The sleeveless shirt is off. I throw it on top of a dinky matbed. Looking around in the rock-walled space, this is what Emmet called "The only room that is suitable for me." I turn back to see an oval mirror, another decent thing that's here besides the bed. I view the mirror glass, my reflection showing my shirtless body and grey pants. I then focus onto my chest as I rub near that area, angling the pressure on the burnt mark.

I always wonder how this mark, fire stamped on my skin can cause so much pain. How the mark is the only physical thing that reminds me of that unwanted past. I can see the fire once again. I can see a bare glimpse of the burning house in my reflection. I shake my head again. Quickly, my eyes close and open back; only to see the scar marked on my tawny skinned chest.

Remembering back at the woods, what could've triggered my burnt mark to singe? If only The Orre was here when we came back, even I wished Emmet would know. But after being scolded by him, I doubted he could. Emmet didn't like that I went outside Dawning. I tried to explain to Emmet that I shouldn't be stuck. I was open to go anywhere, but Emmet expressed he wanted to be in the loop. He was a little upset at Terra and the others didn't find anything back in the forest. Just a rumble with the bokogoblins.

He could've forced me out of this place. However, he didn't. I was surprised and excited that he reached out to Aunt Verdi. He told her I was going to stay at his place for a while. My aunt was reluctant like she has always been to me, yet she eventually accepted it once Emmet convinced her he needs a fatherly figure right now. And that he would keep an eye on me.

Fatherly-figure...please.

The sad part is that I won't see Addie a lot. I'm staying here in this "guest" room, probably doing nothing while the Shadowhawks find Anita and stop Raudan. Addie should be okay. I can sense Aunt Verdi not liking the arrangement of having to continue babysitting Addie. But one day, I might bring Addie here. As I turn away, glancing back at the bed.

A sudden, sharp pain riles through my chest. As if something just punched into my lungs, I look below to see my burnt mark. Could it be? I lose my breath; I place my left hand over my chest bending halfway down. I take several inhales and exhales, trying to regain my breathing. But it's like my organs are burning up. The torment needs to stop. I see myself at the mirror. I trudge my way towards the object, grabbing hold of the mirror's side. The pain grows more as I lower one knee, hitting the ground-like floor. Out of the blue, the ache fades away. I breathe out heavily for a long second.

I suddenly muster my way back up. Slowly heading to the matbed, I lunge at the bed surface. Landing comfortably on the stiff mattress. I roll over, as I then take a minute. What just happened? Did my burnt mark react again? Or is it something else in me that's causing the pain. I turn confused. Staring at some type of scratching, I crawl closer towards the bed's edge inches to the rock wall. I lean forward, my eyes zoom on a word.

It's a name.

Lance

I carefully touch it wondering, who is this Lance. And as I think about it, door knocks is heard. Hope it's not Emmet trying to scold me again, or enforcing his new rules about staying and leaving.

Pausing for a few seconds, the door opens. And to my amazement, it's Terra. She starts to enter.

I rush to put back on my shirt, sitting back up with my upper body straighten out; and my legs curve to the bed's edge facing the door. I look at Terra coming in, while she gently closes the door. She then turns to see me.

"How are you?"

"Okay, I think."

She observes me in a weird way, "Are you sure? I saw you screaming back in the woods as if your chest was on fire."

I didn't want to explain to her everything, and what was the cause. I told her simple, "It was just a mild pain. It went away."

She grins a bit walking forward. "Tell me, why you said you needed to be there?"

I hesitate to open up, yet as she gets closer by a mere yard. I remain silent as she then sits beside me. I feel a bit blush looking at her. She shows me a smile. I try to deliver back, but I hope I'm not faking.

"Those bokogoblins were just a nuisance."

"Yeah I noticed." I break my silence. "So you couldn't find Anita when you guys were there."

"Actually, Raudan was there."

I start to feel my head boil when I hear that name. "You saw him."

"No. It was like his essence was there. I don't know why, but Silas knew it."

Perplexed, I wonder how Silas knew. I grab my chin, rubbing it feeling upset.

