After what seemed like hours, Dojo's screaming finally ceased. Once it did, Moonskin dashed to a cabinet, opened it, and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. The door opened and Raimundo and Daggereyes entered. Dojo lay shaking in Raimundo's hand, sobbing into his claws. Omi tried to call out to him, but his gag muffled his voice. Daggereyes's sunglasses were off, but her eyes were closed and she was muttering to herself. Raimundo watched as Moonskin went to her, pressed the pencil and paper into her hands, lead her to the table, swept the mirror and remaining pieces to the edge, and stood aside. Still muttering, Daggereyes smoothed the paper onto the table and began scribbling furiously. Because her back was to the warriors, they couldn't see what was flowing onto the paper or even if Daggereyes had opened her eyes.

Once Raimundo peeked at what she was doing and nodded in approval, he went to the cabinet Moonskin had opened and searched through it. "Now we can do our stuff with the gecko, right?" Rustfoot asked him hopefully.

"Wrong." Raimundo answered, pulling a burlap sack out of the cabinet.

He stuffed Dojo into it, dug into his pocket, took out a handful of dust, held it near his mouth, and blew it into the bag. He whispered something to Dojo as he tied the bag shut with a piece of rope.

Kimiko didn't think she had ever hated Raimundo more than she did at that moment. How dare Raimundo even think of hurting Dojo, the dragon that was almost impossible to hate. She made a silent promise to Dojo and herself that Raimundo was going to pay dearly for the evil things he'd done. Oh boy, when she got free was he ever going pay.

Omi was in shock. Raimundo harming Dojo? Had Raimundo's mind been lost? Or perhaps Dojo hadn't been in as much pain as they thought. Dojo did tend to exaggerate and overreact when he was frightened. Perhaps he wasn't even hurt, just scared badly. Yes, that had to be it. After all, Raimundo harming Dojo? Unthinkable.

Clay was as upset as the others, but something was nagging at the corner of his mind. Several things actually. What was Dojo doing out here? And why did he look so terrified when he first saw Raimundo or one of the followers? And why were all the followers so eager to kill him? Come to think of it, Raimundo didn't seem pleased to see Dojo either. Clay remembered how when he had interfered, Raimundo told him that there was something between him and Dojo. But the most harm Dojo could do was sneeze or cough soot at you. What did Dojo do?

Daggereyes had finally stopped scribbling and muttering. She reached into her pocket, pulled out her shades, and slid them on. Raimundo noticed she was finished, wedged the bag between some jars on one of the shelves, and went to her. She snatched up the paper and handed to him. During this transfer, Kimiko was able to see the paper from her seat. It looked like a map. As Raimundo looked it over, his face flooded with confusion and disbelief. "Are you sure that this is right?"

Daggereyes nodded. "I even double-checked."

Raimundo whistled. "They did a good job of coming this far without us knowing."

"Lemme see that." Rustfoot made a grab for the paper, but Raimundo stepped away and held it high over his head. "I dunno if that's a good idea."

"Oh come on. We've gotta know where we're headed too."

"Who said you're coming?"

"You're going alone?" Moonskin asked, surprised. "Silvertongue, that's dangerously foolish, even for you."

"So was swapping opponents, and it was because of that little stunt that I had to do all the work myself."

"You didn't have to get the girl for me." Rustfoot said defensively. "I would have caught her."

"Wait a sec." Daggereyes looked at Moonskin and Rustfoot, grinning crookedly. "You two actually made the switch?"

Silvertongue raised an eyebrow. "You knew?"

"I overheard them talking about it, but I didn't think that they'd be stupid enough to really do it." She looked back at Moonskin and folded her arms across her chest. "And you're calling Silvertongue foolish? Moonskin, the monk was firing running water for crying out loud. Maybe no one told you, but running water repels dead people."

"This is completely off topic." Moonskin snapped. "We're not talking about my mistake, we're talking about Silvertongue going alone to face the enemy."

"Listen." Silvertongue rubbed his face. "First of all, you guys won't be able to change for awhile-"

"We don't necessarily need to be in our second forms to kill, Silvertongue." Moonskin interrupted. "You know that better than anyone."

"Let me finish. It's not that I doubt you and Rustfoot, I mean you're both terrific fighters. Daggereyes, no offense-"

"None taken. I know I can't fight worth beans. Still, people flee in terror when-"

"I know, please let me finish. What I'm saying is that they're going to be ready for you guys this time and if one of you gets caught or injured, everyone else is going to be too busy trying to save their own skins to save you. It'll just be easier to have fewer lives to worry about while I'm fighting."

"Kind of like in chess when all you've got left are your queen, a rook, and a bishop?" Moonskin asked.

