Chapter 2

(/Evangeline/)

The door into my prison creaked open without warning, jarring me out of my doze. Curled up on the hard cot, with my back to the door, I couldn't see who it was. The pain in my back from lying on the cold metal bench ran up my spine once more, and I ground my jaw against it. They could not see any weakness, that would only egg them on, give them hope that they'd broken me. I'd show them, though. They'd never see me coming.

"Evangeline, we need to talk."

My body uncoiled unconsciously at the sound of his sigh, and I practically hissed at the reaction. Cal did not deserve any respect from me. I'd hardly bought his pathetic excuse for a story, and now... now, I wasn't so sure what to think anymore. He'd only shown me kindness since they'd brought me blindfolded to wherever here was, and he'd made sure that everyone else did the same. He'd brought me my meals for a week before I'd snapped at him about it. After that, a guard had brought the bowl of mush in and left it by the door.

I rolled over unceremoniously, and sat up, forcing my vision to level after getting up too quickly. I was still ragged and dirty, and I was sure that I looked like I had been dragged through the mud and grime of the red villages. The tattered remains of the outfit I had worn in Delphie hung limply around my frame, and I had pointedly refused any clothing offered by the guards or Cal. My normally soft, clean hair, hung in knots around my head. I'd tried to brush them out with my fingers to no avail. I looked like a mess, a great big, weak mess.

Cal was standing in the doorframe, the weak light behind him forming a halo around him as he blocked most of it out. I squinted at the image, my lips curling into a sneer as I inquired, "What now? Come to interrogate me finally?"

"No, we're moving you." He replied casually as he stepped into the room. Without the backlight, I could actually see his features. I was struck once more by how much older he looked, as if the year he had been away from the court had aged him by a century. Draped across his arm was another set of hideous clothes that I was already opening my mouth to refuse. He stopped me though by throwing them at me, forcing me to divert my attention to catch them.

The shirt was soft cotton, and the pants were simple trousers that looked like they had been freshly sewn. I frowned as I held them up to myself to measure them to my body. They looked like they would fit perfectly. I glanced up at him with a raised brow, hoping to pull an answer for them out of him. I wasn't disappointed.

"Mare's younger sister sewed them for you, much to her protests. And I suggest you wear them, because the other alternative would be to have you walk naked through the compound." He deadpanned before turning his back to give me some resemblance of privacy. I bundled them up though and threw them at the back of his head, hissing under my breath, "I'd rather go naked."

He barely flinched as the clothes hit him and draped over his shoulders and head. I crossed my arms at his lack of an emotional response and leaned back against the hard metal wall. I refused to be lead by them, I wouldn't stoop to their levels, even over something as trivial as clothes.

Pulling the clothes off his head, Cal glanced down at me, his lips turned up in the slightest of smiles as he replied, "I see. Well, it's a pretty long, cold walk back to the bunks you're going to have, and the men around here will not politely turn their eyes away when you walk by."

I felt the heat in my cheeks before I could stop it, and in that moment, I knew that Cal had won. The infuriating part was that he knew he had won, too. He tossed the clothes back to me and stepped out into the hallway, closing the door slightly to give me privacy again. I sneered at the closed door and then rose to pull the grimy clothes I had off.

I tugged the new shirt on, and had to admire how nice it felt to have something other than dirt and dried blood pushing up against my skin. Tugging on the pants, I glanced up at the door upon hearing the rise and fall of voices outside. I left my boots and clothing abandoned on the metal bench, and then stepped out in bare feet, pulling my hair up into a knot at the top of my head to hide the more nasty parts of it.

Standing, leaning up against the wall across from Cal was Shade Barrow. His demeanor still brittle as he looked me up and down. Glancing at my bare feet he raised a brow, but didn't say anything. Shrugging off the wall, he tucked his hands in his pockets, and nodding to Cal he inquired, "You sure this is safe? She's not going to try and kill people, right?"

"I am standing right here you know." I huffed, as I crossed my arms. I felt strangely unsure in front of him, as if he could see through all my meticulous walls down into my core where I had tucked away all my weaknesses. It was an especially unnerving aspect about him. Shade only narrowed his eyes at me and grunted. "So I see."

Then he turned on his heel and started toward the end of the hall. Cal took up pace next to me, his expression strangely reminiscent as he spoke, "You have a cover story by the way, so that no one goes after you."

