A faint beep and a soft click preceded the sound of the door opening, allowing moonlight from the hall to spill into the alcove before it was blocked out by the shadow of a man stepping into Alexander’s dorm. The door closed behind him after his companion, leaving the two of them in the dark together. The same moonlight pooled on the floor, the only illumination coming through the open window and balcony.

Erik scanned the room briefly, eyes quickly locking onto the bed only to find it empty as he stepped into the main area.

“Ghost,” Sonia’s voice whispered harshly from behind him. “I swear, if you keep me up any longer,” she began, but stopped as he raised his hand to silence her.

“He’s not here,” he began, but then caught sight of something white and black pressed up against the glass door of the balcony. “Dose, this might be an emergency,” he said, rushing forwards. He stepped out onto the balcony to find Alexander crumpled up on the floor in a heap, curled around his arm, still cradling it. “Evans!” Erik gasped and reached out, giving Alexander a gentle shake. “Alexander, wake up,” he said, shaking a little harder.

“Iie…” the boy murmured. ”Nem...mmnm…”

Erik’s brow furrowed, “Alex!” he hissed harshly. Alexander’s eyes shot open and he sat up with a start—Erik immediately wrapping his hand around the boy’s mouth to stifle his scream. He put a finger to his lips, his grip tightening around Alexander’s mouth as he struggled. “It’s alright, it’s just me,” Erik said.

Alexander looked terrified. He was struggling to breathe through his nose and reached up to shove Erik’s hand away—feebly grasping at the man’s arm. “Mmmph!”

“Calm yourself, Evans,” Erik said sternly. “Relax and I’ll let go. You’re safe,” he added. When Alexander finally calmed, Erik carefully released him.

Alexander pulled away in horror, “Ghost!” he gasped. Alexander suddenly became aware of how cold he was. “W-what are you doing here?” he asked uncertainly, rubbing his upper arms.

“I might ask you the same question,” Erik frowned. “This is no time of year to be sleeping on the balcony. Iropa gets cold pretty early.”

Shivering, Alexander looked around, “I-it’s night already? What time is it?”

“Four-thirty,” Erik replied.

“F-four thirty!?”

Erik reached out, feeling Alexander’s forehead with the back of his hand, “You’re freezing, how long have you been out here?”

Alexander frowned. “It was before lunch when I passed out…”

Sonia poked her head out, “How do you not have hypothermia?” She looked to Erik, “Commander, you need to get him inside. The sooner I treat him, the sooner I can go back to bed,” she said pointedly, before returning to the room.

Alexander could hear her closing the window and curtains and moving other things around. “Ghost…” Alexander bit his lip apprehensively.

Erik stood, holding out his hand. “Come on inside and warm up, then I’ll answer your questions,” he said.

Alexander took the man’s hand with his good one and allowed Erik to pull him to his feet. “I think he’s looking for me,” he said finally, following Erik inside.

Once he and Alexander were in the room, Erik closed the balcony doors and pulled the curtains tight. Across the room, Sonia flicked on the lights and gestured Alexander to his bed. “The witch?” Erik inquired, arching an eyebrow. “I mean, I’m not surprised. He has a reputation for ‘finishing the job’ so to speak.”

Alexander sat on the edge of his bed and Sonia pulled over his desk chair, taking a seat and once more grabbing his arm. He allowed it to happen without protest.

“What the hell have you been doing?” she muttered, seeing the blood, now dried and soaked through his bandages.

Alexander shook his head, “I think I did that when I passed out. I felt this intense burning and I couldn’t handle it,” he explained. “But like,” he sighed, running his good hand over his face, “It was like a build up. The closer he got, the hotter my arm felt. When Van left, I started to feel really unwell—Van is my liaison—,” Alexander cut himself off, seeing Erik’s perplexed frown. “I’m sorry…”

“Oh, no, you don’t need to apologize,” Erik waved dismissively, “I was just thinking.”

“We don’t actually have a lot of experience with curses,” Sonia said, a hint of boredom in her tone as she unraveled the bandage. “To be honest, we didn’t even know if this method would work.”

“A-are you serious?” Alexander balked.

She looked up at him, arching her sandy eyebrows, “Would you rather we not have tried to save your life?”

“T-that’s not what I meant!” Alexander flushed, looking away from her. “I just… If I’d known how lucky I was, I would have thanked you more…”

Sonia scoffed lightly and turned back to her work, setting a notebook out on the table and opening it to a page scrawled with short-hand and strange arcane runes like the ones on his arm. “Strangely, I don’t recall you thanking me at all, Princess,” she mused, setting two pots on ink on the desk—one black and one white—and unfurling a set of brushes wrapped in canvas.

Alexander flushed pink, “H-how do you even know about that already!?”

“Because, we’ve been keeping an eye on you of course,” Ghost mused. “I see Guillory is up to his usual antics too,” the man added, rubbing the stubble on his chin in amusement.

Alexander sighed tiredly, “Are you watching me because you still think I’m a witch, or because you think I’m good bait?”

“A little of column A, but mostly column B,” Erik chuckled. “In all seriousness, however, I’d rather not involve you if I can. Kids shouldn’t have to deal with stuff like this,” he gestured to Alexander’s arm.

“It’s fine, it’s not like I’m a child or anything—And I’ll legally be an adult in March,” Alexander said. He reached over with this good hand and pulled up the short sleeve of his shirt so that Sonia could have better access when drawing the new black band around his upper arm. He noted, with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, that the red burn had not only grown, but was slowly eating away at the first band of runes the doctor had drawn.

“You shouldn’t tell people when you become a legal adult, Evans,” Erik frowned.

“Why not?” Alexander gave him a puzzled look.

“Some hunters won’t hunt kids on principle—even if they know they’re witches. The day you turn eighteen however, you’re fair game,” he explained. “You know nothing about my group, by saying that, you could have signed your death warrant.”

Alexander shook his head, “With all the information you seem to have on me, you probably already know my birth date.” He shrugged, “I was thinking of joining up with some witch hunter group anyways.”

At that, Erik raised an eyebrow, “I’m surprised at that,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because it’s more likely that your parents were killed by some maniac witch hunters rather than witches,” he said bluntly. “You don’t strike me as the religious type either, so it’s not like you have some unreasonable delusional zeal against witches.”

Alexander shook his head, “It’s not like I want to kill them,” he began. “I’m more curious about them than anything else…” he looked away from Erik, finding a place on his floor to stare at as his mind raced. “I’ve never talked about it with anyone before, not even Evan. I’m afraid of what she might think if I were to join a merc crew…” Alexander’s brow furrowed. “But, I don’t want other kids to end up like me—if there were a way to stop people from turning into witches, maybe the world would become a better place…”

“Is that why you never turned in completed career forms?”