AN: to all of my lovely readers: hi. I tried my absolute hardest to make this chapter longer for your viewing pleasure! 3,000 words, yay! Enjoy and tell me what you think! In the next couple chapters YOU'RE GOING TO FIND OUT THE ULTIMATE PLOT TWIST! I'm actually really excited to reveal this to you guys! Everything will soon make much more sense!

I wake to the smell of burning wood. My eyes sting for a moment as I open my eyes to the smoky atmosphere around me. I hear chanting in the distance. Now that I am not drugged at all I know exactly where I am.

I sit up from where I lay upon animal pelts and look around me. I know the Chief had said I could only leave for now, but he didnt even give me the chance to make it back to the House. He didnt even let me say goodbye to Cassius before stealing me back.

He walks into the tent now as I let the realization that I never truly left sink in. It was all a drug-induced dream, I think miserably to myself as the Chief stares at me with his dark eyes. I want to open my mouth, to scream at him to let me go, but I know he doesnt understand me when I speak, so I merely stare at him, trying my best to communicate through my eyes.

He lets the flap of the tent fall shut behind him, darkening the space exponentially. My heart begins to beat erratically as I make to stand and leave the tent. I am not surprised when he pushes me back onto the pelts, but I still let out a small cry as I fall back. He is on top of me in an instant, his eyes consuming me as I struggle to wriggle out from underneath him. "Please," I say, knowing that it is useless but hoping he understands, "please don't. Please just let me go home."

As expected, he doesnt reply, merely grabs my wrists in one of his hands and pins them above my head. I kick but he is straddling me so that my legs are useless. "Please, no," I cry as his hand comes to stroke my face.

He says something softly in his language that I don't understand. He brushes my hair off of my shoulder and trails his fingers over my collar bone, stopping just before my heart, feeling it's irregular beat. He deftly moves his hand to grip my waist and I gasp, trying my best to pull away. I am successful only in managing to turn onto my side. His arm is now circling my waist and I can hear his soft breathing in my ear where he lays behind me.

"Just let me go," I plead.

I hear the Chief open his mouth. I am completely floored when I hear a whisper in my ear that says, simply, "Sophia."

My heart leaps into my throat and I struggle to break free of his hold.

"Sophia," he says again, urgently. "Cut it out."

What?

He is on top of me in an instant. "Sophia, stop. Wake up."

This time it isn't the gravely voice of the Chief, but the husky voice of a half-asleep Cassius.

"Come on, Blondie, wake up."

I come to violently with a gasp. I am lying on my back and Cas is straddling me, his hair shooting out at all angles as if he was just woken from sleep. His golden eyes are searching my face for an answer. "What was that?" he asks.

"Why are you on top of me?" I immediately counter. I try to move my arms but he has them pinned above my head, much like in my dream. "Let go of me."

He releases his hold on my wrists, but doesn't change his position at all.

"What are you doing?" I demand. "What happened?"

"I could ask you the same question!" he says, sounding exasperated. "One minute I'm sleeping like a baby and the next you're yelling at me to stop what I'm doing and let you go. You almost got in a couple of right hooks before I pinned you down."

"I..." this is all new to me. I never move around when I am asleep, never talk, nothing. "I had a bad dream."

"Obviously."

"I'm sorry."

He studies me for a long while. Now that he's had some decent sleep he looks much better with a healthier glow. Part of me wants to shove him off of me while another wants to pull him closer. Finally he sighs and slides off of me. "Don't be sorry," he says. "Everyone has bad dreams."

I sit up and rub my eyes. The dream was so real. My heart still seems to be pounding from it. "I thought I was back in that tent with the Chief. He walked in and..."

"Oh, Soph," Cassius says as he brushes a strand of hair out of my face. "It was just a dream."

"I thought that you were the dream and you'd never really come to get me."

Cas sighs and pulls me into his arms. I am not as shaken up about it as he seems to think I am, but I allow the embrace regardless, relishing the warmth of him. We stay like that for a long while, neither of us seeming to want to break up the moment.

Finally, though, I pull away and look at him. "Now what?" I ask, knowing that we have to talk about it sometime. Sooner rather than later.

Cassius furrows his brow. "I suppose we head back to the House, get things settled out there."

I shake my head. "That's not what I mean, Cas."

He sighs again. "I don't know," he says quietly, answering my real question.

Before I can reply he is out of the bed and stretching his arms. "We're not far from shore," he announces as he heads toward the stairs leading to the deck.

