"Oh honey are you finally awake?"

My eyes were slammed tightly shut against my headache. I had woke up so many times in the middle of the night from my overactive imagination. I'm not sure if the sleep was worth waking up screaming and clutching to the knit blanket that had been thrown over me.

I felt heat against my face and steam touch my nose.

A teacup clinked beside me and a musky, sweet fragrance started to duel the throbbing in my head.

I opened my eye's to see Martha. I had swore I had my face turned to the couch.

"Here take this", She let out in a soft voice, but the noice still angered my headache and my eyes with their pinching pain almost made me wince

She held up a fine china teacup. The patterns on it ranged from lavender, lilac, grey, and indigo.

I took the tea and warmed my hands that still had the docks mud on them. I stared deeply at the cup, trying to get lost in the spiral artwork on the china. "How did you paint this?"

Martha scowled at me. "Oh you're as bad as Andor is when he's sick", she tapped her nails on the teacup, "drink the tea. It will hydrate you again."

I took a sip off the yellow liquid that tasted like watered down strawberries and leaves.

"My mother was very good with watercolors", Martha answered my question. A reward for actually caring about my health.

I then realized how thirsty I really was. I started chugging down the hot tea, trying to stop my mouth from getting any drier.

Martha wasn't the least bit surprised with my actions. "Do you want more?"

"Yes", I said as loud as my head would let me.

She then grabbed a clear teapot. Inside the teapot, in the midst of the yellow liquid, a pink flower around the size of a small child's fist with the leaves and roots that came with.

The flower that was growing in the tea didn't turn me off. I took another big chug of tea as soon as I had gotten it poured into my cup.

"How did he ever snag a girl as delicate looking as you", Martha spoke as she had her eyes on my dainty fingers and nails that still had dirt under them.

"Who?" I questioned. I didn't believe she could have been talking about Andor.

"Oh my nephew", She said calmly and poured herself a cup of tea. Her cup had gold on it where mine had grey.

I pressed the teacup against my chest because the knit blanket tied around my legs wasn't keeping me warm enough. "Have I met your nephew?"

Martha seemed genuinely confused. "Well I would think so since he was so in love with you."

My brain no longer was in pain, but heavy with this new information. "Andor is your nephew."

"Didn't Steve tell you?"

I nodded my head no.

"Oh my goodness", Martha growled, "that man doesn't do anything I ask him to. First I'm not allowed to visit-"

She stood up off of the glass coffee table and sat the teapot around the floor, so only my attention could be on her.

"You praise Ianite don't you?"

I nodded my head yes. I wasn't even noticing the warmth from the teacup anymore.

"Well I have news for you."

"Did you grab the last box."

Sonja grabbed the garage door, trying to close it quietly, not to wake the still sleeping babies and mothers.

We had done enough emotional damage to this town.

We had slept in Steve's new barn that he had built on Tom's island. Well Tom, Tucker, and Sonja did. I couldn't even shut my eyes without seeing something wilting or maybe something rotting.

The dark and night we're trying to tell me something, but I was to scared to figure it out.

So I went to pack up all of the things in the town house that were of importance of me. Sonja caught me before I headed out unnoticed. She held up her hand to my face and told me "that she would not be able to live with herself if she let me be alone in this time of guilt."

The journey continued in silence as we slipped into the town with the hiding place of the dark and took at least three hours to pack up. Until now to make sure I didn't forget anything she had been eerily quiet. In some way I think she was mad at me.

"Jordan lets go to mainland", Sonja suggested, "it will be safer that way."

I sighed. The way she was speaking of was slower and people would be near the bridge, but I wasn't in the mood to fight with another teammate. "Okay."

We continued to walk down the pale stone paths. Sonja's voice was at a soft whisper, to scared to get any louder. "She's not mad at you Jordan." Her kind green eyes believed herself, but it didn't make me believe her anymore. "She's just lost so many people and I don't think she ever truly healed from loosing Hex."

I felt my brown leather journal in my pocket.

