The Locket

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Do you want to go out sometime?" Aiden asks.

"What?" His question startles me. It was very out of the blue.

Aiden laughs at my response, "Do you want to go on a date sometime? Like maybe this weekend?"

I'm stunned. I was not expecting him to ask me that. "Yeah I would love that," I say. I don't know why but his question made me think of Chase. I still haven't heard from him and I have no idea where he is or what he's up to.

"Awesome," Aiden says.

"That was a pretty random question," I say.

"It actually wasn't, I've been meaning to ask you for a while now, I just haven't had the courage to do so." Aiden looks bashful as he's telling me this.

I grab his hand in response and wrap my fingers through his. If he had the courage to ask me out, then I have the courage to hold his hand as we walk. Aiden smiles as he looks down at our interwoven fingers.

We walk the rest of the way in silence. My mind keeps wandering back to the mysterious figure and for some reason to Chase as well. As we near the end of the pathway the lake suddenly appears to us; it's breathtaking here. The path leads up to the sandy shore but trees surround the other three sides of the lake. I feel at peace here.

"There's a lot more people here than there were at the dinner," I say. It looks like at a thousand people came here.

"Well the dinner is more for just freshman and new students, this is for the whole school. So more people end up coming," Aiden says. Since it's a party thrown by the school, there's no alcohol allowed but I can see a few students sneaking drinks from flasks.

"Aren't those people going to get in trouble for drinking?" I ask as I watch girl who doesn't look to appear any older than I am take a long swig out of a silver flask.

"I don't think so. My roommate, Neil, was telling me that the professors and school officials don't really look for people drinking. They'll only discipline those who are foolish enough to get caught. I think it's sort of a tradition," Aiden explained.

"Aiden, man, you made it," A guy a little taller than Aiden but more scrawny looking walks up and slaps Aiden on the back.

"Oh hey man. This is Charlotte. Charlotte this is Neil," Aiden says.

"Hi, nice to meet you," I say.

"You as well. So this must be the girl that you were telling me about earlier," Neil says. Aiden was telling someone about me? I hope good things were being spoken. I can feel Aiden tense up next to me; I'm pretty sure he was hoping that Neil wouldn't have said something but I'm also pretty sure that Neil has had some alcohol tonight.

"Um yeah. She is." He turns to me and continues, "Neil was telling me about this party that was going on after the bonfire and that there would be lots of girls there, but I told him I had other plans." Aiden looks nervous after telling me and starts to fidget where he stands. It's kind of endearing that he would react that way.

I wasn't sure how to reply with words because I'm not the most eloquent speaker so I do the next best thing I can think of – I wrap my arm around his waist and lean into him. I can feel his body relax next to mine.

I hadn't even noticed Neil wander off until Aiden went to say something to him. "I guess he found someone else to say hi to. I don't know how but he pretty much knows everyone here even though he's a transfer like me."

"I think there are just some people out there who can become friends with basically anyone by only saying hello," I say.

Aiden smiles in reply. We start walking towards the bonfire to get a closer look. I can feel the heat radiating off of the fire and something strange stirs inside me. I don't know what the feeling is but it's almost like I'm drawn to the flames somehow. The spot on my abdomen where the Hunter tried to steal my soul starts to itch but the more I try to scratch it, the worse it gets. I start to feel goose bumps develop on my skin; this means that whatever is following me, is near. At least that's what it meant the last time. I scan my surroundings but nothing. I start to just chalk it up to being tired but then I look through the flames, I can see that there's a person standing in the bonfire. I blink a few times to see if my eyes are just playing a trick on me but there really is someone there. I want to scream, to yell, and to get help but I look at Aiden and he is staring straight at the flames without a worry in his eyes. I look back at the fire and the person is still there. I try to concentrate on the figure to see if I can make out any features, but I can't. It's like a black silhouette of a person, almost like a shadow. The more I look it, the more I feel something familiar about it. Like I know who it is; I just can't seem to put my finger on it.