Prince Sam [Under Reconstruction]

.17. - Raven

Miranda

My feet were carrying me down the long and never-ending hallways that turned left and right. Sam's room wasn't too far off, and you'd think I'd learn the ropes around here pretty fast, seeing as I've been here before. Once I had passed Sam's room I immediately stopped and pressed my ear to the door. Subtle movement could be heard from his side of the door. I could only imagine what he could be doing. Sleeping? Pacing? Cleaning? Bathing? There were endless possibilities, and I wouldn't know until I saw him later on.

I grabbed the basket filled with dirty and ripe smelling clothes that sat next to his door and continued walking until I hear footsteps angrily stomping. They sounded louder with each step. "You filthy lying mutt! How dare you lie to my face!" I whipped around to see Queen Tabitha walking extremely fast towards me. Her facial expression looked angered, almost hurt. "I trusted you!" She took my neck between her hands and threw me to the ground. My head hit the tile floor with force, sending a sharp pain down my spine. You could hear the floor crack underneath of my head, or was it my head? Either way, it still hurt. I opened my mouth to scream, but only air came out. Queen Tabitha cackled as she got on top of me and pinned my arms down. "You thought you could come back here and steal my son away this time, huh? Well, I have news for you, mutt. Samuel is already promised to his Mate. And his ceremony is tomorrow." Tears poured out of my eyes as my oxygen supply was cut off.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw an old man holding out a stick towards me. As I gasped for air I begged him with my eyes to stop but he persisted. I could feel my face turning purple and that's when he stopped. But that's also when I fell unconscious. "What should I do with her, your Majesty?"

"Take her to the dungeon. And this time, make sure she can't escape." Queen Tabitha's eyes landed on my unmoving body. "If I find out that Sam knows about her, throw him in there too." Her eyes quickly darted over to Alistar. "I think she would make for a great after ceremony surprise. She'll be hung until dead after the Mating Ceremony. Until then, get everything ready." Queen Tabitha walked off, leaving Alistar there to hover over my body.

His light touch came to my forehead, though I could not feel him. "My poor Miranda. I'll protect you. Just like I always have." Alistar leaned down and kissed my forehead as he picked me up. Even though I was unconscious I could feel my body being carried to God knows where in this massive Palace. It was almost like I was watching this all happen from above, yet I could still feel it happening. The feeling was extremely strange.

"Put me down," I yelled, but it never caught his attention. "I said, put. Me. Down!" My voice cracked as I yelled and shoved him to the ground. My body fell flat on him to make a perpendicular angle. He landed with a loud "oof" noise while I landed quietly. "That's what I thought!" I crossed my arms after dusting my hands proudly.

The man, Alistar, looked greatly dismembered like all his thoughts had been jumbled and messed up. His old grey eyes were wide with fear, his body shaking as he stumbled to stand up. "Miranda, please. I'm only trying to help you," he whispered sharply. "Now, please. Stop." How did he know I pushed him? More importantly, how did he know where I was, spiritually?

He quickly got up and rushed me to what I remembered was the Bad Place. It wasn't as bad as whatever my Father sent me to, but it almost matched. Wherever I was, it was dark, not just visually but in a presence. The energy felt dark, like bad things had happened here. The fact that there was only a table with straps to restrain your arms, head, legs and stomach didn't even help a little bit. I pushed my hardest against Alistar, but I just went through him every time. He laid my body on the table and buckled me in. My body just looked so limp, almost lifeless. Was I dead? I mean, I was watching from outside of my body.

I didn't even know what to watch. Should I watch Alistar or should I watch over my body? My body was just. . .laying there. Alistar was just tying me up and making sure it was tight. He didn't even care if I couldn't move my stomach to breathe. He just wanted me tied up so I couldn't get out. "Now that you're tied up, I can leave." What he did next completely shocked me. He turned to face my head and he bent down to kiss my forehead. I was about to stop him when I noticed he whispered something and rubbed my burned on mist. They glowed brightly, as did my veins in my body. Alistar seemed to smirk and have a huge look of approval on his face. "Good, everything is going as planned." He walked out the door frantically and never reappeared. It felt like several minutes before two Services appeared through the wooden door. They stood there watching my body.

That's when I noticed two familiar faces.

The Service that caught me in that old library, and Melonie. She smirked and gazed over at the Service. They both nodded as they walked over to me. Melonie grabbed my arm and held it down while the Service walked over to me with something in his hand. "Brand her. Brand her good, Kambrin. Maybe it'll teach her to stay away from my Samuel." He took out the tool and started cutting into my skin. He didn't just cut out a little tiny spot. No, he carved the words "Raven" into my arm, letting the blood drip and make a pool on the floor. He cut me so deep that the blood wouldn't stop. I looked down at my spiritual arm and noticed that they were even engraved on them. But what he did next hurt even my spirit. He poured the equivalent of Earth's rubbing alcohol on it. I released an ear piercing scream and they even heard it. "What was that?" I grabbed my arm and doubled over in pain, holding it close to me. Ghostly blood poured out of the cuts slowly. "Kam, let's go before we get caught. Alistar should be back any time now." The male Service that had carved my bleeding arm nodded and left with the other two Services.

I ran over to my body and cried softly. The liquid substance had already started healing the scar just like the tattoo I had on my neck. I softly moved my hair out of my face and bent over to lay my head on my stomach. "Hang in there, you'll be fine. Just tough it out." I grabbed my own hand and just like the snap of a finger I went back into my body.

My eyes opened widely as I gasped for air right when Alistar walked back in. He looked deeply shocked that I was even awake. We made eye contact for a brief second before I started trying to get myself out of my restraints. "What in Abraham's resting soul happened here?" He quickly ran over to my arm that had just been branded. "Who did this to you?" I wouldn't answer him. I refused. "Please, tell me."

Instead of answering I closed my eyes and let the tears roll down my face. The pain was being pushed aside as thoughts of Samuel and I flooded into my mind. There was one time from my first visit when he took me out to the Garden of Mazes. He held my hand as we walked slowly down the dirt paths. He would just smile at me at random moments, giving me happiness.

Then there was another time he helped me escape from the hell that I knew as a tiny room. It was in the middle of the night and I remember him grabbing me up and carrying me to a hallway. Little did I know it would be the last time I would ever see him until now. . .

"Miranda, you have to tell me who did this."

"Why should I tell you anything? You tried to kill me."

Alistar quickly shook his head. "I simply knocked you out. It's a very simple spell."

So simple, you had to cast it on me. I rolled my eyes and looked away from his daring gaze. "You can't kill me." I quickly eyed Alistar who was unbuckling my head restraint.

He cackled softly. "Who said I wanted to kill you? If I wanted to kill you, I would've killed you back when you were at Headquarters." I furrowed my eyebrows and glared up at him. "I mean, when you were at-"

"Headquarters. . .I've only heard that once before." I struggled to remember where from, but all I could think of was Abraham saying that word. "King Abraham had said that once before, I think." Alistar looked away and slowly walked away from me. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing."

"You're lying," I spat quickly. "I could feel your heartbeats stumble." Why could I feel that? More importantly, how could I feel it?

He sighed. "I see Abraham spilt some of his magic into you." What? "That would explain why you heard the word Headquarters before." I shook my head. "Just try to get some rest, okay? I'll wake you early enough tomorrow so I can get you out of here." With that Alistar left me to my wandering thoughts, and it terrified me.