This is a bonus chapter! This chapter is from Sapphire's POV after she left Sagittarius's castle. For those who have reviewed chapter 18, you can leave reviews for this chapter in chapter 19. I won't mind.

"Sapphire, where are you?" I heard my aunt scream. "James had just vomited on the floor! Come clean this up!" I knew when I left Sagittarius's castle that I was going to return into this hole of a home, but I had to take care of Uncle James. He's the only family I have left. I brushed off the hay off my cloak, left the barn and went inside the house. I went into the kitchen for soap, clothes and water. The last I want to be is unprepared for a mess like this.

When I got upstairs, I heard Uncle James retching. I knew he must've caught something while he was gone. Every single time he leaves for business, he takes a risk of getting sick. I guess his luck ran out on him. I walked inside and saw the mess that laid before me and I don't mean the vomit. My Aunt Olivia was washing her husband's forehead with a cloth and she didn't seem very happy when she saw me.

"Don't just stand there!" Olivia shouted at me, "Clean that mess up!"

"I'm surprised Uncle James doesn't have a headache from you yelling for me." I told her as I cleaned up the mess. I thought I was going to be sick myself, but the look Olivia was giving me was keeping me distracted. I knew she was angry with me because I talked backed at her. She's never appreciated me being with her family...probably because of the stupid family curse I inherited.

The curse only affected girls, so Uncle James was never going to be touched by the family curse, but my mother did. Which was why I was cursed with the needle form that me, my mother, my grandmother and so on and so forth. My cousins were also unaffected by the curse because as I said: the curse passes from mother to daughter, not father to daughter. Olivia didn't know about the family curse until it was my turn to have it. Ever since then, she and my cousin, her daughter, Lucinda, kept me far away from people and make sure that I don't embarrassed them. While I was cleaning Uncle James' mess, Olivia left the room.

"Sapphire?" I heard my uncle say.

"Yes?"

"I know that Olivia has been giving you grief ever since you came here." He said, but I wasn't in the mood for him to make excuses.

"Uncle," I said, "please don't make excuses for her! I know you're sick and having an argument with you is the last thing I want."

"I know," he said and then he coughed, "if I wasn't so sick, I would've stopped her from being so rude."

"Uncle James...she's more than just rude. She and Lucinda have done more things to me than you think."

"What?" He said sounding very surprised. I never told Uncle James how Olivia and Lucinda...because those two had threaten my life if I told Uncle James and if there's anything I don't do, it's gambling with my life. "Why didn't you tell me what they've done?" He asked, trying to get up out of bed.

"I couldn't!" I gently pushed as I tried to put him back in bed. "They threatened my life, uncle. I...don't gamble with my life and...I didn't think you would believe me." I felt Uncle James grabbing me and hugging me. That surprised me because...he wasn't much of a hugger.

"This is my fault." He said, "I wanted to expand my business so I could take care of all of us. I promised your mother that I would take care of you...and I broke that promise."

"Uncle," I tried to say, "it's not your fault. It's mine; I just didn't want to risk my life with family. It already is...as you know."

"True." He added.

"Sapphire!" I heard Olivia screamed. I looked at Uncle James and he released me.

I don't know what to do with myself. The sooner I get out of here, the sooner I can keep my promise to Sagittarius. Oh, he must be in such a mess. He was so miserable when I was leaving. Back then, I just saw him as a horrible cold-hearted monster, but now I realized that...he was a person who had suffered for so long. There was something more to him...those indigo eyes of his...there's more than what he's telling me. I have to find out, I have to get back. Who knows what that Werewolf is doing to him? I can't let Sagittarius be in so much misery. Ever since he gave me the black glass rose he made...it's like...I've been feeling his pain.

This has been a long week, but I'm happy that's now over. I'm even more happy that Uncle James was almost completely recovered. That night was the hardest night I had to deal with. It was 'Sapphire this' and 'Sapphire that', Olivia was just screaming at me and Lucinda was throwing temper tantrums. I'm glad that Sagittarius wasn't as bad as Lucinda.

