Rhysaenya's mood was worsening.

"So, Ric got mad at another group of students and sent them here," said Kai, leaning back in one of the armchairs while downing a bottle of Zima. "Not surprising... in the slightest. And you said you're a what, now? A dragon? I remember reading those books when they came out. That's... that's funny."

"Won't be funny when I burn a hole through your face," she threatened.

He pouted playfully. "Aw. And I thought we were really making some progress here."

"What do you want?" demanded Ryan. "Look, we're waiting to get out. Something tells me we're going to be freed soon enough. Dragon Girl has a lot of friends who will come looking. Everyone can just hitch a ride with them. Until then, can we all just do whatever we want?"

"We could," said Jade, the vampire, "but that wouldn't be any fun. No... I think you should all prove yourselves. Maybe... form part of our supernatural Hunger Games."

"Haven't read that series," muttered Rhysaenya. "Not interested in being starved to death."

Kai let out a hearty laugh. "Oh... this one, I like her. No, these are the Supernatural Hunger Games. See, we've been enjoying ourselves for quite awhile. We all try to kill each other or form teams and see who the last one standing is. Keeps the monotony interesting. See, I was here first, and once these three woke me up, they quickly realized my superior leadership qualities. They're kind of like my followers, I guess you could say. And what I say... goes."

He got to his feet. "Us four... against you three."

Sebastian made a face. "Well, that's absurd, we would win." He gestured to Rhysaenya. "All she has to do is turn into a dragon and she will fry you all. Not to mention I'm far older than both of you–" he gestured to Jade and Kai. "As for the pyrokinetic witch, well, sweetheart, your fire won't do much against a dragon, I think. And the werewolf..." he shrugged, "You're the most fragile."

The wolf, Diego, rolled his eyes. "Yeah, not the case. See, when this prison world was made, it was on a full moon. I've turned every single night that I've been here. I can control my form. I don't think you'd fare as well against me as you think."

"Oh, this is stupid," muttered Rhysaenya. "You want me to prove myself? Fine. Outside, now."

"Not a good idea," said Ryan as he followed her out. "They'll use it to hurt you."

"I need to fucking kill somebody," she huffed. "And if it can't be you or Sebastian, I might as well fry those fuckers and get it out of my system! The sooner we make some sort of peace, the better."

As soon as she was clear of the building, she transformed, lifting herself into the air. She could hear Kai cheering below, staring up in wonder as she soared in circles, waiting for him, Jade, Wendy, and Diego to get a bit further from the house. And the moment they did, she sent a blast of fire right at them. When the smoke cleared, Kai was the only one left standing, the other three burnt to a crisp on the floor.

She landed in human form, burning three new circles on her body. "Satisfied?" she snapped. "I need food and I need sleep and I need to not be bothered."

"Lucky for you," said Kai, reaching out to take her hand and kissing the back of it, an evil gleam in his eyes, "I happen to be a great chef."

Clarke and Sebastian followed uncomfortably as Kai led them to the Mystic Grill, firing up the stove as if he'd done it a million times. The three sat on the table, listening to him singing (very badly) as he flipped burgers on the grill.

"I don't like this," said Ryan, glaring at Sebastian, who was already having a milkshake infused with blood.

"I'm fucking hungry," said Rhysaenya. "He's cooking for us. Who cares?"

"He could be poisoning the food."

"At this rate, I'd welcome it just to get a break from you."

"Is this not suspicious to you in the slightest?"

"This guy is crazy, everything he does will be suspicious to me. Excuse me for trying to be entertained and sated while I'm waiting in this awful place."

Kai came out of the kitchen whistling, setting down four plates of burgers and fries. "Recipe's improved over the years." He scooted his chair closer to Rhysaenya. "So... dragon. Pretty sweet."

She smiled cheekily, already beginning to eat. "Yeah, well, some of us are born cool."

"Hmm, that I agree with. So, you're friends with those Saltzman twins. Which means... they're alive and well."

