~Callie's Point of View~

Song: "Next to Me" by Imagine Dragons

******

Thoughts swirled through my head- most of it profanity- but I remained in my hiding place, wondering why Samuel was protecting me. And what was that cold draft? So many questions swirled through my head at once, but I went still as a voice hissed,

"Baldor. I didn't expect to see you down here. And so soon, too." It was a man's voice, but it sounded as if whenever it spoke, frost would come from his mouth. Chills went down my spine. I did not like this. At all.

Baldor? Was that his name?

"And I didn't expect you to be down here at all." Samuel replied dryly. A thump on the table- his book, I assumed- and a chair sliding back with a screech. "What do you want?"

"I have word from your father." The voice hissed. Now it sounded like it had a liquid in its mouth. A peeked through a crack in the boxes to catch a glimpse of black shadowy cloaks and long, bony white fingers. The floor had drops of red around it's bare blue feet.

Blood.

"Which one? The one back in Middle Earth or the puppet?" Samuel asked. "Because I can rarely tell which one wants me to work with them more nowadays." The Son of Sauron said with an edge to his voice. Was he...annoyed?

"My lord, the Dark Lord himself on his tower in Mordor." The newcomer hissed. More drips splattered on the floor. "Has no one told you you are late?" The man hissed.

"Has anyone ever told you you look like shit?" Samuel growled. "What does my great father wish to talk to me about?"

"In regards to his Ring."

There was a pause.

When Samuel spoke, it was softly. "I already told him I would find it. I have this whole damn campus being searched. I'll tell you once I've found it."

"Hmmm. He is growing impatient."

"And I am growing annoyed."

"He has instructed me to inform you, Baldor, that your protection of the Heir is getting old to him. He doesn't appreciate secrets."

"I told him he should leave her out of this." Samuel snarled. "She doesn't know anything and it will remain that way."

The man hissed, a screeching sound that made me clamp my hands over my ears. Warmth flooded the room suddenly. I squeezed my eyes shut, and when I opened them again, a pair of hands were on my shoulders.

I jumped and skittered away from whoever was touching me, but then I realized it was Samuel. There was a gash on the side of his head that was bleeding heavily.

"Oh my gosh what happened to you?" I asked, standing up in a rush.

He raised an eyebrow, stepping back. "That's your first question?"

"Sit down." I ordered him and he did as told, wincing a little. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" I demanded as I rummaged through my purse and pulled out a pack of tissues.

"Physically or emotionally?" He asked and looked at me with a little smirk, his gray eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Hold still." I commanded and poured some water from my water bottle onto some tissues and began to carefully dab at the wound. He hissed with pain and went to pull away, but I planted my other hand on his cheek. "What did I say about holding still?" I grumbled.

He went still as a statue, looking up at me with furrowed eyebrows as I cleaned the blood away and then sighed in exasperation and said, "Hold that to your head."

He did as was told and I turned away from him and pulled off my sweatshirt, then the t-shirt I had underneath. I wore a tank top- one of the few articles of clothing I had that wasn't paint stained- and I began to tear my shirt into strips.

"What are you doing?" He asked softly.

"Be quiet." I said seriously, then rolled one strip into a pad and pressed it to his temple and held his face again.

He looked up at me, hands clenched in his lap.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I thought I had to be quiet." He said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "What happened, Samuel? There was this loud screech and the next thing I knew, you're grabbing me and covered in blood. Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Perhaps a little bruised, Dr. Jameson. My lovely visitor from my dad got pissed again and threw a rock at me."

"A rock? Where did it come from?"

"The visitor made it appear. Necromancers and sorcerers do that." He replied and shrugged.

I moved the rolled t-shirt a little, then flinched and pressed it back to his temple. He winced and without thinking, my thumb stroked across his cheekbone. He stiffened slightly, but didn't pull away. I felt my face beginning to heat up and I was sure I was blushing.

"What was that all about?" He asked softly, a teasing glint in his eyes.

"Nothing." I said adamantly. "Sorry if I pressed too hard."

"It'll hurt regardless, but I accept your apology." He said.

"If you weren't already hurt, I would have smacked you twice by now." I grumbled, my face getting warmer. One of his arms circled around my waist and he pulled me closer against him. I didn't pull away.

"Well, you don't seem to be pulling away from me, either."

