A faulty body waits for nothing.
    Lily didn’t remember when exactly they wrote that line, alone, on a single empty journal page. They vaguely remember having woken up in the middle of the night. They vaguely recall writing the first thing that came to mind before falling back asleep. But whether they wrote it yesterday, a week ago, or a couple months ago, they didn’t remember. Hell, they didn’t even remember if it was them who wrote it. It sounded like something Hyacinthe would probably write, but...
    All they knew was that it felt like a warning.
    A premonition.
    Fucking ominous is how it felt.
    Since their… episode, for lack of a better word, they thought it was best to put the rest of their exams on hold. Mistress agreed, which meant it was definitely a good idea. It wasn’t something Lily could run away from, nor was it something they wanted to. That was just a bad idea through and through, and not even a fun bad idea.
    The last thing they discussed when they went to one of their (what felt like) twenty billion specialists – well, second to last – was the hysterectomy. It had been something they’d been avoiding thinking about. After their breakdown, they cancelled their consult… Mistress had done so for them, though, as Lily was still non-verbal and hiding. But it was a good call. Lily wasn’t in any state to make huge, irreversible decisions. Their doctor even said they weren’t in a rush (yet).
    They still weren’t ready, though.
    And yet, it still ate away at the inside of their mind, further eroding the mental barriers Magnolia had already began to chip away at.
    Kassandra’s anger over Chain being intentionally brought out bled over to Lily. Lily’s exhaustion over the arduous journey still in front of them bled over to Kassandra. And Chain…
    Lily sort of expected to feel a tad more aroused, knowing the kinds of mental changes Magnolia put him through. Even considering that, they felt significantly more on edge and horny than they expected. Even with that, they had to grimace at what had transpired. Lily knew, deep in their soul, that what Magnolia did was wrong. It was a violation of their silent agreement. At least, an agreement Lily assumed they had set. So that’s why lawyers always tell you to agree to things in writing. Not that lawyers wouldn’t have a field day with Lily and Magnolia’s arrangement in the first place. 
    But it was more than that. Magnolia had never wanted to force Lily’s alters into anything. Or at least she hadn’t shown any interest in it. Though the more Lily thought about it, tried to dig through their fractured memory, they uncovered the foggiest fragment of a memory of Magnolia trying to assault Chain when they’d met in the hotel room. It wasn’t justified then, and it wasn’t justified now. Fortunately for Magnolia, Lily knew it was fucked up. It was a flavor of fucked up they adored.
    Not that it mattered to Magnolia what Lily thought or wanted.
    Or what Chain did, for that matter.
    But what was shocking beyond belief was the way it bled over to Kassandra.
    Kassandra didn’t care for romance, much less sex and intimacy. Hell, she hardly cared about spending time with friends, prefering to sink her time fronting into a book, hiding in a corner of a library. Was it because she was traumatized just like Lily and coped differently? Maybe. Was it because she was asexual? Perhaps. Was it because she just—
    Have no interest in it, damn it! Why is this such a big deal for you?! Stop bothering me and let me read!
    Each attempt Lily made in the past was met with a flavor of vitriol Kassandra reserved for just that. So they stopped asking.
    Until now.
    Whereas Lily was mildly miffed about the whole thing, Kassandra’s fury was on full display. Especially after how she was so easily overpowered by Magnolia. Lily knew it came with the territory, but Kassandra hated their situation all along and resented Lily for getting themselves in it. Kassandra’s anger had mostly calmed down, or at least she stopped being vocal about it, but her fury had returned with a vengeance. Not only had she taken over Chain against his will, scrambling his brains and basically making him a new person, Magnolia insinuated that having her consent respected would be next on the chopping block.
    Kassandra didn’t like Chain, but she didn’t like the concept that Magnolia could and would take her, too.
    But twinged in that vengeance and fury was confusion. Chaos. Questions. Uncertainty.
    Which in turn bled over to Lily, who started almost asking questions again.
