My eyes flutter, and before I can bring my surroundings into focus, the rank smell of the dungeon sends me into a coughing fit. I attempt to put my hands to my mouth, but my arm is met with the resistance of cold metal. I follow the line of my arm above my head and find that my wrists are held up and shackled to the wall. Shackles, dungeon . . . Appa. The events of the past twenty-four hours flood my thoughts and my eyes widen with a jolt. Shackles on my left are Lisa and Rosé. Lisa is still passed out, but Rosé is alert. To my right Sehun is frowning in concentration. But appa is nowhere to be seen.

"Sehun?" I say, and my voice cracks. "Where is he? Where's appa?"

Sehun shakes his head, but before he can answer, Rosé starts talking.

"Lower your voice," she scolds, and I can tell she's in a particularly foul mood. "Do what Sehun and I have been doing-seethe in silence."

Sehun snaps back at her. "We're shackled to a wall in a dungeon, Rosé. Sneaking around is a moot point."

"Which I'm sure you blame me for," she says, her tone increasingly sharp.

Sehun doesn't answer right away, and I can't tell if it's because he's angry or concentrating. Rosé scowls.

"No, actually I don't," he finally replies, and we both turn to him in surprise. Sehun doesn't think Rosé betrayed us-how is that possible?

"However suspicious I find your behavior, and however foolish it was to make a deal with Kyungsoo," Sehun says, "I can't ignore the fact that Taecyeon was lying. He doesn't give off normal tells; in fact he displays the opposite of normal indicators. He shows pleasure every time he lies. But a lie is a lie."

"My bargain with Kyungsoo was meant to pay him off and prevent him from going to the Tigers, not cause him to," Rosé says, indignant.

"Also not lost on me," Sehun says. "It was obvious how much Kyungsoo was enjoying outwitting you."

"Sociopath," Rosé grumbles, but some of her frustration drops away. As much as she tries to hide it, I think our opinion of her really matters, even Sehun's, and even in this moment when we're chained to a wall in the Tiger Family dungeon.

"Pitting us against each other is just another way to manipulate and dominates us," Sehun says. "And Taecyeon is clearly a master manipulator."

"Appa," I say again, and this time it's Rosé who answers.

"We're in the opposite corridor," she says, and my heart sinks. "The ones Lisa and I were ambushed in."

I look up at my shackles, pulling at the cold metal, but they're securely tightly around my wrists with almost no wiggle room. I pull again, anger surging in my chest-anger that we're shackled to a wall like criminals, anger that I was ripped away from appa the moment I found him, anger that my uncle was murdered and eomma before him. Just anger. I pull harder, the metal grating against my skin, and let out a frustrated grunt.

"Although we did manage to take out three of the guards before they restrained us. I noticed you didn't take down a single one of yours," Rosé says. Most people wouldn't be keeping a petty tally over fighting skills, given her screw-up with Kyungsoo. But then again, Rosé isn't most people.

"For someone who doesn't want other people to talk, you certainly do a lot of it," Sehun says, giving Rosé the side eye.

"Well, in case you were wondering, I still don't like you either, Oh Sehun," she says, but her voice betrays her.

"How did Taecyeon know?" I ask in a huff, and they both turn to me.

"How did Taecyeon know what?" Rosé says.

"That Sehun doesn't trust you?" I ask. "If Sehun is right that Taecyeon is manipulating us, how did he know that might work, that we might believe you sold us out to Kyungsoo?"

"I'm a Jackal," Rosé says like it explains everything. "The rest of Strategia aren't fond of the fact that we don't play by their rules. And we get blamed for all kinds of things we didn't do. Instigating World War One, for example."

I frown. I actually do remember Sejeong telling me that at the Academy.

"It doesn't help that your Family is always up to something," Sehun says.

"That, too," Rosé concedes, making it sound like a good thing. "A rat-faced, two-timing jerkass like Kyungsoo don't do us any favors, either."

