Page 43 of Hunters and Prey

"Woof!" She sat anxiously at the door. I reached back and opened it for her, watching her run in and nudge her head against Rome. His eyes were still closed, but he reached out and petted Daisy a few times before going back into his pose with his palms facing up.

Daisy carefully hopped onto the bed, moving until she was snuggled next to Alice, who still looked rather pale. I closed the door once more, knowing if I stared too long, I wouldn't want to leave.

None of us exchanged words until we reached the living room.

"Well, that went horribly wrong." Alec sighed.

"Agreed there," West replied. "What are we gonna do now?"

"When she wakes up, I'll talk to her," Aaron declared.

"Are you going to TALK talk with her as in getting to the point, or are you going to comfort her because you fucked up the first time?" I questioned.

"That's because you were all in the room talking utter nonsense and distracting me," Aaron countered.

"Multitask." I rolled my eyes. "Well, we already fucked up. What now?"

"Her mother is going to be back soon, isn't she?" West noted. "She went to go tell the Witch Council."

"Isn't that a tad risky for a human?" I questioned.

"She's been in contact with them for a while," Aaron revealed. "Since Alice had to opt out of school. They came here to see her mom and assess Alice's magic."

"And I'm finding this out now because?" I gave him a stare.

"You were busy doing shit," Aaron argued.

"Just because I'm busy with life, doesn't mean I'm not supposed to know shit," I argued back.

"Can you two set aside your differences for a moment? We need to figure out how the hell we're going to tell her everything without freaking her out," West noted.

"Seriously, guys." Alec used his serious tone, catching the three of us attention. "We need to take a few steps back and actually calmly tell her. Her mind is all frizzled and confused. She may have grown up believing in all of this, but something clearly switched off in her mind. She doesn't think magic or witches or anything supernatural is real."

"Really," West questioned.

Alec nodded. "You all know I don't need to peek into someone's mind long enough to understand their views on magic. It's closed off entirely. She doesn't believe in witches, the prophecy, nothing. I think a part of her acknowledges that nature has control of certain things and knows that it's not normal for the wind to come to her when she rollerblades, but it's as though she just won't acknowledge it’s magic."

"She used to believe in it," Aaron mumbled. "But something happened. I'm not really sure what."

The four of us were silent for a moment. This was going to be complicated.

"Let Rome stay with her. He's the calmest and can explain things. Aaron, you and I have to go check where her mom is. Alec and West, stay here and be on guard. With the whole chaotic magic show from a few days ago, we don't know when those who don't want Alice's reawakening will strike. Alice is the most vulnerable."

"Why would her mom be in danger?" Aaron questioned. "She just left yesterday."

"She said she'd be back by sundown. It's sundown. I don't trust the Council."

"You don't trust anyone," Aaron muttered. I glared at him but held my tongue.

He wouldn't understand.

"Let's just go check. My dad won't mind taking us," I huffed. I didn't wait for another annoying response from Aaron, moving straight to the door to grab my shoes.

Slipping them on, I walked outside, noticing Alec was at the doorway.

"What?"

"You're gonna get grey hairs before you reach twenty," he commented.

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