If Raudan was there, Anita is being tortured somewhere else. I don't know what The Orre felt. Maybe he felt Raudan, and then somehow mentioned to Silas secretly. I don't know. I'm inside this room, my mind going crazy. I can't stay here doing nothing. I want to find her, but it's impossible not knowing where to go.

I glance back at Terra. She stares at me with those mesmerizing emerald eyes. Looking at those stunning irises, I mumble to what I have to say next.

"Is Emmet right. Can you guys find Anita without me?"

"It will only happen if you trust us."

My head leans down, not knowing if it's possible. I'm glad to meet them, but I'm uncertain about this trust thing. After what I just heard from Emmet and how the others are stern to find Anita without me, how can I trust them?

Are they doing this right?

Terra soon stands up. "You can trust me, always." She then begins to walk towards the door. She quickly turns back to me. "I can trust you. If we want to find Anita, we need to trust one another to get it done." Terra says with an aptly smile. She exits back into the hallway.

I lean my head down as I hear the door shutting. Terra might be right. I want Anita alive. I need her return to me. If this can still happen, I need them. I need the Shadowhawks.

And the only way is to trust them.

***

Walking out of the guest room, I proceed into the hallway. And a sudden smell roams through the air. It's delicious.

I amble to the Grub area. I glance to my left to see Terra have fixed a giant breakfast filled of scrambled pickle eggs, honey orange glazed sausages, fruit salad, and toast. Looking at the long slab table, I see Icarus and Silas are already sitting, eating their servings. Most of the food is at the Grub's counter, but only a large pitcher of Sweetnade is in the center of the table with cups filled.

I don't see Camille eating. Looking around, I notice her heading to the exercise room doing jarring sessions. Then I get startled.

"Nice to see you up." Terra says jubilantly.

She then signals me to join in for breakfast. Not to disappoint, I smile at her while I head to the table. I sit down on one of the metal stools. She brings a plate of the eggs, glazed sausages, fruit salad, and toast near me. A fork and knife is ready as well an already filled cup of Sweetnade.

I remembered what she said about trust. It's essential to work together. I didn't feel completely trusting with them yesterday. But it's a new day, things could change. These are the right personnel to save Anita. I can very well trust them, but is it enough.

Terra suddenly sits across from me. I shift quickly to the guys munching like dogs. I then see Terra eating her food, and she views me; she could be thinking why I haven't eaten. I let out a breather and begin eating. Tasting the delicious sausages, lathered with that honey orange sauce. My mouth almost drools. I chew on some of the pickle eggs, swallowing the hot food. I grab a toast and bite a huge piece off. Terra really outdid herself. No wonder the others see her as a good den mother, she got some wicked cooking skills.

I gander back at the exercise room, Camille is just in there hitting by herself; practicing with her whip. Why is she so...so...Camille? I hardly know the girl, and I can tell she's highly dislikable with an easy mean streak. I turn to the only one to give me the answers, her sister.

"Why Camille isn't eating?" I ask.

Terra briefly turns to see her. She then looks back at me and replies, "She does that. That's her. But I hope what she said wasn't true."

"What was?"

Terra hesitant to respond, but a few seconds later, "She told me she can't be by the sight of you. She doesn't like you."

I guess the feeling is mutual. I want to let Terra know my intention is to make sure after our talk; I'm committed to begin trusting them. But I need all of them. Terra may want to side with me on how her sister has been treating me, and seeing if I need their help; Camille has to stop being so huffy. However, I ponder Terra could still go with her sibling.

I look around, wondering if that trust starts today. I need to know more about them. So I inform Terra how she ended up here. How she met Emmet in the first place.

She answers, "After our parents died in an accident two years ago, Camille and I have been bouncing around Dawning shelters until we met Emmet. He treated us almost like daughters. He helped us trained to become these warriors."

Speaking about Emmet, there has something else been pluming in my head. How he knows all of this. The Orre could've help mainly, but when I ask Terra. She told me something else.

Emmet was a magihunter. A very good one back in the past, but an injury cursed him. So instead of breaking the curse, he grew accustomed to it. He recruited teens like Terra and the others to train into magihunters.