"Let them, I could take all of them-" I paused as he narrowed his eyes, my voice tapering off to nothing noticing the glaring flaw in my words. Shade had glanced over his shoulder at us, never breaking stride of course, but his expression was stony. It reminded me heavily of the time when he had been a prisoner and Ptolemus and I had tried to extract information from him. He had glared us down like he could light us on fire with his gaze. He had thrown a few rebukes of his own in, and I had privately admitted at the time that knew his way around a biting remark.

"Try to keep those thoughts to yourself, okay, Blondie?" Shade added, as we turned the corner and came to a set of stairs. The nickname was like a bite, and it stung as much as any curse word. I tried to ignore that though, I shouldn't care what these people thought of me, least of all Shade Barrow.

All around me, I could hear the crashing of water, and when I looked to my right and up, I could see a huge cascading waterfall. It tumbled down into a huge pool to the right that was embanked by a dam that we were walking along the top of. The water churned violently below us, and seemed to power some form of generator.

People were walking along the dam on the other side, moving antiparallel to us, their heads bowed as they observed some of the mechanics along the far wall. I watched them curiously for a few moments. I had never been a technology person, I was more interested with the abnormal properties of energized metal. How something with no mind, no blood, no heart, could move something metallic just as well as I could.

We approached another set of stairs and at the bottom, Cal set his hand on my shoulder, forcing us to stop a few paces behind Shade who went to speak with the officer barring our way. I shook his grip off immediately and growled, "Don't expect me to play nice with everyone Calore. I don't play well with others."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that." He replied dryly, his expression not changing a whit, which was more infuriating than if he had responded any other way. I crossed my arms in annoyance, and he sighed before glancing at Shade who was gesturing over to us every so often.

When he looked back at me, his voice was my for my ears only, and there was something strangely soothing about it. "I need you to keep your cover up around here. There are things going on around here, people are starting to get frustrated. A mad crowd is a vicious crowd. Don't give them a reason to hate you, because they will eat you alive."

My expression wavered, and I whispered softly, "Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?"

He cracked a light smile, the first real one I had seen from him. "Because I'm starting to believe in the whole redemption thing, and I guess you could also say that I'm tired of killing people because they don't agree with me." His voice had gotten softer near the end, as if he were afraid to share this little piece of information with me, as if it were a vulnerability. He shook off his mood immediately, and then lowering his head so that only I could hear him. "Your cover story is simple. Mare met you in the palace, and you two became quiet friends, she offered you a position in the guard, and you took it because you love these people," I opened my mouth to protest everything, but the glare he gave me silenced my remark, and with a tired sigh he continued, "During the Archeon siege, the Guard couldn't get to you, but you volunteered to remain as a deep cover spy. We lost contact with you during the time when you married Maven, but you made contact again in Delphie, and actually sent us the floor plans for the plant."

I dug my nails into my arm, trying to bite my tongue and keep my fury to myself. I would have to play the traitor? My stomach turned at the thought, and my mind buzzed with the prospect of what would happen if this story got out to the Court. If it got back to my brother, and my family.

"And what? I'm just supposed to sit around and look pretty while I pretend be something I'm not?" I replied bitterly, as I raised my nose a fraction of an inch. Cal only sighed at my action and then running a tired hand through his unruly hair, he muttered, "Mare and I are working on that right now."

I feel my chest clench in response to her name, and instantly, I pulled back from Cal. If he noticed my reaction, he didn't say anything. I supposed I was grateful for that, but at the same time, I was unnerved by his mask of emotion. It shouldn't have surprised me, I wasn't to be trusted, and he was hiding his thoughts and feelings expertly. I supposed I was just upset because I couldn't get a read on him.

Shade appeared next to us, and nodding over his shoulder, he whispered something to Cal. Sighing, Cal glanced down at me and whispered regretfully, "I'm going to have to leave you with Shade, apparently my presence in requested in command. Shade will have to show you around."

For a moment, I thought Shade was going to throw up. His face paled and his lips puckered like he had tasted something sour. As Cal passed him, he patted his shoulder and ordered, "Take her around to all the big landmarks, and then take her to the training room. Mare can take her from there."

I opened my mouth to protest at that, but Cal had already started up the stairs, taking them two at time. He vanished at the top of the steps, and I had no choice but grumbled my dissent and follow Shade up the stairs. He looked about as upset as I was with the situation, and something about that twisted my stomach with an emotion I didn't recognize.

