"Turn the phone off."

Terri nodded, hands shaking as she followed the order. She had only seen the screen long enough for Elliot to stop typing and to feel that chill down her back again, but when she'd heard the knock on the door - well, shame on her for thinking nothing on it.

But now that woman - and it made too much sense that it was the same woman who bought the column - had red nails pressed up against her throat, and Terri was fighting to breathe without crying. The arm choking her was soaked in red stickiness. The woman smiled, but it was one of those smiles that meant Terri was in trouble.

"Very good. Now, where is it?" Terri wheezed, and felt the grip loosen a little. She sucked in a gasp before even trying to speak.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, voice shaking. "Please, let me go..."

"The box, girl, the Lament Configuration. You stink of its presence, as does this entire place. Where is it?"

"I don't know, I swear-" Another squeeze and Terri yelped, a sound like air through a rusted pipe. "I don't! This whole place is empty!"

"You're lying." That voice had been so pretty the first time, but now Terri wanted to shrink away from it. She wanted to run back to Joey and Tiffany, to warn them, but all she could do was wince as a nail pressed into her neck. She felt wet warmth trickle down her shoulder. "It's here, calling to me. I can hear the song of the Labyrinth even now. Lead me to it, or I will find it myself." Terri squeezed her eyes shut and mentally cursed J.P. Damn him, damn that column, damn his stupid tacky bedroom-

"The bedroom." It was a whisper. "I never..." she gulped, "emptied out the bedroom. Downstairs." Her eyes widened - she had not meant to say that out loud. The woman's smile curled into something sinister, and Terri dropped to the floor.

She sat there for several seconds, staring at her phone and trying to breathe again.

"And to make sure you don't try anything..." She barely registered the words before she saw a polished boot come down on her phone. It came apart with the crackle of glass and plastic, and she flinched. "stay there, girl, and don't try to hide it from me." Terri closed her eyes and listened to the footsteps disappear down the stairs. The door shut with a click.

What do I do? She thought as she got up. If it wasn't there, she was dead; if it was, everyone was dead. She shoved her hands in her pockets and paused, feeling something cold and metal against her skin.

It was the only idea she had. Terri sucked in another breath and crept towards the bedroom door, pressing her ear up to it.

She could hear what sounded only like chaos. She's tearing it to pieces, Terri thought, swallowing again. An image of herself in that merciless grip crossed her mind. Focus, she thought, and took another breath before pulling the keyring from her pocket. Her hand wasn't steady, and the keys were clanking against each other - she could only hope the chaos in the room would drown it out. She found the key quickly and took one more breath.

She locked the door and bolted. Up the stairs, out the front, to her car. She saw a taxi next to her car and felt the smallest flicker of hope. If he had a phone then she could call Joey, warn them even just a minute in advance -

She saw red seeping from the driver's seat and smeared on the windows, and screamed. Terri staggered back to her car and scrambled in, cursing when it took a moment to turn on. It did turn on, though, and she drove out of the lot, all but crying in relief. When she got to the first light, though, she glanced back - just long enough to see part of the wall of the club come down, and a woman's figure grasping something in her right hand.

Terri slammed on the gas the moment it turned green, leaving that figure in the dust.


It didn't sit well with him, and he couldn't understand why.

The prince closed his eyes and replayed the conversation in his mind. Perhaps he had come on too strong, he thought as he focused on Kirsty's expressions in his mind. She had been listening so intently, so curious, and yet when he asked her to be by side...

Had he scared her? The thought angered him, but not with Kirsty; never with Kirsty, who had released him from his shackles and who he knew would bring the pin back to him. Certainly she had other motives, but he knew a lie when he was given one, and the Prince was confident that she'd meant it. He could almost taste the power he lacked, his fingertips twitching with anticipation and an eagerness to take control back into his hands.

But Kirsty had not seemed so eager. She had pulled away from him - just a little, almost undetectable, but she had pulled back all the same, eyes wide as she processed his offer. It was overwhelming, perhaps, the thought of such power, the thought of such change. he could understand that. But her question...

"And what if the Labyrinth doesn't choose me?"

"It will," he'd promised, because if it didn't he would see to it that Leviathan itself would suffer the consequences. She was his queen, he had known it for as long as he had slumbered, and he would have torn down any who dared to come between her and the place beside him that was rightfully hers. There were none else who would ever be so worthy as to be Princess of the Labyrinth. Angelique paled in comparison.

Angelique. The thought of the former Princess cut into his thoughts like ice, unwelcome and unbidden. She wanted to open the door perpetually, but him?