    Which in turn made Kassandra get mad at them.
    What a fun situation to tread through in their head as the rest of their body plotted to kill them all.
    Would it be worse to die from cancer, or die because Magnolia kills us?
    “I’m not answering that,” Lily murmured. Doing so sounded like a great way to tempt fate. It was also incredibly rude to their Mistress. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t hear Kassandra’s vitriol.
    But you’re okay pestering me about my feelings 24/7! Can’t I annoy you with this question?
    “You’re not okay with what you’re saying,” Lily replied longsufferingly, rubbing the bridge of their nose. “I can feel it. You feel guilty. I don’t even need to have you living inside me to know.”
    Fuck you.
    “If you don’t have anything helpful to say, just let me cook breakfast.”
    “Internal discussion, plaything?”
    Lily straightened their back, setting the cooking utensils down as they turned to greet Magnolia with a smile. A slightly forced one, but a smile nonetheless. “Yes, Mistress. Um… was I bothering you?”
    “Not at all. I only wish I could hear both sides.” Magnolia hugged them from the side and held them close to her. Lily froze up for a second, and then giggled. “I’m sure it’s easy enough for me to guess, given how easy you alone are to read, Lily. I do have to wonder which of you is talking down to my property, though?” They felt all tingly at the affection, their knees felt weak, and suddenly their head was filled with salacious fantasies and—
    “Get off of me!”
    Magnolia didn’t need to wait for Kassandra to shove her off, she let go right away. Not out of the goodness of her heart, of course, Kassandra realized as she saw Magnolia smiling smugly at her. Kassandra huffed and panted, backing up against the stove and hesitantly putting her fists up. She could fight, she could fight Magnolia off, she could stop her from fucking with their brain anymore! She had to! What kind of protector would she be if she couldn’t?
    “I don’t want anything to do with you! The only reason I’m still here is because you gave Lily hella Stockholm Syndrome! I fucking hate your guts! You may have gotten the better of Chain once, but I’m not letting him fucking around you ever again! I’m not letting any of us get taken advantage of by you! And if you try to touch my brain or hypnotize me or some shit, I’m going to fucking murder you!”
    Contrary to the prior night where Magnolia had expressed dominance over Kassandra, her face didn’t twist in anger. Her smile only grew wider, as Kassandra’s blood chilled. Fuck. Kassandra was terrified. She tried to put on a brace face, to look threatening, but she must have looked adorable to Magnolia, whose eyes widened in excitement. She looked like a cheshire cat, the way she was grinning widely with eyes that screamed ‘you’re mine’. 
    “Kassandra,” Magnolia leaned in, giving the captive girl no options for escape or fighting back as she gripped her wrist. Kassandra wasn’t allowed to either fight back nor escape. “Since when are you the one in charge of Lily’s system? You seem to have things backwards, and perhaps that’s my fault for not impressing that upon you earlier. You have no control over what I do to you. Or what I do to Chain, or Lily, or Hyacinthe. I think I’ve proven my effectiveness at controlling them and guiding them, too. You can’t control everything, and neither can I. But more falls under my power than yours. Yourself included.”
    “S-shut… shut the fuck up,” Kassandra hissed, finally trying — and failing — to struggle out of Magnolia’s control. “Let… go… of me!”
    “No,” Magnolia replied simply. Kassandra’s struggles grew more frenzied, but Magnolia’s grip was iron tight. Kassandra was kept right in place, right where Magnolia wanted her. Fuck it. She didn’t want Kass to fight back. Surely she’d have issues with being dragged off? Kassandra tried to flee the other way, but Magnolia didn’t let her go.
    She kept Kassandra on a tight leash. And the more Kassandra struggled, the firmer the grip on her wrist was. She could have sworn Magnolia was going to bruise her. Was that the intention? She considered the bruises she left from brutalizing Lily to be some sort of fucking trophy. Kassandra would rather die than allow her own wounds to be treated as a prize. A piece of art, given to Magnolia in exchange for having her body conquered. Let alone her mind.
