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The hallway was empty, and every step echoed through the corridor. Hunter tried his best to stay as quiet as possible. What he was hiding from, he had no idea. He just knew that he didn’t want it to know he was there.
He turned the corner, and immediately stopped. At the end of the hall was a shadowy figure. At first he thought it was Unc- Belos, but the person (?) was much too short to be him. It looked like a kid, or a teenager. He took a step forward.
Suddenly the figure whirled around, making direct eye contact with Hunter. They stood like that for a moment, just….watching each other. Waiting for one of them to make the first move.
The figure slowly made a step forward. Hunter cautiously mimicked the action. The mystery person continued to walk out of the shadows until Hunter could see who the person was, and he gasped. It was Willow.
But, it wasn’t Willow. It couldn’t be. But it was. She glared at Hunter with a look of pure hatred.
“You were supposed to be our friend. But you kept this awful secret from us. You’re-you’re a grimwalker. You aren’t a witch. You never were, and never will be. Belos was right. You are useless.”
“No-no!” Hunter cried. This wasn’t happening. This was a mass hallucination. Or something. He was a witch! He was as much a witch as Willow, and Gus, and Amity, and Luz…..right?
Willow’s face and body started to merge and contort, and then it wasn’t Willow anymore, it was Gus.
“Why didn’t you tell us? Do you not trust us? Or…are we just not good enough for you? You think you’re better than us, is that it? You’re Belos’ ‘Golden Guard’, a spoiled little brat. Is what we have not good enough? After all Camila’s done for you….” Gus-but not Gus grumbled.
“That’s not true! I do trust you guys! I just-I couldn’t tell you!” Hunter tried to say, but the creature was already morphing from Gus, to Amity, to Luz, to Vee, all of them saying the same thing- he was worthless, a useless brat, nothing but a grimwalker, that he’d never be a witch.
“No-please!” Hunter begged. “I-I can show you! Look! I’m more than a grimwalker! I am a witch!”
He tried to show them, use his staff to conjure up some abomination goop-but wait. His staff! Flapjack! They were gone. The gravity of the situation dawned on him. He was useless without his staff. He couldn’t do any sort of magic without it. They were right. They were all right. He was nothing but a grimwalker, and he always would be.
The creature bubbled and stirred, transforming into one last figure. Belos. Out of habit, Hunter immediately knelt into a bow, trying to hide his tears.
“Tut, tut.” Belos grinned “I tried to warn you Hunter. A Golden Guard does not allow himself friends.” He spat out the word like it was a foul and dangerous object. “I really thought the Titan had big plans for you. But, perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps you are so useless no one would ever want you. You are lucky to have me, Hunter..”
He reached an arm out for Hunter and clasped his hands around his neck, cutting off his oxygen. He gasped and squirmed in his grip, tears streaming down his face, looking into the evil, soulless eyes of his uncle…..
“Hunter…..Hunter…” a voice whispered from afar.
What? What was going on? His brain was foggy, his vision was giving out….
“Hunter…..Hunter! Wake up!” the voice said again, louder this time.
Hunter jolted awake, eyes wide, his face wet with tears. He looked around wildly. Surrounding his sleeping bag was Willow, Gus, and Amity. All looked worried. Gus looked as though he had been crying. Amity immediately started talking a mile a minute.
“Hunter we were so worried, Gus said you were having a nightmare and wouldn’t wake up, we’ve been trying to wake you up for twenty minutes, Luz is getting Mrs. Noceda now-”
“Call me Camila, mija.” Mrs. Noceda said. She was coming down the stairs accompanied by Luz and Vee.
Hunter was still dazed and confused, trying to separate what was real and what had been a nightmare. Why were they all down here? Had he really been that annoying that he kept everyone awake? He tried to apologize, but all that came out was something along the lines of “Imf sobfrry”
“Guys, give him some space.” Willow said. “He’s still waking up.”
