The moment Switzerland and I were pulled in; we immediately went on the offense. I flipped my attacker over my shoulder and held them down with their arm in a painful lock with my foot on their chest. Switzerland backhanded his attacker, twisted their arm around their back and rammed him against the wall.

"Is this any way to treat a person for saving you?!" a familiar voice cried out.

I looked down, "Peter?!" I let go and stepped away from him, "I'm so sorry; it was a reflex."

"Reflex my ass," he groaned.

"Brother," a voice called out from across the room, "Please let Raivis go."

Switzerland snapped out of his warrior instincts and found Raivis before him; whimpering. Switzerland stepped away from him and said bluntly, "Sorry Baltic." He turned away and walked towards a girl who shared the same hair and eye color as him. "Erika," he placed his hands on her shoulders, "Are you okay, no one hurt you did they?"

"No," she answered, "Raivis and everyone found me after we separated; they have been watching out for me."

I took a moment to notice her features, which were soft almost childlike. She was an inch shorter than me and just as slim. She wore a pink strapless dress and carried herself with an elegance of a princess. She also wore a matching ribbon in her blond hair.

The girl behind her was also around our age and had deep tan skin with dark hair and eyes. She was the girl I bumped into earlier that evening.

The girls took their notice of me, and Erika curtsied to me. "Hello Ms. America."

"Erika," the tanned girl shook her head, "You don't need to be so formal." She came to my side and shook my hand, "I'm Victoria Marie Lambert and I'm the nation of Seychelles."

I smiled, "Cool, I'm Amy, but I guess you already knew that."

She grinned, "Call me Victoria." Then she pulled Erika to her side, "And this is Erika Zwingli, the nation of Liechtenstein."

"Nice to meet you Erika," I shook her hand.

"The same to you, Ms. America."

"Please call me Amy."

Switzerland cleared his throat loudly, "Ms. America, didn't Britain teach you the proper way of addressing nations? Calling us by our human names is intimate affair and too formal-"

"Vash," Erika turned to him, "It's fine."

"Yeah," Peter remarked, "Lighten up, old chap."

"I'm not your 'chap'," Vash hissed.

"This is not the time to fight," Raivis whispered, "We need to figure out how to get out of this house."

Vash glared at him, "For once I agree with you."

"Maybe if we figure out the reason why this is happening, we might be able to stop it," I proclaimed.

Victoria lifted a brow at me, "How are we supposed to figure that out?"

"Recap," I announced, "When did this all start?"

"After Prussia called out for the game to hunt you down," Peter proclaimed.

"Could Prussia be behind all this?" I asked.

Vash shook his head, "He's not that smart to pull all this off."

"Wait, I think all this started when the lights went out the first time." Victoria recalled, "Remember, right after we left the ballroom, the lights went out and thunder roared outside and then the lights came back on."

"But after ten minutes or so, the lights went back off and have been off since," Raivis added.

"I don't think the lights are the reason why the house has come alive," I proclaimed.

"Alive?" Peter questioned, "What do you mean by that?"

Vash and I quickly described our ordeal of the house. First my experience with the trap door that sent me to the second floor. Then I ran into him and the Axis (his words not mine) and described how we were trapped in new walls that grew out of the ceiling.

"The walls even tried to crush us," I added.

Vash continued to explain how we got out and how Ludwig, Feliciano and Japan were pulled in through a wall like quicksand. Finally we told them of the falling tile that chased us through the second floor and we're saved when Peter and Raivis pulled us into the room.

"Thanks guys, we owe you one," I nodded to Peter and Raivis.

Vash rolled his eyes and continued, "Also let's not forget that the rooms are changing places."

"And the humans that are knocked out cold in the kitchen," I added.

"This all sounds oddly familiar," Peter said as he scratched his head for the memory.

"Try and remember Seeley," Victoria encouraged.

Peter blushed embarrassingly, "Don't call me that." He turned away from her and she knitted her brows in confusion at him.

I raised my brows, what's up with them? I bit back my curiosity and focused on the problem at hand. "Well, Pete?"

It came to him, "Right! When I was younger, I wanted to pull a prank on Britain and I asked help from his older brothers, for they hate him just as much as I do."

"Arthur's got older brothers?" I asked.

"You didn't know?" Vash questioned.

Peter came to my rescue, "I'm not surprised, Britain avoids his brothers and sister like the plague. Anyway I asked Wales to place a spell on Britain's house to come alive." He smirked, "He was lost in there for weeks."