He refused to turn around as he launched himself up the steps, and I had to sprint to keep up with his long strides. Eventually I managed to maneuver my way next to him, and huffing, I gasped, "Could you slow down? You're practically running."

"How about you speed up? We're on a tight schedule." Shade grumbled, but he still shortened his stride to allow me time to catch up completely. At the top of the stairs, I have no choice, but to stop and stare at the sight before me. They had told us all that the Scarlet Guard was weak, that they had no numbers, that they were foolish terrorist with no organization. We couldn't have been more wrong.

Walking before me was a hive of activity. People rushed left and right, ducking and weaving through the crowd, relaying orders, and marching battalions. Everywhere I looked there were soldiers, men in uniform, women with children who carried banners and wore mock uniforms as they ran around pretending to fight each other. The golden sun of the revolution was stamped everywhere, and it glowed faintly in the dim light.

Glancing above my head, I could see the huge cascade of water that fell from what appeared to be the ceiling of the caravan into the pool below. Along the stone walls were catwalks that stretched across the middle on either side of the water, connecting everything in what looked like a never ending spider's web. The metal around me sang with the memory of hundreds of feet and overuse. It pulsed into my veins, and gave me a melancholy feeling.

Someone's shoulder slammed into mine, and I stumbled as their weight knocked me off balance. I felt Shade catch me, and my eyes burned with fire as I glared down the man who had knocked into me.

Dressed in what looked like fatigues, he was nowhere near imposing. With wild hair, and squirrely features, he looked rather like a child that had never grown up, the kind of kid that I would have beaten into a pulp for fun with Ptolemus. He looked me up and down as well, and when he saw my bare feet, he laughed out loud and gestured to me.

"I see they've let the Silver Queen out of her cell."

The men behind him hissed and booed under their breaths, and seeing their sneers and glares, I felt a cold weight settle in my stomach. They hated me and I hadn't even done anything. The promise I had made to myself, about remaining distant and cool, was washed away in that instant. There were far too many of them for me to fight, far too many to insult, and quite frankly, I was exhausted and didn't feel like dealing with this situation.

I felt Shade's hands grip my arms tighter, and his voice was liked clipped steal as he ordered, "Move, Hector, I'm on a tight schedule."

"Sure you are Shade," murmured one of the men behind Hector, his lips pulling up into a malicious grin as he took me in. It took a moment for me to recognize him, but I would know his tawny hair and lanky outline anywhere. The one who Cal had referred to as Mare's friend down in the cell after the disastrous Scarlet Guard attack. He looked even thinner now, and his complexion was pale with lack of sun. But he still seemed to look bigger, as if someone were inflating him to increase his size.

"Yes, I am Kilorn. So if you would all be so kind as to move, that would be fantastic." He nudged me forward, so that I took a hesitant step toward the crowd of men. Among them I could see a few women, who looked older and were covered in battle scars. They sneered at me and one of them reached out, as I passed, to grab the ends of my hair that hadn't made it into the knot, and hissed, "Not so pretty now, huh, your Highness?"

I yanked away from her, and they all laughed as I tried to push my way through them, they all crowded though, and I felt adrenaline lace through my nerves as I straightened up to my full height. Shade stepped to my side, and before I could try and fight them, he grabbed my arm tightly and shoved one of the men out of the way to make room for us. He slipped us through the gap, and glaring back at the men, he narrowed his eyes and commanded, "Quit picking fights you won't win, Hector."

The man only smiled at Shade and motioned for everyone to follow him. They paced after him like a pack of dogs chasing a bone on a string. He led them down a separate corridor, and Shade paused to watch them go. His expression was clouded with worry for a moment, and I glanced at him in curiosity. Hector hardly looked like a problem, he was hardly five foot five. I could have stepped on him if I wanted to.

"He better not be going to interrupt that council meeting." Shade grumbled, before starting off again. I started in surprise, and ran to catch up to him again. As we walked, people glanced at us curiously. Well, probably not Shade, and more me. They looked me up and down, and some even snickered at my bare feet. My face burned with humiliation, and I wished for my boots which I had left in the cell.

Shade gestured down a hallway as we passed it, and when I poked my head around the corner to see down it as we breezed by, he commented, "That's the way to the mess. Down the hall, to the right. To the left is the communal showers and such."

