Pride's Downfall

Hilde, Chloe, and Kitty were all panting heavily, relieved that Merida had neutralized Sam by putting her into a trance. They were less relieved as they heard the growing sound of moos. Hilde said, “We need to leave. NOW!”

Merida asked Hilde, “Can ye get Sam into yer storage?”

Chloe asked, “You want to bring her with us? Just incapacitate her and be done with it. Or leave her to be infected.”

Merida replied, “If we attack her richt noo, it could break the trance. Leavin' her is an option, but I think it wid be mair effective tae bring her if we can.”

Hilde opened up her storage, “I can’t force her into the storage while she’s conscious. Get her to walk in.” Hilde started to drag Mark and Aubrey into her storage with the help of Chloe and Kitty.

Merida spoke to Sam, “Sam, I need ye tae tak several steps forrit into Hilde’s storage.”

Sam shook her head, “No, not going with you.”

“Sam, do ye want tae get infected by the Moobreys?”

Sam shook her head.

“If ye dinna come wi' us, ye’ll get infected. Since ye dinna want tae get infected, it follows that ye should come wi' us, richt?”

Sam shook her head, “Want to go with you less.”

Merida frowned, surprised to see Sam so resistant. So she changed tactics. “Sam, ye want tae be wi' Mark, richt?”

Sam nodded.

“Mark is comin' wi' us. Ye’d be able tae wet his dick daily if ye come wi' us. Ye wuid like that, richt?”

Sam nodded ever so slightly.

“Then tak a couple o' steps forrit for me.”

Sam hesitantly took a couple of steps into Hilde’s storage, still in her trance. With everyone but Merida inside, Hilde closed her storage, “Alright, teleport us.”

Merida shook her head, “Sorry. Nae can do, I need tae get in there tae. Ye’ll need tae rin oot o' the town.”

Hilde sighed, but reopened the storage, and Merida got inside. Hilde zoomed out of the city. Once she thought they were a safe distance, she opened the storage to let everyone out and then lay down in the soft grass.

Once everyone but Mark, Aubrey and Sam were out, Hilde closed the storage again. Kitty asked, “Merida, why did you want to bring Sam along?”

Merida pursed her lips, clearly not wanting to say, but knew she couldn’t avoid this forever. “I want tae use her like we were plannin' on usin' Ethel and Sadie during the swap.”

Kitty responded from the ground, “Mark will go ballistic if you do that. You do realize that, right?”

Merida nodded, “But I dinna see how that isnae the best play here.” Chloe smacked Merida upside the head. “Oi, whit wis that fur?”

Chloe said, “For being an idiot. Last night, Mark made it clear what he would do. He’ll likely let this slide because of the rules, and it was essentially harmless. If you start implanting stuff in her head without talking to Mark first, he will throw this challenge. Not to mention, he’ll likely hate you for it.”

Merida frowned, “This… this is sae unfar.” Merida dropped down to sit on the grass. “Sam wis able tae fecht us five v. ane and took oot twa o' us, and unless I’m mista'en, if Kitty hadnae messaged me tae come ambush Sam and trance her, she wuid hae beaten all o' ye. Yet we’re noo allowed tae use our transformations tae their fullest.”

Hilde scooted over to rest her head on Merida’s shoulder as Kitty sat down and did the same thing with the other shoulder, wrapping an arm and her tail around Merida’s waist. Kitty asked, “How long until you can teleport us?”

Merida mumbled, “Fifteen minutes. I’ve spent everything I had regained thanks to Chloe’s potion to get close to and trance Sam.”

Kitty checked the timer on the other idol and asked, “What if you recalled Merigold?”

“Then I could do it in around two minutes.”

Kitty replied, “Recall her then. Because I think we should talk to Mark about this, but we don’t have long.”

Merida nodded and recalled Merigold. The group continued discussing how to present this to Mark while they waited. Two minutes later, they were all back in Hilde’s storage, and Merida teleported them to their base.

Once in their lair, they went to Mark’s room and dragged Mark and Aubrey onto Mark’s bed, causing them to regain consciousness.

