The Hidden | ✅

Chapter Twenty-Four

I smiled when I saw the clear flowing stream. It wasn't like I hadn't drunk in a while. I just was happy to see everyone else that lively. Evanora walk walked half tripped to the edge of the stream, Victor right on her heels. He tackled her halfway there and she howled with laughter. I walked over to the edge of the stream and cupped my hands, taking a gracious sip.

Suddenly however, someone shoved my head down into my hands, spilling water all over me. I gasped and stood up, holding out my arms in shock. A familiar boyish chuckle made me realize exactly who was at fault and I glared at Alex. He shrugged and I angrily flicked water at him.

He practically hissed at me in shock and I couldn't help but laugh at him. "Don't do that! You're muting my powers!" He whined.

"I'm sure you're still plenty capable of living without being able to launch fireballs at unsuspecting birds." I mused as I attempted to wring out my hair. Alex mumbled something incoherent and I smiled, rolling my eyes.

I briefly saw him summon flames to his fingertips to make sure that his abilities weren't completely gone and smirked.

"How long have we been out here again?"

"I don't know. About a couple hours. Maybe more."

Muffled voices in the distance had us shooting upwards to attention. I shot Alex a quick look and he held a finger up to his lips and pointed to our left. There weren't that many places to hide and I could feel my heart quicken.

"Oh my God." Evanora mumbled. "Oh my God there's nowhere to hide!!!"

Hide.

Conceal.

Camouflage.

INVISIBLE!

My head shot up and I grabbed Evanora's arm and the hood of Alex's hoodie. He looked at me in confusion and I jerked my chin towards Victor. He seemed to get the message and grabbed Victor's arm.

I closed my eyes and, calling back all my previous training lessons, mentally willed myself to disappear. It took a lot of strength of mind to spread my power to everyone but I soon got a familiar feeling of submergence. It felt like I'd been placed inside some warm thick substance and I opened my eyes. I could still see, but the world look almost crystallized and a bit distorted.

We were invisible.

Two men walked out of the woods and past us. I heard Alex take a sharp intake of breath once he realized how close they were. And how armed they were.

They were defiantly Dorian's men. But how did they get so close?! Were they searching the woods all night?

"Kris said the last signature he got on the kids was in this area. Like, right here." One man said as he did a full 360 turn.

The other man scoffed. "Well Kris's shit must be defective. There is clearly no sign of those goddamn children."

The first man frowned. "I don't know. Kris is usually always on point when it comes to hunting. He's never been wrong before and he's been doing this way longer than we have."

"Well we've been doing this way longer than Dorian Grey has too, but guess who's got who eating out of their hands?"

It was silent for a moment before the first man spoke again. "I just want to get this over with. Come on. Report into base and let's keep searching."

The retreating of the men's footsteps was accompanied by the static of a radio. It was a few more minutes before I was actually confident enough to let everyone become visible again.

As soon as I stopped using my powers, my stomach began to churn and I felt weak. I feel to my knees and before I knew it, I was vomiting on the ground. I coughed and wheezed as my bile shoved its way up my throat. Someone walked over and held my hair out of my face and I didn't need to look up to tell it was Alex.

He took off one of his rubber bracelets and tied my hair up in a messy ponytail once I stopped. I fell backwards, out of breath once I'd gotten it all out of my system. I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing and heart rate.

"Hey," Alex began. I opened my eyes and looked over at him. "Thanks for the save."

I let out a breathy chuckle and laughed faintly. "You are welcome."

Evanora ran a hand through her hair. "Did you hear those guys!? They're actually patrolling for us! They're searching! They have groups and weapons and a whole base!"

I sat up and took a deep breath. "We have to...we have to get out of these woods. The more time we take breaks and...and sleep, the more chances we're giving them to find us."

"Circe is right." Alex said, helping me to my feet. "We have to find the quickest way out of here and take it." He turned to Victor. "Got any wings you can spare?"

Victor nodded and turned into a blue jay. Suddenly, he was off, flying high above the treetops and into the air. In a few minutes, he was back. "There's and old dirt road a few miles to the north." He said pointing. "I didn't get to see where it leads, but its bound to lead us towards some form of civilization."

"Or private property that we're not supposed to be on." Evanora muttered.

"Either way, we're getting away from these woods. I say we take our chances. Let's go." Alex said, taking the lead of the group.

Evanora turned back to me. "Can you walk?" She asked sweetly. I nodded and half wobbled behind Victor. My legs felt like jelly beneath me and my mind felt a bit foggy. How much energy did that last move take out of me? Too much I guessed as I tripped over a rock.

"Shit." I muttered as a reverberating pain shot throughout my head.

Alex walked over and helped me up again. "I really don't think you can walk on your own." He said.

"Yeah, I can. I have to." I stated, trying my best to shove Alex away. But his grip remained firm.

"Well, you're not going to." He swooped me up in his arms and proceeded to carry me.

"This charade is getting old." I mumbled.

He hummed in response. "I don't know. It still seems kind of recent to me."

I rolled my eyes. "You're a real work, you know that?"

"Of course I do. I'm a diamond in the rough."