"Not that that's any of your business."

"It is, actually, since I'm probably the only Gemini family member they have left and I happen to know about the Merge. You said it's 2030 out in the real world, which means they're... what, sixteen? Am I right? I'm so right, I knew it. Steadily approaching twenty-two... someone is gonna die... how sad for them. I was doing them a favor by killing them when they were just a clump of cells."

"You're not funny. Or relevant in any way."

"I like you... you're all murder-y. It's a wonder Ric ever let you be friends with his girls."

"I keep things interesting."

"I bet you do. You know, I have a fort entirely of my own making. Jade and I hang out there sometimes, if you catch my drift. You should join."

"I'm not interested in a twisted threesome."

"Doesn't need to be a threesome."

Sebastian let out a weak laugh. "Oh... this is slowly becoming less and less fun. You know, I think I'm going to go and explore this place on my own. Find some more blood, some sort of excitement."

Kai flicked his hand, keeping him rooted to the spot. "You're done when I say you're done. What about you?" He nodded to Clarke. "You're all quiet. A golem, you said you were?"

"Yep," he muttered. "And just trying to get by. Not exactly supposed to be here."

"Then why are you? Didn't catch that part in your very bad explanation of your past hour in this world."

"Her friend made sure I'd keep anyone she cared about safe. So now I'm here with the most ungrateful person on the planet."

Kai munched on his fries with interest, noting how Rhysaenya scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You should be grateful I didn't kill you before," she shot back. "I would have made it hurt a lot less than it will when I torture you after I finish this meal."

"Yeah, great, one good kill before you take a nap. That's exactly why you're here."

"You've lived a lot longer than me and probably killed way more than thirty-six people."

"Rookie numbers," said Kai sweetly.

Rhysaenya side-eyed him. "Not talking to you."

That didn't seem to sit well with him. He grabbed her arm, siphoning as hard as he could, making her cry out in pain and sink into the table. "Well, Princess," he said, "I wasn't aware that someone here had any authority to tell me what to do."

Clarke shoved at his shoulder. "Let go of her. Hey!"

Kai held up his hand, eliciting a painful ring that made all three of them hold their heads, the buzzing becoming too much to tolerate. "You know how I put the others in their place?" Kai whispered over their groans. "I made sure to remind them who's in charge. Who wins every game. Who survives each Hunger Games for the past ten years. Right... that's me."

He flicked his hand, snapping their necks.

Rhysaenya awoke with her face buried in her foot, spitting out a small piece of lettuce that stuck to her lips. Rubbing the back of her head, she looked around, finding that Jade, Wendy, and Diego were having a meal on her own while Kai stood on a small stage, setting what looked like a trick wire.

"Gotta be ready for when Ric shows up," he said loudly. "Won't be long now. He'll come to check on you, that he will. You three are free to go... for now. We'll be popping in to check on you. Can't let you get too comfortable."

There was only one choice, and they all made the same one. Return to the Boarding House and get some rest. Rhysaenya didn't make a fuss about them all staying on the couches, immediately curling up and trying to rest.

"Skoro syt issi ao mundagon, kepa?" (T: Why are you sad, Papa?)

Rhȳs stopped polishing his sword, smiling weakly at her. "Utȳ tēñe stāe dūmȳ, pēcū drȳzpēr." (T: You should be asleep, little dragon.)

She crawled over to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Nyke kostagon daor ēdrugon. Nyke gīmigon mirros iksis verdagon ao mundagon. Ivestragon nyke. Kostilus." (T: I can't sleep. I know something is making you sad. Tell me. Please.)

He sighed. "Tubī, ēdan naejot ossēnagon vala. Mazēdas havor hen se ābra bona lioragon ziry va ñuha tistālion. Ziry mērī jeldan ziry syt zȳhon tresy. Se valītsos morghūlilza mijegon ziry. Yn se vēttir vestras īlon nektogon se ondos hen hen...ah... rūprs. (T: Today, I had to kill a man. He took food from the woman that sell it near my store. He only wanted it for his son. The boy will die without it. But the law says we cut the hands off of... thieves.)

