The Hidden | ✅

Chapter Nineteen

"Hira?"Alex exclaimed. "What are you...What are you doing here? I thought you'd gotten away."

Hira shrugged as her golden eyes flickered. "I had. But I found myself coming back."

"For us?" Evanora asked, her tone light and happy.

''For me."

We turned around and saw Dorian walking towards us, his arms crossed behind his back. I was finally able to connect the dots and gasped. "Hira...Are you...working with him?!"

Hira's eyes narrowed, but she didn't answer my question. But that was the only response I needed.

"So all those late night disappearances, the unnatural sense of disliking me because of my ability, it was all because of your alliance with DORIAN?!"

Hira was silent for a moment."You'll...you'll never understand!" She exclaimed. "I'm doing this for a reason!"

"You're right," Evanora said. "I'll never understand how you could work with such a...a... a villain!"

Alex remained silent, his eyes filled with the hurt and betrayal that we were all feeling inside.

"Hira..." I began with a sympathetic look.

Her eyes became slits and she used her powers to shove us all to the ground.

"Hira, please! Don't do this!" Alex pleaded.

"There's no use in begging. You've lost your chance." Dorian said. "And you were all so promising."

"Don't talk about us like we're some sort of product!" Alex hissed.

Dorian's eyes narrowed and he turned around. "Finish them off." He said simply.

Suddenly it felt as though a hand was slowly closing around my throat, squeezing the very air from my lungs. I gasped and choked as my oxygen supply became limited. I heard Alex and Evanora's chokes and Victor's ever weakening yowl. My vision blurred and my throat felt raw.

No. I couldn't die like this. I didn't want to die like this. I turned my head and my eyes met Alex's. Blood began to dribble from his lips as he struggled to keep his eyes opened. I tried to call out his name but the only sound that came from my lips was a raspy gag.

Suddenly, a flash of magenta caught my eye and the feeling of being choked disappeared. I coughed haggardly and looked down to see the soles of my shoes glowing magenta.

Evanora.

I looked over to see her struggling to her feet, hands outstretched and eyes shining. Hira screeched as she floated above us, too distracted by her shock to summon her powers.

Dorian however seemed unfazed. He was still grounded. I looked down and my eyes widened.

The bottom of his shoes were glowing a bright ice blue.

"H-How?!" Evanora gasped.

Dorian smirked and with a flick of his wrist, his hand morphed into a blade. "I'm more powerful than you could ever comprehend, Evanora. He began to stalk towards us but Alex rushed forwards and a wall of flames rose separated us from Dorian.

Alex whipped around and pointed towards the door behind us. "Go! Go now!" He exclaimed.

As if he were made of the fire himself, Dorian walked through the flames, a cocky look of his face. Victor nudged Evanora with his nose and they rushed out together.

Dorian rushed at Alex and I held up my hands summoning a force-field to protect him.

Alex turned to face me. "I thought I told you to go?!"

"You did. But I'm not leaving without you!"I said fiercely.

"Awe! How sentimental." Dorian drawled sarcastically. He punched the ground and it quaked and buckled beneath us. Alex maintained his balance and rushed over to me, swooping me up in his arms and shooting a ball of flame at the supports on the roof.

As the flames spread, he turned to run, but Dorian grabbed his ankle and we fell to the ground. "Let go!" Alex yelled kicking Dorian in the face.

The roof began to creak and crumble and Alex grabbed my arms, pulling me to my feet as we rushed out of the house. I could've sworn I saw tears in his eyes as we ran into the woods and saw a now human Victor and Evanora waiting for us. Evanora shook with silent tears as we watched the house that we called home burn before my eyes.

It was starting to seem as if all the good things in my life ended with flames. Victor's brow furrowed as the roof collapsed and Alex took a shaky breath, turning to the group.

"Okay guys," He began, "Listen up, I know that we're all tired, hurt, and heartbroken. We've...We've just lost a lot of friends and family." He was silent for a moment as he tried to compose himself. I gently placed my hand on his shoulder and gave him a small hug.

He looked down at me softly and wrapped and arm around my shoulder before continuing. "But we have to stay strong. We have each other, our powers, our wit, a whole community of people who have set aside their lives to helping people like us. We're going to be fine."

"But the next support house is in Queens. And that's hours away on foot. And we don't have any money for busses, subways, or boats." Victor said.

"I know, V. That's why we're going to make our way to Becca. She's the only person that we can truly trust right now. She can get us to Queens. Then we can make it on our own from there." Alex stated.

"Are we just going to...live in that new house?" I asked, looking up at Alex.

He shook his head."I don't think so. It's too risky. Dorian is bound to find it at some point. We'll just stay there for a while and find somewhere else to go. Dorian will not stop until he kills us, so we have to keep moving now. No place is safe."

"And no person is truly trustable." I muttered, Hira coming to mind. How could she? Of course she and I were never that close, but based on what I saw, she seemed to love the rest of the gang. She'd treated them like family. How could she just throw it all away like that? And for Dorian Grey of all people?!

"Yeah..." Alex said softly. His eyes landed on the backpack on my back."Got supplies I see."

I nodded. "Food, one hoodie and a First-Aid kit. It was all I could grab in the rush."

"That's great." Alex smiled, rubbing my shoulder gently. He took a deep breath and looked out into the woods. It was going to be a long trek to the city, and possibly an even longer one to find Becca. But we had to stick it out.

We needed to make it, for Grace, for Ms. Duboise, and for us.