It was a haunting feeling, to be so empty inside. It was like someone had scooped out all the good parts and left me to rot. Echo and Nicholas were as much apart of me as my heart, my brain, a vital organ that one needs to survive. I gasped and the cold air punctured my lungs like needles. I fisted my hands in Theo's shirt and laid my head against the hole in his abdomen. A stark-like drowsiness took over and my eyes fluttered against my will. I heart someone approaching. Running. Clawing out. I coughed and my eyes flickered shut only to see Echo's face printed on my eye lids. Why? She whispered. Why do you let feelings get in the way, Morrie? I don't know. I don't know. Nicholas, I wimper. In my head or aloud I couldn't tell you. Darkness took over and their faces were swiped away with the sensation of drowning. I was drowning and I wasn't resurfacing to the surface. There was no rebirth with my face hitting the water, there was only my head exploding into pieces all over everywhere.

My eyes burned like liquid propane was being lit on fire. Just a dream. Just a dream. I chanted to myself, but as the fire burned I just measured my heartbeats and how many dream seconds it took until the fire was dim. Nicholas's face appeared. Eyes gleamed molten gold in the lava of my fire. I reached for him, but he was too far.

He watched me timidly like a cat with prey and in frustration at this "dream Nicholas", I screamed. Dream Echo grabbed my shoulder and lifted me off the ground. Shut up, her hands said. Shut up, her nails clawed. I looked at her face and saw thick trails of bloody tears tracing their way across her pale skin. She pushed me backwards and all I knew was falling.

"Mora! Mora!" Someone pinched my arm. My eyes flew open and I screamed bloody murder, my fingers digging into the cushion I was on and my pale blonde hair thrashing about. Mid-scream I stopped to see a white plastic ceiling above me and a sliding airplane window, Thorn's sleeve pulling a blanket over me.

I sat up and pushed sweaty hair away from my face, "Wha-?"

Thorn was kneeling next to me with a grim expression plastered all over her perky face. "Mora, I need you to listen to me, alright?" She didn't wait for me to agree, but instead marched right on. "You're on a private jet that is tanked and ready to go to where the Voltori are located. Theo is already healed and is resting in the back bedroom with all of your supplies. I can't go with you, but I need you to get Nick and Echo. You need to bring them home."

My breath quickened, "How?"

"I-I don't know, but not by force. No, the Voltori would outnumber you two in the force department. You need to get Caius and reason with him," Thorn paused and hesitated.

Irritated I snapped, "What, Thorn? Whatever it is, spit it out! We really don't have time for petty secrets." I slapped my hand over my mouth, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that."

She waved me off, "It's fine. I just want you to be the one to reason with Caius, I think he likes you." Before I could interrupt her and ask her to explain, Thorn took a pad from a nearby table and scribbled something down. "Here is the address and the directions. I rented a town car that will meet you at the airport."

Thorn stood and rushed to the airplane door, "Good luck. Don't die."

"Thanks," I muttered. Then on second thought I shouted, "Take care of my cat!" The door shut and the plane booted up with an electric hum. I strapped myself in and pressed a hand to my forehead. We were going off to save them and there was a high death risk if we didn't think of a plan.

I scribbled on the pad until a tiny flight attendant scooted out with a navy uniform. Good God! How much money does Nicholas's family have? She spotted me and hurried over with a flourish. "Hello, my name is Amanda and I'll be your flight attendant today. Is there anything I can get you?"

Startled I unlocked my seatbelt and pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders. "Water is fine, thanks." Amanda practically ran behind the curtain and back with a cold bottle of water.

"Anything else?"

I lowered my voice, "This is kind of embarrassing, but is there by chance another set of clothes that I could change into? I wasn't really aware that I was going to be internationally traveling."

She smiled, "Yes, of course. Miss Thorn placed some for you in your friend's room in the back." I smiled and walked carefully over the padded carpet and into a small hallway that looked way too spacious for a plane.

"Theo?" I whispered timidly.

A door pushed open and a tired, floppy haired Theo pushed open the door. I grinned and threw my arms around him then pulled back to examine his nonexistent stomach hole.

"Guess you aren't holey anymore, huh?"

He smiled and pulled me in, "So not funny Mora." Theo looked at my ragged ensemble, "You look like you've been in some sort of gang fight." He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, "Are you sure you aren't injured?"

My heart hurts. "I'm doing, but I'm not here for the free therapist, you know. Where did Thorn put the clothes for me?"

Theo sat on the small bed lightly and pointed at a cheap dresser stapled to the floral wallpapered wall. "In there." I retrieved a new shirt and jeans that looked like they were from an ad then backpedaled to the bathroom.