"Right. Also someone's gotta watch the prisoners. So could you all just stay here? I'll try and be fast."

Moonskin sighed. "Very well."

Daggereyes shrugged. "I've got no problem staying."

Rustfoot scratched his head. "When you say 'they're going to ready for you', do you mean that they'll be using the right ways to kill us this time?"

"Yeah."

"I'll stay."

"Good. I'll be back as fast as I'm gone."

And he left. But almost as soon as the door closed, he came back in, groaning and rubbing his temples. Rustfoot raised an eyebrow. "Wow. That was incredibly fast. Probably a universal record."

"Did you forget something, Silvertongue?" Daggereyes asked.

"Yes," Silvertongue replied. "I forgot how big a mistake it was to leave you freaks to watch the prisoners."

"Why is it a big mistake?"

"Because every time I leave at least one of you in a room with a tied up monk, when I come back they're dead."

This comment made the apprentices' feelings of anger, shock, and curiosity vanish and be replaced with anxiety. There was a moment of awkward silence. Then Daggereyes looked at Moonskin and Rustfoot and said something that didn't help the warriors feel safe. "You know, he has a solid point."

"Yeah, yeah." Rustfoot held up his hands. "So how do we handle this?"

"You're certain we can't come with you?" Moonskin asked.

"Someone has to watch them."

There was another silence. Daggereyes broke it again. "Look, how about while we're watching the warriors we watch each other. I'll watch Moonskin, he can watch Rustfoot, and Rustfoot can watch me."

"That's a good idea." Rustfoot agreed. "And if one gets ripped to shreds in the process, the two left can focus on each other."

Silvertongue didn't seem satisfied with that. "You all promise not to touch any of them unless one escapes? And even then you'll just do what you have to do to catch them and afterwards continue to leave them alone until I get back?"

The warriors were all puzzled by the odd way Raimundo was speaking. The followers looked like they were too.

"Sure, we promise."

"Okay."

"Alright."

Silvertongue spat on his hand and held it out, apparently wanting one of them to shake it. The followers looked almost fearfully at it. "You cannot be serious." Rustfoot said.

"Do you want to keep your promises?"

"Silvertongue, can't you trust us to keep our words on our own?" Daggereyes sounded hurt.

"Normally yes, but not when it comes to things like this. Look, I've really got to go, so can you all just seal the deal already?"

There was a reluctant pause. Then Moonskin slowly reached out and shook. Afterwards Silvertongue spat on his hand again and held it out. Rustfoot rolled his eyes and grasped his hand. Silvertongue repeated the action he had performed moments ago. Daggereyes stared at the hand a minute before hesitantly taking it.

Silvertongue grinned. "Okay then. We're good. See you guys later." Then he opened the door and disappeared, wind pulling the door closed after him.

Clay noted the surprised looks on Kimiko's and Omi's faces. He made a mental note to tell them about how the shen-gong-wu had affected Raimundo. That is, if the followers kept their word. For some reason, he felt that they would.

For a moment, everything was completely still. Then Rustfoot asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Now what?"

Moonskin shrugged. "You heard Silvertongue. Nobody touches the Xiaolins until he gets back unless they make a break for it." Moonskin reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. "You guys up for a little Thirty-one?"

"Always." Rustfoot sat down cross-legged on the floor.

Daggereyes sat across from him. "Deal me in."

Moonskin sat down, shuffled the cards, and began dealing.

After a few minutes of watching them play, the apprentices started to relax a bit. Making no sudden movements that would attract the followers' attention, they casually glanced around to try and figure out a way to escape. But each of their plans were shot down by some obstacle. The knots and ropes were too tight, the chairs were too heavy, the door too well guarded, there were no shen-gong-wu in sight except for the Reversing Mirror which was broken, and to bottom it on, all the warriors' movements were being watched.

'It's top it off, Omi.'

That too.

After what felt like an hour or so, a gleam at the corner of Moonskin's mouth caught Kimiko's eye. She squinted the see what it was. But the gleam trickled down his chin and lowered itself to the floor like a spider on a thread. Then more seeped through his thin lips and followed the first. He was drooling. He didn't seem to realize it though. Daggereyes and Rustfoot did after awhile, but didn't say anything. Omi and Clay noticed too, but couldn't say anything. Soon there was a small puddle on the floor. Rustfoot finally spoke up. "Hey, Moonskin. Are you by any chance hungry at all?"

When Moonskin opened his mouth to answer, more saliva flowed out and his reply was dampened beyond regonition. He clamped a hand over his mouth and his eyes got wide. Humiliated, he looked down at the puddle of spittle. Daggereyes cast an annoyed glance at Rustfoot. "Rustfoot, don't be an asshole."

