The Hunter Academy

~Çhapter Sęvęnty-Ønę~

Zac whispered in my ear and I laughed at his lame attempts at jokes to cheer me up.

He had an infected slash against his chest, and it went all the way to his thigh but, of course, that didn't stop him walking down the hallway and sitting down to whisper stupid - but kind of funny - stuff in my ear.

Artemis had a broken wrist, she constantly tried to glare at Apollo and everyone else who attempted to help her.

She also always looked tired, even if she slept for a whole 24 hours. Apparently, she'd burned out or something like that. Still did not want help.

Julian was the only one Artemis let help her and he had a sprained ankle, so they supported each other.

Amara was probably the least injured out of all of us, with a few broken fingers.

Lucas was still a no-show.

Someone knocked at the door and a part of me hoped it was Lucas but I didn't get my hopes too high, that would end with almost guaranteed disappointment.

"Come in."

I recognised the the strands of brown hair and grey eyes.

"Hi." Charlotte greeted.

I waved with my right arm and she edged closer to the centre of the room, as if wondering if she should make a run for it.

She pulled out a letter from her pocket and handed it to me. "Victoria said to hand this to you."

"Thanks," I answered as I took it.

There was a moment of silence in the room.

"What's your favourite subject?" Charlotte asked randomly.

Julian furrowed his eyebrow. "What?"

"What?" Charlotte asked back, confused, and I sniggered. 

"Why that question, he means," Artemis translated.

"Well, I'm not going to ask how she's feeling - or if she's feeling better -because she's still in the infirmary.

"And I'm not to ask, 'hey you know that person' only to go 'yeah they're dead now'."

I could feel Artemis glaring at Charlotte.

"I got a better one," Zac suddenly burst.

Amara tilted her head. "Okay..."

"Where does a cat go when it loses it's tail?" Zac asked.

I sighed. "I don't know, Zac, where do cats go when they lose their tales?"

Zac smiled. "To the re-tail store."

Silence...

Then, I couldn't help it - I laughed. I laughed really loudly and it wasn't long before everyone else started laughing too.

We'd all been so sombre recently, but now? We'd actually laughed and smiled: even Artemis was laughing - and I think Apollo was too, but how am I supposed to know?

Zac smirked. "Look at that, I've made cold, heartless Artemis Hemlock laugh."

Her smile dropped and she mock glared at Zac. "Tell anyone what transpired in this room and I will castrate you."

He raised his eyes brow and laughed, as if Artemis had not just threatened to cut off an essential body part of his.

He held up his hands in surrender. "I won't, I won't, don't worry... if - "