The world was a bright orange blob.

A long huff of air came out of my mouth. The warmth blew against a wet spot on my arm.

I squeezed my eyes shut again. The blackness was a welcome sight to eyes as sore as mine. Each passing second was a nail through the center of my head.

Something happened.

Too-loud clanging of metal doors and the scent of musty mold screamed to alert me where I was. It was the same place I was the last time I was awake.

No, it isn't.

It was.

I could feel the cold skin of a murae clasp my elbow. A hissing shout followed. Nothing after that.

Did I pass out?

King did something to me.

But why was I outside the cell in the first place?

I squeezed my hands into tiny little fists. My nails scraped against the damp stone.

My hands scrape against wood. It's wet, like the stone.

It was blood.

Wood doesn't bleed.

Something happened to--

William.

In an instant, the world shattered. Memories flooded back and with the tidal wave, pain followed. Pain in my stomach. My head.

My heart.

I'd lost my friend.

I squeezed my eyes shut, shut like it would block out the world. Shut like it closed away the hurt and the screams. The silence.

The silence.

After Will, it was her.

Her, who I pleaded with. Her, who...

Still face-first against the stones, I bit my lip. It was her who left. That's why the world was silent. That's why I wasn't bothered.

Rosi?

Even my thoughts were meek. Quiet. Empty.

Relatively painful.

My call was answered by the echoing silence.

I moistened my lips. With one hand pressing against the ground, a harsh whisper left my mouth. "Rosinka?"

A voice, not Rosi's, answered me. "Get up."

My chest tightened. Acid rose in the back of my throat. King.

It'd be nice if he would spontaneously burst into flames.

Blood roared in my ears. Bitterness rose into my mouth, making me purse my lips.

I sat back on my heels. My head pounded with every ounce of light I took in.

"What is it, King?"

The shadows beside him moved forward the slightest bit. He flicked a finger up, just enough it was barely noticeable.

Guards.

If he had them with him, he thought I could harm him. He didn't know about the lack of person inside my skull.

Let's leave it that way.

For once, all of his faces held the same expression: absolute rage. He grabbed the cell bar and squeezed, squeezed so hard it bent under the force of his grip.

"Where is your friend?"

A fist may as well have rammed into my gut. Tears started to spring to my eyes, only for me to force them back down.

He wouldn't get the pleasure of seeing me cry.

I brought one of my hands up and cupped it, examining the stubs of grime-covered nails that were left. "Which friend? You'll have to be more specific than that. Do you mean Mary, who's living with her father in Carrielle?"

The top left face of his twisted and contorted so it was a ball of fury.

I didn't stop. "Maybe you mean Smith. He's fine, just taking care of his grandmother. If you'd like to take him a basket of gifts, I'm sure he would love you. His address is--"

The bars around me shook. "You know who I mean, cykch!"

The insult bounded into my brain. Never had I been called that before. It was enough to make me continue.

"His address is left under the fifth willow tree on your right past the twentieth river from the middle of the third largest town in Arium. Give him a heads up before you come, though. And no, I do not 'know who you mean,' cykch."

Fake friends and fake stupidity. It always makes people angry.

Anything to get under his skin.

King dropped the iron bars and threw his heads back. A dark chuckle rose from the emptiness. When he finished, he straightened his shoulders and took a deep breath.

"William. Where is William?" He held his hand out to the side, just above his waist. "He's about this tall, dark hair, wood. You can't miss him."

"Evidently, you can miss him, considering you're asking me where he is."

King snarled.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Prince William, the rightful ruler of Dulcia, is dead."

My voice cracked on the last word.

King's eyes widened. He grabbed the cell bars once more. "What?"

"That's right." All the pain stored in me came out, disguised as anger. "Your precious cavalier-finder is gone. Dead. Kaput. If he walks again, you need to be worried."

The murae nodded slowly. He turned away and whispered something to the two guards. As soon as he finished, the shadows bowed and ran off.

With a wave of his hand, King opened the door to my cell. It made no noise like it usually did, just blew open as if a gust of wind took it away.

The monster came in and bent down so his highest head was equal to mine.

Like we were the same. Like he cared.

He lowered his voice to a tiny small squeak-- like a rat. "I'm sorry about your friend. He need not have died."

Liar.

Every ugly name I knew flew to the tip of my mind, but I didn't say them.

I gulped and turned my head. "What do you want."

Not a question.

King grabbed my wrist in an action that would be somewhat comforting, except it was King and he knew nothing of sympathy. "Before William died, he must have told you the locations of the stones."

I snatched my arm away. "I know nothing about where they are."

He grabbed my arm again, this time tighter--threatening. "He was not so stupid as to not tell you what he did with them, girl. You know."

A few prisoners from cells down inched closer to us. We were entertainment.

"Fine." I smiled at King, pulling my lips up to an almost growl. "He did tell me. You're an idiot if you think I'll willingly hand them over."

