Scorching

Vanity

Hunter

That fucking prick. Who the hell does he think he is. Just cuz he's Lucas's favorite student he thinks he can go around accusing people of killing his teammate and dictating who's 'strong enough' to be on his team? Maybe Jack let himself be killed to escape this jackass, and I might do the same after today. Imagine the look on his face if I could use my full power. Two pink swords have nothing on the mother fucking sun. Who would be the best student then? 24 hours in and I'm under so much scrutiny. He's gonna cause problems for me, I'll have to be careful getting information. As big of a deutsch-bag he is, I know he cares for Lucas, and he'll be on my ass if I let any of my hatred slip out. I enter one of the buildings I passed earlier, not looking for anything specific, just to get as far from Kaien as possible. I've been seeing red since I stormed out of the garden, my wandering mind prevented me from seeing the man in front of me and I slam into his back. Ow.

"Slow down kid, whatcha running from?" Lucas offers me and hand off the ground. "Sorry, I was lost in though, I didn't see you there." "Haha, you remind me of myself, I can be awfully clumsy when I'm mad." "I'm not mad." And we're nothing alike. "Hunter, the look on your face could burn this wing to the ground." If only you knew Lucas. "Don't worry, I won't ask. I can assume it has something to do with my best student. I just sent him to look for you." So this is where Kaien gets his gigantic ego from. "Again, I'm sorry about him. He's had a traumatic year. He's not very welcoming to newcomers on the team, but I'll talk to him again. I have a feeling you two could be great friends." Absolutely not. But I need to gain Lucas' trust. And sympathy. I try my best to summon a melancholy look, "Yeah I hoped so, but I don't know. I wanted to tell you I will join your team, but I don't think he wants me to. I know he's upset about his teammates' death, and I understand. I lost my mom 5 years ago, I don't have a family, or many friends so I was hoping this could be a fresh start for me, but I don't want to upset everybody. Maybe I'm should just leave." "No, no don't do that, please. Hunter, you have a very special talent. Few people in the world are born a diviner, and this is the safest place you could be. We'll teach you everything you need to know, give you a dorm, food, a family. Don't worry about Kaien, I've handled him for 11 years now, I've got the hang of it." Please, I'm begging, put a leash on that dog. I wipe a nonexistent tear, "Okay, I'll give it a shot." He ruffles my hair and I cringe. Shit. He definitely felt me tense up. "Oh sorry, I do that with all my students, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Let me show you the dorms."

We make our way across the campus. It's beautiful. Trees everywhere, giant buildings that look like they've been here decades, but not in a run-down, abandoned way. It looks like a gothic castle, like a piece of history frozen in time. I wonder how long this has been the diviner's base, probably centuries. It doesn't feel like we're in New York City, although we're on the outskirts, I never would have imagined this was here. "What do people think these buildings are?" Lucas smirks back at me, "Yeah, not very low-key of us, is it? The city thinks we are a prestigious Catholic boarding school. The Catholic part is important, a lot of secrets within the faith, so we don't come under too much suspicion." We finally arrive at the dorm entrance. A massive arched door way, with intricate engravings greets us. The hallway is dark, like the one in the other building, but it carries a warmth. We walk up a few flights of stairs and the charm the gorgeous building had on me slowly turns to yearning for modern technology. Specifically an elevator. We arrive on the 4th floor and stop in front of what I can assume will be my room. "This one's all yours." I eagerly step inside. There's a bed with an iron bed frame, dark wood floors, and a vanity to match. I've never even had a vanity. A lamp sits on top of a bookshelf in the corner, next to possibly the best part of the room. An alcove under the window. I've dreamed of those. My room at Peter's was pretty small, and all I had was a twin bed and dresser. And I had to beg for the dresser. My clothes were in a pile on my floor for months. This bed is a full, maybe even a queen, and a bathroom attached, right next to the closet. My head is swirling with ideas of how I'll decorate, or how I would, if this was permanent. I don't know how long I'll be here, once Peter contacts me with the plan I have to kill Lucas. I doubt I'll be welcomed back for the funeral.

