Chapter
Twenty-Six
CAN YOU HUNT A HUNTER?
Sitting in another room that wasn’t her own, Ari stared at the window, wishing she could gaze out of it. But they were taking extra precautions to make sure Dalí and no one else knew where Ari was, which meant remaining unseen. She was bored. Jai was avoiding her and Charlie was passed out on the bed beside her. Ms. Maggie’s energy hummed in the room, letting her know she was nearby too.
Charlie had been overly attentive and Ari knew he felt guilty about losing himself so much in learning to be a sorcerer, that he hadn’t even known Jai had gone out on a hunt, let alone that Ari had followed him to her near death. Of course, it wasn’t Charlie’s fault, but Ari wasn’t above withholding those actual words as long as it meant it distracted him from indulging too much in addictive power. She twisted around to look down at him, his long legs dangling off the end of the bed. That couldn’t be comfortable.
A soft snore blew out between his perfect mouth and Ari felt a rush of contentment to see him like this. She missed her friend. They didn’t talk about ordinary things anymore, like books and films and music. Instead, Ari sat around waiting for Charlie to come down from his last magical high. The most recent he'd got from riding the peripatos with the Red King. To hinder the chance of anyone following them, Red had offered to take Charlie to the hotel they’d be staying at in Cleveland. He used the peripatos, so Dalí didn’t use Charlie to track Ari.
Ari grimaced, her hands akimbo. “And you couldn’t have offered to do that before? Back when we had to take a flight to LA or Phoenix?”
The Red King grinned unapologetically. “Well, I thought you guys needed quality time together. Things have been strained.”
“Strained my butt. You do things when you want to do them, no rhyme or reason, right?”
Her uncle shrugged, his eyes glinting enigmatically.
Ari sighed and looked at the clock for the millionth time. Jai was in the room next door. Waiting too. The team was arriving by plane. They’d be there soon and things could get moving again. She would have something to concentrate on instead of worrying over why Jai tensed anytime she touched him. Or get overly anxious about the fact her heart raced even harder than it used to whenever he looked at her. Even now she was acutely aware of him in the next room, and she strained to hear evidence of his existence beyond the wall. Restlessness thrummed through her veins. Had she done a one-eighty? Had she really come through all of this to be back to pining for a boy who didn’t love her in return? Surely not.
No. Well, yes and no. It was stupid to think she could just switch it off. She couldn’t even do that with Charlie. She brushed a finger over his handsome sleeping face. Ari could try to move on, yes, but she couldn’t lie to herself. She loved Jai. Chest-crushing, heart-squeezing, breath-stealing kind of love and what had happened had changed her perspective all over again.
Maybe she didn’t stand a chance in this tug-of-war for the seal. Maybe she was going to die.
Maybe there was no other end for her in this.
However, the Guild was right. Wasn’t it better to die fighting for something, for the people she loved, than to give up because of the inevitability of her tragic end?
“I think so,” she whispered.
“You think what?” Charlie asked softly, and Ari looked down at him. He gazed up at her with beautiful, sleepy, dark eyes. A bittersweet ache lit across her chest as she remembered how much she had been in love with him. But it had been puppy love. Childish dreaming. She loved him, yes. But she wasn’t in love with him. Ari finally understood the difference.
“I’ve been trying so hard to let go of you,” she told him.
At the serious turn of conversation, Charlie pulled himself up into a sitting position, suddenly wide awake. His hair was growing out. It looked better. More like him. “And have you?” his voice was hoarse under the heaviness of the question.
“I didn’t want to care anymore. After my dad and you and… everything… it just seemed too hard. But I still care.” She took one of his hands in hers and squeezed. “And I am so terrified for you.”
Frowning, Charlie squeezed her hand back. “Hey, I’m going to be okay. I’m learning to control this thing. Admittedly, I got lost in it and I don’t want that to happen again. I feel like crap for not knowing what was going on, for not being there when you needed me.”
“That works both ways,” she admitted.
“I’m going to take my time,” he promised. “Do this right.”