In the sink I washed my hair and all the blood from my body. Although I wasn't injured, black and navy bruises riveted my arms and legs decorated with gashes from the glass. I slipped on the jeans and retucked them into Nicholas's overlarged boots. After I wiped all the blood from his jacket, I layered it on over the clean shirt.

After that there was no sleep. Just Theo's heavy breaths and my crying.

"Italy!" The happy voice chirped from the speakers.

I moaned and stood from the bathroom floor a little uneasily. Hand on my head; I wandered out to where the seats were stapled down. Theo was sitting on one with the bulky duffle bag.

"Theo?" I called a bit too loud for the plane. My voice sounded distant and sad.

"Yeah?" Having seen me, he hustled over and zipped up Nicholas's jacket. "Keep this zipped and the hood over your hair. It is nice and all, but very blonde."

"Okay," I said tightly. With the hood over my head Nicholas's smell was invading and strong around me. It was so painful to not have the connection, to not know if they were alive.

Theo, having assumed the position of leader, started to tug me after him down the steps and into a waiting car. He talked loudly as I attempted to gaze out the black-tinted windows. "The plan is really simple Mora. All you have to do is talk to Caius, drag it out, and be charming. Easy. While you do that, I'll get them out."

I shivered at the thought of talking to the kidnapper of my sister and my boyfriend. Theo flicked the AC vent at the shiver and eyed me nervously. "Do you understand the plan?"

Sure. Of course I understood it perfectly, but what I didn't get was how I escaped. I cleared my throat and leaned heavily against the hard chair, "Theo, how do I get out of there?"

He looked outside which really was nothing because we couldn't see outside the blackness. "Didn't get that far yet."

"Oh." The thoughts were panicked. He was going to leave me to die. He is going to leave me to die.

Theo clenched his hands, "Talk your way out of it, Mora. I know you'll get out just fine."

I snapped. Just like that I broke into millions and millions of pieces that wouldn't—couldn't be tapped or glued or pieced together again. I was on the floor and there would be no getting back up. My words, all strung and tired sounded wicked, "Theo, I'm going to tell you a secret, alright?" I waited a beat then launched, "You're over estimating my ability and…and I think that you want me to be left behind. I just can't figure out why. I mean, you're possibly my best friend after Echo."

On her name his eyes went cold and I knew. I knew he loved her and he would kill me for her. I hated him for it, but I loved him for it too. You see I would do anything for Echo. And I would let Theo do anything for her.

"Mora, I don't want you to—"

I held up my hand. It shook. "Shut it, Theo. It's okay, just—just don't lie to me about it, 'kay?"

He pursed his lips, "It's right ahead, here. On the left." I couldn't see anything, but just stared out at the window. At the trees I would never see and all the people that I wouldn't see.

I muttered something of acknowledgement and when the car stopped, I jumped out and the light slanted in my eyes. Theo didn't say anything to me. The plan was simple enough to follow, distract Caius long enough so that he could get Echo out.

My prize: Nicholas's freedom.

Consequences? Whatever Caius wanted to do to me.

There was a large stone arch smiling behind a huge fountain. The thong of people was thick. Everyone's smell bouncing around, the sway of bodies mesmerizing.

I stumbled on the cobblestones and after tripping over a baby carriage I landed successfully on the pavement under the arch. Now it looked huge and holey with a gaping smile and no teeth. Shadows were slithering from the darkness and I knew that once I set foot in them, I wasn't turning back.

The sun heated my skin as I picked up and dragged myself for the shadows. For Nicholas. For Echo. "My dear sweet Morana has returned to me," someone spoke farther in the darkness.

"Hello?" I couldn't see in this darkness either.

A hard feeling pulsed through me. Memories, my brain recognized. I'm remembering something.

Hands wrapped firmly around my waist twirled me with a sensual grace unknown to humans. Lips were pressed against my earlobe, the breath was cold; a scorching cold one might associate with angel's fire.

"My dear beloved one," the voice whispered. I saw only the rivet colored hair curling out on the edge of a crisp, white dress collar. Skin pale in comparison to the collar with soft scars edged and curled like half-mooned stars.

My head turned on its own accord. Pale blonde styled ringlets pinned to my head bobbed while one fell down onto the fair skin of my back. I pulled back and saw his tall figure clad in fitted formal dress. Gold buttons and ivory painted across him. Caius, Caius, Cauis. I loved to think of us like this forever, frozen in eternity.

I looked down and saw my dress snagging amuck in our shoes. I smoothed down the tight bodice around my chest and adjusted the falling layers of white taffeta. Caius watched me predatory-like, red eyes rounded with awe.