I frown, remembering what Kyungsoo said about burning us alive. I'm certain that even if Rosé is responsible for Kyungsoo tracking us, I share in the blame because I antagonized him with that fire. "Do you think it's possible that Kyungsoo told Taecyeon?" I ask, and Sehun and Rosé look at me. "Sehun, you said Kyungsoo was a skilled tracker, right? What if he followed us through the Market? He could have easily waited outside that shop, listening to us. I mean, you two had an argument about trust." But in the moment I say it, a wave of anxiety hits me. Sejeong was supposed to follow us. What if Kyungsoo found her? I look at out restraints. We're still here, shackled to the wall with Sejeong and Jungkook nowhere in sight. What if he hurt her? What if he killed her? Sehun didn't even know she was here; he has no idea anything is wrong.

"Possible," Sehun concedes. "In fact, likely. Kyungsoo is exactly the type to pass along that information. But it's why Taecyeon used it that worries me."

Sehun's agreement only sinks me further into my anxiety.

"You think there's a reason besides Taecyeon wanting to kill us and win?" Rosé says.

"I do," Sehun says. "I think Taecyeon's playing a more complex game than we thought and I want to know what it is."

"Well, lucky for you, you'll probably find out before you die," Rosé says, but no one is in the mood for her morbid sense of humor. I'm barely even listening, my fear for Sejeong and appa blocking everything else.

I glance at Sehun, feeling torn about not telling him about Sejeong-if I panic him I could throw him off focus and take away any chance, however slight, of him getting out of here alive. But is this secret really one I can keep to my myself?

"Sehun?" I start, but when he looks at me I change my mind. "What do we need to do to pick these locks?" I say instead.

He shakes his head. "I haven't been able to figure that out. They stripped us of everything that could potentially be useful."

I examine my zippers and the metal accents on my boots, but none of them would work. I scan the communal cell, taking a proper look for the first time. The floors are filthy with grime. There are couple of crude beds made of hay, and a variety of unpleasant restraints. Plus, there is a pot in the corner that I hope like hell I won't have to use. But nothing that even resembles meatal for lock-picking, not that we could reach it if there were.

I look again at my jeans and my hoodie and frowns. My coat's gone and so are are my weapons, even the ones stashed in my boots.

"How long have I been asleep?" Lisa asked in a groggy voice as she blinks at us.

"We're not sure," Rosé says. "My best guess is that they used some our darts on us-knocking us out for a few hours."

"Agreed," Sehun says. "Which would make it sometime in the early morning, but given the lack of windows it's impossible to know."

Lisa looks up at her arms spread out on either side of her head. "Well, that's a problem."

"You think?" Rosé says.

"I have a pin tucked into my hair," Lisa says, and we all turn to look at her like she just proposed. "I've carried one ever since Kang nearly suffocates you with that locked mask, Rosie."

Rosé's expression softens with a sweetness that's completely out of keeping with our current situation, and completely out of keeping with Rosé in general.

"And the lightning poison dart," Lisa adds, and I could cry from relief.

Rosé leans forward to give Sehun an established look.

"But with my arms spread like this," Lisa says, "I can't actually reach either." Lisa turns to Rosé and me. "So the only way we'll be able to retrieve them is if you two work together."

For a split second I'm not sure what she means. But when I examine our positioning, it clicks-there is only one way we could possibly finagle a pin out of her hair. "Our feet?"

"Toes, to be precise," Rosé says, kicking off her left boot. "Where's the pin, Lisa?"

"In my right braid," Lisa says. "A few inches back from my temple."

"I think I see where you mean," I say.

Rosé nods. "If you can grab the braid and hold it in place, Susu, I'll push the pin out from my side." She steps on her sock with her right boot and pulls her left foot out of it, wiggling her toes.

I stare at my boots, which are laced up tightly and not easily removable. And with my hands splayed out like this, they are nearly impossible to reach.

