Madison, being the psychology major that she was, stared levelly at me for about thirty full seconds in silence as though trying to decide between slapping me across the mouth or calling the nearest insane asylum to have me locked up before I could have the chance at hurting anyone. She didn't laugh or crack a smile, just watched me as levelly as she would under any other given circumstances. And I kept my face calm and every bit as level as hers, matching her gaze without daring to blink.

Out of all of my friends, Madison was the first to know when I was serious.

She was also the first to know when to stop me.

Which is the reason I held my breath for a long moment, waiting for her reaction.

Another pause, and then Madison shifted her position, setting her book to her side. Her legs were tucked beneath her, and she responded in a cool tone.

"Who's first?"

She could have been asking what time it was or which movie we were planning on seeing, for all the emotion that was in her voice. I nearly gaped at her with that, but decided that keeping to my dispassionate sort of behavior was going to be in my better interest for the time being.

"Sarah." I nearly spat the name as I curled one leg beneath me, the other dangling loosely off of the chair, swinging idly back and forth at the knee. My left hand busied itself, twirling a strand of my hair around and around my index finger with the assistance of my middle one. It was a characteristic of mine, exhibited mainly whenever I was in thought. "The problem I'm running into is how. But I know she has to be first."

"Not Jade?" Madison asked, watching me more intently now. She knew that I was serious, this much I was certain of, and I was relatively certain she'd become aware that talking me out of it was going to be next to impossible. At another time in my life I'd have been easily led astray from this idea, convinced in a moment's time that it was insanity and that I'd spend the greater part of my young and middle-aged life in prison for this, if not the rest of my existence.

But something inside of me was different. I could feel it, and I felt that Madison could see it. There were idle threats, and then there were threats with passion behind them. Threats that weren't just threats, they were something more.

Threats that were promises.

I shook my head once, quickly. "No. Not Jade yet. That would be too simple. She'd enjoy that too much." Bitterness laced through my voice and I lightly pushed it downwards, quieting that emotion. There was no time for anger. I couldn't afford to waste energy on remorse now. I had to focus everything I had into getting to where I needed to be. Each task at hand needed my complete and total concentration. I couldn't give that if my mind was elsewhere.

"Not yet," I said again, and this time my voice was completely steady. There, that wasn't so hard, was it? I asked myself. It wasn't so bad. "Sarah first. Then Charlotte, and then Jade. Just the three of them. I really don't have an agenda with anyone else."

"The Bride had five. Are you sure you aren't missing anyone?" Madison asked me, and I almost smiled again. She picked up on the reference instantly, and I shouldn't have doubted she would.

Another moment passed as I thought, this time far more carefully than I had before, considering, and then shook my head.

"No, those are the only ones. Marina never did anything to me. If anything she was the one that tried to warn me against this from the start. She warned me that Jade would only break my heart, and I didn't listen to her. I have no reason to go after Jade's family. And as for the rest of Jade's little girlfriends, most of them knew to stay out of my way." With the exceptions of Charlotte and Sarah, Jade's affairs had been taught to keep mostly quiet, and away from me. I'll have to admit there was a time when Jade did a decent job of keeping me safe.

Priorities suck, don't they?

"You aren't going after her family?" Madison asked me, and I knew she was thinking of The Bride's first threat to Vernita, the same thing that had come to my mind initially as well. But I shook my head again, still staying by the same reasoning I had before.

"No. If there's one thing I know about Jade, it's what matters to her. I know what I have planned for our meeting. But Charlotte and Sarah are the two people that mean a significant amount to Jade for various reasons. Besides," I said with a wry grin, "when I kill Jade, they'll just kill themselves. I'm doing them a favor, don't you think?"

That comment was rewarded with the raised eyebrow again, and that time I did smirk, resting my arm on Madison's desk and the side of my head against the palm of my hand, watching her reactions now from a sideways tilt.

Being deathly serious was fun. Especially when the reason you were so serious was, in fact, death.

"When?" Madison's next question, and probably the only one I didn't have a specific answer to.

"As soon as humanly possible," I replied easily, sitting upright again. "I have about four months before Jade is due to visit Sarah, and that simply can't happen. I can't well stop Charlotte's random treks to see Jade, but one step at a time. Jade cannot get on that plane." For a minute it seemed as though my voice belonged to someone else, and I actually had to pause. I liked this side of myself, the passionate side. Jade always chastised me for never having or showing emotion.

The little that she knew!

"All I need is a flight and a plan," I said levelly, "and I have one of those already. Will you drive me to the airport?"

"As if you even had to ask," Madison said, arching both her eyebrows at me as though I'd just challenged the fact that the sun rose in the East. "But what's your plan?"

The plan itself made me smile. Already I could feel that sadistic little curve to my mouth that gave even me the chills, twitching and turning its way upwards into a full smile. Oh, I had a plan, all right. A very thorough, thought out plan. I might have only recently developed the drive to carry it out, but that didn't mean the plan hadn't been brewing in the back of mine for months or years.

I looked like a nice girl. It didn't mean I had nice thoughts.

"The only thing I'm missing is a weapon," I continued, "and that's part of the reason I came to see you. I wanted your opinion. What should I carry?" For emphasis I held up my hands, palms forward first before turning them the opposite way. My eyebrows were raised faintly as though in question, and I watched Madison's face as she considered for a long moment.

Finally she sat forward, standing up, and I followed suit by doing the same.

"Get some real shoes on," she said, pointing downwards to my feet. "We have some shopping to do."