"Did you get over it?" I asked. The Mianites brushed away Hex's death under a rug just for the factor that it started this domino affect that lead to the Mianite and Dianite war.

Sonja didn't make any facial expression or any special thought to make her words a pretty, perfect, and polite picture.

"I don't think you get over death", She said and held so loosely on the boxes that I thought she was going to drop them, "the pain just dulls."

She adjusted the boxes in her grip as we crossed the bridge.

"Tuckers going to be curious where I am", Sonja stated with a nervous laugh just trying to start up a normal conversation.

"Yeah he probably is so worried he barfed-"

My words stopped to a gasp as I saw something unpleasant greeting the kingdom.

In front of me stood a giant statue of taint.

I'm not oven over exaggerating.

The taint had arranged itself in a way that looked like a women in a gown holding a scale. One side of the scale was toppled over as the other side held high and mighty.

Oil and sulfur dropped from the black mold that was blistering out of the mountain of blight.

The smell was even worse. It was like that one time my sister forgot to put a frozen steak from our porch and move it to the freezer. Then go ahead and put a bad shot of cheap perfume in that and your only half way there.

The smell of something spicy, like cinnamon burned my eyes.

I then saw a wave of Lavender hair standing beside the creature. Martha's blue eyes were as outraged and shocked as I thought I could ever see on a women, on a human in general.

"Do you know what this is Martha?" God I already owed everything to her and I just had known her for a day. Making sure Hope didn't get hurt and now dealing with whatever this was.

Her eyes that were frozen into blue ice moved to me and the her voice went ridged, but I swore it was going to crack. "What do you think this is?" She then faced the kingdom. "ASK YOURSELF WHAT THIS IS!?" She screamed powerfully in the direction of the kingdom.

"Um", I didn't know if she was screaming at me or someone else, "Lady Taintanite", I smiled awkwardly.

Martha raked her hand through her lavender hair and I swear I could see more grey. "That's very disrespectful", She sighed, "but yes Jordan you are right on."

"What happened?" Sonja questioned. She didn't seem to worried about getting to Tucker now. Her thoughts were now occupied with the lives of the town and there was no more room in her brain to be worried.

"The taint its gotten out of hand", Martha's words were coming out one breath at a time. I wasn't sure if this was because of anger or sadness. She then turned herself to the kingdom, "I TOLD YOU THIS WOULD HAPPEN", she shrieked again and this time I thought my ears were going to bleed.

"Because of Andor-", I predicted, then cut off my own words.

So this is my fault. I let him get arrested.

"Yes", Martha answered slowly. Her voice wasn't getting any weaker from the screaming.

"Why does the taint matter on the town so much?" Sonja was brave enough to ask the question we had all been thinking.

"The taint is a representation of Lady Ianites relationship with her home", Martha spoke quietly. I could barely hear her over the gurgling coming from the taint.

"What does Andor have to do with any of it?" I asked.

Martha sighed. Her body was no longer tense and her breath was ragged. She was so much different from her peppy self latched onto Steve than she was now.

"Wouldn't you be upset if your grandson was stolen away from his home to be tortured by your son", She paused just long enough for the words to reach my head. Then turned and smiled like she had just told me a cookie recipe, not that my best friend was dating my god's fuCKING GRANDSON. "Right."

"Wait so Andor is", I choked on my words, "Ianite's grandson-"

"Don't spoil the idea", Martha hissed, "Andor didn't know either. Doesn't know", her words went back to soft, "but I can imagine whatever brainwashing that went on will be soaked away. For what horrible things they will do to him-"

"Are you okay Martha?" Sonja asked.

"Wait so", I was to confused. Words wouldn't function. "What?"

"It's just a shame I'm part of this crazy family isn't it", Martha didn't even cry. She was so emotional I imagined her to, but she just stood there staring at her old home, "I saw my nephew preach his heart out and then crumble to the ground."

"So the king is", I honestly needed a family tree, "your brother. The prince is your nephew and Ianite is your mother-"

"Yes", Martha snapped, "Helgrind is my brother and we are the children of the goddess Ianite."

