CHAPTER THREE

Heather

"So? What's the plan?" I cross my arms and stare Professor Stills down.

We've been at this new safe house for almost twelve hours, students packed into a small cottage with our one teacher. It's ridiculous that we haven't made a move yet.

Especially since we just saw the Silver Hunters take Winter's Aunt Nora. Are we seriously going to sit around waiting for them to do who-knows-what next?

My teacher blinks at me. "The plan is to stay put. Stay quiet. Stay out of trouble."

I drop my arms. "Are you kidding me?"

"Why would I do that?" He returns to his phone and makes another call.

Again, no one picks up.

He spent the night calling numbers and having no one answer. Each time he doesn't get a response, his frown deepens.

I can’t believe this. Nora and Professor Stills and those other teachers risked their lives to save me and these other students when the Silver Hunters were tracking us down. And then Nora put herself on the line so that the rest of us could escape the Silver Hunters!

And now we’re just expected to forget about her?

I feel so helpless standing around. And not just because my teacher has told me to stay here. If my super powers had manifested–hell, if I even knew what kind of super I was–then I’d feel more confident walking out of this house on my own.

As much as I want to save Nora, though, I know I can’t do it all by myself.

"Where are our parents?" a girl named Anna asks.

"They're okay, I'm sure." Brynn smiles at her. I try not to roll my eyes, but it’s impossible. Brynn is way too optimistic.

It could also be that she annoys me because she and Winter are friends, but I’m choosing not to think about that.

"Or the Silver Hunters got them," I say.

Brynn frowns at me.

"What?" I lift my hands up. "I'm being realistic. Our parents aren't answering their phones. Professor Stills can't get in touch with the teachers or members of this guild thing. We--"

"Heather, that's enough," Professor Stills says.

"We're not in class." I whirl around to face him, hand on my hip. "This isn't school. All of that is gone, and you can't tell me what to do."

His nostrils flare with irritation. Good.

Someone touches me on the shoulder, and I look over to see Gregory. My insides turn to pudding, and my heart flutters.

He's one of the people in this group that I feel like I can trust. He's strong, capable, and he doesn't treat me like a child.

If only he didn’t still like Winter. Despite the video I showed him, I’m pretty sure he would give her a second chance if she showed up on the doorstep right now. The way that he looked at her when she arrived at Hawthorn, it was like she was an angel from Heaven.

"Heather," he says softly. "We're all scared. But we need to trust that the adults are doing what they can to help us."

I glance back at Professor Stills, who's still on the phone. He looks worried, tired.

"I know," Gregory says, his eyes meeting mine. "But what can we do? We need a plan."

I shrug, feeling helpless. "I don't know. I just... I can't just sit here and wait for them to come for us."

Gregory nods, understanding. "I know how you feel, but we have to be smart about this. We don't want to put ourselves in any more danger."

I bite my lip, feeling a mix of frustration and admiration towards him. He's always so level-headed, always thinking before he acts. It's one of the things I love about him.

I sigh, wishing that he could see things my way this time. Wishing he could see me in the same way I see him.

"Hey." He lowers his voice. "Can I speak to you about something?"

My heart tap dances. "Oh, uh... Yeah. Sure."

Tucking hair behind my ears, I follow him to a window seat away from everyone. He grimaces as he sits down on the worn cushion, still in pain from the beating the Silver Hunters gave him at Hawthorn.

"What's up?" I ask, trying to sound nonchalant as I sit next to him. Gregory confessing his feelings for me is long overdue. Maybe all these brushes with death have helped him finally come to his senses.

"I wanted to ask you about that video you showed me of Winter attacking you and your friends."

I freeze. Why is he bringing that up? So much has happened between now and then. We've literally been fighting for our lives!

"What about it?" I ask.

His good eye narrows--the other one is still too puffy from getting punched. "Was it real? Did she really attack you?"

I suck in a breath. Shit.

No, she didn't really attack us. We were the ones to go after her first, and then Alice--who was pretending to be Winter's friend--filmed Winter going crazy on us.

Alice thought that I would put in a good word for her with Gregory, that I could help her get a date with him. Little did she know, I planned on keeping him for myself.

But I can't tell Gregory that. He would hate me forever.

"Yes," I whisper. "Y-yes. It was real."

"Really?" His brow furrows with confusion. "But... Winter's my friend, and she's been so nice to everyone. I don't understand why she would attack you like that."

I swallow the lump in my throat. "I... I don't know. Maybe she just snapped?"

"That doesn't make sense." He looks out the window, thinking. "She was only here for a week, and she's made friends with a lot of people. Why would she do that to you?"

"I don't know." I try not to rock back and forth, betraying my nerves.

Gregory looks back at me, and he frowns. "Are you lying to me?"

"No! Not at all! I swear! I'm telling you the truth. Winter, she just snapped and went after us. She tried to kill us!"

"Are you sure?" His eyebrows scrunch together. "She seemed okay to me."

I nod vigorously. "I'm positive. She was like a completely different person. She had this crazed look in her eyes, and she was attacking everyone in sight."

Gregory stares at me for a moment longer, then he finally nods. "Okay. I believe you."

Relief floods through me, but I'm still on edge. I can't believe I just lied to him. The guilt of it is going to eat me alive.

"Thanks," I whisper, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear again. "I... I appreciate you believing me."

He gives me a small smile. "Of course. You're my friend."

Friend. That's all he thinks of me as.

I can't help the disappointment that washes over me. I wish he felt something more for me. I wish he saw me as something more than a friend.

