Forever Hold My Heart

The day went by rather gruesomely, or to me it did I was exhausted. Travis and I did 'training' in the dance studio. He made me show him everything I knew about dance. which at first I wasn't sure what any of this had to do with anything. It wasn't until our time was up that he said he was going to teach me how to use what I know into fighting. My free time was boring, I just went to my room and did literally nothing. Custos 101 was my next class which fascinated the life out of me. In that class was a bunch of younger boys but a class is a class. I learned a lot in this class. I mean aside from the obvious that a Custos can run faster than normal and if trained properly they could fight really good. I learned that compared to a human we are better at most things. But what got my attention the most was that Custos could communicate telepathically. This concerned me at first but it turns out like me most of the younger kids couldn't do it either. It was an ability that you had to learn through training. This would explain why sometimes when people bore into my eyes I would get a head ache. Also this explains why there were always 'silent time'. There are other abilities that we have but they said we would learn about that later. When I got to team training I felt like the guys should of just beat the shit out of me instead. They put me through more hell then Marcus and Devin did the first day. I went along with whatever training but it was very difficult trying to keep up. Actually I never could keep up, but I tried my best, even though my best isn't enough.
After team training my 30 minutes of free time were heaven. I think I collapsed on my bed but I set my alarm to wake me up 5 minutes before my one on one with Madeline. When I did go to Madeline's class, she took me to the library. We went through books of just random Custos from the past. She had told me that every Custos was always put in a book no matter how big of an impact they had. She had explained to me that only Custos who were no longer with us were in books. This caught my attention because I wanted to find out about my dad. I didn't ask her much because she was too busy cramming information into my brain.
I did get to ask her why she worked here if she wasn't a Custos. She replied that she was the history teacher and that she had went to school to become one but she specialized specifically for this. She also mentioned how the English teacher and the math teacher also weren't Custos.
During my free time I took this as my opportunity to look for the book with my dad in it. I walked over to the main desk only to find that no one was there. I was anxious because I only had 15 minutes until I had to meet with Travis and God only knows what that man had in store for me.
"Hey Katelyn," I looked and saw Noah
"Oh Noah hey," I said leaning against the counter.
"Did you need help with anything?" he asked
"Yeah do you know where the librarian is at?" I asked and he chuckled
"We don't have one, we pretty much can handle this place by ourselves." he said
"Oh right," I said
"What were you trying to find?" He asked
"Well more like trying to find out about a specific Custos," I said
"Oh do you know his name?" he asked
"Joseph Henderson," I said telling him my dad's name. (IMPORTANT NOTE: Her dads original name, if you remember, was Daniel but then I named somebody on her team Daniel too >.> so I changed it to Joseph. Sorry! )
"Do you know about the time he died?" he asked as we started walking over to a wall of books.
"About 16 years ago," I said
"Oh this should be pretty simple," he said walking over to the end of the books. To be honest all the books were thin.
"How do they publish these? I mean how many people per book?" I asked not sure if he understood my question.
"Oh well every book is for a specific year. So let's say you died today the book that you would come out in wouldn't be published until the beginning of next year." He said pulling out 3 books.
"What if nobody dies in 1 year." I asked
"It hasn't happen yet," He said
"That's unfortunate," I said noticing that on the spine of each book there was a year.
"Found him," he said
"That was fast," I said
"It's called an index," He smiled as he gave me the book already opened to the page, "So what's so intriguing about Joseph Henderson."
I shifted a little, I've never really talked about my dad. I never really knew him anyways but I still loved him. He died when I was a little girl, two years old to be specific too little to remember.
"He's my dad," I said and I saw Noah's eyes soften
"I'm sorry to hear," He place his hand on my shoulder.
"It's okay, I don't remember him, just from what my mom tells me. I guess you can say I'm just curious." I said and I shrugged his arm off my shoulder. "So how do I go about checking this out."
"You just take it with you and bring it back." he said
"Okay well I got to go I don't want to be late," I said folding the corner of the page and then putting the book into my bag.
"Alright I'll see you around." He said putting the other two books back on the shelves.
"Thank you," I said before I left.
I walked over to Travis's office but when I got there, there was a sign on the door. It read 'Katelyn our one on one time has been cancelled for the rest of today. Enjoy your free time. -Travis' I wasn't sure if I was happy or disappointed. I was pretty tired, but I did want to read the book about my dad. I walked over to the dance studio where I knew no one would bother me. I opened the book to the bent corner.
