Prin's POV

I had learned that Ka, the gardener's daughter, loved to play make believe. It's something which I used to my advantage with zero regrets. I was able to be completely honest with the two of them about Queenie and the plan to replace the cake. Of course, Ka had immediately gone to check on it, returning seconds later with a wrinkled nose.

"Yeah, it's icky," she confirmed in a very unhappy tone. "You didn't make it icky, did you? I trust you not to have made it icky." She hugged Sarphi's arm, which made Sarphi appear rather uncomfortable.

"We made it nice and pretty, with flowers and butterflies." I was more than a little miffed about the situation. "Okay, we need to find the actual cake, or at least find a way to prove what happened to it."

"We don't have spy magic here," Ka informed and pulled away from Sarphi, crossing her arms over her chest. "I told them that we needed it, but nope, apparently this place is so close together and 'controlled' that we don't need things to spy on people."

"You like people-watching?" I asked with a small laugh. I figured that was harmless enough, people could be interesting. Although, I wasn't too sure what she meant by spy magic, hopefully it wouldn't invade people's privacy too much and I didn't have the wrong idea. This little one could be out for blackmail for all I knew.

"Yeah." Ka nodded before taking our hands. "Let's go play outside, there's less people there. We'll be distracted from people-watching."

I opened my mouth to tell her that wasn't what I meant, but I closed it quickly as I understood what she was trying to do. I glanced around as we left, taking note of who was paying attention to our exit. The gardener gave me a nod and a smile, so I supposed he didn't have any issues with it. I nearly paused as my eyes came across the same man from last night, the one who had given me the warning. I blinked at him a few times, and all he did was stare. I wanted to move over and ask him if he knew about this, and how we could handle it, but I was being dragged pretty quickly. I didn't want to draw too much attention towards him.

"Here," Ka said as she stopped. She looked around, before looking at the closest window reaching out to close it. "Can't lock it from outside, gotta keep it closed."

Sarphi stepped forward. "I got it." She then used her tail to wrap around the window, pulling it closed. She winced slightly, but otherwise didn't' complain.

"Don't we have another way?" I asked with a frown, not wanting her to be hurt, but we were in a bit of a hurry to find out what happened to our cake, before it was eaten by the woman.

Sarphi shook her head, before looking down at Ka. "So, who would Queenie work with?"

"Well, she has a sister, but they hate each other." Ka was looking at the ground whilst she thought, so she didn't see Sarphi and I glancing at one another, that wasn't the most unpredictable thing I'd ever heard. "She's got quite a few friends though, I'm not sure which one of them would do this to me." I hadn't realised until now that this was also against Ka, as it was her birthday. I had forgotten that it might be seen as personal to the little girl as well.

"Hey, I think that Sarphi and I are the main enemy here," I said quietly as I crouched down a little. "I don't think that they're purposely sabotaging your birthday party. It was probably just convenient timing for the two of them."

Ka gave a sad nod and a sigh. "But I like cake." Her lips turned into a small pout.

"Don't worry darling, you'll get your cake." Sarphi reached out and gave Ka a small pat on the head. "Even if we have to remake it, for the fifth time."

I didn't know if that number was right, but I agreed with her quietly.

"Do you see any clues around here?" I asked, trying to distract her from what was being discussed. "Any footprints, perfume, or anything?"

Ka looked down, beginning to walk around this area.

I peered into the window to confirm that this was the window which the woman would've been standing at and noticed that the small room was empty. We were in the right place, there had to be something.

"Icing!" Sarphi said, a little too loudly. She reached out a hand and pointed a little way away, it must've been around thirty feet or something, but there was the littlest drop of frosting on the floor.

"Oh wow, you're good at this," Ka praised happily and knelt down. "We should see if she left a trail!"

Sarphi nodded in agreement, before turning to me. "Do you want to go with her whilst I keep the window shut?"

