By some unfortunate turn of absolutely terrible luck, I found it all too easy to like Adrian.

Like I had felt towards every other lover, I had been weary of him at first.

He had wild short hair that looked like it had been brushed at least once in his life. He wore big round glasses on his face and his white shirt was dirty with black smears of ash.

As soon as I made it to the top of the rise, he had begun explaining all of the different types of fireworks he had assembled at his feet. How he had made them, what he had made them out of, and how he had discovered what would work, I heard it all.

The excitement in his voice, the depth of knowledge he seemed to posses, I had not minded hearing it. From his impassioned words alone, I had become genuinely interested in the crates of constructed paper. Somewhere in his excited chattering, I found something that reminded me of Arthur when he had told me about the first time he had seen his ghost. Just like it had been with The Mother in Red and her lovers, the more time I spent with him, the more difficult it became to stay weary.

He finished his talking and reached down into one of the crates at his feet

“Here. Throw it up. As hard as you can.” Adrian said and pressed a small firework into my palm. He struck a match on the bottom of his buckled shoe and lit the short white fuse.

“What?” I asked in sudden panic. I had heard him and understood what he has said perfectly, but the sight of the fuse burning shorter had left me unable to move.

“For fucks sake throw it!” Adrian shouted as he jumped back and covered his face.

His shout broke my petrified state and I threw the ball of paper up just as the fuse disappeared below the surface.

It exploded with a sharp crack the same moment that Adrian jerked me down by my wrist.

A flash of light streaked by my face and another burst against the rocky ground between my boots. A crackling sound, like sudden and sharp rain, started and faded in a matter of seconds.

“Did you get burned? They really aren’t that big of an explosion, but you really don’t wanna be holding one when it goes off." Adrian said as he resettled his glasses atop the bridge of his nose with what was left of his middle finger.

“Did that happen because of these?” I asked timidly, not wanting to upset him. The firework had not burned me, a fact that I was much more thankful for after seeing what they could do

"No. This happened because of me," He said as he wiggled his half finger. "They are tools, decorations, entertainment. Nothing happens because of them. If you cut yourself with a knife, would it be the knife's fault?"

"No." I answered after a brief moment of consideration.

"Well, you were going somewhere weren't you? Don't let me keep you." Adrian said as he stood and knocked the dew off his pants.

"I can just. . . leave?" I asked.

"If that's what you want to do?" Adrian said slowly as if he didn't know why I had asked my question.

With little success, I tried to understand the trap that I was obviously walking into. There was no way that I would be allowed walk away from the mansion and wander back to the manor, but I did not think the bespectacled man was lying. The game that was being played with me, and I was sure that there was a game, was too complicated. I didn't know the rules and none of the players were acting the way they were supposed to.

There was too much I didn't know and my lack of sleep was making it all too difficult for me to try and piece it together.

So, I gave up, and focused on what I did know.

Throwing the firework had been fun. Terrifying, yes, but still fun.

"Can I throw another one?" I said as I stood and eyed the contents of the crates.

"You really want to? Go is the only one who likes to test them with my but he throws them so far it kind of ruins the point." Adrian smiled at me, excitement evident on his face.

I bent down and slapped the top of one that was bigger around than my head. "What about this one?"

"That's the big one. You always do the big one last. It's a rule," He said, taking several smaller ones out of the crates. "If you stick around though, I'll let you light it when its time."

I stuck around.

One by one, Adrian let me throw, light, and set off each of his explosive creations. For a time, I forgot where and why I was where I was. In what felt like one long blur of shimmering colors and patterns, I lost myself in the cycle of sound and silence. I would light one, throw it up, watch the beautiful violence of it coming apart, and wait for the bespectacled man to take his notes. Showers, streams, some that whistled and some that made no sound at all, I made my own notes in my mind. Pinks, dark burgundies and nearly white bright shades of red, I saw every color that could possibly be named Red.

