Shadow People (The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles, #2)

Ten: Hayden Williams

At noon, I was ready to go meet up with Heather and her friends. She gave me the address to Kristen's house, which thankfully wasn't too far. They offered to pick me up along the way, but I decided to walk. I also needed time to think about what I was going to say.

My biggest concern was that they weren't going to trust me. That they were going to take one look at me and fear the worst, then throw me into the fiery pits of Hell. Of course, I meant that figuratively—sort of. I just hoped they didn't expect that I'd throw them all under a bus. If anything, telling the world about what happened would either:

1. Make me look crazy.

2. Make me look crazy.

So yeah, it wasn't like anyone would believe me even if I did speak up.

It took me about twenty minutes to arrive. Her house was huge, at least compared to mine. Feeling anxious, I stepped up to the house and knocked on the door. There were only two cars, so I assumed The Council had yet to arrive.

A minute later, a woman opened the door. She smiled halfheartedly at me and said, "You must be Hayden. My name's Lena. Come on inside." She opened the door and I stepped inside. There was no one else in the hallway with us, so I assumed everyone was in another room.

"Would you like something to drink?" Lena asked.

"Ah...no thanks," I replied. If I drank too much before meeting with The Council, I'd probably piss myself. "Where is everyone?"

"Downstairs," she explained. "In the, um..." She stopped for a moment as if she were thinking about what to say, then smiled again. "In the Hideout. Sorry, I forget sometimes that you know."

"The Hideout?" I asked.

She nodded. "Sit." Pulling out a chair at the table, I sat down, and she sat down right next to me. Lena was fairly nice to far, for the most part. Which was a good thing. "The Hideout is our secret room. Or rather, rooms. We do training, classes, and other things down there. We even have some open bedrooms just in case."

"In case of what?"

Shifting her mood quickly to one that was a little more serious, she said, "Don't worry about that. Once today is done, you won't have to come back again. Unless you want to, of course. But you won't be allowed down there after today."

Fine by me. Last thing I wanted to do was be in a room full of Monster Hunters more than I needed to. "Lena...can I...ask something?"

"Of course!" she said kindly. "What's wrong?"

Did she seriously just ask me that? "Everything. I'm scared...of what The Council will say. You guys know that I won't tell anyone, right? They have to understand. I don't want to be a part of this more than I already am."

Lena nodded. "That's understandable. It is a scary situation for those who aren't aware. Just a couple weeks ago Heather was human and had no idea about our existence. We were doing it to protect her." She sighed. "I guess that was a dumb mistake on our part. Thankfully, she's been understanding of the whole situation, and she caught on pretty fast. Just know that we believe you, and we'll do everything we can to persuade The Council today to let you go on with your life."

That was exactly what I hoped to hear. I could just worry about myself and none of this paranormal stuff ever again. As long as they could persuade The Council, that is. I smiled at her and said, "Thank you. It really means a lot to me that you guys would want me to live a normal life."

Lena laughed. "Oh, I remember that feeling. When I first became a Monster Hunter at sixteen, all I wanted was to continue my life as a human. Even today, I sometimes wish that I could have a normal life. But I've grown accustomed to my life, and I hope that you, as a friend to my daughter and Heather, will accept them for who they are. You can stay out of it as long as you want, but they all want to be friends with you, regardless."