Normality, Shattered

The female vampire's words rang dimly in his head as William met his gaze, feeling something start thrumming through his insides as the king flashed him a brilliant smile. He tried to pay attention, but his mind began to fog, starting to lose himself like in his lucid dreams. Reynal's departure just barely broke the spell William had over him, snatching his gaze away to see the man hop into a swirling black hole and disappear. Authur tried to take a steadying breath, what was happening to him? But it seemed that was the very wrong time to do so, as the king was suddenly in his space and taking his hand. He had the most curious, the most enticing smell. His heartbeat was steady and louder in Authur's now sensitive ears. The vampire had to freeze, break away, do something, quickly before his mind started to go to some really inappropriate places that didn't necessarily include biting the king for food purposes.

No one should have this power over anyone, little fool. Haha, just don't hurt yourself thinking about it too hard.

Ah, and there it was, a single bright burst of clarity in the building haze. Authur silently thanked the nameless voice for saving him from total embarassment, ignoring the side of himself that was deeply disappointed. His hand closed about the piece of paper finally, eyes darker than usual and body quivering almost unnoticeably. He hoped. "What was . ." His voice sounded too ragged to be normal, and he hoped to whatever god that he wasn't blushing now. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "What'd you say?"

What little of the laughter that had not died down was silenced immediately in the following moments. Instead it was replaced with extreme and utter silence as the female vampire silently watched through her connection with the newbie bloodsucker. When he started quivering a very poignant hiss could be heard in the recesses of his mind; if one could see the female vampire she looked as if she were about to kill the very next person that got in her way. "That's. Enough. Now." As far away as she was from him, it was likely the sharpness of her words could still be felt, almost like she was in the room with him.

"I must admit, while it was cute at first I will not stand for it." Her tone became eerier, the cutting feeling still tainting every word. "Pull yourself together." she ordered, her verbal command serving for the action she could not perform at the moment; had she been there the young vampire would have felt her icy hand on his face for but a moment. "You will not be like the others I have seen. Not if I can help it." Heather concluded, her presence in his mind fading if only slightly. She was still very much there, but whether or not she was paying full attention remained to be seen.

Adriane, on the other hand, remained in place. Her hands still fiddled with her new dress, constantly wiping and smoothing as if it were dirty and wrinkled. It was quite obvious the news was of some distress to the young maid, but it seemed she was too lost in her own thought to be able to be helped at the moment. In her little world she missed out on everything including Reynal leaving and their receiving of a special pass. It was not until Authur's ragged words reached her that her haze broke for a moment. "Miss Marya, would I be able to use your phone again?"

"I said go to the innkeeper and show her the pass I just gave you," the king replied and chuckled before backing away towards his throne and taking a seat. "It'll grant you a free stay until my plans have come to fruition."

Marya reached into the pocket of her new shorts and pulled out her phone, forking it over to Adriane. She turned to the king and gave him a courteous bow. "It means a lot to us for you to do something like that. Thank you very much," she said politely. "You should probably walk and talk. I don't want to take anyone else's time up with the king," she said in a hushed voice to Adriane, making her way to the entrance to the chamber. There seemed to be a small group of people waiting at the door, most likely awaiting their own audiences. Marya waved a hand at her two friends to gesture that they should follow, at least until they were out of the audience chamber. Marya herself sidled by the people and headed down the steps to the foyer of the castle where she awaited her friends, taking a few deep breaths.

"That King William really has good presence," Marya mewed, tilting her head to the side with her eyes completely dazzled. She enjoyed the guy's company, but there was something about being near him that made her lose her breath.

Adriane's hands began to fumble with the cellphone almost immediately. She only briefly nodded at Marya's request and after a moment of punching in the numbers followed her friend, phone at her ear. Once again it rang several times, and once again no one answered the phone, although Adriane seemed neither relieved nor hurt by this. She merely waited for the voice mail to finish droning before she began to speak, ignoring the people waiting for their audience. "Hello Master Renval, it's Adriane Gundershine again. Since my previous call I have been informed that it will take quite some time before I can report for work. I am certain we can work something out to make up for my extended absence. Considering I still have my job, I'd like to thank you in advance for your understanding." And with that she hit the 'End Call' button and found her place next to Marya, the phone carefully handed over to the younger girl. "Thanks again, Miss Marya."