"If you put your foot by mine, I can untie it with -" Sehun offers, but I cut him off.

"They're double-knotted," I say.

"You double-knot your laces?" Sehun asks like he might be amused by this discovery if we were in any other situation than this one.

"I didn't know anyone over the age of ten did that," Rosé says.

"People who don't want their laces to come untie do it," I reply, frowning at my feet.

"Clearly," Rosé says.

"Can you get your boot to your hands?" Sehun asks.

"Honestly, I don't know if I can fold my body like that," I say, doubtful. "But I'll give it a try."

I scoot my back straight against the wall and brace my arms to give me some leverage. Then I raise my straightened right leg up and to the side. Unfortunately, I'm not quite flexible enough and I'm struggling to get my boot to my fingers. I strain for all I'm worth, pushing it closer inch by inch. I manage to grasp a look of my laces with the tips of my fingers. However, I lose my grip and my legs falls back to the floor with a thud.

I take a frustrated breath and give it another go. Only this time Lisa kicks her leg over, pushing it against the back of mine and propping it up. And it does the trick. With my laces now in reach, I grab the center knot and pull it out. But before I can yank on the loops, Taecyeon appears on the other side of the bars with four guards behind him, one of whom is the tall bouncer from the pub.

I drop my leg to the floor, but it's too late. Taecyeon's already taken notes of my positioning and Rosé barefoot.

"Oh no, don't stop on my account," Taecyeon says as the bouncer unlocks the cell door.

The sound of his voice chills me.

"I had come down to make you aware of the festivities," he says like we're guests and not prisoners. "But I see you're already playing a game of your own."

None of us moves or attempts to speak.

Taecyeon steps into the cell. His silver and black hair is neatly arranged, his black clothes are impeccable, and the cloak he wears around his shoulders is lined with deep red velvet.

Taecyeon positions himself in front of Lisa. "Now let's see what we have here." He eyes Rosé's bare foot and my partially untied laces. "Given your bare feet, I assume Lisa has something she can't reach, something useful, perhaps something she might ... pick a lock with?" The way he uses our names like we're all familiar to him is unnerving. He waits a beat. "Yes, I believe that's exactly right. The question is, where is this mysterious item, and how shall we find it?"

When no one answers, he concentrates on Lisa. "Not in your boots, I imagine, or you would have just taken them off. And my guards searched your clothes."

Rosé looks like she wants to murder him.

"No," Taecyeon says. "I think whatever you've hidden must be somewhere in ... your hair." His assessment is that of an expert strategist, with a reasoned tone to match, yet his words cut like a knife. "I think we'd better check, don't you?"

Two of his guards approach Lisa, and as they do, Rosé kicks the one closest to her in the knee. The guard grunts, and before she can pull her leg back a second time, he backhands her so hard her lips splits.

Rosé spits the blood on the floor, confirming what I imagined the grime in here might consist of. "Tiger guards who let a chained prisoner get a kick in," she says. "Tsk, tsk."

The blood drained from my face. Damn it, Rosé, why are you egging them on? But the moment I think the question, I know the answer-to distract them from Lisa. And I respect her for it, no matter how risky and incendiary it might be. She's fearlessly standing up for her friend-sister, really. Taecyeon must realize why she's doing it, too, or maybe he just realized Rosé loves a reaction, because he doesn't bother responding to her; he doesn't even spare her a look.

Instead, he focuses all his energy on Lisa. The guards unshackle her and drag her forward, pushing her to her knees. They undo her braids and the lightning poison falls to the floor.

Taecyeon picks it up, turning it curiously in his fingers. "Well," he says, clearly pleased. "This looks remarkably like the vial you smashed on the floor last night, Suzy. Interesting how things work out sometimes, isn't it?"

He looks me in the eye, and even though his expression remains unchanged, I can't shake the feeling that maybe they did search our hair-that they searched it and he knew it was there, choosing instead to intimidate us. His warning rings in my head: an undisciplined mind only leads to suffering.