"Wait! A spell?! Like a magic trick?!" I exclaimed.

"A magic trick is used by magicians that put on illusions. I'm talking about magick, the real deal."

"What's the difference? They sound alike."

"It's the spelling; real magick is spelled with a 'k' at the end."

Vash snapped, "There's no such thing."

"No offense," Victoria added, "But the way the house is acting, is a pretty good example."

"So," I turned to Peter, "you can you use magick?"

"No," Peter shrugged, "Never had the gift for it. But this spell had to be done by one of the members of the United Kingdom or Ireland."

"Can they stop the spell?" Erika asked.

"Erika, magick doesn't exist," Vash lectured.

"Then what's your explanation?" I asked.

"Special effects, remodeling of Austria's house," he named a few.

I sighed, "Whatever this is, we need to find the person behind it."

"I place my bet on Britain," Peter mumbled loud enough for us to hear.

"If so, I'll give him a good punch that will knock some his teeth in," I cracked my knuckles.

Victoria giggled, "That might actually fix his teeth."

Peter and I grinned along with Victoria.

Raivis shook his head, "Why do you all dislike Mr. Britain so much?"

"He's a wanker," Peter remarked and Victoria agreed.

"He continues to keep secrets from me, and I'm tired of it." I added. "He didn't even tell me about Russia."

Raivis and Peter's eyes widened in concern, "Did he find you?" asked Raivis.

I gave him carefree smile, "Don't worry, Toris came and saved me before Ivan could do anything."

Raivis sighed in relief; then asked, "Where's Toris?"

"I left him in a dark secret passage way," they all gave me questionable glances, "long story. Let's just find Arthur or one of his siblings and get them to end this nightmare."

Vash sighed, "Again, magick does not exist. If all of you want to go searching for Britain so be it." He takes Erika by the hand, "I'm going to find the exit."

Erika placed a hand on his arm, "Brother, please, can we go with them?"

"No."

"But-"

I cleared my throat, "Switzerland, I don't want to question your wisdom, but the house will continue to change and cause trouble for you and your sister if you wonder alone. We need to stick together. The best chance we got is to find one of the members of the UK, so they can stop," I chose my words carefully. "Whatever this is, being a prank, special effects, or magick. If it's not them, then we need to gather the other nations. The process of elimination could lead us to the culprit."

Vash gave me a long analyzing gaze, "Well that isn't much of a plan, but at least you come up with realistic ideas. Not like your father, he would rabble on about making a hero to solve our problems."

I inhaled a calming breath; clearly Alfred was joke to him. I refused to be a daughter of a pun. "I'm nothing like Alfred," I vowed.

Everyone was silent till Vash nodded, "Very well, let's find the other nations." He walked to the door and opened it to a hallway with perfectly intake floors. He taps his foot on the tile and declared, "It's safe."

Erika and Victoria followed behind him, while Raivis, Peter and I took the rear. The hall was filled with windows and I quickly noticed that some of the windows were doors that led to small balconies. We're back on the third floor, I shook my head; this is extremely irritating.

Then I caught Victoria and Erika talking, giggling and passing inside jokes with one another. My heart squeezed; they reminded me of how my friends and I were. I could have been with them right now. Shopping for our prom dresses. Helping Celine decorate the backyard of Melissa's beach house for the wedding and deciding which songs should be added to the playlist.

I've already received word that Grandma Jessie and Grandpa Makani have arrived from Hawaii and were staying with Melissa. Most likely Grandpa Makani would be taking Blair and Blake out surfing and teaching them the hula, like he did with me when I was their age. Grandma Jessie and Grandma Aponi would catch up with each other over tea and share stories with one another. I also heard that Uncle Alex and Aunt Emily were staying with Grandma Aponi. Their daughters: Sofia, Mia, and Josefina have joined the party along with their husbands and children were at my house. The whole family must be together right now, along with close family friends and neighbors, and where was I, some might wonder.

In Austria, visiting the personifications of nations, and being trapped inside a living house.

Yup, this totally beats spending time with family and friends. Note the sarcasm.

The girls continued to giggle and whisper to each other and I took notice of Peter and Raivis stealing glances at them. Well more accurately, Raivis would stare longingly at Erika while Peter would glance at Victoria, hastily turned to face the floor and repeat the same actions every two seconds. I raised my brows at the boys, what is going on here? I will admit, I was curious about what was going on with these four but I decided it wasn't the best time to ask.