"Yeah." Authur said, slowly. Soon he remembered himself, and tilted his head with a one-sided grin. "Thanks, I'm sure we'll find a way to occupy ourselves." There was no questioning that at least. He gave the king one last look, then turned and at last let his expression turn into the scowl that threatened at the other vampire's words. How dare she. He hadn't asked for her assistance in this, and the assumption that he was out of control was simply insulting.

Silence. You are not hers to be guided, you are mine.

'Then am I so far gone?'

Of course not. But you cannot let judgement leave you, not everyone is as they seem.

The scowl slipped away at that, leaving Authur's brow pulled together. What could that possibly mean? He didn't have long to think about it. Hearing Marya's bewitched statement pulled a hefty laugh from him. "You're telling me." It brought back some some dim memories of being in middle school, of pining after his first crush, but then tinged with some decidedly not innocent memories as well. And, not to brag, but two people he didn't even know were squabbling over him about it. King William certainly had an effect on people, even those not actually in his presence.

Marya took the phone back and crammed it into her pocket with a heavy sigh, finally regaining her composure. "It's no problem. I wouldn't want you to lose your job," the girl said with a cheerful smile, tacking a laugh at the end of her statement directed towards Authur. It seemed that he hadn't escaped the king's charm either. No one was immune, except Reynal and probably the rest of the king's council since they were around him all the time. "It's okay, Authur. I assume we'll get used to the king the more we hang around him," she shot at her friend reassuringly before waving a hand again to gesture for them to move on. They needed to get to the inn to make sure they had a free place to stay. In her mind, she wondered how the fusion of the dimensions would even work. Would everything in the other dimension just suddenly wind up here? Or vice versa? Wouldn't that lead to nothing but a huge mess?

Walking along the street outside with Authur and Adriane hopefully in tow, something gripped Marya's arm suddenly and dragged her into an alleyway. The alley was dark, but Marya's vision was sharp. It seemed to be a much older gentleman dragging her along. He was wearing dark-shaded camouflage with a matching headband and black boots. He looked like something out of a war movie. He had thin white hair on his head and a bushy white beard and mustache. Just once he had turned his head to look at her and she was able to notice that his eyes were gray, and there was a wary gleam in them. Marya didn't fight back. He came to a stop at a dead end and held her arms tightly.

"You went to see 'im didn't ya? Oh I know ya did," the old man grumbled. "Yer an outsider right? He tell ya all about his dainty li'l plan to merge the worlds eh? Can never keep 'is mouth shut about it."

Marya was a bit shaken. Were her friends following her? She felt compelled to shout out for them, but this man--she couldn't look away. Even though he just seemed to be angrily ranting about the king, there was something about him. He seemed to know something despite looking like nothing but a senile kidnapper. At a loss for words, Marya just found herself standing there wondering what on earth was going on.

Adriane had been quick to step into place none too far behind Marya, her tension having eased greatly now that her call was made. She still seemed to be lost in a sort of fog over it, but it certainly was not bothering her as much now as it had been before. It took her a moment to realize Marya was no longer right in front of her which caused the maid to look around almost wildly, just catching a glimpse of the girl's tail as it moved in a different direction. At this Adriane frowned, but picked up her pace and followed after the girl, only to find she was not moving of her own volition.

An elderly looking man in a rather strange getup was pulling her along and into an alleyway. It seemed fairly obvious what he planned to do and as such Adriane picked up her pace once again, her hand tightening around her new feather duster. However upon reaching the alleyway, the grumbling from the much older figure seemed to counteract what he appeared to be doing. "Yer an outsider right? He tell ya all about his dainty li'l plan to merge the worlds eh? Can never keep 'is mouth shut about it."

"I do believe you should let go of her." Adriane stated, moving closer to her friend and the man who still had a tight grip on the younger girl's arms.

Authur, a step or two behind the girls, blinked as Marya disappeared form his line of sight. One second they were just walking along, minding their own business, and then something had to happen. He sighed when the maid took off after her, then followed as well. The man ahead looked less than trustworthy, but who was he to judge? If Authur had taken a young girl down a dark alleyway, and if he were someone else he'd be suspicious too. Either way, the old guy's word struck him the wrong way. Was he talking about the king?

He took a menacing step forward ahead of the maid, a low growl escaping him. "And when you're done letting go of her, I think you'll explain yourself."