King stood, the illusion of equality gone. Pain stabbed my skull as he grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled.

His breath tickled my ear. "I order you, tell me where they are."

"Why? So you can kill me?" I pointed to Arioch, who had backed himself into the farthest corner of his cell. "So you can kill all your prisoners? So you can rule this kingdom like a good little dog should?" A laugh, a laugh I meant, tumbled from my lips. "I think not."

He dropped my hair and backed out of the jail, hands shaking like an earthquake. He ran them over the middle head, then looked back at me.

"Do you realize--" King stopped, voice trembling enough to show he was angry. "Do you realize what those stones will do for me?"

"Something relatively important, considering you constantly kill for them!" I threw my arms into the air.

King seemed to have forgotten I was there. He held up his hand like he was crying out in pain. Eyes vacant, scouring the room for lost people, he choked. Then, like a bolt of lightning, he remembered where he was.

"Let me tell you the problem with this body, little Clair." He swallowed. One of his heads scrunched its face to a little raisin. "It's not normal. I'm made of smoke, you see? Smoke and shadows. All because of one wrong experiment."

His finger skimmed the bottom of my neck. "People say normality is overrated, but extraordinary--after a while it becomes dull. Common. Then, what was once boring is what is craved. Needed."

I froze. All King wanted...

"You want to be human again?"

What was so simple caused a war.

King lowered his voice to a whisper. "Is that too much to ask?"

No. It wasn't. It's what I had asked the moment Rosinka made her presence known. It's what I wanted at home. I wanted friends. Family. To be perceived as normal. To get away from the outsider I was, I buried myself in books. King, his hope was the cavaliers.

"We're not so different, you and I." Again, he bent down. Dark black eyes locked onto mine. "We want the same thing. We can work together."

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.

A shouted laugh tore out of my throat. I don't know why it did. There was nothing funny about the situation. "Uskere menya."

Smack!

Pain racked through my cheek. Metal tinged the inside of my mouth.

King stormed away from the cell. "I will destroy your family, child," he warned.

I spat on the ground, aiming toward his feet. A blob of red landed in the dirt. "Like you've destroyed countless other lives?"

I cared. Of course I cared. He couldn't threaten my family and have me not care.

King grabbed the door to civilization. He growled. "You'll pay for this, cykth."

"Do your worst, monster."

When the door slammed, I let out a breath. Silence followed for a moment, then a few of the prisoners from across the room applauded. One or two even dared to shout.

Arioch pulled himself away from the corner. "Good girl."

A weak grin fluttered across my face. My hands shook.

"Thanks," I gasped. "That wasn't very fun."

He nodded his head with a smile. One of the chains around his neck jingled with the movement."I see your eyes have returned to normal?"

Normal.

Normalcy was overrated.

But the eyes... the eyes meant she was really gone. Rosinka had vanished.

Rosinka vanished.

Miralis "cured."

"Arioch--" A tiny grin flickered over my face. "Your hitchhiker--it has to chose to leave. You have to--"

Get along

"--work together. You both must care for something enough to die for it--or them."

His eyes searched my face. When he seemed to decide I was no longer lying, he nodded. It one swift motion, he reached inside one of his vests and pulled out a small stone smaller than my fist. Forest green lights sparkled around it, off the concrete sides of the jail.

Arioch extended his arm through the bars. "Your prize. I hope it does what you need."

A tiny spark traveled through my body as my fingers grasped the cavalier.

The last one.

I took his hand. His skin scratched against mine. "Thank you."

Blam!

We jumped, eyes on the jail door. In less than an instant, King had my arm in his smoky hands. He yanked me off my feet and dragged me toward the door.

Arioch stood, fire in his eyes.

I shook my head. No.

It must have worked. No spell followed us out the door.

King's fingers dug deep into my skin. "What are you doing?" I gasped.

He chuckled. It didn't even pretend to be pleasant like before.

"You told me to do my worst, and that is exactly what is happening."

Before I could breathe, we were in the throne room. My head snapped back as he shoved me into a circle big enough for two people.

A ring.

Back turned, he waved a hand. "Don't try and escape. You must win this fight before that happens."

Fight?

A grinding noise sounded from across the room.

A murae, I could take.

My eyes found a door that opened at the speed of a snail. "Our deal, King, remember? I'll harm myself."

His heads smiled. "You can't, brown eyes. Your tag along is gone and your friend is dead."

The door opened the rest of the way. Out of it came a man with blonde, almost brown hair that fell to just below his ears. Almost white skin showed beneath a torn shirt.

When he looked up, his eyes were bright red, close to orange

My heart forced its way to my throat. My chest squeezed tight.

"Dad?"

My father stepped into the circle, eyes on the murae.

A smirk crossed over one of King's faces. "If you refuse to give me what I want, one of you will die."

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Welcome, to the last three-ish four chapters. 

Ahhhh. I'm finally getting to the scenes that made me write this whole thing. :D