"While I'm intrigued by a substance that is so precious to you would destroy it rather than give it to me, I don't imagine that poison will aid you in your current situation," he says, pulling out his knife and lifting Lisa's chin with it. "So I think it only wise that we search a little further."

My whole body tenses and I steal a fearful glance at Rosé.

"I remember you," Taecyeon says to Lisa, his tone unwaveringly calm and sure. "You're that little Fox girl whom I let live, aren't you?"

Lisa's expression remains neutral, but her eyes burn with hatred. I know Taecyeon sees it, too, because he nods at her.

"Such a shame," he says as though she disappoints him. "I remember receiving a report that your family went down rather easily. I would have thought them harder to kill." Anger sparks in my chest. His tone is polite and his cruelty is effortless.

My wrists throb, and I realize I'm straining against my shackles, like maybe I could break them off the wall by force. And instantly I realize Rosé was right; Taecyeon is a monster that needs to be removed from power by any means necessary.

"But enough reminiscing," Taecyeon says. "We got a little problem-solving to do." Without warning, he grabs a handful of Lisa's hair and slices cleanly through it near her scalp.

I grasp before I can stop myself, frantically searching for a way to keep him from hurting Lisa. "It must be difficult to be so lacking in the, uh ... manhood department," I say.

Rosé chuckles.

"I mean, this is a lot of effort to go through just to show us that you're tough," I continue. "Maybe next time you should try something other than giving a girl a haircut while two guards hold her down?"

Taecyeon looks me square in the eye. "You do know your emotions show on your face? That I know this distresses you, that I distress you," he says, and slices another chunk of Lisa's hair. "It's a disappointment, really. I was hoping that if I had a granddaughter who was clever enough to sneak in here, she might also be good at deception. But then again, it's better not to get attached to toys you can't keep." He slices at Lisa's hair again, and he must nick her scalp this time because a dribble of blood runs down her temple. "Oh dear. It seems you've distracted me and I'm not looking where I'm cutting," he says, slicing off the remaining section.

He drops the dark black locks on the floor in front of her. Taecyeon nods to the guards to put Lisa back in her shackles, and this time Rosé doesn't take a swing at them. We all remain perfectly silent.

"Take the hair," he orders the guard with the mustache. "Find whatever they were hiding."

The man scoops up Lisa's hair and exits the cell. My stomach churns. Is this my fault? If I hadn't smashed that vial, would Taecyeon have done this?

Taecyeon paces in front of us, tapping his knife on his palm. "You see, Suzy, I had intended on simply asking you a question. But after seeing how deeply you feel for your friends here, I'm thinking it makes good sense to give you some motivation to answer it."

Fear grips in my chest, and my heart pounds. How could I have been so loose with my emotions? I should have remained silent. Guilt wraps around me like a rope.

"The only choice we need to make now is which of your friends will provide the best motivation," Taecyeon says, stopping in front of Rosé. "The Jackal? The Fox?" He points his knife at them and pauses to read my reaction. "Or the Wolf?" The moment he points to Sehun, Taecyeon's eyes brighten with recognition, and I curse at myself-my emotions clearly showed on my face.

"The Wolf it is," Taeceyon says happily, like he's choosing a ripe melon at the supermarket.

The same two guards who unlocked Lisa's shackles pull Sehun from his. They stand him up, restraining his arms, while the tall bouncer cracks his knuckles and waits. Sehun looks at me, as if to tell me it's okay, but I don't believe him; I'm full blown panic.

"Let's see here," Taecyeon says, assessing Sehun.

I brace myself, waiting for his question. But before Taecyeon even asks one, he gestures toward Sehun and the bouncer punches Sehun in the face, splitting his lip open and sending a line of blood down his chin. I want to scream, but I know it will only make things worse.

Taecyeon clears his throat. "Now, I want you to think carefully about how you answer me, granddaughter, because a wrong answer will have unfavorable consequences."

