98

Kevin’s POV
“Ella! Ella! Ella!” I shouted as I watched her slip into unconsciousness.
My hand with which I was rubbing on her mark fell from her wrist and I grabbed her, shaking her to wake up but she was as stiff as a rock.
What was wrong with her?
“Ella!” I called out again.
Liam placed a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him with tear-stained eyes, probably looking as helpless as I felt. “You have to keep on cleaning the mark.”
“She fainted from the pain.”
Liam nodded to show me he understood my pain but his stare didn’t soften. “You have to keep on rubbing the sap on her skin if you want to help her.”
How could I be helping her by running more of that on her body when it had been the reason she had been in pain and fainted?
My hands were scalded from the heat and I couldn’t imagine how hot it would be in her blood. She was a strong woman who had to have been in a lot of pain to make her faint.
I didn’t want to rub anything on her body again. I wanted to scoop her in my arms and run to where pain could no longer reach her.
As if he sensed the thought in my head, Liam shook his head at me. “You can’t give up now, Kevin. Remember what the old man had told us.”
I sniffled as the memory came to mind. I remembered. He had said everyone had to fight their battles to get the mark off and I believed Ella was fighting off hers at the moment. I didn’t think it would be like this when he had said it. No wonder the poor man got home with scars. I couldn’t imagine what he had fought off while he was alone cleaning the mark.
I believed he must have passed out after using the leaves and sap as Ella did and an animal had mauled his body while he was unconscious because he had no one to watch over it.
I glanced at Ella and my breath hitched in my throat as I saw a tear drop off her eyes. She was as stiff as a rock but the tears leaking off her face were the only indication that she was still alive and with us.
“I believe Ella is fighting off her battles to get rid of the mark. We can’t fight it for her and only had to trust that she would win and wake up soon.”
“She has to.” I whispered.
“Why don’t you keep on rubbing off the mark so we can leave here immediately after she is awake?” Liam encouraged me.
I nodded. I guess that was the best thing to do. She was unconscious now and wouldn’t feel the heat as much as she would if she was awake. If I had to suffer burning fingers for her sake, I would. I hated feeling like I couldn’t help her anyway.
“Here,” Damien said, extending a handful of leaves he had already stained with the sap to me and I took it from it with a grateful nod and kept myself busy as I continued scrubbing the mark away.
Ella’s POV
I awoke with a gasp and was relieved that it had all been a dream when I saw the familiar faces of Kevin, Liam, Andre and Damien. I saw the place that I had remembered being at last in the presence of the Arok tree and heaved a sigh of relief.
I gasped as Kevin pulled me into a hard embrace, wrapping his arms around me and running his hands through my hair. “I’m so glad that you are back.”
“I fainted.” I said, not as a question as the memory started coming back to me.
“Yes, you did.” Kevin nodded. “I was so scared when you did that and especially when you started crying.”
“I cried?” I asked as I wiped at my face. I didn’t know I did that.
“What happened?”
“I had a nightmare.” I began. It felt good to say it out loud now that it had been a nightmare. “It felt real that I was almost going crazy.”
Kevin pulled me into his embrace again. “I was so worried.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be.”
The way he wrapped his hands tightly around me, I was worried that he might break my bones if he got harder.
“Kevin, ease on the hold, you might break her.” Liam said.
I shot him a grateful smile as Kevin pulled back. “Thank you.” I mouthed to Liam.
He nodded and smiled back at me. I glanced down at my wrist and was relieved that the mark was off. “The mark is gone.” I breathed in delight.
“It’s gone.” Kevin nodded.
“I am grateful. I guess it’s all over.” I breathed.
“It’s over.” Kevin nodded. “Let’s go home, my dear.”
“Let’s go.” I nodded, returning his smile.
“I hope the journey back home isn’t going to be as stressful as the one getting here.” Andre said.
“It shouldn’t be.” Kevin said, looking at the map. “There should be a short cut from the Arok tree that we can get through to home.”
“Perfect.” Damien smirked. “I don’t want to have to climb over trees again and hoping that I do not fall in the midst of snakes.” He said with a pointed glare at Andre.
Oh no, they wanted to start again. I thought with a roll of my eyes but I was too happy to be done with that nightmare where I almost ended as someone’s lunch and also have the slave mark clean off my skin that I didn’t care about their harmless banter.
“You talk as if you have a choice.” Andre replied him, picking up on the tease. “If we are to climb over snakes over, then so be it. Do you know the creatures we would meet in the place where we are to pass?”
“I…” Damien began and stopped.
Andre chuckled. “You see that you can’t talk? Don’t worry, I will make sure I provide another idea to bail us out and you mustn’t complain unless you have your own idea.”
“Someone is feeling arrogant.” Damien smirked.
“Because the someone has the right to.” Andre smiled at him.
I smiled as I listened to them. It felt good to listen to them after dealing with personalities I didn’t want to see for the past few minutes. Their banter wasn’t annoying, it felt familiar.
I felt like I was home already and couldn’t wait to be back with the others. I droned out the banter between Andre and Damien and thought of how home would be like.
It wasn’t like I had any friends there and as I thought of it, I realized that I was getting nervous of going home. I had left the Blue River pack because my mind had only been on Kevin and finding out who my father was but now, I was beginning to admit that being home would come with more drama than I had initially thought of.
I was certain that there were people at home who didn’t want me to ever come home. I sighed as I realized that peace might be far from me if I got home still. I wasn’t going to delude myself that I was going home to rest and the quicker I admitted that to myself now, the stronger I would be to deal with everything I would face at home.
For once, I knew going home with Kevin would earn me more hatred than I would get if I went home alone. I pursed my lips, considering telling him to go home without me when we get to the border and allow me come later but I knew he would never allow that.
He would never let me out of my sight again. As if he was reading my mind and to confirm what I had said, he slipped his hand into mine and smiled as I turned to face him.
I returned his smile, feeling excited and nervous about going home at the same time.