted.

"You're not a real Red Cloak."

"Exactly, and now look at me! I'm stuck in this cell and days away from being executed!" Felix exclaimed.

Emily winced and Felix noticed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. But I," Felix paused.

"But what?" Emily asked.

"I just hope you don't end up where I am."

"I won't," Emily said, but she knew she didn't sound convincing. "If everything goes well, then maybe I would be able to help you escape. But I'm sure your friend will come."

Felix's eyes glossed over. "Autumn?"

"Yes, her," Emily said. "I'm sure she will."

"I don't want her to. She'll be coming back to the danger I helped her escape from."

"She's your friend, isn't she? I would be surprised if she didn't," Emily replied.

"If she's smart, she'll know what's good for her by not showing up."

"Ah, see. You say that, but deep down I know you want her to show up to the marketplace," Emily said, standing up. "I would rescue you if I could, but I have to keep playing the role I chose to take on in the first place. I know everything's going to work it out. It has to."

"I hope so," Felix said. "I really hope so."

After a little while, Emily left. She had wanted to tell Felix about them escaping, but she had a bad feeling about all of it.

Something told her it was already too late to escape.