Hey people! Here's my first Author's note! Sorry for not posting very often, I will try to keep it consistent from now on. For those who are asking, yes I will keep updating this story, and I have no idea how long it will be! My best estimate is... 5-10 more chapters? We'll see. Anyway, enjoy chapter seven!

"Maybe the evil Lunars wiped the memories of everyone you know because they're seriously jealous of your hair colour or something."

Cress and Iko were slumped on the couch in Cress' apartment, both of them half-heartedly running through ideas and possible scenarios. Empty bags of chips, a couple pizza boxes, and several sushi containers littered the floor. Neither of them had left the apartment in about 24 hours; Iko had even spent the night there with Cress. Ever since the call from Winter, Cress and Iko had been trying in vain to think of who might be targeting them, poring over lists of palace staff, possible Lunar acquaintances, and scrutinizing the files of every single palace employee hired within the last four weeks. They hadn't found much. Yué Zéi was still missing and Cinder was still sick, Thorne was still in love with Mia Martinez and Cress was still forgotten.

Perhaps the only silver lining of Cinder's illness was that it gave Winter an excuse to come to Earth. Cress and Iko were eagerly awaiting her arrival. They desperately needed help, and so far Winter had contributed most of the good ideas.

"'Time is it?" Cress mumbled, fishing for the last few chip crumbs left in the bag.

Iko eyed the chips longingly. "12:37 PM. Winter's ship is scheduled to arrive in 23 minutes. We should probably head to the palace soon."

"Yeah, okay. I'll go shower, and we'll leave in…" Cress mentally calculated how long it would take her to shower and change. "Thirteen minutes. Ready?"

Iko nodded, a smile spreading across her face. "Go!" she shouted, starting the timer on Cress' port.

Cress leaped off the couch and sprinted towards the bathroom, wrenching the tap for the shower and shedding her clothes. She had started this game to keep her moving, and also as a much needed distraction from all the craziness. When she was focused on showering and getting dressed in under thirteen minutes, she didn't have much time to feel sorry for herself.

Done with the shower, she turned off the tap and stepped out of the tub, grabbing her towel from its hook on the wall.

"Iko, time?" She yelled, hurriedly drying herself off.

"Four minutes and forty-nine seconds left!" Came Iko's reply.

Cress bolted to the closet in the bedroom, pulling a comfortable shirt off a hangar and screeching open a drawer to find a nice skirt to go with it. Satisfied with her choices, she slipped the clothes on and ran back to the bathroom to run a brush through her hair and pin a few strands back from her face.

"Two and a half minutes!"

Cress squeaked. She bolted out of the bedroom and found her shoes, shoving her feet inside them and tying up the laces. Iko was standing by the door, watching the timer countdown on Cress' portscreen. Cress looked around in a frenzy, trying to think of anything she missed.

"Where's…" she started, then lunged for her keys as she spotted them. "Okay!" she exclaimed, holding up her keys in triumph. "Time!"

Iko tapped the "stop" button on the screen and grinned. "Finished with fifty-eight seconds to spare. Next time, you're going to have to make twelve minutes!"

Cress smiled at her friend, breathing hard from her race around the apartment. "Okay. Let's get to the palace. Winter's coming!"

Both girls let out a squeal of excitement as they walked through the door, on their way to meet their friend.

.oOOo.

When they arrived at the palace, they found it in a state of hurried panic. Winter's arrival was sudden in the terms of diplomatic missions, so most of the palace staff was still scurrying around, preparing dishes and looking over itineraries. As they walked through the palace in the direction of the landing pad, Cress couldn't help but eye every single member of the staff with distrust.

On the roof of the palace where Winter's ship was due to land, Cress and Iko joined Kai in the procession of people waiting to greet the Lunar Ambassador. He gave them a small smile before returning his gaze to the sky.

"Did you find anything?" He asked quietly, still keeping his eyes focused on the sky.

Cress shook her head. "Not yet. I'm sorry. Winter said she'd help and that she had a few ideas of her own, so we were kind of waiting for her to get here before doing anything crazy."

