Apprentices: New Moon

Tension In the Air

I’ve never been one to overthink much. I was always more of a do first, think later kind of person. But under the current circumstances, I was forced to change my perspective. Now, all I have to do is think.

I think about how we’re going to defend the Seminary from dark magic. How we’re going to protect ourselves against the soulthieves. I even think about how we’re going to kill Amelia. Even if we manage to do it, the soulthieves will still be there.

That’s the worst part about it all. I can’t come up with a single decent solution to destroying them. Because they’re indestructible. I’ve been hearing about it my whole life, I don’t know why I’m even bothering to come up with a solution for that problem.

I get angry daily, knowing how helpless we all are. Immediately after graduation, another leaflet started to circulate around the Seminary. But this time, it addressed all the inhabitants within the wards.

Not just the Elite, all of our leaders were signed underneath this time. The Strigons and Lycans included. They asked everyone to lend out a helping hand, if they were capable of doing it. Not just by training with the warrior witches, but also volunteering with sewing and enchanting their uniforms, providing food for them, cooking, cleaning the Headquarters, all kinds of stuff.

There was an application too, and I have to say that many adult supernaturals turned in to help. But most of them decided to take a drastic measure. It’s been happening ever since last week, but each day more massively.

The leaders have tried to stop it, but they still couldn’t prevent many families from fleeing the Seminary. I don’t know what the hell got into them, because they’re safest behind the wards, but no one listened to the voice of reason. They let fear overtake them.

I have no idea where they all went and how far they came before Amelia’s undead army got to them, but I truly hope most of them are safe. Maybe they’re spending their time on a secluded island, hoping that they don’t get spotted.

But ever since the second largest pack in this country was slaughtered, we’ve all known that no one is truly safe. Not here, not anywhere. Staying behind the wards of the Seminary is still the safest option, though. I don’t know what made them think that being out in the open will make them less noticeable.

The problem is that they’re taking their kids with them. We’re already drastically falling in numbers and now everyone is fleeing the Seminary with their whole families. It’s impossible to keep count of how many are going to make it through the week, or even through the night.

We know that Amelia is close by. She has been marking her presence by leaving corpses all over Ohio. The warrior witches have already been contacted by the human law enforcement, because there are a few of them, who know of our existence especially for cases like this.

She’s starting to kill humans. Her soulthieves are starving, because she has too many of them. And out of that reason, she needs to provide them with food. Humans are just easy targets, but they’re not as nutritious as supernaturals. At least that’s what the studies have shown.

I’m just hanging out with my aunt, looking through the latest documents that we got from the human law enforcement. I shouldn’t be helping her, actually, because I’m technically just a high school graduate and we’re not allowed in the Headquarters. But, hey, I guess I’ve been breaking that rule for the whole school year now, haven’t I?

Everyone is forgetting about rules at the moment. The warrior witches are grateful for any help they can get. “This one is a soulthief victim too,” I murmur as I take a look at yet another picture. The eyes are completely black.

“Mine too,” my aunt grunts under her breath as she puts away the picture after marking it. I mark my own, then put it on the pile with the others. This sucks. I hate going through corpse after corpse, to look for completely black eyes. But it’s necessary in order to track the soulthieves.

Because wherever they are, that’s where Amelia is lurking around. The only good thing about soulthieves is that feeding on human souls doesn’t create a new one. This only happens when they take a supernatural’s soul. I have no idea what happens to the human souls. They have a separate afterlife from ours.

“Did you already apply?” my aunt asks after a few minutes of silently looking through the photos. I raise my gaze from the papers, confused by her question.

I blink a few times, then respond with: “Huh?” My aunt sends me a patronizing gaze, then shakes her head in disbelief. When she speaks up again, she sounds almost amused.

“All these years I’ve spent listening to how you want to become a warrior witch. Now that you fell for an older guy, you don’t even know what I’m talking about,” she remarks, taking me aback. Okay, I know she’s joking but I didn’t forget about my wish. It’s still within me.

I shake my head in disbelief. “Catching me off guard doesn’t mean that I forgot about becoming a warrior witch. Of course, I applied. What kind of question is that?” I basically attack her, having to force myself to take a deep breath.

Aunt Marion raises an eyebrow at my attitude. “Chill, kiddo. I was attempting to make a joke, but clearly my humor was made in the previous millennium,” she remarks dryly. This time, I finally understand that she didn’t mean anything bad and I crack a smile.

“Okay, sorry. I don’t know why I got so defensive …” I trail off, a little embarrassed that I’m spoiling our time together like this. “And hey, I’m not dating a guy, that old,” I protest. In the next moment, I already realize I just told a big, fat lie. I’m not just dating an older guy. I’m dating the oldest guy in the world.

