Wrapped in Simon's blanket, Hana blinked back tears and did as she was told. She shot a parting glare at Ashley, but stalked obediently back into Violet's and up to their shared room. There she angrily flung the ruined pajama top on the floor, and changed into her old pair of torn jeans. She pulled on a white tank top inherited from Kristin and stuffed first one arm and then the other into her hoodie. Then she jammed her feet into her Adidas, not even bothering with the laces. She was about to leave when her eye caught the gleam of her father's .38 shining from inside her backpack. She walked back, knelt by the bag and looked down at it.

After a moment she zipped her backpack up and shoved it under her bed, then rose to her feet and tromped back down the stairs. She stopped rubbing her sore neck as she neared Simon's tent and slipped her hands into her hoodie pockets.

"This is her fault," Hana said sullenly. "I didn't even do anything to her." She looked briefly at Ashley, the way one might look at a particularly icky bug.

"You-" Ashley began, cutting herself off under Simon's azure glower. Restraining herself to a single vicious glare for the little skank, Ashley composed herself with an effort, giving Simon a confident and sincere smile.

"Simon... Hana is a pathological liar, I'm afraid to say, and dangerous as well. Last night, she tried to strangle me and Kristy with... I guess you can call it solid darkness. She tried to bluff and say it was only a nightmare, but when I challenged her, she tried to blame Violet, which was another lie, since Violet wasn't even there. And was mean as well, since Violet had been nothing but a good host."

A note of pleading entered Ashley's voice and she took a step forward, stretching out a hand to Simon. "I know you said to avoid her, but I had to go back for my cousin, and she was right there and I couldn't just let her get away with it. And I think- You understand, right, Simon?" Her golden-brown eyes cut to Hana, seeming to say, You're fucked now.

Kristin stayed quiet, strong arms crossed beneath her breasts, attention flipping back and forth from her cousin and Hana, avoiding Simon's angry blue eyes. She was free now and didn't have to take looks like that anymore. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than to wrap her hands around his throat and squeeze, feeling the life die within him.

"Your turn, Hana," Simon said. His voice was still hard, and he didn't respond to Ashley's extended hand. He was implacable at the moment, a cold man far removed from the warm one who'd offered her a Twix bar and a smile. In fact, he looked pissed.

"I don't get why you're angry at me!" Hana began, taking a little step forward so she could turn sideways to face all three of them. "It's so unfair!" Her lower lip was quivering, her hands secretly trembling inside her hoodie. "I'm getting ready for bed and out of nowhere Ashley comes up and starts pulling my hair--really fucking hard--and shoving my face in the bed and calling me cunt and whore and bitch and saying I did all this stuff to you and that I make black shadow shit or whatever!" Hana blurted in a rush. She sucked in a breath, eyes wide with hurt and anger. "Just because she had some dumb nightmare and has a total hard-on for you--and okay maybe I did tell her about how Violet can make you feel happy or sad or scared or whatever she wants but that's true. And I only said that because I was just trying to help her figure out what happened!"

Hana sniffled, then hastily wiped her sleeve across her eyes. "Even if I could make stupid dark things that choke people and stuff, why would I try to hurt you guys?" she twisted to appeal directly to Ashley and Kristin. "You gave me food and you gave me clothes..." Hana drew up her hood and tugged hard on the strings. She looked dejectedly down at the grassy ground in front of Simon's tent, entirely hiding her expression. "...I just wanted to be friends." she finished in a faltering little whisper.

__________________
Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Black, Eyes: Very dark blue, Appearance 4 (cute), Dexterity 5 (flexible), Intelligence 4 (bright).

Kristin shifted uncomfortably under Hana's deep blue-eyed appeal. Ashley was starting to sound sorta unreasonable, but she still had to believe Ashley had a good reason for her assertions - she wouldn't just make stuff up like that. "I want to be friends too..." Kristin began uncertainly.

"So do I," Ashley said over her cousin, gritting her teeth from the effort of restraining herself from giving the bitch another slap. She blew out a sharp breath, then continued in a voice the very soul of reasonableness, if still a bit tight. "But friends don't lie to each other, Hana. Both of us know what really happened last night, don't we? And it wasn't a nightmare, was it? Maybe as you say, you have no reason to want to hurt us, but maybe that means you don't know how to control whatever the fuck it is you do, and are scared and ashamed about it."