They both sat up, looking confused at their surroundings. Mark said, “How did we get away? Did Sam manage to get anyone besides the two of us?”

Kitty replied, “She didn’t, and we won because of Merida.”

Mark blinked in surprise, as did Aubrey. Mark said incredulously, “We won???”

The standing women all nodded. Kitty continued, “Mark, we need to talk. All of us, with you.”

Mark saw the serious expressions on their faces, and he straightened up and slid his legs to the side of the bed so he was facing them. “What about?”

Kitty said, “We all think you’re being biased in favor of the other team.”

“I’m not,” Mark said defensively. “Chloe, I already told you this morning that I’m really not.”

Chloe tilted her head side to side, “Your decisions are definitely benefiting the other team.”

Mark frowned as he saw that they were in agreement. “Like what?”

Merida spoke up, “Fur starters, and maist immediately relevant, usin' my hypnosis.”

Mark began to retort, “Merida, there is good reason—”

Chloe cut him off. “That’s what we’re talking about.” Mark frowned but gestured for Chloe to explain. “We don’t disagree with your reason, that causing long-term problems is something we should avoid, but you and your other half aren’t being fair about it.”

Kitty nodded vigorously, “Mark, it felt like Sam meant to destroy me. I literally couldn’t even remain standing because I was so afraid. If I hadn’t copied Brooke’s boon, I don’t think I would have recovered during that fight from the fear.”

Hilde added, “Master, if I hadn’t lived with a dragon for centuries and built up a fairly strong resistance to dragon fear, I’d be incapacitated, and all of you would be trapped in my storage.” Hilde shook her head, “I don’t think you really felt it like the rest of them did, either, because of the bleed-through from Mistress to you.”

Chloe continued, “I don’t think any of us are going to look at Sam the same way again. Your other self didn’t tell her she couldn’t use her ability to terrorize us. I’m willing to bet Laura could unleash her aura to do something similar. We all felt it when she first became a goddess, and that was just a passive effect. I’m pretty sure several of us, if not all of us, would be on our knees as converts if she did what Sam did.”

Mark retorted, “Laura wouldn’t do that.”

Ellen entered the room and replied, “I’m not so sure. Sorry if I’m intruding, but I heard raised voices down the hall. Mark with the new rules, I’m not sure Laura would have a choice but to use her aura or break the rules. Sounds like what Sam did, too.”

Merida continued, “Which is why we think ye’re bein' unfair. Ye’ve threatened tae sabotage oor team for usin' oor transformations tae win, but it disnae seem like ye’ve done that tae the ither team at all.”

Cassandra appeared in the room, sitting on the table, swinging her legs back and forth. “Hello, everyone.” Everyone whipped their heads towards The Host. “I’d like to offer my two cents and a clarification about balancing TFs. Firstly, Mark, I agree with those here. You are restricting this team in ways you aren’t doing to the other team. That is, of course, your choice to do so or not, but just realize you are. Second, I’m sure you’ve noticed that some of your TFs have been changed to prevent them from being broken in the challenge. Kitty’s stealth TF, for example, would be broken had I not made it break stealth when she attacks. She could have just gone to the capital and assassinated the other team without them ever knowing what was happening.”

Cassandra paused for a moment to see if anyone would say that wasn’t fair, but no one did. “Now, so far, Sam’s use of her dragon TF and Laura’s use of her Goddess TF haven’t been broken. Most of that is restraint. As with everything else, I’m balancing the TFs after the first use of the brokenness. Merida’s hypnosis in combat got a hefty mana cost, so she can’t just spam it, for instance. But since I can’t anticipate everything and its brokenness, I’ve decided to let you use it once in a broken manner and then effectively patch it. Further patches will be applied if I miss the mark.”

Kitty asked, “So, Sam won’t be able to use her dragon aura like that again?”

Cassandra said, “I won’t tell you how I’m altering her abilities, just like I won’t tell the other team how I altered yours. I will tell you that what she did today pushed the envelope far enough that I will be imposing restrictions on her aura usage.”

Merida turned to Kitty, “Sae it micht be like wi' my hypnosis, there wuid be some sort o' cost, but she can use it still.”