Then a strange awareness of being watched came over me, as if someone or something was following us. I quickly dismissed the thought, oh Amy, you've been watching too many horror movies. But still the sense refused to stop nagging me till I turned around.

When I did, I found a wolf.

Its golden eyes stared into mine, and its solid white fur shined in the moonlight. The wolf was massive; it was the size of a small horse and had long legs, almost like a dire wolf from the Games of Thrones series.

The wolf only stared at me and slowly stepped toward me. I tensed, "Switzerland," I asked in a calming tone. "Are there wolves in Europe?"

"We are trying to repopulate the wolf packs in the wild, but I highly doubt there would be any near the cities," he answered.

"Cool," I nodded, never breaking my eye contact with the wolf as I walked back. I'm amazed that Raivis and Peter didn't notice the wolf. They must still be drooling over the girls.

The group kept walking and I followed backwards. "How big do your wolves get by the way?"

The wolf followed, keeping its eyes right on me. Switzerland sighed as he thought, "A bit larger than a German Shepard, like most wolves."

"Does Austria keep wolves as pets?" I asked.

"No. Why are you-" he must have turned around because he stopped in mid-sentence. The girls followed suite with gasps and Peter and Raivis both tensed like deers caught in the head lights.

"Oh good, you all can see the wolf. I almost thought I was going crazy," I gave a nervous laugh.

When all eyes were set on the wolf, it bared its teeth and growled. It broke into a run towards us and Raivis pulled me aside as bullets flew through the air.

The bullets hit the legs of the wolf and it yelped. It shook off the injuries and leaped at Vash.

Erika and Victoria jumped to the walls and Vash tucked and rolled, dodging the wolf. It landed several inches away from him and turned back around to attack once more. Vash shot two more bullets at the wolf's mouth. The wolf dropped to the floor and Vash lowered his pistol.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief but the wolf's eyes shot open and rose back to its paws, shaking its head like it woke up from a nap.

"Girls in front, go!" Vash shouted.

Victoria yanked Erika into a sprint and I followed behind them. Peter and Raivis ran behind me and Vash took the rear as the wolf gave chase. Vash continued to shoot his gun at the wolf, but it only made it angry and picked up speed. We cut around a corner and Vash slid to a stop to shoot two more bullets.

"If the gun isn't working, stop shooting it!" I screamed at him.

It happened so quickly; he took a second to glance at me and the wolf tackled him to the ground. The wolf growled and threw its teeth inches away from his face, trying to bite Vash. He held it back by the fur of its neck and tried to aim his gun at the wolf's face.

My instincts kicked in and I grabbed a vase from a hall table. I threw it at the wolf's face and the vase smashed to pieces as it collided into the animal's skull.

It shook its head and I ran back around the corner to stand behind it. "Over here you overgrown bitch!"

It snapped its head around and growled at me. I lifted up my skirt and ran down the hall. I could hear its large paws slapping against the tile as it chased after me. This was not my best plan, but it was all I got. I ran down the halls and leaped down the stairs; the wolf kept its pace and picked up speed whenever I slid around the corners. I stopped at a large sculpture and gave a silent apology to Austria for what I was about to do. I pushed the sculpture to the ground and it smashed into large pieces as it blocked the wolf's path. This only lasted for two seconds, which was enough to run into a nearby room and lock myself in. The wolf howled and I leaned against the door till I slid myself to sit on the floor.

I panted, "Can the house create wolves now?" I tried to laugh but I ended up groaning in frustration and fear. "If this is magick, I fucking hate it."

After I took a five minute break, I rose back to my feet, opened the door just a crack and peeked through. The hall was empty when I stepped outside, or so I thought.

A hand grasped my arm harshly and threw me to the wall. My head slammed against the wall, resounding a sickening crack in my ears. I cursed and my vision blurred, it took a second to recognize the silver hair and violet eyes looming over me.

"You almost got away from me, маленький котенок," he whispered in my ear as his hands traveled to waist and ass.

Fear grew from the pit of my stomach and spread throughout my body. I reacted on pure instinct as I smashed my fist into his cheek. He groaned and I took my chance to run. His foot stomped over my dress and I fell to the floor with a rip of my gown. Pain shot through my side and I hissed out a curse. He fell to his knees and pulled me between his legs, he forced me to my back by pressing his hand on to my waist and squeezing my hip roughly.

I yelled, "Let me go!" I threw my fists but he easily caught them and pinned them over my head.

He smiled, "you have gotten your marks in, now it's my turn." He lowered himself to my neck and bit; hard.