But for now, I'll take what I can get. At least he trusts me.

"Hey!" Brynn calls from near the TV. "You guys need to come see this."

The small group of students rushes over to the TV, Professor Stills following slowly behind. The news is on, and the anchor's face is grim.

"Reports are coming in from all over the state of people dressed in black attacking others at random. The police have yet to comment, but eyewitnesses say that these criminals are sometimes armed with swords. Numerous explosions have occurred wherever they are spotted."

Everyone looks around the room at each other.

"The Silver Hunters aren't being careful anymore," Gregory says. "They don't care who sees them."

"Who are they attacking?" Marlow asks. He’s the only other student who also seems completely fed up with being here, and he’s spent most of the day pacing.

"Supernaturals." Professor Stills's face draws tight. "They've taken the school, and now they're spreading out to the communities."

"We need to find our parents," Anna says, her voice trembling. "We need to make sure they're okay."

"We need to get out of here," I say, my heart pounding with fear. "They could come for us at any moment."

Gregory nods in agreement. "We should split up. It'll be harder for them to find us that way."

Professor Stills finally looks up from his phone. "No," he says firmly. "We stay together. We're stronger that way."

"But we're also easier to find," I argue. "If they're tracking us, we'll be like sitting ducks."

"We have to trust that the guild is working on a plan," Professor Stills says, his voice heavy. "They'll come for us when it's safe."

I roll my eyes, frustrated beyond words. "How do we even know they're coming for us at all? They haven't even been able to contact us."

Brynn speaks up, her voice quiet. "We have to have hope. We can't give up on them."

I want to scream. Hope isn't going to keep us alive. Action will.

"Why are they attacking supernaturals?" Marlow asks. "What's their end goal?"

"They want power," Professor Stills says, his voice grim. "They believe that supernaturals are a threat to humans, and they want to eliminate that threat."

"But why now?" Marlow asks. "Why all of a sudden? They've been around for years, right?"

"It's hard to say," Professor Stills admits. "But we know that things have been happening behind the scenes. There have been meetings and gatherings, whispers in the shadows. I think they've been planning this for a while."

I groan out loud. This is so frustrating! All this conjecture and no action!

"We need to save Nora." I fold my arms. "She sacrificed herself for us, and I'm not gonna sit on my hands and wait for some guild I didn't even know existed until yesterday to help us. I'm going after her."

Professor Stills slams his hand onto a table. "You don't even know where she is!"

I lift my chin. "Hawthorn is a great place to start."

His eyes soften. "I'm sorry to say this, Heather, but you're not ready. You're not powerful enough."

"I'm more powerful than you think."

I think of the talisman in my pocket, the one I ordered from a fairy in Dyad Marketplace. It saps people--human and supernatural--of their strength and powers. It's come in handy more than once since I got it, and it's the whole reason I was able to rescue Gregory.

I got this group of students out of the school. I can slip back in there and find Nora. Hell, the Silver Hunters won't even see it coming. They probably think there's no way a student would return there.

I can't go alone, though.

"Who's with me?" I look around at my classmates.

"I am." Brynn tucks her tangled blonde hair behind her ears. She looks like shit. I remind myself not to look in the mirror, since I probably look just as bad as she does.

"Me too." Gregory steps up to my side, and my chest warms.

Marlow hesitates for a moment, then nods. "I'm in."

Professor Stills shakes his head. "I can't condone this. It's too dangerous."

I step forward. "With all due respect, Professor, we don't have a choice. We can't just sit back and wait for someone else to save us. We have to take matters into our own hands."

He looks at me for a long moment, then sighs. "Fine. But you'll need a plan."

"I have one," I say, even though I don't. "We'll sneak into Hawthorn and find Nora. Then we'll make our way out of there."

"That's not much of a plan," Anna points out.

"It's all we've got," I say. "We have to move fast. The longer we wait, the more danger Nora's in."

"We'll need to think this through first," Gregory says, his eyes flickering with a fierce intensity. "We can't just charge in there blindly."

"I have an idea," I say, pulling the talisman out of my pocket. "This will sap their strength and powers. If we can get close enough to them, we can take them down easily."

"Where did you get that?" Professor Stills asks, his eyes wide with shock.

"I ordered it from a fairy in Dyad Marketplace," I say, watching his expression carefully.

"That's illegal," he says, his voice stern.

"I don't care," I say, my voice low and fierce. "It helped me get everyone here out of Hawthorn."

Gregory cocks his head at me. "Why did you order that?"

My face warms. I ordered it for taking down Winter. She has crazy strength, and my super powers haven't fully manifested yet. The only thing I have going for me right now is heightened hearing. Without the talisman, it wouldn't have been a fair fight.

Gregory doesn't need to know any of this, though.

Professor Stills sighs. "I suppose there's no point in trying to stop you."

"Nope." I raise my chin. "We're doing this."

Marlow grins at me. "Let's kick some Silver Hunter ass."

If only it were that easy.

I'm not stupid. Finding and getting Nora out won't be simple. Going back to Hawthorn is better than sitting in this old cabin, though.

Besides, if I return to school maybe I'll gather some more information on what else is going on. Maybe I can find out why none of us have been able to get in touch with our parents.

Maybe I'll find my parents.

It's worth a shot, and at this point I'd rather go out there and die trying than sit here and do nothing.

"Ready?" I stuff the talisman back into my pocket, and Gregory, Marlow, and Brynn all nod. "All right. Let's do this."