When Snow Falls

-Chapter 27-

Black.

It's amazing how many shades one color can have, even if it's thought to be plain.

Same goes with red. It's nondescript. Singular. Plain.

Until it turns into something more.

Funnily enough, the only color I could think of, the only color I could see, was red. It's what showed up best in black.

They kept me blindfolded. When I woke up, all I saw was that blasted black color. It worked its way into my body, slithering down my spine and into my lungs. Then I thought of blood red and it came in, bringing along fire.

Seeing wasn't much better. When the muraes stopped, they put me in a chill room with floor as hard and as cold as it could be. It smelled like sweat and stale mold.

It didn't take long for me to figure out where I was once they took the blindfold off.

It was a dungeon. A dungeon for humans ruled by rats. The only light that managed to sneak in was through one of the few open slices in the wall. What looked to be a small river of water trickled down the slight hill all hours of the day. Rusted bars separated me from freedom and me from anyone in the cells next to mine.

I was constantly under watch. Whether it be the murae or my father who paced around the jail cells, or the older, dark-skinned man in the room next to mine, there was constantly a pair of eyes on me.

My father. I could barely even call him that. Whatever he had become, it wasn't him. It was someone--something--else. Rosinka told me it was miralis in the last stage.

If it was, Dad would have been shoved so far into his mind he would never surface again.

I plucked at one of the bandages tied around my ankle. It wasn't very well done--the ends weren't tied together, it was too loose in some places--but it was there. The bleeding in both my arm and leg quit hours before, but it was only because King stopped it.

He said he wanted me alive a little longer.

I said he needed me alive (not to his face). The only person who knew where the cavaliers were was William, and I guess Will told him I knew too.

I didn't, but it kept me breathing.

I wasn't sure about Merlin, though. In the two days of being in the dungeon, not one murae mentioned him. He could've been dead. The last time I saw him, he was beaten to a pulp by the muraes and laying on the ground.

Other than Dad, no one I knew showed up. With the only other possible human the slightly creepy guy next door, I was out of luck.

I leaned against the wall. Boredom had officially struck. With all the running Will and I did for the past who-knows-how-long, sitting felt like torture.

Sitting still with a broken wrist, burned arm, and slashed ankle was even worse.

You can heal, you know.

I held back a laugh. Rosinka had been telling me the same thing for at least six hours. How do you expect me to do that? Hate to break it to you, but I can't spontaneously heal myself. It doesn't work like that.

She rolled her eyes, which made my eyes turn in my head. It has to transfer, doesn't it?

"By a willing person, Rosi! They have to be wanting to take this!"

The man in the cell over raised his eyebrow. Heat rose to my cheeks. I stuck out my tongue and turned my back to him.

Not necessarily. If you're strong enough, you can move it to something yourself.