Cassandra nodded, “That would be one possibility, yes. Now I’ve said my piece, and don’t worry, Mark, I will be letting the other team know the relevant info here too.” With that, Cassandra disappeared again.

Chloe turned to Mark, “See, even Cassandra thinks you’re favoring the other team.”

Mark closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He was feeling overwhelmed and slightly attacked. He knew those in front of him cared about him, and those on the other team. “You might be right, but Merida, I still have a problem with you using your hypnosis like that.”

Hilde said, “This isn’t like the prisoner swap, Master. I don’t think you should have stopped that either, but I can at least accept your reasoning as to why that was different. Master, you need to accept that she can use hypnosis on the other team, especially in combat. Period.” Hilde saw Mark scrunch up his face in annoyance, but when he didn’t respond, she continued. “As for the immediate issue…” Hilde opened up her storage to show a still entranced Sam. Then she closed the storage. Mark’s eyes went wide when he noticed the glassy-eyed stare Sam had.

“What did you do to her?” Mark growled out as he stood and took a threatening step towards the group.

Chloe stepped forward and got up in Mark’s face, “Merida saved our asses, is what happened. Now calm the fuck down. Sam is fine, if entranced. We are debating what to do with her. This is why we are talking to you.” Mark was breathing heavily. Chloe continued, “Now, sit, the, fuck, down!” Mark glared at Chloe but realized he was getting worked up, and she was probably right. He sat down and let out a long, slow breath.

Chloe continued, “Now, I wasn’t involved in their plan during the prisoner swap. I agree that would have been scummy to do, but also on brand for the villains to do. They likely would have gotten points for playing their part. They also mentioned that you said you’d consider it if we caught one of them alone about using her hypnosis that way.” Mark grumbled but nodded. “While waiting to teleport back, we came up with essentially three plans. First, I give her this.” Chloe held up a vial of greenish-black liquid. “It should incapacitate her, at which point we imprison her. Second, Merida and Hilde take her to the second idol location, which hasn’t activated quite yet, and let her get infected with the new plague and the two plagues of the infected already there. Finally, we hypnotize her to act as a trap.”

Hilde said, “Frankly, I’m for plan B and C together. Hypnotize her, then we let her get infected. That way, she’s out for a while, and then when she comes to, she’ll act on the hypnotic triggers.”

Mark asked Hilde, “Uh-huh, and are you going to let Merida into your head?”

Hilde looked away and didn’t respond.

Mark replied, “That’s what I thought. I figured you out of everyone here, Hilde would understand why I’m against this.”

Hilde still didn’t meet his gaze, but she said, “I do, Master. I’m just willing to go further than you to save Astrid. And before you ask, doing this to Sam increases our odds of winning, which means I’ll get better TFs, and out of everyone, my TFs are the ones most likely to help Astrid besides your own.”

Mark replied, a bit disdainfully, “So, why not let Merida hypnotize you then? By your own logic, that would help us, as she could make you believe she could do things.”

Hilde replied, “Fine.” Hilde looked supremely uncomfortable but resigned to do what she needed to, to help her sister.

Chloe said, “Mark, we aren’t going to put stuff in Sam’s head not related to the challenge. We aren’t making her suddenly infatuated with someone else, or turning her into a nubile slave girl. We just plan on having her try to incapacitate people on the other team at opportune times. That’s it. Possibly get them infected if she can. I don’t see the problem here.”

Mark sighed, “Who would you even have her attack? Because I don’t think it will work out as you expect it to.”

Chloe kept the smile from her face, but figured they had already won as Mark was talking specifics with them now. “We were just thinking of having her go after anyone that presented an opportune target.”

Mark shook his head. “That won’t work. No way in hell she attacks Mary like that. Probably not Laura or Allie either. Definitely not Brooke. That leaves Sadie, Talia, and Isa. To be honest, she probably won’t attack Isa either, as that impacts Allie.”

Kitty asked, “Mark, why do you think she won’t attack them?”

