Hunter

Chapter Forty One - Guilty As Charged

My thumb ran over the mark, making me feel slightly better. The feeling of hysteria in my chest subsided gradually, and I was homeostatic enough to dress myself and proceed downstairs. I quickly pulled on a long sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts, not wanting to be on my own for any longer, and hobbled down the stairs into the dining room. I sat across from Dee, as I noticed that all eyes were on me, except for hers. Aiden had joined us as well, and he was sitting next to her, preventing me from taking my usual seat there. I nodded at him as I took a seat next to Jasper. Jasper's hand immediately landed on my wrist, and I pried it off, folding my own hands in my lap. I didn't have to look at him to know that he was hurting and that he probably blamed himself for me going off on my own.

I planted my hands on the table in front of me and leaned forward, taking in Dee's bedraggled appearance. She was more pale than usual, lacking color in her face. Dark circles hung underneath her eyes like bags of lead, and the corners of her eyes seemed to have been pulled down by gravity. Her hair was a tangled mess, hanging in wisps over her face and down her neck. There was no life in her eyes, and her movement seemed unnatural. She reminded me of the man in my bathroom. Only, she was real.

"Dee, are you..." She looked up at me, subtly angry.

"Am I okay? Is that what you were going to ask?" The hostility in her voice took me aback. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out, causing me to gape like a fish out of water. "Hayley, I'm not okay, and I don't think I'll ever be okay." She glared at Jasper for a split second before looking back at me. I glanced over at him and noticed that he wasn't looking at either of us.

"What happened?" I asked, scared to know, but needing to find out. I knew that she had already told Aiden from the way that he looked at me and from the way that his arm was draped protectively over the back of her chair. Dee was silent for a long moment, watching her hands before she looked up at me.

"I felt everything." Her words were slow and deliberate, enunciating every sound and emphasizing every syllable. "Do you know what that's like? To feel everything? As a child of Hypnos, I am connected with the mind, and being in the Underworld connected me to all those dead souls. I felt everything that they felt. I felt their biggest regrets. I felt their pain. I knew how they died. Every single lingering thought, I could hear. Every single bare emotion, I could feel. I had no choice. I couldn't filter out anything, and for days I was floating through the world of the dead. Their voices rang in my own mind, and I wasn't able to shut them out. It drove me crazy." A single tear slid down her cheek. I should've cried, but I couldn't bring myself to empathize with her, even though I was going through the same thing.

"Dee, I am so sorry," my voice was sad, and I was genuinely sorry. Her eyes snapped to mine in a confused anger. She looked over at Jasper and his eyes were wide. My brows narrowed as I looked between them.

"It wasn't you?" she asked Jasper. Her eyes looked back at me as though I had betrayed her. "You moved me, Hayley? After I had explicitly told you not to?" She stood up, her small frame looking more menacing that I had ever seen her before. "How could you do that?"

"I had no choice!"

"You had a choice! And you chose to move me! You chose to trap me in the Underworld. This is all your fault!" She stormed off in an angry haze, Aiden following close behind her. My mom came down the stairs, wondering what all of the yelling was about. I couldn't look at her. I stared at the ground, piecing information together. Jasper's hand rested on my shoulder and I threw it off. I was livid.

"Who told you to do that?" I was breathing heavily as I stared at his apologetic face.

"Hayley--"

"What is it with you? I don't need you to go around trying to protect me. I can take care of myself and your meddling in my affairs is not appreciated. I can take the fall for my own actions. Stop trying to be the hero here, because you're anything but!"

I pounded up the stairs and slammed my bedroom door shut.

* Ω *

I was staring out my window watching the sunset. That moment was the most peaceful moment of my Hybrid life. Watching the colors splash across the sky like a canvas was calming. Ever since I had been introduced to the Hybrid life, I realized that I had to change my way of thinking. Everything that I had ever known or had ever been taught was wrong. Apollo was somewhere in his golden chariot pulling the sun across the sky. Artemis was getting ready to hunt, her moon rising into the sky. That's what a sunset now was to me. It wasn't the rotation of the earth. It wasn't what I thought it was. Nothing was what I thought it was.

There was a soft knock on my door. I considered not answering it and pretending to be asleep, but I knew that whoever it was would probably wake me up. It would take less time for me to answer it at that moment. Opening it, I met Aiden's large bulk, his head low as he looked at me, his large arms holding onto the panels.

"You look horrible," he said, not even giving me a second glance.

"What do you want?" I released my door and walked back into my room, plopping onto my bed. Aiden sat on the couch across from my bed, leaning back, the epitome of relaxation. The look on his face wasn't relaxed.

"Deidre doesn't want to talk to you... or anyone else, as a matter of fact."

"I figured as much."

"But, because of the prophecy, she understands how serious this has become. She has told me everything, and wants me to relay that information to the rest of you." I looked over at him. "Everyone is waiting downstairs."

"When did you become her confidante?" I spat, feeling slightly hurt at the fact that I was already replaced. I thrust my blankets to the side and stepped out of my bed, tossing on another long sleeved shirt.

"When she felt as though her best friends betrayed her."

"That was a rhetorical question." I strode out of the door and padded down the stairs quickly, leaving Aiden in my room for a moment. I sat down at my dining table, away from Jasper and my mom. Aiden was down a few moments later, and he too sat down. He didn't say anything for a while, and we all sat there, our tensions high, and nerves shot.

"Are you going to start talking or..?" I was the first one to break the silence. It was agony to just sit there and wallow in my thoughts, no matter how much I deserved it. Not only that, but I was beginning to hear voices again, and I didn't want them to overwhelm me when I hadn't yet figured out a way to deal with them.

"Dee made it to Sun City safely, and she managed to approach Apollo. She asked him where Andrea was, but he didn't understand why we would be looking for Andrea.

"Deirdre told Apollo what we had suspected with Andrea, but he refuted our theory."

"What do you mean--"

"If you let me finish, maybe you'll find out." He glared at me, and I glared back with just as much fervor.

"The necklace is on Olympus."