Warning: I don't own Slayers and some of the characters might be OOC.

=Chapter III=

It was late in the evening when the young girl's eyes fluttered open. She glanced around the room that she was in and frowned. Where am I again? Her crimson eyes slowly wandered the room, caressing each object as she passed it. Suddenly, it hit her. She had been caught stealing…

'CRAP!'

However, this place was far better than a jail cell which she should have been shoved in. Instead, it looked like she was placed in an inn. Everything seemed beautiful. The large bed, which had flower-printed linen on it, felt almost like the reassuring waves of water. Next to her bed, was an old square table with carvings of what appeared to be some sort of winged creature of the past. Was it a dragon maybe? The lamp that sat upon the table had to be centuries old. Her eyes examined the soft carvings and realized that it was an original.

She stuck out a hand and touched it. Some idiot had left a thief in a room with priceless items. The young girl almost grinned but the suspicious part of her mind stopped her. What happened?

She remembered stealing the pendant. Her hand shot up from underneath the covers and she realized that she no longer carried it. Then the piercing blue eyes that she had seen flashed in her mind's eye. Her hand closed into a fist and she began to shake with anger. "A SET UP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. As soon as she had screamed, she clamped her hand over her mouth. Her sister had always warned her that her mouth would get her into trouble…who knew her sister would be right nine billion times out of nine billion and three?

The door opened slowly and a young girl with short dark hair and a tunic trimmed in pink walked in with a large grizzly man who wore…a prince's crown?, a cape, a large dress shirt and leggings. The red eyed girl nearly gagged. How could a prince look like this? Knight in shining armor my ass. The dark haired girl found a chair and pulled it up next to the bed. She reached for the red eyed girl's hand and whispered some words of healing.

"Lina Inverse," the large man said. His voice was deep and forceful. Suddenly, a grin lit his face as he stuck an enormous hand in front of her face. He grabbed her already limp arm and shook it violently. "I'm Prince Phil, ruler of this kingdom." He pointed at the black haired girl. "And that is my daughter, Amelia." He smiled a toothy grin at Lina. "I heard you were pretty, but I never thought this pretty." He leaned closer to the petite red head and he fluttered his eyelashes.

Lina felt flustered and pained at the rather wicked shake of her arm. "Could you…" 'watch your tongue, Inverse,' "please get away from me?" she asked. Then she thought about it. 'How'd he know my real name?'

"One of our people caught you lurking about in the Shrine of Hope," Amelia butted in as she finished the healing spell. "I wanted to throw you in jail where low lives like you belong, but my father thought otherwise." Amelia stared up at her dad and shoved a finger at Lina's face. Lina debated whether or not to bite it off. "SHE'S A PETTY THEIF, FATHER. SHE DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE HERE!"

"I disagree," said another voice. Lina glanced around Prince Phil to the door. What she saw made her jaw want to drop.

"It can't be," Lina whispered. Dozens of memories surged through her head in a blink of an eye.

Amelia glanced up at the man that entered the room. Her eyes brightened at the sight of him and she stood up to greet him. He held up one fingerless gloved hand before she could throw herself at him. He nodded to the prince and entered the room.

His eyes fell to the young girl that lay in the bed. She couldn't be anymore than sixteen or seventeen. She looked so angry and suspicious. He was happy to know that she didn't have any magic in her body, otherwise, he got the feeling that she would use it to damage the three people that stood around her.

He took off his mask and dropped his hood. He was expecting her to recoil at the image that would greet her, but she didn't look the least bit bothered. This was unusual. He had wisps of lavender hair that fell over one of his eyes and along the back of his neck. He had blue eyes that seemed to bore into a person's soul, a straight nose and a mouth that forever seemed turned down in a frown. However, his skin was completely stone; pebbles were even embedded all over his face. "I'm Zelgadiss Graywords."

She seemed unimpressed by his name. If anything, she looked like she was ready to pounce on him. He wasn't bothered by that. Most people didn't know about him, unless he mentioned his great grandfather.

Amelia, however, looked very bothered. "Do you know who he is?" she asked slowly.

Lina knew what she had to do. When you don't know what's going on, play dumb. Her eyes grew wide and she tried to look scared. "I'm sorry, sir," she almost laughed at the accent that she used. She sounded like a mixture of a crying wolf and a bull in mating season. She even enjoyed watching Zelgadiss wince at the voice.

"You've never heard of the second strongest shaman of our time?" Amelia began. She was about to start a tirade but Zelgadiss intervened just in time.

"Quit playing, Inverse. Our organization has been watching you for a very long time." 'You just don't know how long…' Zel thought to himself.

Lina dropped the act instantly. "I don't know whether to be flattered or sickened by this information."

Zelgadiss had the decency to blush slightly. He turned his head and coughed to hide his discomfort as Phil decided to take over the conversation.

"If you hadn't known, there has been a lot of…" Phil tried to search for a better word, but failed miserably, "things going on in the world nowadays. If you noticed, the weather has been acting a bit funny."

Lina sighed impatiently. Her eyes clashed with Phil's blue eyes and she frowned. "Would you please quit beating around the bush and tell me my ultimatum? Either I go do this or I go to jail."

"We need you to steal some things for us,"* Zel began slowly.

Amelia looked as if she were about to protest, but was cut off by Lina's foot making contact with her face. "Why don't you just ask any other thief out there? There's a ton of us lurking around the streets."

Zel shook his head. "According to my informants, you're the best. I also hear you have a strange ability with today's magic. We'll pay you for your work and take care of all your food rations."

"How much per day?"

"About 1000 gold pieces per day."

Lina thought about that. It was a lot of money since she didn't know how long she'd be working for them. That, and she'd be getting free food…Suddenly, she grinned. "Make it 35000 gold a day."

The corner of Zel's mouth twitched further down. He wasn't in the mood for this. In a few more months, all that he worked for…"Fine. You're ultimatum, as you wished for, is before you. What do you pick. Do you join us?"

Lina fell back into the bed and threw the sheets around her shoulders. "I'll sleep on it," she replied.

=End Chapter=

* Once again, this idea was taken from the book The Thief's Gamble by Juliet E. McKenna

It may sound like I'm picking on Amelia, and I am…no wait…that's not it. Um, it's her first impression in this story. Although it comes out as annoying, it's not suppose to be that way. She just has a strong personality and voices what she thinks…yea…that's it…good save…