Mark said, “For the same reason that Chloe snapped out of the hypnosis. Even with magic behind it, I think she’ll snap out of it. You all know I get some bleed over from Mary and vice versa. Well, I know what’s in Sam’s hoard. No way you get her to harm her own hoard, unless it is literal mind control and not still hypnosis, and Brooke is likely the closest person in the world to Sam.”

Mark let out a long weary sigh, “Look, I might have gone overboard because of stress last night, but is it really worth it? Wouldn’t it just be better to incapacitate her and keep her here? That way, she’s out of the challenge?”

Chloe sighed, “Fine. Mark, we agreed we wouldn’t push on this about Sam, since there are other solid options for handling her, but I want your promise that you aren’t going to sabotage this team.”

Mark shook his head, “No. There are lines that if you cross, I will tank the team. End of discussion.”

Chloe shook her head in frustration. She handed the vial of poison to Merida, “Incapacitate Sam, please. Make sure you have Hilde and Kitty nearby to finish the job if this doesn’t. Then follow the rest of the plan.”

Merida nodded, and the three of them left. Ellen, realizing that they agreed to leave Chloe here with Mark, followed them out. Chloe looked at Aubrey and said, “Aubrey, mind giving me the room with Mark?”

+7 CP Incapacitated Opponent (Chloe)
+6 CP Incapacitation Assist (Merida)
+2 CP Incapacitation Assist (Hilde)
+2 CP Incapacitation Assist (Aubrey)
+2 CP Incapacitation Assist (Flora)
+1 CP Incapacitation Assist (Mark)

Aubrey got up, gave Chloe a swift kiss on the cheek, and left. Chloe closed the door to the room, letting the large stone boulder roll shut.

Chloe looked at Mark and then gave a dismissive turn of her head as she headed down to the pool.

Mark debated letting her have her space, but he would rather get this argument over with. He got up and went down to the pool, already finding Chloe, shoulder deep in the hot spring. Mark did not join her in the pool but let his feet soak in the warm water. “Chloe, please talk to me.”

“I don’t really have more to say. You clearly value the other team more than ours.”

“That’s not true.” Chloe didn’t respond to his denial. “Chloe, I care about everyone on this team.”

“I didn’t say otherwise. You just care for the other team more. You can claim all you want about being fair and impartial, but you aren’t.”

“Chloe, it isn’t being impartial to—”

“Implementing a standard that only impacts one group is biased. Mark, I don’t think you understand your rulebook well enough. Right now, if we break Cassandra’s rules, we know we deserve to be punished for that. It isn’t a matter of guilt. I believe it was explained to you like the law. That’s fairly accurate. We might dislike the law, but not one of us is going to side with the law breaker that they didn’t deserve what happens to them if they knowingly break it. We might think the sentence is harsh, but that isn’t the same as believing they don’t deserve it.”

Mark frowned. He did remember the explanation, but he wasn’t getting whatever point Chloe was trying to make.

Chloe continued, “Mark, right now, if I walked to the capital and gave up, no matter what Cassandra did to me, I would accept it, because I deserved it. I might think that the punishment is too harsh, but I couldn’t question that I deserve to be punished. We don’t know what she’s willing to do, and we’re all afraid to find out. Our only saving grace is that it seems that Cassandra designed the rule to be subjective. So please, trust us that we aren’t going to do monstrous things, but accept that it might push what we are all comfortable with. I’m sure that is why Cassandra implemented the rule.”

Mark sighed, “I don’t know if I can, but I’ll try.”

Chloe seemed satisfied with his response, but remained pouting. “Why did this have to happen on my night with you?”

Mark said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Chloe. But I thought you would appreciate me defending you like this, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, but you aren’t.”

Mark raised an eyebrow, “Yes, I am. Do you not remember this morning already? Merida was preparing to hypnotize the entire team. She still might, since you released her from that promise. That’s part of why I threatened to sabotage the team, and I was serious about it. That gives her a reason not to do that. Pretty sure that if I made you that promise not to sabotage the whole team, she would have immediately hypnotized you, then everyone else. The only reason I’m not doing that more is that I’m fairly certain Cassandra would intervene if I simply tried to negate the rule completely. So I’m picking my objections carefully.”

