"Don't listen to them!" I exclaimed. "You can't do it, Margaret, please..."

My red-haired friend turned her icy blue eyes on me. "You aren't in charge of me," she sniffed. "Besides, at the beginning of our journey, you said you'd always support my choices."

"I never thought it would come to this..." My voice trailed off, and I knew I was fighting a losing battle, but I would not back down. "You aren't the same person as you were before," I said. "Before, you would have known this was wrong."

"Ah, yes, before you killed my mother, I believe," Margaret hissed. "I don't think I should listen to a murderer."

The Team behind her nodded in agreement.

Grief and rage almost made me smack her, but I kept my cool. "I didn't kill your mother," I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "You know that. You just want somebody to blame."

"Shut up," Margaret mumbled, but her eyes were flashing with doubt now. If I could just persuade her to come with me...

But the Team saw my plan.

The Master coaxed, in a sickly sweet voice, "Margaret, dear, that girl is not your friend. She is your enemy. At the next chance she gets, she will kill you."

Margaret stared at me as if I really would betray her. "Is that true?" She whispered.

"What? No!" I yelped. "YOU'RE that one betraying ME! But I would not KILL you for that? The Team are liars! A few days ago, we were insulting them, and now you are joining them! Who do you trust more, me or the Team who tried to kill us because of our power but now is trying to recruit us because of it?"

Margaret now looked confused, as if she was trying to figure out who her loyalty belonged to.

The Master did not give up. "Dear," she said, "this girl lied to you about your mother being dead. Why couldn't she be lying to you now?"

I sighed in exasperation. "I lied to you for your own good! So your heart would not be broken until the end of the journey, because it would slow you down! Anyway, the Team lied to us countless times, as they are doing to us now. Margaret, I'm your friend, not them."

"They--they promised me that I'd get my mother back, if I joined them." Margaret's voice came out high and squeaky.

"Yes, your mother would be whole and well," the Master purred.

"Nobody can be brought back from the dead," I protested.

Margaret moved toward me, and then stood at my side. "You're right," she whispered. "I don't know what I was thinking."

The Master let out a howl, "Join us! Join us NOW!"

But Margaret looked her straight in the eyes and answered, "No."