Kai dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Makes sense."

"How's Cinder doing?" Iko asked.

"About the same. Not really any worse, but no better either. She still refuses to talk to anyone except me, and even then she'll only say a few words. I had another specialist check on her again, and he concluded the same thing as the rest: they have no idea why she's sick." His voice broke and he looked down, his calm demeanor faltering for a moment.

Cress touched his shoulder. "Kai, I'm so sorry. I'm going to find a way to fix this, I promise."

"I know." He took a deep breath then blew it out, then straitened his spine and continued to stare at the sky, where a small white ship could now be seen on the horizon. "I know. Thank you, Cress."

She gave him a small smile, even though she knew he wouldn't look at her to see it.

After a few minutes, the ship landed, its landing gear hissing and groaning as the ship was maneuvered gently onto the landing pad. They continued to wait in the sun for so long that Cress was almost sure that Winter had been tied up and gagged in the cargo hold and the kidnappers were trying to decide on how much to ask for ransom. Iko noticed her anxious expression and slung an arm across her shoulders.

"Hey, it's okay. They always take this long to come out. The pilot has a ton of protocols and stuff to follow. It's super annoying, they even had to do it when we returned to Luna. The first time it happened, Cinder and I had to sit through this whole speech about safety measures and terrorist attacks and landing mishaps and- ugh. Believe me, it's really boring."

Despite her worry, Cress laughed. A moment later, the loading door of the opened with a hiss, and Winter stepped out.

She was wearing a flowy pastel blue dress that fluttered around her feet and the opal necklace that Cress knew Jacin had given her around her neck. Her dark coily hair was lose and free around her shoulders, framing her face in a way that made her look even more beautiful. Even though Cress had seen her only three weeks ago, Winter still took her breath away. Even Kai seemed a little shocked to see her looking so perfect.

Kai cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Lunar Ambassador Winter Hayle. Welcome back to Earth."

Winter laughed and shook her head. "Oh, and Emperor Kai of the Easter Commonwealth, it's so very wonderful to be back on your planet, I'm sure I will find your hospitalities quite pleasing." She walked forward and wrapped Kai in a hug, then pulled back and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I think it's fit that we dispense with the formalities. They're ever so dreadfully boring anyway."

Kai smiled, probably his first real smile in days. "Thank you, Winter. Shall we?" He asked, gesturing to the doors that led back into the palace.

"Of course." Winter gave Iko a quick hug and smile before following Kai through the doors. She only spared Cress a small glance.

Once the four of them were settled in a private lounge room connected to Cinder and Kai's suite, Winter dropped the act. As soon as the maid that had come bearing tea had left, she strode across the room and caught Cress in a hug so tight that Cress squeaked.

"We need to talk." she looked around the room, met the eyes of each of her friends.

They nodded solemnly, and Winter began.

"I was walking with Jacin to do a routine examination of one of the textile manufacturing sectors. I got comm from Cress, and when I told Jacin about it, he acted like he didn't know who Cress was. At first I thought it was just some inane prank that Thorne was pulling on Cress, but Jacin actually didn't remember Cress." She paused while Iko and Kai nodded. "So I called Cress to make sure she was alright, and… well." Winter tossed up her hands in a gesture that said you know the rest.

"From what Cress has told me of the situation," she continued, folding her hands delicately in her lap. "A few things are clear to me. First of all, the only explanation for this is Lunar manipulation. I even checked with the royal lab on Luna and confirmed that even if there was a memory loss… potion, of sorts, there is no chance that it could cause the type or memory loss you seem to be experiencing. Blocking out specific memories for a prolonged period of time is impossible, especially since the events of the revolution and life afterwards have been altered in your head." She looked at Kai. "It also explains why Iko and I remember Cress. We can't be manipulated. Second, it seems to me that there must be far more people working against you than you first thought. I've lived with Lunars my whole life, and while I didn't use my gift, I was still given daily lessons, which means I know for a fact that one Lunar could not do this alone." Winter turned her gaze on Cress. "No-one remembers who you are. From what you told me, it seems that even Scarlet and Wolf don't. That adds up to a hefty sum of Lunars."