Chloe said, “Whatever… can we drop it, since we clearly aren’t going to agree?”

“Fine. So what would you like to do? I’m not sure what time it is exactly. How long was I unconscious?”

“Not long, but it was already early afternoon when we went to intercept Sam.”

Mark asked, “So are you going to go back to crafting then?”

Chloe nodded, “I am, but I needed to clear my head first.”

“Okay. What is the rest of the plan with Sam?” Mark asked.

Chloe sighed, “We figured you wouldn’t be particularly on board with using her to simply assassinate the others. So, we’re incapacitating her and then using her as a defensive measure. We’re going to load her up with various plagues as we did with Freya. Merida is going to be putting suggestions in Sam.” Mark scowled, hearing that. “Deal with it, Mark. They will just be to attack those on the enemy team. That way, if they can cure her, she’ll still attack them, but we are still keeping her here. Personally, I would consider Sam to be out of the challenge at this point, though with her massive lead, she is still likely to place well.”

Mark was clearly displeased, “No.” He replied firmly. “You will not be putting in suggestions. You are also going to promise me that when you leave you are going to make sure Merida knows that as well. I’m not budging on this.”

Chloe glared at him, “And if we refuse?”

“You’d best be prepared to keep me incapacitated the remainder of the challenge.”

Chloe growled, “Fine, I promise to make sure Merida doesn’t put in any suggestions.”

“Good. Now, I want my objection to the plan to infect her noted as I think it is a stupid move, but I won’t interfere with you doing that.” Then he moved on, still quite disgruntled. “So what would you like to do tonight?”

“I don’t know. I’m kind of upset with you.”

Mark stood, “Well, we can do, or not, whatever you’d like this evening. I’ll think up a few options since I can’t do anything more for the challenge today.”

Chloe nodded. Mark got up and left her to stew, as he wanted some space himself. After a few more minutes, she got out of the pool, dried off, and got dressed. She went back to the workshop to craft until she would come back here that evening.

---

It had been several hours since Sam had contacted Laura. Laura was starting to get worried as when she reached out to Sam, she just got silence. Laura’s group had finished cleansing the remnants of the second idol’s plague and was headed back towards the capital for the evening. Laura reached out to Talia. “Have you heard from Sam?”

Talia shook her head. “No. I’m pretty sure she’s incapacitated.”

Laura’s shock bled over the connection, “Why do you think that?”

Talia replied, “Well, one of the two quests was completed. You said that she said the other team was likely there. I think she went in to stop the idol from triggering, fought the other team alone, incapacitated two of them, and got incapacitated herself.”

Laura furrowed her brow, “Wait, how do you get that she incapacitated two of them?”

“Her point total. We can’t see the other team’s point total, but our team’s totals are still updated live. The number of points she got was huge. There was the quest CP, but a lot more than that. It was definitely more than one person’s worth of CP, but I don’t think it was three people’s. Or the other team is far behind us in levels.”

Laura frowned, “Well, shit, this isn’t good for us. She had the detection amulet. She was also quite mobile.”

Talia gave a nod, “We’ll talk about it more when you get back. We just go back to the capital. Outside of Sam’s situation, today was rather good for us.”

Laura gave a mental nod and then cut the connection. Laura asked the wolf-girl in front of her, “How long until we’re back in the capital?”

Isa said, “I think about an hour, why? Got a hot date?”

Laura frowned, “Not tonight.”

Isa replied, “You sound down. What’s wrong?”

“Sam still hasn’t responded. Talia thinks the other team got her.”

Brooke raised her eyebrows, “That isn’t a simple thing. No offense to any of you, but unless you’re stronger than I realize, I’m pretty sure that Sam could win a straight fight against literally everyone coming at her at once. You saw how I took down Mary, right?” Laura and Isa both nodded, “Now imagine that, but I’m in Mary’s place and Sam was in mine. That would still not be Sam trying.”

Laura gave Brooke a skeptical look, “I don’t know… Sam and I went rather hard at each other at the beginning of the round. Freya said I would end up beating her if things continued.”