Well now I know the Kings name.

"I'm not sure why he's so mad at our mother", Martha continued, "only Andor knows-"

"You've said enough Martha-" The King spoke up. His figure laying in the shadow that the taint was laying on his kingdom. "Why don't you leave and take this monstrosity with you."

"I can't take it", Martha let her words out like cold knives. I had never felt so much hate for two people, "I didn't bring it in a suitcase. That's not how magic works-"

"Magic-", Helgrind spat. "You always did have your head in the clouds didn't you-"

"I'd take the monster if I could", Martha yelled over the bickering words of her sibling. "It's hurting mother-"

The king growled, "Mother hurt herself."

Martha flipped her hair and turned away from the scene. Walking back off probably to make Hope some scones. "I will not waste words on you."

"I wish my son didn't turn out like her", The king mumble to himself, "I could have made something decent out of him."

My ears perked up to a conversation that wasn't mine, but I went livid.

I stomped up so close to the king that I could punch him in the nose just like the ground did to his son.

"You fucked up a perfectly good kid that's what you did", I had my eyes locked to his paling face. My words were screeching out and I had never heard myself so mad. "I'm going to take this town from you and give it to your son where it rightfully belongs."

I backed up, still glaring at the king who was not expecting my outburst.

"And that's a promise!"

"Tommy stop that!"

I was swishing a paint can around in the top of Steve's barn.

"It's empty!" I whined.

The paint can was indeed empty, which was the only reason I was twirling it around in the wooden boards holding us up from falling to the bottom of the barn.

I was so bored. Sonja and Jordan still weren't back from wherever they had went. Martha had to go find them just incase the kingdom had something to do with.

Tucker wasn't even that nervous, which surprised me. He just had simply said he would know if something bad had happened to Sonja. He would feel it.

Even though that's probably bullshit, it shut him up and I enjoy the few moments that he shuts up.

"I brought them." I knew who it was immediately because of Martha's accent that had a tint of welsh in it. I could tell by the way she would lean onto the end of her words and length out her vowels.

I threw the paint can to Jordan's feet, failing to try to trip him. The paint can rolled out the barn door and landed to the ground with a clunk.

Jordan brought his blue eyes up from the ground and glared at me.

"Where were you two?" I asked abruptly.

Jordan was still glaring at me. "I was getting everything important out of my house."

"Oh." My hands were bored again and I wish I hadn't thrown that empty paint can.

Everything was eerily silent again as we had to wait for Steve to get Tucker.

Steve didn't react as I expected him to when I told him about Andor. He didn't shout or scream, he only asked for a moment.

I didn't know the Prince to well and neither did Tucker or Sonja, but the way Hope was broken up about him as Jordan had to hold her back. Her begging and screaming until she lost her voice was something that I was finding hard to forget.

"Alright now." Steve stood on the barn floor by Martha. He stared at Tucker, Sonja, Jordan, and I.

"WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS ANDOR!"

And there is the freak out I was expecting.

"I take one day off to hide myself to make sure I don't get clobbered by that new soldier prancin' around... and I hear that Andor is gone!!"

"Look Steve", Martha held out her hands, but nothing was going to calm down Steve.

"Not only was he suitable for the job when we overthrow his father. He was the natural, bloody, successor!" Steve continued to carry on, blabbering about.

"but he has to go along and make some plan about getting arrested!-"

"What plan?" Jordan asked.

And it then ticked in my brain that Andor didn't tell Hope about him and Steve's big plan.

I was there when Andor got the idea, even though I wasn't involved.

His plan was to get arrested, be thrown into the town jail, and then escape. This all was an easy way to fire up a rebellion in the town and have Andor get out of the town.

Though I thought he would tell Hope. He always looked at her like she was the best thing in the world. Some big star in the sky. I had never seen some young boy so in love.

Maybe that was the reason why she didn't know. He couldn't see her count down the days until he had to put himself to immediate danger and if he did have some other plan that was much more dangerous than the one he had told Steve, one that might lead to death, he would keep her in ignorant bliss.