The old man released Marya and took a step back towards the stone wall that marked the alley as a dead end, preventing further travel. A smirk crept upon his ancient face. "As if freshlings like you could take on the likes of me," he stated matter-of-factly, pressing down on one of the stone bricks used to pave the alleyway with great subtlety. A rectangular portion of the wall behind him began to glow white and then disappeared revealing what looked to be like a long train tunnel complete with tracks and everything. It didn't look particularly used, however. Some of the lights were broken or just not working. There was garbage littering the tracks and cobwebs near the ceiling and on the walls. Any metal in the place was slightly rusted. Regardless of what condition it was in, it didn't seem likely that it was the place on the other side of the wall. There was definitely magic involved.

"If it be an explanation ya want, then ya better follow me," he said urgently with a bit of a mischievous tone underlying the graveness. "Or do ya not want to be gettin' back home?" He turned his back on the group and dashed into the hole in the wall and right on down the tunnel along the tracks. There was a fork in the distance, and it seemed like he took the left path.

Marya had taken a few steps back away from the man as soon as she was released, but now that he had taunted them with knowing something about King William's plan AND a possibility of being able to get back home sooner, she found herself steeling her nerves and walking up to the stone wall, stopping herself right before the entrance. "What do we do, guys? I know he seems crazy, but when he looked me in the eye, I could have sworn he knew something. I don't think we're seeing the big picture here. Should we follow him?" she asked her friends. She was pretty confident in her stance to pursue, but if they had their doubts, she'd definitely take them into consideration.

"I don't particularly believe him Miss Marya." Adriane replied quietly, her arms now crossed tightly over her chest. The shady figure had proven rather... strange; and while she too had to admit that she was just a bit hopeful that the man was right. Was there a way to get back to their homes faster than what King William was planning? Or was the rather dashing monarch of Rose their only hope at returning? "It could have been an excuse; something so he could get away." she added looking into the tunnel he had made with a frown. "I'm sure he lures young girls here so he can..." realizing where her thought was going she cleared her throat "We would be smart to report this incident; I'm sure King William has an attendant we could speak to."

In a word, Authur didn't like this. It was much less a knowledge of something being wrong than a deep seated feeling of wrongness with the situation. There was no real reason to feel that way, they didn't know anybody here enough to have a true opinion of who was worthy of trust. And Marya was asking what they thought. "I don't like it." He crossed his arms, staring hard at the old man. This really didn't feel right. "Honestly, I don't think we should trust him." Not to mention he smelled off, in a way. Authur couldn't place it, but maybe it was because the guy was just really old. Or maybe he was crazy and evil and planned on taking them down a dark tunnel to slaughter them all, as Adriane implied. It didn't exactly help that the vampire was in no hurry to get home.

Absently, he wondered what that voice would say about it, but it had been silent since leaving the castle. It had seemed only somewhat amused that Authur had been so taken with the king, instead of thoroughly pissed like that girl vampire had been. He trusted it over her. Surely it would know if something was up, it would've warned him of something wrong. Authur nodded to himself, refocusing on the old man. "If you want to follow this guy, we'll back you up, but don't expect us to like it."

Marya shook her head and backed away from the hole in the wall to get closer to her friends. She turned around to face them and gave them an apologetic nod. "No, you're both right. This does seem off. For all I know, that knowing attitude is a ruse. It sucks being a foreigner. We just have no idea what the ropes even are yet, so how are we supposed to get them?" She sighed and shook her head, but that was before she heard a resounding snap. She could have sworn she was looking at her friends and the rest of the alleyway not even a fraction of a second ago, but now she was looking at her friends...in what appeared to be an abandoned train tunnel. A grimace settled upon Marya's face as she heard laughter echoing throughout the tunnel. In the direction she was looking in, there seemed to be nothing but a straight shot. She turned around and peered in the opposite direction to see exactly what she had seen in the rectangular space that had formed in the wall of the alley's dead end--the tunnel continuing a ways before forking.

"Seems that freshlings never 'ave good 'eads on their shoulders!" the old man's greatly amused voice echoed after the torrent of laughter.

Marya brought the palm of her hand to her forehead instantly. "Well, this is definitely a dilemma. I'd say we could go in the opposite direction, but if he really wants us to follow him...I-I don't think he's giving us much of a choice," she said miserably.

