Alive

Chapter 7

I arrive at camp a few moments later, meeting Mel at the entrance. I was strangely relaxed by the strange water witch's presence. I truly missed her in the day s we hadn't spoken, and even now I could tell she hadn't changed since then.

"Hey Arrow." She squeaked joyfully, her skin flaking from being away from the water so long. I start to guide her back to the river, pulling her arm gently.

"What's up?" I ask as we walk to the river bank. I was thankful that her presence had gotten me out of a scorning from Scarlet and possibly Crystal if she was awake by now.

Crystal had fell unconscious after the battle with the mortals last night, her lungs were filled with smoke and the nurses were hard at work to help her get fresh air circling through her lungs. I didn't know if she was awake yet or not, and I was worried about my mortal friend.

"Nothing much. How about you Arrow? You look a bit tense." Mel replied calmly, giving me a slight look of pure concern. I avoid her gaze, trying to ignore the argument I could've had with Ivy, or Sara.

"Well, I guess you could say I had mortal trouble..." I manage to say before Mel jumps to conclusions and interrupts.

"oh my gosh! Is it Crystal? Is she ok?" She almost squeals, her high pitched cheerful voice gone and replaced by pure panic and terror. I jump back in surprise at how loud her voice had become and quickly started to try to calm her down.

"No Mel, for Mira's sake no!" I say over top of her spat of terror. We had finally reached the river bank by then and Mel instantly became relaxed.

"Then what did happen?" Mel asks, her curiosity flaring in her river blue eyes. I look around for a while, still wanting to avoid talking about the night before and the dead soldier that I had buried to find out that his own wife had murdered him.

"Crystal's not dead, and I'm not at all concerned about her. She has proper care at the camp." I lie openly, giving Mel a soft smile as I spoke.

"You still haven't told me what's wrong!" Mel squealed loudly and I jump back again at the loud, high pitched sound of her voice ringing in the trees around me. For a few moments I could actually hear a slight ringing in my ears.

"First of all... Ow!" I say as a huge head ache develops. It got so bad I had to sit down in the sand to let the ringing pass.

"Oh my Mira, I'm so sorry!" Mel apologizes, her eyes wide and apologetic, like a puppy's eyes. I continued to stay quiet until the ringing starts to pass.

"You know; it might be possible I could go deaf from this." I say, happy I avoided the awkward conversation with Mel. She was a good friend, but she needed to know that I was an expert at keeping things secret. Well, at least for now. We continue to talk by the river bank for a while longer until the sun started to drop below the horizon, painting the Dra hills a dark orange and red against a yellow sky. I was forced to say goodbye to my friend, waving at her before whizzing off to where I was sure even more trouble awaited my return.

Not to my surprise, when I had arrived at camp Scarlet was waiting by the entrance, a cold glare over her red eyes and her black and red streaked hair covering her blind side. I approached her carefully, not sure what punishment awaited me.

"Where were you last night?" Scarlet asked, her red gaze softening just a bit, as if she were relieved that I returned.

"I was patrolling the area... Why?" I ask and Scarlet instantly stands tall like a huge authority figure. I knew she wasn't used to taking charge of things, so I decided not to make fun of her awkwardly tall pose.

"You left your position unattended." She explains, her voice quickly turning from hostile to friendly in seconds. "We all thought you ran off or something." She said quietly.

"I wouldn't run off from you guys." I say with a joking tone. "I really like life here and I wouldn't want to leave you guys hanging." I finish, my tone now honest and full.

"I'm glad your back Arrow." Scarlet says with a slight smile across her face. "Were all glad your back."

"Wow, did I just see you smile?" I ask, fake surprise in my voice and Scarlet covers her mouth.

"No!" She begins to argue, a glare on her face. "Just... get back to where you belong ok?" She says and turns her back on me. I noticed she sounded disappointed and I think about asking her what's wrong, but decide it was better to leave her alone. It felt nice to get a smile out of Scarlet, even if I had blown the opportunity to say something nice to her.

I walked into the camp a short while later, seeing Chris, May, Ferren and Sara gathered by the warm glowing fire that I guessed they prepared themselves.

"How are you guys doing?" I ask, sitting around the fire with them. I lean back a bit to avoid the heat of the flames, and I got a few odd looks from Chris and Sara.

"About time you got home." Chris spoke first. His attitude spiking from our last encounter. His dark brown hair almost glowed against the firelight, and his dark skin seemed to hide his dark brown glare. I returned his icy look before replying.

"I was out patrolling thank you very much." I respond with an icy tone, knowing that I better cool down before a fight broke out. "What were you all up to while I was gone?" I ask after a slight moment of silence.

"We were looking for you." May answered, her multi colored eyes sparkling in the new fire glow. May was paler than usual, which frightened me to the bone, and her black hair seemed off from her usual curls.

"Yep, we were all out searching for you, Luka." Ferren responded to May, looking at me almost unblinking with his snake like eyes. "You had Scarlet worried out of her skin." He finishes. I open my mouth to say something but Sara spoke first.

"Good thing I found him huh?" Sara said to the group, elbowing my side lightly and playfully. I give her a slight glare and she returns it icily. "If it weren't for me he would've never found his way home."

"I'm sure Arrow could've managed." Ferren says, studying mine and Sara's faces. I was afraid that Sara might've told the whole camp about my encounter with Ivy, and to my luck she was smart enough to keep it secret.

"Yes, I could have." I say, returning to my calm gaze. "But, there's still one thing that bugs me." I say after a few moments of silence between the group.

"And that is?" May asks, her turquoise and purple eyes sparkling with a huge amount of curiosity and youth.

"How's Crystal been doing?" I ask, surprised that I had this much stress about the blonde mortal. I remembered how I used to act around mortals, fierce, vicious, and out casting them because of our differences, but Crystal for some reason made my mind spark with curiosity for the non-fanged mortals.

"She's doing better." May answers kindly, a smile splitting her face. "Why are you so worried about her?" She asks.

"Yeah, I thought you hated mortals." Sara responds, confusion spiking in her voice. "What makes Crystal so different from the others?"

"She's my friend." I answer plainly, shrugging my shoulders. I get a few odd looks from the whole crowd and give them an icy glare from my white eyes. The shadows around us seemed to engulf the camp as the fire burned less and less of the supplied wood planks at its core. A huge moment of silence spread across the camp as more and more of my tribe mates headed to their sleeping areas. I found it amazing at how fast the camp's population had grown since my first encounter with Scarlet, and our agreement for me to work for my right to stay here. For some odd, apparent reason I felt as if a wall around Scarlet had finally disappeared from her personality, and I could finally get to know the real her again. But the question was, how would I get to know her if she kept avoiding me?