Brooke shook her head, “Laura, you don’t understand. If you were sparring, maybe, but there’s a switch inside Sam. If that flips, I figure the other team is toast. Again, barring something magically weird I don’t know about.”

Isa asked a little worriedly, “You sound like you’re a bit afraid of her.”

Brooke shook her head, “No, because I know there is absolutely nothing for me to fear from her. The rest of you, on the other hand… look, I don’t really want to talk about this. It isn’t my place. If the other team did get Sam, what can we do to get her back?”

Laura said, “We could always trade Ellen for her; we did a prisoner swap before.”

Brooke nodded, “Okay, that’s good to hear. Let’s hurry back then to arrange that.”

---

As the trio arrived in the palace courtyard, they found Sadie there waiting for them. After dismounting from Sif, Isa asked, “Where are the others?”

“Allie is waiting for you in your bedroom. Talia is with Mary, quarantining her so you don’t all have to give her another article of clothing.”

Brooke asked, “If you’re here, that means…”

Sadie rolled her eyes. “We went to my room, I grabbed a pair of panties, put them on, and then took them off for Mary. Allie did the same thing as she really didn’t want to have Talia watch her go down on Mary. Now, I’ve got some bad news. Ellen’s escaped. Hilde was seen fleeing the palace earlier today. They weren’t able to capture her.”

Isa asked, “Wait, how did Ellen get away? Hilde, I understand, but Ellen couldn’t have done anything; she’s incapacitated, and there's no way Hilde could carry her away while also evading the guards if she were seen.”

Sadie replied, “Talia has a hypothesis. She thinks Hilde can put living people in her storage space.”

“Her what?” Brooke asked.

Sadie sighed, “Her storage space. So Hilde chose a main path upgrade right after joining the harem. I only know that because I was there when it happened. I don’t know how Talia found out, but Hilde’s Delivery Girl transformation got an effect to let her transport stuff that she normally couldn’t carry. Think something like our magical rucksacks, but it opens a hole in space that she can shove stuff into. Talia said nothing about it says that living people can’t enter it.”

Laura frowned, “Could she trap one of us in there?”

Sadie frowned, “I don’t know. I doubt that Cassandra would allow that. That’s the other thing I wanted to let you know. Cassandra stopped by to explain how she’s balancing transformations in more detail. Essentially, we each get one use of our transformations in a broken manner before it gets patched. She informed us that both your use and Sam’s use of your auras today and partially yesterday crossed the line, and you’ll notice they are functioning differently going forward.”

Laura breathed a sigh of relief, much to Isa’s annoyance and Sadie’s confusion.

Sadie asked, “Why do you seem relieved, Laura?”

Isa replied first, quite ticked off, “BECAUSE, Laura here has been sandbagging this whole time, and didn’t want to use her aura to crush the other team.”

Laura got ticked off, “Isa, I’m not sorry about not using my aura on the other team as a weapon.”

Isa glared at Laura, and her tail had gone all poofy, “And what about the rest of the sandbagging?”

Laura looked slightly apologetic, “That, I’m at least a bit sorry for, but I don’t regret it.”

Sadie shuddered at the thought of Laura using her aura, remembering Sam using hers earlier today. Then she processed the rest of what Isa was saying. “Wait, Laura, what does she mean? Have you been going easy on the other team?”

Laura rubbed the back of her neck, “Not easy per se. I just haven’t been trying to gain every advantage.”

Sadie practically growled, “LAURA, if we don’t beat the other team, I’m losing an extra 10 VP.”

Laura held up a hand placatingly. “Sadie, calm down for a sec. That wouldn’t happen.” Sadie glared up at Laura. She didn’t seem all that intimidating with more than two feet of difference in their heights. Laura looked down and thought that the little fairy looked rather adorable, all worked up. “If it looked like we wouldn’t succeed on the last day, I had planned to offer to take the leadership position from you. You can check with Mary. I actually had thought about telling you earlier in the round, but she said not to.”

Sadie blinked a few times in surprise and stepped back in confusion. After a moment, all she could say was, “Why?”

