Hunter

Chapter Sixteen - In My Darkest Hour

I was flying.

My friends were flying.

We were all flying, skating through the air like weightless clouds. I wasn't weightless. The burden on my shoulders was much like that of Atlas: I was being anchored by my heavy thoughts. An endless swirl of emotions swiveled in my mind like a whirlpool, confusing me and frustrating me.

What was I even looking for? Why was I even doing all of this? Why should I even care about the gods? What had they ever done for me and people like me? Was there a point to all this madness?

My necklace, the gods, the monsters, all the spirits. It was all too much! I didn't know what do with the new life I was given. This decision was made for me, handed to me when the gods needed me.

At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be ordinary.

But I wasn't.

I was a stupid, sixteen-year-old Hybrid, trying to get my necklace back so that people didn't die. That's as normal as I was getting, and there was nothing that I could do about it. I would just have to stay Hayley Hunter, descendant of-

"HAYLEY!" My head snapped down to Dee and Jas, who were both plummeting to the ground. In a panicked haze, I shot down quickly, grabbing onto Jasper's wrist. He wrapped his arms around me as I directed myself towards Deirdre. She was falling quicker that I could reach her, and Jasper's weight was making it hard to navigate. I could hear her shrill voice, it's pitch forcing me to speed faster towards her.

"Dee, spread out your arms and legs!" Jasper screamed, and I pulled out my arm. We were approaching the ground, closer and closer. In a burst of energy, I zipped forward and took a hold of her. Her arms wrapped around my neck, holding on tightly. I tried to slow down, but with their added weight and my inability to see, I crashed into a nearby tree. A sharp branch jutted into my ribs and my head smashed into the trunk.

Rough bark scraped my body as I fell into the spaces between branches. I landed on the dry earth, my body sore and bruised. Jasper and Deirdre weren't in any better condition that I was. Jas's nose was bleeding and Dee spotted a large gash on her forehead.

I tried to stand but collapsed to the floor, my vision blurring and my heart burning in my chest. I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself, but it only made my breathing more erratic. I felt the soothing palms of my friends' hands on my back, rubbing calming circle up and down. Sharp tears pricked my eyes again, and I released another sob. Deep within my chest, a pain so remarkably pure expanded into something suffocating and I couldn't quell it Jasper hugged me, but I pushed him off of me. Dee stepped toward me, but I stepped away.

"Both of you, stay away from me!" I forcefully rubbed the tears away from my face as I hobbled away from them.

* Ω *

Deirdre and Jasper followed me. That I couldn't prevent. I wished to walk forever. To just keep going straight until the soles of my shoes wore off and until my feet bled, but something compelled me to stay when they pleaded for my cooperation. We discovered a small cave that appeared safe enough to stay in until we figured out what we wanted to do. Our bottomless backpacks thankfully carried sleeping bags and tents. I set up my station at the far end of our fire, opposite from where Dee and Jas were sitting. I watched the flames, poking them with a stick and seeing the coals burn a bright orange and then a deep red.

"So what's our plan now?" Jasper asked, his eyes on the same flames. I barely heard him; I just watched the fire flicker and burn until I realized that they were looking at me.

I shrugged. "The plan remains the same."

"We don't know where we are," Deirdre whispered, her shoes drawing pictures in the sand.