    Kassandra finally gave up running away. For that moment, anyways. Magnolia pulled her back to be standing underneath her, the Dominant towering over Kassandra.
    Why? Why couldn’t she tap into the strength Lily had spent so much time meticulously sculpting? Kassandra wanted to use it for their safety. All of their safety. And yet…
    “There you go,” Magnolia cooed. Kassandra felt her blood boil brightly. “You might share a body with my prized Lily, but you’re not the same. I can feel how little that brute strength matters when you’re out, Kassandra.”
    “W-what the fuck?”
    Magnolia sighed, finally letting Kassandra go. She recoiled and tenderly grasped her wrist, trying to soothe the pain, the mild bruising Magnolia left on her. As she tried to ease her mild injury, Magnolia took the opportunity to lecture her.
    “You seem to be so excited to be brainwashed,” Magnolia teased. “I haven’t even confirmed that that’s within my plans for you. In fact, I explicitly denied it, didn’t I? I said I’d be focusing on Chain before anyone else.” She paused, pursing her lips and humming in thought. “Well… I suppose Lily is always a work in progress. But your time isn’t here yet. It might never be. And yet, you lash out at me with anticipation for when – if – I change my focus to you.”
    Kassandra gritted her teeth. Magnolia wanted to get under her skin, and it was working. It had worked even when she wasn’t trying. She had a few ways she could deign to react to such an infuriating insinuation, but as she was brainstorming the best possible comeback or the perfect words to get Magnolia to shut the fuck up, someone else took her voice.
    Magnolia knew Lily well enough to know when they were out. The concern on their face must have been immediately identifiable, as with what exactly they had concern with.
    “I should remind you that you’re in no place to question my decisions,” she quipped, a tinge of playfulness still in her voice as she ruffled Lily’s hair gently.
    Lily winced at any physical contact. It didn’t matter how light or innocent it was, nor the fact they knew Mistress wasn’t going to hurt them. Well, not like their abusers used to, anyways. “I-I know, Mistress. I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to – to know that that’s what I’m, um…”
    “Don’t worry, plaything.” She knocked on Lily’s head, a hollow sound echoing off of their skull. “It’s not your fault you’re as easy to read as a coloring book. That girl has a lot of nerve, talking down to you when she’s the one exhausting the both of us.”
    “R-right… I wish she’d stop, too.”
    Magnolia shruged and sighed. “Not as if I can expect you to convince her to stop.”
    Between the words, Lily could almost make out the implicit threat that she’d be the one to convince Kassandra to stop. She knew that Lily knew that, though. Kassandra probably did too, which is probably why she was acting so volatile. More so than usual, anyways.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
    Magnolia never got cheap shibari rope. Or any kind of kink toy of any less than perfect quality. Or anything that looked, sounded, or otherwise seemed cheap. She was better than that. And she was better than all those cheap ass manufacturers, too.
    Lily couldn’t complain about their Mistress’s opulent tastes. They weren’t one to complain in the first place. If Lily had to choose between being tied up with itchy rope that sucked to wear almost as much as how much it sucked to put on, and being bound in soft rope that could make an unwilling captive fall asleep in bliss, they knew which option they’d go for. Even if they wanted out, they weren’t getting out. Not now, not ever. 
    Now, if only some of the folks in Lily’s head could act with similar humility and gratitude, that would be lovely. But nope. That must have been too much to ask for.
    If Kassandra or Chain were voicing their objections to Lily’s passive aggressive thought patterns, they couldn’t hear it over the meditative trance Mistress had kept them in. It was only recently Lily realized they loved being in trance in part for the silence it gave them. Their mind was a buzzing planet on any other day, but trance made it a domain small and still enough for Mistress to exert complete control. Not only did it give them clarity and peace of mind, it was also really, really, really hot.