She understood that this kill had hurt her father. She came to understand that the man had bled out when his hands were cut. Despite how unbothered Rhȳs usually was with murder, the day had taken a toll on him. He felt guilt like never before. It was the only time Rhysaenya ever saw her father hate himself for having hurt another.

Would he be disappointed in her?

Probably. And her mother would be, too.

"Breakfast," said Ryan, offering a plate of toast and jam once she came out of the shower, thankfully having found an unused toothbrush under the sink.

"Thanks," she said quietly. "Where's Sebastian?"

"No clue. Wasn't here when I woke up. My guess is he went looking for more blood. Not really my problem. If he wants to risk not being here when someone comes to free us... that's on him."

Rhysaenya stared down at the bread. "They will come, right? They have to."

"You're the only one who might have a shot at knowing that for sure."

"I don't know," she admitted. "I don't know anything. I'm new to this world and I think I know everything about it but I should have just fucking listened." She dropped her head onto the counter, the cold soothing her. "I made a mistake. This is my fault. It's my fault I'm here, my fault you're here."

His expression softened. "Bad dream?"

"How did you know?"

"You were moving a lot in your sleep. I kept hearing you crying."

She sighed. "Guilt. Thinking about my parents."

There was a faraway look in his eyes. "I do genuinely wonder what that must be like," he muttered. "To have been raised by someone. When Malivore created me, I was just... like this. Already a man, fully formed. Useless to him, as it turned out. Couldn't procreate and I had to be taught everything. Very soon I was nothing more than a burden to him. Another failed experiment he tossed aside."

Rhysaenya winced, trying to bite her toast as quietly as possible. "You don't know what it's like to be a child... to have a parent hold you during a thunderstorm, to do something as simple as chase a butterfly because you don't know any better."

"Nope. And as stupid as those things sound, I wonder what they're like. I would have liked to have it. Liked to know someone cared about me. Dear old dad decided pretty early on that I wasn't worth any of it. Five hundred years of an existence... hell, probably more, I lost count... and none of it means a thing. Couldn't keep anyone around because they'd just get hurt or die of old age while I stayed the same. Had to... had to be with people I didn't like to test a theory that went nowhere. Of course I tried to get rid of Malivore, he was... he was awful. And then I regretted it because I had nothing. I should never have tried to wake him. I should never have been stupid enough to think that anything would change. That he'd see me as anything more than a little piece of mud."

"I'm sorry," she said honestly. "That... that's awful. No parent should have a child just to use them for some selfish purpose. No one deserves to be treated like that. If I were you, I'd probably be on the same quest. I'd also just... want to live. I mean, it doesn't make anything you did right, but I guess I understand it now. More than I cared to before. Hope... she listened. She saw something, I think. That's why she gave you an out. She thinks before she acts."

"Unlike us," muttered Ryan. "And now we might actually be trapped here for years. We could kill ourselves but we'll pop back up. Again and again... an endless cycle. Sebastian might never come back. The other four will Hunger Games us until the end of time. We're stuck here, you and I, unless either of us decides to go and see the world and... make the best of this shitty situation. On the plus side, all the great monuments won't have any lines. We can go into the oceans and not encounter any wildlife."

"There has to be another way out. We have to find it. Touring the world won't mean a thing if we don't at least... try."

"Well, chances are, Kai has the Ascendant. And there's probably no Bennett blood, otherwise they'd be out already. They've had ten years to search the world and two witches to do it with. I would say the Malivore pit might be a way out but there is no Malivore pit in the real world anymore. We're stuck here, Rhysaenya, that's a fact. So unless we gather our shit and try to enjoy ourselves, we're going to rot here."

Hesitantly, she asked, "Have you ever wanted to ride a dragon?"

He raised a brow. "I mean, everyone has that dream."

She smiled. "Come on. Follow me."

