Prin's POV

I was going to kill this woman by the end of the night, which wasn't a very common thought for me to have. I didn't have much experience with people, but I knew that this woman was one of the sneakiest people I'd ever had the displeasure to meet. I blended into the crowd easy enough, I'd seen at least two people wearing the same dress as me and followed Queenie to a back room of sorts. I didn't know much about this place, but it looked like a separate lounge, just about a tenth of the size of the hall we were in.

"Do you have it?" another woman's voice said from the far end of the room. "I've got the other one."

I stayed standing outside, leaning against a wall, looking very shy. It was clear that I was lurking, but I didn't think that it was too obvious what I was doing there. I looked around like I was looking for somebody, my hand occasionally stroking Onyx's fur.

"I have it. I don't see why they go for this every year," Queenie said with disgust. "It's the same cake all the time. Sure, it's not a bad cake, but come on, it's been like eight years."

"I think it's the best cake in the world," the other woman commented, sounding like she could almost be drooling. "Honestly, I think it's amazing."

"Then you can scarf this down," Queenie said with a scoff. I couldn't see what was happening, but I had a pretty good idea. "I can't believe that those two girls come here and have the absolute nerve to think that they own the place."
"I don't think they're that bad." Rustling and banging sounded from the room, not enough to tell me what was happening, but enough to know that they were probably caused by Queenies' response to what the woman had said. "Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't think that would offend you. But it's just like anyone else joining the village. You get like this every time."

"I do not," Queenie protested. "I do not do anything; I'm not doing anything. I'm just showing them who is in charge here, by souring their reputations."

"That's doing something," The other woman pointed out. "I don't know why you're doing that; everyone knows you're the one in charge here."

"They don't." There were more noises coming from the room, Queenie's voice getting louder. "But they will. I'm the one in charge of everything here, I keep the social ladder alive, I keep everyone informed."

"You charge too much for a trim," the other woman muttered. "Okay, I'll get rid of this in the best way possible. You put that one on the table, and we'll see what happens."

I rushed away from the door in an orderly fashion, giving polite smiles, nods, and waves to everyone I passed. I did make a slight detour to the bathroom, just in case anyone would find it too suspicious. I figured that it would be best to be over-vigilant in this case. I passed the large table, which was set up against the wall, noting the white box which stood proudly in the middle.

I arrived back to Cade and Niko. "Where's Sarphi?" My voice was slightly panicked. "We have a bit of an issue."

"Yes. so do I." Cade turned to me with a very annoyed and worried look in his face. "Something's wrong with him." He nodded his head to Niko, whose eyes were dazed and wandering.

Niko gave a bright smile and stumbled to me, leaning on my shoulder. "You are so pretty." He moved some hair out of my face. "Pretty as a princess, you know that. Nearly as pretty as him." He then turned back to Cade, crouching down, which I knew was highly impolite. "But he won't ask me if he's dating anyone." He pouted.

"Has he been drugged?" The words flew from my mouth as I let out a spluttery laugh. "He can't be drunk."

"That's right, he can't be. It takes a lot for his kind to get drunk." Cade was clearly worried, since he wasn't in the mood to crack any kind of jokes.

"So, you're ignoring me now too?" Niko sounded extremely emotional as he leaned on me.

"Sweetheart, I'm not ignoring you. Your handsome friend here is just worried about your health," I said softly. "And he's very single by the way, not seeing anyone."

"Is he blind?" Niko asked, gasping a bit with concern. "Oh, that would be so rude of me to ask if he was seeing anything." He covered his mouth with his hands, causing him to stumble forward some more.

"Who would drug him?" I asked Cade seriously. "And, no, he's not blind. You weren't being rude at all. Don't you worry about it, you can ask him or tell him anything you want."

"Oh, so he's rude no matter if I'm rude or not." Niko gave a laugh. "What were you talking about drugs for? Who's been drugged? I'd hate to be that guy."

"I was gone for like ten minutes, how did this happen?" I turned my attention back to Cade once more.

