~Samuel's Point of View~

Song: "In My Blood" by Shawn Mendes

******

A knot formed in my stomach as I watched them on the training field. I wasn't sure why I felt a pull towards her. She hated me, or at least was annoyed by my presence. I had to say, the way she acted around me was a far cry from what other people normally acted like. That could also be because of what and who she is.

Then, she looked up and I just turned and left. Her new friends would never let me near her, so what was the point?

I stepped out of the shadows and into my dorm and Haven jumped, knocking things off his desk in the process. "Shit, Sam! Do you ever knock?!"

I rolled my eyes. "Relax. I do that a lot. It isn't like this is the first time." I say blandly and walk over to my desk and pick up a journal and a pen. "And it's my room, too. Why do I need to knock?"

I looked over my shoulder and noticed finally that we had a visitor.

Sitting on his bed Seran, her long black hair over one shoulder. She grinned at me and I clenched my jaw.

"So good to see you, Sam. I've missed you. You've been acting weird today. Are you ok?" She said and stood up and came towards me. She wore shorts and a revealing tank top. She smelled sickly sweet- too much perfume that made me want to wrinkle my nose when she got closer.

I kept my face void of any emotion and said calmly, "Seran, it's impolite to enter a man's room without asking first- and you didn't."

"I asked Haven." She said too sweetly. Her hands traveled up my arms and I snatched her wrists before she could touch me anymore.

"What do you want?" I growled and lowered my gaze to hers, releasing her. She pouted, her lips the color of blood. I knew what she wanted.

"I miss you, Sammy. Why did we have to break up?" She said and her voice broke.

Haven shifted uncomfortably, then teleported from the room. I watched him go with a straight face, then looked back down at Seran. She was holding my hand and I pulled it from her grasp, clenching my hands into fists.

"Because, Seran," I began stiffly. "I caught you with someone else. I know your schemes. You can't fool me. Not anymore."

She frowned. "Is that what you think I want? To hurt you more? No, Sammy, I want to fix it and be better."

I looked at her and said evenly, "Get out, Seran, and don't come knocking on my door again. What you did was unforgivable- you aren't getting any more chances from me."

She glared at me, nostrils flaring in a rage and she slapped me- hard- across the face. Then, she disappeared.

I rubbed at my cheek once she was gone and sank into my desk char and rubbed my eyes with a heavy sigh. I felt a weight settle in my chest and I thought I was going to be sick, squeezing my eyes shut as the sensation passed. She wouldn't leave me alone- not really.

I looked up as my laptop pinged to announce I had received an email. I sighed heavily to find my inbox contained four recent emails. One from my professor asking about my summer term and how I liked it. The second was from the Headmaster saying he had still yet to find my Ring. The third was from my father. He wanted an update, of course.

But the fourth and final email was the only one I opened.

Callie Jameson had emailed me.

I scrolled through the email and furrowed my eyebrows as I read it.

Samuel.
To state the obvious here, I'm new. And being new, I'm confused and frankly a little lonely. I feel like my new friends look at me differently and pity me. They won't answer my questions regarding the school or why we learn this way. They tell me all the time to stay away from you, but let's set one thing clear: I suck at following the rules. They also tell me not to walk around campus alone at night. Something tells me you would be the reason for that, right? Or maybe your friends, but I don't know.

My point in emailing you, to put it bluntly, is that I want answers and I have a feeling you will talk if Brandon or the others won't. I also know you've been watching me and I'd like an explanation for that as well. I'll be outside the library tonight at 10:00 if you choose to meet me. I go back to my dorm at 10:10, so if you're not there, then I guess you aren't the real deal.

Callie.

I finished reading and I sat back in my chair, a grin spreading across my face. She was brave, I'll give her that. I scratched at the sparse hair along my jaw, then stood. She'd get her answers, all right, but I doubted she would like them.

That night at 10:00, I appeared at the library. She was leaning against the side of the building, a sweatshirt on and her arms crossed. She looked stiff. When she saw me, her grip on her arms loosened a little.

"So you did get my email."

I nodded and stopped in front of her. "Yes. You have a lot of questions."

