After listening to Liam's plan, I said goodbye and snuck back to my room, where I hid the key under my mattress and went over the instructions over and over in my head. They really weren't that complicated, but I thought I might need an entire script to get a word out to Ant without stuttering. And if there was one thing Liam emphasized in his instructions, it was that I had to be confident, like I was just making conversation instead of baiting Ant into saving us all. Easy peasy, right?

I fell into a fitful sleep trying to convince myself of this, but images of centaurs with big, murdery teeth still haunted my dreams. I woke up feeling less rested than I had before, which was fantastic. Except that, you know, it wasn't.

As I paced around the cottage, I heard the sounds of life beginning to stir outside, energetic and cheerful. I wondered if they were always like that, or if they were just excited for their...festival. I shuddered and tried to focus on remembering the plan. The most important things were the initiation of the conversation, how I was supposed to lead it, and ending it with the perfect last words. Liam had given me some examples, which were....

Wait, what were they again? I bit down on my lip. Maybe I'd have to sneak back to the prison tonight to refresh my memory. Technically, I had until tomorrow to convince him to help, so it would be fine. This would all turn out fine.

Repeating that mantra in my head, I stepped out to face the underground world. Despite their creepy murder ritual they were still just so gosh darn cute that I had to stop my hands from reaching out to pet one. I guess never did get over not getting a pony for Christmas that one time...

I shook my head. This was not the time for stupid reminiscing. I needed to calm my nerves and practice looking confident. Confident! Like those terrifying cool girls at my school (who, by comparison, seemed a lot less scary now). I straightened my back and tried to look a little more menacing.

"OMG, Blythe, are you constipated? There's a bathroom in your hut if you need it." A voice gasped from beside me. I jumped, turning to see Oak frowning at me worriedly.

Grimacing, I dropped the expression. "N-no, I'm not-I was just..." How do you talk to someone when you know they're planning like, 10 murders? I shook my head. Nope, can't think about that. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"Oh, soooo good, I'm so excited! Night 2 is my favorite one. We make the lights purple and everyone starts selling star dumplings, which are just adorable and..." I'll be honest, I zoned out here. Oak talked so much and so quickly that it was just...easy to phase her words in one ear and out the other. I'd felt pretty bad about that before, but now I figured she kinda deserved it.

Still, I walked beside her and nodded along, trying to make myself less suspicious. No sir, I was not planning to uproot your murder festival, certainly not. I thought I was starting to get the hang of it, learning to nod along to Oak's words in the right places without actually listening and making myself less terrified of these creatures

That is, until Ant materialized in front of us so suddenly it was like he was a ghost. He looked like a ghost too, his straight hair tangled and wild, huge dark circles making his half-lidded eyes even more piercing than usual. I tried not to shiver, but I was unsuccessful.

"Yikes buddy, you look awful," Oak remarked bluntly. "Maybe you should like...take a break?" Ant glared at her.

"As my boss, Oak, you're the one who decides when I get a break. So if you're offering....?"

Oak laughed heartily. "Oh shoot, you're right! Well sorry champ, no rest for the wicked! Gotta guard those vamps! Gotta sharpen that axe! I mean, we don't want a repeat of last time, do weeeee?"

"Last time..." I mutter to myself. It occurred to me to wonder how often they did this celebration.

"Oh god it was awful. Anthony's axe wasn't quite sharp enough so the first hit was kinda unsuccessful. I mean, the vamp's head was just hang-"

"OKAY, that's quite enough, thank you," I yelled. The ease with which these guys spoke about violence was eerie. Ant crossed his arms and looked away, and I thought back to his angry muttering from yesterday. Was it possible he felt the same?

"Right, well, anyway, you can get back to your job now Anthony. I wanna show Blythe some more!" Ugh, fine. Maybe I'd be able to cajole her into buying me food and then go back to sleep.

Happy with my plan, I moved to follow Oak before Ant put out a hand.

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to steal her from you for a while. I have some things I'd like to," Ant's tired, wild eyes were suddenly on me, burning holes into my skin, "discuss with her."

I quickly stared at my feet. "Oh, um, actually I'd much rather-"

"Oh my god, what a good idea! You two get along so well, and you've been soooo moody and antisocial I was kinda starting to get worried? Hanging out with Blythe will do wonders for you she is such a good listener, I felt like I could talk for days and she-"

"Cool, thanks Oak," Ant cut her off, eyes not turning in her direction for even a second as he uttered those words and turned around. My feet remained planted in place as my mind tried to remember Liams plan as best I could because chances were, I wouldn't get the chance to wait until tomorrow to avoid confronting Ant.

"Blythe? Are you coming?" I sucked in a breath held it, finally nodding. I could do this. I could do this. I could do this.

I had to repeat those words in my head over and over as I moved forward. Because if I couldn't do this, all of my new friends lives had just ended.