He passed another hallway and waving his hand to it almost dismissively he said, "Down there is the hangar, you won't be going down there anytime soon, so don't worry about it."

As I peeked around that corner, I saw in the faint distance the gleam of something metallic, but my vision was obscured by a mass of red soldiers that exited the tunnel. They moved around Shade and me like we were rocks in the middle of the river. I caught a few snippets of their conversations as they passed.

"New snow today, probably a few feet-"

"Trucks are gonna get stuck-"

"Command is looking into it."

"Heard Hector is saying things again-"

Before I could listen further, Shade had weaved us through the mass and entered a pocket of space. Pointing out another hallway, he explained, "That leads to the barracks for the families and soldiers. I stay down there, third door on the right, if you're ever interested in coming in while I'm sleeping and finishing the job you started."

I huffed in annoyance and replied, "I hardly think that comment was necessary."

He glanced down at me and cracking the first smile I had seen from him, he teased, "So you do have a heart under all those scowls."

My stomach fluttered at the sight of his grin, and I had to shove the feeling down as I crossed my arms and insisted, "No, you're just not worth the time it would take to kill you."

He only grinned, and continued along. This time, he turned down a hallway that was made of rough stone that looked slightly different from the others. Beneath the rock, I could feel the swirling of the metal as it pulsated like a living, breathing heart. It was strangely soothing considering where I was.

We approached a fork in the hallway, and he gestured to my right. "That's the way to Phoenix Legion's quarters. And this," he set his hands on the two double doors and pushing them open continued with a bright smile, "Is where they train."

The doors swung open and grinded on their hinges. As I entered, I glanced at the flag that was hanging above the door. Embroidered on a field or scarlet was a golden phoenix taking flight, its wings spanning across the flag, with a silver crown on its head. It was actually a very beautiful sight, and it inspired a spark of interest in my chest. The symbol was mysterious, and yet understandable at the same time-

"Duck!" Shade shouted as he grabbed my arm and yanked me to the floor. We collapsed in a heap as a fireball shot over our heads and smashed into the far wall. I glanced over my shoulder at the impact site for a moment, and then snapping my head around, I scowled in the direction it had come from.

A young man was standing on top of a raised dais, his hand outstretched with his fingers splayed. He looked absolutely surprised to see us standing there, and it was then that I saw the practice dummies set up around the room. Each had a charred mark created by his target practice.

"Nice shot, Torin," Shade droned as he stood up and then offered me his hand. I glared at it momentarily, debating what it would cost me to take it, and in the end, batted it away. He looked momentarily hurt, until the emotion was tucked under carefully constructed shields. Climbing to my feet, I delivered another glare at the young man who had almost fried us, but when I looked this time, I saw someone else behind him.

Standing in combat training boots, loose training pants, and a tank top, was Mare Barrow. She gave me a grimace of a smile and said, "Sorry about that, we weren't expecting you two to come through the doors then."

She looked beautiful standing there. When I had first seen her, she had seemed so plain and tiny, charred from her battle with a forcefield, but now, she looked like a warrior with the scars to prove it. She stood with a confidence that I had never seen in her, and she seemed to burn like a star as she crossed the dais and jumped down to cross the room to us.

A tiny blonde girl appeared on the other side of the dais, and poking her head over the edge, she tugged on Torin's pants and whispered something up to him. He only shrugged at her question and then turned to look at us curiously. He couldn't have been any older than fourteen, and judging by some of his proportions, he had a lot of growing to do. His caramel skin was a shade darker than Mare's and his hair stuck up in tiny ringlets all around his head.

Behind him, the little blonde girl had climbed onto the platform, and was sitting with her tiny legs tucked underneath her and her hands resting in her lap. Her head was tilted to the side in curiosity and her braid tumbled over her shoulder. The most striking of her features though was her pale eyes, like two oblique glass orbs that could see all the way down to my soul.

I shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, and at my reaction, she broke into a wide grin. Her cheeks dimpled the slightest bit, and she giggled to herself, before rising to her feet and running after Mare. She almost fell as she leaped off the platform, but she still managed to catch up to the older girl and hide behind her legs shyly.

Mare paused in front of me, and glancing at the girl behind her, she asked, "Maggie, can you watch the training room with Torin while I take our guest to her bunk?"

Maggie puckered her lips at the assignment and then inquired childishly, "Does she have to share a bunk room with me, Torin, and Chelsea? Cause we don't have enough beds in that room, and I don't want to give up my blanket."

