"You know, I didn't want any of this. I had my life all planned out after my sixteenth moon. Sarafine took me in, taught me what it was to be dark and I thought that was what I wanted - to be dark, to rebel against anyone and anything. And then she sent me to cause havoc for Lena, to send her over the edge and into the darkness where Sarafine thought she belonged. And I was gonna do it, I was gonna turn Lena dark so we could be together again and nothing was ever going to stop me.
"I was willing to use anyone to gain the advantage, so when my Auntie Sarafine told me about this weak-minded mortal boy who was Ethan's best friend, I jumped at the opportunity to use that against the couple of love birds, 'cause that's the girl I was. He was the kind of guy I'd usually look over, I'd never have given him a second chance any other day, with bed hair and bad style he wasn't exactly the sort of guy girls like me fall for. I thought I was in the clear.
"I started using my powers on him, seeing his slowly waste away under my control like I had seen many other men before him do, but this time it just felt... wrong, like I didn't want to hurt him. But I carried on anyway 'cause Sarafine was breathing down my neck like nobody's business. And when the job was done I tossed him aside like I was supposed to, but I always told myself that he was a useful tool, that I could use him again. And I did use him, time and time again for a little while, 'cause I liked feeling that I didn't want to hurt him.
"Dark casters don't have feelings, that's what Auntie Sarafine always told me, especially sirens. She was wrong though, I realised that for the first time on the night of Lena's sixteenth moon, when I was supposed to make Ethan's daddy jump off that balcony. I was prepared to do it, to please Sarafine, the woman who took me in when my mamma kicked me out. But he was there - Link - and I couldn't do it, I didn't want him to see me do it, to see me as that girl. And when Ethan told him the truth, that I was dark and evil and had been using him, I felt guilt and shame for the first time since my eyes turned golden and slitted.
"Then I ran from the warmth that was stirring inside myself. I denied it for so long that all it did was scratch away at pieces of my evil soul and grew stronger like some sort of virus. So time and time again I saw he needed my help or I just thought of him and missed him and I ran back to him, into his open arms, and then as soon as he got close again, I turned and ran back for an extra shot of bitch in my system.
"Maybe if I hadn't have been dark we could a had a love story like Lena and Ethan's, where they knew right away that they loved each other, where sacrifices were made for the other one. But I was claimed for the dark, and I made some mistakes, got taken in by the wrong people, but like Lena and Ethan, me and Link will always come back to each other. No matter what the cost is to us."
When Ridley had done talking, she flopped down onto the cold floor, as far away from the bars of her cage as the chains on her wrist would allow her. She looked over to John Breed, who she had been laying out her life story to from where he sat chained to the opposite side of the same cage. I guess we're not important enough to warrant buying an extra cage, Ridley thought to herself.
"We'll get outa here Rid," John tried to comfort the blonde, not truly believing his words himself, "We've done it before haven't we?"
Ridley nodded, twisting a pink strand of hair around a perfectly manicured finger, "But at what cost? Abraham knows our weaknesses John, he knows how to hurt us."
"Link will be fine," John replied, twiddling his thumbs to keep him occupied, "Liv too, they can handle themselves, Lena and Ethan will look out for them."
"I went back for him you know," Ridley spoke once more, repositioning herself so she could lean her head back against the cold metal bars of their prison, "When I was a mortal I just couldn't cut it, not the unable to cast thing or having to go to school, it was that Link was this quarter incubus now, he didn't need me to fight his fights anymore, to make everyone like him anymore, I was just this mortal girl with a big gob and a small waistline. Just like Savannah Snow.
"I was so jealous, I think I went a little insane with it actually, but you can't tell me that Barbie didn't deserve that pyramid toppling on top a her. I knew I was in love with Link before that though, even before you bit him. It was when Sarafine came back to take my powers from me that I realised. When she came, a tree fell and crushed him, and I uh... I thought he was dead, I thought I'd lost him. I went crazy, rocking back and forth with him. I didn't quite know what I'd do without him. I still couldn't admit I loved him when he begged me to tell him how I felt, on Barbie's front lawn at that stupid party she threw for him. I sent him running back into her arms, bigger fool me, eh?
