Chapter 10

Lunch was laid out much like breakfast was, there was all sorts of different foods that Melody was not sure about, it was an assortment of colors and smells. Melody had her first encounter with it at breakfast so she was ready for it, but that didn't mean she wasn't amazed by it all now. It wasn't just the colors and the smells of everything, even though that was always one of the first thing she had noticed. It was the amount, there was enough here to feed half of her dorm. She hadn't noticed the amount this morning due to the fact that she was still angry with Jason. She never would have thought him to do something like this, but then she also reminded herself that Jason never really thought things through. She was also angry at the ones who brought her here, her friends who might have been able to even stop Jason before he did anything. It didn't matter how great her sleep was she was going to brood over everything for a while, but at least she wouldn't have to look at him, look at Jason. Not only that he couldn't come knocking on her door god only knows how many times trying to beg for some kind of forgiveness. This time Jason was gone and she was going to have to get used to it. To not having someone to call, or to have lunch with, she was alone again.

She got over her shock enough to sit down on one of the large chairs at the table and again she was finally taking in the whole room, and it only took a few seconds before she was overwhelmed by everything she saw. From the sizes of everything to the assortment of colors that were also there, Melody was not quite sure if she should let herself enjoy it for what it was so all of the pretty things on the walls, across the table, and everywhere else she just decided to admire it all. After all, she had nothing better to do, and if she was to be stuck here she may as well enjoy what she could. The only problem was how could she? She had to pretend to be some guys girlfriend, how was she suppose to do this?

It wasn't much longer before her thoughts were interrupted by two things a groan and a thud, much like someone just falling into a piece of furniture. It was Zachary, and the look he gave Melody could make the ocean boil. But she had met too many people with bad attitudes to let him bother her in the least. "Don't wait to eat on my account, after all you must be hungry," Zachary said. He then called a servant to bring some wine. "I don't want you to starve now. After all, you just got here," Zachary said, trying to sound tough. "Don't worry if you are having trouble the staff can help you."

Melody looked everything over then a couple of maids came to her rescue. They helped her find foods that she would like and things that would be good to try. Then one of the butlers came over to show her how everything was to be eaten. Melody's head spun with the amount of people around her, not only that she was usually the one who was helping people with whatever it was that they needed to get through school. She never had the need for it so she didn't know if she should be embarrassed or not. After god only knows how much time and how many tries, she finally got to the point where she could reasonably eat most of what was on her plate without making a mess or getting sick. The whole time Zachary sat back enjoying his food and Melody's frustration. If he had to be in pain so should she. It did bother him a bit when she threw some of the food up, but he put it towards the fact that if she did that in front of anyone they might get suspicious. But, watching her eat was great pain relieve, almost better than the wine he was drinking. "Now that you have the concept of eating the servants can go back to work," Zachary said. He then waved a hand and they left her at the table. "Don't worry, it was expected that you would need some guidance when you got here. I will have clothes for you upstairs so you can change when you are done eating," Zachary was trying to sound like he was being generous, but this is just the beginning for him. "Now the party is in a couple of days, so it would be a good idea for me to know about you, and more than the fact that you are a doctor and have a bad temper. I mean something I can at least talk about," Zachary said.

Melody didn't know if he was trying to be a jerk or actually trying to be nice about things. She also didn't know what to say, what could she say? She couldn't think of one thing interesting to give about herself, nothing that he could use in a conversation. "Listen...Melody, I know you want to be able to be alone somewhere," Skylar said. This would be the part that would make her sick to her stomach, more than she already was. "If someone just decides to show up and you two are off doing your own thing, then it doesn't fit the way that you act at the parties and other get togethers that are being planned. So we need you to behave like the perfect couple, you know, totally in love and all that," Skylar was trying to eat while he was saying this. Melody didn't know whether to cringe or laugh. He took a quick drink and then continued," so, unless Zach here is in some kind of state business, you two should be together, and look...." Skylar stopped as he noticed that Zachary had asked for a third bottle of wine. "Zachary? Are you okay," asking him the room turned to look at Zachary. All he did was shake his head as he raised the bottle of wine, a large blood stain could be seen and it was growing. Everyone jumped out of their chairs and ran over to where Zachary was at. "Melody! I thought you fixed this," Skylar yelled, running his hands through his hair.