There was a picture of my dad, I recognized him from all the pictures my mom had. It said he was 24 when he died. He didn't have a specialty but he did bond with a Royal. There was more than one page dedicated to my dad. What caught my attention was who was on his team; Mathew and Devin. I didn't recognize any of the other names. I looked through it and I smiled when I saw who my dad had trained. None other than Travis himself, what are the odds of that? I wonder how old Travis was when my dad started training him?
The door opened and I looked up. It was Madeline, she smiled at me.
"Hey Madeline," I returned her smile.
"Hey Katelyn, is everything okay?" she asked me.
"Yeah, why?" I asked
"I just saw you in here by yourself and was just curious," she said and I nodded. "Well then I'll leave you alone."
She closed the door, and I continued looking through it I was just about to read about how my dad died when the door opened again. I looked and in came all my team members, I bit my lip. This wasn't normal at all, actually I felt rather intimidated almost as if I was in trouble. I looked at the clock it was 4:47, I was supposed to be with Travis but that was cancelled so I didn't know what else could be up.
"Katelyn we want to talk to you," Blake said and with that I held my breath.

I felt like everything happened all so fast. After the talk with my 'team' I felt betrayed. They were asking me if it was okay if they filed for me to be moved down to a different team. I understood where they were coming from but I was hurt all at the same time. I thought we were going to try and work things out but apparently that's not how they felt about it. So here I was sitting in Mathew's office next to Eddie, Mathew was looking over the forms where I willingly signed that I agreed that I would be moved down to a different team if the request was approved.
"Well everything seems to be correct," Mathew said and I just looked at the floor with a furrowed expression. I heard him stamp something on the form and then I looked up as he scribbled something on the bottom. In a sense, I felt humiliated, I just wanted to go home. I hated myself even more for letting myself feel this way. "Here you go."
Mathew handed me the forms.
"So who's team do I go to now?" I asked
"Read the form first," he said. I looked down and saw that the request had been denied. I felt my lips twitch, I wanted to smile but this didn't change the fact that my team wanted nothing to do with me. I handed the form back to Mathew,
"That is all Katelyn, you can go." Mathew said and I left without even glancing at Eddie. When I walked out the guys were waiting patiently, and I hurriedly walked away without making eye contact. I should of kept my head up high but that feeling of nothing wouldn't let me. I walked over to my sensory class only to find out that it had been cancelled as well. I felt like I had nowhere to go, I walked over to the only place where I could try to find some sense of peace, the library.
No one was there when I walked in. I sat down in one of the aisles of the book shelves and just stared off. I wanted to cry I could feel it in the back of my throat but I looked up and pushed those feelings away. I looked down at my phone only to see that I just received a message from Marcus
'Come to field #4'
I texted back.
'So you can shoot me with an arrow again'
He texted back
'just come'
I got up and walked over. I could see Marcus practicing his shots.
"Why are you practicing if this is your calling" I said and he shot an arrow.
"What did you say," he asked looking at me
"I said, why are you practicing if this is your calling," I repeated
"Because remember how I told you I can't focus on other things when I take a shot," he said and I nodded.
"Well I'm trying to," he paused and aimed and then shot, "To focus on other things while taking a shot but it's evident that it's not working because I can't even hold a conversation. This is why I always need someone by my side."
He put down his equipment and just looked at me.
"So why'd you call me," I asked.
"I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier," he said
"Oh so you've heard," I said looking away
"Mathew told me," he said tapping his head.
"Oh long distance too," I said implying to his telepathy.
"Not that far but something like that. You know they didn't mean anything bad by what they did," he said referring to my team, I just looked at him.
"Yeah, I know they were thinking about the team," I said
"Actually no," he smirked, "They filed to 'temporarily' move you down. Look, the only reason they did this was because they got other teams to vote for team test. Which would help them rack up points and keep you safe from all the tests."
"Keep me safe?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Team tests can get really ugly, like near death ugly," Marcus said handing me his bow.
"What do you mean? Why near death ugly?" I asked
"Well we never let it go as far as death but it does get out of hand only because we can heal faster than normal. This is why your team did what they did."
"So you and Mathew knew and you're going to let this happen. What kind of things do they do?" I asked not really wanting to know the answer.
"You fight each team but not just fighting. You show us something you've learned for example if I was to participate with my team I would show Mathew my bow n' arrow skills"
"Wait, so you would actually shoot another custos?" I asked shocked.
"Yeah like I said before we all will heal, eventually. Don't worry you can also do individual challenges. It's where one team challenges another and then an individual opponent from that team is selected at random for you," he said and no matter what he said I still wasn't feeling better at all.