She nodded and looked past me out at the dark quad.

"You're not alone at night anymore, at least." I said with a grin.

She leveled a glare on me and said, "Ha-ha. Shall we go for a walk?"

I shrugged. "I'm not a fan of walking. Let's head inside. I know a spot very few people go to." I nodded for her to follow me and she hesitated, but did and I lead her around behind the library. At the back embedded in the wall was a set of stairs that went down into the bricks and a door was visible. I went down the stairs and pushed the door open and she went through behind me.

I walked into the basement of the library, the smell of dust thick in the air, and lead her over to a nook in the corner with a few chairs and a table. I sat in one and propped my legs on the table, hands stuffed into my pockets. 

She sat down across from me and I waited for her to speak. She cleared her throat and said, "Is it true? What everyone's telling me- that you're Sauron and everyone around me is a character from a book series my great-grandfather wrote?"

I paused for a moment, looking at her curiously. "In a way, yes."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm like Sauron. So I guess we all represent our characters in some way. But we're the ones your grandfather was inspired by. Sauron was created after me."

"That's not possible."

"Oh? I don't look two hundred years old? Must be the new moisturizer I use."

"You're messing with me." She scowled.

I cracked a grin. "You're smart. I like that."

"Tell me the truth, or I'm going to leave. Besides, don't you have that 'I'm-an-asshole' reputation to keep?"

I grinned. "You're funny, too."

She raised an eyebrow.

"And so very serious. Tell me. Do I look like how your grandfather made Sauron to be? Do I have red hair and a god-complex? No. The similarities stop there. Do I have a ring, though? Yes. But it's missing, so not right now."

Her next words surprised me. "Then find the people who are supposed to be the hobbits and take it back. I mean, you can do that pretty easily."

"Have you meet any of them?" I asked curiously.

She paused. "No."

"Hey, I thought we agreed to no lying." I say as I leaned back in my chair, studying my nails.

She clenched her jaw.

"Why are you defending them, anyways? Everyone here has been nothing but rude and lied to you. So why hide them? Lie about their existence?" I asked.

"Because I don't trust you." She said plainly.

I leaned back in my chair some more to rock back on the back legs. "People rarely trust me. My dad isn't the greatest guy."

"Who is he?"

"He's the mob boss that likes to terrorize the people around here. But you'd probably know him as your grandfather's interpretation of Sauron. He got a lot confused." I rolled my eyes because of the idiocy. He wasn't Sauron. I found her confusion amusing, though.

She stiffened. "That doesn't make any sense."

I raised an eyebrow. "It's not supposed to. But maybe this will: we're trapped here. We aren't supposed to be here. In this world."

"But you are Sauron, I thought."  She said and rubbed at her temples.

I leaned forward in my chair, elbows resting on my knees and feet on the floor now. "Alright. I'm getting bored so I'll stop messing with you." She bristled slightly at that. "You're clearly not going to let me. The real Sauron is trapped in his eye tower in the real Middle Earth. Me? I'm his son. But I'm not in any of the books. I guess that's why the others don't like me too much. I'm an outsider- I don't really belong anywhere."

She blinked, then gave a heavy sigh and looked at me and said, "So...you're the only one who isn't a book character? Other than me. Your dad is Sauron. That's why everyone is afraid of you."

"Bingo."

"Then who's the mob boss that everyone's saying is your dad?"

"Oh him? That's Saruman. Haven's dad. He's an asshole and pretending to act like my father to keep up the pretense for the other bookie's sakes. That's why everyone mistakes me for Sauron. Don't worry. You'll catch on...eventually."

"So. Everyone else are characters in the books. You are not. You're missing a ring- your dad's Ring, I take it. Sauron is still in Middle Earth... that's good at least. But... is this the One Ring that we're taking about?"

The room suddenly went cold and she shuddered, looking up as the lights flickered.

I looked towards the door, then said, "Get behind those boxes and do not come out or make a sound, is that clear?" I said.

I didn't give her time to respond and stood and pushed her behind a stack of boxes and sat back down in my chair with a book in my hands as the door creaked open.