"Shut up." I grumbled and focused on trying to stop the bleeding.

He looked at me with a thoughtful expression on his face. I picked up another scrap of t-shirt from the table and put the bloodied one on the table and folded up the new one. I put some water on some tissues and gently wiped away some more blood. I tried to ignore his intent staring, but it was hard to.

"What?" I asked finally and brushed some of his black hair back from the wound and held the new clump to his temple.

"Nothing. Just thinking." He replied, not once looking away from me.

"About what?"

"A lot of things. I wouldn't want to bore you."

I scoffed. "Try me."

He looked at me curiously. "It's really nothing. Am I almost done bleeding, Doctor?"

"Almost. You should probably lay down for a bit."

"My dorm's pretty far away." He says with a raised eyebrow. "You want me to walk there?"

"I'll walk you there." I said and picked up another strip of shirt and tied it around his head to keep the other piece in place. I moved my hands from his face and his arm dropped away from my waist.

I found myself almost wishing he'd wrap his arm around me again.

I pulled on my sweatshirt and stuffed the rest of the shirt into my purse and put it on, then held a hand out to him.

He took it and stood up slowly, wincing. He swayed and I had him sit again. "Ok. That's not a good idea."

I looked around nervously, then spotted a couch and little sitting area. I walked over and investigated, then locked any doors that lead into the basement room, sliding a chair in front of each door just in case.

"What are you doing?" He asked, wincing, a hand on his head.

"I think you have a really bad concussion and I have no idea how to get you to your dorm without you passing out. You need to lay down and rest before I can try and move you."

"What's your major? Medicine?" He asked curiously.

"No. Art and English. Double major. I just... know a lot of first aid. It isn't important how, just... trust me ok?"

"I do." He said softly.

I walked back over to him and said, "Ok. I'm going to get you to that couch, ok? Then I'm going to fill the water bottle and I need you to drink some water and rest."

"What about you? Just going to lock me here and leave?" He asks with a grin.

"I'm considering it. Now, let me help you."

He merely reached for my hand, but I moved his arm around my shoulders and I supported him, raising him slowly to his feet. His knees shook, but I held firm. "Ok. Step with me. Slowly. We'll get you over there, then you should rest."

"Well what about you? You need to sleep, too, and there's only one couch."

"I'll be fine. We need to ensure you don't have a cracked head. If that visitor threw a rock at you."

"I've dealt worse." He says blandly. I didn't ask him to elaborate, and he didn't seem to want to, either.

I helped him slowly sit down and when he did, he dropped his head into his hands, wincing. I kneeled in front of him and asked,

"Can I get you anything?"

"Why are you still here?" He grunted.

"Because you're hurt and you're a human being. Do you need anything?" I said seriously and sat on the floor in front of him.

He looked at me, then, and just stared at me with a look of confusion. "I...no. I'm good. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I guess it's a good thing that tomorrow is Saturday, then."

"Won't your roommate worry?"

"Anna? No. She spends the weekends at her boyfriend's apartment. Friday night to sometimes Monday night but she mostly is back Monday morning." I shrugged and leaned back against the table. "You should lay down."

He sighed heavily, but did as was told and laid back. "What next, Doctor?"

"I'm going to check your bandages. Hold still." I sat up on my knees and carefully unwrapped his head and peeled back the makeshift bandage. The wound wasn't bleeding anymore, but it was purple and black up to the eye and at the eyebrow.

"How does it look?" He asks.

"You're going to have a nasty bruise, but nothing looks broken." I reply and pick up a damp tissue and wipe around at the crusted blood on his head. "Who was that man? Why did he hurt you?"

"Because my dad is annoyed with me. He's a messenger. A pet, I guess you could call him. He's not in the books, either. There's a lot of us who weren't chosen. Your great-grandfather came to our world and seemed interested in only the smallest bits of it. He even devised an ending. It didn't end like that. We got transported into this world before that ending could be realized. And now the Ring is somewhere and I've been tasked to find it."

"Is it on campus?" I asked as I wrapped his head with a new rolled strip.

"I think so, but I haven't found it or even come close to it. And it doesn't help that no one here takes me seriously." He let out an annoyed huff and I said,

"Just lay down and try to rest, ok? You need it."

He did as was told and mumbled something under his breath and I merely sat down in an armchair and rested my head on the back of it.

Soon enough, I was asleep.