"Violet. Violet! Violet, come on, wake up!" I slowly come to with an painful pounding in my head, and someone repeatedly poking my shoulder.

I roll over, my hands jumping to my head. "What happened? Zane?"

My vision comes into focus and I can see the relief in my big brother's face. Or, what he shows of his face anyway.

He actually hugs me. "Thank Irene. We need to get out of here." He orders, pulling away again.

Dizzily, I stand up. "What happened back there? Is he really... did we really see...?"

He nods. "Yeah. That was him."

I hug my stomach, feeling nauseous. "But he... Why...?"

Zane sighs. "I don't know. But if he's still as sick as he was in high school... we need to get out of here."

I nod, hugging myself harder. "Okay." I squeak. "Where are we?"

Zane looks around. "Some kind of a bird-cage thing. Look." He helps me over to the edge and my breath catches in my throat as I stare at the water below us, and the glittering gems dotting all the walls.

"Wow." I breathe.

"I know." Zane agrees. "But we need some way out of here. Could you maybe...?"

I sigh. "Fiiiine. Strong sis to the rescue!" I grab the bars and start to pull at them, but they don't budge like doors and windows and pretty much everything else do. I strain harder, letting an involuntary squeak out when I feel my muscles pulling.

"Just a bit more..." Zane coaxes as the bars finally start to bend.

"ENOUGH!" a loud, throaty voice screams. Both Zane and my head swivel to look at the dark figure in the entryway, surrounded by wolves. He doesn't take off his mask like he had in the lodge, but I know the voice, however magnified it sounds.

"Ein." My voice trembles.

"Pleased to see little miss annoying remembers me." He says, not bothering to mask his voice now. He takes his mask off and the silver eyes that I'd so hated for beating up Kasey, and putting Aphmau through so much, glint.

"I'm annoying, am I?" I ask. "Good! I like be annoying to jerks, that means I'm doing it right!"

"Shut up, you imbecile!" Ein barks. "You ruined everything when you turned me in for beating up Katelyn's idiot brother! And when you told Aaron about me! You and that---that moron Blaze!"

"What are you doing here?" Zane demands.

"Simple. I'm here to exact my revenge on a certain annoying someone from my past." Ein says, his voice slithering past us and making me shudder.

"We don't have anything to do with Daniel beating your sorry hide up." I snap.

"Ah, but it wasn't Daniel, was it?" Ein asks.

"Yes it was. How'd it feel to be beat up by an Omega?" I challenge.

Ein's glare deepens. "I wasn't beaten by a lowly Omega. I was beaten by something... far more powerful."

I open my mouth to mock him again, and Zane clamps his hand over my mouth. "Don't say anything else. You need to stop."

I glare at him but silently agree. My mouth gets me into trouble a lot.

"Any guesses as to what beat me?" Ein asks, almost sweetly.

"Daniel." I snap.

"It wasn't that Omega wimp!" Ein yells. The wolves around him whine and start to wander away. "Get back here! Don't move from your posts!" Ein commands. The wolves slowly move back.

"I was beaten...by the Ultima." Ein says.

At the word, an old memory of mine resurfaces, a time before I was old enough to understand what the world was. But I clearly remember Dad and a man I didn't remember speaking about something called the Ultima.

And how the man was one.

I find myself back in the present, the fibers of the memory clinging to me as I recall dad finding me hiding under the table and demanding what I heard. I'd started crying, saying I didn't know what I heard, that I didn't remember.

But nothing had ever made my father more angry than that day.

The man had left soon after, but I caught his name. Lycan. And now that I remember, I can clearly see Derek looking younger, angrier in the memory.

When I was old enough, I'd gone back to that day and spent hours researching what the Ultima was. And what I had read had chilled me to my bones. I'd been fifteen, barely into Phoenix Drop High first year.

The Ultima could change humans into werewolves, and vice versa. With just a look from their dangerous eyes. Or a bite.

No humans had been documented survivors of the Ultima's rage.

"You know what I'm speaking of, don't you?" Ein challenges, his smirk hurting more than any book I could've read.

I shake my head trying to clear it and find I'm literally leaning against Zane. "Are you okay? What happened?" He demands.

"I---I know what the Ultima is. And if it kicked your butt in a fight, then it must be good!" I scream, pushing off of Zane.

"Not it. He." Ein says, his stupid smirk not leaving.

"And I expect you know who it is?" I ask sarcastically.

"Of course I do."

"Vi, he doesn't actually---" Zane starts, rolling his eyes.

"Aaron Lycan." Ein interrupts. "The Ultima line is carried inside Aaron Lycan."

Zane and I both freeze.

"Zane, what's Aaron's last name?" I ask faintly. Derek... Lycan... Ultima. Aaron's father...

"I don't know." Zane whispers back. "I... I know Mom is friends with his mom though, and I think her last name is... Lycan."

"A fitting name for a wolf curse, don't you think?" Ein asks. He moves closer to our cage and stands just feet away from us on the bank. "Search your past, you worthless humans. You know it's the truth."

I stand tall. "Ultima or not, Aaron is a good person. He loves Aphmau more than anything."

"Does he really?" Ein challenges. "Because from my point of view, all I see is a boy who's been lying to your faces since high school! Even to Aphmau's face."

"Aaron---" I start, but again Zane covers my mouth.

"You're giving him what he wants." Zane explains.

"And the sad little outcast finally speaks!" Ein cackles. "But this game is growing tiring. Which one of you should I get first? Hmm?"

"Don't hurt--" I say 'Zane' and he says 'Violet'.

"I'll kick you someplace you really won't like." I warn Ein.

"And I'll---uh... I'll sic Kawaii~Chan on you!" Zane says.

"She is pretty scary." I agree.

"ENOUGH!" Ein screams. "I'll do the outcast first, then the ditzy little nobody second."

"Don't you touch her, or I'll---" Zane starts, but Ein just pulls a crystal potion vial out of his pocket and throws it at Zane's feet in the cage. Zane shoves me away from him as the vial explodes at his feet, showering green sparkles everywhere in the air.

"Zane?" I squeak.

He doesn't move for a second. Then he slowly looks up and I see his eyes are a vibrant green.

"Z-zane, y-you...your eyes...t-t-they..." I stutter, sinking to the floor of the cage.

He doesn't give me the look he normally gives me when I'm scared. Instead, he looks confused. "How do you know my name?"

Ein cackles, and it tears through me like a knife.

I stand up shakily, banging my hands against the bars. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BROTHER??" I scream.

Ein just laughs. "Your turn, darling."

He throws another vial at me, and I whip my hands up to my mouth in order to try and shake it out of me. But against my attempts, I can't stop the potion from sinking into my skin. I tear at my clothes, trying in vain to get it out of me. But then I find I can't move my limbs. The thing that makes me, me sinks into my brain, and something else takes over my body.

She looks up. "Hello, brother." She says to Ein.

SHUT UP, ME! I want to scream. THAT SCUM ISN'T YOUR BROTHER!

But Ein smirks. "Welcome home, Violet and Zane."

I feel a chill of pleasure that I don't want at Ein's praise. "Thank you, brother." My voice and Zane's purr. "We are ready to serve."

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Eep! I love this season.