-Mare's POV-
"Drink this," Shade says, passing a grey, murky broth. I rub eyes and sit up in my bed, unknown to the new environment. I'm in a long room, filled with beds and people who have bandages on their wounds. All of the wounds bleeding red. I'm changed out of the jumpsuit and in a long white gown. My hands are encrusted with dried blood, red and silver, and the sand of the arena is stuck under my nails. All I can remember is falling through the floor of the arena, running away with Farley and Cal and then blacking ou-. Cal. Cal! What have I been doing? How could I be so selfish to forget about Cal?
"Where's Cal? I need to see him!" I yell franticly at shade, my eyes flying open in bewilderment as I jump out of the bed.
"Sit down Mare! You need to drink this or else you could die! I do not want to loose you again, now calm down!" Shade yells back, pushing me against the bed. I grab the broth and drink it all, pushing the bowl back into his hands. Everything starts to fade and I fall back onto my bed, ascending into darkness.
I wake to a girl with a face caked in dried mud and red hair messily framing her face. Farley smiles as my eyes open and she sits on the end of the bed.
"Farley!" I gasp sitting up and leaning into a hug which she happily accepts. I can see Kilorn and Shade behind me, rushing into the hug, smiles replacing their worried faces.
"Please pardon me, but how long have I been asleep?" I question, leaning back on the bed's wooden head board.
"Three days," Farley replies her blue eyes staring into mine. Three days? Cal, how's Cal, I have been knocked out for three days and Cal could be dead for all I know.
"How's Ca-"
"He's fine Mare, no need to worry," she answer's before I could even finish. I relax a bit, knowing he's all right.
"He's been knocked out since you two got here. He's not reacting to the medication as well as you since he has silver blood, not red," Kilorn adds. I jump out of bed and pull on my slippers, but Farley jumps in front of me, blocking the exit.
"Stop Mare!" she yells, "It's okay. We need you to go anyway, we believe something he loves will wake him up, bring him some memory or something along those lines." Farley steps back and takes my arm and leads me down the hallway. We stop at a room and she opens the door. The room is small and the walls are the same dark colour as the one in the infirmary. Cal lies under the covers, apart from his chest, which is bare. I blush at the sight. He's asleep, sweat covering his body, a slow, silver stream runs down his nose, onto the bed.
"I'll go," says a small, dark skinned girl with short black hair. When the door shuts behind her, I sit down on a stool, a small tear runs down my cheek. This is all my fault. If I didn't trust Maven, if I didn't give him my heart, just for him to throw it away. I reach out my hand to his and circle his palm with my small finger. I put my hand on his chest, wiping away his sweat and move my hand up to his face. I rub his forehead with my thumb. His mouth is open a bit, for him to breath. I can hear his mouth sucking in the air and I can see his chest rising and falling to his breaths, like a rhythm. I lean closer so my nose is barely touching his. I place my lips on his cheeks, wiping away the blood before. His skin tastes salty under mine, but it's smooth and slippery because of his sweat. I lean back, tears trickling down my cheeks. Cal's golden eyes flutter open and grunts softly as he see's me.
"Cal?" I whisper, leaning in, embracing him. Cal's hands rubs my messy, brown hair and I inhale his citrusy sent.
"Farley, he's woken up!" I call, tears of happiness spill down my face. She bounds in with the small girl and turns to look at me.
"Thanks Mare, you need to go now," she says leading me out the door. Anger fills me.
"What? No! He's just woken up, Farley, you can't do this! Farley!" I yell franticly trying to hit her, but too weak to do anything. The door slams in my face and I crumple to the floor, running my fingers through my tangled curls.
"Hey, Mare, are you okay?," Kilorn mummers crouching down next to me, "Obviously not, hey, come with me." He grabs my wrist and leads me down the hallway. He opens the door of a room, identical to Cal's but with two beds instead of one.
"I got Farley to let you share with me!" he says excitedly. I can't help but feel sad. Cal could die and that's all I can think about. I fall into his arms, wrapping my arms around him. I fake a smile so he can't see my pain.
"Thank you Kilorn," I whisper into his neck, my eyes fighting back tears.
A few days passed of training and building back up my strength. My power is weak, like how it was when I started my work with Julian. I haven't seen Cal, he's been resting according to Farley, but I miss him and his jokes that make me laugh when I could only cry. I miss his warm smile and I miss the way his hands burned up when he got angry. After training, I went back to my dorm to get ready for evening meal. Kilorn wasn't there, so I got changed out of the training clothing into a plain dress. I liked the simple clothing more than the big, purple gowns that I wore at the palace. I strong knock disrupted the silence and I opened the door, realising Farley was in the doorway.
"Hello Farley, can I help you?" I ask, inviting her in. She walks in and stands in front of me and looks at the floor.
"Look Mare, we can't let Cal stay, look how much trouble his brother got us in and he's never liked us," she says, not looking into my eyes.
"What," I whisper, "You can't, you can't leave him, Maven will kill him!" I sit on the bed and put my hands to my head.
"I'm sor-"
"I'll leave with him then!" I yell standing to meet her gaze.
"Mare, you'll die!" she yells, her big eyes widening.
"I don't care! He's the only one who cares! Your little weapon will be gone and you'll be stuck like you were, apart from this time, you're weaker, your fighters have died and people are too scared to join because what Maven will do to them if he finds them. He will find you Farley and he will kill you, torture you. The only way for you to win is if you get more people and for that you need to do something great and for that you need me and Cal. We're your strongest fighters," I reply, gritting my teeth. She leans back and pauses for a moment.
"Fine, but if he fails us, God, I will kill you myself," she yells as she leaves the room, her red hair flowing behind her. I sit down on the bed as the door slams behind her.