    Their body was similar to their mind in how it responded to trance. As their mind grinded to a halt, so did their body. Gone were their fidgety hands and inability to sit still; in its place was a sense of calmness. Serenity. Ease. Any resistance they might have been able to exert was gone.
    So Magnolia took her time tying the luxuriously soft rope around Lily, weaving expertly around each of their limbs, creating rows of rope that crossed over columns. Magnolia didn’t need a guide or set of instructions. She knew rope like a second language.
    And different kinds of rope, too. She’d gotten a new bundle at a kink con she must have gone to and had been dying to test it on Lily for quite some time now. Only it was so comfortable – and so late at night – that Lily kept falling in and out of sleep. Anytime they dozed off, Magnolia choked or hit or otherwise reprimanded Lily in some way. And yet, the grabby hands of slumber kept dragging Lily off.
    Lily was jolted awake once again by their hair being roughly pulled. Magnolia had their ear next to her lips in seconds. “I’ve trained you better than this, pet. I know you’re just being a slouch. Back straight and head forward, now. If I have to ask you again, this harness will be made with a knife and your skin.”
    “Y-y-yes, Mistress,” Lily replied, their stammering becoming much more noticeable and their words more breath than voice. They straightened their back and looked ahead, almost trying to imagine the rope as a blade. At least then they could stay awake.
    But it wasn’t long before their imagination was proven unreal. They could almost hear their body begging them to fall asleep. But they wouldn’t listen. The only one they needed to listen to was Mistress.
    Despite that, someone else decided to make her voice known and heard. Lily didn’t even get to sigh in exasperation as Kassandra’s fiery emotions flared up with aim taken at Magnolia.
    “Real ironic of you to threaten physical harm directly after claiming you can do a better job of protecting Lily,” she hissed.
    Annoyingly, Kassandra could feel Magnolia smirk behind her.
    “What’s so funny?” Kassandra demanded.
    “Oh, nothing. Just thinking of how ironic it is to have you so frequently and feverishly pop up after proclaiming you want nothing to do with me. Let alone while I’m having fun with Lily?”
    “Don’t think too much of it,” Kassandra scowled. “Lily’s in danger of being hurt, of course I’d show up to tell you off.”
    Magnolia kept the rope harness tight around Kassandra. The chords of rope were still bundled in her hands. After a while, she sighed. “You’re either a terrible liar or horrendously oblivious to your own feelings. How am I supposed to believe you? I’ve been with Lily for… what, five years? You didn’t even come out when I first claimed what was finally mine. Yet twice today alone you have interjected over implied threats. At least try to sound convincing when you lie to me, Kassandra.”
    “You – stop assuming you know how I feel! You don’t know anything about me!”
    Magnolia tightened the rope slightly. Kassandra must have been getting under her skin. “I think you underestimate how much I do know. And allow me to prove it, because I think I know what’s happening.”
    “Oh yeah?” Kassandra scoffed. “Bet. Try me.”
    Magnolia inhaled deeply and then started. “Then allow me to be straightforward. I think you suddenly have feelings for me, feelings I don’t think you’ve ever had, feelings you possibly never even knew you could feel. And I think you’re scared, Kassandra.”
    “What the f—”
    Magnolia silenced Kassandra by clasping a hand over her mouth. The girl struggled and tried to writhe her way out of the captor’s grasp, but it was a futile effort. The rope made it even harder. “I’m not done.”
    She pulled Kassandra closer to her. “And I think you don’t know how to process that revelation. So you’re doing so in the most backwards way imaginable. You keep interjecting my and Lily’s scenes because you want to be in their shoes badly. It’s a carnal need, something you need more than air. And that’s utterly terrifying to you.”
    “S-stop,” Kassandra finally murmured, struggling just enough to get that one word out.
    “I think you saw what I did to Chain, and your immediate reaction was not anger, but envy.”
    “Stop,” Kassandra warned. She tried to sound threatening. Tried. Her voice quivered and her eyelids twitched.
