Continuing!

Warning: The dream is in italics. Mentions of lesbianism.

Thanks for reviewing, Bloodylilcorpse, queenoftrouble, Katie Grimm, AvrilLavigneFan2001 and the guest reviewer.

I had another nightmare, but this time, it wasn't like the others...

I found myself lying in a double bed in a large windowless room. The walls were grey stone, but the ceiling and floor were light colours, making it a little less dark. A ring of pink lights were on the ceiling, making it easier to see.

My covers were black silk, and on closer inspection, I realized I was wearing a blood red ensemble – a red onepiece that only came down enough to cover everything it needed to cover, but showed a lot of cleavage and had just criss-crossed net on the back and front, showing everything from below the chest to waist-length.

As I saw this, I heard a sigh from next to me. In another double bed, this one with red sheets, a girl with scarlet hair sat up. She wore the same clothes as me, only in black. Then she turned to face me, giving me a shockingly familiar sweet smile. "Morning, Bailey." she said softly.

"Zoey?" I gasped. "What...what's going on?"

She didn't have time to answer, but I saw her form tense as the door opened. The man of my nightmares came in, in all black this time. "Good, you're both awake." he said in his deep demonic voice. "Now, do you two want to actually eat something this morning?"

Zoey nodded, so I did too.

Mal looked thoughtfully at us. "All right." He looked at Zoey. "Lie back, little Red. It'll be your turn next." Zoey obediently lay there in the bed. Mal directed his gaze at me. "Get into her bed with her, doll face. Make out and scissor. If you've pleased her enough after ten minutes, you get to eat."

I scowled. "No way! It'll be a cold day in Hawaii before I do anything to another girl under your orders."

Mal put his hands on my shoulders, leaning into my personal space bubble. "Oh yes? Well, it's going to be a cold day right here if you don't do as I say. You're my slave-girl, and if you don't do it, you can go to the icebox for the day again. And on top of that, if you don't do it, you don't get anything to eat all day." He folded his arms. "I'm getting impatient, doll face. Take the chance while you still can and do the smart thing."

I wanted to cry as I got out of my bed and went over, straddling Zoey carefully. She actually did cry as I kissed her, stroking her hair and trying hard to pretend I wasn't being forced to do this with a girl I barely knew. As I went further, her sobs became little gasps, and I knew what was happening. I had to get it over with.

After a few minutes, Zoey screamed and something squirted out of her.

"That was easy for you." Mal laughed darkly. "All right, Bailey, you get to eat. Zoey?"

Zoey raised her head. "Yes, Master?"

"Return the favour, but use your fingers instead. She likes that."

Luckily, the dream finished there, and Zoey hadn't touched me before I woke up, but still. I felt tainted and shamed, although I was lying in my bed, dry, in modest pyjamas. And in a single bed nearby, Lindsay lay, asleep and unsuspecting. No Zoey, no revealing outfit, just my room in the spa hotel. Still, I didn't know how I would be able to even look at Zoey when I next saw her. And I wondered – why did that dream feel so real? That dream had felt more like a memory than anything. I couldn't imagine that it would really happen to me – even then, I hadn't properly felt things, like I could only faintly feel something when I had to kiss Zoey, but the situation felt real. At least, I rationalized, Mal probably wasn't back at all, and the couple of times I thought I'd seen him were just coincidence.

All the same, I took my time showering that morning. Partly because of that, and partly because I wasn't sure if I wanted to face Duncan after the kiss.

But I was pretty lucky. After I was dressed and had eaten a stack of pancakes (and they tasted a lot better than Chef's), Duncan approached me. "We need to talk." he said, basically dragging me into his room in the hotel. Figures – Scott had been in exile for the last couple of days, so he wasn't around and Duncan had the room to himself.

"You didn't give me a chance to say anything last night." Duncan began. He got a little smirk on his face. "Kind of ironic, since you were obviously trying to get back with me before that."

"I wasn't!" I defended myself automatically. "Just because I kissed you-"
"Whatever." Duncan dismissed. "You still like me, I can tell."

I shrugged, trying to play it off. "Sure, I like you. And I may think you're hot. But that doesn't necessarily mean I want to go out with you again."

"Well, that's too bad." Duncan muttered with fake sadness. "Cause, you know, if you'd said you did, I would've been able to tell you that you're the only girlfriend I've had in the past three years that's actually felt like a girlfriend and a best friend, and not just one or the other. And that's something I really like."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying you want me back?"

Duncan just shrugged. "Maybe. But you don't care, do you? Because you don't want to go out with me again, you said."

"You're doing this to torture me, aren't you?" I said impatiently. "Maybe I did want you back. I like spending time with you. And I would really, really like to be your girlfriend again."