Ashley arched a brow, giving Hana a chance to respond, but she keep her face down, eyes on the grass and wouldn't meet Ashley's accusing gaze. "I might even believe that, but you have to look at it from our perspective. Kristin is really strong and could probably deal with your shadow things, no problem, but I'm not. When those things were around me, I couldn't move!" Ashley's voice rose sharply, and she took a step closer to Hana, but was stopped by a strong hand from Kristin. "Do you have any idea how fuckin' terrifying that was? And worst, rather than taking responsibility for what you did, you made excuse after excuse for why is wasn't you. So how are we to know if it was an accident what you did, or if you did it on purpose?"

Ashley strained against Kristin's hand, and she was openly angry now, her voice a low hiss. "For all we know, you might be a psychotic little bitch who thinks just 'cause you're young and cute, no one will suspect you of doing anything bad. Then you choke them in their sleep. How did you survive all by yourself so long, huh? Huh?!" Ashley's attention snapped back to Simon, eyes hot. "You know, she said she fucked you, Simon. Either she's lying, and proves that she's a liar... Or she's not. And what does that mean?"

"God, Ashley, you're such a fucking pill!" Hana looked up sharply, then cast a quick nervous glance at Simon. "That's not how it was!" Hana hastily explained.

"She was pulling my hair all over the place and going 'what did you do to Simon, what did you do to Simon'?" Hana flaps her arms around and makes a face in imitation of Ashley, "and I'm like, 'nothing, stop being a hobo' and she's all 'I'll kill your face' or whatever, and like 'tell me what you did, tell me what you did,' so, finally I'm just like, 'fine, I fucked him!' just to get her to shut the fuck up!"

Hana whirled back on Ashley, "And I'm the psychotic bitch?" Hana rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. "Seriously, this is so unfair."

__________________
Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Black, Eyes: Very dark blue, Appearance 4 (cute), Dexterity 5 (flexible), Intelligence 4 (bright).

Ashley laughed, hands clapping sarcastically as she sneered at the exasperated Hana. "Oh, brava, Hana, that's an amazing performance. Oscar-worthy, for sure. Please! No one's gonna buy your bullshit anymore."

Ashley turned her gaze back to Simon, pleading with silent eyes of honey-brown. "I... I admit that maybe - maaaaaybe, I overreacted, just a bit. But I was scared, who knows what she can do, and she's trying to take you fr-" Ashley cut herself off with a noise that sounded like she was punched in the gut. She closed her eyes, trying to reclaim a remnant of composure before she appealed to Simon again.

"Simon, listen to her, according to her, nothing is ever her fault, everyone else is to blame. She sneaks around, being all 'Oh, don't mind me, I'm just an angel', and 'overhears' everyone's secrets - Dr. Myfwany talking about Violet's powers, telling Kristy that she's pregnant, and who knows what else. Then she spreads lies like rain, with just enough truth to make them seem believable."

Ashley gave Hana a sidelong glance, then sniffed contemptuously. "Who are you gonna believe, Simon? A little girl you met just yesterday and don't know anything about? Or me, who was with you nearly constantly for more than three months and told you everything?"

Kristin was getting really angry. Ashley and Hana were just arguing, fighting over Simon, she thought. And Simon just stood there, long furious, looking just like... the men from Paradise. He was from Paradise. Kristin pushed between Ashley and Hana, casually brushing them aside, and glared up at Simon, hands balled into tight fists.

"Ash said you were nice, that you helped her, but you don't seem different than any of the men from Paradise to me." Men was spat like a filthy curse. "I think you're doing something to Ash and Hana, making them fight over you. Is this a game to you?!" Kristin accused.

Ashley gasped as she saw conscious thought fading from her cousin's large, green eyes, buried beneath a tortured rage, her muscles taut, ready to pounce. Ashley scrambled back to her feet and wrapped one arm over Kristin's shoulder, one around her waist, and tried to hold her back, knowing that she would fail.

"Kristy! No! Please, it's not Simon's fault!" she called desperately in Kristin's ear, struggling against her impossible strength. "It's just me and Hana fighting, cause- Please, please don't do this! It'll just hurt you more than him."

Simon appeared to be responding to Ashley as she wound down her rant. Then he saw the loss of control in Kristin's eyes.