I tuned back into the conversation and realized that Steve had explained everything that had gone along in my head. Except he added on a lot more bloodys and dingos.

"Wait."

Yeah Jordan definitely didn't know about the plan.

"So you planned Andor to get arrested." Jordan tensed up, which was something I didn't predict. I couldn't imagine him getting to mad about this.

"He planned this", Steve defended himself with an equally upset voice as Jordan, "I couldn't hold him back. The best thing I could do was make sure this was less dangerous", Steve then muffled some swears, "I didn't know he didn't tell his lover-"

"They call them boyfriends and girlfriends now Steve", Martha peeped in.

Jordan and Steve both shot Martha cold looks.

Then I heard the paint can be thrown to the back of the barn from the door.

Hope was hiding behind Steve with tear stained cheeks and tired brown eyes. I could tell from the surprised look on Steve's face that he didn't know she was behind him as much as the rest of us did.

Hope moved her eyes to the Mianites and I. She squinted, either out of anger or that he vision was so blurry from the constant crying, or maybe both. "Did you know?!"

"Hope-", Sonja was the first one to try to speak up.

Hope started to step back. "Don't even try to apologize", her voice cracked out of frustration and sadness, "it won't work."

She bolted out of the barn to who knows where.

Jordan followed after as that was his job. To make sure Hope didn't kill anybody while she was upset.

"I guess she didn't know", Tucker let out.

"Hope", I shouted, "where do you think you're going."

She continued to stamp off in the direction leading back to where Martha had parked her portable home.

Hope's hands were trembling as she slunk deeper into her rose gold leather jacket. She looked oddly mature wearing the jeans that Martha had give her that didn't fit her small frame and that she had already ripped up.

"You have to answer me." I almost tripped over the ground that was screwed up bit by bit from years of erosion and no one stepping on it.

"No I don't", she mumbled out like a child. If the birds in the trees were any louder I wouldn't have been able to hear her.

"I'm sorry." I yelled out purely out of options. I didn't have enough time to get out a full apology before she ran off to put her life in jeopardy.

Hope tensed up and stopped walking, which was a reaction I wasn't expecting.

"I'm going to get answers", she mumbled.

I could only expect the worst.

"How the hell are you planning on doing that-"

"I'm going to get the King." She said it slowly, like she had thought up of the plan out of nowhere.

I didn't truly have words to say. How could she possibly think of something so stupid? "Are you crazy-"

She darted around and glared at me straight in the eyes. The green flecks in her brown eyes were flaring up out of anger. "I know I may look like china, but I'm pretty durable."

"You're not thinking with the good parts of your heart." I said softly.

"Why do you care so much if I got hurt all of a sudden?!" She yelled.

I'm not sure why, but hearing her say that got to me. Maybe the fact that she thought I never cared if she got hurt because that was always the first thing on my mind. Maybe because the first time I saw a little girl forced to throw a beer bottle into a doctors stomach I was more scared than shocked or sad. Maybe I still feel a little guilty that I expected tiny bloody palms to be able to take care of themselves.

"The best thing I can do for Andor is to make sure you don't get hurt."

She smiled, but it wasn't out of happiness. She smiled for a met understanding and irony of how hopeless she truly felt. "Then help me", She paused taking a deep breath and I stood silently listening, "because I'm either coming alone or you're coming with me."

The town was quiet. Still not healing from the atomic truth bomb that had blown up here yesterday and the taint monster that still stood in front of their false paradise.

I was okay with it. This was less people to alert the kingdom. I wanted my entrance to be nonexistent because it was just going to the king, Jordan, and I.

There were so many better ways to get this information. I should have had someone else do it because I was broken enough before Andor had been imprisoned and I didn't even know it.

Not that this had been the first moment I was completely blind to danger and honestly I deserved to get my ass kicked.

I stopped at the entrance of the castle court yard. Something was shimmering between the castle courtyard and me.

Jordan grabbed an arrow from my quiver. His expression was tired and that predictable smart person look was painted on his face.