    Magnolia didn’t listen.
    “And I think you’re not scared of when I’ll give you the same treatment. Rather, the contrary. You’re excited. You’re excited, and impatient, insisting you cut in line so I get to you first.”
    “Enough! Shut up!”
    Kassandra hadn’t noticed the tears falling down her cheeks. She finally wriggled away from Magnolia, though her arms were still uselessly bound to her chest in the infuriatingly comfortable rope. 
    Magnolia said nothing, waiting for the emotions to die down. But instead, the flame of anger turned into a river of sorrow. Kassandra turned her head away and sighed heavily. 
    This was a stupid idea. Kassandra had plenty of those, but this was up there for one of the worst.
    “I’m just going to leave. I’ll let Lily come back. You can do whatever the fuck you want. I was stupid to get involved.”
    “Don’t leave.” Magnolia spoke with such boldness that Kassandra couldn’t ignore her. She was completely stunned. “I expected to have the evening with Lily. But I want you too, Kassandra.”
    “Why would you even want me…” Kassandra spoke in a hollow, exhausted voice. She didn’t have the bandwidth to filter what she was saying. “You wanted Chain even more than me. Just admit it. I’m worthless to you. A nuisance. You’re in control now, right? So you don’t need me anymore. It… it would be easier if I just disappeared. So I’ll just get out of your hair. I’m sorry for bothering you.”
    Magnolia shook her head, clinging onto her body tighter, a body she shared with her property.. “That isn’t true. You know that, I believe. You just don’t want your walls to come down. But I’ll tear them down whether or not you want, whether or not you’re prepared. You each play a different role for me. I need all of you.”
    “‘I need all of you…’?” Kassandra scoffed, finally getting a bit of her spunk back.  “That’s a nice way to say you have favorites, and I’m not one.”
    “Excuse me?” Magnolia seethed, her tone of voice completely changing. “It’s sort of hard to not have that hierarchy, considering you hardly come out – and you usually insult me when you do – Chain spent the last five years hiding to laugh at me and Lily, and Hyacinthe just showed up. How am I supposed to love you in the same manner I love Lily? This may be news to you, but I don’t particularly like being insulted by you.”
    Kassandra eventually wriggled her body around enough to face Magnolia. Her face was scrunched into a indignant sneer, and her shoulders shook with anger. “Then you can’t handle me. You want to think you can, but you can’t.”
    She didn’t know why, but that was the last straw for Magnolia.
    “I knew you were knuckleheaded,” Magnolia hissed, pulling the rope to keep her body closeby, unable to run off. “But I suppose I overestimated your smarts, Kassandra. You’re in no place to be challenging me.”
    “Oh yeah? Then prove it,” Kassandra said with conviction, eyes burning with renewed determination. “Prove you want to ‘handle’ me. Prove you fucking can.”
    “Is that a formal challenge, Kassandra?”
    “You bet your fucking ass it is.”
    Silence hung in the air after that declaration. The tension was so thick it could be easily cut through with a butter knife. The meaning of those words sunk in for both of them. Even if Kassandra wanted to take back her words, it was too late for that. 
    “Fine,” Magnolia said, letting Kassandra’s body free. Not that she could move much with the rope around her. “Let’s settle this, then. I’m going to unbound you, and give you two minutes to hide from me. Then I’ll have two minutes to find and catch you. If you succeed, you’ll have my word I won’t touch your brain, that I won’t claim you as mine. It will be completely off the table. I’ll even undo the changes I made to Chain if you so wish. I’m sure Lily will appreciate not having to share me anymore,” she said with a chuckle.
    It was a good offer, Kassandra had to admit. Being able to rest easy knowing Magnolia wouldn’t target her would be a huge weight off her back. And just to run off or stay hidden for two minutes? They knew how to hide, how to stay quiet, how to remain under the radar. But that was if Kassandra won. She was almost scared to ask, but there was no way she couldn’t. “And if I lose?”