I hate that he calls me granddaughter. And I'm certain that's why he keeps doing it.

Taecyeon nods, seeing that I understand. "So ... I know you killed the five guards on your way in, but what I don't know is who killed the two in the main hall?"

For a second I just stare at him in complete shock. "What are you talking about?"

"Strike on," Taecyeon says, and smiles. "A terrible sport, baseball, but it's an American expression I've always been a fond of." He gestures again and this time the bouncer knees Sehun in the stomach. Sehun grunts and in air, wheezing.

My mind whirls. We didn't hurt those guards; we only knock them unconscious. And then it dawns on me ... Sejeong. Could it be Sejeong who killed the guards? I don't pursue that line of thought, however, because right now my best chance is to appear confused and distraught, and that's actually perfect, because I am. My emotions are finally a tool, not a hindrance.

"Okay, okay, wait," I say quickly, spreading my palms open as if to appear nonthreatening. "I'm just as confused as you are."

Taecyeon lifts his eyebrow.

"We put those guards to sleep using Angels' Dream," I say, choosing my words carefully. "And then we came directly down to the dungeon. We didn't kill them."

Before I can continue, Taecyeon looks at the bouncer and he punches Sehun so hard in the face that Sehun's head flies back. My eyes well at the sight of Sehun in pain.

"Strike two," Taecyeon says. "I didn't ask you if you killed the guards, I asked you who killed the guards in the main hall. Be careful, now. Three strikes and you're out."

The bouncer pulls his knife from its sheath.

My breath hitches in my throat. "It's not that we didn't try to get people to help us," I say with emphasis, quickly crafting an answer that is not only believable but is also the truth. "But no one would. So if there is someone killing your guards, it doesn't have anything to do with us."

Taecyeon stares at me, and I'm hyperaware that he's reading my features, looking for a crack in my answer and an excuse to slit Sehun's throat. I don't dare blink, afraid that any movement will turn out for the worst.

Just then the metal door behind us whines on its hinges. I release my breath and Taecyeon turns around. A middle-aged woman enters the cell. She's petite and dressed similarly to Taecyeon, with blonde hair and the same eye-shape as Taemin. Taeyeon.

"We've had another" -Taeyeon hesitates- "incident, this time in the gatehouse."

Taecyeon listens, his face unreadable.

"I think we should delay," Taeyeon continues.

"We're not delaying," Taecyeon states simply, showing no upset but also leaving no room for argument. "I told everyone to be here in the morning and be here they will."

By "everyone," I can only imagine he means his guests from the ball last night.

Taeyeon frowns. "Will all these people arriving, our risk-"

"I can't imagine how repeating yourself will change my mind," Taecyeon says, shutting her down matter-of-factly, and her face takes on a neutral expression that reminds me of appa's in his cell last night.

"Bring them upstairs in half an hour," Taecyeon says to the guards, and brushes his hands together as though er got him dirty, leaving the cell as confident as he entered it.

I stare at Sehun, who has a bloody lip, but he's not looking at me, he's looking at Taeyeon. And he has the strangest expression on his face, like he's asking her a silent question. The guards lock Sehun back up in his restraints.

Taeyeon makes eye contact with me, and I freeze. Despite her dainty, fairylike features, there is nothing soft about her. She follows her father out of the cell with the guards and bouncer.

We remain quiet until their footsteps fade and we're certain we're alone again. I look from a bleeding Sehun to Lisa, whose hair is raggedly shorn off but who holds her chin high and wears a proud expression.

"I'm so incredibly s-" I start.

"I'm not," Lisa says. "All I am is determined."

"But last night," I start. "If I hadn't smashed that vial-" I stop, the lump in my throat growing.

Lisa turns to me, her proud expression unchanging. "Suzy, don't you dare," she says, and my eyes widen at her uncharacteristically forceful tone. "My hair is just hair. Sehun's lip will heal. Complicit Strategia are the backbone of Taecyeon's rule. Always be defiant. Always, always."