She transformed once she had the space to, lowering herself as far as possible for him to climb on. He didn't have magic to secure him in place like Hope did, but she assumed that the fact the tribrid hadn't fallen off meant there was probably a comfortable enough place for him to sit and hold on without sliding off.

"Hooo-oly shit," he mumbled once he was gripping two of the spikes on the back of her neck. "Okay... um... my understanding is that you still understand things in dragon form so how do I tell you to– AHHH!"

She leapt up before he was ready, soaring over the Boarding House and carrying them away from it, the same path she'd taken to head to Georgia with Hope. She could hear Ryan screaming his head off, begging her to slow down, but she didn't listen. She turned and dove down, almost tempted to flip herself around and stay belly up for a moment, but she knew he wouldn't manage to hold on.

She blew fire ahead of them, flying over it to prevent him from getting burned. After a moment, he calmed down, and she felt him letting go of one of the spikes, holding an arm up and letting the wind rush over his body, as if he was flying on his own.

Rhysaenya lowered herself as they approached a lake, letting her body glide neatly over it. Her body was too massive for him to lean down and touch the water, but she could sense him reaching for it, letting out a the smallest of amused laughs.

She pulled back into the sky, flapping her wings as hard as she could, zipping them back to the Boarding School. As she looked down, she saw four little dots moving on the ground. She doused them in flames, and this time, Kai didn't react fast enough to stop himself from getting burned, too. Good. They'd bought themselves a few hours of peace.

"That was freaking amazing," said Ryan, body trembling when Rhysaenya shifted back, leading the way into the house. "Woah... chills... so many chills."

"Imagine if I do grow as large as Balerion The Dread," she said. "You'd be an ant on my back."

"Already feels like I am one. That is... wow. No wonder the whole world was talking about the tribrid and her dragon, that must have been a real sight for any supernatural that looked up. Her spell shielded you from view when it came to humans, but not them... not possible... man, I wish I could get a third person perspective of it."

"Eh, I'm sure there's a camera you can prop up somewhere to make a movie. Might as well do something entertaining. If you've read the books, you can write the script to make a film out of it. I'll play... all the dragons. If Sebastian ever comes back, you two can split the roles of all the famous people. We'll make the story of Aegon's Conquest. He can play Rhaenys and you can be Visenya, or something."

"And who the hell would be Aegon?"

"Dunno, doesn't matter. Sky's the limit."

He flopped onto the couch, watching as she leaned over the fireplace, spitting at the logs resting there to start a nice cozy fire. "You know, I think you might be tolerable to live with."

"Said no one ever."

"You sell yourself short, too. You have friends who like you. Even with all the murder-y parts, you've got a family there. They appreciate your advice, your strength. Even if Hope believes whatever Alaric says... they won't. I've seen how they look at you. MG, Jed, Kaleb, the twins, Raf, Landon, Hope... you're part of their silly little 'Super Squad.' You've been there when they need it. They will come looking. I know it."

"I still can't believe you pretended to be the Headmaster of the school. That is literally insane."

"You gotta do what you gotta do to survive. Again... doesn't make it right, but I intend to take this second chance seriously." He held out his hand. "Let's call a truce, you and me. No hurting each other. Just... support. We're in this together. For however long it may last."

With a small smile, she took his hand. "Deal. For as long as it lasts."

The first several days were much of the same thing. Sebastian would pop in every now and then to leech off the food they took turns making. Kai and the three teenagers would try to ruin their mood by trying to kill them (sometimes succeeding, sometimes not).

They'd go to sleep on their couches and try not to have nightmares, which Rhysaenya seemed especially prone to. Ryan would try not to bring it up the next morning, but in his own way, he checked on her, asking her for one of her favorite memories and seeing what she brought up. And every morning, she woke to a new blanket put on her, probably done by him to give her what he felt was the closest thing to a hug when she needed it most.

