Necklace

The agents help the people out of the arena while Alice frees Lexa and the other sprites that had been captured by Chef Baci.

"Hunter Heffernan." The dark-haired sprite turned to see who had called him. It was Richard Lewis, the leader of the Sprite Guardians. "I believe I owe you an apology," he said. "I should have been open-minded and at least taken into consideration your suspicions. My actions almost cost the lives of the Guardians and several others and for that, I am sincerely sorry and hope you can forgive me."

"It's nothing, sir," said Hunter. "The most important thing is that you learn from your mistakes."

"Indeed. Thank you, Hunter."

The dark-haired boy smiled before turning away to see Joe approaching him.

'Oh no.'

"Hunter," Joe started. "When Alice asked you to lead the Guardians, I was firmly against the decision and I maintained that we could do things a lot differently than what you wanted to do. But it all worked out in the end so I guess ... You really got lucky!"

Hunter sighed as the others shook their head.

"Never change, Joe. Never change."

***

The sprites began boarding the train which would take them back to the city where they would board a plane back to the Met.

As Hunter takes his luggage to do the same as the other sprites, he sees Alice and Lexa standing back discussing something. "What's up?" He enquired.

"I forgot my necklace back at the villa," said Alice. "Lexa and I are going back to get it," she added.

"I am?" said Lexa.

"The train's departing in like a minute, you won't make it back in time," he pointed out.

"Yeah ... We'll meet up with you guys in the airport," she said.

"You want me to run there and get it for you?" Hunter asked.

"No need, honey. Just tell Richard we had to run back to the villa."

"Sure thing."

Alice turned while Lexa waved at the teal green-eyed boy. "Guess I'll see you at the airport."

He smiled and waved back at the yellow-eyed girl. After Chef Baci was taken in by the Public Safety and Demon Control agency, the sprites spent the rest of their time in River Pot simply having fun with no troubles or worries. Hunter's relationship with the other sprites improved during that time.

The dark-haired boy boarded the train and told Richard about his wife and daughter before making his way to the car where the Metropolitan School of Mysticism students were.

"River Pot was so fun! I am so glad I let you talk me into coming here," said Petra. "I'm going to miss this place."

"Me too. Everything was cool; the beach, the local market, the farm. Even the whole thing with Chef Baci wasn't too bad," said Thomas.

"Don't forget about the beach!" said Oliver.

"Yeah, he already said that, Ollie."

Alex laughs. "I told you you were going to love it," he said.

Hunter nudges Yui with his shoulder "You've been quiet. Did you not enjoy yourself?"

"I --" Yui inhales before exhaling deeply. "Hunter, there's something I want to tell you," she said quietly.

[Hunter, something's wrong]

'I feel it too.'

Hunter's eyes dart down to just below Yui's neck.

"Have that necklace you're wearing always glowed?"

Yui looked down to see the pendant on the necklace glowing bright white. "What the --"

[Hunter, look out!]

Before the sprite could react, something hit the train, knocking it off its rail and breaking down the vehicles into several cars.

Hunter lay on the ground feeling his body heavy and as though he couldn't breathe through his nose. The teal-green-eyed boy inhaled through his mouth. He turned to see the other sprites on the ground, unmoving.

Then HE came into view.

He had long horns like that of an addax, no jaws, and his mouth looked to extend well into his neck. His body looked like several bones tangled up with each other and in the middle was a bright red object that made his inside glow red. From his back were several spikes or thorns and his legs were long and resembled that of a canine forelimb. He also had a long wolf-like tail.

Though Hunter had never seen him before, he felt as though he had. He knew exactly who he was looking at; Sephratis, the god of Conjuring.

Sephratis walked majestically toward Hunter and picked up Yui's body from the ground. He snatched the necklace which was glowing even brighter from the scarlet-haired girl's neck.

"Hey, you! Let the girl go and surrender this instant!"

The god of conjuring tossed Yui's body away before turning to look at the person who dared to raise his voice at him. It was Joe with the veterans of the Sprite Guardians around him.

They were all bloody and bruised but they stood tall and defiant before the god. Their hands glowed with different colors of energy surrounding them ranging from orange to green.

"Don't!" Hunter moved to say but he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.

The veterans charged at the god of conjuring, and one by one, they all fell to the ground, lifeless.

"No ..." Hunter cried silently. He dragged himself to his feet even though he could feel that none of the bones in his body were in their right position. The teal green-eyed boy took in the scene in front of him. The train wreckage was everywhere and so were the bodies, blood, and severed limbs.

His fellow metropolitan schoolmates were motionless on the ground. They were all injured when Sephratis hit the train and Hunter could guess their respective injuries were fatal.

The sprite clenches his fist, his bones cracking as he does so before charging forward as fast as his body can carry him. The god of conjuring grabbed the sprite before he could make anything of the move and slammed him into the ground.

He picked up a long rod from the train wreck and stabbed the dark-haired boy with it, the rod going through the sprite's chest and into the ground.

Hunter's consciousness slowly fades away as his assailant walks away.

*MEANWHILE*

"It smells awesome in here ... Hunter's gonna love it!" said Sophia walking into the kitchen.

"Yeah? Are you done with the decorations?" Chelsea asked.

"Yup. He wouldn't even recognize the living room when he see it," said Sophia.

Chelsea pauses. "Is that in a good way or ...?"

"A good way, Chelsea, and you sound like Hunter questioning me."

Chelsea laughs. "Pass me that plate over there," she requested.

Sophia grabbed the plate and passed it to the raven-haired woman. "So ... I invited Nova over ... Hope that's okay," said Sophia.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"It's just ... You and Hunter are pretty close and I feel like Nova might also have a --"

CRASH!

Sophia looked at the honey-brown-eyed woman to see that she had dropped the ceramic plate the former had handed to her. "Um ..."

Chelsea fell to her knees. "I - I -"

The redhead quickly ran to the raven-haired woman's side. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"I can't feel him anymore," Chelsea said quietly.

"What?"

"I can't feel him anymore," she repeated, louder than the first time she said it.

"What -- Who?" Sophia asked.

"Hun -- Aargh!" Chelsea screamed grabbing her head.

Sophia grabbed the honey brown-eyed woman's hands, unsure what to do. "Hey, it's going to be okay ... I'm going to go get some help," said the blue-skinned girl.

"No," Chelsea shook her head, holding the redhead's hand tighter. "Ca -- Jade. Tell h-- Hunter's --" Before the raven-haired woman could finish her sentence, she disintegrated and dusted away.

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