Duncan didn't waste words. He just spun me around and then kissed me. "Next time we lose, we vote off Lindsay, right?" he whispered. "Then the next time we're in here, I'll come stay in your room."

I giggled in anticipation. "Definitely!"

I went to the confessional. "I can't believe it! Duncan actually wants me back! To be honest, I forgot how it felt, but I don't think there's anything that could be better about the season...except maybe the million dollars."

After all that, I was feeling pretty mellow about the challenge, although I was a bit suspicious when Chris declared that we were going to the "Fun Zone".

"What's the catch?" Heather asked. "Is the fun zone just a building that's on fire?"

"Nope!"

"Is it a pit full of intestines?" Duncan asked.

"Would that be fun?"

"Well, it would be more fun than a library full of books from only the eighteenth century." I suggested. Then I paused. "Is the Fun Zone a library full of eighteenth-century books?"

Chris shook his head. "You've had it kind of rough lately. So I figured – okay, the lawyers figured you deserve a treat. But if you'd rather do something else..."

"No!" we chorused. Whether the Fun Zone was fun or not, "something else" was definitely not going to be fun.

"Fun Zone it is! Oh, here's our ride!"

The Fun Zone was on Boney Island, so Scott was just on the boat all the way both from and to the island.

"Ugh, I'd forgotten what a dump this island is." Heather muttered.

"Come on, now." Chris said. "Maybe someone will finally find that invincibility statue."

"I searched all night." murmured Scott. "There is no statue. Say it!"

"Yes, there is!" Chris insisted. "But it's hidden in the Fun Zone!" Where no one could get it until now. Ugh, typical Chris.

And wouldn't you know it, the Fun Zone was full of mutants from the last season, and the challenge was to be the first team to collect six eggs from the mutants and put them in our team's basket. Chris waited outside, only communicating with us via a screen.

"What is fun about that?" Mike asked.

"Uh, it's fun to watch!" Chris pointed out.

"Change the channel!" I yelled up at the screen. "I'd rather watch that stupid Western movie challenge than this crap! What's this one even based on?"

As I spoke, I suddenly realized it was sort of a similar to finding that flower from that giant Venus Flytrap challenge – the one that Lightning won in the semifinals last season, which got Zoey eliminated. I didn't really listen to what Chris was saying any more until his voice filtered through again. He was saying something about how the person who collected the most eggs would get a special reward. "I'd wish you all good luck, but it's bad for ratings. So, I hope some of you get really hurt. And...go!"

I saw most people on teams worked together – Sierra and Cameron, Mike and Zoey, Alejandro and Heather (who were acting suspiciously friendly), so, being protective, I took Lindsay with me, but after about an hour of looking, we hadn't found anything and came back to find that both teams had a few eggs. Still, we had more.

There was always someone guarding each basket. Sierra was cradling a hatched creature, keeping a watch over the Heroes' basket, while Duncan was watching ours. When he saw me, he jumped up.

"Finally!" he exclaimed. "Bailey, you take a turn guarding these stupid things. I've been dying to actually go out and do something!"

I frowned. "How come you ended up on guard?"

"Well, Alejandro was guarding them, but then Heather offered to guard them and he left. Then Heather got bored and wandered off, so I got stuck with the job."

"Okay," I sighed, "I guess I could use a break, but keep an eye on Lindsay for me, would you?" The ditz was currently plaiting one of her lustrous blonde locks of hair, spacing out on the challenge.

Duncan shrugged, and soon returned with a tiny egg. "Way too easy!" he laughed. "I didn't even have to fight for this thing! Some three-eyed budgie had it, and it just cried and wouldn't even fight when I took it."

There really wasn't much to say about the challenge itself. We nearly won, but Zoey and Mike brought a huge nest, and before we could get our sixth egg in, they poured over a dozen eggs into the Heroes' basket, winning (Chris only counted Zoey, though – she'd get the reward for collecting the most).

"Now, before we head home," Chris said, "Did anyone leave anything behind, that they'd like to go get?"

Heather quickly ran off, but when she came back, she was empty-handed and scowling. The minute we were out of the Fun Zone, she went to Chris and accused "You took it! I know you did!"

"I have no idea to what you are referring."

I had no idea what Heather was talking about. The only person who actually did take something out was Sierra, who kept the mutant that had hatched in her arms as a pet, calling the two heads "Cody 1" and "Cody 2".

At elimination that night, I decided to vote off Lindsay. There were six of us – me, Duncan, Scott, Alejandro, Heather, and Lindsay herself. There was only one person who wasn't a true villain, and couldn't hold her own. She was getting annoying, and there was no way she'd be any help to our team. So we were going to vote her off that night.

