Running late. Always running late. When you have to follow a set course, a set schedule, a set life, any kind of mishap or misstep is always blaringly obvious. And Alex did not approve of anything obvious. Especially if it risked his ability to keep her in his clutches. He took such careful care to ensure she'd be his forever. His toy. His punching bag. His anything that the moment called for. And right now, she was on her way to being his broken pet if she didn't get to a place to text him off her findings regarding his sister. If she didn't text him to check in period. Ever since she'd been caught swimming, the collar and leash (metaphorically speaking) had been tightened on her, ensuring her cooperation and obedience. She stumbled through the halls, making her way through the main hall that led to the teacher's rooms, silently slipping up towards his door. She glanced up and down the hall - as was required, before she veering off her path and into the room.

Her relief was never greater than it was at that moment to see an empty room. It mean she'd be allowed to text him, and thus she did, fingers stumbling as they trialled and errored out the message 'Found her dorm room, working on trying to establish friendship. She's scarier than you, in a way.' She typed, hit send, before sending another message, 'Spying on her now, hoping to gather more information. Will be home by six, to make dinner.' Home. More like hell. She knew to keep to the school to keep up her guise of 'spying' in case he checked her were-abouts through GPS again - which was how she'd been caught in the pool earlier. But she had no desire to spy on the scary demon. No. She instead moved through the halls, biding her time till she'd have to go to the jail that was her master's home. Never her own. She bit at her lip, her arms wrapped around her middle, as if to hug herself, though the placement of where her hands touched was careful, anything to avoid the bruises, angry purple and black, beneath her clothing.

The bruises were always out of sight. Why risk someone seeing and finding out the truth. Her eyes closed as she ran through the rules that she was forced to follow so she'd stay in Alex's control, hating that she had no choice but to follow. Not following was more punishment, and only because it was the only thing to keep her in line. If he threatened her with death, she'd do the thing just to escape him that way. Thousands of years in his control meant he knew how to work her to do what he wanted. She was trapped in this personal hell till she found her own way out . . . unfortunately, she worried that her way out would have to be through death . . . . on the other hand, she was more than willing to do it. Anything to escape that man. To escape her captor.

She moved through the halls, sticking to the less crowded ones, avoiding others as a general rule. She wasn't allowed to speak to anyone, really. Just being caught doing so was grounds for punishment. And she'd earned her fair share of bruises from her growing friendship with Allison. Though she worried that the girl would get herself in trouble with Alex . . . Allison seemed to have a bit of a mothering complex . . . and she was very much mothering Nat the best she could.

Natalia turned down the hall towards the drama area, pausing to peer through the auditorium door to see some kids practicing a performance on their own free time. She stayed still for a moment, watching, her dark hair hiding her face. She doubted they'd get in trouble for hanging out with others, for having fun. She wasn't even permitted to join clubs, for fear someone would notice too much. Someone would notice anything. All Alex's fears. His determination. His possessiveness. Her opinion - Let them notice. It didn't matter anyway. She was doomed. Her only saving grace would be eventual death. Whether by her hands, or Alex's . . . At least, that was her only saving grace for now. Her chances of another planned escape had slipped away when he caught her swimming. Until she played good girl long enough for him to lessen his attention on her . . . She was indeed trapped.

She sighed softly, turning away from the laughing and preforming students, wondering not for the first time what it might be like to be like that. To laugh with friends, to be able to do different things in school rather than just attend classes then go home and be subjected to horrid things most girls could never even imagine. What it would be like to actually do homework, instead of struggling to finish it before class. Most of the time she barely scraped a B in her classes. Alex didn't permit time for her to study her work. And when she was finally allowed to be alone in her cellar cell, there was hardly enough room to see by, and definitely not enough to complete homework by.

But that was the life she'd been born into, the life of a slave. She shook her head, turning to walk down the hall further only to freeze at the scent of dragon. Fire dragon. Instantly the image of an angry Alex, catching her in a lie once again, drifted in her mind, and panic oozed from her like spectrum from a ghost. Her nostrils flared briefly, and her heartbeat calmed faintly when she picked up the scent of a female. So . . . not as bad, right? But still. Fire dragon. Bad. Very Bad. She turned to head in the other way, only to freeze to find said dragon behind her . . . not in front.

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[atrb=background,http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd509/i1vet2b/ashmiddle_zpseb0b0f8c.jpg] Thoughts. "Speech" It was a relaxed clip with which Ashelin walked down the halls. Though she was still recovering from a killer hangover - she hadn't suffered one in centuries - the set of her shoulders was loose and she felt almost refreshed. Though grief still bit at her heels like those shitty little yip yap dogs that no one loved besides their owners, she was better able to handle the loss. It wasn't as soul-sucking as it had been, for she'd swallowed it down with a shit ton of booze and a load of laughter with newly made friends. She was currently headed for the auditorium as a few students had expressed interest in her showing them a few techniques to utilize for an upcoming gig they had with their band. A born performer, Ashelin was more than happy to offer any assistance available. From down the hall, she could hear harmonized singing and sloppy chords that could use some smoothing out. But they sounded pretty damn good already for raw talent! A whetstone against the hard edges and they'd be something to behold! She turned the corner, spying just a little thing. It wasn't that she was little, per se. More that she was one of those kids who tried to avoid being seen at all costs. Meek and overly shy. It was those kinds of kids Ashelin usually swooped in on for one on one time. Either that or - if she thought they could handle it - throw them into the fray to prove to them that they really could swim if tossed in the deep end without floaties. If was often just something that they doubted in themselves. So when she removed the chance for doubt, it couldn't settle in. They tried or they failed. If they tried, there was no failing. Ever. Just practice. But the stance of this one had Ashelin tilted her head, little bells of warning going off about her. A perceptive one of too many years already, Ashelin had learned to trust her instincts. This one needed help in more ways than one. "You alright, kid?" she asked, her rough tone more comforting than one would have thought. "I ain't gonna bite," she assured, reaching out to settle a gentle hand on her shoulder.