Once he is out of sight I lay back on the bed, deflated. I know that it is silly of me to think that Cassius would have dropped everything in his new life to be with me, but I cant help the sting that I feel when I think of what will happen once we reach the shore. Daphne will be there. And Peter. Are they expecting me? What will happen to me once I arrive?

Merely hours later, I hear Cassius call down to me. "Soph," he says, "come on. We're here."

Gathering up the remnants of my courage, I stand and head toward the stairs.

The sunlight hits my eyes at first, momentarily blinding me. But once my eyes adjust I see that we are docked on a small shore surrounded by a line of trees that I recognize almost instantly. This was where I was shipped off, where Peter sold me to the Tribe to be the Chief's wife.

But, most importantly, this meant I was home.

Cassius stepped out of the boat and helped me out after him. I felt a little ridiculous wearing nothing but an oversized tee and boxers, but I decide not to dwell too much on that fact. Cas begins to lead me up the shore and toward the trees when we hear a voice in the distance.

"Cassius?" someone calls. "Cassius!"

We both turn to see a figure running toward us down the beach, a figure with bright red hair and a beautiful gown.

Cassius lets out a breath. "It's me," he says as he opens his arms and welcomes her in an embrace.

"Oh, I was so worried!" she said, tears streaming down her pretty face. "I'm so glad you're back!"

"It's good to be home," Cassius says, smoothing her hair as he holds her. I avert my eyes.

"Sophie!" she exclaims as she sees me. She runs and pulls me into a hug. "I'm so sorry that this happened to you. How awful."

Awful doesnt even begin to describe the way I'm feeling. "Yeah," is all I manage to say as I hug her in return.

"Well," Daphne says, pulling away from me, suddenly sounding excited, "let's get to the House. Alice made this absolutely beautiful gown for me to wear for your homecoming dinner!"

I notice as I watch her that she is a lot let malicious than she used to be. Her self confidence is all still there shining brightly in her eyes, but I see now that she has truly gotten what she wanted in the form of Cassius that she has no need to be as horrible as she was when we were going through the trials together. She smiles at me genuinely as she meets my gaze.

"Cant wait," Cassius says, taking her hand, "I'm starved."

Daphne grabs my arm with her free hand and pulls me along with her.

Once we arrive back at the House my heart is practically humming I am so nervous for what is to come. But as soon as we enter through the large front doors- the very doors that I had left thinking that I was never going to come back through again- I heaved a huge sigh of relief when I saw who was waiting there for me.

"Something told me you'd be back," Alice tells me with a small smile.

And as soon as she tells me that, something in me breaks. I bite my lip and she rushes forward to meet me in a hug. I squeeze her small body to me, uncaring for the moment if I am hurting her or not. She doesn't argue, merely holds on as tightly as I am holding onto her. "Come on," she says, taking my hand and leading me away from Cassius and Daphne in the doorway behind me, "I have something for you to wear to dinner."

Once I am all cleaned up, Alice does my hair and makeup and puts me in a beautiful gown. It is white a wonderful white gossamer that falls around me in layers. I admire the way it moves as I walk, as if it is as alive as I am. "It's beautiful," I tell her. But the more I study it the more I realize something. "Alice," I say, turning to look toward her.

"Before you say what I know you're going to-"

"It looks like a wedding dress," I say, ignoring her protest.

Alice sighs as soon as the words leave my lips. "I know." She shrugs. "Maybe if Cassius sees you in this he'll start to reconsider the choice he's made."

I shake my head slowly. I've told myself repeatedly that I am not upset about it his decision; he'd told me himself that I wouldn't pass the tests because my heart simply wasn't in it, and even if it was in it, Daphne must have been the better option. "He's already made his choice, Alice," I say, sinking to sit on the bed. "There's no mind-changing to be made."

Alice comes over and takes my hands, pulling me back onto my feet. "Well, it couldn't hurt."

Dinner is a quiet affair, much like I remember. Even after all of the games are over, dinner is still an awkward affair.

Daphne looks absolutely stunning in a deep purple gown that glitters, her hair cascades around her in ringlet curls. She looks at Cassius with a warm smile as he settles into the seat next to her, wearing a fitting suit. Cassius looks at me and smiles.

"Happy to be back?" he asks me.

I dont know how to reply, so I take a drink of water. "Where are your parents?" I ask. I am more than a little relieved that Peter is not here, but am still curious.

Cassius shrugs as nonchalantly as he can, but I can see that something is wrong in his eyes. "Tied up with some business."