Sighing at the girls antics, Mare shooed her away and admonished, "You will share if you're asked," she gave her a little nudge and the girl huffed as she tried to drag her feet against Mare's pushing. Eventually, she gave up though, and with a dramatic sigh that only a child could get away with, she ran back toward the dais and climbed up with the assistance of Torin. They both turned to watch Mare approach me then, their eyes filled to the brim with questions.

Shade dipped his head to his sister and with a smile that could have lit up a room he teased, "Playing mother again?"

"Haven't you learned that I'm always playing mother?" Mare replied with a bitter smile, and behind her eyes I could see a flash of pain at some distant memory. She crossed her arms loosely, apparently rather comfortable in my presence, although I could see her eyes flicking toward me every so often while she and Shade discussed something to do with shipments. Every time she did glance at me, I felt a smug smile tug at the corner of my lips, so the little lightning girl was afraid of me still, good, she should be.

Eventually, she turned her entire attention from Shade to me, and gesturing for me to follow her, she started out the training room. I turned on my heel to follow her, and glanced over my shoulder at Shade who had turned to speak with a petite redhead that had entered the room. She smiled at him lightly and punched his arm teasingly when he said something to her. I felt the burn of some dark emotion in my stomach and forced myself to look away as I quickened my stride to catch up to Mare.

She led me down a short, damp hallway and then through a doorway that had a curtain draped over it to seperate the next area from the hallway. We rounded a bend and over her shoulder Mare questioned, "Has Cal spoken to you about Phoenix Legion yet?"

"No, and I don't plan on joining your little legion of children." I snipped back at her. She only narrowed her eyes and fell silent as we rounded what appeared to be the final corner.

The space we entered was a large cavern of sorts, with makeshift furniture and a huge bucket of water in the middle. An middle aged woman was sitting behind it, washing clothes when we entered. She had a mass of long, dark hair that fell to the middle of her back in a long thick braid. Her skin was a golden honey color, and judging by the rough skin of her hands, she had always been working with them. A small basket next to her rang with the sound of a rattle, and I heard a chortling babies laugh come from it.

The woman looked up as we entered and smiled at Mare, her expression guarded as she took me in over her shoulder. The baby let out another high pitched peal of laughter and she turned her attention to it to say, "I think he might be like you chica, he always gets so happy when you enter the room." Her voice was heavy with an accent that I couldn't quite place, and it made her words hard to understand.

Mare only laughed in response to her, and crossed the open space to peer into the blankets in the basket, leaving me alone in the entry way. Crouching down she held out her finger to the baby and let it grab on before gesturing to the woman. "Evangeline, this is Isabella, she just joined us recently with her son Gabriel. Isabella, this is Evangeline Samos, she'll be staying with us for the time being."

Isabella looked me over for a moment with big, dark eyes, before bowing her head respectfully and whispering, "I would present myself to you, but I'm afraid I'm a little tied up with laundry right now."

Mare grimaced openly at her words, and then biting her lip to hide it, she spoke into the awkward silence. "Isabella is a teleporter like Shade."

Glancing up to see my reaction the woman nodded and then immediately looked back down at her hands and the shirt she was washing. The tension in the room spiked and I clenched my fists against it. She hated me, and she didn't even know me yet. Her gaze hid her disgust, but there was no denying it, Isabella was not a fan of me.

Sensing the awkward tension in the room, Mare rose again and said, "Well, we'll get out of your hair Iz, Cal should be back soon with Maggie and the others."

"Did you eat breakfast chica?"

"Yes Iz."
She sighed and then looking up at Mare like a worried parent she whispered, "Dios, You and Cal honestly make me look like your mother. You two are so busy training and working, I feel like I have to spoon feed you two or you'll starve."

"Oh don't be so dramatic Iz. I ate this morning and I brought Cal something from the mess." Mare replied as she waved Isabella's comment off. But the older woman only laughed and replied, "Ah sí, so that's what the full bowl of breakfast was in the training room this morning."

"Hey, just because I brought it doesn't mean he'll eat it." Mare chided as she beckoned me down another hallway. Isabella laughed and shouted at Mare as she left, "Aye chica, ayudame con él!"

"I am!" Mare shouted back with a laugh as we entered the hallway. Glancing over her shoulder at me, she said, "Isabella is not from Norta. She was sent here while she was pregnant. She talks like that sometimes, you'll pick it up eventually. Cal's still learning, which means she can call him a moron without him knowing."

