We all sit around a table in the Cupids Matchmaking Service resident cafeteria, with the exception of Mino who is down in the dungeons with Valentine. It's almost empty, but a few white suited cupids on the night shift pause as they chatter into their headsets to look at us – clearly noting the formal dress of Cupid, Cal, and Charlie juxtaposed with fresh blood.

"Wanna take a picture?!" says Cupid, stretching his arms behind his head lazily as a guy stares at him. "I can autograph it too if you like..." The matchmaking agent picks up his pace – swiftly averting his eyes.

I look at Cupid and he grins at me. I roll my eyes.

He's not as badly injured as last time he faced Valentine – the extra strength obtained from the dance obviously did him good. But the bright white lighting of the cafeteria emphasizes a dark pink patch on his left cheek where Valentine must have landed a particularly hard blow to his face.

Crystal leans across the round table with a jug of coffee and tops all our mugs up. I take mine gratefully.

Thanks to adrenaline, I'd been pretty hyper for the journey back as we'd traveled in pairs in separate cars; Valentine and his four dormant zombie cupids piled into the back of Mino's cop car. Now I feel like I'm on some kind of comedown. My bones aches from where Valentine and I crashed to the ground, and my whole body feels heavy with exhaustion.

I know something that you don't.

Valentine's words come back to me and I shake them away.

I check my cell – remembering to send dad a quick text to tell him I'm safe at Charlie's – and catch the time. It's one in the morning. No wonder I'm tired. Then I greedily take a few gulps of the strong black liquid.

"What now?" I say.

Crystal sits back down in her white, metal seat.

"Now, we wait," she says. "Mino might be able to safely get inside Valentine's mind and find out where he's storing the hearts. If he can do that easily, there'll be no need for any of us to go into Valentine's Sim to force the information out of him. And once we know where the hearts are – we can find them, restore Charon as captain of his ship, and send Venus back to where she belongs."

She flicks her blonde hair over her shoulder and gives us a weary smile.

"Do you really think that Mino can do this?" says Cal – a somewhat sour look on his face. "Because if not we're wasting time. I know my brother. He'll take a while to crack."

He's taken off his jacket and now sits somewhat scruffier than usual, with the top couple of buttons of his white shirt undone – a small blot of red blood under the collar.

Crystal looks at him and raises an eyebrow.

"I know you and Mino don't get on," she says. "But it's no reason not to let him try. He's one of our best resources here."

Cal's eyes harden.

"Resources...yeah...right..." he mutters. "That's why you keep him around."

Crystal purses her pink stained lips and her eyes flash an irritable blue.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Alright, alright, let's save the domestic for later..." says Cupid, a hint of amusement in his tone.

Charlie looks between the two with interest – eyes gleaming the way they usually do when she thinks she's latching onto some kind of gossip. She catches my gaze and gives me a we need to talk about this later kind of look.

I force a half smile. Talking about whether or not there's something going on between Crystal and Mino, or why Cal seems to have such a problem with it is least of my worries right now.

Didn't Cupid tell you? About his old girl?

Valentine's words echo in my mind.

I blink hard, taking another sip of coffee and trying to block out his low growl of a voice. I need to ask Cupid what he meant. But not now. When we're alone.

"You OK, lovebug?" says Cupid across the table.

I nod – about to speak when I notice a flicker of movement across the cafeteria.

Mino is approaching. He's no longer wearing his police jacket, and his white shirt is unbuttoned at the collar and rolled up at the sleeves exposing his thick forearms. He seeks Crystal out among us and shakes his heads softly as he arrives before us.

Crystal lets out an audible sigh.

"You didn't find anything useful?" says Cupid, leaning forward.

"Sorry, old friend," says Mino – pulling out a chair and sitting casually down in it. "I caught him off guard back at the high school – he didn't know what I can do. He does now. His secrets are well hidden within his mind's labyrinth."

I catch an almost triumphant gleam in Cal's eyes at Mino's failure– but only for a moment as he clearly realizes what this means. We still don't have any information that can help us.

"Well at least he can't cut Cal's life thread now," I say. "It's on the ship, and he's here. Plus if we keep him here he can't bring Venus back on Valentine's Day, can he?"

Mino reaches for the coffee jug, sliding it across the white surface of the table toward himself, and pours himself a mug before answering.

"Ah yes, about that..." says Mino. "I did manage to find one thing – a secret Valentine wanted us to know..."

"What?" says Cal sharply, sitting a little straighter in his chair.

"Before he left for the high school to meet Lila, Valentine used his control of the hearts to force a command." He takes a slow deliberate sip of his drink, puts it down, then looks around the table as we all lean forward slightly. "If Valentine isn't back on the ship by Valentine's Day someone has been ordered to use Morta's sheers to cut Cal's life thread."

My stomach plummets. Mino turns to look at Cal - his dark eyes glinting.

"Sorry, old friend," he says – raising an eyebrow.

Crystal scrapes her chair back and stands abruptly.

"We need to go into a sim to talk to him. Cal, Cupid, you know him best. You're coming with me. Mino – you too, I can use your skills."

"What about us?"

I want to help. I care about Cal too. From the way that Charlie sits upright in her chair, I'm sure she feels the same too.