I had gotten better at points with time and practice. Watching Sam, Arthur, and the guards had showed me the way to victory. It had been entirely on accident, but my aura had slipped out of my stomach in the shape of fireworks. By keeping my own notes on Adrian's explosives, I could try and imitate them with my power.

When the sky began to brighten and there were no more balls of paper for me to throw except for the big one, Adrian me on the rise with a promise to return shortly.

How long have you been out here? I asked myself as I looked over the still mostly dark water beyond the cliffs. It was very difficult for me to tell the time without my usual touchstones to ground myself with.

"So," I heard someone shout and I turned to see Go and Adrian returning. Go made the bespectacled man look much smaller than he actually was. "You aren't strong enough to handle your own toy so you need your big brother Gosephellies to come play with it."

"We really must work on your phrasing," Adrian sighed once they reached where I stood. "There it is."

"I thought you said it was big? You can't throw that?" Go said with a wink that was pointed in my direction.

"Not all of us have Hezbelth blood. Just make sure you make it over the cliff." Adrian said as he lit a match and handed it to me.

Go palmed the big one with one hand and held it towards me so I could light it. As soon as the fuse caught flame, he stepped aside and twisted it behind himself. With enough force that I felt the wind coming off of him as he went, he threw the massive ball of paper with all of his considerable might.

Off the rise, over the cliffside, it vanished against the dying dark of night with nothing but thin whisps of smoke in its wake.

All three of us waited in silence.

"Shouldn't have thrown it that far." Go said under his breath.

"Shit," Adrian sighed. "I made the fuse too damn long. I've got to go back to the city."

Without another word, he started in the direction opposite the manor and left the rise as he riffled through his notes.

I watched him go, confused at his abrupt exit.

"You've been out here with him all night?" Go turned and asked me.

"Most of it." I said through a yawn. The sight of the rising sun and the recognition that I had been awake for far too long.

"Will you come help me settle an argument? Then we'll have breakfast and you can go to bed. Deal?” The giant man smiled through his wild red beard.

I had done everything else The Mother in Red and her lovers had asked me to do. I still had skin. There had been no need for me to climb into a tree to avoid the gnashing maw of some ferocious beast. It seemed a harmless enough.

"Deal." I nodded. I would do dark and terrible things for more of his muffins, there was no end to how good a full breakfast would be.

I followed him back inside and through the kitchen to a place within the mansion that I had not seen during Patience's tour. It was a long room with an unusual high ceiling. Small windows let the new days light filter through and it was filled from end to end with armor and weapon racks.

"Good morning, Lady Autumn." Galahad said with a small bow and smile when we reached the middle of the room.

“Think about this. Let’s say you live in some small village. It’s nothing special, maybe you’re the daughter of a blacksmith or builder, but you aren’t a sorceress or anything like that.” Go said to me, looking up at the ceiling as he told his story.

I still didn’t understand what argument I had been brought in to settle.

Galahad held his finger up. “Don’t use the narrative to persuade her one way or the other, brother. We will learn nothing unless she makes the decision her self.”

“Show me a place without a blacksmith or a builder. I’m making it believable, rooting her in the story.

“A great big army marches in and starts raiding your little town, what do you do?”

“Run?” I said. The answer seemed so obvious, what the fuck was I supposed to do against an army?

Galahad gave me an approving nod. “Wise. Very wise.”

“You’re trapped then,” Go said, waiving his hands frustratedly. “Lightning struck a tree. It fell and blocked your only way out.”

“So this army decided to invade a village in a storm? Stories are built in the details and your foundation is weak.” Galahad said with a mocking laugh.

“Mind your tongue, princess. I’ve no issue with being violent in front of a lady,” Go threatened Galahad before continuing. “You’re trapped, soldiers are coming towards you, and your only choice is to fight or die. Which weapon would you pick up?”

The giant man swept his arm over towards the wooden rack in a grandiose wave.