    Magnolia’s answer only raised the stakes higher. “Then I can do whatever I want with you for the rest of the evening alone.”
    Kassandra’s eyelid twitched. “I’m asexual. That’s gonna limit your opt—”
    “You assume I’d care.”
    Her eyes shot open in utter horror. She couldn’t believe her ears. “Wh...what?”
    “The same would go for Lily. It wouldn’t matter if they didn’t like anything I did to them, let alone desired it in any way. Hell, I’m certain they don’t like many things I do to them. And yet, I am their Owner. I dictate their life and every minutea of it. Including what happens to them by or against their will.”
    Kassandra’s brain slowed to a halt. It felt like blood had stopped flowing into her brain. On a certain level, she knew this was the case. She felt she should be glad Magnolia was finally saying the quiet part out loud. But she wasn’t. All she felt was deep despair that Lily’s wife, their Owner, truly did not care about their pleasure in the grand scheme of things. About their happiness. She was going to do whatever she wanted with them, anyways, complaint or not.
    And she was next.
    Thinking back on it, Kassandra was stupid to assume she was safe. There was never any reason Magnolia couldn’t take her. Why she waited so long was a mystery, not one Kassandra could solve.
    Kassandra’s anxiety-driven spiral was interrupted as Magnolia cleared her throat to continue.
    “You’re a smart girl, Kassandra. I assume you’d want the easy way. The one where I ease you into submission. The one where you won’t even notice. The one where I treat you with care and gentleness until I know you can handle more. But you seem determined to convince me that was the wrong judgement. And if you want to go that way… well, you’ll find out I don’t like feeling like a fool.”
    The threatening edge to Magnolia’s words was much more clear. Kassandra knew she was right. She knew
    But the cat was out of the bag now. Kassandra would only be living in fear, dread of the day Magnolia would turn her eyes to her. Perhaps it was better to get it over with, accept what was coming, welcome it—
    No. No! What the fuck was she saying?! She would not accept this lying down. She was going to take her chance and get the fuck out of there. Lily could complain all they wanted. Kassandra was not going to be subject to this rich maniac’s sick desires. She couldn’t.
    And yet, hesitation pulled her away from that resolve. Stifling the feelings of resignation she found herself with, Kassandra asked— “How do I know there’s not some BS loophole in those terms? Or that you won’t rig this ‘challenge’?”
    Magnolia smirked, beginning to undo the bondage. Despite being clothes, she felt weirdly cold and naked without it. “Come, now, Kassandra. I may be talented, but I had no foresight as to you coming out tonight, let alone wishing to test my patience so. How would I have prepared any traps for you?”
    “Fuck,” Kassandra muttered. Magnolia was right.
    “Exactly. Now. If you decide now isn’t your time, I’ll give you this one final out. But if you willingly decide to do this challenge, and you lose, then I don’t want to hear you complain or whine or try to fight back. Likewise, if you succeed, I’ll be quite cross if you keep interrupting my time with Lily. So. What will it be?”
    Kassandra didn’t know. Genuinely. Obviously the safest option would be to say ‘fuck that shit’ and disappear into Lily’s aether for… well, forever. She had questions abound. What brought about this change? Why was Kassandra not being given a say in this? She didn’t sign herself into that auction. She didn’t willingly stay with Magnolia. She didn’t get married to her, she didn’t move in with her, she didn’t submit to her, she wouldn’t submit to her…
    With the seconds of time she had at her disposal, though, Kassandra began to think harder. Where would they even go? They’d need to find a job, they’d need shelter, they’d need some ties to the outside to get by. No way in hell was Kassandra going to let themselves become homeless again; that would only make Magnolia’s insistance that she failed as a protective alter all the more insulting.
    Magnolia checked her watch, visibly annoyed. Just as it seemed the challenge was going to be called off, Kassandra piped up with her answer. An answer she already knew she’d regret.
    “Fine. You’re on.”