"You are the most magnificent creature I could ever lie my eyes on," he whispered with a spin, my dress arching out from my body. The light gleamed on my diamond engagement ring that choked my slender finger. I grasped his iron shoulder a bit harder, trying not to trip on the edge of my own gown.

I blushed from the complement. A dark red staining the white, "Thank you, Caius." The music drummed around us, around all the other red-eyed people that danced. The vampires. I edged closer to Caius so that we were practically breathing the same air. In the corner of my eye I saw Echo slip from the darkness of the gold accented ballroom. Before I could acknowledge her, Caius whisked me in a different direction towards the heart of the floor.

He pulled me closer so that my eyes bore into his. Blood against brown. We were so close that we could have kissed, but his words hunted through me, "I love you so much." I smiled. He leaned in and pressed his cold lips against the crease in my neck.

And that was when he killed me.

My eyes flew open to see Caius standing above me. A dangerous smile curved around his lips. I choked on my own air. What was that? I sputtered and dragged my wrist over my eyes to wipe away the sweat gathered there.

He eyed me, "Hello, dear." Caius looked the same with the same blood hungry eyes that stared out of a wide skull.

I shuddered. My brain kept catching on the words, "I-I'll do anything if you let them go. I'll even stay here with you, just please let them go."

Caius clamped a hand around my forearm. I didn't notice he was dragging me farther in until Nicholas's boots made a funny squeaking noise on the ground. "Are you going to kill me?"

He glanced back at me then at the darkness ahead of us. "No. No, I just wanted to show you something, Morana. How could I ever kill the one that I loved more than anything else in this world or the next? How could I ever dissever my soul from the soul of my beloved?"

I felt the sensation of ants crawling over my bare skin. Nicholas was the other half of my soul and I was practically dying in Caius's arms at his mercy. "You've killed me before," it wasn't a question, but a statement.

Caius's hand was tense around my arm, "I see that being around the heart of the Voltori where my sister lives must be giving you those infernal memories back."

I stopped short and he almost yanked my arm from my socket because he didn't notice. "That really didn't answer the question, Caius. Did you kill me or not? It wasn't that hard to understand, was it?"

He grinned, "Still as snippy as last time, huh." Caius straightened his shirt's buttons and started to edge me forward again, "I did kill you, yes, but only because there was no other option. A vampire cannot love a human and that would mean certain death for me, so I had my sister keep a lock of your hair so that I could always find you when you reincarnated."

"You killed me because you were in danger?"

Caius fixed another grin that was barley visible in the absolute darkness of the caves. "Exactly, but also as revenge for what your sister did to me," he didn't wait for me to ask what she did. "She made me angry and I had you, whom she loved, so I killed you for vengeance and my own benefit. Do you understand now, dear?"

My eyes adjusted to the small light radiating from what looked like a medieval chandelier hanging from the wall. "Understood," I barked for fear of Echo and Nicholas. There were three twin iron doors with tiny metal grates at the top, flanking Caius on either side of where he held my arm.

"This is your punishment, but first I need you to change out of those awful mundane clothes."

Confused, I turned and tried to pry his fingers off my arm that was turning blue. "My punishment? For what exactly am I being punished, Caius? Saying as that I am the one in need of punishment."

His eyes hardened, "Change and then maybe you'll remember. Just know that if you attempt to escape that I will kill your sister and it will be so painful that you will hurt."

I made a sound in my throat, broke apart from him, and pulled open the iron door he gestured to. The room was empty except for a brass-framed mirror hanging on the first wall and a hanger cloaked with a brilliant red dress.

I bit my lip and threw all my clothes, with the exception of Nicholas's boots, onto the floor. The dress was in two pieces; the first was a lace up corset that attached to a full taffeta balloon skirt. Halfway through lacing it up I froze; this was the dress I was wearing in my memory. Another thought hit, he had kept it this whole time. For Echo and Nicholas, my brain mused. For Echo and Nicholas.

The mirror threw back the reflection of a girl with hallowed out eyes and skin so white it looked like snow. Her once gold hair now looked as white as her skin, falling across her shoulders in full curls. The dress made her look like a dead corpse all readied for burial with the exception of black boots poking out from the bottom.

She turned. I turned.

Caius clapped his hands when I came out. "So beautiful, so beautiful—my little Morana, come. Once your punishment is over you can come meet my dear sister."

I gulped as he wrapped a forceful arm around my tiny waist. I wish I was dead, but if I were dead so would Nicholas be. I couldn't live knowing I had killed Nicholas. The dim lights flickered and I couldn't help, but whimper at the thought of being stuck down here for eternity.

Caius pulled open the door and I saw Echo next to Nicholas, both bloodied and both screaming.