I cried out and kicked up my feet and legs. He smirked against my skin and used his free hand to push my hips to the floor. He found the rip from the back of my gown and tore it across to the front, revealing my calves and thighs.

"Stop!" I cried.

But when I opened my mouth he took the chance to force his lips on my own. His teeth clashed against mine as his tongue explored my mouth. His hand slipped under my knee and roamed up my thigh. My eyes widened as his hand reached my ass and his fingers snaked into my inner thigh. If he thought it was going to be this easy, he thought wrong. I opened my mouth along with Ivan's and bit down on his bottom lip. I tasted blood when he shoved me back.

"You little-" he stopped and stared ahead with a rage filled expression. I craned my neck up to find the large white wolf growling and bearing its teeth at Ivan. I don't know if a wolf could have looked as angry as this one did. Its lips were curved up in fury and its eyes shined with blood lust. The wolf leaped and collided into Ivan, tackling him off me. The wolf barked and growled as Ivan tried to hold it off with both hands.

I was stunned for a few moments till every nerve in my body screamed, run!

I rose unsteadily to my feet and felt a large throbbing ache in the back of my skull. I placed a hand on my head and hissed out a curse when that hand came back with blood on the palm. I fell to my knees and cursed even louder as I once again, rose back to my feet.

A buzzing noise clouded the growls and grunts of the fight between man and beast. My sight was losing vision and my legs wobbled as I jogged slowly down the hall. When I turned the corner I knocked into a broad chest. Arms wrapped around my back as a large hand supported my head and neck. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was a pair of green eyes.

When I awoke, I was covered in bed sheets and had strange source of heat radiating behind me. I blinked away the sleep in my eyes and found an arm draped over my waist. The arm was slim and muscular with fair skin; it was definitely a man's arm. I immediately tensed under its touch and inhaled slowly through my nose. The memory of Ivan finding me and slamming my head against the wall came back to me. I touched the back of my head and felt bandages wrapped around my forehead. Then the memory of Ivan being on top of me made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end and my body stiff. My brain questioned if the arm belonged to Ivan, but just as quickly as the thought came to mind, it was dismissed by the memory of the wolf attacking him.

Right, I thought. Then I tried running but ended up stumbling down the hall and running into another person. When the thought came to mind, I turned around. It was difficult at first, for this person was attached to my back. I could even feel his breath on the back of neck and ear, god this was awkward. Once I faced him, I was surprised to find someone so young. But why should I be surprise, I thought, all the countries for some reason were young and attractive.

This country had dark jaw length curly hair and a fair complexion. His features were soft and long with dark eyelashes and thick brows. Not like Arthur's super massive brows, I'm talking about average thick eyebrows.

In his sleep, he tugged me closer and nuzzled our faces together. He mumbled in his sleep a language I didn't understand, "Πήγαινε πίσω στον ύπνο αγάπη." Then he kissed me. It was soft, sweet, and asked for nothing else but a gentle caress, but my mind and body instantly returned to the kiss Ivan had given me. His was rough, demanding, and harsh. Fear once again swirled in the pits of my stomach and I shoved the young man off the bed.

"Who the hell are you?!" I demanded.

He groaned and rubbed his head, but answered sleepily. "I'm Heracles Karpusi." Then he asked, "Why did you push me?"

My cheeks heated with a blush, "You were all over me!"

"Ugh, Greece what the hell did you do?!" a voice called out.

I turned to the corner to find a large man, about the size of Ivan. He was wide and muscular, with tan skin and short black hair. He wore a white mask that covered his eyes and wore a simple tuxedo, just as Heracles.

"I don't have to answer to you Turkey," Heracles hissed.

The broad chested man rose from the armchair he was sitting in and took two long strides toward Heracles. He gripped his hand into the smaller male's dress shirt and pulled him to his feet. "You do, when your actions cause me to lose sleep."

Heracles glared, "Then go back sleep, this has nothing to do with you."

I seriously did not have the patience to deal with this. I threw pillow at them to get their attention. "You can settle this stupid fight later!" Then I picked up the lamp from the nightstand. "Now, tell me where I am or I'll smash this over your heads!"

"There's no need for violence Ms. America," a new voice spoke from another armchair.

The two men stopped fighting and separated for a young man to step forward. He had light brown skin and well groomed dark hair with short bangs. He had light brown eyes and wore a nice black tuxedo with a matching vest underneath the blazer. His white dress shirt was thin and his tie was loose. It took me a moment to place his face in the stack of photos that Arthur had shown me.

