They were left in the darkened classroom, everyone sweeping glass out of their hair and clothes, the only illumination coming from the sun pouring in through the windows. Nana stood from where she was crouched, glass sliding off her notebook that she had used to cover her head. “Wh-what the hell was that?” she squeaked, peering around.

“An electrical surge?” another girl nearby offered, shaking. By the sounds of things, bulbs had shattered in the halls as well.

“Maybe another witch?” another boy said, peering out from under his backpack—which he had also used to shield himself. The emergency system flicked on, minimal lighting now flooding the halls as the fire alarm shrieked into life.

The seemed to spur Nana out of her state of shock. “Alright everyone, you know the drill, out with you. Be careful of the glass!” she ordered. “Meet outside in our designated spot so I can do a head-count!” she added, now ushering the other students to the doors. She glanced seriously at Van, “Get Alexander,” she ordered under her breath as she passed him.

Van blinked, coming out of his own shock in that moment. He glanced around, finally looking down to see Alexander on the floor, parked on his rear, cradling his arm. “Princess,” he said softly, crouching to one knee next to Alexander. “I’m sorry,” he added, catching soft sobs between the lulls in the fire alarm. Van reached out to touch Alexander’s shoulder but the other recoiled violently.

“Don’t touch me!” he cried out, slapping Van’s arm away with no regard for his own injury. He curled up again, shaking as Nana returned, the classroom now empty except for them.

“Boys, we have to go—now!” she stressed.

Van leaned closer to Alexander, who had pulled his knees up to his chin and was muttering and rocking back and forth. “Princess, we have to go,” he said softly, bending down to look Alexander in the eyes. He frowned and looked back up at Nana. “He’s in shock,” he said. “Do you think there’s risk of an actual fire?”

Nana took a deep breath, pinched the bridge of her nose and turned away, fussing in a way that only a stressed person would. “I don’t know, Van, that’s why the fire alarm is going.”

“It’s my fault,” Alexander muttered. “I must have done it.”

Nana crouched down to better hear him over the shrill intermittent beeping of the alarm. “Don’t be ridiculous, Alex. There’s no way you could have done this,” she said.

“It’s my fault…”

Van fired a concerned look to Nana, “Er… Pri—Evans, look…” he licked his lips tentatively, “We have a crazy witch on the loose, who’s to say that it wasn’t him just looking for you?”

“Either way,” Nana said firmly, “Alexander Evans, if you don’t stand up right now, I’m going to have Van pick you up and carry you out of here like a bride!” she scolded, “And everyone is going to see it,” she added. This seemed to work, as Alexander slowly got to his feet, holding his injured arm close to his body. He didn’t look at either of them, but he avoided Van by putting Nana between them. She sighed and put her hand on the small of his back, leading him out of the classroom, Van following behind with his and Nana’s backpacks.

They made their way down the four flights of stairs, following other students and staff who were still making their own way out. They exited through a side door of the main building and made their way around to a spot near the front where the rest of the class was already gathered nearby to a large tree. Nana turned briefly to Van, “You keep an eye on him,” she ordered, “And so help me, if I see you teasing him anymore, I’ll kick your ass from here till next Tuesday, King.” She huffed, heading over to the group to do her job as class representative while Alexander lingered close to the tree and the nearby railing that blocked a small cliff.

Sirens howled in the distance as fire trucks and police made their way towards the school. Van moved closer to Alexander, “Princess…” he began, but stopped when Alexander shifted away from him, turning his head to look out over the small cliff.

“Don’t,” Alexander said, holding his arm at his side, his other hand grasping just above his elbow. The wind caught his hair and the tie holding it and he reached back to pull his ponytail over his shoulder. “I don’t like being touched,” he said finally.

Van moved hesitantly to stand beside him. “I’m sorry,” Van said genuinely. “I can’t seem to help myself,” he added, folding his arms and sighing.

“Honestly, it’s like you don’t realize I’m a guy sometimes,” Alexander muttered.

“Ohoo?” Van chirped, placing both hands on the railing to lean on it. He looked over at Alexander finally, a smirk touching his lips again. “Does it matter, Princess?”

