Jaxon wasn't home when Hunter returned home from school.
It had been a day since their trip to the Institute. He hadn't seen his father since he went into his room when they got home and never came out.
Hunter wasn't upset about it. He was more worried than anything. His father was all he had at the moment and he didn't want to lose him just yet.
He knew the day would come when his father would turn his back on him, but just for this moment, he wanted to believe his father was on his side.
Closing his bedroom door, Hunter dropped his book bag on the floor and sat at his desk. Hunter had a lot of studying up to do. Not for school, but for his own personal needs.
Emrys had mentioned while at the institute that the City of Amet could have possibly been a gateway to everywhere, possibly including Hell.
It was the only lead he had for a way to the underworld. Hunter felt like he was grasping at straws, well a single straw. He had nothing else. Just the possibility of a portal or something. He didn't even know what he would be looking for.
Hunter decided to just read from where he left off.
The halls of the Amet Castle, and surrounding buildings not taken by the ground, lie empty of every book, paper, picture. As if someone took its history and hid it from the world.
Wild spirits roam the halls, mostly peaceful until provoked. After a scholar unearthed a hidden note scratched into the back of a dresser, a spirit immediately busted through the room and ripped the wood off of the dresser and disappeared through the floor.
It's as if the spirits have been commanded to remove any piece of knowledge that could inform us of what the spirit world was like thousands of years ago.
Hunter was confused, how exactly did Emrys get information on the spirit? He decided to just continue reading. He didn't have time to contemplate whether or not Emrys was lying.
Many staircases that would lead farther down into the castle have been blocked off by dirt. If anyone attempts to dig down, spirits attack and the premises have to be evacuated until they calm down.
What secrets could lie hidden beneath our feet? Could they be so dangerous that they had to have been buried deep to keep from being discovered?
The spirits keep a very tight check on the castle, things moved by scholars are always moved back within the same minute. This doesn't seem to anger spirits at all.
Nothing can be taken from the grounds without upsetting the spirits.
After a while Hunter came upon a passage that gave the location to the City of Amet. Hunter was told it was somewhere in Wisconsin, but apparently it's moved multiple times in the past.
The City of Amet was first reported to be found through a spirit world portal in England. It's long since moved but records and photos show that it has only just moved.
No country can take claim over the spirit world as its not considered claimable territory. The spirit world is unclaimable as any buildings built can anger spirits immensely. No known weapons can fight them.
Most scholars can get away with small tents if they aren't tacked into the ground too roughly and gifts are left out for spirits.
Amet now lies within a small wolf-run city in central wisconsin. Greyrith, home of the wolf pack by the same name, is a small city home to a wide range of wolves, mages and humans. It's a relatively peaceful pack that keeps to its own.
Hunter decided the best day to go to Wisconsin was the weekend. He would have the day to himself as Jaxon would most likely go to work. That left him around eight hours to get to travel to Amet and find a portal and leave.
Packing would be easy as many of the things he'd need to survive the spirit world would help survive the edge of Hell.
Both were cold, the edge of Hell being the colder of the two and would need multiple layers. He most likely would get away with a sweatshirt in the spirit world but would need a couple more layers to survive in Hell. There was no reliable temp to go off of.
He had to pray to whatever primordial beings were watching him for him to find answers in Amet. Hunter had no idea what he was even looking for, a portal? A Spell?
It wouldn't be any easy task making it to the city. Not only was upsetting spirits a potential problem, but the many beasts that lurked in the shadow.
Some were friendly until provoked, like spirits. But some would attack on sight. Those being:
Wyverns,
Dragons,
Griffins,
Minotaurs,
The list went on.
The spirit world wasn't exactly a friendly place. At least not anymore.
Hunter didn't understand why Emrys loved it so much. He guessed it made sense since the dude was huge and could probably take on most of the beasts with hand tied behind his back.
Emrys was such a strange dude. Suspicious, kind, and strange.
Deciding to take a break from reading about the spirit world, Hunter got into bed. It was time for his daily routine of scrolling through his camera roll at all of the photos Hunter and Zekaj took.
He hadn't gone through a lot of them until Zekaj was forced back to hell. So often did Zekaj swipe his from sneakily from him and take a pic of one of them. Zekaj had taken many selfies of himself on Hunter's phone.
One of Zekaj shirtless in the mirror.
One of him flexing.
One of him flexing again but with a more hunched over bodybuilder pose.
Multiple repeats of the same pose, including many different ones that Hunter wondered when he took since they spent so much of the day together.
There were multiples of the two sleeping too. Ones Zekaj took while he was spooning him or just when Hunter had his eyes closed when cuddling. He had even found a couple polaroids Zekaj had taken stashed away in his dresser next to the locked book.
Hunter must have dosed off as he jolted awake when he heard the front door slam shut. Someone was home, but who exactly?
The human felt drowsy but he knew he should get up now or he'd be up the whole night. His body pulsed in pain from the shattered bond as it usually did every couple of minutes.
Some of the pains were worse than others and he was slowly starting to get used to them. Each little pain seemed to make him feel worse. Every day he felt more tired and weak. The tea from AJ slightly helped but not alot.
As Hunter left his room, he immediately heard yelling coming from the living room. He sat at the top of the stairs and listened.
"You dare call our daughter a liar?" He heard his mom say. The screaming sure did help make out what they were saying.
"She did!" Jaxon yelled back. "Don't you understand?"
"She was right in the fact that Hunter was possessed! How is that lying!"
"She lied because she didn't even think he had a demon in him! She just wanted him gone and knew it would be easy to fake due to her boyfriend! Neither one of them believed what they were saying Olivia." Jaxon explained to her.
"Hunter still had a demon in him and was up to no good," Olivia said, her voice calming down.
"The demon was with him for months and nothing happened Olivia."
"You don't know that though. Hunter could've been waiting to try and take the coven out from under us all!" Olivia suggested.
"He's not some evil genius Olivia," Jaxon sighed.
"I'm just saying we don't know his goals. Why summon a demon for anything other than personal gain?" Olivia asked.
Jaxon didn't respond so she continued.
"I'm just saying we send Hunter off somewhere and make sure he's alright in the head. Something always seemed off with the kid."
"There's nothing wrong with Hunter, sure he's quiet and keeps to himself but there's nothing wrong with that," Jaxon replied.
"It wouldn't harm anyone to just make sure."
"It'd harm Hunter!" Jaxon said, his anger levels rising.
"I just want my family back Jaxon. Hannah is not coming back until Hunter is gone and neither will I. So you need to pick."
Hunter didn't hear a reply and soon watched as his mom passed by the stairs, not seeing him. The door soon quietly shut. Hunter sat on the steps not wanting to have to pick himself up.
He didn't expect for his dad to step forward and turn and see him sitting at the top of the stairs.
The two just stared at each other. Neither saying the first word. Until his father gave in.
"It'll be alright," Jaxon said. His father gave him a slight smile before turning back around and leaving.
His father was strange. He guessed the two had it in common. Sometimes he liked to try and deny him and his father were alike at all. But it was hard to ignore.
Both hated confrontation. Kept to themselves, quiet. Dirty blonde hair, brown eyes. Tall.
Hunter just wondered if there was anything he was missing. He felt just like himself, his father kept secrets.
Hey besties,
Things will soon be picking up. This chapter and the next are slight fillers but give more clues and hints that you might pick up on. Trust me, it'll be worth it.
What secrets do you think Jaxon could be hiding?
Thanks for everything,
sorry about the April fools joke lololol
-mek