A V I V A

Five weeks.

It's been five weeks since anyone has seen or heard from Alec, or even Paige. I admit that I'm worried, especially since I don't entirely know how the Demon species works.

"Um, Ava?" Emma pokes my cheek with her pen. "Why do you keep looking at the door? Are you waiting for someone?"

I tear my gaze away from the door to look at her. "Huh? No way! Why would I be?"

"You've been staring at it since class started, and there's only five minutes of the period left." She says, pointing at the clock.

"Oh," A light wave of heat warms my cheeks. "Um, well, the door is much more interesting than this lecture."

Emma snorts. "I have to agree with that."

With the teacher distracted, Weylen, Harry, Allen, and Leah swarm around us.

"I have a feeling Alec isn't just on vacation or something." My cousin says.

"What do you mean?" Emma asks.

"He means we're going to ambush Alec at his house, if he's even there," Allen explains, grinning.

Uh oh.

"Why?" Emma frowns, twirling a few strands of her blonde hair.

"Because he disappeared," Leah says.

"But he's not even that close to us," Emma points out, her eyes quickly darting to mine. "Well, except Ava."

"And me," Wey says, turning to me.
"Aviva? Why are you so quiet?"

I open my mouth to reply, but the teacher turns back around and narrows her eyes at us. "So that is where all the chatter is coming from. Take your seats, please."

"Sorry," Harry mutters, slumping back into his chair behind Emma. He leans over, tapping her on the shoulder. "So, are you in?"

She shrugs. "Only if Ava is."

I hesitate. Should I go? Maybe I could find something. Me and my stupid curiosity. Finally, I nod at Harry. "Okay. I'll come."

♡♡♡

"Um, where is the entrance? This place is huge! There's like, five doors." Leah exclaims, throwing her long arms into the air.

"Find the biggest one, I guess?" Allen says.

While the rest of my friends continue in a conversation I'm not particularly interested in, I take my time examining the house. Leah's right; Alec's house is massive. But there's no sign of anyone-or anything-in there. The windows show darkness or curtains. Maybe Alec did go on vacation.

"I found the entrance, " Harry says, waving us over. I snap out of my thoughts and walk over to where he stands.

"Are we going to break in?" Emma frowns.

Weylen shrugs, peeking in through a large window. "It doesn't look like anyone's home."

"So, is that a yes or no?" Emma places her hands on her hips, impatient.

"I'm not too sure anymore," Wey replies, pressing his lips into a thin line.

But I am. I'm probably going to regret this decision the second I step foot inside the house, but curious me really, really needs answers.

"It's a yes, " I say. "We're going to break in. I didn't come here for nothing."

"Um, okay. But how exactly are we supposed to do that?" Leah asks, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans.

"Can't you shatter glass with that Siren voice of yours?" Allen suggests, gesturing to all the windows.

Leah glares at him. "I'm not doing that."

"But it's cool!" He argues, huffing.

She rolls her eyes. "I don't really care."

Emma sighs and pulls a Bobby pin from her hair and sticks it inside the lock. "Let's see if this trick actually works."

It doesn't.

I groan in frustration. How are we going to get in?

"Maybe there's a key under the mat," Allen suggests.

"There's no mat, Al." Harry deadpans, shaking his head. "And do you really think his family could be that stupid? Leaving a spare key under a mat of their massive house?"

Allen shrugs. "Then maybe it's under a flower pot?"

Harry gives him a pointed look. "Really, Al? Fine, if you're so sure about it, why not have a look yourself?"

"Don't mind if I do," He replies, picking up a small flower pot that sits on the ledge of a window. Much to his dismay, nothing is there. "Wait, I just picked the wrong pot."

Harry scoffs and watches him continue to scavenge for a key that probably doesn't even exist. Allen looks under every flower pot that's around us. I'm about to tell him to stop, but he gets to talk first.

"I found it!" Al exclaims, holding up a small, rusty key for us to see.

"Wow, you actually did." Wey laughs, patting him on his shoulder. Allen grins. I smile and snatch the key out of his grip, then unlock the door myself.

