"So how can we get this out of my head?"

Looking to the Headmaster, Narxus waited for a very reluctant head nod before proceeding.

"Liam must die."

"Great, what's the plan?"

"That's not for you to be concerned with."

"Oh, really? Are you going to take Liam on your own?"

Seeing the look of annoyance in his eyes, I knew he knew I was right. I'm the only one who can defeat Liam so whether they like it or not, they need me.

"Well, this has been fun. I'm going to go-"

"Wait-"

The Headmaster waved her finger, causing the door I was walking towards to slam shut. She snapped her fingers, whispering a chain of words before an armed guard appeared at my side.

Jumping back, I demanded, "What is this?"

"I'm sorry but you're not only a danger to yourself but to to rest of the students with dark magic lingering in your veins. You're not going anywhere without Crexus. He will alert us if anything happens. He's not one for words so you won't even notice him there."

Eying the gigantic, armed guard beside me somehow I doubted I wouldn't notice him.

Shooting him a fake smile, I made my way towards the door opening it and walking out. Crexus stomped loudly behind me as he followed my lead.

Annoyed, I whipped my head around saying, "Can't you at least be quieter if you're going to follow me everywhere I go?"

I was met with silence as he simply stood behind me, waiting for me to continue.

I smiled as an idea popped into my head. I tapped into my vampire speed, flitting through the Academy until I got to where Edward was staying. Try to follow me Crexus.

I landed near the door, breathing hard. I leaned against the wall as I tried to catch my breath. Sensing someone behind me, I turned around noticing Crexus behind me, staring straight ahead.

What the f- he's a vampire?!

"Saron, good thing you're here. We have much to-"

Edward stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed the armored guard beside me.

"I'll explain," I said, pushing past him. I walked into the room to find Zion there was well. He rose from his seat, surprised to see me.

"...Hey," I said awkwardly, not expecting to see him.

Edward walked in with the guard on his tail, looking back every so often to make sure he wasn't simply imagining it.

"Explain," he ordered.

"There's still dark magic inside of me. Liam is trying to control me through it. We need to kill him before that happens," I blurted out.

"Impossible. Your powers were just fi-"

"Would you like to step in to my mind and hear it for yourself?" I asked sarcastically. Not catching my tone, he stepped forward.

Shaking my head, I said, "We don't have time for this. We need to find the witch so I can fight Liam and kill him."

"What about him?" Zion asked, motioning towards the guard who refused to leave my side.

"The Headmaster said he has to stay with me until I get the dark magic out of me and I can't seem to get rid of him."

"That's because she spelled him to stay by your side," Edward explained. Of course she did. I thought she was just summoning him with that spell, I didn't think she was binding him to my side.

"We could use the extra backup anyway. I'll speak to your Headmaster about exempting you all from classes tomorrow so we can go see the witch."

"You all?"

"Yes, Zion here has made it very clear he won't allow on any more suicide missions alone. I assume you want your friends to tag along as well?"

Looking to Zion, I saw an steely, unwavering look of determination in his eyes that my words would only aggravate.

Nodding in understanding, I turned to Edward before asking, "Is that a good idea, bringing the rest of them?"

"The more back up, the better. No one has ever gone to see the witch before so we don't know what to expect."

"Alright. We'll be here tomorrow then," I said, turning on my heel to leave quickly before Zion-

"Saron, can we talk?"

Fuck.

I slowly turned around, smiling brightly at Zion before saying "Sure!"

Sensing the fake enthusiasm, he frowned before walking past me and Crexus to lead the way.

I shook my head as I walked after him. Just act normal. He's your mate, after all. Nothing has changed. You've just relived killing him for three days. No biggie.

"We can invite the others if you want," he offered, noticing how uncomfortable I was.

"No. It's fine," I assured him, smiling. Noticing the hurt look in his eyes, I decided to take it a bit further by slipping my hand in his. I stared straight ahead, begging my mind not to act up as I enjoyed my hand in his. I could feel him looking at me, surprised as he tightened his grip. I could feel him visibly relax beside me.

He led me to a nearby table with two seats across with one another, which I was so thankful for. I needed the little distance I could get for now.

"How have you been?"

"Good. You?"

"Saron, you don't have to keep pretending."

"I'm not pretending. Why would you think I was pretending?"

"I see the way you look at me, like you're scared of me but also don't want to hurt me at the same time."

"It's nothing. I just needed a little distance when I got back," I said nonchalantly, my hands fidgeting in my lap.

"Distance from me but not from your friends?"

I froze, remembering the way he looked at me, eyes full of pain as he watched me embrace my friends and avoid his gaze. I looked away, not able to look him in the eyes and confront the endless pain I'd caused him.

