Prin's POV

"This is useless," I hissed as I glared at the man in front of me. I was still basically trapped by his arm, his looming form towering over me mockingly, as though to prove that I couldn't do anything against him. "I don't think becoming the village's latest mystery will be a good thing for either of us. Besides, wouldn't they lose interest in you if they have us to speculate about?"

"Probably." He shrugged his shoulders. "But then that would get Queenie off your back, she wouldn't face the entire village."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why wouldn't she? Surely, if she had the entire village in the palm of her hand, then she wouldn't be afraid to do anything here. I'm surprised she didn't outright declare us as outsiders and get us kicked out."

"If she did that, then it would be clear that she's running the place." The man shook his head before straightening up, letting me stand up straight once more and move away from the wall he'd had me pinned to practically. "She tries to be at least somewhat subtle. I supposed she was simply having a bit of fun with you two, letting the excitement get the better of her."

"Anyway, Sarphi is blue with a tail and horns, you don't think that's mysterious enough?" I asked with an unimpressed tone of voice. I was getting tired of this man. I had been scared and intimidated at first, but now it was clear that he was either trying to stall, make me want to leave, or just wanted some entertainment.

"She's peculiar, yes." The agreement was fast. "But that doesn't work in your favour. People need to think they can get to know and understand you; the physical difference is off-putting."

I sighed once more and turned, beginning to walk back to the hall. "Unless you have something useful to say, I'm leaving." I probably should've kept my mouth shut, since it did show him that I was still willing to listen to him. I should've just pretended like I didn't care about anything he intended to tell me.

"You want to talk to the farmer's wife," he said simply.

I spun around, eyes narrowed. I didn't know if I could trust him, nor did I know if I could trust anyone here anymore. "The farmer's wife?" I repeated. "I don't particularly know her." I would only say that I knew Niko and Cade, nobody else.

"She's the one who could help you out." He raised his hands and followed after me, passed me, and continued walking towards the hall, ignoring my existence.

I was speechless at the audacity he had to walk off, just like I had nearly done a few moments ago. "Wait, what's your name?" I called after him, a very last attempt to get any kind of information from him.

The only answer he gave me was an amused chuckle.

I waited a little while before returning to the event, looking around for anything unusual. The man had resumed his place in the corner, but he was looking away from me. I wasn't going to risk drinking or eating anything, just in case I became like Niko. I held a glass in my hand and walked around, talking politely to those I passed, not really knowing who was who.

I didn't have the best memory when it came to faces, so I struggled knowing who I was meant to look out for. I didn't know who the farmer was, Nevermind his wife. Yet, I knew that he wore brown overalls and a blue shirt as his uniform. I distinctly remember him ordering pie from us, stating that he was a fan of large pieces of onion rather than having it so small it disintegrated.

I was chatting to two women when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and gave a small smile as I saw the gardener. I felt my heart grow cold and turn into stone, falling to the pit of my stomach, which began to thaw at it resulting in a burning sensation as I began to panic.

"Sorry to interrupt, but have you seen my daughter? She was last with you and Sarphi."

I shook my head, biting my lip. "I'm sorry, I've not seen them for quite a while. The last time I checked they were playing outside. I think they mentioned something about dolls and pretend?" It wasn't a lie in the slightest. They had been playing with dolls, and now they were having a game of detective, Ka didn't have to know that it wasn't very fake.

"Ah, I see. Would you mind letting me know where they last were? It's almost time for the cake. Everyone here is on a tight schedule, of course." He gave a chuckle, which prompted me to do the same, even though I didn't understand what was so funny.

"Absolutely, why don't I go get them?" I asked as I put my glass down. "I'll probably be able to run around after them, Ka I could probably keep up with, but Sarphi is a piece of work," I joked lightly.

The gardener nodded his head. "Oh, that would be wonderful, thank you." He gave a slight sigh as he began moving towards a seat. "I'm not as young as I used to be. I work near-constantly, it's hard not to take advantage of a day off."

I could only nod my head and turn in the other direction. I began getting slightly suspicious, given the fact that there really weren't that many green spaces in the village, but I suppose that it would be very easy to create little jobs around here to save you from absolute boredom. I figured that he would consider the smallest of jobs as working, which I couldn't argue with. I didn't know his life, maybe he did a lot of research, maybe he had personal projects. I knew that baking for the village takes up a day's work, and then that was usually repeated the next day.

I caught Queenie's eye on the way out, her expression was neutral as she was talking to a few people, but I noticed a corner of her lip twitching in amusement. The very sight of her made me want to kick something, so I quickened my pace.

Once I was out of the building, I cursed under my breath and began looking around hurriedly. I didn't really know where the two girls were, but at least I knew what trail they were following. I moved back around to the window and looked at the floor, but I couldn't see the icing which had led them away. It seemed like it had been cleaned up by something.

A bark beside me startled me. I nearly jumped out of my skin as Onyx made himself known. "You couldn't have nudged me gently?" I asked exasperatedly as I patted his head. "Can you lead me to them, bud?" I knew that he was fully capable of finding the two. I wondered if Queenie had come back and noticed that the two were following the icing, or if a simple animal had decided to have a sugary meal. I hoped it was the latter as Onyx began leading me in a direction which I knew there was absolutely no icing the last time I was here.

I was grateful for the fact I was meant to be searching for someone, as it meant I looked far less suspicious and shady than what the man and I looked like earlier. The thoughts about the farmer's wife kept coming back to my mind, reminding me of my limited information.

I didn't like wandering the streets when it was so eerily quiet. I had been far too distracted when the man guided me into the alley earlier, I hadn't been able to fully comprehend my surroundings. Now that I could, however, it was incredibly creepy. The wandering village was probably moving slowly, or quickly, or remaining still, I didn't know. The fact that I didn't know where we were made my skin crawl, and the fact we were the same people, doing little things in this little community and not interacting with the rest of the world, made me want to cry. I didn't know what was making me so emotional, but it was incredibly distracting. I suspected it was because we might not have this place for much longer. We'd been told that we'd be safe here, and we were seeing more of the world than what people would if they stayed on still land. Yet I felt like this should be called the lost village rather than the wandering village.

Onyx barked once more, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Where are we going?" I muttered to myself as I glanced around the area, not quite recognising where we were going. Sarphi and I had mainly stayed around the centre of the village for ease, it's where business was, and where most of the inhabitants lived. I didn't really see much need to go to the outskirts. But that seemed to be where we were going as the large brick houses slowly got smaller and structures got more spaced out.

I paused as I heard a very peculiar noise. I was sure I recognised it, like a memory was tugging at the back of my mind but I couldn't put my finger on it. Onyx seemed to get a little more excited, a small growling noise coming from the back of his throat, which also confused me. I hadn't really seen Onyx behave like this, but I also didn't know much about dogs.

It wasn't until Onyx, and I were right outside of a wooden building did I recognise the noise. I knew where I was straight away, and I paled a little. The noise was the clucking of chickens,