Winter's eyes darkened. "Third: every single one of those Lunars must be some of the most powerful ones on the moon. To entirely erase every memory of a single person and change all the events they were involved in is an incredibly challenging feat, one that only a Lunar of equal skill to that of a thaumaturge would be able to accomplish."

For several moments, nobody spoke. It was Cress who finally broke the silence.

"So…What you're saying is that there's a group of very powerful Lunars that are targeting us-" She hesitated, then reconsidered. "Targeting me, and there is a lot of them?"

Winter nodded. Kai rose and paced to the large bay window that overlooked the western half of New Beijing. Running a hand through his perfectly styled hair, he faced Winter.

"What about Cinder? Do you know why she's sick? Is it another Lunar disease someone on Luna created just to hurt her?"

Eyes wide, she shook her head. "No, Kai. I'm completely positive that it's not. The labs on Luna are under constant surveillance, and we check them all the time to make sure that everything they're researching is sanctioned by the government."

He nodded slightly, but his eyes showed that he didn't quite believe her.

"Winter, do you want to see Cinder?" Iko asked, gesturing to the door that connected the private lounge to Cinder and Kai's sleeping area.

"Yes of course." Winter got up and walked to the door. "Cress, let me know of any developments, please?"

Cress nodded as Winter left the room, a plan already forming in her mind.

.oOOo.

Once Kai and Winter had left, Cress turned to Iko.

"Iko, I think it's time we went to see Mia Martinez. Together. Now that we know a little more, maybe we can talk to her and get some answers."

Iko nodded. "Good idea. Do you want to go now?"

Cress' eyes were like hard ice. "Yes. Before I lose my nerve. Plus," she sighed, resigning herself to the fact that this next visit to the Rampion was not going to be an easy one. "I want to see Thorne."

"Okay."

They walked out of the palace together, after Iko popped her head into Cinder and Kai's room to tell them where they were going. Once they were out of the palace gates and safely settled into a hover, Cress asked how Cinder was.

Iko's eyes turned a shade of greenish gray. "Not good. She hasn't eaten in a few days, and the only time she gets out of bed is to go to the window and just stare. When I went in there just now, Winter and Kai were trying to get her to eat, but she was completely ignoring them and watching the ceiling. It was eerie." She shuddered, and Cress felt a surge of sympathy and guilt. Iko and Cinder had been together longer than anyone else in the crew, and Cress was extremely grateful that Iko was still helping her, even though her best friend was lying sick with an illness that no doctor could identify.

"Thank you, Iko."

Iko looked at her quizzically. "For what?"

Cress rested her head on Iko's shoulder. "For helping me. You're the best friend I could ask for."

Iko smiled and brushed her hand across Cress' head, smoothing her short blonde hair. "I know that, silly."

Several minutes later, they arrived at Cress' apartment. Cress had wanted to gather some lists of palace staff and all the information she had dug up on Mia Martinez (which was, admittedly, nothing.) to use as evidence that she was on Earth illegally. Once she had piled everything she thought she'd need into bag and downloaded all the files onto her port, she and Iko called another hover to take them to the Rampion's hangar.

.oOOo.

As the hover pulled up to the large building, Cress forced herself to take a deep breath. Here she was, about to go back into the place that had been the setting of quite a few of her nightmares recently, and confront the woman who had stolen her boyfriend.

The two friends stepped out into the humid air and walked purposefully to the door of the hangar. Once inside, Cress barely spared Phil a glance as she marched through the second door and made her way to the Rampion. She continued to breathe deeply as she fished out her port from her pocket and typed in the access code to open the hatch.

With a hiss, the hatch creaked open and descended towards them. Cress stared at the dark abyss of the belly of the ship before her, bracing herself for what she was about to do.

"Are you ready?" Iko asked, her eyes a reassuring shade of lilac.

Cress nodded, straightening her spine. "Let's go."

Together, they ascended the ramp, taking care to be as quiet as possible. It wasn't long before they heard humming coming from the captain's quarters.

