i have you now my pretty

Paisley watched as Petra's whole body clenched. Nils shifted his stance slightly as Petra held the ice closer to his throat. If it hadn't been held by Petra, it would be melting from contact with his skin.

Her words tugged at Paisley, though. It was what Chevron had warned--what he subconscious had been afraid of from the moment she'd found the brothers on the beach. What if they'd been lying? They'd been in the jungle for days--Paisley hadn't had the chance to check on what they'd said. And even if she's had access to civilization, who was to say there would have been any record of them at all? If what they said had been true, and even if it hadn't, would there actually be any records of them or the crime ring?

"I'm not here to judge," Paisley said calmly, though she felt anything but. Her heart raced as her mind whirred. "Everyone can change, Petra."

If the brothers were lying, she'd find out soon enough. Until then, she couldn't stop fighting for them.

She breathed, keeping her face unafraid. "And from what I understand, you were all pushed into crime. Petra, I want to help stop that." All Paisley wanted was for her to move that icicle. Please.

This bitch was making Petra want to gag. "I'm done talking," she said, her patience run out. "Leave now or I cut his fucking throat." She pushed the point of the icicle into Nils throat just enough to draw a few tiny droplets of blood to show that she was dead serious. She could only imagine the look on Henrik's face behind her.

Nils swallowed the lump in his throat as he felt Petra's icicle digging into his skin. He was confused and terrified, and helpless to do anything but stand there and hope that Petra didn't suddenly decide to kill him. Why was she doing this? She was their friend! She had to be being forced. They had all been forced into such terrible things, it wouldn't surprise him at all that they would make Petra hunt down her own friends.

"I-it's okay, Paisley," he said shakily, afraid that any of these words might be his last. "Just do what she says."

Henrik's mind had been racing this whole time. What could he do? His brother was being threatened by one of the only clio he'd ever considered to be his friend -- someone who he left to rot and be beaten in the process -- who was standing across from one of the only clio who had ever shown him and his brother genuine, consistent compassion and care.

And because he chose to walk with Petra to that damn beach, all of their lives were at risk. They were all on the verge of killing each other.

He had to at least try to do something.

He curled his body up in a way that allowed him to throw all of his energy into getting to his feet. It wasn't smooth, but it worked. The moment his feet were planted on the floor, he was throwing his body in Petra's direction, hoping to any gods that were out there that maybe she wouldn't kill Nils in this process.

He tried to make eye contact with Paisley, though this was hard considering his body was being flung into another clio's, but he hoped she'd take the opportunity to act quickly and get Nils away from Petra, or Petra on the ground -- whatever it took to get the upper hand.

Please let this work, he was thinking. He was usually so resourceful, but he was stripped of anything that he could use with his Eilemaiden and didn't even have limbs to utilize at the moment. Throwing himself was all he could do.

All of the sudden, Petra was slammed from behind. She had exactly one split second to react, and everything suddenly felt like it was happening in slow motion. She still had a grip on Nils. She had time, one split second would be all she needed to drive that icicle into his neck and score at least one partial victory.

She hesitated. Her split second of time ran out. Her, Henrik and Nils all crashed to the floor, the icicle flying out of her hand and skidding across the room, melting back into a puddle of water as it did so. She gasped when she hit the ground with Henrik's full body weight on top of her.

She was in shock. How the hell had Henrik gotten up? Why hadn't she stabbed Nils when she had the chance? Fuck, she couldn't fail now, not like this, when she'd been so close. She struggled, trying to shove Henrik off of her before the Paisley bitch could get near.

Paisley wasn't paying attention to Henri, her entire concentration focused on Nils and Petra, so she missed his attempt at eye contact. That didn't end up mattering, though, because as soon as Henri slammed into Petra, Paisley went into action.

She'd been coiled like a spring the entire time--her body rigid and ready to react. As soon as the commotion started hitting the fan and she realized her talk-down wasn't going to be of use, the vines on her arms shot forward.

As soon as Petra shoved Henri off her, they laced themselves quickly around her, snaking around her body and pulling tightly against her. They looped around multiple times, pinning Petra's arms to her body and squeezing her legs together.

Nils wasn't expecting to suddenly be thrown forward, but he seized the opportunity to get away from Petra. By the time he was on his feet, a distance away, and turned around, Paisley had bound Petra from head to toe in vines.

