City of Angels and Darkness (Contest Version)

Chapter 12

- Los Angeles -

Everyone in the library was looking at Amelia with a baffled look on their faces. Finally, it was Emma who spoke first. "Okay. I don't get it."

She was standing in front of one of the small tables, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Amelia turned her head toward her. "Well, it tells us that there is a way to find the Hunt."

"Yeah, I got that," Emma said hastily. "I just don't understand in how far that information makes things any easier."

"What Amy wants to say is that it gives us another starting point; something we can work with." Julian, who was sunken so deep into one of the armchairs that the chair seemed to swallow him, looked up to Amelia. "I mean, that is what is does, right?"

"Right." Amelia nodded and he dropped his head again. She could not take her eyes away from him. The boy looked tired - no, he looked exhausted. As if all life had been drained out of him and had left only the empty shell of Julian Blackthorn.

Suddenly Amelia felt sorry for him. For a moment, she wanted to throw her arms around him and tell him that everything would be fine again. But she did not. The truth was that she did not know if everything would ever be fine again. The last days had made her think about the plan - whether it made sense or not.

Something had to happen. Almost four weeks had passed and still they did not know much more than they had already known when they had started. And it was not just Jules - they all were exhausted, because they spent almost every night in the library or in Faerie. They all were tired and they all were slowly loosing hope - Amelia could see it in their faces.

Her gaze wandered to Grayson, who was sitting on the tabletop, his hands resting besides his legs on the wooden top. He was looking down, his face tense. Amelia could see the line on his forehead, which he always got when he was apprehensive. She bit her lip. She did not want to hear what he was thinking, for she could already read it in his face. Amelia took a deep breath and asked, "Grays? What do you think?"

Grayson hesitated for some seconds, aware of the fact that everyone else was looking at him. Then he raised his head and said quietly, "I don't know if you wanna hear it. You're not gonna like it."

"I know." Amelia felt her heart thundering in her chest. "But I need to hear it."

Grayson cleared his throat. "I think Ty's a clever boy, but his note won't help us. He has brought up a new point; something none of us had thought about. But I also think that finding a battle is not really an option."

He shook his head. "How are we going to know where and when a battle is taking place? Even if we would be able to foresee battles - how do we choose the right one, the one the Hunt will choose too? Let's say we even manage that somehow - it is still too dangerous. I mean, we're not the Avengers or the X-Men. We're just a bunch of teenagers; throwing ourselves into a battle is definitely something I could never approve."

Everyone was silent. Grayson looked at their faces and said, "I hate so say it - I really do, but Ty's idea is nothing we can work with."

"What if we just wait? We don't need to fight." Emma shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, we don't have to fight, do we? We can just wait 'til it's over and see if we find Mark."

"Still we would not know where and when a battle is going to happen." Julian's voice was quiet and full of despair. "Plus we don't know if the Hunt will show up."

No one answered, so Julian said, "That's not possible. Grayson's right."

Amelia's heart seemed to stop beating. She felt fear creeping all over her body, clawing its icy fingers into her chest. She knew what Julian was saying. Probably they all knew.