And her energy uplifts me. "Dance on his grave," I say.

"Dance on his grave," Sehun echoes, and we all fall silence, Taecyeon's order to bring us upstairs looming over our heads.

As the seconds tick by, bringing us closer to whatever Taecyeon has in store for us, my dream comes flashing back to me-all my friends dead on the floor and me holding the poison that killed them. "I have to tell you guys something, something I probably should have mentioned before," I say, and they turn to look at me. "Right before we left the Academy I had this dream, and I think it foretold our deaths-"

"Lucky for you it was a dream and you're not a goddamn fortune-teller," Rosé replies.

"It felt real, so real," I say. "And that big room upstairs-"

"Are we really spending our final moments analyzing your dream?" Rosé says with a bit of amazement. But after a second of thought, she shrugs. "I guess there are worse topics. Go ahead, Suzy, dazzle us with your weird brain."

"I'm serious," I say, not able to shake the feeling that I owe them so much more than an apology. "The big rooms upstairs was in my dream, and you were all lying on the ground choking on poison, poison I was holding in my hand. And ... I know this is my fault. That you've all come here because of me and now Taecyeon will kill you because of me."

Rosé tilts her head. "By 'big room' you mean the great hall? The one that looks remarkably like the dining hall at the Academy, which your subconscious could have plunked it from? And by 'poison,' do you mean something similar to what Dr. Yoo used on Sehun to traumatize you only days earlier?"

"You didn't make anyone come here-to Gyeonggi or to this estate," Sehun says, picking up where Rosé left off. "We all knew exactly what we were doing when we left the Academy. We wanted to be here. And if we all go together fighting Taecyeon, so be it. It's no fault of yours and it certainly doesn't have anything to do with some ominous dream."

Sehun's and Rosé's words hit me hard. Even now, chained in a dungeon, they don't blame me. They're not he cuddly feel-good type of friends I was used to in Jeongsan, but they are every bit as dependable and supportive.

"Don't spoil my fun," Rosé says. "I'm enjoying watching her grovel because she's had one very obvious vision that told her we would be in danger and now feels like she's psychic."

Lisa laughs and for a moment I just stare at her. But then Rosé laughs, too.

"Continue, Susu. We all need a good chuckle before Taecyon cuts us up into little pieces or feeds us to his crocodiles," Rosé says. "What other nonsense would you like to spew at us?"

"I ..." I look at each of them and find that despite this being the lowest point in my entire life, I, too, am smiling. "Thanks, Rosé. I actually needed that. You're a good friend."

Rosé brushes off my comment, but I can tell by her slightly startled expression that the acknowledgment means something to her.

"She used to help me through my bad dreams when I first came to live with her," Lisa says, smiling at the memory. "No matter how bad they got, she always found a way to make me laugh."

Rosé look increasingly flustered. "Lisa, that's private-"

"Wow, Rosie, who knew you had such a big heart?" Sehun says, now wearing a smile.

Rosé's mouth opens. "I have no such thing. Don't you dare even suggests it."

"No sense in hiding it," Lisa says. "Might as well just come out and admit the truth."

Rosé's face turns bright red. "I can't wait until Taecyeon kills us all. Then I won't have to listen to this crap for a second longer."

Even though it's a morbid joke, we all laugh at her absurdity. And for just the briefest of moments, we're not four Strategia in a dungeon awaiting death, we're four friends sharing our lives with one another. As I look at each one of them, I realize how much they gave up to be Strategia, how they probably never got the summer nights lying on a blanket under the stars telling jokes and eating junk food, never got told to keep it down while playing Truth or Dare at a sleepover, and never suffered the amazingly awkward moment of slow dancing at a school dance. They're always focused, always strategizing, always guarded. I sigh, fervently clinging to the hope that I get more time with them.