"I don't know, he didn't get a new drink or anything." Cade shrugged before turning to Niko. "Yes, I'm grumpy and rude no matter what you say." Though there was the same concerned tone to his voice which he certainly wouldn't have with many others.

"How boring, and intriguing." Niko's voice was a purr, which is what threw me into uncomfortable territory.

"Okay, so where's his drink?" O asked, searching for it before I saw a glass settled on the table. I picked it up and sniffed it, holding it out at arm's reach. "How did neither of you two notice?" I felt like I was going to be sick from the scent alone.

"What?" Cade asked and snatched it off me, frowning. "I can't smell anything."

I looked at them with a large amount of concern now, I didn't think that was even possible. The smell the glass emitted was so strong that there were undoubtedly several kinds of alcohol in it at least.

"There's something wrong with your nose," I declared before moving the glass away, accidentally moving it in front of Onyx's nose, who pretended to pass out at the fumes which passed him. "Do you have some kind of illness?"

Cade shook his head, before tilting it. "Come to think of it, I haven't been able to smell much today." His frown almost reached the bottom of his chin. "I thought that there was something wrong with my tea which made my breakfast taste funny."

"Did it tell you a joke?" Niko asked with a giggle. "What was it? I like jokes."

"You need to take him home." I shook my head, glancing around a little. "Before anyone notices what's happened. I've got to find Sarphi."

"Follow the screams of pain and torment," Cade muttered as he wrapped Niko's arm over his shoulders. "You'll find her there." The two left the hall quickly, since we were still very close to the door.

"Bye bye pretty girl-" I heard Niko say in a quiet voice, before mumbling something to Cade which caused him to blush and laugh.

"Come on, Onyx. Let's go find Sarphi by the screams of suffering and horror or whatever he said." I patted his head once before letting him run off in front of me. He darted through people's legs, causing me to apologise quickly and quietly, my head lowered so I could keep my eyes on him.

We ended up in the opposite corner of the room. Sarphi and a little girl were sitting down with some dolls, talking about hair. There were no screams or suffering of any kind as the two chatted happily to one another. But I could quite clearly see why Cade wouldn't be fond of the activity at all.

"Hi," I greeted with a warm smile. "How's everything going?" I stood behind Sarphi, resting a hand on her shoulder, drawing soft circles to try and calm myself down.

"Great," Sarphi answered enthusiastically, before turning to the little girl. "Flower, this is Prin, the one I told you about."

The girl looked at me in almost a calculating manner. "Hi," she said simply, before looking me up and down a few more times. "You don't seem bad. But I took your best friend."

"Have you?" I asked with an amused tone. "What a shame. I mean, of course, we're roommates, but I wouldn't mind having the top floor to myself if you want her to move in."

"Really?" The girl had perked up, back straightening immediately. "Can you? I want that. I can ask father if you can move in."

Sarphi's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "It's alright, I think that Prin would have her hands full if she took on the bakery by herself, we just about manage the two of us."

"Maybe you could help out at some point?" I suggested. "If you'd be interested, I'm sure that Sarphi would love to have your company."

Sarphi relaxed a little and nodded. "Yeah, we can have a little tea party there." She seemed a little more comfortable with that idea, which I was grateful for. I didn't want her to think I was throwing her out, which had only occurred to me after she looked incredibly anxious.

"Do you mind if I steal Sarphi?" I asked the birthday girl with a smile on my face. "We've got some investigating to do."

"Investigating?" Her eyes lit up. "I'm not allowed to investigate, at least not with father. Can I come with you?"

"Sure!" I replied enthusiastically, completely ignoring Sarphi's eyes telling me no. "It'll be a little birthday treat, yeah?"

The girl clapped her hands happily and set the dolls down in the corner. "Now, you two stay there whilst we go and investigate like grownups." Her talking to her dolls made a pang of worry go through my heart. It made me wonder how she was doing and if she'd found Acer yet, or if Aknon had found either of them. "They're too young to understand."

I nodded my head and smiled. "That's okay, we'll tell them all about it when we've cracked the case."

Sarphi looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Now I'm intrigued. Let's go play investigators."

The little girl giggled and took our hands. "Come on, let's go talk in our secret base."