From daggers to a great sword that was longer than I was tall, blades of every length and shape stood before me. They gave way to axes, clubs, and finally hammers. Just like the swords, they varied in size and form widely.

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The intensity with which Go and Galahad were staring at me told me exactly what argument I had been brought in to settle.

For a brief moment, the notion that I was picking which weapon would be used for my punishment crossed my mind, but I no longer had the strength to hold onto the fear and suspicion.

I was too tired, had breathed in too much smoke, had spent too much time with the lovers.

If I was being tricked, if every minute I had spent in The Mother in Red’s mansion was indeed a slow and deliberate arrangement that was meant to lull me into a false sense of safety, then so be it.

I would play along.

I would act as the deciding force about the weapons. I would go where she wanted me to go and do what she wanted me to do. I would eat her food and yes, I would sleep.

If that led to me being more hurt by her punishment, then I would add that pain to the anger I carried for Gwyn and Azza.

If it didn’t, and every seemingly kind thing I had been through since she had taken me was genuine, then I would be thrown into a undeniably wonderful confusion that ran all the way into my soul.

I would give and I would play along, it was that was left for me to do.

“If I was trapped and soldiers were coming towards me and my only choice is to fight or die. Which weapon would I pick?” I repeated Go’s words and began to pace back and forth in front of the rack of deadly things.

“Hmm.” Go grunted.

“A sword would seem like the right choice.” I said, allowing myself to enjoy the sight of the two men hanging on my words. Galahad had let a small smirk appear on his face. That meant he was in favor of the sword. “If I knew how to use one.”

“Ha!” Go laughed towards his brother, the rough sound echoed off the stone walls of the big room.

“I would be more likely to cut my own leg off than I would be to drive off the soldiers.” I continued.

“Wise girl isn’t she?” Go said with a wide grin on his face.

“But a hammer would bring me no closer to safety. I’m not strong enough to lift one of the big ones, let alone swing it.” I said, giving the largest and longest of the blunt weapons a small tug. It didn’t move at all. “And I would be dead before I could hit anyone with a small one.”

“Very wise, as I have said.” Galahad said, his smirk no longer so small.

I could not deny the fact that I was enjoying myself.

“If my only choice is to fight or die, and all I have is a hammer or a sword to defend myself with, then I think I would die.” I answered honestly.

Galahad threw his head back and let out a long laugh the left him holding his middle in his arms.

“That’s not-You have to pick one of them.” Go shouted in displeasure.

“She does not. Not unless this town’s blacksmith is very limited in what he is capable of crafting,” Galahad laughed as he walked to a different rack that sat against the wall. “Would your chances of survival be better with any of these?”

I followed him, the only thing keeping me awake and on my feet was my position as the one who would settle the conflict between the brothers. There was power there, and I enjoyed wielding it.

The second rack held a much wider range of deadly things than the first. Spears, maces, bows, and a spiked ball that hung limp from its handle by a length of chain lay before me.

I thought about the soldiers and my imaginary peril that had come with the falling of the tree. Even if I knew how to use one, a bow would do me no favors. I would be rushed down and killed before I could pull the string back. The maces would bring the same issues that the hammers did, but the chained weapon caught my eye.

“This? Maybe? It’s long enough that I could avoid getting too close.” I said as I took the pommel into my hands. It brought no risk of slicing through my own flesh with an ill timed slash.

As soon as I wiggled the thing free of the wooden groove it rested in, its weight snapped my arms straight down. Narrowly missing my boot, it thunked down to the stone floor and the pommel was ripped from my hands.

“Maybe not that one then.” I said after trying to lift the ball of metal back up and failing miserably.

Go approached and picked it up with one hand. The giant man out it back on the rack without anything resembling difficulty.

“A spear? They have tremendous reach and are deadly in anyone’s hands.” Galahad suggested as he handed me one of the long lengths of wood.

It was heavier than I thought it would be and I was much too tired to keep the long metal tip from sagging to the floor.

Galahad pulled a similar sized one off the rack. “Spread your hands and set your feet like so.”