Laura replied, “I offered because I was in the lead, and by a lot at the beginning of the round. That’s changed, but I still don’t need the VP. I’m also a little worried that something will happen when the first person crosses 100 VP. It’s actually why I haven’t done a bunch of new stuff with Mary, since the first round.”

Brooke asked, “What do you mean by something will happen?”

Laura tilted her head to the side as she replied, “Something like an endgame being triggered. Cassandra’s never told us how long this competition is supposed to last. She’s also said that more than one person can cross the 100 VP threshold, so it isn’t an instant end of show, but maybe it makes it so it starts the countdown to the end.”

Isa asked, “Then why wouldn’t you want to trigger that now? That way, we get fewer transformation votes?”

Laura turned to look at Isa, “Isa, think about it for a second. You and Allie are pregnant and you haven’t crossed 100 VP. Allie married him. What if Cassandra says that we have one more round to reach 100 VP after the first person does? How are Sadie or Hilde supposed to get there? Especially with most, if not all, of the first-time bonuses being claimed. Aubrey and Chloe are also not past the halfway mark.”

Isa let out a silent, ‘oh’ as she realized everything the others would have to do to have a chance to reach 100VP that fast, and it was a lot.

Laura continued seeing that Isa got it, “Now, I’m not saying that anyone else shouldn’t cross it; in fact, after this challenge, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone crosses the threshold. It isn’t a guarantee, but it is possible.”

Brooke asked, “Don’t you want the wish, though?”

Laura shrugged, “Not really, but if I did, I doubt you could stop me from getting it. Look, can we move on from this? I’m sorry for not trying to overwhelm the other team from the get-go.”

Sadie seemed slightly mollified by the fact that Laura was willing to take her place, but still said, “It still would have been bad for us if our team lost, but fine, let’s move on.”

“Thank you,” Laura said, “So, what are we going to do about Sam?”

“Nothing.” Sadie said, “Nothing we can do if they captured her. We have no leverage for a trade, and even if we did, I’m not sure another trade would even be possible. Sam might just be out of the competition at this point.”

Brooke frowned. “We’re not even going to try and get her back?”

Sadie looked at Brooke with sympathy. “If we can, we will, but if she’s held captive, we have to find their base. Which is, practically speaking, the win condition for our team.”

“Ah. Well, shit.” Brooke seemed concerned for her friend.

Isa put a comforting hand on Brooke’s shoulder, “Hey, sis, don’t worry too much about Sam. She’s currently in first place. Even if she’s out for the rest of the round, she should still place well.”

Brooke shook her head, “That’s not what I’m worried about. It’s a combination of other things.”

Laura asked, “Such as?”

Brooke paused before replying, clearly weighing what to talk about with the rest of them. “Her being separated from Mary. Her being held captive. The buildup from various transformations. I’m also slightly worried about Mary’s response to Sam being taken prisoner.”

Isa asked, “Why? Specifically about Mary?”

“Because of her hoard. Sam explained things about her own hoard. My understanding is that Sam is part of Mary’s hoard as well. Not to mention Mary’s…” Brooke frowned and had a look of disdain as she finished the sentence, “mate. Sam has been taken prisoner. How is Mary going to respond to that?”

Sadie replied, “We don’t know that to be the case yet. But she seemed fine when Talia mentioned it. Maybe because Sam would be held captive by Mark and so not missing from the hoard.”

“Hmm, maybe. Umm, who am I rooming with then? I was supposed to be with Sam, but…” Brooke trailed off, not finishing the obvious statement.

Isa said, “It should be with Allie and me. Come on, sis, I’ll show you where we’ve been crashing.” Isa slung an arm around Brooke and started to guide her into the palace.

Sadie looked up at Laura, “Please tell me that you don’t roll around in your sleep. I would prefer not to be crushed.”

Laura laughed, “I didn’t before the show, but I’ve definitely woken up in some odd positions since coming here. Also, you definitely jinxed yourself. Maybe not tonight, but you’re definitely going to wind up getting crushed by someone the moment Talia is nearby.”

Sadie groaned as the two headed off towards bed.