I thought for a moment before shaking my head. "You should go with her, you've got better eyesight than I do, and we don't really need to keep the window closed if you're heading off." I understood that it would probably be beneficial for someone to stay here, to ensure that the cake wasn't revealed and so that the gardener didn't get too suspicious about what was going on. "I was thinking of going back inside and seeing if there's anything there which could tell us who it was, especially considering what happened to Niko."

Sarphi seemed unsure, but she nodded her head in agreement. "Ah, yes. You'll probably be better at figuring that out, given you've seen Niko." She reached down and took Ka's hand. "Come on then lassie, let's see if we can find the cake thief."

I covered my mouth to hide my grin, finding the ridiculousness of the situation funny for just a few moments. Hearing it be put so childishly and bluntly made me take a step back and consider this for a few moments, this would be a good memory if it gets worked out.

We shared a few nods before they were out of my sight, and I was on my way back inside. But just as I was rounding the door, a hand pushed me back out.

I opened my mouth to protest, but quickly shut it as I saw the man looming above me.

"What? You had no problem sneaking around a few minutes ago," he said with a slight chuckle as he took my wrist and moved away from the building, pulling me into the gap between the closest houses.

"I knew you saw me," I pointed out. "You weren't really the most subtle about it." I kept my arms by my sides, ready to defend myself if necessary. He didn't look like he wanted to hurt me, but I knew to be cautious.

"I wasn't trying to be." He let go of my hand and crossed his arms. "However, you should be more careful. It's obvious that you're trying to get into the birthday girl's good graces so that the backlash isn't as harsh as she expects." He exaggerated the word 'she'.

I shrugged. "Well, actually, she came up to Sarphi first., We just figured out a way to get her to play along. If all goes well, maybe they'll see it as a bit of party entertainment."

"And if all goes badly, you'll be run out of the town."

"Village," I corrected. I didn't know why I was so particular about that, but I was. "But isn't that what you want? Didn't you warn me about this place?"

"They eat you up and spit you out as a shadow of yourself." I felt like these were some kind of affirmations or mantras which he had on some kind of cue card in his back pocket. They sounded extremely rehearsed. "You can see now what I meant."

I nodded and shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, our cake was stolen. I'm sure that this would lead to terrible consequences."

He sighed and his gaze hardened. "Prin, you don't understand what would happen if they saw you as an enemy. You saw what happened to Niko. Do you think that those two aren't vigilant? They work at the inn, they're two of the strongest creatures in the village. Who do you think could get past them to drug Niko's juice?"

I hesitated for a moment. "I don't know the people here yet." I knew that it wasn't much of an excuse for my oversight, but I didn't really know who exactly could be that sneaky or skilled at creeping around. I knew that Cade was incredibly strong, from what I'd seen in the inn and the genetic advantage he had. And I was sure that Niko's senses weren't the same as any other human.

"Exactly." He leaned forward, moving his hand so that it was resting on the brick wall behind me, completely trapping me. I wasn't scared by that movement for some reason, even though I felt like I probably should be. "You don't know anyone here; how do you know who you can trust? You don't know what's going on."

"I don't get your point." I straightened my back, staring him in the eyes. "I know that I don't know anything here. Now, are you with me, or are you against me? Because I'm getting mixed signals. I don't know about you, but I like to get to know the people I live with, so I don't get on their wrong side."

"That's what I want." He didn't look too sure. "I want to help you get to know the place, the people. I want to get to know you and your girlfriend-"

I sputtered. "Sarphi is not my girlfriend," I denied, the entire mood being torn to shreds. My face was bright red, and I found myself looking down.

"Really?" He sounded like he didn't believe me in the slightest. "Could've fooled basically everyone. If that was your plan, well done."

I shook my head. "It wasn't, nor will it ever be." My voice hardened a little. "Okay, then help me get to know the place, I'm sure you've wormed your way into many social circles with that attitude." I hoped my sarcasm was shining through.

"I have," he confirmed, smirking a little. "Let me enlighten you."