Hunter Academy 2: In The Dark

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting to see when I woke up the next morning but it wasn’t that Alexandria was nowhere in the room. I groggily sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes.

I was under the covers and I had a feeling Alexandria had something to do with that. I pushed the blanket off of me and got out of bed. I stretched the grabbed my water bottle before something caught my eye.

The chain with Alexandria’s ring on it had gotten out from beneath my shirt and I grabbed it once again just gazing at the ring. I had a feeling this ring meant something to her, I just didn’t know what. Something didn’t feel right. That feeling was a constant companion these days.

I sighed and tried to think of something else, anything else that didn’t relate to Alexandria. I failed; instead I started wondering what time Alexandria had left last night. Had she stayed with me at all? Did I mean anything to her at all? I was beginning to have my doubts.

I took a shower and then put on a pair of dark jeans and a white t-shirt then went downstairs. I walked into the kitchen and saw Erik’s father taking to my parents. My eyes widened and I automatically cast my gaze to the floor. From the little amount that I had looked into Max White’s eyes I could tell he was pissed. He had plenty of reason to be.

I grabbed and apple and stood by the entrance to the kitchen. Although it was not like Erik’s father couldn’t do anything to prevent me from getting away if he really wanted to. For all I knew he could have already put a curse on me.

“So you were saying?” Max prompted, not taking his eyes off of me. Had my parents already told him about my role in this? Or had he somehow figured it out by himself?

“He’s in a sort of coma, due to the nature of the spell he was trying to perform. We don’t know much about the nature of different spells, that’s just what was explained to us,” my father explained sounding uncomfortable. It was probably because this happen happened while Erik was under his roof.

“And where is he now?” Max asked sounding sad. He looked a bit like he was blaming himself for this.

“He’s upstairs, we tried getting him help, nothing worked,” my mother replied. “We even tried getting the help of whatever witches we have at our disposable but no results.”

Max White stood up and headed to the stairs. “I’m going to go see him.” He didn’t look at me as he passed. He didn’t say anything by the time he reached the stairs but as he ascended he turned his head and looked at me. “Damien, please come with me. I need to talk to you.”

I sighed and looked at my parents but their expressions were neutral. I followed him upstairs dreading every step that brought me closer to Erik’s room and closer to the confrontation I was expecting from Erik’s father.

I paused before I entered and when I finally entered the room the door slammed shut behind me. I gulped and stared at the door. I felt inclined to try the lock but Erik’s father wasn’t stupid. Either it was locked or I would open it only for it to slam shut again.

I faced Max and waited for him to say something. He crossed his arms and his eyes flickered from Erik to me to back to his son. He took the seat beside the bed and stared at his son.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered deciding to break the silence first. “I should have told Erik to forget it.”

Max White nodded. “Yes you should have. As much as I would like to blame you fully, there were other factors contributing to what happened to Erik.” I raised an eyebrow and too the other chair in the room, near the end of the bed. “I should have put a witch also in charge of looking after him. That way he might have gone to them for help and they could have prevented it.” I didn’t say anything; I didn’t know what I could possibly say. “There was also someone interfering with the spell he was trying to cast.”

“What?” I burst out saying. I hadn’t suspected anything of the sort. “How do you know? Do you know who it was? Can they reverse what was done to Erik? How do you think the interfered? And why would they?”

Erik’s father just regarded me in silence, likely surprised by my many questions. He shrugged and looked at Erik again taking a bit of time before he attempted to answer my questions.

“I know because this isn’t normal. I know my son had the skills to do this spell, no matter how reckless he was being. His failure wasn’t his fault. I don’t know who did this to him but rest assured I’m very invested in finding out. As for how and why, they used magic,” that made me feel stupid but I ignored it, “and they did it because of what he was trying to do it for.”

I see,” I said still processing the information.

“That’s what I need your help for,” Max said. “I need you to tell me what he was trying to do.” And just like that I was placed in a difficult position. I wanted to give Erik’s father all the information I can but I wasn’t sure if that would mean Alexandria would find that I wasn’t telling her everything. Max’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going to tell me what you know,” he threatened, “it’s just a matter of whether you will give it up the info now or later, after I force you to. I didn’t get the feeling that he was joking.

“Someone’s after me, Erik was trying to go back and see who attacked me and get some more information about the incident. He was using the energy of the water or something and then Alexandria showed up and she realized something was wrong,” I answered. “We tried breaking the spell, when we got him out of the water things changed. He was awake for a bit, he stammered that something was wrong and then went unconscious.”

Throughout my retelling of that moment Erik’s father’s expression never changed from the solemn one that he had on before. He seemed very driven in helping Erik.

“So Alexandria was involved in this as well,” Max mused out loud. I nodded even though I knew that he didn’t need my confirmation. I heard a sneeze from outside the room and Max and I exchanged glances before the door opened to reveal a guilty looking Liz.

“You were listening,” I stated the obvious. Liz nodded looking at Erik’s father to see if she was in trouble. He didn’t say anything waiting for Liz to explain herself.

“I was listening because I was part of this too. Erik, Damien and I were working together on a few things but since you were talking to him about the accident I thought I should hear it too.”

Max White nodded. “Do you have anything to add to what Damien told me? I’m sure you agree with most of it but I want to know if you have different opinions on anything, no matter how unimportant you think it is.”

Liz hesitated glancing over at me then stood straighter. It gave me the impression she didn’t care if I liked what she was about to do. And because of her actions I knew what she was going to say before she said it.

“Actually I do think something that Damien has constantly told me has no relevance with what we were looking into.” She gave me a cool look. “I think that the reason he was attacked has something to do with Alexandria. I can’t explain why I feel that way but I do.”

“I firmly believe in the power of trusting your intuition,” Erik’s father replied. “I’m grateful that you told me this, I think it will help.” He turned to me. “So you don’t think she has anything to do with this? Or are you just turning a blind eye?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think she has anything to do with this. I know she has a few secrets-”

Liz snorted at my use of a few. “Yeah if a few means a whole lot. She has a past with many secrets. She’s secretive, she’s not going to open up to you just cause you’re suddenly her new boy toy.” I gaped at her. Liz rolled her eyes and then left the room.

“She may have secrets, secrets that may or may not have something to do with me but I don’t think she has anything to do with whoever attacked me. I don’t believe she would want to hurt me.”

“You don’t think she would want to hurt you but I think what you’re not saying is that you might get hurt unintentionally. That whatever she’s keeping from you will end up doing harm to you even if she didn’t want that.”

I nodded, realizing that was what I was feeling. “Yeah, I think.”

“I need you to do one more thing for me, if you refuse I’ll just go to someone who can help me, or do it myself.” I tensed, sensing I wasn’t going to like this. “I want you to call Alexandria and get her to come here, now.”