"You know, I still haven't said the words now, Link knows I love him, I've told him in so many words, just not those three little ones. The first time I told him without actually telling him was when I went back for him, after I begged Sarafine and Abraham for forgiveness and they gave me my powers back. My plan was to run, go somewhere she wouldn't find me, but I went straight back to Gatlin. I saw Link alone in the corridor and he found out I'd begged the enemy and flipped out at me. I told him I did it for us and I wanted him to come with me, wherever it was I was going. It was the first time I'd told him that we weren't just some act, that I did have feelings for him deep down in my dark heart.
"He rejected me, said he couldn't live like me, that he wasn't like me, he meant dark. Even after all that time he still thought there was just light and dark, good and bad, he didn't realise that there was light in my darkness, light that he put there. And me being me, I ran away from him, black gunky tears streaming down my face as I left."
"Wait," John interrupted Ridley, holding up a chain-bound hand, "You cried over his rejection?"
Ridley sighed, they'd been over this already, "I told you John, I'm not all dark."
"You're not all light either," He added.
"Now don't you just sound like little Lena"
"Alright, alright," John gave up, "Carry on. Didn't you end back up here?"
Ridley nodded, "In this exact cage, though I didn't have the nifty cuffs. Lets just say that Abraham wasn't too pleased I'd agreed to side with him if he gave me my powers back and then did a runner the next day, so my stay wasn't too enjoyable. But it's true what they say you know, I barely felt a thing through the torture 'cause I was numb with heartbreak, which let me tell ya, is bloody painful. Not recommended..." Ridley froze and John could almost see the light switch on in her head, "I have an idea."
"Is it an insane half a plan like you usually come up with?" His question was answered with a nod and sneaky smile from Ridley and he sighed, "Great, just great."
"Just listen will you," She whined, eyes scanning the room around their cage, void from any other people but themselves, "This cage is designed so it absorbs our powers right?" John nodded along, "Well as soon as we get out then they would work again, correct?"
"Yeah but we have to get out first," the Hybrid reminded the Siren.
"Without your powers you're still pretty strong, do you think that if I could get you out of your cuffs you could stretch the bars of the cage just enough for me to slip through?" As if to emphasise her point, Ridley shook two of the bars, they were flimsy alright, but Ridley just wasn't strong enough.
"Easy, but how are you going to get me out of the cuffs?" That's when Ridley pulled out her secret weapon from the back pocket of her tight black skirt: a bobby pin. Within the next ten minutes Ridley had used the hair slide to unlock the cuffs on both of her wrists and moved onto John's, which took even less time and soon John was prying apart two golden bars.
Mid-pull, John stopped and turns to Ridley sceptically, "How do I know you'll come back for me?"
"'Cause I'm not an evil bitch anymore?" Ridley attempted, only for John to give her a sceptic look, "Because I'm not as evil anymore? I'm still a bitch."
It seemed to be enough for John, within seconds he had pulled the bars as far apart as they would go, a big enough gap for a Siren, too small for a Hybrid Incubus. Ridley squeezed through and felt her powers surging back into her veins, and she felt... powerful.
She stomps her way to the door and bangs on it and in only a few short moments two of Abraham's goons come bursting through, but Ridley's waiting for them and soon they've decided - with a little help of course - that it was time for a nap. Ridley snatches the keys off of one of them and unlocks the cage for John, and soon they're ripping back home.
They land on their feet by the front door of Ravenwood Manor and Ridley goes to open the entrance, but John's hand clamps down on her wrist before she gets the chance, "Thanks Rid, and not just for thinking us a way out of there, but for telling me all that stuff with Link. Thanks for trusting me."
Ridley nods and flings the door open to be greeted with four worried faces that turn to relief as they see their friends back again. Liv flies into John's open arms and Ridley stands awkwardly next to them, eyes locked on Link's.
"Hey Shrinky Dink, miss me?" She asks, cocky as ever.
He smiles so she knows his next one liner is a joke, "Like a rash, babe."
And for once, Ridley doesn't tell him not to call her babe, instead she runs as well as she can in skyscraper heals and pulls Link into her. She twists her head so her mouth is right by his ear and whispers, "I love you, Link." For the first time.
Link is shocked, he knew she loved him, more than she's ever loved anyone else - not that she's ever loved anyone but herself and Lena before him - and she had often said 'Right back at you' or 'You two' when he's told her he loves her, and she'd admitted it for the first time by simply nodding and crying when he asked,but never before had she been the one to say those three little words, and without prompting.
It was one of the best moments of Link's life.