"How old is her baby?" I inquired, ignoring her previous comment, I'm sure I wouldn't know if she called me a number of things that were worse than moron. I was genuinely curious about her baby though. It wasn't rare to hear stories like Isabella's, where women were shipped out as slaves and brought in to work on projects. They were actually commonplace in Norta, and in the Silver palace they were ever more common. My own mother had bought seven of them to serve one of our summer homes. At the thought of the warm mahogany walls that gleamed in the sunlight, and grand spacious rooms that always seemed to smell like lavender, my heart clenched in misery. I missed my home, and my family, whether it was a weakness or not. I was an eighteen year old girl who had been married off to a monster masquerading as a man, and then thrown from the only safe haven I had even known into this pit of misery.

Mare's smile seemed to freeze for a moment at my question, as if she was debating about giving me the answer, and in the end she shrugged and replied, "Young, he was born early."

I clenched my jaw at her avoidance, forcing my nostalgia down, so that the anger building up in the pit of my stomach had room to fester. I felt some of it ebb away though as I dwelled on her response. She had every right not to trust me. Although Cal appeared to trust my word, it didn't strike me as surprising that Mare would need some serious convincing before she trusted me with anything. I watched her back as she pointed out the rooms to me, who was staying where, and such. The only thing that threw me off was that she and Cal slept separately from the others… together.

"You two are close then?" I asked quietly, and to her credit, Mare tried to appear unaffected, but her stride still faltered as we approached the last room. I almost missed her reply as she opened the door. "You could say that."

Pushing open the old metal slab, she gestured inside and whispered, "I know it's not the best accommodations, but this is the best we have."

The room was tiny, almost closet like, and the smell made me wrinkle my nose. Maybe my cell would have been better. The walls were damp with condensation, and as I stepped in the room, I felt the chill seep into my bones. On the bright side, if there was one, if the reds didn't kill me first then the cold would do it while I slept.

"Cal's going to work on turn off the ventilation in here. It was originally supposed to be a storage room, but we figured you would probably want to be alone while you slept." Mare offered behind me, trying to be sincere, as she leaned against the doorframe. I didn't even glance back at her as I asked, "Is there another option?"

She was silent, and when I glanced back her, she was smiling sympathetically. Seeing my eyes on her, she shook her head. The motion was so small that I almost missed it, but I caught the meaning none-the-less. Turning away from her again, I heaved in a ragged breath through my nose and then murmured, "Of course."

"Evangeline," Mare paused as I flipped around to glare at her, but she gathered her courage quickly and continued, "I know that all of this is… confining, and I'm sorry about that. But if you need anything, or you just need someone to talk to... I've been where you are."

I saw how much it cost her to say that, to draw on those memories from a year ago. Only a year, I thought bitterly, what a difference a year could make. She had gone from rags to riches, and back again, and I had joined her. As much as I wanted to commiserate with her, to allow myself an ally, I couldn't bear to let it be her. It was her fault that all of this had happened, that I had lost my title, and the future I had been promised after my Queenstrial.

I turned away from her again, but I still heard the heavy sigh that escaped her as she left the doorway. The door closed as she left, and as she did, I heard the cooling system shut off. At least something had finally started going right for me.

(/Mare/)

I knocked lightly on the railing at the top of the stairs that led to the council's meeting room, hoping not to startle Cal who was sitting alone and looking through mounds of paperwork. His head was propped up with his hand, and his fingers were knotted into his hair, while he flipped the pages over and wrote things down on another sheet of paper.

He glanced up momentarily to see who was trying to get his attention, and I gave him a light smile as I stepped completely into the room. He only nodded to acknowledge me and then immediately looked back down at his work. In that glance, I could see the dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep, and the strain in his eyes from looking at the papers for so long.

I remained in the doorway for a few seconds, uncertain about entering. Eventually, I crossed the room and sat on the table, only a small reach away from him. Pulling some of the papers toward me, I flipped through them and then spoke lightheartedly, "Maggie's requesting you, she says she wants to hear a story."

He sighed, the only sign that he had heard me, and continued to scribble numbers down. I set the paper's down lightly, having not even looked at them. They were just lists of troop shipments, followed by supply lists, mixed in with notes that Farley and Cal had made together. Reaching out then, I ran my fingers softly through his hair and down to his neck where I could feel his muscle straining from sitting in the same position for so long. He seemed to loosen under my touch, and I smiled as I cajoled, "I think it would be a good break for you."

