Heeeeeyyy people! New chapter, and I'm pretty proud of this one. So, without further ado, here's chapter 8!

Rei was a nervous wreck with the state in which Genevieve's health had deteriorated. Her skin was pale, and her brown roots were spreading so fast to cover the golden tips of her hair, that he could actually see the color moving if he stared long enough. She no longer responded whenever he addressed her, instead staring blankly up at the ceiling. But, then again, maybe if he just tried one more time... "Gen-" An abrupt flash cut him off, and he fell backwards off of the couch and onto the floor. He blinked once. Twice. What had just happened? Why did the room seem more crowded than before? More importantly, was Genevieve okay?

"Rei?" someone said. The voice sounded familiar, and when he bent down and looked Rei in the eyes, recognition dawned. Evan. Of course, the snobby magician who made Rei angry at his own jealousy. Rei had never been happier to see anyone in his life. The boy grabbed Evan by the shoulders.

"lm tahsul ealaa musaeada? Hal 'ant bkhyr? Yumkinuk 'an tusaeid Anjlyka? Yumkinuk musaeadat Aljiniral?!" the words flew off of his tongue in rapid succession, so fast that his mind couldn't comprehend his words had come out in Arabic. When Evan gave him a blank stare, he looked around at the others in the room. Each of them wore the same expression, with the exception of Rosette, whom looked as though she was trying to decipher some of his words. He gave out a frustrated huff, knowing Gen would have understood him. Two of them were new; one of the new ones was carrying a pale bluish version of Angelica. At least they would be able to help her, so that question was answered. As far as he could see, everyone else had gotten back safely. He turned back to Evan, reconfiguring his English. "Can you help Gen?" he asked.

Evan gave a nod, standing up, and Rei followed him over to the couch. "Isokrates," he started, "claims that he can extract the venom from her system." The new boy ran a hand through the black flames atop his head and smirked, revealing sharper than normal teeth.

"Sure can," he replied. "But I don't have to." Before Rei could even think of lashing out, the new girl had smacked him over the head, her image flashing for one instance into one of shimmering beauty. Growling, Isokrates staggered forward, bending down in front of Rei. "Alright," he hissed. "But I'll need you all to leave the room. Privacy and all that."

"Hell no," Rei shot, narrowing his eyes. Iso grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I'm not leaving Gen. Especially not with some guy we just met!"

"Ugh, mortals. So very emotional." His blue eyes burned into Rei's. "It's pathetic." The staring went on for an awkwardly long amount of time, before Iso finally shook his head. "Fine. You can stay while I fix up your little girlfriend. The rest of you get out." After a moment's hesitation, everyone else filed out of the living room.

Lance anxiously looked over at Aspasia, whom still carried Angelica's tiny soul in her arms. Their group was wandering down the hall, Evan in the lead, of course, until he motioned for them to enter one of them. It was a large, high-ceilinged dining room, with a long table in the center. "Peter Pan lives here?" he whispered to Brook, earning a faint chuckle. He laughed, too, but it was forced and unnatural, causing her to turn away.

"James!" came a bright greeting, Gladice's voice filling the echoing room. Lance could see her run up and hug his lanky frame, hardly befitting of a young man, in his opinion. Hardly noticing the scowl forming on his face, he flinched when Brook touched his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asked, clearly worried. His expression softened.

"I'm fine. I just need to find out where my sister is," he explained, barely convincing himself. Nevertheless, he turned his head back toward James and marched forward to him through the others, Aspasia following closely behind him. Gladice and James had pulled apart, and their conversation was now mixed in with several others from the group. When clearing his throat, Lance reached up and tapped James on the shoulder. The boy was a few inches taller than him, much to Lance's displeasure. James's bespectacled face shifted over to his, a weary smile forming in his features. "Where's my sister?"

The tension that had built in his muscles at the sight of Lance eased slightly, and James straightened his posture. "Hello. Don't worry, I can take you to her." Once Lance had given him a curt nod, he turned back to Gladice. "I'll be right back," he assured her, motioning for Lance to follow him. They entered the corridor, and he led him through the maze of rooms and up a large staircase, eventually stopping at the door to a guest bedroom. His head turned to see that Lance was still there, but he jumped at the sight of a girl behind him. An involuntary squeak left his mouth, and he cursed in his head at the smug grin that appeared on Lance's face. Embarrassed, he gave the girl one last glance, before looking away and opening the door. Inside was a queen-sized bed, and Angelica's small figure was lying under the covers. Allowing the other two into the room, James let his gaze fall to the ground before shutting the door. The entire time he had spent carrying the little girl, he figured she must have been dead. He could only imagine what was going through Lance's mind, and that made him wonder what it would be like if he had a sister. Or any siblings. Shaking his head, he started back towards the dining hall.

Isokrates sat in a chair in front of the couch, prepping the girl's mental and physical state for the extraction of the hydra venom. There were multiple ways he could have gone about doing it, some of them painful, but he had quickly made his decision as soon as he had met the mortal brat. The insolent boy was still sitting on the little space left at the end of the couch, watching him work with critical eyes. No matter; the look on his face was going to be priceless. Iso smirked.

"What's so funny?" the boy was quick to snap, and Iso could practically feel the hate flowing off of him in waves.

"I am ready to extract the venom," he explained, his voice eerily soothing for his nature. "You may want to look away."

"Why would I-" Rei cut himself off, staring in shock as Isokrates bent down and cupped Genevieve's face in his hands, roughly pressing his lips to hers. His blue eyes flicked back to him, and even though mortal flesh disgusted him, the expression young prince's features made the humiliation worth it.

