The Hunters of Artemis: The Return of the Hunters

Chapter 19: The Mural

Standing in the office of Gray Birch School, I felt the gazes of several students on me. Groups of students walked by, pointing and whispering at me. I gripped the papers the secretaries had given me like they were a lifeline and I turned away from the door.

A boy entered the office and said, "Ms. Meena?" He had sweeping, dark blonde hair and startling light brown eyes. He had fair skin, like mine, and he walked with a type of confidence that I lacked. I tried not to stare; he was seriously good looking.

One of the secretaries, one with long, dark hair and tan skin replied. "Yes, Keegan?"

"I came to pick up my school photos."

Ms. Meena nodded. "Take a seat and I'll go grab them for you."

Keegan sat down next to me and was quiet for a moment before turning to me and smiling. "Hi. You must be new here."

I nodded. "Uh, yeah. I--I just moved here."

The day before, the rest of the questers and I had gathered to come up with a plan. Because of the note that Anna had found, we decided that whoever was leaving us notes wanted us to either go to the library, or the school. We checked out the library first, since it would be less weird than asking to go search a school, and we found nothing.

We combed every book on every shelf in every aisle. (It took us hours.)There was nothing there. So, we went back to the hotel and came up with a plan to check out the school. They decided that after their time in Gray Birch all those years ago, only one person should go back and find the next clue.

I was the one nominated.

So there I was, waiting for the secretaries to get me all the stuff I needed, when that extremely attractive boy comes in and sits next to me.

"Where'd you move from?" He seemed genuinely curious.

"I just moved from Canada, actually." It wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't exactly a lie either. After all, I was from Canada...

He nodded. "Cool. I'm Keegan, by the way." He stuck his hand out and I shook it. His hands were soft, and I wondered what lotion he used.

"I'm Rh--Ayla," I said quickly, my face flushing over my near mistake. Because we didn't want to risk anything identity related happening, we decided to use a fake name for me.

Ms. Meena called Keegan up to give him his pictures. "I've also got your things, Ayla."

We both stood and got our things from the counter.

"Thanks, Ms. Meena," Keegan said.

I thanked her as well. I got my schedule, my locker number and combination, the textbooks I needed and a map of the school.

As Keegan and I left, he stopped just outside the doors and scratched the back of his head. "So, do you need someone to show you around?"

I said, "Uh, sure. I'm sure I need some help getting around since this is my first day." Smiling, I took a look at my schedule. "Um, do you think you could show me where these classes are? I mean, if you need to get to class, then I'm sure I'll be able to fin--"

"No, it's cool. I've got gym right now, and I'll tell you, they really don't care if you're in class or not." He smiled at me brightly and said, "Can I see your schedule?"

A few minutes later, we were on a tour through the school. I saw a bunch of older students milling about, most likely because they were on spares.

Keegan showed me where all of my classes would be, even though it was already third period.

As we were walking down the hallway, I noticed a large mural on the wall, depicting a group of teenagers. They were all facing away, so you could only see the back of their heads, and their background was black, gray and white.

There were ten people, and eight of them were obviously girls (as far as I knew, anyway). Three of those girls were blonde, two had reddish hair, and the other three had brown hair. Two of the girls wore braids, while most of the others had their hair hanging down their back.

The two boys stood at the end, one brunette and the other blonde. The blonde haired one had his arm on the brunette's shoulder.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Oh, that's a mural a student painted, like, twenty or so years ago. It's said that it shows a group of ghost kids that haunted the school for a bit," Keegan started, his eyes starting to gleam. "Apparently, they've only shown their faces once, but people keep thinking that they'll come back one day. People say that they can hear the kids' voices in the hallways after school."

I started to laugh. "That's ridiculous!"

He shrugged. "I know, but it's cool to think of."

As I looked at the mural a bit more closely, I noticed something I hadn't before. The hair styles depicted in the painting looked extremely familiar, and as I studied it further, I realized something.

One of the blonde girls had their hair in a perfect french braid. One that I recognized well. Robyn wore her hair the same way. As I looked down the line of people, I started to see the similarities. The girl with short red hair, she looked like Hannah. And the girl with long, dark blonde hair resembled Lyra.

I took a step back and it all came to me. Boom.

I knew these people.

They were my friends, my parents...

"Oh my god," I exclaimed quietly.

Keegan frowned. "What? Are you okay?"

Patting around my pants, I found the phone that the Hunters had had. I quickly took a picture of the mural, hoping that my hands weren't shaking too much, and shoved the phone back in my pocket.

I swiped some hair away from my face. "Yeah. I'm fine. I... Just thought that this would be the perfect thing to show my friends. You know, from Canada?"

He nodded, and I could tell that he didn't believe me. "Well, I've got to go. Lunch starts in a few minutes. Are you okay from now on?"

"Yup. I'll be just fine." He walked away, and left me alone in the hallway.

I stared at the mural, realizing for the first time that the Hunters had made a huge impact the last time around. My eyes landed on a girl with her curly brown hair in a ponytail and shifted my eyes away. It was painful to see my mom, even if she was young and in a painting.

Taking a deep breath, I calmed my nerves and walked away from the mural, hoping it would give me some peace of mind to get away from it.

A minute later, I was opening my locker to put my stuff away, and noticed a sticky note at the back of the locker. I gasped and shoved my books onto the top shelf, not caring if I wrecked something, and grabbed the paper.

Oh darn, you figured it out

I was hoping it'd take you some time

But now that you're here, we can play

You've been shaken. For that I'm sorry

But now you've got to Shake It Off. 

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Dear readers,

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I just want to say that I am pretty proud of myself for writing a longer chapter this time. I would like to thank all of my online friends for helping me find the inspiration for this chapter. I'm hoping that you guys are enjoying this as much as I am. For those of you who read the first book, I'm also hoping that you're picking up on all the hints I'm dropping for you. *Hint hint.*

Anyway, I've decided to ask a couple questions to get you guys commenting.

Who do you think painted the mural?

Who's leaving all the notes?

Will Keegan have a bigger part in this?

Think on this while you wait for the next chapter. (I'm gonna hope that I won't make you wait forever for it. ;) )

-flygirl1