Then Terra asks me about my family, where are they. While the guys have their own little exchange, laughing and clowning around. I want to answer back quietly. I haven't fully explain what happened to my parents to anybody; only the select few I know-including Emmet and that freak Raudan-know about the event.

I explain to Terra that my older sister, Merissa, died when I was six. Before I can say anything else, she doesn't want to know what happened. She leans close to me. I can feel her breath.

"I'm so sorry." She says despondent.

Smiling back, I then lose control when I hear faint yelling. I could hear Anita and Merissa screaming, for help. My eyes shift to the table, as images of them being helpless flood my mind. I try not to close my eyes. I don't want to see it.

Then as my right hand shudders, the creepy nerves are coming back. I then see Terra's hand. How surprising, her hand tenders to my fluttering hand. And out of nowhere, the shakiness ends. I look astounded. I glance back at her eyes. She glares at me with calmness and smoothness. We don't touch our food. For over a minute, we just stare at one another.

And as I try to move my lips, I hear his voice.

Emmet suddenly arrives, "We have a new task!"

I feel a bit upset as Terra lets go of her hand, bringing it back to her. She then turns her attention to Emmet. I remain frozen, glaring at her. I then turn to see the guys stopping as they hear Emmet continuing. Camille pops up out of the exercise room. He soon instructs Terra, Silas, and Icarus to go to East Dawning and handle a certain crisis.

Camille looks shocked and angry. "What about me?"

She feels left out, wondering why she's not joining the others. But then I react bewildered, as Emmet gives her the reason.

"Someone has to watch him."

Realizing for a few seconds, Emmet refers to me as that him to be watch. And what, the wild one has to keep an eye on me now. Is this punishment for defying Emmet? While the guys remain quiet, not saying anything. Camille then walks towards me.

"If you don't mess up, everything will be peachy." She then leans close to me. I stare at those disappointed eyes, upset she's my babysitter. I would rather have The Orre watch me than her, but I really don't have a say around here. Camille continues, "Do what you have to do, and that's do nothing and don't bother me." She says in a defiant tone.

And with that, I watch her as she heads back to the exercise room. Still upset, I can hear forceful hits and a bit of yelling. I don't know what to say, I turn back to Terra.

"Along as Camille is doing her thing, she's harmless."

I can't imagine what she is when she's harmful. She's already ticked off; she's not part of the task. She has to look after me as if I need to be watch. If Emmet can't trust me to be here alone, with or without The Orre, why is he allowing me to stay in the first place?

***

Making a bold step, I headed back upstairs. Walking into the storage section, I exited out into the bookstore font. The Shadowhawk key nestled tight inside my pants pocket. I found an extra uniform shirt and pair of blue jeans hidden in the guest room a few hours ago; probably this Lance guy was working here before I did.

I didn't ask Camille anything about Lance. She did her thing, and that's just exercising or going into her room ignoring me. I respected her wishes, but trusting her may need more work. Getting tired of staying down there, I decided enough is enough. I wanted to work again, focus on something else...and that's books.

Seeing Viola, Bertrand, and Declan's faces, I'm happy to see them again. But as I walked back into the first floor, neither of them asked me why I came from the "storage closet". They were just proud to see me back. Just thinking Emmet gave me vacation time.

I got a chance to see Emmet. I convinced him hard to let me go back to work. Let me work up here to be a normal teen doing his job; if he needed me, he can call me to go back downstairs.

I would've stayed downstairs if I saw The Orre. But he wasn't there at all. Only I saw Camille. I didn't feel happy anyway being down there knowing the wild one has no set to talk to me. She hated me. I saw it in her eyes.

Back here as much as Emmet has been pushing me to uncertainty, it would've be nice to have my mind on selling books and helping others other than being obsessed to find Anita. Emmet definitely wouldn't mind. Yet one thing I needed to know was why my co-workers are unaware of the basement, and why couldn't he tell them.

