New chapter up! I haven't had a real good chance to work on the story before Spring break due to school obligations, but now that I have a little time off this week, I'm hoping to get some more writing done. Hope you all like the newest chapter.

CH3: Fire and Water

CAL

"NO! This isn't real…" Sobs follow a wail of grief from the young voice of Mare's little sister.

I feel immediately out of place once I enter the Barrow residence and my eyes quickly search for Kilorn. I was sent here to get him for another meeting with the Colonel before we board the undertrain to Hillford. He stands in the small kitchen near Ruth Barrow as she quietly sobs into her hands. 'He must have told them...' I think to myself. For a swift moment I am glad Kilorn broke the news to them and I didn't have to. He is much closer to Mare's family than I am and just being here as they grieve is uncomfortable. As I glance around, my eyes catch the sad looks of Bree and Tramy who are beside Gisa, attempting to calm her from her combination of anger induced crying and screaming. I had little doubts the youngest Barrow would take Mare's capture well. Finally, my gaze lands on Mare's father… Daniel was it? He looks as broken as I feel and he doesn't even bother to glance up to see who entered the house. The entire tone of the scene before me is somber and broken, a feeling I can relate to in Mare's absence.

Kilorn pats Ruth's back and mutters something to her before she turns away and walks to a back room, face stained with tears. He then walks up to me and puts a hand on my shoulder, "You shouldn't have come…"

"The Colonel sent for you. Another meeting." I reply.

Kilorn looks away for a moment before leading me out of the room and away from Gisa's howls. I walk away from the building at his side and we head towards the meeting room that has set the scene for many evacuation conversations over the past few hours since we returned to Tuck.

The Colonel plans to completely abandon the base and wipe all evidence of our existence here. While it's feasible, which is evident by the massive amounts of people all around us moving things and hauling resources to the undertrains, it's taxing on everyone. We are lucky for those trains, too, otherwise this evacuation would have been nearly impossible.

"Did you ask the Colonel about going back for Mare?" Kilorn asked from my side.

"Yes. He basically brushed me off until the evacuation is over and we rescue the Little Legion. He wants to keep planning in progress throughout, so he says, which I plan to hold him to." Kilorn rolls his eyes and sighs.

"Not too surprised at that. From the little time I have been with the Guard I have learned enough to know the Colonel values the many over the few. Kinda puts us in a bad place where Mare is concerned…I just hate the thought of what your brother is doing to her. I may not know Maven, but it doesn't take a genius to see that he capable of anything."

At the mention of my brother, Maven's small smile floods my thoughts from a time long ago when he was but a small and innocent child. Even then, he didn't smile often, but it was always when we were alone and playing that he would share a small one for me. Those memories feel foreign, like they belong to someone else and I'm only watching them, but I still feel the love I had for that boy once. Now, the man he has become is some dark and twisted version that I can't seem to picture ever being a cute smiling little boy.

"Well I know Maven. His obsession with Mare was beyond anything I have ever seen before. It's not love, like he may claim. What he has already done to her can't be considered true love. But it's a dark bastardization that he can't seem to fight. I feel conflicted on it because it's what got her kidnapped in the first place, but it's also what will keep her alive until we come back to get her." I clench my fist and feel my jaw tighten. The anger that overpowers me when I think of where she is now, who she is with, is overwhelming.

"That's assuming we even get a chance to rescue her before it's too late…" Kilorn's eyes are downcast and I see hints of the depression I saw in him on the way to the undertrain. I put a firm hand on his shoulder and stop him.

"We will get her back, Kilorn. If I have to storm that castle alone, then so be it." He looks up at me and silent understanding passes between us.

"If you're going, it won't be alone."

And to that, I smile.

x.X.X.X.X.x

Evacuating everyone from Tuck turns out to be a colossal effort in everyone's part. In a matter of a day whole buildings were swept for any important information and all signs that could lead Maven's forces to any other Scarlet Guard locations were destroyed. All useful goods or supplies were packed away on several undertrains and sent en route to Hillford, a northern base in the ruins of an old city in Lakelander territory. I find myself on one of the last trains sent out and I quietly think of how empty Tuck was before we left and our journey into territory I always associated as enemy.