Between Lucinda and Stephanie, Lucinda was the princess of the house. Anything she wanted, she got it. If anyone says 'no' to Lucinda, she starts throwing some of the worse temper tantrums I have seen. Stephanie isn't as horrible as her sister, at least she has common sense not to be upset when someone says 'no' to her. Stephanie...was the only girl here in the family that was ever nice to me. She didn't care about what the family curse turned me into. To her, I was family...not a...deformed person. Stephanie also used to help me around the house, but whenever Olivia saw her daughter helping me, I'm the one who gets in trouble. The last time Olivia caught Stephanie helping me clean the house, Olivia locked me in the basement for two days.

I was washing the dishes, hopefully for the last time, when I heard the kitchen door open. I looked over and I saw Stephanie come in with her dirty dishes. I rolled my eyes as I went over to her, trying to take her dishes so I can clean them. To my surprise, she went passed me and went to the sink.

"You don't need to deal with my dishes, Sapphire." She said, but I shook my head.

"Stephanie!" I pushed, "If your mother finds you doing the dishes, she's going to kick my rear!"

"I know," Stephanie said, "but I'll do what I can to make sure that doesn't happen. My mother prevented me from trying to help you from all the trash she's been throwing at you ever since you came here. I don't care what she or Lucinda say or do to me. You are my cousin! You may be younger than Lucinda and older than me, but nobody should destroy the spirit you once had." I gently smiled at her as she hugged me. I managed to hold her back, but I try to make sure that my fingertips don't touch skin. "I'm happy you came back for...well, your uncle and...well, I think you get what I'm saying. I know that you can't stand being here, so...are you going to leave again?"

"I have to, Stephanie." I answered, "I made a promise."

"To who?" She asked as she released me. I knew I couldn't tell her the complete truth, but I had to give her something.

"A friend...that I made during the the time I was gone." I answered. Stephanie was giving me this look...like she had an idea about what it's about.

"It's a boy, isn't it?" She said, but I didn't say anything back. "It is, isn't it? It must be because you're blushing."

"Stephanie, stop!" I pushed, "Do you want Lucinda to know so she can make a mockery of me?"

"Good point. Sorry about that, but you can't blame me. I'm happy for you." She said; of course I was confused by what she meant by that. "Father told me about the rare luck that your mother and our grandmother got when it came to love." Now I understood what she meant...but I didn't think that I loved Sagittarius. Well...I guess those kisses that we had were a give away to something.

"I get what you're saying," I told her, trying to get rid of this stupid blush, "but as I said before, I don't want Lucinda to hear about this."

"You don't think that I would tell her, would you?" She asked.

"No, I trust you, but that doesn't mean that she can't hear."

"Okay, you're making the point too." She said, "All right, I'll lay off. Now, let's get these dishes cleaned before mother screams again." I decided not to fight with Stephanie. We worked together to get the dishes done; we were lucky that Olivia didn't come into the kitchen and catch us. After all the dishes were done and the kitchen was cleaned up, I looked at Stephanie and told her good night. I watched her go up the stairs into her room.

I made my way over to the door, connecting the barn to the house. I opened the door and went to Snowflake's stall. He made his nickering sound as he placed his head on my right shoulder.

"Snowflake, it won't be long until we have to go back." I told him, he looked at me and nodded his head up and down, telling me that he understood. "Sagittarius grew on you too, huh." He nickered again. "I hope that he's not in trouble. I can't help but worry if he is. I can only guess what horror that Werewolf has put him through. We need to go back tonight, Snowflake. I promised him to gone only a week." He just nodded his head again. I grabbed his reins and saddle and put them on him.