I did as he said, but I could not contain the yawn the slipped out of me.

“You will want to thrust with your arms, but that is a mistake,” The starlight haired man explained as he acted out a series of quick stabs. “The movement should come from your full body or you will wear yourself out. Like this.”

I watched him. I tried to follow his instructions, but it was all I could do to keep my eyes open.

Sleep could be delayed, but it could never be pushed away. No matter how late its arrival turned out to be, it would arrive, and be all the more powerful when it did.

I had reached my limit, it was only a matter of time before I lost the ability to choose to be awake.

“I don’t think so.” I said as I handed the spear back to Galahad.

“Spend time moving rocks and stones, big ones, so you can use a proper weapon like me.” Go grunted and slapped his hand onto his flexed arm.

“No to the swords, no blunt weapons, no spears, no bows. You are quite picky, Lady Aubrey. You are in luck however, we have some less than usual options for you to try as well. Come, brother.”

The two men left me and I watched them go back into the armor filled room that they had led me through earlier. Another yawn took me and brought me to the floor. I lay down on my side and used the thick sleeves of the black coat I wore as a pillow.

I would rest my eyes until they returned, that was it. I had no desire or interest in settling their argument any longer. I would find some reason to excuse myself so I could return to The Lady in Purple’s room and actually use her bed for what it was meant for.

I fell asleep before there was any sign or sound of them returning.

It was a dead sleep, the kind of in and out void that only came for me when I was well and truly exhausted.

I woke once to find that someone had placed a blanket over and was only awake long enough to curl myself underneath it.

The second time, I rolled onto my other side and thought I heard the gentle sound of someone trying to move by me quietly. Deciding that it must have been the remnants of some already forgotten dream, I fell back to sleep immediatly.

When I woke for the third time, I felt like I was waking from a small death. It took entirely too much effort for me to do so much as roll my shoulders or shift my hips. I rolled onto my back with a groan and opened my eyes to a dark room. The faint light of night coming through the windows told me just how long I had been asleep. I rubbed the crusty sleep from my eyes with my hands and unstuck my tongue from the roof of my mouth.

Where had Galahad and Go gone? How long had I been asleep? Who had given me the blankets and pillows I laid on top of?

A strange feeling creep over me.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

Just loud enough that I thought I could hear it, there was the gentle rhythm of someone’s quiet breaths.

I was not alone.

I was being watched.

“Autumn? Are you awake?” Someone said softly.

The Mother in Red lay flat on her back in the middle of the armory. Her face was turned to me but all I could make in the dark room was her shape and the small amount of light that shone off her glossy hair.

I slowly sat up and saw the long shadow she held balanced on the tip of her finger. It was a sword, the same one I had seen on the rack earlier that was longer than I was tall. Her arm did not shake under its weight and the massive blade did not sway in its place. How it did not split her finger like a cooked carrot, I didn't know, but she seemed to be having no trouble at all.

"Where are Galahad and Go?" I asked her as I began to stretch what felt like eight years of sleep out of my arms and legs.

"Everyone else went to bed hours ago except for Nocti. Its somewhere in the late morning for him I suppose," The Mother in Red said. She extended her arm fully and brought herself into a sitting position underneath it. "I hope the pillows and blankets kept you comfortable, I thought waking up somewhere different than you fell asleep would not be very pleasant.”

“Someone should have told that to. . .” It had been so long since I had tried to say Gwyn’s name that I had almost forgotten I couldn’t.

“Told that to who?” She asked.

I called her by the name I could use and the words tasted sour in my dry mouth. “The Mother in Green. She took me from my bed while I was asleep.”

“Right. She did didn't she? I will not apologize for her, but I will say she is still too young to realize just how young she is. That makes her reckless, headstrong, even foolish at times." She said as she gently lowered the massive sword to the stone floor. In one fluid motion, she left it standing on its tip and stood. Just as it started to lean, she took its handle in her hand and returned it to the rack on her right.