I feel a shift in the space next to me and turn my head to see Cameron sitting beside me. She looks forward and does not meet my glance, so I shrug and return to looking out the window.

"What do you think they are doing to her?" Cameron's lack of finesse with words annoys me, but I sigh and attempt to stamp out this discussion quickly.

"Nothing good. What do you want?" I try to keep my voice neutral, but my annoyance only grows when she rolls her eyes and finally looks at me.

"Making conversation, obviously."

"You never had any interest in talking to me before. Why change that?" I try to read her, but she is great at hiding her true intentions behind a cloud of attitude. She considers me for a moment, possibly to decide if she will tell me the truth or not and then finally replies.

"Maybe I actually care if she is still alive. Mare was a pain, and she did take me against my will to fight a war I never wanted…but she didn't deserve to become a prisoner. Not to save us." Her genuine words startle me and I seriously wonder if the same Cameron is next to me that was so vehemently against everything only a few days ago.

"Don't have a heart attack, it's not like I hate her completely. If she didn't take me with you all then I wouldn't be here with a golden opportunity to save my brother. I likely would have died trying to do this all alone." Her face was devoid of any real emotion, but it was raw in her voice. She truly did feel something; however small it may be.

"I believe you." I reply as we share a silent moment together in question of what Mare is doing now. "I want to hope that there is something in my brother that would protect her from harm. But I have a hard time distinguishing who Maven was from who he has become."

"While I doubt that is the case, let's hope for it for Mare's sake."

MARE

My eyes snap open and I remember where I am yet again. My dream weighs on me as I sit up on the bed. On the floor is a new platter with food, different from the one I ignored last night. A growl from my stomach pushes me forward to take the food and begin eating.

'Not so bad for a prisoner…' I think to myself. I stuff my face with biscuits and a sweet orange. I follow it all with large chugs of milk and feel the exhaustion from the night before wash over me. The food gives me more energy and I decide on a shower to wash the sweat off from the nightmares that plague me, both awake and asleep. I find a new set of thin white linen clothes and shuffle to the bathroom.

I walk in and set the water, feeling the heat from the shower and the warm meal washing away the invaded feeling of Samson in my mind. But his name brings a fresh wave of guilt for what my knowledge could do the Guard; may have already done. 'All I can hope is that Farley was telling the truth when she told me I had no idea how big the Guard is. Anything I knew, Samson knows, and I know the Colonel wouldn't risk the idea that Maven wouldn't extract information from me somehow. Plus, Cal knows what Samson can do because he felt Elara's powers first hand.' That thought does little to comfort me without any real knowledge to back it up.

When I finish my shower I don my drab white outfit and walk back out into the bedchamber. Before I even get a chance to finish slipping on my sandals, the Arvens are bursting into the room yet again.

"Turn around." One of the guards demands harshly.

"No." I reply, backing away towards the bed, and the younger guard seems surprised at my defiance, but that surprise is quickly replaced by anger.

"It wasn't a question. Turn. Around."

I stand my ground and she quickly jolts at me and grabs my shoulder, twisting my body down onto the bed. "Get OFF me!" I scream as I struggle against her. The other guard, a taller and more well-built man, comes up and links the cuffs from the previous day to my wrists and I scream against them as they pull me up to my feet.

I feel my body work in overdrive as I kick the man back and bash my head into the woman's face. Before I can run out the door, a third guard appears before me and I feel my head smash into the floor. His punch left me reeling and my skull throbs from the impact with the ground. I groan as I loosely feel the guards pick me up and drag me down the hallway, downstairs, to the white hallway. I can barely fight back because every movement makes my head scream in response.

Again the Arvens lock me up to the ceiling and floor and leave me to stand there, mildly concussed and fighting head pain similar to the one Samson left me last night. Thinking hurts, so I wait out the inevitable in silence, nursing my pain in somber silence.

x.X.X.X.X.x

The door opens after several hours of nothing and I feel the nerves building up in me. The headache has dulled to a light throb in the back of my skull, but my thoughts race as a woman in the distinctive colors of House Osanos waltzes in the room flanked by three others. She wears a blue masquerade mask to hide some of her features but I can easily see the malice in her eyes. It was the same look I was given by the other silvers at Maven's little parade.