The young water dragon knew she shouldn't be here. That she shouldn't be letting herself watch these carefree students. There was no point in wishing for a better situation. She had learned long ago that wishing on stars never helped anything. Dreams don't come true. Princes don't rescue damsels in distress And wishing on stars was beyond pointless. She turned to pull back, her gaze dropping from the students playing and laughing on the stage, before freezing at the scent of fire dragon, instinct, or rather taught instinct, telling her to run. A water dragon might be considered a threat to a being of fire, but when said water dragon was not allowed near water . . . she was rather defenseless.

Her first thought was that Alex had discovered she wasn't really spying on his sister, and she began to quiver at the thought of the pain that might be about to come. Fortunately, her brain shifted through the scent, noting that this scent belonged to a female. Not a male. Not alex. She quivered as she came face to face with said fire dragon, eyes wide as her knees quivered slightly. She managed a slow, quick nod of her head when she was asked if she was alright, already turning to get away from the fire dragon, wincing at the comment on the other not gonna bite, only to feel a gentle hand touch her shoulder, stopping her dead in her tracks.

Pain rushed down her arm, and across her shoulder blade, a whimper leaving her mouth as she quickly pulled away, tears dotting her vision as she stumbled back from the other dragon, one hand barely touching her shoulder, the fresh bruise tender where she'd been shoved and punched earlier this morning. "D-don't touch me." The water dragon whispered, wiping slowly at her eyes before gently prodding her shoulder, wincing at the slicing of pain but deciding no additional harm had been done. She could move her arm, elbow, wrist, fingers, hand. She seemed alright. But the pain was still fresh in her mind, heavy in her thoughts as she quivered, backing away from the fire dragon once more, fear obvious in her eyes, "I-i need to g-go." She mumbled, another step putting more distance between herself and this teacher, only to catch the edge of one of the rugs on the floor.

She stumbled back, hitting the ground with a whoosh of air, hissing as the landing jarred her torn up thigh, clutching the fabric of her jeans against the jagged, and torn knife cut, feeling a faint sticky heat soaking through the fabric and greeting the skin of her palm. It had opened, and began bleeding, again . . . ? For a second, her hand moved towards her cell phone, as if she would call someone to help. Call Liam for help, only to withdraw her hand. Her calls were monitored, she couldn't call anyone, even as she slowly climbed to her feet, careful of the leg, turning her back to the teacher behind her as she started to walk away.

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[atrb=background,http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd509/i1vet2b/ashmiddle_zpseb0b0f8c.jpg] Thoughts. "Speech" Everything about this girl screamed 'help me.' From the way her eyes darted about to the way she jerked away violently at the softest of touches, Ashelin knew something was very wrong. The soft noise of pain made her think of a frightened, injured animal begging not to be harmed anymore. Ash had come upon mistreated dogs in the street before. While she'd never taken them home - for her home moved so often, it wouldn't be fair - she had given them many kindnesses before parting. The girl's words were whispered, begging like one of those abused dogs. Don't touch me, don't hurt me, don't look at me, don't see me. These things were practically tattooed across the frail little dragon's skin and it made the fire coil thick and noxious in Ashelin's belly. Someone had indeed hurt this child and did so badly. Ash watched as she cradled her shoulder protectively, long fingers probing softly to assess the damage. The teacher stepped forward even as the girl backed away, but not in time to catch the student as she tripped over a rug and fell back. "Stop moving," Ashelin murmured, kneeling down when the fresh scent of blood hit her like a freight train. Despite her advice, the girl pushed up anyway and tried to walk off as if nothing had happened. Losing her patience, Ashelin trailed after her with long strides. When she caught up, she wasted no breath and scooped the girl up into her arms bridal style. It was more than a bit compromising and the dragon felt like a fool for being forced to do it, but really, she saw no other way with a frightened bird such as this one. "We're going to get that looked at, and then we're going to have a chat, you and I." Her tone left no room for argument and Ashelin breezed into the clinic with a smile. "Mind fixing up our friend here, doc? She seems to have injured herself." It was a lie, without a doubt. And based simply on the way the dragon looked, the doctor on duty could see that was not the truth of things at all. But it wasn't his place to question: only to heal. "On the table over here," he gestured before setting to work while Ash hovered on the other side of a screen and waited impatiently. Whoever hurt her like that...? They'll pay. I'll make sure of it.