“How old are you?” I asked her without realizing the words were coming out of my mouth.

“Old enough to know how old I am.” She laughed.

"Does that make you one of the old Mothers?" I asked, remembering the slip that Gwyn had tried and failed to cover up.

"You have been around Gwyn," She laughed again and came to where I sat in the nest of pillows and blankets. "Come, they will grow tired of waiting very shortly."

I looked into her eyes and knew I had been wrong. Maybe the sleep had cleared my mind. Maybe I had pushed away the notion of her actually not wanting to hurt me because the alternative was easier for me to handle. Maybe it was the relaxed way she moved or the care she had taken to not scare me when I woke. Whatever it was, I took her hand and let her help me to my feet.

"I know how to get back to my room. You don't have to show me if you don't want to keep them waiting." I said, feeling light on my feet despite how stiff I was.

She raised an eyebrow. "Who do you think is waiting?"

"All of them. They are waiting for you to come to bed, right?" I said, thinking of how hard it had been to try and go to sleep without Anna when she had gone to Hymneth.

"Oh, no, dear. I sleep alone. It is my sisters who are waiting for us. Your time here has come to its end." The Mother in Red said as if she hadn't just told me I had slept for nearly two days.

Silence fell over me as I tried to gather my bearings. She led us out of the armory and back into the kitchen where she produced a glass bottle of cold milk from somewhere below the countertop.

“That is why I took you when I did. You had been through enough with Trea already and I thought it best if you had a few days to rest before you were dragged in front of us once again. Drink, you should have a little something on your stomach.” She said, handing me the milk and tying her long hair up behind her head.

"I didn't-fuck-why. . ." I stammered, unable to stave off the cold fear that taken root in my veins. The Mother's were waiting for me. I had escaped the manor. I had told Pyreme my name, I had shown her my fucking face.

"Take a breath. Drink your milk. All is well." The Mother in Red said as she placed her hand on my back.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I looked up at her angrily.

She sighed and rubbed my back. “Would your time here have been any better or would it have eaten you alive knowing what was coming? It took you long enough to stop walking around like we were all out to kill you."

"I. . ." I trailed off. She was right. I hated it, but she was fucking right.

"I don't understand. You aren't going to punish me? I ran away. I stole The Well. Where is the sand? Where are the snakes?"

"Your milk, dear." She nodded at the still full bottle.

I took it into my hand and emptied in one long pull so she would have to answer my questions. "I don't understand."

"No, we both understand that sleeping on a stone floor is a sufficient enough punishment. And, we both understand that if my sisters ask you about what happened here that the things that have happened to you were so terrible that you cannot bring yourself to speak of them." She said with a wink.

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. She was speaking in the strange backwards way my mother had to when she needed to tell me something but couldn't.

There were bindings on her just like Azza had placed on me or there were barriers in her mind like those in Sam's.

My eyes went wide and she broke our gaze, but she nodded her head deliberately several times.

"The gate will be opened by now, let us go." She gave me a small pat and led us out of the mansion. Adrian and his fireworks were nowhere to be seen, but the middle frame of the row of black gates was alight with the strange black energy that only they possessed.

We reached it and she placed her hand on my shoulder.

“Autumn Aubrey, I have a request of you," She said, her voice much more serious than it had been before. "Whatever happens beyond this gate, you must promise me something. Promise me that you will be like you were the last time you were brought before us, when you said you did not regret what you had done. Promise me that you be as you have been on this much too short a night. That you will be without fear. That you will be honest. That you will be yourself.”

The power in her voice, the resonance, I was powerless to deny it or disagree.

"I promise." I whispered and stuck my pinky out to her the way Anna had taught me.

She took it into her palm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Why are you being like this? Why don't you hate me like Azza and Gwyn?" I whispered as she held my finger, my mind only beginning to recognize how strange it all felt.

“Because," She said as she led me to the black gate. "I’ve loved you since the day you were born.”