The sudden change of scenery caused the maid to do a double take before a very prominent frown was plastered to her face. "Excuse me, who do you think you are?" she complained, her hands now balled into fists at her sides. "I can't believe you'd have the audacity to trap us after we refused to follow you! Sure you're crazy, absolutely insane, but one would think even the maddest fool would know some common courtesy! You're obviously not the kind of company we should be associating ourselves with!" her tone was much higher than she'd ever spoken before; her accent was surprisingly thick and there was a very angry gleam in her ruby eyes. Her right leg picked up and she slammed her heel on the ground with an audible clack, her fists tightening so the very minuscule amount of muscle in her arms was forced up against her skin. Her voice however dropped to a very uncharacteristic mutter as she once again crossed her arms tightly over her chest. "The nerve of some people, I swear when I get my hands on him, he'll be sorry!" It was painfully obvious that the maid did not like the position they were now in.

"Oh great." Like all their complaining and reasoning was for nothing, they were in the tunnel anyway. To say that he was displeased was like saying a bull wasn't happy about the state of his pen. He promptly stomped over to the nearest wall and punched it as hard as he could, hissing in anger. "I'm following that guy, because sooner or later I'm going to kill him." Perhaps it was a severe statement, he barely knew the guy. But! This was an outarge. Who the hell kidnaps random people off the street? The vampire started pacing in the direction the old man had went, dark growls emanating from his chest.

There came no more responses from the old man, so it became evident that in order to get any answers out of him, they would have to follow him. Marya trekked on through the tunnels with the others who also seemed intent to dish out a little vengeance against the odd fellow, not that she could blame them at all. They veered down the left path a little ways only to discover that it had been completely blocked by a rock slide. However, in the center of the collection of rocks was a rectangular opening that looked like the one that had formed on the wall of the alleyway. Through this one, a cellar could be seen along with some wooden stairs leading up to the ground floor. Marya entered through the opening since it was the only way. The cellar was dark, but the light from above seemed to offer at least a bit of illumination such that she could see the cellar was filled with broken junk like lamps and vases along with cardboard boxes filled with random papers and documents. A couple of faded maps were hung on the wall, but Marya ignored them in favor of heading up the stairs. She gave an affirming nod to her friends--if anything went wrong, they could always defend themselves.

Humming could be heard from above which was no doubt the old man. The stairs led up to a hallway. To the left seemed to be a dead end, though there were a couple of doors in that direction branching from the corridor. To the right, however, was an open path into what seemed to be a kitchen. The floors were hardwood and creaky, and the wooden walls didn't seem to be in too good of a shape either. A few pictures were hung up of different people who didn't seem to be as crazy-looking as some of the people in this dimension appeared to be. Marya even noticed that some of the pictures included what seemed to look like the old man, maybe when he was younger. The sound of liquid being poured into cups came from the kitchen, so the group headed right. The hall was a bit cramped, even for just the three of them. Marya took the liberty of stepping out first, catching the man filling another teacup with what appeared to be...tea. From a rather flowery teapot.

"Er, found him," Marya said uneasily. She already knew her friends' motives, but her eyes found themselves gazing at the rather cozy kitchen. It had a quaint little stove and a sink that was devoid of dirty dishes. The refrigerator was a rather small model with a freezer up top. There didn't seem to be much counter space, and a small dining table had been crammed into the room fitted with four fold-out chairs like you'd see at some convention or something. There were four teacups placed on the table, one in front of each seat. The old man must have been pouring the last one, for he turned and set the teapot back on one of the burners on the stove before turning to pay attention to his guests.

"So the freshlings finally arrived, eh? 'Bout time ya slackers got 'ere," the old man said with an amused smile on his face, though his eyes seemed to glimmer slightly with a mild irritation.

Adriane's anger had only been quelled slightly by the walk taken to find the lunatic that had stolen them away from Rose. When the finally reached the kitchen he was settled in, at the moment making tea, the maid was quick to step into the room. "You best explain yourself before I knock your head off. I mean seriously, what kind of person abducts random passersby off the street?" her tone was very similar to before, albeit a little more quiet; her accent just as thick if not even more so than earlier (considering such a thing were possible). She did not wait for him to start explaining though, she was already moving closer to her. "I'd also suggest you apologize to them." she said, pointing at the younger two behind her with her thumb. "As sick as it is, I can understand the abduction of an adult. Kidnapping, however, is another story entirely."

There was just a whole lot about this whole thing that Authur was definitely not liking. Crazy old man making portals in a dark alleyway to a dark train tunnel that lead into a strange little underground entrance to a weird and broken down house. No, not liking this at all. But before he could really say anything about it, Adriane beat him to the punch. He had to give the little maid credit, when something ticked her off, she was quite vocal about it. So he came up behind her, eyes over the top of her head until he came to her side. "What she said." He smirked, indicating the maid with his thumb.

