Nothing Vivian was saying made any sense!

Why had the Team leader, who had threatened to shoot me in the face, defended me? Was he simply trying to maintain a facade? There was no way it would work, not after what he had said. There was no going back - I [i]needed[/i] him to die!

Yet he was still alive. I had begged the necklace to kill him, even paid the price in excruciating pain, but my wish had not been granted. I had been promised more power in return for my suffering! Where was it? 

Concealing my emotions, I gave Vivian my best approximation of an indulgent smile. "Thank you, Vivian," I said. "I still need to get out of here, though - no matter how my guards feel about me, they threatened me, and that [i]cannot[/i] be forgiven. It seems to me that the best time to escape is during the day - I believe they have only two guards on duty while the sun is up. I must act soon, before the guards' reinforcements arrive. Do you want to come?"

In truth, I didn't know why I was confiding in Vivian, making her this offer. Perhaps I saw something of myself in more. If so, I was a pathetic, sentimental fool who deserved every once of pain given to her. Maybe it was just that I didn't believe I could get by on my own. After all, in the past, I had been nothing but helpless. Even now that I was disgustingly rich, all I could do was run from my problems...