"She did fix it," Zachary was now sounding like he had run a marathon, "but I should be laying down and resting not listen to you and your ranting!" Zachary did not sound good at all it seemed like it hurt just for him to take a breath.

Melody shut everyone out while she listened to Zachary breath. Something didn't make sense to her so she tore his shirt off, the sight left her without words. "Melody, this is not a good place for...oh shit!" Skylar shouted. "Krys! It.." Skylar was trying to make the words come together, but the sight made him stop dead. Zachary had a scar on the left side of his stomach and it was turning black. "Is there anything you can do? I mean you stitched him up before can you do it again?"

"I can stitch him up, yes, but this looks like something else if it will heal at all," Melody said accepting the tools and getting to work. "If it is black like this then there's some kind of spell preventing it from healing. You'll need some kind of magic person....and I would go with a strong one if you can manage it. Sorry, but none of the ones from the clinic will want to come down here so I don't know who to call," Melody said as she stitched. She was glad she was one of the best at this, but she knew that skill only could help so far.

"Call...the camp," Zachary said through gasps of air and gulps of wine. "One should be here sooner than what you guys could come up with," the last part he accidentally dumped some of the wine on Melody. This caused her to growl at him, "sorry down there."

"I'll go, there's a mirror in the other room I can use right" Krystal asked. Zachary nodded and she ran off to get to the mirror.

Just after Krystal left a manservant came a shirt was in his hand and a look of dread on his face. "Sir?" everyone left in the room stopped, the look on the manservant made them all nervous. "Your father has sent a messenger here, what would you like me to tell him this time."

"Is this a common thing?" Melody asked as she helped Zachary with the shirt. The manservant just nodded, "how much trouble are we in?"

"I don't think that this one will be okay with just words," Zachary said. There was almost a groan as he said this. "Father probably wants something and it's something that he will have to actually talk to me about." Everyone looked worried Melody was sitting on her knees trying to clean up the blood and if Zachary got up, then he would show that he had lost a ton of blood, it was in a puddle of blood in the chair. He could try to deal with messenger, but he wouldn't even make it across the room.

"Ummm...Melody finish with that and then you two come up with something while I try to stall," Skylar said. "Just anything in case I can't get this guy to leave." Skylar left with the servant and both Zachary and Melody were left in the dinning hall alone. She almost had everything done but she knew that the last bits would not be seen. So now she could worry about the person who came.

After everyone left, Zachary grabbed her hand and looked her in the eye. The look showed something that scared her they showed fear, fear and anger. Both at the same time, which was never a good mix for anything in her experience. "Melody, are you willing to do anything? I know I shouldn't have to ask, but still are you," Zachary was saying this, but his voice and eyes did not match. Melody nodded, she would just ask about it later hoping it wasn't anything terrible. He pulled her over closer to him and put her on his lap, "before I do this understand that I am keeping you safe," Zachary said and he grabbed a knife of the table. He quickly poked his finger like he had done many times, then grabbed her chin, "open" he then stuck the finger in her mouth. Melody tasted something like sugar on his finger, but that wasn't the oddest part. She started to feel light-headed, at first it scared her then a giddy feeling came over her that she was not familiar with. "Alright, now I think that should loosen things up, so have you ever been with anyone Melody," Zachary asked. He had changed from someone who looked like they were terrified for their lives to someone who could seduce anyone. Melody could only shake her head. It was one of the spoiled plans that she had for her and Jason during spring break that she no longer wanted to think about. It was weird that thought left her head completely. She knew her name and a couple of other things, but she was having a hard time pulling things out. "Maybe we should fix some of that,"Zachary said.