"Bah, if I didn't wanna to explain e'erythin' to ya, I wouldn't o' brought ya over 'ere," the old man replied snidely, taking a seat at the table and adding some sugar to his tea, stirring it around. There were three other spoons at the table--one for each of the other teacups. He waved a hand to the seats. "If'n ya'd take yer seats, I'd be 'appy to get started." Figuring that ordering them around after his rash behavior was probably a bad idea, he sighed. "And I 'pologize if I scared ya. Didn't mean to do none o' that. I jus' needed to get ya away from the public there," he added in a much softer tone than before.

Marya took a step up next to Adriane and placed a gentle hand on the maid's shoulder being careful to watch out with her claws. After that, she moved forward and took a seat at the table. The tea actually smelled rather delicious, her keen nose able to pick out the different scents of herbs. She determined that there wasn't anything dangerous in it and decided to add some sugar, stirring it into the tea. "Well, we don't know where we are, so we're pretty much at this guy's mercy," the girl sighed before giving a hard glare to the old man. "This better be important is all I have to say."

Adriane's arms returned to the most common position (as of late) after her little tirade: across her chest. Her form did not budge as Marya laid a single hand on her shoulder, nor did she react positively towards the man's explanation. Although it did seem she was less angered now that there had been an apology issued; that was a good sign. She did not, however, take a seat until a little while after Marya had, only doing so once the teen had started to make her own tea. She mentally frowned, but sat down anyway, beginning to add sugar to her own tea and stirring it carefully herself.

"Right." If it wasn't obvious form his tone, Authur was not placated. He decided to let the others sit back and have their tea, he wasn't interested. Not unless someone planned on offering up an arm or something, he'd remain standing, dark eyes fixed on the old man. "So what's going on here? Why all the secrecy?" He was in no mood for beating around the bush and listening to some old guy ramble about unimportant things.

That put a scowl on the vampire's face. He was starting to sound like his dad. Just when he thought he was so far away from all that crap, now he was turning into the bastard. Add another tick mark to the pissed off column.

"It is important. O' that, I can assure ya," the old man began after taking a sip of his hot tea. "The secrecy is needed 'cause I can't be 'avin' that King William findin' out 'bout me. If he knew that I knew what he was up to, he'd 'ave me killed off an' that would be the end of it! Yeah, yeah, ya thought he was all goody two-shoes, right? Heh heh, yer wrong! That king is one bad fella an' I ain't lyin' 'bout that. Gotcha believin' 'is plan is gonna be all right, yeah? Did he ever tell ya exactly 'ow it's gonna work? No? Then lemme tell ya. The king's got these strange machines set up all o'er the continent. The machines are for tearin' the fabric of reality separatin' the two dimensions an' such. But they gotta be fueled right? Ya know what they use as fuel? The people's sanity! An' their mana at that!" he exclaimed. There was a bit of sweat forming on his wrinkled brow, and he took a deep breath before allowing himself some more tea. "There's this energy floatin' 'round that we call Craze. We don't know where it came from, but we know it's gettin' worse. Makes people that aren't used to it go insane. The places where it's concentrated spews out deranged monsters an' the like. Things we ain't e'er seen before or could e'en imagine. An' it makes the normal animals all rabid an' stuff as well." He gave Marya an eery gaze, looking her right in the eye. "Ya've felt it. Ya've succumbed to it. Yeah, I can tell." He looked at the other two. "An' ya two were there to witness it right? That's what the Craze does! An' it's only bein' amplified by those damn machines that wretched king set up all o'er the place. Go ahead. Tell me I'm wrong, but I know ya felt the Craze before." He took another sip of tea. "Ain't no 'idin' it from me."

Marya felt a chill run down her spine at the mention of the Craze. The really violent images that had flashed through her mind...were those actually memories of the times she succumbed to this...this Craze? "G-guys...I...is he telling the truth? I...I can't really recall some parts of our trip to Rose last night, but I keep seeing this really scary images in my mind," she asked her friends, her voice a bit shaky. "Did I really lose it?" She had seen herself in those images. Doing horrible things. They were things she hadn't even imagined herself capable of doing. And then there was all this talk about the king and what he was doing to the world in exchange for merging the two dimensions. How could he sacrifice the sanity of his people for this?

