Frida Marigold Pov:

I followed the guards into the room Abigail was being dragged to and ducked behind an old tea chest. And there she was, standing on top of a cabinet, facing her army.

"I have equipped you with poisonous blow darts. Once they've hit a target, they'll immediately turn to stone. Use it to defend me from the people here to attack me, they're trying to collapse the outer rim and the village cannot fall. The attackers are both teenage girls. One of them has blue hair and purple skin, the other has brown hair and green eyes. I'm honestly surprised there wasn't a third," she stopped talking. "Now move!"

The guards hurried out the door as she began to put the room into lockdown, pulling metal covers over windows and locking doors left and right. When the room was completely covered in darkness, only then did she sit down.

My ears flicked back and forth between the outside noise and Abigail's breathing, which was uneven and ragged. I tucked my tail tightly around my legs to hide it better, hoping she hadn't seen it. Quietly, I grabbed an arrow out of the satchel and aimed-

"You think I can't see you Frida," Abigail said coolly, picking at her nails.

I jumped, almost dropping the arrow.

"You think I didn't know you were coming. Where's your darling Melody, the one you so truly love. The one you can't get over even though you know you have to," she pulled out a familiar leather book. My diary. How did that rat get her hands on it?

"Dear diary, I mustn't tell Melody about Abigail. She could get hurt, and I don't know what I'd do without her," a sly smile spread across her face. She was teasing me.

"Dear diary, there's this girl in the other dorm named Vicky. Her mist is telling the future and I asked if she could tell me mine. And she did. She told me everything that will happen." Abigail slammed the book shut. "What's going to happen, Frida? I'm guessing you'll die here, I became famous and Clawdia becomes a statue in my courtyard for everyone to look at."

"None of that is going to happen, because you won't survive this." I stood up, dropping the bow to the floor. She was taken aback by my comment but regained her stance quickly.

"Is that so?"

I nodded.

"Sorry to tell you but Vicky's a liar. She couldn't tell the weather if she could," she simpered, kicking a chair towards me. "Would you like to take a seat?"

"And sink to your level? I'd rather die."

"Suit yourself. You know the real reason I came out here not to run from you but to drag you here. And because of Vicky, who I told exactly what to say, you left Melody behind. I guess you weren't keeping her safe like you thought, because by morning she'll be dead."

"Ugh! You're so annoyingly smug!" I yelled.

"Aw, Frida, don't be such a grouch. At least there's one thing to look forward to, you and Melody will never be separated again," she pulled out a dagger and lifted it into the air, poised to throw. "Because you'll both be rotting in hell."

"Oh I won't be the one rotting in hell," a voice behind her said. Before Abigail could spin around, she let out a horrified scream. 

She gasped for air as blood spewed out of her mouth, the whites of her eyes showing. With a lurch she fell to the ground, lying in a puddle of crimson, almost as red as her hair.

"Melody!" I sprinted across the room to hug her, wrapping my arms around her cloak.

"So I'm the mystery crush you tried to hide from me?"

"Well, yes," I didn't want to bring up the fact that she could like me back. "How did you get here?"

"I know you told me to stay but I was too curious. So as soon as you and Clawdia left, I got a pony from the stables and followed the footprints. When I got to the cliff I spotted and followed you into this house. Turns out there was a back door."

I smiled. "Vicky, the girl who had the mist of telling the future, told me you would die if you came here. She warned me to stop you and so I distanced myself from you, because I knew you'd find out what I was up to. Abigail doesn't care about how many people she kills in order to keep her secret, not even you. And I can't let that happen."

She gazed into my eyes and pulled me in. "Frida, I-" instead of words, a scream of shock came out. She spun around and ripped out a dart from her arm.