"Good job, Al." I stuff the key in my back pocket. Even though he found it, there's no chance I'm letting him keep the key. He'd lose it within ten minutes, and we can't afford that.

When we step inside the house, I immediately strain my ears to see if I can hear anything. There's no sound except for the footsteps of my friends, and if weren't for the sunlight seeping through the blinds, this place would be pitch black.

"I really don't think anyone's here. We should go," Emma says, biting her lip nervously.

Crap, I need to come up with an excuse to stay, and fast.

"Yeah . . ." Leah nods, leaning towards the door.

"Actually, I just remembered something." I fumble with my words, trying to think of what to say next. "Alec left something at my house the last time he was there. I brought it with me to bring it back."

Weylen arches a brow. "Since when does Alec go to your house?"

". . . Since we started planning Faith's wedding with Carl?" The lie comes out more like a question, but Weylen seems to buy it.

However, the others are more suspicious. Leah narrows her eyes at me. "Why are you planning their wedding now?"

I chuckle nervously. "Uh, with me being a Cupid and all, it's much more complicated than you'd think. That's why I need to plan in advance. And of course, Alec is helping me, because it's his little brother's wedding."

Shit, I really feel like slapping myself. This is the stupidest thing I have ever come up with before.

But thank the Nymphs for my dumb friends. They're all nodding and saying things like "fair point" and "oh, makes sense".

"Yeah, so anyway," I say, internally cringing. "Can you guys help me find his room? I'm going to drop off the thing there."

"Sure, but what is the thing anyway? And where is it? You're not carrying a bag or something." Allen points out.

I pat my pocket-my empty pocket-and say, "It's in here. And I don't think it's something Alec would want people knowing about since it's so special to him."

"Um, okay." Emma says, "Let's split up then."

We go our separate ways, each of us in a totally different hallway. I'm not necessarily looking for Alec's room, unless it has books on Demons. But I doubt he'd need them. Instead, I peep inside small offices and open drawers, searching for scrolls or books that are like my mother's. I don't find anything, so I continue to make my way through the dark home. Nothing comes up until I find a door with a strange green light creeping out from underneath it.

I take a deep breath and open the door slowly, gasping when my eyes settle on something that looks like a portal in the centre of the room. The rest of the space is decorated with vegetation. Is this the portal Alec had mentioned? The one that leads to Kairan?

My phone vibrates just as I inch closer to the portal. I stare at it in awe, watching the green-what is that? Goo?-swirl slowly. It's almost as if it's hypnotising. Now, I'm standing at just about four feet away from the gigantic structure. The device in my hands vibrates again. Sighing, I tear my gaze away from the portal and open Wey's text.

Weylen: I think I found his room

Shit, shit, shit. Now what?

Me: Where is it?

Weylen: Third floor. Second door on your right when you come up the stairs

Me: Okay, thanks. I might be a while, though. I have no idea where I am, and it's definitely not anywhere near the third floor

Weylen: Should I come get you?

Me: Nope, it's alright. I'll find my way

Weylen: Okay

Cursing, I look back at the portal. It's so tempting. I can just stretch my arm a little bit, enough to touch the green part of it. The part that I assume will take me to Alec's kingdom.

But I can't. It's a great opportunity to not only know more about Demons, but also find out why Paige is after me. Still, I can't go. If my friends find out that I found a portal to another world, there's no telling what would happen.

I sigh and turn away from the portal, walking to the doors. Well, that was my plan until something I step on makes me stumble backwards, and right into the portal.

♡♡♡

Hai! I gave you guys a bit of a long chapter since I haven't updated in forever. I'm so excited to write the next one, because the real fantasy story is about to begin! You'll be meeting so many Supernaturals, from Ghouls to Fairies and Dwarves to Giants, there's so much more to come.

I haven't forgotten about Aviva and Alec's story, so don't worry about them ;)

In the meantime, how did you like this chapter? Tell me if anything about it was confusing, or if you have any other questions. I'll gladly answer them.

Don't forget to vote and comment!

Chloe ❤