    Annoyingly, Magnolia laughed. “Very well,” she said simply as she finally untied the rest of her rope, pulling it off of Kassandra’s body.
    And then silence. Both of them looked at each other, waiting for the other’s next move. Eventually, Magnolia raised an eyebrow. “What’s holding you back?”
    Kassandra blinked. “What do you mean?”
    “I’ve given you two minutes. Surely you should have at least left the bed by now.”
    “You—!” Kassandra didn't have time to attack Magnolia. But once she hid for long enough and won this stupid game, oh that bitch was going to get a hefty piece of her mind. *When*, not *if*. As much as she wanted to let out her wrath then and there, there were more important things to do.
    She jumped out of bed and sprinted in the mansion. Two minutes was an abnormally short time, Kassandra realized. The size of the house hadn't been something she considered. She squinted at the stairs, trying to see if there was a third floor. The further she ran, the less likely Magnolia could find her. 
    Her footsteps echoed through the house despite her best efforts, but she eventually made it to the third floor. She hastily assessed her surroundings, trying some of the doors. Annoyingly, most were locked. Kassandra still wasn't entirely convinced Magnolia didn't plan this escape game in advance, but that wasn't important at the moment.
    If she was able to take a closer look, she'd be able to find out more about Magnolia. About the life she shared with Lily. about her plans. She could do that later. And she would.
    Eventually, Kassandra found a good enough hiding spot. It was some kind of packing room? God knew for what, but there were cardboard boxes of all sizes along with various packing materials. Rich people really had rooms for everything.
    After a minute of searching, she found a box that she could comfortably fit into, if curled into a tight enough ball. She'd want to look for a larger box, but she didn't have the luxury of time. In a way, the sense of dread and fear felt oddly nostalgic. It really was like living on the streets, hiding from their abusive family when they were in a bad mood, or staying out of sight when trying to shoplift.
    Only, Kassandra agreed to this. 
    She could compartmentalize it however she wanted. At the end of the day, she was presented with the challenge, and she accepted it. And that challenge only happened because she’d kept popping up, taking Lily’s spot to insult Magnolia in new and creative ways.
    She did this to herself.
    And once she finally got settled into her cramped box, that reality began to set in. Against her best wishes, sobs knocked at the back of her teeth, tears threatening to fall. But she couldn’t be heard. Kassandra clutched her nose and mouth in her palm to stifle the involuntary noises. She had to be careful not to move too much as well. The box she hid in was stuffed under a table, but Magnolia wasn’t stupid. She could tell from a glance if a box so much as twitched.
    She didn’t know how many minutes it had been. Surely her two minutes had passed, though she wasn’t sure how long it had been since Magnolia’s search started. All she had to do was hide for two minutes. A hundred and twenty seconds. She counted the seconds as they passed. It was something to focus on.
    At the ninety second mark, Kassandra was beginning to think Magnolia wouldn’t find her. She just needed to wait half a minute more. And then she’d be free.
    Eventually, staying curled up so tightly began to make her body ache. Her resolve to stay in that position hadn’t wavered until then, but upon remembering how little two minutes would be to find her in the massive mansion, she felt it okay to adjust a little.
    So she did.
    A few quiet seconds passed.
    Kassandra internally breathed a sigh of relief. Good. Magnolia hadn’t heard it. She just needed to wait for fifteen more seconds.
    As the seconds counted down, the uncertainty in Kassandra ran wild. Why was any of this happening? Had Lily’s mental state gotten so bad that the walls between them truly crumbled? And was that entirely a bad thing? She could process that later. She’d have to find a therapist to understand all this first. Maybe Pierre or Jenn knew someone? Should she even tell those two about her escape plan?
    So many questions.
    Deep down, she wanted to stop caring. She was determined to win, but a part of her couldn’t lie and say that there wasn’t appeal to surrendering those decisions.
    She knew that was true. She also knew that choosing surrender would be a piss poor decision.
