An odd feeling arises from the back of my mind, like a signal of distress was sent from my soul to reach another one's. I can perfectly describe the meaning of it, but to catch the exact way it feels it's impossible for me. It's so primal, so essential that I don't seem to be able to remember the times it didn't exist, anymore. It's like it was always with me but concealed. For a moment, I see another forest before my eyes: one I'm sure it's not from this earth. Trees as tall as skyscrapers with rich canopies were guarding the glade I was in. Grass as soft as a Persian rug, greener than the most expensive emerald, was caressing my bare feet. An inhumanly warm voice was singing a lullaby I was able to recognise but didn't remember where from. I lost myself in this memory of a place I didn't remember ever going to, but who was so familiar to me that I found myself missing it dearly by the time I opened my eyes.
"Asher?" I ask, unbelieving the sight before me. He looked at me, his eyes as red as the blood on his hands. I was merely able to see the many cadavers surrounding me before I was enveloped into a tight hug.
I blamed it on the fact that I nearly died and was grateful that he came and saved me, because I know, otherwise, I wouldn't have been so eager to grip myself to his body and lose myself in his embrace. But now, it was the best feeling in the world. "Thank you," I mutter into his chest, and I feel his arms tightening around me like he was still worried that another threat was lurking behind trees, ready to finish what the vampires meant to do to me.
"Are you all right? Did they hurt you?" He asks me, as soon as I step away from him, feeling that the hug lasted longer than it was acceptable for two people in our positions. I shake my head, knowing that I'm really fine.
"They didn't have the chance to do anything to me," I assure him when he doesn't seem to believe me. "Thank you from stepping in at the right moment."
"You should have called me sooner, Adeline. If I wasn't in the area..." he didn't finish his sentence, but I'm not affected by the words that are missing, but by those he did say. What did I do, again?
"I called you? In what way?" I ask, not understanding a thing he's saying. I don't remember screaming for help, so how could he have been able to 'hear' my distress signal? Oh, wait...
"That's what 'it' was? That odd feeling..."
"It was your soul reaching for mine. I sensed that you were in danger and listened to our connection in order to find you," he explains with such easiness that it makes my head spinning even faster than it already is.
"What you're saying is a child's story. And is not rational because, if this 'connection' really exists, why it didn't show itself the moment we met? Was it necessary for me to nearly die, for our souls to 'reach for one another'?"
"It's strange for me too, Aline. But we'll figure it out. We're already making improvements, although I'm not happy with the way they came to be. Maybe he should be making baby steps, instead of great breakthroughs." I nodded to everything he says, deciding for myself.
I turn on my heels and start walking back to the city. I hear another pair of footsteps following me closely, but I don't bother to tell him to leave me alone. I know he wouldn't listen anyway. "You know it's not going to happen, right?" I feel the need to remind him.
"What won't happen, love?"
"Us," I reply, turning to face him, "Asher, I'm not made for relationships. Trust me, I've tried but they were all disasters. Nearly all my exes cross to the other side of the street if we happen to walk on the same sidewalk, and the only one that doesn't seem to be bothered by my presence is a comatose hunter who, well, is not even aware that I'm there when I visit him."
"Why are you visiting him?" He asks me in, angrily, and I sigh exasperatedly at the way he managed to change the subject.
"Because sometimes I'm appointed on guarding the hospital, like all the other hunters. And you don't know how boring that shift is, but you can imagine giving the fact that I prefer the company of a coma patient rather than pacing the hallways over and over again. At least I'm not shushed by the nurses when I'm in his salon." I swear I feel like in my old school's library when I'm in that hospital. I get that it's a hunters-only medical centre and that it lacks the flurry you see in human hospitals, but it's still odd how every time I enter there I'm worried that even my heartbeat is making too much noise.
"Can we go back home now? We need to talk about a lot of things and try to figure out your... problem." He tries to convince me, and if before I wouldn't even have considered accepting his offer, the odd feeling comes back as I prepare myself to reject his offer. I wasn't even a feeling anymore, but a strange presence that seemed to have taken residence in the back of my mind. I hope it will evict soon, I don't like sharing my thoughts.
"Maybe after I resolve the problems I have back in the city, I will think about going back to the pack with you." I stop the presence from forcing me to tell even more as I already see the hopes in Asher's eyes rising to a dangerous level by the time I finish talking. Well, he'll be disappointed in the end.
"Okay then," he agrees with a smirk crossing his face, "where are heading to?"
I ponder for a moment, wondering if I can talk him out of coming with me. But I realise it's an already lost battle when I find myself unable to find any arguments that'll convince him to go back and wait for me in the pack. The presence was blocking all the solutions I was trying to find to go back to Boulder alone, and it started to annoy me. But I'm tired, hungry and have too many problems on my plate to deal with. Fighting with this unknown entity inside my head will have to wait for a while because more pressing matters are waiting to be solved.
"Well, the hospital of course," I tell him, before resuming my walking. "We're going to visit your fighting buddy from last night," I inform Asher and he just nods, walking beside me. I was hoping that he won't want to visit Will, but I guess I was wrong. Giving the look on his face when he was waiting for me to tell him our destination, he seemed ready to travel to hell and back, if I decided to go there. And needless to say, I didn't know how to feel about this: Grateful? Or perhaps, terrified?
Still, I was on my way to finding out.