"I can't Mare, I have to get this-"

"You skipped dinner again, and Isabella threatened to drag you out of this room herself if you miss tomorrow night. She says you're losing too much weight." I interrupted sternly, trying to get both Isabella's worries and my own across at the same time. He only glared up at me, but there was no genuine fire behind the stare, and eventually he dropped it and sank back into his chair. I saw his shoulders slump, and my heart clenched as he ran tired hands down his face and murmured, "She would, too."

His comment did draw a smile as I pictured a five foot four Isabella dragging Cal by his feet into the mess hall. Cal apparently didn't share my enthusiasm, as he sighed heavily again and then glanced down at the papers. "There's a whole regiment missing, a whole twenty men and women, unaccounted for, essentially missing."

"What?" I cried in surprise, and immediately, I lowered my voice as I noticed how loud I had said that. Regiments didn't just go missing, something must have happened. I shifted and stretched my neck to see if anyone in the tech pit had noticed my outburst, but no one appeared to be paying any attention to us, but I still lowered my head and whispered nonetheless, "But I thought all the regiments checked in yesterday before the storm."

Cal's eyes narrowed as he turned the paper he had been looking at over and handed it to me. I snatched it out of his hands and began to pour over it as he spoke, "So did I, but while I was doing the numbers today, I realized they were missing. Someone checked them in, but they aren't actually here."

"You sent someone to the barracks to look for them, right?" I asked softly as I noticed the discrepancy in the numbers as well. Cal didn't respond and when I glanced down at him, I saw that his brow was raised and his lips were pulled into a tight line. "No Mare, I just decided to ignore the problem. Of course I sent someone to account for them, but they weren't there."

I set the paper down quietly and chewed on my lower lip to avoid my next question, but Cal always knew when I had a question, and he always demanded that I ask it, no matter how stupid it might have seemed. He took my hand in his and running his thumb softly along the top of my hand, he demanded, "Out with it, Barrow, I see the gears turning in your head."

Sighing, I glanced back at the papers and then inquired, "Could we have miscounted?"

"I doubt it, I went through the numbers ten times, and then ran them up against last week's dispatches, and there's no discrepancy." His jaw tightened as he finished his statement and shuffled his papers out of reach. My stomach turned as I realized what that could mean. We had been confined to the compound to wait out the major storm cell that had come through, and if people were missing, they could be stuck out in the storm, or they could be trying to contact us through channels that had been shut down. Maribel had been working for days to try and get a signal from some of the operatives she had placed in Delphie, but nothing could come through with the storms interference. We were essentially blind, and being blind was not something Farley liked being. She practically paced the compound like a caged animal, and even Cal assuring her that Maven wouldn't try anything with the storm couldn't calm her.

"There's nothing we can do though, if they're stuck out there, they're stuck out there. What bothering me is that they were checked in." Cal sighed as he stood up and stretched unceremoniously, the hem of his shirt lifting to show how tightly he had his belt pulled. I crossed my arms and turned away, trying to ignore how thin he was getting. It worried me to no end, and it scared me that he was too busy to notice it.

He glanced back at me curiously upon noticing my reaction, as if he were about to ask me what the problem was, but he shrugged slightly instead and apparently decided to ignore it. Running his hand through his hair and leaning down to press a light kiss on my hair line, he murmured, "Is Evangeline settled in?"

I nodded and turned my head to let my lips brush against his, and inhaling the scent of wood and burning pine, I whispered, "Yeah, struggling to get comfortable, but settling in."

He nodded, and his hand snaked up to push some of the loose strands of my hair out of my face. Replicating my previous light touch, he whispered against my lips, "And you?"

"I'm fine Cal," I replied with a light smile as I cupped the back of his neck softly and ran my thumb along his hairline. His eyes dropped slowly to stare at our interlocked fingers in my lap, and sighing softly he murmured once more, "I'm asking about what you think of her."

For a moment I was taken aback but his comment, and then with a shrug to hide my reaction, I replied hesitantly, "I mean… I'm not sure what to think? She just seems really bitter, and she sort of thinks everyone's out to get her right now. She practically bit my head off when I offered her extra blankets."