Everyone scooted back a bit, and Mrs. Noceda came forward. She reached a hand out to Hunter, and he whimpered, doing his best to get away, to dodge a harsh slap.
Mrs. Noceda drew her hand back, visibly confused. “Hunter, are you okay?” she murmured softly. She looked to the rest of the group, saying “Could you guys maybe go wait in the kitchen? I want to talk to Hunter.” The rest nodded, and made their way up the stairs.
“What was the nightmare about?” she prompted once the others were gone. “If you feel comfortable telling me, of course.”
“Uh…it wasn’t anything new, it was just, worse this time, I guess.” Hunter prattled. “I don’t want you to have to worry about me. I’m fine, I swear.”
“Hunter…you can tell me if something is bothering you. You know that right?” Mrs. Noceda assured him.
“Um, yes, of course, I mean, as long as it’s not any trouble-uh, I’m sorry Mrs. Noceda.” Hunter stammered.
“There’s no need to apologize, mi amor. And you can call me Camila. Mrs. Noceda’s too formal.”
Hunter translated the words in his head. Mi amor = “my love”. A term of affection. Directed towards him. Suddenly, he felt more tears coming. And before he knew it, he was sobbing into Mrs. Noce- Camila’s shoulder.
“Shhhhhh…….it’s okay….” she said softly as Hunter cried.
Once he had calmed down, Camila asked him a few questions.
“Do you - do you have these nightmares often?” she inquired.
Hunter took a deep breath. “Yeah. But they usually aren’t this bad. I guess now I’m just scared of being left again.”
If Camila was confused, she did a good job at hiding it. “Okayy….and, if you don’t mind me asking, what were your parents like, in the Demon Realm?”
“I didn’t have parents. My uncle raised me.”
“And what was he like?”
“He, ah….he was……he was kind of an asshole, if I’m being completely honest.” Hunter clapped his hand over his mouth, and braced himself, waiting for a harsh slap he knew was coming.
However, it didn’t. He slowly opened his eyes. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to say that, I-”
Camila cut him off. “Sometimes that word is the only word to describe a person.” she shrugged, and Hunter was stunned. She wasn’t mad? This wasn’t how this was supposed to go.
“Well….how was your uncle an asshole?” Camila questioned. She looked genuinley concerned for him, not just the mock sympathy he was used to.
“I mean…..whenever I did soemthing wrong, even if it was something little, the punishment would be…….extreme.” Hunter said cautiously. He didn’t want Camila to worry about him any more than she already was.
“What do you mean by extreme?” she asked. She was concerned for the boy, and wanted to help, but she couldn’t if she had no idea what was going on. She didn’t want to force Hunter to tell her anything he wasn’t comfortable with sharing, but she at least needed to understand the gist of it, even if it was quite vague.
“Um…” Hunter began, trying to find a way to tell her about his past without making it sound too bad. She already had enough on her plate, what with six magical children suddenly living under her roof.
“Hunter, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to share, alright?” Camila said quickly, sensing how scared the kid was.
“N-no, it’s okay.” Hunter breathed. “You just want to help.” At least, he hoped so.
“I mean, it’s really not too bad, he’d just smack me around, beat me if I made a big mistake, sometimes he’d starve or lock me in my room, but really, it wasn’t all that bad.” He looked up at Camila, and she looked shocked. He could see tears in her eyes, but she was doing her best not to let them fall.
“Is…is that not normal?” Hunter asked, shocked at her reaction.
Camila took a deep breath and spoke softly, “No, baby, that’s not normal. Not here, and probably not in the demon realm either.” She took Hunter’s hands and looked in his wide, violet eyes. “But here, at least under my roof, you will never have to worry about being abused or hurt just for making a silly little mistake. Your uncle was very wrong for treating you that way, and I am so sorry that you had to go through that. But I promise that I will never lay a hand on you, or hurt you.”
Hunter sniffed. “You promise?”
Camila nodded, and smiled sweetly at him. “I promise.”