Crystal shakes her head.

"For now, you two just sit tight. There's not much you can do."

"But..."

Before I can reply she starts walking toward the door, followed by Mino. Cal gets up stiffly goes after the two, his face ashen. Cupid offers me an apologetic look before heading around the table and giving me a soft kiss on the forehead.

"Sorry, lovebug," he says. "But Crystal's right. Valentine's our brother. We can deal with this."

He heads out of the cafeteria.

Charlie and I watch him go. I sigh, feeling deflated.

I can't help thinking that they're wrong. I'm sure I can help. I think that Valentine will talk to me – more so than he will talk to the others.

We have a lot to discuss.

His words echo around my mind once more.

***

I wake with a start. I blink, my eyes adjusting to the dim light. I realize I'm lying on the battered red sofa in Cal's office – where I'd gone to take a nap while the others were working on Valentine. Charlie is snoring – head lolled back – in Cal's armchair across from his desk.

I wonder what woke me – then I realize there are raised voices coming from the open plan office outside, noise spilling into Cal's dark office along with the harsh white lighting through the glass wall. I sit up, tying my hair into a scruffy not atop my head, and peer out.

Cupid and Cal are marching after Crystal, clearly agitated, as she heads toward me. Some of the Matchmaking Agents at their computers watch them with interest as they stride across the room.

My heart instantly flips. It has to be something to do with Valentine.

Crystal reaches the office and opens the door.

"It's out of the question, Crystal," snaps Cal.

"I for once agree with my brother," says Cupid, his eyes flashing angrily. "It's too dangerous."

Crystal looks over her shoulder at them as they spill into the office.

"She can handle it."

"No. Find another way," Cupid's voice is raised, unusually aggressive. It wakes Charlie who jolts upright.

"Huh? What?" she groans.

They ignore her, coming to stand in front of me.

"What is it? What's going on?"

"It doesn't matter. It's not happening," says Cupid – his eyes hard as they focus on Crystal.

She doesn't respond to him – just looks directly at me, her blue eyes blazing and her expression grim.

"Valentine says he'll tell us where the hearts are," she says.

I look between the three of them – Cal's lips pursed into a hard line, the angles prominent on his face as he clenches his jaw. Cupid's eyes flashing angrily, the muscles in his arms tensed – visible through the rolled up sleeves of his white shirt. And Crystal expression, set and determined.

"Why do I get the feeling there's a catch...?" I say.

Crystal exhales heavily.

"He says that you're the only one he'll speak to, Lila," says Crystal. "If we want to save Cal – you're going to have to go into the Sim. You're going to have to speak to Valentine alone."

Author note:

Hi guys! Sorry I wasn't too active on here yesterday (in terms of posting this chapter and talking to you about the CW Seed project!!!). I've skimmed through the comments you left yesterday and am about to go through in more detail now. But - noticed a few things coming up and thought I should let you know here (in case I don't reply to everyone):

1. I've been specifically told not to tell you guys which my favorite trailer is! I don't want to create any kind of conflict of interest, or sway anyone's opinion! So I'm keeping completely neutral. However I love them all! I trust the companies involved, and think each would do a great job with Cupid's Match!

2. Because of the first point - I also don't want to say anything that might come across as negative about any of the trailers. I genuinely love them all! But I'm saying this because if there's something you want to talk to me about and it's something negative - please know that I can't really be fully open with you (or tell you if I agree or disagree with what you've said) in my response at this stage of the process. HOWEVER I will make sure your voices are heard and I'll pass on feedback (positive or negative) to Wattpad! So still keep on telling me what you think! Just I apologize if I don't respond or I say something really vague in response! 

3. Casting: I have approximately 0 control over casting! And to be honest I wouldn't want that control! I literally wouldn't know where to start! I think that whenever a story gets adapted in some way for film / tv / video - the cast is never going to be exactly how you imagine it to be. And actually I think even if we were all in the same room together we'd end up all fighting over who should play who! As our opinions are all going to be different. So please look at the casting with an open mind (we've only seen very small glimpses of the cast at this point so we don't know what they can do yet). 

Some people have asked me if the trailer versions will be the final versions of the cast. To be honest I don't know! I've also had a couple of people ask if they should vote for the trailer 3 (the animated one with no cast) so that I can personally cast it. Just so you know, that won't happen.  There won't be a point where I pick out a cast list - it will still be down to the interpretation of the film company. So only vote for that trailer if it genuinely is your favorite!

4. Related to the above - the trailers are 'proof of concept trailers' - which means they're basically giving us an idea / a flavor of what their version of the show would look like. So with that in mind we should be looking at things like general aesthetic, style, props, costume, setting, dialogue, music, action, lighting - basically everything! Not just cast. And from that deciding which team we think can best pull this off if they get the series!  (if you prefer one trailer over the other but don't like a certain cast member for example - I would probably still recommend voting for that one, just pass on your feedback to me and I'll get it back to Wattpad).

I think that's been the main stuff that's come up! If you haven't watched the trailers yet - you can find them at w.tt/cupid or follow the link on my profile in the bio!

Speak soon! And there'll be a new chapter of Valentine's Day up tomorrow!

Lauren

xxx

(P.S. Totally swooning over both versions of Cal!)