Adriane sat skeptical, simply stirring her tea as she listened to the man tell his story. She did not particularly like his speech but paid it little mind as he got to the point. Said point being just how their enthralling new friend intended to combine the world and get them home. At this she let the mental frown that had, up until that point, remained in her head free. The sounds of this thing called the 'Craze' was very... disturbing, and it only got worse as he pointed it out in Marya who was quite visibly shaken by it. "G-guys...I...is he telling the truth? I...I can't really recall some parts of our trip to Rose last night, but I keep seeing this really scary images in my mind," the maid's brow furrowed and she placed her hand in the girl's own with the finest of care, her thumb gently moving in a circular motion across the back of the girl's palm. "Did I really lose it?"

"Don't fret, Miss Marya." Adriane's voice came in a warm and comfortable yet low volume. Her lips pursed tight for a moment as she tried to figure the best way to continue to alleviate the girl's current worries. "There were some moments last night where you were not acting yourself, that's true." the maid murmured, nodding slightly, her thumb still making small circles on the girl's outer hand. "However," the young woman quickly added, her voice a little louder, but still as comforting "we have only heard one side of the story." Her gaze darted over to the still shady old man they had been seized by, a pointed look smothering the loving visage that had been there for her friend. "While it is true that we have been to see King William, I am afraid we did not ask anything about how he planned to get us home. And until we hear his point of view on this, we can not take anything you say in full merit." she stated bluntly, before turning her head back to Marya, her gaze softening immediately. Seeing the girl still a bit shaken, Adriane murmured something about everything being alright before removing her hold on the girl's hand and replacing it with a warm embrace.

She probably needed it.

Roundabout as it was, finally, there was an explanation. And Authur didn't believe a word of it. Well. The whole part about the Craze seemed plausible, and it certainly explained Marya's behavior the night before. He'd heard of people losing it on the battlefield before, but even that seemed a bit cruel. Not that he was complaining. He found the whole thing more fascinating than anything else. Authur made a noncommittal wave with his hand, expression neutral by now. "I'd rather hear what William has to say." His mind turned to the piece of parchment the king had given him, though more what he'd said before, when he'd been a little hazy to focus on exactly what William was saying. They could return at any time and request another audience, easily.

"If that is alright with you, Marya." Truthfully, he would go back with or without the others. But there was still a small pang of attachment left from his old self, enough that an obligation to his friend still colored his actions. It was a little irritating but there was no reason not to. With all the new things he was experiencing, it was nice to have at least something familiar to see, if only as a small comfort.

So she really had done all of those awful things. Marya calmed down a bit after receiving some affectionate gestures from Adriane. The woman was very kind, almost motherly. Taking a deep breath, she hardened her gaze. "No, I'm with you guys. I'm sure King William would tell us if we asked him; we just didn't think to ask earlier," the girl said confidently, taking a sip of her tea to soothe her nerves before standing up from her seat. She didn't really see them staying for much longer. To her surprise, she watched the old man stand up as well and walk over to the room adjacent to the kitchen which actually turned out to be the living room. The man opened a door and light poured in from outside. He gestured for them to get up and get out.

"I'm so positive that he won't tell ya a damn thing 'bout his plans that I'll let ya jus' waltz right on outta 'ere," he said arrogantly, giving them a smug smile. "If he doesn't tell ya anythin', jus' know that I'll be watchin' so that we can make contact again. An' I know we will," he added.

Marya walked abruptly to the door and rolled her eyes at the lunatic, but when she stepped outside, she was astonished. She was in another alleyway, and down it she could see one of the main roads. Turning around, she noticed that the old man lived in a rather small wooden house cramped behind the buildings directly on the street. She wondered if it were wise to even put a place like that here, but she'd leave housing development to whoever was in charge of it in this realm. Regardless, it was obvious that they were still in Rose.

Adriane had released her grip on Marya when the time was appropriate, returning to throwing a disapproving look at their 'host'. His manner was very poor and no doubt he was doing little to lift the spirits of his forced guests. She stood when Marya did and was quickly to trail the girl, not wanting to be too far from the girl's side for fear of what the man might say. However when he only offered them an arrogant remark and a smug smile, she glared; if looks could kill, that one surely would have. She did add one thing as she followed Marya out the door into Rose once again, however, "Next time it will be of our own volition. Clear?" It was more of a statement than a question.