I am about to question it further but the food arrives and everyone's attention is now focused on the platters placed in front of us. Some type of fish is on the plate in front of me, and my mouth waters at the sight of the first actual food that I have seen since being taken by the Tribe.

After I eat every last bite without a second thought, I look up to see Daphne looking at me with a questionable look on her face.

"Is this the part where you make some joke about how hicks dont have any table manners?" I ask.

"Were they starving you or something on that indian reservation?" she asks.

"Mostly," I say without thinking about it. She flinches at how quick I am to respond.

"Well," she says, "I guess there was no need for table manners where you were."

"Daphne," Cassius warns, grabbing her hand, "don't be rude."

"I can stand up for myself," is all I say, looking pointedly at Cassius. For some reason I am annoyed at the mere sight of them sitting together in front of me.

"I'm not trying to start a fight," Daphne says, "Sophia is the one doing all the picking."

I clench my jaw so I don't say anything to make the tension at the table worse. I wish I could simply get up and leave like I used to do almost every meal that we had together. That's how I always dealt with tension: I'd leave so it wouldn't effect me.

We all get up from the table as if we're all thinking along the same lines of needing to get out of this room and exit together. Once in the hallway I shake off my anger and sadness, knowing that I shouldn't take it out on Daphne or Cassius.

"I'm sorry," I say after taking a deep breath to calm myself down. "I guess I'm just a little worn out."

"Do you want to go to bed?" Cassius asks, more gentle than I would have expected from him. Daphne and I both look at him with a bit of shock.

"I'm just asking," Cassius says, defensive.

"I'm fine," I say at the same time that Daphne says, "What happened between you two?"

There is an unbearable beat of silence.

"Nothing," I finally say.

Daphne studies me for a long while.

"She's telling the truth," Cassius says, taking Daphne's hand once more, which seems to calm her down some.

I stare at their joined hands and feel a pit deepen in my chest. I needed to leave but I wanted to stay.

"What will your father say?" I ask, still unable to take my eyes off of their hands.

"What do you mean?" Cassius asks.

"When he sees that I'm here. I'm not supposed to be here. You've already chosen your wife."

"She's right."

I whirl to see Peter standing behind me in the hallway outside of the dining hall. My heart completely stops in my chest before bursting back to life almost painfully and I can feel the color draining from my face.

"Father," Cassius says, stepping forward so that he is between the two of us. "I just brought her back from the Piccaninny Tribe and she needs rest, along with medicine that she cant get outside of the House."

Peter merely looks me up and down. I want to rush forward and hit him across the face as hard as I can. It's because of you that I'm here! I mentally scream at him.

"That," he says finally, "is no longer any concern of yours, Cassius. She should be out of the House with the other Lost Boys."

I want to fall to my knees and cry, but I am stronger than this man who values obedience over any other human trait. "Fine," I merely say.

Cassius turns to look at me. "Sophia, stop."

"No," I say, turning on my heels and heading down the hall. "If he wants me gone, I'll go. So long as he doesn't hunt me down once more and trade me to some other indian tribe across the lake."

Cassius stops dead in his tracks. "What?" he asks.

I am so angry and tired and sad that for a moment I forget that the whole reason I said nothing in the first place was to keep everyone but me safe from being hurt. But I am past the point of caring now. "Oh, he didn't tell you? He's the one that grabbed me and sold me to the highest bidder, just so that I would stay on this god forsaken land."

"Did I really?" is all that Peter says.

Cassius looks from his father to me and back again, a confused expression on his face. I turn and begin to walk down the hall once more, wanting nothing more than to get out of this house that is full of nothing but hurt memories and broken dreams.

"Sophia, wait!" I hear Cassius yell after me as I reach the front door. I turn to see him heading down the stairs toward me. "It's not what you think it is with my dad. Dont go," he tells me once he reaches me.

"It's exactly what I think, and I'm going."

"Stop being so childish," he says, reaching for me.

"Childish?" I echo, dodging his reaching hands.

"I stop at nothing to bring you back here and you're jealously threatening to leave."

I push open the door and turn to face him. "I am not jealous. And something tells me that you need to remember that you picked her-" I point toward the direction that Daphne is "and not me. You need to stop being a child and realize that you cannot have everything you want. You cant have us both."

"Once you leave, you can't come back," Cassius says.

"Good," I yell, stepping past the threshold and slamming the door behind me, building the wall between us forever.

AN: I hope your feels arent too hurt, my sweets. This had to happen in order for the story to move toward the big revealing twist in this story! Tell me what you guys think and I promise I'll try and update much faster next time!