"You're Egypt," I remarked as I sat the lamp beside me.

He smiled, "Yes I am." He held out his hand and I shook it. "A pleasure," he said.

"Wait," the tall man exclaimed, "You know him, but not us."

"There are a lot of you, how can anyone keep track?"

He rolled his eyes and took my hand to his lips, "I'm Sadik Adnan, Turkey."

I pulled my hand away, "I'm really getting tired of that."

He crossed his arms and smirked, "Feisty aren't you."

"You have no idea," I glared at him.

"Stop picking on her," Heracles hissed at Sadik.

"I can pick on whoever I want," Sadik grinned.

I rolled my eyes, "Enough!" They turned to me and I focused my attention on Heracles, "You're Greece, right?"

He smiled, "Yes."

"Why did you kiss me?" I asked annoyed.

He blushed, embarrassed, "Well, I was half asleep and I thought for a second you were one of my lovers. When they wake up and I wished to stay in bed, I would kiss them and tell them to go back to sleep. It usually works."

I glared at him, "You thought I was one of your lovers?!" I said through gritted teeth.

He shrugged, "You are quite beautiful," he said the statement as if it was a fact.

I tried to glare but ending up blushing and turning away, "Flattery won't get you anywhere."

"You sure about that," Sadik smirked.

"Shut up," I hissed at him and jumped off the bed. I took a moment to examine myself. There were white bandages wrapped around my neck and head. My dress was torn unevenly around my thighs; one side nearly displayed my hip and ass. I felt my face heat as both Sadik and Heracles gawked at the revealing piece of flesh.

Egypt took notice and held his hand out to Sadik, "Your jacket."

"What?" that broke Sadik from his trance.

"Your jacket," Egypt repeated with more of a threat in his voice.

"Fine, fine," he removed his jacket and handed it to Egypt.

Egypt shook it out and draped it over my shoulders. Sadik was a large, muscular man and his jacket only proved my point when it stopped two inches above my knees. The sleeves were baggy and the buttons landed in front of my flat belly. Egypt rolled up the sleeves and pinned them to stop at my elbows. "How's this?" he asked.

"Its fine, thanks Egypt." I gave him a small smile.

"Please, call me Gupta," he smiled back.

The door burst open and all three nations stood ready for a fight.

"Relax everyone," a voice called out, "it's just us."

"The room was locked," Gupta stated cautiously, "you can't really blame us for being jumpy."

Gupta was an inch or two taller than me so it didn't take much to spot the person that walked through the door. "Arthur?"

Arthur's eyes widened in surprise but his face quickly formed a relieved smile. "Amy! Are you alright?"

I stepped between Heracles and Gupta to stand in front of him, "do I look alright to you?!" I shouted at him.

Arthur's smile turned to a frown as Francis and Matthew walked in behind him. Matthew's eyes grew to the size of saucers when he saw me and Francis gasped, "Amy, what happened-"

"Ivan, happened to me!" I yelled at them.

Everyone was quiet till Arthur cleared his throat, "Are you-"

"I don't want to talk about it." I hissed at him. "I just need you to be truthful with me for one minute." I stepped closer, placing my face inches away from his. "Did you place a spell on the house?" I made direct eye contact with him, refusing to blink.

He slowly exhaled through his nose, "yes."

I dung my nails into my palms and inhaled a calming breath. "End it. Now," I threatened.

He swallowed his nerves, "I can't-"

"What do you mean you can't?! You were the one that cast the spell!"

"But you are the only one that can break it," Arthur kept his tone light.

"What?!" I gave him a confused look.

"Do you know of Prussia's game and the rules of how to win it?"

I finally snapped. "Are you saying, someone has to lead me to the ballroom and I have to kiss them to end this nightmare?! I am not in a kissing mood and will never be for very, very long time!"

In a fit of rage I pushed aside Arthur, shoved Francis and Matthew out of my way and stormed out of the room.

"Wait, Amy! Don't-" Arthur's voice disappeared the moment I slammed the door in his face.

After a minute passed and my anger cooled, it finally hit me of what my actions caused. "No," I muttered. "No," my voice rose, "No, no. No. No!" I opened the door and found a new room with no one inside.

"Fuck!" I cursed. "How could I be so stupid? How could I be so stupid?!" I fell to my knees and tried not to cry. "I just want this to end," a tear streaked down my cheek. "I just want to go home."

Then a grunt echoed behind me and I turned to find the white wolf staring at me. I sighed, I was tired of being afraid, "What do you want?"

