"And over here we have our sixth bathroom." Iris says, stopping to point at a door as we trail behind her. "Would you like to go inside it?" She asks, turning to us with shining eyes.

I glance sideways at Becky, see she's in the middle of yawn, and shake my head. "No thank you, I'm still in awe over the fifth bathroom."

Max beside me nods his head in agreement, trying to smile but turning it into more of a grimace.

It's been almost half an hour since the tour started, and the most we've see has been a few guest bedrooms and hallway bathrooms.

Iris shrugs and turns, continuing down the hallway, and I sigh, catching Becky's eye who gives me a sharp look and gestures for me to talk to her.

"Say, um, Iris? Do you think we could maybe visit some of the more important rooms in the Villa? I'm curious to see the......erm....architecture?"

I hear the slap as Becky face-palms beside me.

Iris looks blankly at me over her shoulder for a second, before perking up. "Oh I have just the room in mind!"

She starts to quicken her pace, and Max, Becky, and I all smile at each other, before following.

Iris leads us down a few hallways and up a short flight of stairs to another hallway, before finally stopping inf ront of a set of doors.

"This is the Drafting Room, where many important documents about the Lightling territory are kept and plans that concern this region formulated. I haven't exactly asked for permission to bring you in here, but it should be fine as long as you don't touch anything."

All of us turn to look at Max, who looks hurt. "What? You think I would-.......nevermind." He sighs in understanding.

Iris places her hand on the door, and a dim, whitelight glows beneath her palm for a second, before the door opens. I wonder if that's some kind of Lightling lock.

She steps aside and waves for us to enter. Becky walks in first, Max close behind, and me right after.

The first thing I notice is the shape of the room, completely circular, with rounded bookshelves placed along the walls and skylights built into the ceiling. A table sits in the middle, a few papers and books scattered across.

My eyes are drawn to a dark form at the same time that form clears it's throat, and when my eyes focus on them I see that it's the same man from before who I ran into in the hallway....Andre I think his name was. Andre, the Military General of Lightlings, Cato's father, and most importantly, brother of Malia.

"What are you doing in here? This room is for authorized Lightling Personnel only." He scowls, standing from the chair at the table he'd been sitting in.

I open my mouth, but no words come out, at a loss for what to say.

Sorry, I thought this was the best opportunity to go snooping into your Lightling affairs, but it's okay because I'm saving your High Commander from death caused by one of your own comrades or maybe even you?

Yeah, how about no?

"Please excuse us, sir. I did not know you would be in here." Iris rushes in, bowing her head. "I was just giving the guests a tour of the Villa."

"Well the tour ends here." Andre says adamantly. "We don't need them knowing the whole layout of the Villa in case they're plotting something."

I stop myself from commenting on how ridiculous that is, since if I really was plotting something, I probably wouldn't need a tour to go scouting the layout.

Suddenly I realize the situation we're in, and that Andre could very well be the culprit I'm looking for, distracting me with breakfast so that he could sneak in here and plot or whatever bag guys do.

"Now I want you all to leave. Immediately." Andre orders, and Iris nods, gesturing for us to exit with her. I stay in place, opening my mouth to protest so that I can question him, when suddenly Andre speaks up again. "I'm talking to you too, Darkling High Commander."

A chuckle resounds through the room, and I watch in surprise as a few yards away the shadows from a bookshelf start to morph until a person steps out from the darkness with navy, blue hair and gold eyes.

My eyes widen, since it's my fist time seeing him since the whole event in the basement went down. I'll have to find time to corner him later and question his thoroughly, and when that time comes I'm getting my answers, no buts.

"Good morning to you as well, General." Lager smirks. "How could you tell I was here?"

"I felt your presence the moment you entered the room with them." Andre states coldly in a no-nonsense tone.

"Wait, how long have you been with us?" Becky speaks up, seeming more upset than anything that she didn't figure out she was being followed.

"Since the moment you left the Dining hall. I thought it'd be interesting to see what trouble you were up to, and maybe even join in on it." Lager says, his smirk broadening.

"You could have just asked, no need to slip into stalker-mode." Max says. ness

Becky rolls her eyes. "He slips into stalker-mode so often, it just comes naturally."