"How much time do I have?" I asked
"2 weeks kid," he said
"Help me train," I said looking Marcus dead in the eye.
"That was our plan from the beginning," he said handing me some arrows.

After trying out different weapons and specific tactics Marcus told me that I wasn't specifically better at anything. I think that was his nice way of saying I was screwed. Instead he planned on focusing on my fighting skills.
I wasn't good at fighting and I knew it. So when I was landing hits on Marcus I was getting irritated.
"Why are you going easy on me," I snapped.
"What are you talking about," he said
"How do you expect me to get better if your holding back. I want you to beat the shit out of me so at least I can get used to the beating," I said
"I worry for your sanity but you have a point," he said

10 minutes before I was supposed to be at the longue was when Marcus decided we should stop.
"Come on let's get you cleaned up," he said trying to help me but I shrugged him away.
"No, let me be, I can do this," I said limping away.
"You have too much pride," Marcus said walking next to me.
"Don't confuse pride with determination," I said
"Then you won't have a problem if I do this," he said picking me up
"I can walk," I said
"Yeah I'm just going to get you some ice but if you walked there I'd meet you there tomorrow," He joked.
"Is someone feeling a little guilty," I winced, as my adrenaline was fading the pain had increased. My muscles felt like they had been in a meat grinder. My ribs were in even more pain. I could already imagine the bruises I was going to have. The right side of my face was hot and felt as if it was on fire.
"No but if you could see the damage then you would be thankful," he said
"I think I'm starting to feel it," I whispered
"My only suggestion is stay away from mirrors for while," he said as he brought me to a room that was all too familiar. He set me down on one of the beds and pulled an Ice pack out of the fridge. He put it in my hand then gently he put my hand just below my eye. "We don't want that to get any worse."
I groaned
"Please tell me I still look normal"
"Define normal," He gave me a wide grin, "Now go out to the Longue."
I limped over and kept my head down. I used my Iphone as a mirror and wanted to cry. I looked like I had been jumped. When I reached the longue doors I held the icepack to my eye and walked in. I tried to hide behind the ice pack but I'm pretty sure some people saw my face. I walked over to where the guys were. I sat down where I sat last time and put my head in my hands. I noticed the guys were really quiet.
"I'm not upset with you guys, well maybe a little but I know why you guys did it," I said not looking up, "Marcus told me."
"Well I'm glad that's cleared up," Julian said shoving my shoulder causing me to hiss and glare at him. "Oh my God, what happened?"
I put my head back in my hands.
"You guys is what happened," I mumbled
"What do you mean?" Julian asked
"Marcus said they're going to try and get me as ready as they can for the tests."
"Wait I thought you said they knew what we were up too?" Blake asked and thats when I lifted my head to face the music. I saw them flinch abit.
"Yeah but when I tried to tell Marcus why they would make me go through with it, he said what choice do they have," I said
"Wow they really messed you up," Eddie said
"No it was just me and Marcus. Plus I told him not to hold back." I half smiled.
"So he beat the shit out of you," Damien smirked
"Well basically my theory is if I can't fight might as well get use to the beating." I said
"I don't even want to know where you came up with that theory," Eddie said
"Speaking of which I had an idea, I was going to ask Mathew if he would let us use our longue time to help train me," I suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea but I think we would go a different way of training you," Damien said
"Alright lets go ask," I said trying to get up.
"I don't think so the key to healing fast is sleep," Blake said gently pushing me down by my shoulders.
"Fine," I said leaning my head on the armrest. "So what are we going to do tomorrow during team training?"
"We're going to teach you how to successfully run and hide," Damien said
"No," I said looking him dead in the eye and he tilted his head.
"Yes, you will stick to that plan," he said sharpening his look on me. I sat up and stared back more intently.
"Well you will take into consideration what I think." I said and he looked confused even a little bit dazed.
"Okay?" He agreeably questioned.
"We'll discuss this later," I said breaking eye contact.
"What the hell, why would you do that to me." Damien said
"Do what?" I asked a bit confused.
"Did you see that?" Damien said looking at Eddie.
"Yeah, but you think it's because you started it first?" Eddie asked I just rolled my eyes, I hated when nobody took the time to explain things to me.
"That's amazing though, she got Damien stumped." Adrian said and I think they forgot I was even there. I took this as my opportunity to lean back down on the armrest and close my eyes
"I think we know where we are going to focus on tomorrow," I heard Damien say as I drifted off to sleep.