Hunter Academy 2: In The Dark

Chapter 17

A few days had passed since Alexandria had left for good. Days of wondering where exactly we went wrong. Days of wishing there was something I could do to erase the events of the last few weeks so we could start over.

I shifted on my bed as I absentmindedly stared up at the ceiling. I was playing with the chain that Alexandria’s ring hung on. I felt the engravings and the feeling that I should have given back her ring came back again. She hadn’t asked for it, so I suppose either she forgot or she didn’t care. It didn’t really make sense because I got the feeling that the ring was important to her.

Then anger welled up in me as it did every time I thought about this. My emotions on this subject changed frequently. If she wouldn’t have kept secrets from me maybe we would still be together now. She had gotten mad at me as if this was all my fault but the blame was both of ours. We both had done things that we shouldn’t have, but now I was sure that I was the only one feeling this way.

My fist clenched at the already tight chain that was wrapped around got tighter. When I removed the chain there were red marks. I sighed and put the chain and ring in my pocket. I didn’t wear it around my neck anymore but I couldn’t part with it. It was partially due to the fact that it was Alexandria’s and also since she had told me to keep it with me.

There was a soft knock on the door but I ignored it. The door opened anyways and Liz poked her head in the room. I hadn’t talked to her since Alexandria had left. I guess I blamed her too.

“I know you still hate me but you’ll realize this was for the best,” she began before closing her eyes. “But if you don’t want to talk about that I understand and I’ll respect your wishes.” She gave me a small smile while nervously playing with a thin strand of her auburn hair.

“What do you want?” I asked; my voice cold and disinterested.

Liz flinched and her hand let go of the strand of hair. Her smile disappeared and she visibly collected herself before continuing. She kept a hand on the door handle as if she was ready to flee at any moment if this conversation proved not to her liking.

“I just thought that you would want to know that Erik’s father’s back,” she stated slowly. I sat up and stared at her, she said nothing else, just held my gaze refusing to back down.

I shrugged. “Why am I supposed to care that he’s back?” I inquired. Erik’s father had been gone the last few days, he only came back for a few hours during the night and I hadn’t encountered him since that night.

“Well he was out gathering ingredients, based on the list that the witch gave us? For the concoction that is supposed to revive Erik from his magical coma?” she clarified. I could tell by her expression that she thought I might have lost it and didn’t remember what we were working to do about Erik.

“And, has he gathered everything he needs to?” I prompted. She nodded and my eyes widened. I got out of bed and adjusted my navy blue sweater. “Where is he?”

“His room, more space than if he were to do whatever he’s going to do in Erik’s room,” she answered. So he was actually going to try and wake Erik up? “I’m not sure how long it’ll take or if he needs to wait a while to give Erik the mixture. I really hope it works; I want him to wake up soon. I’ve missed him. It’s not fair that this happened to him.”

“It doesn’t matter how long it takes, as long as it works,” I interrupted her rambling. She obviously felt uncomfortable with the unaddressed issue between us, but I was going to let her squirm until I blamed her less or she made up for it somehow. Liz pursed her lips but said nothing more.

I knocked on the door to Max White’s room and it swung open right after. I took in the chaos of the room before walking inside. Liz just stood in the doorway.