"I do not." Lager argues.

"Do too." Becky retorts.

"Do not." The childishness continues.

"Oh yeah? Then when was the last time you watched Ashley from the shadows?" Becky smirks, playing a card she knows will win.

"I plead the fifth." Lager tilts his head.

"But that amendment doesn't apply to Dalton....or anywhere but the United States." I break in, wanting to know for myself exactly when and how much Lager has watched me and wondering if I should start preparing my hands for a round of slapping.

"Just know, Ashley, it's only for your protection." Is all he says, meeting my eyes with a serious expression, before cracking a smile and winking.

I shake my head before turning back towards Andre, only to see him standing there and staring at us like we've all lost our minds, which we all may very well have. Suddenly an idea comes to mind.

"We'll leave, but first I just have one question. Have you noticed any strange events happening or people lurking about in the Villa as of late? Anything at all?"

Andre's brow furrows, and I feel everyone's confused gaze on me, but I ignore it, focusing on his reaction to see if there's a change in his behavior.

"I think I would know if something strange was going on in the Villa I protect." Andre says lowly, and I decide to let it off in case I accidentally offend him and ignite his anger more.

"Alright, let's go guys." I say, although a little bit reluctantly. I wish I had Lager's power to turn into a shadow. That would make finding this culprit a whole lot easier.

I exit the room, the rest of them filing out into the hallway with me.

"What was that about?" Becky bursts out the second the doors close behind us, whirling to face me in the hallway. "We should have fought to stay, he's no the boss of us."

"Well unless the Lightling High Commander herself gives us permission, his word takes precedence." Max sighs, making Becky clench her fists.

"Whatever. That still doesn't answer my question about why Ashley asked that question." She turns to me. "Have you seen something? Are we in danger here?"

I shift on my feet, wondering if I should tell them the full reason why I'm here. Earlier to get them to go on the tour, I played the "We're friends so trust me" card, but if I can't even tell them this, doesn't that make me a huge hypocrite?

Yes, yes it does, my inner conscious says.

I open my mouth, not knowing what I'm going to say, if I'll deflect it again or reveal my reasons, when suddenly loud thumps echo down the hallway. We all turn to see a Lightling Solider rushing down the hallway, stopping in front of Iris and giving a quick, short bow.

"Miss Iris, the Lightling High Commander has requested your presence." He says.

"Is something the matter?" A voice suddenly comes from behind us, and I turn once again to see Andre stepping from the room we'd just been in, placing his hand on it and having it glow, most likely locking it.

The Solider shakes his head. "Nothing of that much importance. Her High Commander just woke up very sick and requested the herbal tea that Iris prepares to calm her."

"Hmph" Is all Andre says before turning on his heel and walking away. I sharply watch his back until it disappears around the corner. What an odd reaction to have when your sister has woken up sick.

"Alright, I'll head straight there, but could you do me a favor and escort our guests to the lounge room?" She waves towards us, and the Solider seems to take notice of us, his eyes widening slightly, before nodding once.

"Would it be possible for us to join you?" Max asks, seeming worried about his Lightling High Commander, which I admit is pretty sweet of him.

Iris shakes her head. "Aunt Malia would not like anyone to see her in that state, but I can bring you to her later if you want. Now please excuse me, we can resume the tour at a later time."

With that Iris bows her head once and turns, striding down the hallway quickly. All of us turn to the Lightling Solider, who seems to stiffen, before walking down the opposite hallway, gesturing for us to follow him.

It's quite as we follow him, and I'm thankful that the other have forgot about their interrogation on me, although maybe not, I wince as I catch Becky's suspicious eye.

The gears in my head turn as I try to put all the puzzle pieces together. It seems too much like a coincidence for the lie about the breakfast to take place the same morning Malia woke up sick. The culprit could be loose at this very moment, trying to dispose of the evidence of what happened this morning, and I'm stuck here.

My eyes suddenly meet the Lightling solider's in front of us, and he quickly looks away, but I watch him for a few more seconds, noticing that every now and then he glances back, keeping a tighter watch on us than I had originally thought.

I have to find a way to escape, but I can't escape just yet without a place to go.

