Chapter 6 #4
“I’ll be out here if you need anything. The headmistress is looking into the breach. We should know more in the morning,” he told us. “Try to get some sleep,” he added.
Harper walked down the hallway, and Luna followed her, so I followed them, my legs suddenly feeling heavy.
The second we were in her room and she shut the door, she spun, eyes wide.
“Son of a biscuit eater! Did that seriously just happen?” Harper screeched.
“An attack on campus?” Luna added.
“People died.” I felt sick, the words barely making it past my throat.
The room went silent then.
Harper started pulling weapons off the wall, metal clinking softly as she moved. She handed me a small dagger and a pair of stakes. Then she tossed Luna a stake and another dagger.
“Never again. We never go out unarmed again,” Harper said.
Both Luna and I nodded.
You didn’t need to tell me that twice.
Harper then looked to me, and a small smile pulled at her lips. “Asher broke formation to save you.”
I rolled my eyes. “So?”
Luna scoffed. “So we’ve been told since we were six years old to never break V formation, not even to save a fellow hunter, because it puts everyone at risk. I was ready to let you die.”
“Thanks.” I chuckled but my stomach flipped over. “Well, he doesn’t seem to follow the rules.”
“Asher Voss always follows hunter code.” Harper was grinning.
I waved her off, rolling my eyes. “Serious crap went down tonight. We don’t have time for romance theories.”
I knew where she was going with this.
Luna cocked her head to the side. “There’s always time for romance theories. What wafer did he give you? I saw him give you one.”
I shrugged. “Whatever it was, it did nothing. Ferro something.”
Harper and Luna shared a look and moved to the bookshelf.
Harper opened the rune codex book and flipped through it to the Ferro page.
“Which one was it?” she asked me.
I scanned the pictures and tapped the one that was like a stake busting through something.
Easy enough to memorize.
Luna and Harper grinned at the same time.
“Ferro Hardskin. Temporary armor. He was protecting you. But yeah, no romance theories,” Harper said.
Temporary armor?
Why would he do that?
Harper looked at Luna. “I have vamp guts on me. I’m going to shower really quickly in my mom’s shower. You can shower in mine.”
Luna nodded. “Mind if I go first, Stella?” she asked me.
I inclined my head, and they both departed, leaving me with my thoughts about Asher protecting me, the room suddenly very quiet.
I sat on the bed, dagger and stakes in hand until they got back as sleep pulled at my limbs, my eyelids growing heavy.
When Luna got out, I showered quickly, washing bits of blood and ash off me as the water ran dark at my feet. I scrubbed my hair until it hurt, replaying some of the scenes from the night.
There were so many of them.
So many times I thought I might die.
Or Professor Walters would.
But some did.
I counted three or maybe four dead bodies of students.
I hadn’t allowed myself to process that until now.
Kids were dead.
I could have died.
I was supposed to be safe here. It was the only reason I’d come here from the normal world.
Why else would I stay?
I shut off the water and stepped out in my towel to find clean folded pajamas on the floor in front of the door. After changing into them, I stepped back into Harper’s room.
Luna was dressed in all black pajamas, rubbing Harper’s back as she cried softly, shoulders shaking.
“What happened?” I rushed to Harper’s side. “Is your mom okay?”
She peered up at me and nodded. “I’m just, like…finally processing everything. We could have died. People died. I know that’s part of this life, but I never thought it would happen at school. We are supposed to be safe here.”
I was glad she was thinking the same thing as I was.
I sat on the floor in front of her. “I know. I was just thinking the same thing.”
“No hunter is promised tomorrow, and nothing in a hunter’s life is going to be easy,” Luna said. “Look at Asher and even you, Stella. Losing your parents so young? It happens. Hunters die young. We have to value the cause more than our lives, and I for one do,” Luna finished.
Asher lost his parents young?
I didn’t know that.
“Me too. Screw those bloodsuckers!” Harper suddenly snarled. “I’ll take down as many of them as I can in my lifetime.”
Luna and I shared a smile.
“Slow down, killer,” Luna said, and I laughed. “We need training first.”
I really liked these girls. I’d only known them for a few hours, and already they had taken me in like I was one of them and formed a little circle of trust around me, letting me in.
Harper shrugged. “We can’t wait three years to be fully trained. Not after last night. We should be using all our free time to practice with each other.”
Luna nodded. “I’m ashamed to say that when the vamps first showed up, I froze. I’ve been learning how to fight them since I was six years old, and I froze.”
Harper reached for my hands. “Me too. I can fight them in a club in the mortal world, but seeing them here shook me, and if it weren’t for Stella stepping in front of us, we might be gone.”
She squeezed and I squeezed back.
“I just…reacted. I wasn’t really thinking,” I told them, yawning as sleep pushed harder into me.
“Spoken like a true hunter,” Harper said, yawning herself.
Luna let out a yawn, and we all laughed. “It’s contagious.”
I eyed her outfit. “Do you ever wear anything other than black?”
She shook her head, wearing a disgusted look. “I’d rather die.”
Harper snickered. “She even wears black underwear.”
Luna crossed her arms and stuck her chin out. “I’m an old soul. Besides, I’m allergic to color.”
Harper rolled her eyes, and I smiled. Given that Luna’s hair was the color of bubble gum, I doubted that was true, but I loved her vibe.
It was weird, but I’d never felt more at home than I did here…which was kind of depressing considering how short of a time I’d been here.
Had my life been that unfulfilling before?
A few hours with some nice girls and I was soaking up the attention like an abandoned cat.
I yawned again, and it made its way around the room for the second time.
“Let’s get some sleep.” Harper stood and pulled out a hidden trundle bed that was under hers. “Luna can sleep with me. Stella, you can take the trundle?”
I nodded gratefully, sinking into the bed as Harper turned out the lights. We all held tightly to our weapons, none of us outwardly saying anything, but we all tucked them under the covers with us.
I was just about to doze off when Harper cursed.
“Stella, it was your birthday! We didn’t do anything.”
“It was? Worst birthday ever! We need to fix that,” Luna agreed into the darkness.
I chuckled. “Birthdays are not a big deal to me. Some years, my foster family forgot, and we didn’t even celebrate. It’s fine.”
Silence descended on the room, and I felt like I’d probably just made things awkward. TMI?
“That’s sad.” Harper’s voice was filled with empathy.
“Even for me,” Luna agreed. “And I like sad.”
“That’s life. It’s no big deal,” I said and rolled over. “Good night.”
“Night,” came their glum voices in unison.
Sleep took me so hard, I didn’t even dream.