He laughed softly, and pulled away from me, his eyes narrowing playfully as he teased, "And you did offer them politely, right?"

I crossed my arms in defense to his accusation and replied stiffly, "Of course, what do you take me for?"

He laughed again at my response, and then gathered up the papers to shove them into their books for storage. I felt my anger fade, and with a smile, I leaped off the table as he went to leave, and wrapped my arms around his. I buried my face in his sleeve and inhaled his scent as we descended the stairs into the tech pit.

At the bottom of the steps, I broke free from Cal, and walking backwards so I was looking at him, I teased, "Am I going to have to drag you to bed so you can sleep-"

I slammed into someone as I was backstepping, and Cal leaped forward to catch me as I let out a cry of surprise and almost fell forward at the sudden stop in my momentum. Whoever I had run into let out a grunt at the impact, and I flipped around to apologize to who it was. My apology died in my throat though, and I ended up gaping like a fish.

Glaring down at me like I was a bug he had stepped on, was a man that was at the least Cal's height, but was still twice his size around. I stumbled into Cal, who wrapped a protective hand around my arm to steady me. The man glared me down and then growled, "You should watch where you're going," and then, as if he were sharing a private joke, he laughed, "I almost stepped on you little lightning girl."

I bristled at his use of the nickname and rose to my full height to spit, "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I wasn't paying attention."

"Then maybe you should pay more attention to where you're going and not you little silver boyfriend." He sneered as he took a step closer to me and overshadowed me. I pressed back against Cal who stiffened behind me and squared his shoulders at the man's tone.

The man's hard black eyes shifted from me to Cal, and smiling crookedly, he whispered, "I figured a girl with as much power as you doesn't need a silver bodyguard. How about you tell your guard dog to sit and let you fight your own battles?"

"He's not my guard dog," I hissed threateningly as I yanked my arm from Cal's grip, and spit, "And I said I was sorry, what more do you want?"
"Ah, I see you've met our resident miracle couple, Seth." Hector's reedy voice piped as he stepped up behind Seth and shot Cal and me a cold glare. Patting the bigger man's arm, Hector's features melted into a delightful grin as he inquired, "Doing some late night work Calore?"

I felt the temperature behind me rise as Cal stepped forward to stand next to me and reply, "I was about to ask you the same thing."
I saw the barest flicker of panic run through Hector's eyes before he shifted his weight onto his back foot and glanced up at Seth. "I was just showing our new member around. Seth had joined us from down south."

"Fantastic, but I see no need for him to be in the command room." Cal stated, the order to leave implied heavily as he stepped forward to glare down at Hector, who shrank a few inches under Cal's burning glare. I felt the barest of smiles creep to my lips at the sight. Before I could start walking again though, Seth grabbed Cal's arm in a tight grip and spun him around to face him. With a tight grin he threatened, "I suggest you back off princie, you're walking on unstable ground."
To Seth's disappointment, Cal stood his ground and merely narrowed his eyes in response. Letting go of Cal's arm, Seth stepped through him, forcing Cal to the side with his shoulder. Hector scuttled after him, like a fish in the shadow of a shark, and gave Cal a sneer as he went. I turned to watch them pace through the tech pit, and just as I was about to storm over and give Hector a serious piece of my mind, Cal grabbed my arm to stop me. When I glanced back at him, he shook his head, as if to tell me it wasn't worth it, and then wrapped his arm lightly around my waist and led me out of the command.

Something picked at the back of my mind though, since when had Hector started recruiting? He wasn't in that department. He was in weapons shipments, at least, that's what I thought he was in. I could be wrong though, I had been wrong before.

A/N

Alright chapter 2! We've introduced to some new characters, and oh my god, we have an Evangeline pov (I'm extremely proud of it too)?! Okay, so this took me a while to put out, sorry. I had finals, and then I had lots of homework and tests because being a senior sucks. ):

I'm going to try really hard to have the next chapter out a lot sooner though.

Question time!

Did you guys like the Evangeline pov? Was it good, or am I completely off with her character?

ALSO:

Would you guys be up for a Red as the Dawn Tumblr Blog? I would post little snippet things (like parts of chapters from other characters povs, and even extra parts), some pics so you guys can see characters, and if I'm feeling really nice I'll post secret chapters and moments that I deleted (lol, bonus features). Just comment if you would be up for that, if I get enough people to say yes, I'll make one and ya'll can follow it. (: