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Statues didn't simply get up and walk away. Ideih gave the statue's platform a perplexed look, reaching out to touch it and see if perhaps someone had knocked it down.

"Or so it goes."

What?

Ideih turned on her heel to face the goddess, gasping quietly. She was in the presence of a real live goddess. How was such a thing even possible? They really were Chosen.

The bag was taken, the prospect of a gift filling the girl with curious excitement as she opened the bag and found...!

Nothing?

Ideih looked up at the goddess again while listening very closely to her explanation. The goddess needed her help. She would do anything she needed..even...cut someone's heart out? Ideih frowned. Okay. That...okay.

Why did that not quite sit right with her? Strange. She wouldn't dwell on it.

Eyeing the box, Ideih hesitantly stepped in after the goddess.

She was searching for something...

Ideih stumbled a bit as she walked slowly from the body. From the person she had just..killed...

Blood dripped from her hands and arms, the scissors in one hand and the heart in her other, held in front of her as she stared blankly at the organ in her hand.

She killed someone.

Had she ever killed someone before? Ideih didn't know.

Was this what she had been searching for?

She walked into something solid and slowly looked up. Dead end. Had she gone the wrong way?

She heard a noise and turned to see what it was. Nothing. There was no one there.

Ideih frowned. Strange. She then turned and continued to walk, finding her path apparently unblocked, but the hall seemed to be filling with...water?

"Please give it back."

Ideih looked back. Nothing.

Crap. The water was too high. Could she swim? She needed to not lose this heart and the scissors--

Before Ideih knew it she was being shoved under with a shrill shriek of surprise, flailing and splashing and trying to free herself. She couldn't breathe! What was going on?! Ideih realized all too late she was being shoved further and further under the water, holding her breath while doing her best to find a way to get free.

"Give me back my heart."

Ideih stared up into that face with a mixture of terror and...awe.

Beatrice stood before Heidi with her hands on her hips, her lips pouted. Heidi looked right back at her, apparently unamused. "So...you won't do it?"

"Nope."

Beatrice huffed. "Pansy."

Heidi's eyes widened slightly. "What'd you call me?"

"A pansy. P. A. N. S. Y. Pansy."

The blonde narrowed her eyes at her best friend. "Fine. I'll do it. But you have to do it, too."

Beatrice grinned. "Was totally planning on that. C'mon!" The brunette climbed up onto the bridge's railing, carefully balancing herself as she walked down it to a point she knew was safe from hitting anything in the water below. Heidi followed behind her with a laugh. Beatrice had dared her to jump into the Wickford harbor from the bridge, she'd offered her twenty bucks and a favor Heidi could cash in at any time. The two girls stopped, looking down at the water below them. "Welp.." Beatrice grabbed Heidi's hand, grinning at her best friend who smirked right back.

"One.."

"Two..!"



Ideih choked under the water. Everything felt so hazy...

Eat or be eaten...face her fears. What were her fears? She didn't understand. What was Ideih afraid of? She looked the dagger over. What did the Goddess of Ruin want her to do...?

.....

Ideih's eyes opened and immediately closed again as she flinched and put a hand over her face. She had not been expecting that light. Slowly she opened her eyes and let them gradually adjust to the nearly blinding light of the completely white room. She had never seen anything like it.

She wasn't a fan.

With a frown she climbed off the cold metal table and stood on unsteady legs, stumbling her way to the door. She tried it, it opened. So far so good.

Fall prey to someone greater still...

What did that mean?

Ideih wandered cautiously down the hall, one hand to the wall to keep herself steady. Where was she? What was this place? She had been to many strange areas lately but this...this felt different. It was so clinical, so sterile, while every other place she had been to had been rough, old, decaying. Why was this place different? There was a slam and Ideih gasped, turning as quickly as she could to try and find who did it.

The door was still open.

That made no sense...

Shaking her head, Ideih continued on. Where was she even going? This hall didn't seem to end...

Thud

Ideih stopped. She turned around.

Nothing.

She sighed and kept walking.

Thud

What the heck?

She turned around again and her breath caught in her throat. Her first instinct was to cry out with surprise but she could barely get the sound out.

Scissors. She remembered those scissors. Why did this person have them? Who were they? They moved closer to her and Ideih did the first thing instinct told her to do: She ran.

In a hallway of white it was easy to find another color. The red caught Ideih's eye and she quickly read the paper.

A C E G

That must have been it! With a soft sound of joy she turned to the key pad.

...It was a numbered keypad. What did the letters mean?!

Distance: 30 feet

The figure was getting closer. She needed to get out. What did the letters mean?! Ideih started randomly hitting numbers into the keypad.

Incorrect.

Incorrect.

Incorrect.

"Incorrect, Miss Porter!" An older woman snapped. Heidi raised a brow and gave the substitute an unamused look of disbelief. Beatrice snorted with poorly contained laughter beside her.

"Porter. That's a new one." Beatrice was grinning. Heidi rolled her eyes. "It's Potter, ma'am. Potter. See, she's actually a witch, her brother's name is Harr--GYAH!" Heidi had kicked her best friend in the a** from where she was seated in the desk behind her. This only made Beatrice and the other students laugh more. Heidi groaned unhappily and sank lower in her chair. She wanted to become invisible right about now.

The substitute teacher looked livid. "Your teacher has allowed me to hand out detentions, and lucky you, you get to be the first, Miss Potter."

Heidi suddenly sat up. "What?! That's not fair! I didn't--"

Beatrice spoke up, frowning. She'd stopped laughing as soon as detentions were being tossed out. "Hey yeah no, I provoked her. I've been bullying and harassing her for years. Give me the detention instead."

"If you keep disrupting--"

"..b***h." Heidi just stared at Beatrice, the brunette was completely straight faced. Swearing was not something she or Heidi did often if ever. Beatrice was doing it to get detention thrown at her as Heidi had.

It worked.

"You're a witch," the voice sneered. "A witch. A b***h. Miss Potter the witch." It cackled. "b***h."

Chills ran up and down Ideih's spine, she tried another incorrect pass code before just throwing herself at the door again.

Distance: 20

Who writes down a set of letters for no reason? Maybe there was a puzzle to it. Clearly the letters meant something. Maybe they represented each number? Like..A was one? And B was two? Maybe?

She was wrong.

"I am not!" Heidi laughed, playfully shoving at Beatrice as they stood by the pool at the house of one of Beatrice's friends. Heidi didn't know them but whatever, she knew everyone else.

Beatrice just grinned, giggling. She'd stumbled when Heidi pushed her, nearly losing her balance.

"No, you."

"No, you."

"No, you!" Heidi was laughing again, squeaking as she suddenly stumbled and held Beatrice's arm to keep her balance. A cup fell from her hand and she gasped, watching her drink spill everywhere. "Oh nooo.." What a horrible tragedy nooooo!

Beatrice just laughed more. "You so are!"

Distance: 10

The figure loomed over Ideih now as the frightened girl, her entire body trembling with terror, stopped fighting the door and simply sank to the floor, her back against the door.

She was cornered. Trapped.

Ideih had never been so terrified before.

Heidi fell backwards off the table and scrambled across the floor on her a**, shaking like a leaf and whimpering pathetically. The doctor watched bewildered as his patient made it apparent she'd rather throw herself to the ground with her arm broken than let him come near her with the needle for stitching up some of her cuts. Beatrice frowned. "She has a thing about needles...I dunno why, she always has.."

"N-no!" Heidi whimpered, ignoring her bleeding cuts and trying desperately to fend off the nurse who was trying to bring her back to the table. Tears streamed down her face as she choked and sobbed, finally finding herself forced onto the table again. Beatrice cooed quietly and moved to stand in front of Heidi, holding her face in both hands and putting her forehead against Heidi's. Heidi hiccuped and whimpered, her uninjured hand reaching out to tightly grasp Beatrice's ruined shirt in one fist. "B-b-beeeeeeee.." she whined, not noticing when the doctor and nurse took her arm again, one of them also uncovered her hip and thigh.

"Shhhh, shhh. It's okay. Dude..I recorded the entire stunt. You're so awesome. The guys were like 'oh s**t' and you were like heck yeah I'm awesome, you don't even know, and then they were like--" Heidi flinched. Beatrice held her tighter, not allowing her to turn her head and see the doctor stitching up her cuts. "Needless to say I think trying to jump from one tree to the other was not the best idea, but you looked so cool doing it until you fell."

"Gue-g-uess I'm not a spider money, huh?" Heidi choked out, trying to laugh.

"Nope. Just Heidi. The most awesome girl ever."

"Shhhh~. Shhhhh~. It's okay." The figure crept closer, its grin somehow widening. "It's all going to be all right."

Distance: 0

What an adorable set up! Ideih found herself excited just to be here. The goddess, her goddess, was inviting her to the most fun little tea party! She was actually excited about this! She looked up at the sky and found herself gasping with delight, her core glowing brighter at the sight of it.

Snow.

She couldn't fathom why, but the sight of the snow filled her with such joy she could barely contain it. The soft lightness of it, the chill, even the quiet crunching noises under her feet as she walked through it. Everything about it made her happy.

"What a lovely table! Hm? What's this.." Ideih picked up the pink jar without even looking at the blue.

Drink me

Ideih blinked. Well...okay. She did as the label said, opening the jar and drinking the entire thing. The last thing Ideih wanted to do was upset her goddess. The feelings it evoked hit her immediately and she watched in an almost blissful daze as the table went from empty to covered in food.

Oh...that cake looked simply amazing. Ideih quickly reached for a piece, eating it with a happy little sound. It was the most incredible, decadent thing she had ever eaten. She had never felt this way in her entire life as far as she could remember. But she did know one thing, it made her thirsty.

The choice was easy. It was one she made without thinking; the colorful tea cup was so bright and cheerful and unique, and the hearts gave it an almost homemade quality that was just so charming. The expensive gold cup wasn't even given a first glance let alone a second.