Meanwhile, Rei was too shocked to think. The mere thought of him touching her made him sick, but now he was witnessing it before his very eyes. Possibly the most concerning thing about it all was that he knew that Genevieve had absolutely no consent whatsoever. And all Rei could do was sit there and take it.

Gen's back arched, and her body began twitching, until he finally-finally-let her go. Iso tilted his head up to the ceiling, letting out a puff of black smoke that dispersed in the air. "Al'ahmaq," Rei spat, a split-second before Genevieve shot up, head jerking around, as if she were looking for something. Her eyes adjusted, landing on Isokrates. Without a word, she stuck her hand out and slapped him across the face. He laughed.

"If I could feel mortal-inflicted pain, you would be in a lot of trouble, little girl." She moved to slap him again, but her hand froze. Her entire body froze. Rei tried to move and found that he, too, was frozen in place. Inch by inch, Iso leaned closer to Genevieve, eyes stone cold. "Watch yourself, mortal. I took out the venom. Do not think that I am incapable of putting it back." And just like that, Rei was able to move again, just as Isokrates exited the room. Genevieve jerked forward, catching herself before she could hit the ground.

Rei crawled over on the couch to rub her shoulders, too relieved to see his best friend healthy again to think about how it had happened. "Gen?" he started, after a few moments of silence, his voice involuntarily cracking. "You're okay." Genevieve looked over and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah..." her voice was hoarse, but she did not let on that it hurt to speak. His emotions building up, Rei refused to cry, instead opting to pull Genevieve into a hug. She didn't hug him back. "I could hear you, when you were talking to me." That took a moment to register in his brain. She heard him? He gulped.

"Did you hear...everything?" After he felt her slowly nodding against his shoulder, he sighed exasperatedly. "Right...we need to talk."

Lance watched intently as Aspasia lowered Angelica's soul back into her body. When she did not immediately awake, he concluded that something was wrong, to which she had assured him that, since she was a small child, her recovery would take about an hour to restore her body. Although very annoyed, Lance thanked her and sat at the foot of the large bed. Aspasia eyed him curiously; she could see all the emotions he had been having recently, their imprints strong. There was, of course, worry, for his family and especially his sister. Hope, now that she was recovering. But there was something else. A girl? No. Two girls.

"Get out of my head." Aspasia flinched, grimacing at his harsh tone. Angry that she was still hovering, she supposed. With a shrug, she leaned against a bedpost.

"How could you tell?" she questioned, interested to know. She had never asked anyone before, so now seemed to be as good a time as any. Lance raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't." Oh. So that was that, then. Slight disappointment etched into her features.

"Right," Aspasia muttered, gracefully lowering herself into a chair, her green dress seamlessly floating around her form. "You have so many powerful emotions. Conflicting interests." He gave her a glare, which she ignored. "I could tell you what your heart wants, you know. Reach in and take the information that's invisible to you." She grabbed at the air in front of her. "But I won't." Her hand waved away, dismissing a few dust particles.

Shaking his head, Lance turned his head toward Angelica, and he brushed a strand of curly hair off her brow. He looked back up at Aspasia, running his hands through his hair. "I'm committed to Brook. What else is there to know? Gladice... she's my friend, okay? And that's it. That's all it'll ever be."

"So you say," she mused. "But you've given no thought to the matter. Perhaps you should reevaluate the situation, Sir Lancelot." A dry chuckle escaped his throat.

"This isn't Camelot, Aspasia," he murmured. "And I'm no knight in shining armor."

Evan sat in the large dining room, bored while watching the rest of the group meander around the home. It hardly registered when Rosette took the seat next to him. "Bonjour," she greeted softly, her red lips curved into a smile. He could not help but smile back, reaching out to take one of her hands in his. She giggled and rested her head on his shoulder, earning a kiss on the forehead. "Do you know what today is?"

"Of course," he whispered. "It's our three-year anniversary." Rose beamed up at him, even though she never doubted that Evan would remember. "Remember how we first met?" Well, she did, but she lifted her eyes up to his. "You were sitting in my seat at the table, and I had a tray of beignets, so when I came up, you said-"

"'Oh monsieur, you forgot my napkin.'" Rosette laughed and nudged his side playfully. "I thought you were the waiter!" Resting her chin on his shoulder, she pecked him on the cheek. "Do you remember when you asked me to be your girlfriend?" Evan smirked.

"You came to New Orleans with me, and we were sitting under that huge magnolia tree in Aunt Charlotte's yard. You looked so beautiful...and I kissed you and asked you to go out with me." The brunette, nuzzled into his side, but he pushed her back and stood up from his chair, pulling her up, too.

She raised an eyebrow. "Evan?" Before she could say another word, his hand was in his pocket and he was down on one knee. Her hazel eyes widening, a hand covered her mouth.

The boy chuckled nervously. "Th-this has been in my pocket since this whole thing started, and the timing just hasn't been right. But the timing doesn't matter, I think." He lifted his gaze to hers. "It's the person." Tears formed in Rosette's eyes as he held up the ring, golden with four small diamonds across the band. "So, Rosette Ambre Bete, would you do me the honor of being my wife?" Rose swiped at her eyes, smiling and crying and nodding her head.

Evan remained awkwardly on his knee until she could finally muster the word, "Yes." He jumped up and hugged her, spinning her around as he did. When he put her down, he wasted no time in kissing her. There was a small amount of applause, but something else interrupted. Gladice was speaking frantically, and Evan looked up at her with a confused expression. "What is it?" he asked.

Gladice looked up at him, tugging at her hair. "Thalia's missing."

A/N: Okay, so just to clarify, Rei starts speaking in Arabic when he's stressed out, so yeah... And oh nooooo! Cliffhanger! Because I never do that! What a twist! I'm sorry, I'm done.

~Icee~