I went up to the barn door, but to my surprise, it was locked! I tried picking the lock, but it won't unlock. I took my needle fingertips out of the lock and noticed that they were bent. Something was telling me that the locks were new because I can pick locks that I've practiced on. New locks with new fixings and everything else, I would need a couple of days to know the lock, but I don't have time for that. The week was over and I have to get back to Sagittarius's castle...before the Werewolf causes more damage to him and the servants.

I spent the whole night and the next day trying to figure out the new locks and trying to pick them open. Every one of my needle tips were bent from trying to pick the locks open. I finally stopped and put Snowflake back in his stall. I grabbed a hammer and brought it to the family room fireplace. I used the hammer to bend my fingertips back into place.

"Sapphire!" I heard Lucinda yell out as she came into the family room. "Where's our breakfast?" I just about had it with Lucinda.

"Go make it yourself!" I yelled at her as I continued to put my fingertips back in place.

"Mama!" She screamed. I sighed, knowing that I was going to be in trouble. I heard Olivia running and then the door swung open. "Mama, Sapphire's trying to starve us!"

"What's the meaning of this, Sapphire?" Olivia yelled at me, but I had enough.

"I'm not your servant!" I yelled at her. "I'm sick and tired of dealing with you and Lucinda. So don't you dare tell me what to do!" Before I knew it, Olivia slapped me across the face.

"How dare you talk back to us like that!" She said as I lost my balance and fell into the fireplace. Ash went all over the place, including on the carpet.

"What's going on in there?!" I heard Uncle James yell out in another room. He barged into the room and saw the mess in front of him. "What happened?"

"She fell backwards." Lucinda said, but Uncle James wasn't believing her.

"Lucinda, go grab a bucket and you clean the mess!" He said; I became a little surprised.

"What?" Olivia almost shouted.

"Don't get in the way!" Uncle James pushed, "She needs to learn some respect and responsibility!"

After that mess, Lucinda had to clean up all the ash in the family room as Uncle James helped me clean my cloak. Olivia and Lucinda were very angry with me after that. The two of them have been harsh with me; I also found out they changed the locks to prevent me from escaping again. This wasn't good!

Three days passed since I tried to leave. Sagittarius must be so worried I don't know what to do. I tried again to pick the locks, but I knew that if I tried again, they will bend again and the risk that they will break. I had to get out of here, but Olivia held the keys and Uncle James wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon. That night, I went to Snowflake's stall and cried on his neck, he knew what I was feeling.

"Oh, Snowflake," I cried, "Sagittarius must've given up on me. I have to get back before he does something horrible."

"Sapphire." I heard. I turned around and saw Stephanie. "You've done so much for me and father. It's time for me to help you." She then pulled out a key. "I stole this from mother's room. Go to him...and be there for him." I grabbed Stephanie and hugged her.

"Thank you, Stephanie." I whispered, "Thank you for everything." She just smiled at me and gave me the key. She got Snowflake ready as I carefully unlocked the barn door. I carefully opened the door and Stephanie brought Snowflake outside.

"Go to him!" Stephanie whispered and I hugged one more time. I hopped onto Snowflake's back and carefully left the village. It wasn't until I went into the forest did I tell Snowflake to gallop.

It wasn't long until I got lost. I couldn't remember how I got there in the first place. I can also tell that Snowflake didn't know where to go either. Everything seemed to be the same. I wasn't sure on where to go.

"I've gotten us in trouble now, Snowflake." I told him as I looked around; he just nickered. "I...I wish I had an idea on what to do."

"Sapphire!" I heard; of course I got started, which caused me to fall off Snowflake's saddle.

"Who's there!" I quickly said as I revealed my needle hands.

"Sapphire, it's me, Lilla!"

"Lilla?" I asked, "Where are you?"

"Nearby," she answered, "I was trying to find you. Sagittarius needs you! He said he plans on leaving if you don't come back and once that last petal falls the Werewolf will take over him and Sagittarius will disappear!" That was my biggest fear. I knew something was wrong. I had to get back.

"Lilla, I need your help!" I said as I hopped back onto Snowflake's back.

"I'll help you get there!"