But no matter how bad I felt, I wasn't ready to relive the memories by opening up about it. I turned towards him, looking him in the eyes. I ignored the flashes of the horror of killing him. I tried to look past the blood and the pain and see him, his beautiful face and lopsided smile that made my heart race simply by looking at him.

I reached forward, cupping his face tenderly while in full battle with my mind. It was tiring, pushing away memories that kept fighting to resurface. But if this was what it took to be here with my mate, I'd do it everyday.

"I'm sorry." I could've said more, but it was the only thing that felt right in that moment.

He grabbed my hand, kissing it before letting it go, sending a wave of goosebumps up my spine that even the memories couldn't keep away.

I grabbed his hand again, tightening my grip. Maybe that was what it took to heal. Reminding myself of how very alive he was.

I heard a rustling behind me as I was reminded of Crexus, standing behind us.

"Couldn't you just stand a couple feet away?" I asked in annoyance.

He stepped back two steps, which was barely even two feet before standing stubbornly.

"So what else is new?" I asked, trying to ignore Crexus towering behind us tall as a tree.

Shaking his head, he said, "Nothing."

"You're friends with my father now?" I joked, trying to pry into why he was there.

Shaking his head, he leaned back in his seat comfortably before replying, "I just decided to make myself useful since my mate was ignoring me."

"Make yourself useful?" I asked, ignoring his comment.

A ping from my phone interrupted us before he could answer. It was from Tom.

We're going to the Caf. You free?

"Hey, you want to go to the Caf. Tom and the rest of them are going?"

Noticing his quick change of expression from playful to bitter, I cocked my head.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he snapped, annoyed.

I quickly texted Tom back.

Coming

"Well you can sit here and brood or come with me. I'm starving."

He rose up, grabbing my hand as he led the way. I smiled, enjoying how normal it felt. This was the only thing I could do with him that didn't trigger any memories and that was a small victory I was willing to accept for now.

"I missed you too, you know?"

He looked down, arching his eyebrows in surprise.

"Don't look so surprised," I said, elbowing him in the hip.

Laughing, he wrapped his arm around me briefly before slipping his hand in mine again. A small gesture like that was enough to make my heart puff in adoration as I glanced at him. Despite how badly I could see he wanted to wrap his arms around me, he was willing to wait until I was ready. And I loved him even more for it.

"Crexus, can't you just make yourself invisible or something?"

"No," he said, speaking for the first time. His voice was surprisingly more normal than I expected. I was imagining a robot voice in my head.

"Just keep your distance, please? I'm just eating lunch with my friends. There's no danger."

He blinked at me before disappearing. I looked hard, noticing he was a far enough distance away that nobody would know he was there, except us.

"Look who it is," Jeremy whistled in our direction as he ran up to us, breaking us up before wrapping his arm around each of us.

"And what were you two talking about?" He teased, causing even Zion to laugh at how ridiculous he sounded.

"Bonnie still ignoring you?" Zion shot back.

"Hey, low blow bro," Jeremy replied, dramatically clutching his chest. But from the slight lessening of the grin on his face, I could tell he really did care for Bonnie. It was in that moment, I decided to play matchmaker. Me and Star were going to get Jeremy his girl.

"Zion!" Star squealed excitedly, a hint of surprise in there that let me know he hadn't been around.

"Nice to see you man," Joel said, dapping him up.

Tom nodded, keeping his distance while Zion stared back, a look of cold indifference on his face. I frowned, not understanding what was going on. I made a mental note to ask about it later not wanting to ruin the moment.

"Boys, you know what to do," I said, linking my arm through Star's and fleeting off.

"Hey, no fair!" I heard Jeremy whine as we got farther and farther away.

"So you and Zion are good now?" Star asked once we had settled, a look of concern in her eyes.

"Of course!"

"Saron, I'm your best friend. You think I don't know when something's off?"

"It was just hard at first, after everything. Especially with him. But we're getting back, slowly," I answered vaguely.

"I'm glad," she said, smiling genuinely at me.

"Got any plans tomorrow?"

"Besides class, no."

"You're not going to class tomorrow. None of you are," I said, grinning at her.

"Really?" she asked, her eyes lighting up in excitement.

"The witch that Edward talked about, the one I have to bind with to fight Liam. We're going to see her tomorrow."

"FINALLY!" She yelled, jumping up from her seat in excitement.

"I was getting so tired of you ditching us and coming back with stories. Finally, we'll all be there!"

"Sorry about before but you'll definitely tag along from now on," I said, shooting her a sympathetic glance.

"Tag along for what?" Tom asked, settling down in a seat beside Star before dropping a platter before us.

"I'll let Star tell you guys," I said, waiting for the rest of the boys to get settled as well.

"We're going to go on a trip tomorrow and fight evil and save the world!"

Laughing, Zion commented, "Something like that."

"We're going to go see the witch that Saron's dad talked about. We get to miss class," she announced happily.