It tilted its head to the side and walked down the hall. Does it want me to follow it? It stopped when it noticed I didn't move and sat itself in the middle of the hall, waiting for me. I had plenty of alarms ringing in my head as to why I shouldn't follow the wolf. The top main ones were: bullets and blows to the head didn't seem harm it and it could tear my throat out. But still I had a bit of sixth sense that the wolf would not harm me. That the only reason it attacked in the first place was because Vash shot at it. Also, it did save me from Ivan, that has to count for something right?

I rose to my feet and jogged to catch up with the large canine.

I walked in silence as the wolf led me through halls, down stair cases, and across parlor rooms. It wasn't until we entered a parlor room with a familiar white couch that I spoke. "This is-" I ran ahead of the wolf and opened the double doors.

The room was massive and had a long spiral stair case connecting the bottom floor to the second story. The room was dark except for the large windows on my left that streamed in light from the moon. "It's the ballroom," I whispered almost in disbelief.

"It's the ballroom!" I shouted excitedly and ran down to stand in the middle of the dance floor. The wolf was right behind me and sat itself aside as I twirled in a circle and giggled almost uncontrollably.

After a minute of celebrating, I stopped and turned to the wolf. "Do you think the spell will end if I kiss you?"

The wolf's golden eyes stared at me with an expression I couldn't read.

"I mean, it's not like anyone else is here and you did led me." I kneeled in front of it and slid my hand into its fur to pet.

The wolf continued to stare and I placed a quick kiss on its snout, "thank you," I whispered.

"You're welcome." Its lips and jaw moved as it formed the words out of its mouth.

My eyes widened as my jaw dropped but it only continued; it's voice musical and feminine. "But we still need to have a little chat Amy."

A scream was caught in my throat as I tried to stand but ended up falling on my ass. The she-wolf leaped to tower over me and warned, "Don't scream."

Maybe it was the stress of the night or my fear and adrenaline working overtime or maybe that the reality of a talking wolf was too much for my brain to handle; because the last thing I remembered was my eyes rolling back inside my head and losing consciousness.

"Amy!" a voice called out, "Amy, wake up!"

I moaned as I opened my eyes to the brightly lit ballroom. Nations were crowded around me as Arthur and Francis kneeled beside me.

"Amy, are you alright? What happened?" Arthur asked, concerned.

I ignored his question and rose to sit up. I took a moment to scan the area; countries were staring at me with mixed expressions of worry and confusion. I found a few of my missing companions; Toris was standing next to guy with straight jaw length blond hair and green eyes. Toris was covered in dust and webs but he seemed fine. Next I laid eyes on Ludwig, Feliciano and Japan; all of them were giving me concern looks. Vash crossed his arms at me, as if waiting for a logical explanation. Erika, Victoria, Peter and Raivis shared the same worried gaze toward me and Sadik, Heracles and Gupta stood behind Matthew. Ivan wasn't in the room and personally if I ever saw his face again it would be too soon.

I turned to Arthur, "Can we go."

Arthur blinked at the calmness of my voice and Francis proclaimed, "Of course."

Francis helped me up and guided me to the main hall that would lead to the main entrance. Arthur and Matthew said quick goodbyes and followed us out of Austria's house.

The driver was waiting for us out front and he didn't ask one question towards my dress or of the party. He drove us back to the hotel in silence. Arthur tried to gather some answers from me but I refused to say one word to any of them.

When we arrived at the hotel, I ran out of the car and burst into the lobby. Reaching the elevator first and taking it back to seventh floor alone. Arthur had given me back my cell phone, iPod and key card back in the car so I was prepared to enter my room with no needed help from them.

Once I was in my room, I discarded my dress and Sadik's jacket to the floor. I clothed myself in the tank top and yoga pants I wore earlier that afternoon and stomped to the work desk. I removed the diamond earrings and necklace and placed them in the black box. Grandpa's ring gleamed in the light of the small desk lamp and I smiled. I slipped it back over my head, feeling like myself the moment the metal touched my bare skin.

I'm never leaving you behind again.

I turned off the lamp and fell into bed completely exhausted. As my eyes began to close and drift away into unconsciousness, a wolf's howl resounded in the distance. My eyes shot open but I refused to acknowledge its existence. I bundled myself in the covers of the bed and played off the sound as the work of my imagination.

Translations

Russian: маленький котенок (little kitten)

Greek: Πήγαινε πίσω στον ύπνο αγάπη (Go back to bed, love)