“Those two were acting under orders from Charles.” Helene’s face is an expression of rage right now.

“Charles?” I exclaim. “Isn’t he one of the Feds?”

“We know he was in cahoots with Olympias. Or rather, he was making use of her influence and power. Now, he has moved on to more under table tactics, using dissent, greed, anger to recruit more minions to further his agenda.”

I could have sworn Helene said ‘minion’ with a bite. Did Ms Pink tell Helene about the nickname I used on them?

“Who else is with Charles?” Ms Pink asks.

“Sesgo, Tatua, Vandyke, to name a few.”

Sesgo, the witch-like woman who wanted so badly to lay on hands on me. “She is with Charles too?”

Helene and Ms Pink turn to me. “Sesgo?” Helene says, “Yes, Sesgo has always operated with the darkest of the dark. She is power hungry. But why do you mention her especially?”

“Ms Pink . . . has never allowed Sesgo to lay her hands on me. I’ve always wondered why.”

Helene smiles. “Sesgo carries a curse. She can put a curse on you if she touches you. That is her curse. And that is the curse that befell one of Pan Ni’s claims. The curse that ruined our relationship.”

“Yoohuan?” I ask, remembering the name Praeson had mentioned before. “But wasn’t Praeson the culprit?”

“Enough,” says Ms Pink.

Helene casts Ms Pink a glance but continues, “Praeson was jealous. He should never have led Yoohuan to Sesgo, knowing what Sesgo is capable of.”

“Stop it,” says Ms Pink, louder than before.

This time, Helene obeys. “Pan Ni can tell you the rest if she wants to.” She rises from her throne. “The war is about to begin. We have to act faster than they do. I will summon those with us to come here. Pan Ni, you have till then to decide how we will use the Erika.”

I look at Ms Pink, not comprehending what Helene means but clenched, shaking fists indicate the vampire princess is not into answering questions right now. I would be smart to hold my tongue for the time being.

X

I have lost all track of time. There are no clocks, neither are there windows, so I can’t tell day from night, not unlike a typical casino. But in this place, the stakes are much higher than wealth; it is life at stake instead. On top of that, most of my day is spent in the same cold, stark empty room, fending off more captes every other hour in the darkness. By the time I am let out of the room, there is little left of my soul in me and I collapse on the bed in Ms Pink’s room.

“What time is it?”

“Night time.”

“I was in there for that long? No wonder I’m starving,” I groan.

“You did well this afternoon.”

“Did I?”

“You are more resistant to shocks and fear now.”

“But I’m not resistant to hunger.”

“Stop whining like a kid. Your food is coming.”

“I’m not whining. I’m really tired. And hungry.”

Without any warning, Ms Pink rolls me over and gives me a resounding smack on my bum. “Stupid human. You need to grow stronger. Any of us could overpower you otherwise.”

Pressing my cheek into the pillow, I grumble, “I don’t understand any of this. How can things change so much right after the sixty days? Why is the whole world out for my blood? Why do I have to go through all these tests? Why? Why?”

Ms Pink spanks me again then pulls me into her arms. “You have to hold on.”

“Hold my hand.” I watch with pleasure as our fingers interlace. “The only good thing that changed after sixty days is your reappearance in my life. I just wish everything else did not have to follow.”

“Me too.”

Opening my eyes in surprise, I regard Ms Pink carefully. “Do you really feel the same? But you’re one of them.”

Ms Pink snorts. “If I could, I would avoid everything.”

“But you’re strong. You’re resilient.”

“I am also almost three hundred years old. And I did not have an easy time growing up.”

“Speaking of which, why was Praneos in the room yesterday? And why does he know all those things about your childhood?”

A laugh rings out and Ms Pink’s eyes are dancing with amusment as she says, “That was not Praneos.”

“What? Was he Praeson then?”

Ms Pink frowns. “No.”

“But it was one of them. It’s only been sixty days, I haven’t forgotten what they look like.”

“That is one of the abilities of the captes. They are able to group up and impersonate. Those memories were Helene’s. She wanted to use the image of a person you hate to trigger your emotions.”

So that’s why I could feel something touching me. “What are captes exactly? Why can’t I see them?”

“They have the ability to absorb light or reflect it. They are invisible when they absorb light and by grouping up and reflecting light, they can create the illusion of living things or objects.”

“How big or small are they?”

“They can split or join at will. Like water droplets in space.”

“That’s amazing. But what are they used for other than frightening the heck out of me?”

“Captes are neutrals. Helene invited them from the deepest part of the dark forest a long time ago.”

“So they are basically harmless?”

“Yes. They can’t kill. They can only deceive.”

“Deceiving can be harmful too.”

“Not always.”

Ms Pink’s answer is short but meaningful. Deceit is not always harmful because right now, I would feel a lot better if Ms Pink would lie and tell me that everything is alright.

X

It finally hits me the next morning that captes are how Helene’s ‘doors’ work. The disappearing bricks aren’t really bricks at all. They are captes. That explains a lot. At the same time, I also wonder how captes can be controlled.

“How do you make a capte do something?” I ask Ms Pink as she cuts up her blood pancake. After yesterday’s bloody experience, I find her bloody pancakes nauseating so I try to focus on my regular pancakes instead.

“You need to possess supernatural energies in you. Captes only understand the supernatural language of our energies.”

“Does the Erika energy count as supernatural?”

“The Erika’s