Page 40 of Hunters and Prey

"Oops. Didn't know I'd get all dizzy," I mumbled, waiting for the spinning to stop. "What the hell happened?"

"We should explain when you’re well rested," Aaron suggested.

"I feel Heartless won't let us," I replied.

"My name isn't Heartless! It's Roxas."

"Okay, Kingdom Hearts Hater," I answered, unbothered by his angry response. "Anyone wanna give me the quick notes version of what happened?"

West raised his hand, giving me a cute grin.

"To sum it up, Aaron kissed you, which was against the rules, activating the magic inside of you and the locked powers in us. You were stuck in the tornado you made by accident and when it vanished, you were all floating, horror movie-possessed type deal and had a bunch of glowing magic marks on your arms. Oh! Your hair was all silver and cool looking and then the levitation show ended and Roxas had to go all ninja Naruto-style to catch you. Then you were dying and we had to rush you back here where Rome was able to heal you. I kept you stabilized while Aaron explained what happened to your mom. Alec had to use his psychic powers to soothe your mind, so your body wouldn't go into a seizure, which could have caused you to go into shock and basically kill you."

I nodded. "Oh."

The rest of the guys looked at West, who gave them a confused look. "What?"

"You’re the smartest in the group, yet sometimes I have my doubts." Roxas sighed.

"Hey." West pouted.

"Can we get back to the topic," Aaron suggested.

"Right," Rome replied.

"She thinks we're all crazy," Alec admitted. "And before you scold me for reading her mind and all that crap, I can't help it."

I remained silent, but I moved the blanket off my legs, noticing I was wearing pajamas. Aaron gave me a confused look as I moved from his hold and stood up. After making sure I wasn't going to faceplant the floor, I moved right past the guys to the door.

"Um. Where is she going?" Roxas questioned.

"Washroom,"Alec and I said in unison. I looked at him and he gave me a sheepish smile. "My bad."

I just nodded and walked out of my room, heading straight to the bathroom. I locked the door and stared at the mirror. I looked no different than when I'd checked the mirror before meeting up with Aaron in the forest. Well, aside from the absence of my red glossy lips and my paler complexion, which worried me just a tad.

I looked like I hadn't slept for days. The black circles under my eyes were so prominent, I wished I'd kept the concealer I used after doing all-nighters to play video games in the mirror cabinet and not in my makeup bag in my room.

"Everything is fine. Nothing crazy just happened. I'm just having a nightmare and I woke up and needed to pee, and I'm going to walk back to my room, ignore the people, sleep, and realize this is all a dream," I coached myself.

With a nod, I quickly used the washroom. After washing my hands, I splashed some cold water on my face before gripping the side of the sink when I felt dizzy again. Closing my eyes for a moment, I took a few deep breaths.

"I must have the flu or something," I told myself. After a few more breaths, I reached to turn the tap off when I noticed the water wasn't running. Actually, it was frozen solid.

Huh? Who the hell froze the water? It's not winter and we're sure not up in Antarctica. I wonder if they have frozen tap water there? Actually...never mind. That sounds stupid.

There was a knock on the door that made me jump. "Sorry, Alice, but what's this about frozen water?"

It was Alec. "Do you read minds on purpose? And you're not supposed to interrupt a lady in the washroom!" I argued, opening the door to face him.

He blinked and opened his mouth to speak. "Uh...sorry?"

I nodded. "I accept your apology, imaginary Alec," I replied.

"I'm not imaginary," he pointed out with a disappointed look.

"Well, everyone must be crazy including me because it's spring and yet the water in the faucet is frozen."I pointed to the faucet. Before I turned my gaze back to him, it began to thaw, until it was running water again.

My mouth dropped in shock, and I continued to watch it until steam began to drift up to the ceiling.

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