Alexander turned his face away from Van, rubbing his eyes with his good hand. “Really, what the hell is wrong with you… I can’t even,” he mumbled.

Nana came back, planting her hands on her hips, “Now,” she said, a stern edge to her voice. Van made a noise like he knew he was in trouble before she continued. “Alexander, just what the hell was that? You can’t go about saying things like that, people will think you’re a witch,” she shook her head. “And you, Van,” she glared at him, “You’ve been getting out of hand. Do I have to speak to your mother?”

“Yii!” Van cringed, making an incomprehensible noise, “No, no… that’s good, I’ll let up, I promise,” he said quickly, raising his hands in surrender. “I just can’t help myself. Princess is too much fun to play with.” He caught a glare from her, “Seriously! I promise! King’s word! Cross my heart!”

Nana grunted in frustration, “And you, Alex?”

Alexander shrank at her ire despite it’s mildness, hiding behind Van slightly, “I—I have nothing to say… Things like this just happen to me,” he explained. He didn’t say anything more, but pulled away from Van when he realized that he had gripped the hem of the other boy’s sleeve.

Nana rolled her eyes, “You have the worst luck, Princess,” she shook her head in dismay. She sighed and kicked at the dirt, sighed again and rolled her eyes one final time, “Van, we need to go. Sorry Alex, but when there’s an evacuation the student council is responsible for checking in with the other class reps to make sure no one is missing that shouldn’t be.”

Alexander looked away from her, “I understand,” he said.

“Please stay here with the class until we get back, okay?” she added, reaching out with lightning speed to snatch Van’s arm. She didn’t wait for him to answer, pulling the other boy away with her, leaving Alexander to stand there alone. He glanced briefly at his classmates who were stood in a crowd several meters away, whispering and firing more furtive and fearful glances at him. By this time, Allen and his group had reunited with the other students as well and was pointedly ignoring Alexander’s presence.

Alexander looked away, turning his attention out to the view, looking down the five-or-so meter cliff to the start of the park below. He had that feeling of a thousand eyes on him again, and oddly it wasn’t from his classmates. He shivered, stepping back from the railing and feeling cold despite there being little wind and warm sunlight. The whispering intensified and his head began to throb as he brought up his bandaged hand to block out the bright sunlight.

“Evans.”

Alexander snapped to attention and looked up to his left. “Ghost?” he found himself looking up into the steely grey eyes of the lead hunter. He quickly looked away to the ground and the fired another glance at his classmates, who were all staring openly. “So much for not meeting up in public,” he muttered.

“We were called in for a ‘paranormal event,’” Ghost smirked, marking little air quotes. “Since you’re a patient of my doctor, I thought I’d come and check up on you,” he said, just loudly enough for the nearest students to hear, but not loudly enough to be obvious about it. “Walk with me,” he said, turning away.

Alexander sighed, and followed after Erik. It turned out there was a staircase nearby that lead down to a quiet entrance to the park that Alexander could see from his dorm. They walked for a bit into the trail, away from the prying eyes of the other students. “If you’re wondering what happened…” Alexander started.

“I kind of figured you’d think it had something to do with you,” Erik sighed. He stopped walking, sliding his hands into his pockets. He turned and examined Alexander.

Alexander shifted uncomfortably and rubbed at the edge of the bandage sheepishly. “Will you hunt me?” he asked finally.

“Why?” Erik asked.

“I—,” Alexander took in a deep breath, biting his lip, tears welling up in his eyes. “I think I might be turning into a witch,” he said, his voice strained. He couldn’t meet Erik’s gaze. “Please, i—if I turn, please make it quick. And tell Evan I’m sorry…” He sucked in a shaky breath and carefully looked up at Erik, but something behind the man drew his focus—something massive. He could only see it as a vague shape, as though it were invisible and the air around it were slightly distorted by its presence.