But my aunt, clueless to what is going on inside my head, lets out a low chuckle. “You know I’m just messing around. I have to find some humor in the situation we’re in … or else I’m going to lose my mind …” she trails off, growing more and more quiet (and serious) with each word.

I sigh, knowing that she’s right. Being able to laugh is the only thing that’s keeping our sanity intact. If we didn’t have the ability to laugh even in the darkest of times … I don’t know where we’d be right now.

My eyes sting by the time we get through the pile of unchecked photos. And as we look at how high the pile with soulthief victims is, we just sit there in silence, barely able to believe it. There are hundreds of them. Which can only mean one thing. The soulthieves have expanded to the point where we might not be able to control them. Ever again.

“Now that’s … worrying,” my aunt murmurs, then grabs the pile before I’m able to say anything in response. “I’ll take this to Hugh,” she then informs me. I can’t resist the chance to tease her. Especially because it means that I’ll turn our thoughts away from the not so bright future.

“Oh, Hugh? Are you back to first names already?” I ask, wiggling my eyebrows in a suggestive way. My aunt narrows her eyes at me, but she’s also blushing. Ah, I love putting her in such an awkward position. She’s worse than a shy teenager.

“I will not discuss that with you,” she finally fumes, before storming away. I stay on my seat, laughing like an i***t. I watch them from afar, noticing how their exchange is going.

She’s leaning over his desk, her hair falling away from her head, which exposes her neck. I notice Hugh’s eyes glance towards it, making me shake my head in disbelief. She’s totally flirting with him. I know it, because that’s my kind of move, too.

In that moment, I flinch in surprise as someone addresses me. “Didn’t anyone tell you it’s rude to stare?” a familiar voice barks at me, making me turn around. In the next moment, I’m already smiling, while Marcus is chuckling.

“Didn’t anyone tell you that rule doesn’t count for your family members?” I ask him, then get up and chuckle with him. “Where did you leave your girlfriend?” I then wonder, almost finding it unbelievable that she’s not somewhere nearby.

“Oh, she’s with Katie. They’re practicing some damn spells,” he explains, making me place my hands against my hips and shake my head at his way of putting it.

“Those damn spells might save your life in the near future,” I inform him, making him raise his hands in defense.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t mean it in an offensive way. I’m just worried about how much toll they’re taking on her. She’s exhausted,” he tells me. I sigh, realizing that I’m being a little too harsh today.

I glance back at my aunt and Hugh, shaking my head at their open flirting. “Yeah, tell me about it. We all are,” I murmur as I turn back towards him. “Wait, and what are you here for?” I ask, realizing that I didn’t catch that information yet.

He averts his gaze somewhere behind me, then motions with his head towards the direction. “I’m meeting up with the rest of the boys. We made a deal to train together, because we have nothing else to do at the moment,” he reveals.

That’s when I notice them all gathering there. Huh. When did they come in here? “Now I’m offended that no one came to greet me except you,” I remark, frowning as I see them waving at me. I glance at Marcus. “They’ll hear from me now,” I inform him.

He chuckles at my childishness. “You know they probably saw you working, and didn’t want to disturb you, right?” he suggests, making me smirk.

“I know. But they don’t know that I know. Which will make this all the more fun,” I murmur, earning myself another loud chuckle in response.

As we walk towards them, I put on my offended face. They already know they’re in trouble, when we get close enough. “Hey, Evy, you feeling okay?” Jake asks me, making me narrow my eyes at him.

“You, as the alpha, should be the first in line to ensure that your whole pack greets me when you walk past me,” I scold him. His face falls, but in the next minute, I’m already smiling. Jake lets out a long breath, while the other boys seem relieved too.

“Whew, you had me worried there for a moment,” Gabriel remarks, shaking his head in disbelief. I chuckle, bumping his shoulder playfully. Then, I count them and realize they’re all in pairs.

This time, my face falls. “I was already prepared to offer myself to join your training, but I see you’re all already paired up,” I remark, then shrug in defeat. What can I say? I guess it wasn’t meant to be today. I can see they’re all thinking how to solve this, but I just wave my hand in a dismissive way. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll find something to occupy myself with,” I assure them.

But before I’m even able to turn around, I’m already listening to suggestions on how we can exchange. Then, I hear someone ask: “Did I just hear you’re in need of a training partner?”

I can feel my lips turning up before I even look over my shoulder. Cyrus is leaning on the wall behind us, his arms crossed against his chest. Ah, I didn’t realize his meeting with the rest of the Elite would be so short today. “You heard correctly. Your timing is perfect today,” I let him know.

He offers me that gorgeous smile, already making my knees go weak. How am I supposed to fight him now?