Cress turned to Iko and made a sign with her hand that was universal for wait here.

Iko nodded and shrunk back against the wall, taking the bag off Cress' shoulders and setting it down on the floor next to her feet. Cress locked eyes with Iko for a moment before creeping slowly down the hallway in the direction of the sound.

The door to the captain's quarters was slightly ajar, letting a sliver of light spill into the hallway. Cress peeked inside, trying to gage what part of the room the humming was coming from so she knew where to look.

Lying on Thorne's bed, garbed in a fluffy pink bathrobe, was Mia Martinez. Her dark hair was wet from a recent shower, and she was flipping through a fashion magazine while humming a song the Cress recognized as one of the top charts of the year in Europe. She was lying on her stomach with her legs crossed in the air above her back, giving off the air of a teenage girl writing in her journal after talking to her crush for the first time.

Cress looked around the room for any sign of Thorne, but she found none. The small room had been completely abolished of any sign of its owner: every wall was plastered with posters or cut-outs from magazines, scented candles covered every available surface, and makeup products and clothes were strewn about on the floor. It was definitely the room of a Lunar.

Cress backed away and snuck back to where Iko was still hiding in the shadows.

"She's there," she whispered. "But I didn't see Thorne."

Iko nodded. "Do you want to confront her now or find Thorne first?"

Cress thought for a moment, then looked at Iko. "Let's find Thorne."

They split up, careful to stay quiet and avoid the captain's quarters. Cress put her port on silent and opened a comm link with Iko so they could still communicate, then crept further down into the ship. Iko had volunteered to search the top half of the ship since she was quieter, and Cress' breathing and footsteps would be masked by the sound of machinery in the belly of the ship.

Cress poked around the engine room and the cargo hold but found nothing. She was about to check the shuttle docks when she heard a noise behind her.

She whipped around, her heart beating a thousand times a minute, then almost stopping altogether.

There was Thorne. How had she not noticed him before? He was leering at her, his face twisted into an expression that the real Thorne would never have worn. He was unshaven, his hair was messy and his clothes looked like they hadn't been changed in several days: they were wrinkled and dishevelled.

"T-thorne…?" Cress' voice failed her, quivering and stuttering. She cleared her throat.

"Thorne," she said more clearly. "Thorne, do you know who I am?"

He looked at her for a moment, then lunged at her.

Cress screamed. "Iko! Thorne's here! He's… Help! Iko!"

Thorne picked her up with ease, hefting her over his shoulder. "Oh, I wouldn't call for help. Nobody's coming to get you."

"NO!" Cress yelled, pummelling his back with her fists. "No! Where's Iko? Thorne! Put me down!"

Thorne stayed silent, carrying her up through the levels of the ship until they were in the cockpit, Cress screaming at him all the way. He dropped her unceremoniously on the floor, spinning her roughly around to tie her hands behind her back with a cord.

She protested, squirming and kicking out at him and yelling.

"Silly girl. Be quiet."

Cress found herself obeying. She turned to face the voice and stared straight into the eyes of Mia Martinez. Iko was nowhere to be found.

Mia shook her head in disdain. "Really? Are you so desperate that you would come back here a second time?" She scoffed.

Cress felt her anger materialize out of nowhere. She struggled to her feet and looked Mia Martinez in the face. "Why wouldn't I? You stole my boyfriend and made him forget me!"

Mia laughed. "That I did. You're a smart little girl, aren't you?"

Cress growled. "Give him back. And his memories."

Mia made a face like she was trying to decide which flavour of ice cream to get. "Mmmmmm… No, I don't think I will. But," she said, her face brightening in mock excitement. "You can stay here with him if you like?"

Cress paused. "Uh. No thanks?" She didn't particularly want to be stuck in a spaceship with her forgetful boyfriend and his new girlfriend.

"Oh that's too bad. It would have been nice if you'd agreed to it properly."

"Why's that?" Cress asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

Mia laughed. "Oh, stupid girl. Because you can't leave anyway!"