"Kristin, your rages will only be tolerated so long," he said softly, his voice pleading. Anger was still there, but there was concern, something she'd never seen in Paradise. "You'll lash out and hurt someone, and then you'll be in trouble. No one wants to see that; I know I don't want to see that. I'm not trying to set Ashley and Hana against one another. I don't play games. I swear that to you."

He seemed completely sincere, but not afraid of her. "What do you want from me to convince you that I'm not going to try to enslave you, Kristin? What will it take? Me on my knees, begging forgiveness for something I had no part in? Do you want to flog me until my back is open and bleeding? Or is your hatred so great that only my death will satisfy?" He spread his hands, his blue eyes locked on her green ones. "Name it, Kristin. Just tell me what you want from me. No promises on granting it, but at least I'll know where we are."

“I don’t – I want…” the over-muscled teen said in a small voice, Simon's sincere concern at war with her tortured soul.

Kristin quivered, her breaths coming in ragged gasps and her hands pressed to her head. She was held back from her need to lash out purely by her cousin’s arms, and it had nothing to do with Ashley’s strength. She had been infected with a poison of hate, she knew it was consuming her, and yet, it was so hard to stop. Tears rolled unheeded from the corners of eyes of burning jade, trailing across her perfect cheekbones.

“I see you, Simon, and I’m back there! I want to do to you everything that was done to me. Everything!”

“The skinnings.” Kristin twitched, a hand going to her chest.

“The savage beatings.” She jerked from unseen blows.

“The hot pokers.” She convulsed, throwing Ashley free.

“The crucifixitions.” Hands and feet knotted into useless lumps.

“The chain and tight, tight collar. Tight!” Her breathing was a thin rasp.

“Piss and crushed glass in you food.” She gagged, dry-heaving.

“The cocks and other things shoved in my ass and my cunt and my mouth.” Kristin collapsed to her knees, forehead pressed to the ground, keening.

“Even being infected with the fucking spawn of those motherfuckers,” she whispered, glaring up at Simon from her knees. Her face broken and beautiful with a fearful symmetry, jade eyes not seeing him, but the horrors he represented. “I try, but holding back the rage, for every man, from everyone… it’s so hard and it’s killing me, I think.”

Wracked with tremors, nearly catatonic, Kristin slumped on her heels, staring up at the night sky, the serenity of the stars cruelly mocking. Her voice was soft and empty. “Kristin died in Paradise and a monster wearing her skin came out. Dad and Aunt Abby and Caleb were right to leave me. You should have left too, Ash.”

Ashley stalked back to her cousin, fighting back angry tears, her conflict with Hana completely forgotten, and took Kristin’s chin in her hand, turning her head to face her. Then she slapped her resoundingly across the face, her palm reddened more than Kristin’s cheek.

“Never say that, Kristy. Never!” Ashley placed a hand on either side of Kristin’s face, kneeling in front of her and pressing her forehead against her cousin’s. “They left, but I stayed and I don’t care if we never see those fuckers ever again. They were so wrong. You’re not a monster. You’re Kristin Colleen Mackenzie and the most incredible girl I know. What you were willing to do for me... No one would do that, or should. You’ve been hurt, but you’ll get better, I promise, and I’ll be with you all the way.”

Hana raised the sleeve of her hoodie to her mouth and quietly watched the pain spill out of Kristin. She looked on as Kristin fell to her knees and spelled out her grief. Hana felt her throat thicken and her stomach tie itself into a knot. Kristin's story was far different from her own, but the ending seemed the same.

When had Hana Rothschild gone away altogether? Had it happened right off? Had it been a slow festering, little nibbles of her real self gone each day until one day the face in a cracked rest stop mirror, in the shimmering puddle of spilled oil, hadn't been her own? She didn't have an Ashley to tell her she was still there. And if she had, would it even have made a difference? Did it make a difference to Kristin? Hana decided it did. Ashley was the last bit of glue holding the pieces of Kristin together.

Hana's fingertips grazed softly over Kristin's shoulder as she turned to leave. She'd taken no more than five steps when Simon called after her.

"Wait a moment, please."

"I'm...I'm tired, Simon." Hana turned to tell him, her face washed clean of emotion, as inscrutable as a stone. She still slowly backpedaled, taking a few more hesitant steps. "I just want to go to bed."

__________________
Height: 5'1", Weight: 102 lbs, Hair: Black, Eyes: Very dark blue, Appearance 4 (cute), Dexterity 5 (flexible), Intelligence 4 (bright).