Flanking her are the two Arven guards from this morning and a simply dressed woman donning the colors of Skonos; a skin healer. I feel the nerves rocket into overdrive, 'God… she is here to make sure I don't die.' I think as I meet eyes with the Osanos Nymph. A sickly sweet giggle comes from her lips just before I notice the movement above me as a portion of the ceiling moves to give way to a pipe.

'A water pipe…' Is the only thought I can muster before a torrent of water pours around me and is shaped into a ball around my body. My anticipation of this allowed me a single breath of air but I can feel the pressure of the water build and increase around my throat. Water rushes up my nose without my willing and a jerk reaction opens my mouth to breath in air that isn't there. Like a floodgate the water enters my mouth and rushes into my lungs. The feeling of drowning is horrible, and the lack of control makes it unbearable. I can't swim to surface; I can't move myself from her bubble.

And then the water falls around me and my lungs are forcibly emptied. Drenched, I gasp in sweet air and cough at the residual water inside me. My chest burns with every intake of air and I feel nauseous from the entire ordeal. The healer approaches me and touches my face with a look of intense concentration. I feel the burn reduce to nothing and she turns away from me with a simple nod to the Nymph.

And I feel my world warp before me again as the water encircles me. This time she doesn't push the water into me, but rather uses the pressure of the water to push against my body. I feel my muscles constrict and my rib cage tightens against my innards. Unable to hold my breath any longer against the pressure against my chest, I gasp in another flood of water and feel that same feeling of my lungs filling. That coupled with the unending pressure is almost too much to take. I feel my vision blurring and before I can feel the sweet release of sleep, the water falls around me and the Nymph pulls the excess from my lungs. My coughing resumes and I try again and again to just take in air.

The Healer approaches and the Osanos' sick laugh fills the white room as my cracked robs mend within me. Again, I feel the water rise up around me and my tears mix with it as I dread the pain I must face.

The cycle continues for what feels like an eternity…

x.X.X.X.X.x

When I am thrown into my room, it feels harsher than yesterday. The female Arven scoffs with a dirty scowl, still angered from my escape attempt in the morning. I don't have the energy to care and sit silently waiting for the inevitable platter of food to be dropped on the floor. When I hear it, I grab the tray and sit on the bed quietly eating my dinner. I can't bring myself to enjoy any of it, let alone feel an appetite for food, but I force it down either way. 'I will get out of this hell hole.' I think to myself as I shovel potatoes into my mouth. I will eat every meal and use my mornings to strengthen. I will fight against my guards. I will find a way out of here.

'I have to.' I think.

Once my tray is completely empty, I kick it over to the door and lay down on the bed, staring up at the empty ceiling. Thoughts of today run though my head and even though the pains are gone thanks to the healer's hands, every memory of the crushing pain and drowning lungs the Nymph put me through lingers like an infection as I fall into yet another fitful night of sleep.

x.X.X.X.X.x

I feel the lightning spark from my hands into the body before me, searching for a brain to sink its teeth into. A raging scream escapes me as I lunge forward to the next person in the way of my escape. Another body lies in my path, each one burnt where my hands touched and twitching from the remnants of electricity that I poured into them.

Another wave of guards rush at me and I brace for an electrical storm like no other. Electricity rips from the walls and the windows and I send it spiraling away from me in a circumference, hitting every human body surrounding me. As the bodies drop I see a glint of red bronze eyes that look so familiar they tear right through me.

"Mare…I-I was just…" every word is chased by a shaky and rugged breath, "I wanted…to save…you." His final word is but a whisper as his body falls before me, empty and broken by my lightning.

"CAL!" I scream as I run to him. His black hair pillows around his charred face. His eyes have nothing left in them and my sobs come quick and fierce. "Please, Cal. Please come back! I didn't mean to…I didn't know you were…" My words are silenced by a sharp laugh from behind me.

I feel my lightning stifled by the silence before I turn to see Maven's smirk.

Everything burns within me.