Emmet gave me the truth about this. He pulled me in his damp, cluttered office. He closed the door and explained to me that the people that are here in the bookstore except for me and Emmet have been caught under a powerful cloaking spell. The Orre casted it. Even if The Orre passed away, the cloaking spell will still be remain under a veil. The spell blocked a person's mind about the closet door and the basement below. Emmet enforced the concealment of the Shadowhawks. He told me, he made a deal with Director Vartwild. Vartwild didn't want people to know about the Shadowhawks, not even the people who always comes into this bookstore-focusing on the books, and not the magihunters living underneath.

I questioned why I didn't get immeadtely infected since the day I first enter the door. My nerves must have warned me. Emmet only gives me this statement, "You're more than special.."

As days go by, I continue to work as if nothing happened. Emmet has been giving me some news during those days that Terra and the others have been hunting down other malefics, but still no recent news regarding Anita and Raudan.

Today's Friday, seventeen days to the exact day Anita was abducted. I try not to focus on her, or even on Terra-for some strange reason. As the store is quiet, I head upstairs and notice Declan is stacking up some books on the large bookshelf. I smile at him, giving him kudos. I stroll slowly, checking the books seeing what some interesting ones are. And then I pause to see one book.

The dark green tome fitted in a series of the same colors, all part of the Ancient Civilizations theme. I look closely to see the book is about cryptic languages. Suddenly the half-stone piece is still in my mind. I lean forward, grabbing the book. I head near a couch chair. Sitting down, I feel the soft bottom cushion. I skim through a lot of pages and then I stop, staring shockingly on a symbol of three inner circles and lines crossing it. It's the same that I saw on the half-piece.

When I saw Declan coming by me, I heard he was good with history. He went to school to get a degree in that field.

He could help me out on this. I call out his name, wanting him to come over here.

"What's up?" He asks.

I remind him about his memory in all this ancient history stuff. I quickly show him the page that has the strange symbol. "Please, I need to know. What does it mean?"

Declan looks closely; his hand caresses the thick page. He mentions to me that the symbol is Celtic, an ancient language before our time. He lets me know, the meaning is to seek truth.

I look confused, "What truth?"

He states, "I believe what the symbol means further. You have to seek the truth by asking."

Hearing those words, I almost feel I'm hearing this from The Orre masquerading as Declan, but then I remember the half-stone piece. The Orre must have known about this 'seeking truth' thing. I need him now than ever. I get up and thank Declan. As I walk off, I listen to Declan.

"That's okay; I guess I'll put the book back."

I feel bad, but what I just learned. If I seek this truth, I can understand what Raudan wants from it. The guys can stop him, and Anita will be saved. Not wasting time, I sprint to the storage door. Using the crystal key, I enter.

I rush down the stairs. Hearing the loud footsteps, I reach to the basement floor. I call out The Orre's name. I don't get a response. I turn to The Orre's corner spot, and he's not there nor the half-piece. He's probably in his room. I walk to the dorm hallway, and then I see a rustic door. I place my hand, balling it into a fist. Before I can knock, I can hear Silas.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to see him."

Silas nods and with zeal he wants me to leave The Orre alone. I wonder why. Silas walks close.

"When The Orre hibernates, it's best not to disturb him."

I know what hibernating is. After what The Orre told me, a time when a mage recharges their magic. And then almost like a slip, I hear as Silas stutters quietly. His lips moving, mentioning that he can understand hibernating as if it's part of our lives.

"You're a mortal." I say, "We'll never know."

Silas just disses what I said, "You don't understand. We're both different."

"Excuse me?"

I wonder what he means by that. Before I can get a definitive answer, Silas tries to walk away. I need to know why he said that. Why are we different?

As Silas heads out into the large foyer, I race towards him. I yell at him to stop. He doesn't want to listen. I holler his name once more, and again he refuses to turn back. Frustrated, I quickly grab hold of his left arm. He needs to tell me why he said we're different. I force him to turn and look at me.

He shouts out, "Hey!"

And then as I glance below, I'm shocked to what I see. I think I can understand why Silas uttered the word different.

He has a small magemark etched on his wrist.

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