    Eventually, Kassandra finished counting down, going to one hundred and forty seconds for good measure. She breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing her muscles and adjusting to a comfortable position. Finally.
    She could get her and her system to safety, now. It’s what she was dreaming of for the past five years. And now it was happening. Yet, a lingering sense of dread stayed with her as she cautiously poked her head out of the box—
    Until her hair was immediately grabbed, and her body pulled out by it. 
    Kassandra screamed in pain and shock, kicking the perpetuator off of her. Or trying to, at least. In another entry in Kassandra’s recent series of embarrassments, she was easily held back like a small animal, suspended above the ground by her hair. She couldn’t hear Magnolia’s cackling over her own agonized shrieks, but she could feel the boisterous noise in her hand.
    “G-get off! Let go! It fucking hu—”
    SLAP
    The smack thundered across her face. All of her complaints immediately died in her throat, and once she turned back to see Magnolia, her sadistic grin had transformed into an angry scowl.
    “I warned you, Kassandra. You don’t get to decide what hurts and what doesn’t. As a matter of fact, you don’t get to decide anything.”
    Kassandra gritted her teeth. No. She hadn’t lost. Not yet. But she would if she didn’t break free. But her attempts to break free were futile, and only aggravated Magnolia further.
    “You lost, Kassandra. And now, you’re to gracefully accept the punishment you agreed to.” 
    The reality of the situation began to set in for Kassandra. This was the wrong choice. She  resolved to not cry, and that resolve was being tested. “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean any of it! Please let me—”
    Magnolia twisted her hand, pulling Kassandra’s hair back around it. She heard strands snap off of her scalp. But the Dominant wasn’t going to listen to her. Without putting Kassandra down, she dragged the struggling captive girl back downstairs. Kassandra’s screams only grew more desperate. They changed from furious to pleading to sorrowful to sheer, raw panic. 
    She made the wrong choice. This was wrong. This couldn’t be happening. Kassandra changed her mind. This was, by far, the worse of the two options. Oh, the her from a mere few minutes ago was beyond naive.
    Magnolia paused in her tracks suddenly. Kassandra thought she was free. But instead, her ear was brought to Magnolia’s lips as she growled into her eardrums—    
    “My lovely, loyal Lily, and my stupid mutt. I know you’re listening. You’re not to come out for the rest of the night. Otherwise, this dumb girl’s punishment will only be worse.”
    Kassandra took offense to the fact she wasn’t being berated as if she weren’t there, but she had no standing to complain. She gave that up willingly. And as if she didn’t feel alone enough already, her heart sank as she felt an alien sense of acceptance within her. They agreed. They were going to allow this to happen to her.
    And why would they not? Kassandra was supposed to protect them. She didn’t expect them to return the favor. And yet, it hurt. Both of them capitulated to Magnolia. The Dominant’s wishes mattered more than Kassandra’s pleas for mercy.
    They returned to the bedroom. Or, rather, Kassandra was dragged back to the bedroom, her body tossed onto the mattress like a body pillow. Her resolve had broken and she was sobbing with tears falling down her face.
    “How… how did you even find me…?” Kassandra whimpered. The look of indignation she usually had was replaced with one of misery.
    Magnolia smirked, crawling onto the bed on top of Kassandra. No. No this wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be—
    “Do you know how lost cats usually find themselves back to their door, if the owner leaves out a bit of their worn clothing outside?”
    Kassandra’s brain was too scrambled to understand the riddle. “I… I don’t...”
    The Dominant sighed, slipping off her sweater and tossing it aside. “That box had a rather large shipment of that exact rope you seemed to love so much,” Magnolia said with a malevolent smile on her face.
    Kassandra’s heart beat slowed down. For some reason, even though she knew she was about to suffer, she felt oddly calm. Acceptance washed over her. She chose this. She chose this. She chose this.
    “It’s so wonderful how, despite how different the four of you are, you are all so incredibly easy to read.”