After the first week, she started to fear that maybe her friends weren't coming. Maybe everyone had bought that story, or maybe Alaric had even convinced everyone that she had died. Maybe he said that Sebastian killed her, or something. And no one would even be looking for Clarke because he was supposed to be free.

She tried to have hope, but even after a few days, it was fading fast.

"Maybe you're right," she told Ryan, the arduous attempt at making pasta finally concluded with a decent plate of spaghetti that they were both enjoying. "Maybe we should just go and see the rest of the world. I don't know much about it aside from the stuff in textbooks, so... you decide. Where should we go?"

"Well, I've been just about everywhere. I loved Greece and Rome. That would be one of the first places to hit up. And you uh, you mentioned your friend had some theory about Tērragoñh being in either South America or Africa. So we could go look there, see if anything is even remotely familiar. Hell, we could find Dragonstone. There was a big ass castle there. Maybe it got remodeled so people wouldn't remember what it was for, but I bet we could find it."

"I doubt we're going to find anything that looks like my home," she said sadly. "Everything has changed so much. There's probably a hotel on top of the banks where my mother used to wash our clothes. And a casino or bar where my father taught me to shoot a bow and arrow."

"There might be. Hell, that's probably a reasonable thing to assume. But maybe you'll recognize... a big boulder in a river. Or a particular tree that's lived a thousand years. It couldn't hurt to try."

"Yeah, you're right. We could go in the morning. If Sebastian is here, we could invite him."

"He kind of just does whatever he wants... don't know if he'll be up for it."

"Maybe not but at least we'd have been kind enough to ask."

He shrugged. "It's not like he's oblivious to the fact that only you and I talk to each other. Only you and I keep one another sane. It's been a little over a week and I'm not crazy because of you. He's not really contributing. I doubt he'd miss us."

She smirked. "What, don't want him to go because you're worried he'll butt in at the wrong time of your horrible dad jokes?"

"Hey, I think it is a bit unfair to criticize me for those, I have daddy issues."

She burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, it's not funny, but it's very funny at the same time."

He stared at her for a moment, fork completely missing a meatball. "Rhysaenya... I would kinda like it to be just us."

She straightened up, feeling the conversation was about to get serious. "Why?"

He almost couldn't speak, watching her eyes widen, eyebrows furrow, mouth curved ever so slightly. "Um... because... um... oh, I can't even look at you. This is weird."

"Oh, Ryan, are you trying to say...?"

"Look, it's probably just because you're the only other person I see on a daily basis. Kind of hard to find anything attractive about four people wanting to kill me and one that avoids us like we have the plague."

She wasn't sure why this didn't sound very pleasant to her. Why her mind jumped to thinking 'he only finds you attractive because you're basically his only option,' and 'given the chance, he'd probably find someone else more entertaining, but you're really all he's got.'

It was stupid to think such things, and yet, the thoughts forced their way into her mind. She gave an awkward gulp, reaching for her lemonade and taking several long sips. "Ah... I see. Um... no harm done... thanks for being honest."

Did she feel anything remotely similar?

She was afraid of thinking the answer might be yes.

And wasn't it for the exact same reasons? Everyone else was just trying to kill her or avoid her and he was the only one there?

No, that couldn't be it. She one thousand percent felt attracted to Kai, Jade, Wendy, Diego, even Sebastian. There had been a point where Wendy had redirected her fire and created some of her own that made Rhysaenya conjure a dirty image in her mind of leaving her initials burned under Wendy's breasts after she finished kissing every inch of her body. There was a moment that Diego had managed to slam her into a wall that she thought it would be nice for him to slam her against a bed like that. There had been an instance that Jade bit her throat, feeding until she died, and while lightheaded Rhysaenya felt just a twitch in the wrong places when she caught sight of Jade's face in the mirror, finding the vampiric veins so insanely attractive for no reason. Hell, she had taken Kai's offer into consideration and had stared at Sebastian a moment too long when she saw him coming out of the shower, once.