Kimiko was almost wishing Omi would fall asleep or something so he couldn't hear the followers' potty mouths. He might assume they were using slang and try to add them to his vocabulary, not realizing the offense they would cause or how rude they would be.

Daggereyes got up, walked over to a cabinet, and fished out some rags. She threw a couple over to Moonskin. He wiped off his chin and mouth, then knelt to clean up the puddle. "Sorry Moonskin." Daggereyes said. "We thought you would catch yourself eventually."

"Maybe you did." Rustfoot snickered. "I was hoping he'd drown the monks."

"What did I just say?"

"Yeah, don't be an asshole. Sorry."

Rustfoot tossed his cards over his shoulder, got up, and to the apprentices' surprise and Kimiko's horror, started taking off his clothes. "I'll go grab you some dinner, Moonskin. Call me if there's a loose monk."

He had just stripped down to his boxers, when Daggereyes noticed the horrified expression on Kimiko's face. "Rustfoot, maybe for the girl's sake you could take those off outside."

"It's not like there's anything to see." Moonskin muttered, earning him a whack on the side of the head.

"You should talk." Rustfoot retorted. "Alright, I'm going."

He started for the door, but abruptly froze. He slowly raised a hand to his face and looked at his nails. Kimiko realized that he was trying to change into a wolf, but whatever Raimundo sprayed him with was still blocking his effort. Rustfoot turned back to the others with a pained expression. "I hate it when Silvertongue does this. I always feel like half of me is being repressed."

"It feels that way because it is." Moonskin said.

Daggereyes turned back to the cabinet and rooted around it, audibly muttering to herself. "Where did I put that? Did I put it in here or was that the cleaning salve? I put it under the extra blankets, right? Ah, here it is."

She closed the cabinet and went to Rustfoot, holding a jar of powder. She screwed off the lid and took out a handful of its contents. "Rustfoot, could you kneel?"

Rustfoot took a step back. "What is that stuff?"

Instead of replying, Daggereyes grabbed Rustfoot, forced him to the floor, and held him there while she sprinkled the powder over him. When she was done, she helped him back to his feet and screwed the jar shut. "Try changing again."

Rustfoot held a hand in front of his face again and this time his nails grew three inches. Moonskin, who had just finished cleaning, froze. Rustfoot's eyes grew twice their size as he looked at Daggereyes. "You made an antidote?"

"Don't tell Silvertongue that you know. He's not gonna like that. If you need this stuff, I keep it under the extra blankets. But we don't have a lot of this, so it's only to be used for emergencies, okay?"

Rustfoot gave her a quick hug. "You're a lifesaver. Thanks." And he ran out the door.

Daggereyes offered some of the powder to Moonskin before she put it back in the cabinet, but he shook his head. "I don't feel the need to change every time I can like he does, but thanks."

When Daggereyes's back was turned, he gazed at Omi longingly. Omi felt his body tremble in fear from the gaze, but could not identify why. There was something in Moonskin's eyes, something frightening that almost resembled hunger, desire, and pain, but with something more, something-

"Moonskin, you're drooling again." Daggereyes spoke up.

Moonskin quickly wiped his chin and looked away from Omi, seemingly ashamed.

"Moonskin, I know what you're thinking and don't. Even if you didn't make that deal with Silvertongue, he'd know by the marks on their necks."

"I know." Moonskin whispered.

"You know, if you really can't wait for Rustfoot to come back you can have some of my blood."

"Thank you, but no." Moonskin replied a little too quickly. "You donated recently and it wouldn't be fair." He sighed. "I wish Silvertongue hadn't called off the attack on the dwellers. It seems ages since I've had human blood."

"Maybe Silvertongue'll bring you back a body or something. Hey, wanna play war to take your mind of your hunger?"

"Why not?"

After five minutes of the apprentices useless struggling and plotting and Moonskin and Daggereyes slapping down cards, Rustfoot returned in his human form carrying a dead turkey. Moonskin stopped playing as soon as he walked in and looked at the turkey the same way he had looked at Omi. Rustfoot tossed it at him. "Bon appetite."

No sooner had Rustfoot spoken than Moonskin ripped the feathers off the turkey's neck and opened his mouth wide. The warriors watched in amazement as Moonskin's canines grew about an inch longer. He sank them into the neck, sucking noisily and closing his eyes in pleasure. The moment his fangs entered the carcass, Kimiko shut her eyes, Clay turned a sickly green, and Omi, being the curious clueless monk he was, kept staring in astonishment.

