The Lycan's Stolen Bride

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The women's barracks was a long building with rows of bunks stacked three high, and filled to the brim. It was one of the unkempt facilities she ever stayed in, it was said to be where the worst of the worst were thrown into, the only little comfort was, it contained women only.

Atleast there were some certain dangers that they were free from, not that it made life better or safer.

The whole place smelled like dried urine and sweat, and some scents of aggrevied different designations, hardened by decades of labor, and bitterness. There was one small window at the far end which was their only source of ventilation.

Callie's bunk was at the bottom, near the door, where the draft came in. Sparrow's bunk was right above it.

Sparrow was already there when Callie came inside, half expecting to get beaten up by those women in the courtyard.

She was sitting on Callie's bunk with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her hair was still wet from what she endured outside. Her bottom lip was split open, a deep red line, and a little blood had dried on her chin. She must have hit it on the trough.

When she saw Callie's face, she stood up fast. Her eyes filled with tears, worried about her, her eyes searching, scanning for any new injuries that Callie might be sporting.

"Sit," Callie said, shaking her head in a bit to comfort her. "I'm fine."

She wasn't fine. Her cheek was swollen. Her ribs screamed every time she breathed in. But she had been less fine before. UNlike then, this was nothing compared to it.

She sat down on the bunk, carefully. Sparrow sat beside her.

Callie reached into the front of her dress and took out her bread. She had kept it there all through supper, inside her clothes, so no one would take it. It seemed to be falling apart into little crumbs from how tightly it had been held.

She broke it in two and held one half out, gesturing to sparrow to take it.

Sparrow shook her head, not reaching out for it.

"Take it," Callie said.

Sparrow shook her head again and pointed at Callie's face, then at her ribs.

"I'm bigger than you," Callie said. "I can go without. You can't. If you get any thinner, the wind will carry you over the wall."

Sparrow's mouth twitched. It was almost a smile. She took the bread. She ate it slowly, in small bites, the way all of them did, to make it last longer.

Callie watched her. Her eyes kept going back to that split lip. It was bleeding again a little, from the chewing.

"Hold still," Callie said.

She lifted her hand and touched the cut gently with her thumb. And her hands went warm.

It started in her tip, slowly getting warmer, like she touched a hot plate or fire, only for the warmness to increase in intensity, with a little glow, that was easily not noticeable.

Callie went very still.

This had happened before. Only a few times, and never on purpose. Once, in her first year, with a burn on her own arm that faded in a night. Once with a stray cat in the yard that had a broken leg, which ran off the next day like nothing was wrong. Each time she had told herself it was nothing. Her mind playing dirty trick on her, because she was hallucinating from hunger.

But she was looking at it now.

Under her thumb, the split in Sparrow's lip was closing. The split already healing until everything returned back to normal.

Callie pulled her hand away. The cut was gone. There was only a little dried blood on Sparrow's chin, and nothing under it at all.

Sparrow had stopped chewing.

She was staring at Callie. Not with fear. Callie had expected fear. But sparrow looked at her like she had found something she had been looking for.

"You didn't see that," Callie whispered. Her heart was beating hard, hoping sparrow would not decide to sell her out. "Do you understand? You didn't see anything."

If the guards found out, she didn't know what they would do. But she knew it would be nothing good. People in Greywater who were different didn't stay long. They were taken away in the night, and their bunks were given to someone else.

Sparrow slowly nodded She dusted her body, to get it clean from the crumbs, and lay down facing the wall.

Callie lay down too. Her ribs hurt. Her face hurt. Her mind would not stop thinking about her past, her family. Somewhere in the night, she fell asleep.

She dreamed of a field of white flowers, and a woman's voice singing, and a tall shadow standing at the edge of a forest, watching her, like it was waiting for an opportunity to get her.

Then the banging started, loud enough to wake anyone from sleep.

*Bang. Bang. Bang.*

Callie jerked awake. It was still dark. The window at the far end was black. All down the row, women were sitting up, blinking, afraid. Nobody was ever woken before the bell. Not unless something was wrong.

The door flew open. A lantern swung in, too bright. Behind it stood a guard in a heavy coat, his breath smoking in the cold air.

He held up a piece of paper and read from it.

Then he looked straight at Callie.

"3456," he said. "Up. Now."