"What do ya think kid?" "This is insane." I go over to the window to find a stunning view of the garden, "I've always wanted a view like this." "Well I'm glad you like it," Lucas' phone rings, "Hang on I gotta take this," and he steps out. I stare at the room in awe some more, and I can't help myself from lying on the bed. Wow the nursery gave me the wrong expectation. This is the comfiest mattress I've ever felt. A knock alerts me that someone is in the doorway, and it's a beautiful, tall girl with dark, glass skin, a head full of dark curls. She has perfect cheekbones and wears a bright smile. "Hey you must be Hunter. I'm Maeve, one of Lucky's students." "Hey, yeah I'm Hunter, it's nice to meet you. I guess I'm on your team now." I didn't realize how awkward I was, but that's to be expected, Kayce is my only friend. She comes up and hugs me, "Ugh, finally another girl! I've been stuck with those idiots for way too long. It's so great to meet you!" I dream of being this extroverted. She's very sweet and seems genuine, at least I'll get along with one person on the team. "I know this is all so new and overwhelming but our team is truly like a family, we'll be here for you. My room's next door, if you need anything at all come find me. Oh let me get your number too, I'll add you the groupchats." "There's multiple?" "Yeah we have one for our team, a groupchat with all the students, and I'll need to make another one Kaien and us, without Lucky, he doesn't need to know everything," she winks at me. Wow, outed myself as a loser with no friends I guess. "Okay, here." I give her my number. Now I have a whopping two friends in my contacts. Pathetic.

Lucas walks back in as she's telling me which numbers belong to whom out of all the students. "Oh good, you two met. Saved me a trip, I was going to show Hunter around but I've got a mission, will you please give her a tour, and buy her some dinner?" He hands her a stack of cash. "More hybrids?" Lucas' demeanor changed when she asked. "Yeah, another one spotted in Brooklyn. And stop by Hunter's place so she can grab her things. Alright I've gotta go, and drag Kai along, I don't care if you have to kidnap him." He hurried out the door. "What are hybrids?" I ask, although I have a pretty good idea. "Someone has been injecting creature blood into humans to turn them into creatures. Some of them fully turn, and others die either before, or during the transformation, their bodies can't handle it. There's been cases of people taking years to transform, but sometimes it's instant. It may have to do with the amount of blood, or where it's injected. Dr. Huang is checking out leads on that, that's why you met Jesse when you got hurt, he's filling in for her." I can't pry too much, she'll get suspicious, but I need info, "Why would someone do this, do you guys have any idea who?" I really wanted to ask why it's taken them so damn long to figure out who's shooting up civilians with creature blood and why they haven't found them in almost a decade, maybe longer. "We don't know, there were a few cases over the past 10 years, and in the last 3 they really ramped up. We've gotten a few leads but when we arrive the place is abandoned, all that's left were a few needles with a bit of the blood in the bottom. When we tried to take them back to the school to investigate they evaporated. That's how we found out someone was conducting experiments to inject people. And another lead we followed had a creature locked in a cell in the basement."

Peter found one of those too. He came back late one night and told me and Kayce he followed a creature into some abandoned warehouse and found a bunch of needles filled with dark blood. When he told me I broke down, it felt like my mom died a second time. If only I knew earlier, if only I had met Peter sooner, maybe we could have found a cure. I could have protected my mom from the invasion of her body, slowly transforming her into something other than herself. "What will Lucas do once he gets there? Will he kill the hybrid? Is there anyway to turn someone back?" "We're working on it, that's why Dr. Huang is gone right now, she's trying to find a cure." She looks at the ground, avoiding my first question, but that's all the answers I need. I don't need to push it anymore. "Should we finish the tour Hunter?" She breaks the awkward silence, thankfully. "Yeah that sounds good."