Had she had a similar thought about Ryan? Yes. But not so forward, not that she could think it to be. She had definitely thought of kissing him once or twice, maybe three times. The day before she'd been especially creative and made up a scenario where instead of leaning over the counter to clean it after their meal, he'd been leaning over her and flashing that crooked little grin she was growing too fond of.

It's been days, you're deprived, you're lonely, you're sad, you're just messed up beyond comprehension. It's a symptom, deal with it.

But could it be more than that? A week ago she'd hated him. Now, she would consider them friends. Was it possible to befriend someone that fast? Sure. She'd befriended the others in a matter of hours when they proved trustworthy. Ryan had already shown that he was worried about her, that he wanted to keep her safe even though she'd been a raging bitch the multiple times they encountered each other and particularly the first day that they were there.

Was it possible to develop feelings for someone in such a short time span? That part, she wasn't sure of. If anything, it was a crush. Or just a sexual attraction.

Then why do I like the idea of us traveling alone together? Why do I think I might actually come to feel at peace with this world if he just stays with me? He makes me laugh, he's already learned my favorite foods and cooks for me when I don't ask him to, he checks on me after every nightmare and ugh, I must be the dumbest person ever to think any of it means something. He's just sticking around so he can hitch a ride back if someone comes for us. If. It is really turning into an 'if' situation...

"I said the wrong thing," he mumbled, seeing she was zoned out and staring at the counter. "Oh... oh, I really said the wrong thing. Rhysaenya, I shouldn't have opened my mouth."

"No," she murmured. "No, I'm glad you did. Being honest is important."

"I said that in a pretty bad way, I realize. I... I like spending time with you. Maybe it's because you're the only person that's tried to get along with me in here or maybe it's because we're actually a lot more compatible as people than we wanted to acknowledge because, well, I wanted to kill you and you certainly wanted to kill me... and I'd like to travel with you because you are fun and I like seeing your... your face light up when you learn something new. And I think that... you're beautiful."

She blushed as he continued, "I think that a little too often, honestly. I didn't mean to make it seem like I wouldn't think it if the situation were different. I thought you were beautiful from the moment I saw a picture of you, the first creature that Malivore chose to release from the pit. I don't know why, but... he just did. When I saw you for the first time with your hair dyed, I thought I was really looking at a Targaryen Princess, I figured, that's exactly what the books described one to look like. They made it seem like there was a certain beauty only Valyrian blood could bring out."

He stopped himself, chuckling weakly. "And I'm rambling a lot. Um... I... I thought you were pretty badass when we first met. You probably could have beat the crap out of us and taken that urn without those two people getting hurt. It was crazy for me to see you being restrained and even when I was pretending to be the Headmaster, it was insane to me how they could limit you so much. It was bound to bubble up and burst out but even when it does, you look... it's just... something else when you're standing there covered in blood. I shouldn't be thinking any of it but I am just intrigued by you. These days, getting to know you, it's been fun."

He sighed, "The bottom line, I guess, is that whether we're in here or out in the real world... I want to keep getting to know you. I want to see... where this can go. Even if we're just friends, my life would be a hell of a lot better with you in it."

She struggled to find any words that could match his. "I feel the same way," she murmured. "I... wow, it feels like the right thing to do is kiss you but I'm guessing that is not as good of an idea as I think it is."

"If you kissed me, I wouldn't be against it," he said, cheeks red.

Rhysaenya leaned over, cupping his face, hesitating for a moment, laughing lightly as he tried to lean his head sideways and made a silly expression that amused her to a degree she almost couldn't understand. She closed her eyes, leaning in and pressing her lips against his, climbing out of her chair at the same time that he did to close the gap between them. He held her face, tilting her chin up to keep their mouths pressed together, his other hand gently resting against the back of her head.

And for a moment it didn't matter what awaited them in the future. Would they stay there forever or would someone come for them? She didn't know. She just wanted to be in that exact moment for a little while longer. Kissing a boy and letting herself feel something, because what was the point of living if she wasn't free, too?