"Hey, Max." I whisper, leaning towards him. His blue eyes flash to mine, before returning straightforward, noticing that I want to keep this conversation on the down low.

"What's up?" He whispers back.

"Is there a place in the Villa where you dispose of the garbage?"

He looks sideways at me, and I plead with my eyes, and he finally sighs.

"Yeah, there's a garbage chute that leads from the Villa all the way down to the base of Mount Lux where it's then taken and burned. Why?"

"Um.....it's a girl thing?" Is all I say, and Max's cheeks turn pink before he turns his head away.

We make it to the lounge, where the solider ushers us inside to the room with huge windows and couches scattered around a huge fireplace. I notice how the Solider does not leave, and instead remains posted outside the door.

Is he acting by himself, or someone else's orders? The latter seems more likely.

I walk to the other side of the room, scoping my new setting to see if there's another door somewhere I can use.

A shadow looms over me, and I whirl to see Lager standing there, arms crossed and eyebrow raised as he stares at me.

"You scared me." I breathe out, putting a hand on my chest.

"Why are you so anxious? Seriously, Ashley, even I'm getting anxious because of your behavior. Is there danger?" He looks around as if the danger is in this room.

"No, well, maybe. I can't really explain things well at the moment, but I need to leave this room unnoticed. Can you help me?"

He continues to stare at me with an 'oh really' look.

I heave a sigh. "Fine, fine, fine. I promise to tell you everything, but only after I get out of this room."

"I'll take it." Lager says with a sly grin that turns into a slight frown. "I don't really like this idea of you going out by yourself, but that guard will definitely notice if either of us leave, so here's what's going to happen. I'll shadow transport you into the hallway but I'll have to stay here so I can keep an illusion of you going. Sound good?"

I nod my head. "Perfect."

"But now listen very carefully. If anything happens, and I mean anything, that puts you in danger, I want you to place your hand in a shadow and call for me."

"Okay." I agree, because I know Lager and know that he would not do this for me if I didn't agree to that.

He exhales, rubbing his gloved hands together. "Alright, after I shadow transport you into the hallway, I'll cast an illusion of invisibility over you for a few seconds, which gives you plenty of time to get out of the solider sights. From there you're on your own."

I place my hand on his clasped gloved ones, wanting to ease his worry, if only a little bit. "I'll be back in a little bit."

He pauses, staring down at my hand over his, before looking up. I smile, retracting my hand a little and holding it out. "I'm ready whenever you are."

He nods, extending his hand and placing it on mine. In the split second it takes to make contact I'm swallowed in darkness before thrown out of it into the hallway I was in a few minutes before. I wobble on my feet for a bit, spotting the solider who doesn't see me, just as Lager said.

I better hurry before the illusion wears off. I glance towards the door, sending a silent thank you to Lager before silently hurrying down the hallway.

From there it's easy to make it to my room, bundle up my sheets, and find an attendant, asking with a fake blush where the garbage disposal is. They point me in the right direction, and I'm on my way there, when I pass by a slightly cracked door. Odd, Usually all doors are kept shut unless someone is passing through.

I take a few steps back, peering in. No lights are on in the room, but suddenly I hear scraping sound. I push the door open a little more, seeing a dark figure move suddenly.

They freeze when they see me standing in the doorway, and I stare at them, trying to make out who they are in the darkness.

The figure moves suddenly, lunging to a nearby table where there's a flash of something silver.

A knife.

My eyes widen and I throw my sheets at them, hoping it slows them down as I dash down the hallway.

I caught them in the act of doing something, what that something was I have no idea, but they don't know that I didn't see them, and now they want to dispose of me before I leak the information. This has to be the culprit, if only I had seen them.

I realize as I run down the hallway, hearing the footsteps pursuing me, that this is my chance, and I turn my head while running to see them, only to be met with a bright flash of light.

Yep, the culprit is definitely a Lightling, and now thanks to them I'm temporarily blinded.

I "run", more like stumble, down the hallway, black dots covering my vision. Not only is the culprit attempting to kill me, but they're also smart, using their light as a way to blind me and unknowingly keep themselves hidden.

Where are all the dang Lightling guards when you really need them???

