AN: Jara is going to happen. I can feel it. And then what happens? Oh well. One more chapter for tonight, next one tomorrow night.

Rose POV

The pendulums swung around me, but already I was working a plan in my mind. I noticed how they moved and how they swung, but then everyone started shouting.

"Turn around, slowly."

"Be careful."

"Don't fall!"

"Why on earth would I fall?" I asked. "Shut up, shut up, everybody shut it!" I shouted. They all fell silent.

"Serioulsy, try not to die, I'd have a hard time explaining that to Jerome," Alfie said in a pathetic attempt to be funny.

"Somehow I think he'd get over it," I muttered so no one else could hear me. Then I moved one of my feet sideways, and slowly spun myself around to the side. I had to remember that the pendulums were still swinging to I had to tuck my arms by my sides. I finished turning around.

I waited until the first pendulum in my way sliced past me, then I stepped forward. Then I waited out the second, then stepped forward again. Sibuna pulled me away from the hole. We decided to call it a night, and went upstairs.

O-o-O

"A rose, for my darling Rose," Jerome said from behind me, handing me a dark red rose.

"This is sweet," I said.

"Just a little thank you present for going with me to see my dad," he said. "Have you seen Mara, I got her a flower too."

"Uh, no, I haven't. But I'll give it to her, okay?" I said.

"Yeah, I gotta go," he replied quickly before handing me Mara's flower and taking off. I took the flower and threw it in the trash.

"That's a pretty flower," a voice said from behind me, and I turned around to see Mara. At first I thought she saw the flower I had thrown away, but instead she was looking at my rose.

"Jerome gave it to me," I said.

She smiled. "See? I told you you have nothing to worry about."

If she only knew.

I made myself smile. "Yeah, guess I was just being insecure for nothing. By the way, I wanted to apologize for what I said. I really REALLY didn't mean it. Sometimes I say things I don't mean."

"I understand, and I get why you're worried. Don't be. I won't let anything happen," Mara reassured me before walking away, going to class. The warning bell rang, but I didn't feel like going to class after that. I walked out of school and ran toward the woods to be alone. Once there, I just sat and held my rose.

O-o-O

I skipped out on Sibuna's practices on how to get past the pendulums. I knew how. But if they wanted to dance their way across, that was fine by me. Besides, I had more important things to worry about.

Jerome assured me nothing was wrong and that he loved me. I felt like he was lying and telling the truth at the same time.

"Tonight, we're going down and we are getting across the pendulums and if you don't care enough to practice, don't come crying to us when you get chopped in half," Fabian said.

"Someone's touchy," I noted.

"Sorry."

"It's okay."

Later that night, we went down and opened the shelves to get into the library.

"Wait!" I whispered frantically just as Victor came out ofthe bookshelf. He was blinded and couldn't see. He ended up leaving and we decided it was too risky to go down there when Vera might be down any minute to figure out what was blinding him. We went upstairs to bed, with the promise of going back down first thing in the morning.

"I'll take the amulets," I said. We had decided it was too risky to leave them down there. "I have a lockable drawer."

"How did you get a lockable drawer?" Fabian asked in amazment.

"I made it. I have a lot of valuables that need safekeeping, so it won't even be suspicious. Then again, I never wear any of those diamond necklaces or anything—" I cut off. I had an idea. "Tell Jerome I need to talk to him," I told Alfie, then rished upstairs. I could practically feel the rest of Sibuna's confused faces following me up.

Alfie must have passed along the message, though, because Jerome came up to my room a few minutes later. I was just unlocking my drawer when he came up.

"You guys are gonna get in trouble," Joy said.

"Nah, Victor's gone blind or something, and Vera's taking care of him...which is creepy in and of itself...but no. I don't think we'll get in trouble."

"Okay, then I'm going to go see Patricia and Mara." Joy left the room.

"What's up?"

"I have something for you," I said, and handed him a necklace. It was a heart with a row of jewels down the center.

"Rose, I love you, but you give terrible gifts," he joked.

"Do you know what those are? Those are real diamonds. And I know you still need to pay off your PI, so I'm giving you this to sell and pay off."

"This is probably worth more than I owe him," he objected.

"Keep it. I don't need it, and it's a gift for you."

He thanked me and left, and I finally got to get some sleep.

O-o-O

The next morning, the six of us met in the hall and were going to go down into the cellar when we heard a noise. Everyone else shrank against the wall, but I went to investigate, knowing who it was.

"What are you doing here, Poppy?" I asked.

"What are you doing up?" she replied.

I paused. "I won't tell if you don't."

"Deal," she said, and ran towards Jerome's room.

I signaled to everyone that the coast was clear, and then we all went down into the cellar. I passed out the amulets and we all put them on, and entered the tunnels. One at a time, everyone made it past the pendulums using Fabian's stupid song tactic. He tried to sing it for me, but the look on my face told him I wasn't in the mood to make this a sing-a-long. Instead I concentrated on watching the pendulums, anticipating their next moves and moving myself accordingly. Soon I made it across the bridge too, when we realized we were trapped in a dead end.

O-o-O

My dream was a lot like the dream where I had been marked. I woke with a start, knowing. It wasn't just me. Now, all of Sibuna was in danger.