As Moonskin drank, Rustfoot got dressed and Daggereyes was rushing around the caravan getting out jars filled with clear fluids, a pair of leather gloves, and a bloodstained thick table cloth. She took the mirror and its remains off the table, dumped them on a shelf, then threw the table cloth over the table, and set the jars on it, opening them all afterwards.

Finally when it looked as though Omi's eyes where as big as they could get, Moonskin's noises became dry sounding and he detached his mouth from the turkey, his face covered in blood. He hastily licked it off, ignoring Omi's rude staring and Clay's look of disgust. When the noises stopped Kimiko opened her eyes. Moonskin got up, took the bloodless fowl over to Daggereyes, and laid it on the table in front of her. "Thanks." She told him as she pulled on the gloves. "Hey, Rustfoot, you wanna take over for me in war while I do this?"

"Sure." He and Moonskin plopped onto the floor and resumed the game.

The apprentices watched as Daggereyes searched her pockets until she pulled out a switchblade, flicked it open, and began sawing away at the turkey. Again, due to having her back to the warriors, they were unable to see what she was doing. Then her hand went from her work to over a jar and she dropped in a shriveled heart. Kimiko looked away. Clay willed not to vomit for if he did, the gag would've only made him swallow it. Omi, who apparently didn't understand exactly what Daggereyes was doing, continued watching her remove bones and internal organs.

Kimiko tried to think of something else, but couldn't help wondering what they would want with the body parts. After all, it wasn't like they were important or sacred or anything. They came from a turkey for crying out loud.

Rustfoot paused the game for a moment and looked at the door. "Is it me, or is Silvertongue taking a little too long?"

Moonskin shrugged. "He's probably just having trouble finding the right time to strike."

"What if he got caught?"

"You are talking about Silvertongue, right?"

"You don't think we should go after him?"

"I'm sure he's fine."

"What if he got lost? Hey, Daggereyes, are you sure you got the right directions?"

Daggereyes didn't reply. She kept at her work. Then everyone, even Omi, started to notice that she wasn't cutting. She was just stabbing repeatedly.

"Daggereyes?"

She stuck the switchblade in the turkey once more, slammed her hands onto the table making everyone jump, and bowed her head. "I - I'm sorry. I can't do this. I can't friggin' stand it. I – I'm trying to resist, but - Silvertongue was right. This was a huge mistake. I can't do this."

She turned with a solemn expression, pulled off her gloves, dropped them on the table, picked up the switchblade, and started walking toward Omi. Omi's heart almost stopped. He was unable to protect himself against anything she would do. What would she do? He knew that Dojo seemed unharmed after Daggereyes and Raimundo were though with him, but from what?

Daggereyes stepped behind Omi's chair. Omi closed his eyes tightly and braced himself, but felt nothing. He just heard the sound of something being sawed.

"Ummmm, Daggereyes?" Rustfoot asked. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Loophole." She breathed. "We can't touch them unless they escape so-"

Omi felt his binds loosen, then leave him. His chair abruptly lurched forward, throwing him to the floor. He tried to get up, but suddenly found himself on the floor on his back with Daggereyes above him pinning down his arms and legs.

"Daggereyes, no!" Moonskin yelled. "We don't know why Silvertongue wants them alive and he might-"

"SILVERTONGUE CAN GO TO HELL!" Daggereyes screamed at him. "I'VE GOT A FRIGGIN' RIGHT TO KNOW! I HAVE TO KNOW! NOW AND THEN I'D LIKE TO FEEL SAFE IN MY OWN HOME! HOW ABOUT YOU TWO? YOU FEEL OKAY HAVING HIM HERE?"

Omi didn't understand. How was this going to make her feel safe? And he was just tied up. What harm could he have done? And what was she so desperate to know?

When neither Moonskin nor Rustfoot replied, she shook her head violently until her sunglasses flew off, hit the floor, and slid to the side of the room. Moonskin moved as if to stop her from doing something, but then seemed to change his mind. Rustfoot tilted his head, crossed his arms, and watched. They weren't going to help Omi.

When the sunglasses came off, Omi thought that it was nice to finally see her eyes. Those glasses were really bothering him. But when she looked down at him and he did see her dark green eyes, he saw something that made him swiftly change his mind. At that moment, he would've done almost anything for her to put the sunglasses back on. He gasped in horror at what he saw and quickly looked away. Daggereyes's elbows relieved her hands of the job of holding down Omi's arms so she could grab his face and pull it to face hers. "LOOK AT ME!" She yelled, sticking her face right up in his. "LOOK AT ME!"

Omi shut his eyelids, but Daggereyes pried them open, so he had no choice but to look deeply into her eyes.