Sir Arthur's Hospital was in the college district, which meant that we passed by a few of my colleagues on our way to visit Will. And it's not that I give a damn about the rumours that will spark because Asher insisted to hold my hand all the way down this crowdy street. I don't even care if they take a photo of us and put it in all the school's albums until I graduate. What disturbs my well-being is that almost all the passersby were hunters from Yeti. And although I don't consider all of them bright enough to recognise a supernatural just by looking at them, neither do the trainers at the Young&Troubled. This is why, until you graduate from the program, you are given some auxiliary devices, like an emergency bracelet.
The bracelet ticks you when you pass by a supernatural person, as well as can be used to send a distress signal when you are in danger. It's not strange that those of us who graduated no longer have this device, because in real-life missions you can't depend on other people but yourself. No army is going to save you if you find yourself in a deadly situation. Well, usually no one saves but, but exceptions are made when you have a Lycan on your tail. That didn't sound logical at all, but this is my life now.
"Should I be worried about all the ticking I've been hearing coming out from people's bracelets?" Asks Asher, eyeing a hunter who is also in my chemistry class and who watched me funnily when I passed by him.
"Yes," I answer without hesitation, "it means that you've been detected by the hunters' sensors and pretty much all of them know you're here."
"And this should worry me?"
"Only if you were planning on wreaking some havoc around here."
"I believe that'd fit you more than me, sweetheart." He giggles and I roll my eyes. I'm not such a trouble-magnet, am I?
Actually, I am, giving the fact that I ended up having my bike stolen by a supposed fairy, was kidnapped by a Lycan and nearly killed by a den of vampires, everything in less than twelve hours. And my eight grade shrink dared to ask me why I fucking hate my life. I may fly back to London only to punch the guy in the face... again. Dr Duncan is definitely not on my list of top ten psychologists I had in middle school. He barely makes on the fifteenth, only above Miss Garretts and her hand puppets.
Uh, seventh grade was truly the worst.
"You don't have one of these bracelets?" He asks me when I was just starting to enjoy the silence.
"I don't, only new kids wear them. I've graduated from the program this June, I'm a full-hunter again." I say the last part as a way of reminding him who am I. Only because he had to save me from those vampires, doesn't mean that I'm weak. If I was armed properly, I could've handled them alone. "Actually, I never wore one. Nor when I was a freshman."
"How come?"
"I received a broken one. It kept on ticking me even when there was no one around. I returned it and they never gave me another one. I didn't insist because I don't need training wheels on my missions. I am perfectly capable of telling apart a human from one of you."
"You are?"
"I have a trained eye." It's all I say, although he looks at me like he wished I gave him more details. What is so intriguing to him?
It's true not everyone grew to have the set of skills necessary to do what I can. Recognising monsters and knowing at least a dozen ways of killing each of them is not something you're born with, obviously. But the many, many, years I've spent under the tutelage of my parents, especially my mother, paid off eventually. Although in the past I wanted to abandon the training so many times, mainly because of the constant scolding from my mother, but also because I had this strange feeling that kept telling me that I was not born for this. Well, actually it was my mother who first told me that, but ever since then, the feeling of not belonging to the hunters' world lived within me. And I lost hope it will ever fade away.
We arrive at the main entrance and I step back when I see two familiar figures standing on the stairs of the hospital. Mr and Mrs Sappington were enjoying a cup of something under the late morning sun. They didn't look as worried as normal parents would be if their son was admitted in the state Will must have been in. But it's natural, giving how many times they've collected their son from the hospital already. What I admire is that they travelled all the way from London to visit their ailing child.
It's so impressive that I'm quick to believe they came here for other reasons than Will's well-being. And if they were my parents, I could've bet my life on it. But from my friend's stories, his parents are actually caring people, who unfortunately possess the same stiffness of character like all the other adult hunters. I actually don't care how bad they are at showing their love, it's important what they do in times of need. I've always judged Will for treating his parents bad, only because they are not warm and normal like he wants them to be.
At least his mom's presents for him are not all in the many shades of purple.
"We have to go through the back door," I tell him and I'm surprised that he doesn't ask me why, but follows me quietly. We run to the back of the hospital and I let out a small swear when I realised they've replaced the old, full of holes fence with a new one. Behind it was a little patio where patients and employées hang out in their spare time. There is no point of access, besides the entrance into the hospital. But if I'm going to let a fence - absurdly huge and nearly impossible to climb on - stop me on my tracks, I'll never forgive myself.
A good hunter works with whatever she is given, I recall my dad's words as I take a deep breath and start climbing on the fence. When I get to the top, I realise what a jump is awaiting me and I instinctively look back at Asher. He doesn't seem bothered by the obstacle and before I can process, he lands gracefully in front of my eyes. I close my mouth before he can see how wordlessly his jump made me. I see the proud smile on his face and I realise he is well-aware of my bewilderment. I get myself together and don't even think before jumping off the top of the fence... directly into his arms. I damn myself when I rose my eyes to meet his, enchanted by the way he saved my butt from the tough landing I should have experienced. But I don't say a thing, I just jump off from his arms and continue to walk towards the entrance.
I don't look behind me as I push open the doors, because I don't seem to be in my right mind at the moment. Actually, I never seem to be thinking logically around this Lycan. Whenever I feel myself nearly falling for his enchanting eyes or disturbingly hot figure, I run away from it and end up in the most absurd and deadly situations. Like fate is punishing me from constantly running away from my feelings. Good thing I don't believe in destiny, or pretty much anything, because it could've been able to convince myself that Asher's words about soul mates are in fact real. I was never so glad that my parents raised me to be sceptical.
Asher is following closely behind me, analysing the surroundings like I do every time I'm in a new place. But this hospital I've grown to know too well in my year spent in Boulder. I take a left turn and my body stiffens when my eyes land on two familiar figures.