I reach the end of the hall, where only a doorway awaits. This must be the garbage disposal I was originally looking for.

With nowhere else to go I make my way into the room, blinking rapidly to try and clear my vision faster.

There's nothing in the room except a few bins and a rectangular shoot, the one Max said must lead all the way down the mountain.

I look around desperately, no other doors, not even a good place to hide. I hear the person swiftly approaching and rush to the other side of the room by the chute, turning to face them.

Maybe I can talk my way out of this?

The person appears in the doorway, bright light surrounding them and knife gleaming where it hangs in their hand.

I blink for a moment, realizing how horror-movie cliche this scene is.

"Not to give you any ideas or anything, but wouldn't using your Lightling power be more efficient than using a knife? But then oh, the investigators would know for sure that it was a Lightling who murdered me, and that would be trouble." I ramble, trying to think of a way to stall.

The person doesn't answer, stepping forward.

"Don't come any closer, or I'll reveal that you're really...." I say, making them pause for a moment as I trail off.

I internally slap myself, realizing that in saying that I revealed that I actually don't know who they are and therefore have zero leverage.

"Okay, so I don't know who you really are, but doesn't this mean that you don't have to kill me?"

The person takes another step forward.

"So I'm gonna take that as a no. In that case....".

I'm down to no more options. Either find a way to escape, or die here and now in the middle of my mission. I have the feeling if I died before completing the mission, Core would use his strange powers to drag my soul back to Earth and kick my spiritual butt.

No eternal peace for me then. Guess my only option is to escape.

My eyes land on the chute the same tie the culprit seems to read my move, and they lunge for me, but I'm already there, swinging myself up into it and sitting there, facing the culprit one last time.

The light shifts for a second, but that second is all it takes for me to see fox-orange colored eyes, filled with rage.

Then before they have the chance to throw the knife I'm pushing myself down, picking up speed immediately and descending down a slide made of metal and full of darkness.

The eyes keep flashing in my head over and over again, and I feel like I'm supposed to feel relief and joy at finally cracking the case, but all I feel is dread.

Poor Iris.

There's only one Lightling I know to have eyes the color of those, and that's Iris' twin brother.

Cato.









Dear Readers, wow this chapter was something. I know I said last chapter that a little bit of Zero would be in this chapter, but then I thought it would be better this way. I will tell you though, that he plays a big part in the next chapter, so I hope that makes up for it. Thoughts, anyone? What is Ashley going to do now? We're about almost halfway through the sequel, so yayyyy for that. Thank you so much for all your support and the comments are amazing. Honestly this chapter probs wouldn't be coming out if it wasn't for you guys. Stay tuned for next chapter, where Ashley has to figure out what to do now, and Zero makes a grand appearance, but don't worry team Lager fans, Lager wouldn't miss this next chapter for anything. MERRY CHRISTMAS! I know it's Christmas Eve, but I couldn't wait to post it. Hope you enjoyed. Vote, comment, and explain to your grandparents what it means to ship two people (I tried explaining it to them last night and they didn't get it AT ALL).

Lots of Love,

Dangeroustoken



P.S.

So in case any of you were wondering, all the characters did a white elephant. Lager got stuck with a peanut butter spoon, great for eating peanut butter from a jar, Ashley ended up with a box of gourmet candy canes, Becky received a bunch of bananas (everyone knew who gave THAT Gift cough cough Max), Max got an emoji pillow, which Ashley had to spend a few minutes explaining to him what an emoji was, Malia got a Starbucks gift card, which all the characters wanted until they realized that it's practically useless on Dalton, Cato got liquor scented soap, Iris got a lamp in the shape of a unicorn (those actually exist I saw one at Target 0-0), Sylvia got a package of boxer briefs, which she lovingly threw at her brother Cecil when he ended up with a diamond studded necklace she had set her eyes on, Zero a bottle of fruit juice ;), and Zero's fiancee received five boxes of hot-chocolate mixes, each one a different flavor of hot chocolate (Also a thing I saw at Target), oh and Peter got a coffee mug.....not a coincidence, he got a mug cause I say he got a mug XD. Once again MERRY CHRISTMAS! And goodbye!