He just needed it open. The Prince smiled to himself. Pin or no pin, Kirsty would return to him, and when she did...

Well, it would do no good to make the Princess suspicious. The Prince took a breath to compose himself, testing the sound of his voice. "Princess," he said to the mirror, affecting his best look of pleasant calm, "shall we begin?"

He could hardly wait.


"Tiffany!" Joey shoved her phone in her purse right as the sprinklers came on. People were swarming at the doors, struggling to get out, and Joey didn't know whether to be angry or impressed. Tiffany pulled her hands away from the fire alarm and started signing that she didn't know how else to find Kirsty. "I know, but this isn't going to help! The taxi guy cut off halfway through the call, I don't know if-"

"Joey! Tiffany!" Both stopped and looked to who was running towards them, and Joey could have cried with relief.

"Kirsty, thank god!" Joey pulled her sister into a soaking wet hug, and felt Tiffany's arms around both of them. "We were so worried, you just disappeared on us..." Kirsty pulled away and looked at both of them, urgency in her eyes. "Let's get out of here." Both Kirsty and Tiffany nodded, and all three made for the nearest exit, having to push their way past the frantic crowds.

They made it to a batch of empty parking lot, and Joey shivered a bit in the evening air. Still, Kirsty had a determined look in her eye muddied only by the faintest trace of fear. Joey was about to start questioning her when the phone rang, and she grabbed it only to put it on speaker.

'Is everyone alright?" Kirsty actually smiled at the sound of the Captain's voice, and nodded.

"I think so," she said, "but a lot happened down there. I think we need to get caught up." She looked at Joey. "You first."

"The Cenobite leader," Joey started, "he's not alone. There's another one of them that caught Terri, this woman with black hair, and she's... Elliot can't get close to her, and Terri hasn't answered her phone. We think she may have the Lament Configuration, and if she brings it back to him, who knows what they'll do with it."

"From what I could tell, she wants to open the door between the Labyrinth and Earth," Elliot added, "but to what end I can't be sure. She's not a Cenobite, she's older than that, and the Labyrinth was brutal long before the age of Cenobites. If she's been apart from the Labyrinth so long and is still powerful enough that I can't get close to her, she's a much greater danger than even my other half. Given our situation, the only one who could take her and have a chance of winning-"

"Is the Cenobite Prince himself." Kirsty swallowed. "I promised I'd bring his pin back and," she looked at Tiffany, "I don't think he's willing to wait that long."

"If he gets the pin on his own, he'll be unstoppable," Tiffany signed, "and if Elliot doesn't fuse with him there won't be anything keeping him in control of himself." Joey nodded. It was a grim prospect, and the thought of putting Kirsty in harm's way again rotted away at her mind. Tiffany continued. "But if one of us gives it to him..."

"...Then Elliot can channel into him through us," Joey finished, swallowing. "Listen, I don't want to risk you getting hurt-"

"We don't have a choice," Kirsty said, swallowing a little. "I gave him my word I'd go back, pin or no pin. We at least have a chance if he's expecting me." Tiffany started first.

"And you think he's going to let you just stick it in his head? That seems a little..."

"Gross?" asked Joey.

"Intimate," Elliot cut in, and they all looked at the phone. "Kirsty's right - she's his favorite, she'll have the best chance of getting close to him without raising suspicions. We'll just need a way to distract him long enough to pull it off. Kirsty, do you think you can do that?"

"Yes," Kirsty said, and Joey turned to her, surprised. "The office isn't a long drive from here. I just need to get there and back before the Lament Configuration gets here." She swallowed, and Joey thought she saw a glimmer of wet in her eyes. "I want to do this."

"...Okay," Joey said, voice soft. "I don't like it, but I'll help. We can get a car here in three minutes - should we go with you?" Tiffany was already on her phone.

"No," Kirsty said, "We need to keep an eye on the museum while I'm getting the pin. You and Tiffany can stay here and keep trying to reach Terri, and once I have the pin we can regroup." She had steel in her gaze, even as water pooled at the corners of her eyes. "Please," she said, "I'm the reason this happened to happened to him. To you," she said to the phone, swallowing. "Let me fix it."

"You will, Kirsty," the Captain said, "all of you will. I'll try to get to Terri again, we can't give up on her yet."

"I called a car," Tiffany signed before handing the phone to Joey. "Please be careful, Kirsty. We love you."

"Yes," Joey said, "we do." Kirsty smiled, even as the tear finally fell down her cheek.

"I love you too," she said, "and we're going to get through this. Okay?"

"Okay," Joey and Tiffany nodded, and for a moment - for all her worry that this could go wrong - Joey believed it. She had to.