Chris tossed each of us our marshmallows, as usual, until only two people were left – Heather and Lindsay.

"And tonight's flushee is..." Chris announced, making sure to pause. "...Lindsay!" Heather got her marshmallow, and Lindsay stood up.
"Okay." she said, looking miserable. "I guess I'll see you guys. Bye."

Chris looked over at the Heroes. "And who's heading to Boney Island?"

"I'll go!" Mike volunteered, and then walked away to the boat...whistling a hauntingly familiar tune. I looked at Duncan, and we exchanged worried glances. We remembered that tune well.

We didn't wait to see Lindsay get flushed. I followed the other Heroes, calling out to Zoey. "Listen, can I talk to you for a second? This is really important."

Zoey turned, looking surprised and uncertain, but she dredged up a friendly smile. "Sure, okay."

We talked on the grassy bank, just above the beach. "It's about Mike." I told her. "I don't know if you know this, but Duncan and I met in juvie. That's how we became friends."

Zoey nodded, but her eyes, which looked violet in the dim light, were confused.

"Thing was, Mike was in there at the same time as us!" I said seriously.

Zoey laughed, thinking I was joking, but then she saw my face. "Oh. You're serious? Mike was in juvie?"

"Yeah, but back then, he wasn't Mike, most of the time." I said. "Has Mike been acting differently at all recently?"

"Well..." Zoey said slowly, "I saw him trip Cameron recently, and he hasn't been able to summon his other personalities. He's been really worried about not being able to control himself, and I'm worried too. Sometimes I'm scared of him, and I don't know who he is, a lot of the time."

I nodded grimly. "That's it. It's happening. Mike isn't himself the whole time. There's another personality you haven't met – his name's Mal, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who tripped Cameron, and broke Sam's Gameguy before. Only about a week after I met him, he broke my wrist, and then said he did it for fun and if I told anyone, he'd break both my arms."

Zoey gasped. "That is so out-of-character for Mike!"

"I know, I know." I told her. "But it makes sense, doesn't it? Sometimes I saw Mike, but it was always very brief. The first time I saw him, he stayed for seconds, and told me to stay away from him. But the thing is, Mal can imitate Mike's voice. Did you hear him whistling earlier?"

Zoey nodded again. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"What he was whistling – Mal used to always whistle that same tune whenever he'd done something harmful. He developed this weird...obsession with me, and he used to force me into a deserted room and beat me up. He said it was to heighten my tolerance for pain. Once he was done with that, he started..." my voice caught. "I'm sorry, Zoey, I can't say any more. But my point is, Mal is nightmare fuel. Literally. I've had nightmares about him recently, and he keeps saying that he wants me back as his slave, and he keeps saying really creepy things about you, because you're Mike's girlfriend. If that whistling is any indication, then Mal might be back after three years. And if he's back, he'll probably attack me and you first. Me, because I got away from him the first time, and you because he knows that Mike's trigger is you being put in danger."

Zoey paused, thinking this over. "I'll keep a closer eye on him, then." she said reasonably. She smiled. "Thank you for telling me, Bailey."

I went back to the cabins, and I found Duncan on the steps. "You don't wanna go join the guys?" I asked.

Duncan looked up at me. "Are you kidding? Scott's okay, most of the time, but Alejandro? I can't stand him, even now. Don't tell me you wanna go into your cabin – I mean, you're stuck sharing with Heather." He pulled me to sit down next to him and let me lay my head on his shoulder.

"Wish I could convince Heather to go into the boys' cabin for the night so we could get one side to ourselves." I muttered.

Duncan laughed. "Not in the cabins, though. If you're how I remember, you'll probably scream loud enough for everyone on the other side to hear."

I shoved him. "I am not that loud."

Duncan chuckled. "I guess you might be right, some of the time. But that's when you're not with me." He winked.

I just laughed as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Does that mean Courtney and Gwen were screamers, too?"

"Courtney was." Duncan said thoughtfully. "Louder than you, actually – I seriously thought about investing in earplugs. I only did Gwen twice, and she was really quiet, mostly."

I gave a sigh. "Can you believe we're having this conversation? Talking about your girlfriends' responses to this kind of thing. I'm gonna turn in." I kissed Duncan goodnight. "See you tomorrow, casanova." I teased.

"'Night, ex and current girlfriend." Duncan returned with a grin.

I hope you liked this chapter. I am SO glad to get this far with the story, because from here on in, there's going to be more Mal outside of Bailey's nightmares.

Next chapter: Fighting your fears, a betrayal, and Bailey sees a familiar face.