Nils focused on his brother instead, rushing back to him and untying the ropes from his arms and legs and helping him to his feet. "Henri, are you okay?" he asked, his voice frantic. He looked back at Petra, who was glaring at them murderously. If looks could kill they'd all be dead right now.

Henrik was unbelievably relieved. Even as he was being shoved off of Petra and onto the floor, he was able to see everything play out perfectly. As soon as Nils untied him (and ripped off his tape), he brought him into a tight, brotherly hug, holding him as close as possible.

"I'm okay," he breathed. "I'm so sorry for all this." He broke the hug, holding Nils in front of him. "Thank you, Nils. You came for me." His praise was genuine. He was so proud of his brother for risking himself, for having the courage to walk back into this wretched place.

He looked to Paisley, who was really the one who had saved the day.

"Paisley..." he started, not really sure what to say. He wanted to thank her for coming, and for saving their lives time and time again, and for betraying her trust by not telling her their truths. All he could mutter was a soft, "Thank you."

Petra struggled furiously against her bonds, but it was pointless and she knew it. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into by helping them," she hissed at Paisley. "If you were smart you would have left them to me. You can't trust them."

She knew Paisley would probably think she was lying in a last-ditch attempt to salvage the situation and break free, but it was all the truth. Paisley should have walked away when she had the chance. She had nothing to gain and everything to lose by helping the brothers.

Paisley smiled when Henri thanked her, but she kept her eyes on the bound Petra.

"Well then I'm just going to have to take my chances," she said evenly. "All I know is neither of them has threatened death to anybody while I've been around. I can't say the same about you." She was referring, of course, to the icicle that Petra had pressed to poor Nils' throat.

"Yeah, while you've been around," Petra repeated her words, emphasizing them. She looked Paisley square in the eye. "Why don't you ask them exactly what kind of crimes they were forced into? I'm sure they didn't tell you, did they?" She turned her head, the only part of her body she could move, to look at the brothers. The looks on their faces told her they hadn't told Paisley much of anything.

Nils breathed a huge sigh of relief when Henri hugged him and said he was okay, though his heart was still pounding like crazy. "Of course I came for you," he said. There had never even been a question in his mind. And now they were going to get out of this. They were going to be okay. But...

He looked over to where Petra and Paisley were, and his heart dropped. Petra was their friend. Or at least she had been. And as much as he didn't want to believe it, even Nils had to admit that she wasn't the unwilling participant he had thought she was at first. She had wanted to do this.

Even worse, now she was vehemently trying to convince Paisley not to trust them, and everything she was saying was the truth. "Petra, please stop," he begged. If she went into detail and Paisley believed her, there was no doubt in his mind that she would abandon them, and all three of them would be headed right back to their captors.

"We can talk about it later," Paisley said, looking up at Nils, "Don't worry about anything right now except helping your brother."

Everything Petra was saying did bother Paisley, but she reminded herself that Nils had had hours on the boat to kill her if he had wanted to. And they'd had a week in the jungle before that. The brothers had been weak then, but nearing the end they could have taken her while she was sleeping.

There had to be a reason they didn't. Right?

"Petra, I'm still not sure what is going on here," she said, returning her attention to the woman tied up on the floor, "but I'm not planning on hurting you either."

Really all Paisley wanted to get her to the closest eilemaiden so she could talk with that overloridian, and then eventually transfer her back to Nadar to await consultation with Aspen. And she wanted to do it quick. Staying in this little shack was making her feel nervous.

Henrik was still trying to process everything that had happened and where to go from here. Paisley had helped them for so long now -- what now? While having her around had been really great for both him and Nils, he knew that trying to stay around her would be selfish and incredibly dangerous for her.

This was the reason that he and Nils didn't have anyone. It was situations like this, where they got dragged back into the horrible lives they once had, that when they got close to someone, they had to let them go.

He didn't want to let Paisley go, but he knew that after this, they had to. They would repay her someday...but Henrik didn't want anything more to happen to Paisley because of them.

"So what's the plan?" Henrik asked, leaving these thoughts to another time. They had to get out of this situation before he could start thinking about all that.

He looked to Petra. He had no idea how to even tackle this. He didn't want to hurt her, but he knew that if they let her go she'd come back for them. He didn't want to lock her up again either...she had already gone through so much pain and torture because of him. Even everything that she was saying to Paisley didn't make him feel differently. It was all the truth, and Paisley wouldn't be around them much longer anyway. It didn't matter. He wished he knew a way to help Petra, but he really didn't feel that he had many options here.