As Alexander’s eyes grew wide, Erik looked over his shoulder. He frowned slightly, turning back to the boy. “Evans… I don’t think you’re going to need me to hunt you,” he said, reaching out and placing his hand on Alexander’s head, ruffling his bangs, forcing him to look away. The boy didn’t flinch or recoil this time, at least not immediately.

When Alexander looked up again, whatever he thought he saw was gone. “I—I…” he wrapped his arms around himself, shivering in the cold shade of the dense wood.

Erik smiled gently, “Relax, Alex. You’ll be fine. It’s okay to be afraid, just don’t freeze up.”

“Have you ever heard of someone with witch powers that didn’t go nuts?” Alexander asked softly shifting from foot to foot nervously.

“I can’t tell you what I know about witches, Alex,” Erik replied, “It’s against policy. However, I will tell you that I think you’ll be fine.”

Alexander stifled a sob, covering his mouth, “I—I don’t understand,” he coughed.

Erik frowned slightly at Alexander’s struggle to keep himself together. “What don’t you understand?”

“Y-you, and Evan—and Van and Nana. Even Dose and Headmaster Solister…” Alexander said, now visibly trembling. “Why don’t you hate me? This place is weird. I don’t like it.”

Erik’s brow furrowed, “Do you want us to hate you?”

“W-what?” Alexander was shaking from head to toe. “N—No no, that’s not what I meant…”

Erik laughed softly and pulled Alexander in close, giving him a reassuring squeeze, “Listen, kid, North Covehunt is a strange place—but it’s not bad. Give it some time, and I’m sure you’ll find it feels like home in no time.” Alexander recoiled a bit, stumbled and then dropped weakly to his knees. Erik dropped down to one of his own, placing his hand on Alexander’s head. “Are you alright?”

Alexander shook his head, wrapping his arms around himself. “No…” he cried softly, trying to hide his face. “I’ve never had so many people be nice to me before. Most of the time they just ignore me on purpose or push me away, even actively hurt me…”

“But it’s different here?” Erik asked, though it was really more for confirmation, which he got when Alexander nodded, now actively fighting back sobs.

“D-do you think it’s possible to be cursed more than one time?” Alexander asked quietly.

Erik tilted his head quizzically, “I—I’m not sure,” he said, mildly baffled. “Do you think you were cursed before now? When?”

Alexander shook his head, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against Erik’s hand. It felt so warm, even through his black gloves. “I don’t know,” he said softly. “Now that I know curses are a thing, I can’t help but wonder if maybe I was cursed as a baby or something…”

Erik frowned. “Was life that bad?”

Alexander let out a pained derisive scoff.

“Do you have any strange marks on your body that can’t be explained?” Erik asked. “Curses usually leave some sort of mark,” he offered when Alexander looked up at him, puzzled.

Alexander shrank a bit, “I have a fair few scars in places,” he mumbled, shrinking a bit where he knelt. He flushed red after a moment, “I-I’m surprised you didn’t have your doctor check me out while I was unconscious,” he muttered.

Erik laughed lightly, “Well, that would be a massive violation of privacy—and we didn’t have the time to get parental consent,” he said.

“Did you even talk to Evan?” Alexander asked.

“I haven’t had a chance,” Erik ruffled Alexander’s hair again. “You get into far too much trouble for me to have had the time to call her up.”

“I’d rather you didn’t tell her.”

“Really?” Erik frowned, “Why not?”

“I don’t want to trouble her. I’m so far away right now, I don’t want her to be worried all the time. It’s bad for her health…” Alexander trailed of, sighing heavily as he leaned into Erik’s hand again. “I would be devastated if anything happened to her…”

“Princess!?” Van’s voice could be heard calling distantly.

“I’d better get going,” Erik said quietly, standing up. “Dose wanted me to tell you that the runes should hold up in the shower—so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“And Evan?” Alexander asked, looking up at Erik.

The man ran his hand over his face, holding his chin for a moment in thought. “I guess you’re old enough to make that decision for yourself. I can’t guarantee that Ariel won’t call her however.”

“Princess!” Van came around a bend in the path past some trees in the direction of the school. When he saw Erik, his eyes widened. “You! Get away from him!”