Treachery, Royalty, and Annoying Girls

Chapter 4, Part 2

Riley took me to Marilyna's room.

"Ugh. what are you doing here, Violet?"

"Ugh, do you want to live to find true love?"

"I mean, yeah, who doesn't?"

"I need you to come with me. You need to spend the next couple nights with me." She gave me a weird look. "Why?"

Riley took out the piece of paper that said Marilyna was the next target. She gasped and started laughing. "That's very funny, Callix."

"It's real," Riley said to her. Marilyna's eyes went wide.

"Fine. Only because I don't want to die."

I started walking out, "Wait. I do have one request."

"Alright, what is it?"

"I get the bed."

"Okay." I responded. She followed me and Riley to my room. We took a different route this time. I'm pretty sure it was a back way.

I fell asleep on the cold tile of my room while Marilyna took my bed. Around midnight, I heard a familiar shriek and saw Marilyna sit up quickly. I noticed she immediately clutched her arm and a person in a mask with a hood on held her gleaming knife. I saw drops of blood scatter across the floor in the dim moonlight shining in my room. "Marilyna come on let's get you to the hospital wing." She whimpered as she nodded.

I grabbed a washcloth from the bathroom and tied it around her arm. She looked like she was going to pass out so I told her to hold onto me for balance. We walked down to the hospital area and the nurses looked surprised to see us.

"What happened?" One asked.

"Was she attacked?" Another chimed in. This one looked underneath the makeshift bandage. "Stab wound. Alright, Lisa, Georgia, Laura, Anna, go get my kit. Elana, turn on the lights, please." She turned to me. "You, I need you to leave."

"I brought her down here, I need to know if she'll make it." She thought for a moment.

"Alright, you need to help me though, just stay out of the way." Help but stay out of the way? How am I supposed to do that? "I need you to run into that storage area and grab her file. I need her blood type so I know what blood to get her." I started to jog towards that area and realized there were dozens of cabinets. I looked for one that said 'files' but there were no labels with words. I looked at the handles of several drawers and noticed that they were lettered. A-D, E-G, H-K, L-O, P-R, S-V, W-Z. I rummaged through the E-G drawer looking for her file. "Fawson, Fawson, Fawson, come on!" I mumbled to myself. I finally found one that had Fawson, Marilyna neatly printed on its tab. "Got it!" I shouted.

"What's the blood type?"

"Uh..." I looked through the words. It took me a few moments. "B positive!"

"Thanks, kid! Now I need you to go into the actual storage cabinets. The shelves might be a little cold, but they are labeled." I ran into the door as soon as she finished talking. The room was a little chilly and it didn't take me long to find the shelf labeled "B positive". I grabbed two bags and headed out. I walked back in and grabbed one more, just for good measure.

When I came back out I noticed that the nurses had these little cords with needles in them. I handed the head nurse the blood and she thanked me. I looked down at Marilyna, who was now unconscious. Her face was contorted in pain. I couldn't bear to see her like this no matter how much I hated her so I turned and left.

I staggered back to my room and slumped against the wall, not wanting to lay on my bed splattered with my... not-enemy-exactly's blood. She wasn't a friend... but she wasn't the one killing people so... not-enemy-exactly.

After an amount of time (I didn't know how much) passed, there was a knock on the door and Riley poked her head in.

"She's going to be okay, Marilyna. They stopped the bleeding, and her arm is probably going to be better in a week or two."

I nodded and went back to staring at the floor.

"Also, the prince is here to see you."

Instantly, I was hiding in my closet! What was he doing here at 4, 5 in the morning?

"Callix?" He asked. I tried to act like I still wasn't there. "I know you're not in the hospital wing because I just came from there."

I've officially given up. "I'm in here," I sighed as I emerged from the dark corner of my closet.

"What the heck happened in here?" I realized he had turned on the lights. I looked around my room and there was blood soaking my sheets and there were drops along the floor. I took a shaky breath in.

"Callix, what happened?"

"S-she was stabbed," I started. He gave me a questioning look. "M-Marilyna, she was s-stabbed."

"I thought the girl in there was Anna Hampshire from North Carolina..." I let out a big laugh at his out loud thought.

"No, that was Marilyna."

"Why wasn't she in her room?"

"Well, there was a note left in Jenni's room saying that Marilyna was the next target. We decided she should sleep in my room tonight."

"Why didn't you stay awake?"

"I couldn't help it!" I defended myself. "I'm a human, not a robot. I need to be well rested, especially if you don't wanna see grumpy-side Callix."

"Fair enough. But," he took a deep breath, "Why didn't you tell me?"

I looked down to my feet. I hadn't thought about telling him. "I- I don't know."

"I could have sent guards to protect you girls, I could have protected you two." An accusing tone was in his voice. Tears started running down my face. I don't think he realized it, but he was yelling at me. "I could have done something. Why didn't you tell me? It was stupid. Next time tell me so that I can do something. You can't just play secret hero!" He continued to loudly lecture me and I was scared he was going to wake up the other girls in the hallway. When he finally looked at me, his look softened. "No, Callix don't cry! I don't know how to deal with girls crying."

"Obviously." I snapped back. "Maybe if you weren't yelling at me about what I did a few hours ago, I wouldn't be like this. AT LEAST SHE'S ALIVE! You're here lecturing me instead of taking care of your other girlfriends." I heard soft steps walk in the room.

"Callix, calm down." Kasiandre grabbed my wrists.

"I'm not gonna calm down! She could be dead and he's telling me what I should have done instead of thanking me for keeping her alive." I turned to Andrew. He was in shock at my rage. "You still have 15 girlfriends, thanks to me."

"Callix, I-"

"Please, just go. I don't wanna see you right now." He looked hurt by my final words. He left without apologizing and I felt terrible instantly, just like before.