At the sight of Noelle on top of Elara, Alice's eyes went wide. Her breath hitched. And for one terrifying second? She thought about just turning right back around and walking straight out that door like nothing happened.

  Then Noelle lifted her head slightly…and locked eyes with Alice over Elara’s shoulder without even bothering to move off Elara as if to say: Yeah, I know you saw this. I'm caught.

  Elara, who had been too busy trying (and failing) to keep her expression neutral at this point, finally got herself from underneath Noelle, sitting on the edge of Juniper's bed.

  Alice made a sound somewhere between disbelief and confusion before whirling around toward Juniper for backup: "Juniper! Back me up here!"

  "...And then they fucked," Juniper snickered, proud of herself for taking up the opportunity to say the legendary line unironically.

  Elara's face went from red to nuclear in half a second flat as she sputters: "I—WE DID NOT! WE WERE JUST TALKING!"

  Juniper wheezed into her hands while Alice looked seconds away from either combusting or shoving Noelle right off Elara herself (maybe both).

  "Oh my Goddess," Juniper managed between laughs, wiping at tears forming corners eyes now. "This is the best thing I've seen all day."

  Elara just hid her face in her hands with a groan (which did absolutely nothing to disprove Juniper's comment) while Alice gave Juniper a pained look (as if silently begging her, PLEASE, not with the teasing, NOT TODAY).

  "I can...explain how we ended up in that position.”

  "Oh, I'm sure you can," Juniper choked out, still snickering to herself like she'd just won some kind of prize. "But I want to know how exactly this 'conversation' started."

  Elara peeked out from between fingers hesitantly, eyeing Juniper with wary expectation.

  Alice was now doing the same, although she also shot a glare at Noelle that was one part irritation, two parts pleading: Please don't give your smartass explanation.

  "...It's simple," Elara began, turning her attention solely to Alice. "I've spent all this time looking for you."

  Alice and Juniper exchanged dubious looks, with the latter cutting in, "But what does that have to do with you having Noelle straddling you though?”

  Elara shot another pointed glare in Juniper's direction, cheeks still flaming red.

  Then:

  "Can—can I finish, please?"

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  "...Right, go ahead." Juniper snickered, making a show of wiping her eyes like this was just hilarious.

  Elara groaned and chose to ignore her this time around, instead focusing solely on Alice as she tried to salvage some level of dignity here (even with Noelle still sitting on top of her like some kind of human pillow).

  "...We...got...to talking," Elara finally managed, her cheeks now burning so bright it was actually a little concerning. "And one thing just…led to another."

  Noelle chuckled as she propped herself up on the pillows, still lounging far too comfortably on top of Elara for anyone's comfort level.

  Alice, whose own face was currently stuck in perpetual disbelief, was struggling to find words now. "You...ended up like this...just by talking?"

  Elara nodded stiffly, still looking like she was actively praying for some kind of swift escape from this whole situation.

  Noelle, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed, still lounging on top of Elara like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  Juniper, watching the whole spectacle unfold like it was the most entertaining thing she'd ever seen in her entire life, spoke up again: "Damn...that's some pretty serious talking."

  "I mean, technically—" Noelle started with a smirk, but Elara cut her off by shoving a pillow directly into her face.

  Juniper lost it at that point, doubling over laughing as she clutched her stomach. "Oh my god! That was perfect!"

  Alice was just standing there now, mouth slightly open in disbelief like she still couldn’t believe what she'd walked into (and honestly? Same).

  Elara looked absolutely done with everything: "Can we please move on?"

  "Yes," A voice answered, but it came from outside, where the balcony was. It wasn't just anyone's voice, but Chelsea's. Before any of the girls could react, Elara's ankles and wrists were bound by Chelsea's gears. Chelsea yanked Elara toward the balcony after opening the door, and jumping off into the darkness below, the two disappearing into the night.

  Juniper and Alice were both in a state of stunned disbelief for a beat longer, before finally snapping out staring at the empty spot where Elara and Chelsea had been moments before.

  "Mother Gaia—" Juniper finally exclaimed. "This is officially the wildest hotel stay ever.”

  Alice turned to look at her with an "You are so not helping the situation right now" look.

  Juniper just shrugged, a grin still playing at the corners of her lips. "Hey, I'm just stating facts here."

  Alice groaned in response, scrubbing a hand over her face as she tried to process everything that had just happened.

  "Okay," she managed after a beat. "So...Elara just...got kidnapped by Chelsea.”

  "Yep," Juniper said, popping the "p" for emphasis. "Seems so."

  Alice took a deep breath, her mind rushing with a thousand different thoughts at once.

  She looked up then, gaze meeting Juniper's.

  "We have to do something," she said firmly. "We have to go after them."

  Juniper nodded instantly. "Of course we're going after them. No way in hell I'm passing up the chance to see what happens next.”

  Despite everything, Alice found herself cracking a small smile at that. "Of course you'd be excited about this."

  Juniper chuckled. "Hey, you can't tell me there's not a part of you that's kinda enjoying this whole mess."

  Alice couldn't deny that. There was a certain thrill in all this chaos, even if it was a little crazy to admit.

  "Maybe a tiny part, yeah," she relented. "But first, we need a plan. We can't just run after them blind like a couple of idiots.”

  Juniper nodded seriously, all earlier humor vanishing from her expression.

  "You're right," she said, all business now. "We need to be smart about this. Otherwise we're just going to end up walking straight into a trap."

  Alice took a deep breath, her focus shifting now into mission mode.

  "Alright then," she said, already mentally going over the different details she could recall about Chelsea and her abilities. "Let's get to work.”