CHAPTER 183

Yawns spread across the table full of weary teens with droopy eyes as if they spent their entire weekend wide awake.

"So? All I heard was ninjas were after you guys and no freaking explanation!" Lydia half yelled and then the realization of what she just said hit her and she fell silent.

Boyd cradled his head, swaying slightly to the side as he battled the drowsiness trying to frown him. He had ended up spending the entire weekend at Tristan's place because he was too scared to spend it alone after what had happened with the samurai-ninjas.

"So they attacked your dad and Derek first before they pulled up on us." Tristan stated, he and Malia being the only ones who looked remotely fine.

"Well the timestamp between theirs and when Boyd texted my was too close for them to cross from the other side of town–"

"Well not if they can just pop out from the shadows." Boyd interjected, eyes still crooked in disbelief. "I swear. That's the most supernatural thing I've ever seen."

"I can somewhat understand Boyd being too scared to sleep at night, but what's up with you, Lydia?" Tristan tilted his head wearing a genuinely oblivious expression that some of the students around inwardly squealed at how cute he looked.

"You think I could sleep? Unlike Lucky Boy-D here, I spent the weekend with Allison because of your ghostly ninjas and I didn't have the protection of a Primearch and an Alpha." She replied tersely.

"Hey! I take offense to that!" The young Huntress felt insulted by Lydia's remark.

Lydia turned to Allison with a tender smile on her face and held the pale archer's hand in hers. "My dear snow white, can you really lie and say the protection of human Hunters is better than being in the vicinity of those two?" The smile remained even as pointed at Tristan and Malia.

Allison scoffed, looking a bit angry, and snapped back sarcastically with a little bite in her tone. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Lydia. You know, for my family being so incompetent that you couldn't feel safe even when none of us slept in order to keep watch. I'm so so sorry, Lydia."

The table fell silent as they watched the brief interaction between the two girls who were now looking stunned with gaping mouths at the other.

"I think the lack of sleep is getting to us." Allison offered.

"You know, I was just about to say the same thing." Lydia chirped back, all too happy that their small altercation was swept under.

From then on, they moved away from the topic of swords and ghosts and started talking about normal day activities which everyone happily had something to say, even Tristan; especially now that he could finally express himself anyhow he wanted.

They were talking about the upcoming game Beacon Hills had when Malia's nose twitched and turned around, drawing the attention of the others at the table.

"Oh shit, that's some fear." Tristan held the bridge of his nose with a grimace.

"I'm surprised you didn't pick that up sooner." Malia said as she focused on the source of that titillating fear.

Tristan squinted his eyes a little and immediately picked up on who was almost having a heart attack from their fears. "Yeah, I'm making it a habit to restrain my senses quite a bit when in school. Who knew teenagers' emotional spectrum was more chaotic than an adult's?"

"Kira?"

They were surprised as the girl entered their view, more so with how lost she looked while walking.

"Kira! Over here!" Boyd called out, startling the girl out of her wits.

Except Tristan and Malia, everyone else missed how she looked relieved when she saw them before turning stiff for a moment when she realized the faces that were around the table.

"For some reason she's very spooked about me. Like very very spooked by me." Tristan whispered for them to hear as she slowly made her way towards them. "Okay now she's alarmingly terrified. Something's up."

They looked at each other with confusion and suspicion before schooling their faces to welcoming smiles as she came closer.

"H-hey guys." Kira weakly greeted, actively making sure she didn't glance in Tristan and Malia's direction. She sat down on Lydia's side, opposite Boyd who sat with Tristan and Malia.

"Are you okay? You look a bit pale there, girl." Lydia's expression was one of concern as she held a hand to Kira's head. "We can go to a teacher and have you skip the day if you're not feeling good."

Kira immediately became flustered amidst dreadful panic and shook her hands wildly to stop Lydia from asking more about her health.

"It's alright!" She coughed awkwardly at how loud her simple reply had sounded and repeated it again, this time in an even tone. "It's alright. I'm fine. I guess spending the entire weekend stuck on a new book wasn't such a wise choice."

She managed to gloss over it with a simple excuse and exhaled in relief when everyone seemed to buy it.

"So what did you guys do during the weekend?" She asked the first thing that came to her head and made a double take when she saw how weary they looked. "Haha, let me guess; you guys didn't get enough sleep too?"

They all laughed good-naturedly. "You can say that again. Well ours was movie marathons rather than binge reading a book."

"I totally get you. It's been a long time since I had a movie night." Kira's eyes widened when she realized that she had said that out loud. Thankfully no one minded. "You guys all hung out during the weekend?"

"Not really. Boyd crashed with us while Lydia and Allison had a sleepover." Malia replied, noting how Kira's emotions practically spilled over at the latter part of her sentence before she froze as an uncanny realization hit her. "You've got to be kidding me."

"… Malia?" Tristan and Allison looked at her.

She gave them a look that they didn't quite understand but she didn't push it and started speaking excitedly with Kira, confusing the two even more, that was until she asked Kira a sneaky question.

"I'm more of a horror book girl myself. It's got to be a good book if you started reading it from Friday till yesterday night."

This time, the three of them noticed the slight pause and hurried answer she gave before she tried changing the topic.

'It's her!'

'Calm down, Malia. It could just be that she read a book or is just trying to make conversation and not come out as a weird girl.'

'Not likely, Allison. Everything she's said is a lie. And her mental state is not becoming any good, in fact I think it's slowly getting worse.'

No one noticed their three-way eye conversation but Malia's insinuation had completely changed their view of the girl.

'I know how to quickly confirm.'

'Huh? How?'

'Knock yourself out, Trist.'

Tristan shared them a discreet look and they both nodded before inputting themselves in the conversation that had now circled back to lacrosse and the upcoming game.

"Hey Kira." Tristan suddenly calling her out made her visibly tensed in where she sat.

"Y-yeah. Yeah?" She couldn't stop herself from stuttering and hoped no one saw it as weird. Most importantly, she was praying that Tristan's reason for calling her was inconsequential so she could make an excuse and escape from here.

"Are you a supernatural creature?"

"Huh?"

She was completely speechless in her trepidation and utterly lost on just what kind of question was that, before something else drew all her attention.

"Huh? Did you guys see that?" She pointed at Tristan's eyes. "I swear I just saw his eyes flash red."

It sounded stupid and it immediately dawned on her after she voiced it that her nervousness was finally making her crazy, but she was certain she saw his eyes change colors. It was bright and couldn't be missed.

"What?" Boyd and Lydia drew back in surprise.

She stood up with a bitter smile on her face. "The lack of sleep might finally be getting to me but I can swear I just saw his eyes turn red for a moment." She said as she picked up her bag.

"I'm sorry, b-but I think I have to go now. See you later?..." She didn't wait for their reply before quickening her pace to get out of there as fast as possible without outrightly running away.

They all looked at each other, understanding the meaning of what Tristan just did. Boyd, Lydia and Allison wore disbelieving looks as they watched her basically hightail or away from them after Tristan's last question.

"… No."

"There's no fucking way. Right?"

"I'm still lost on it all."

The three of them were shaking their heads as if they were waking up from a weird dream.

Malia however seemed completely accepting of the reality of the situation. "See that Trist? It's always the students or the teachers."

Tristan nodded while tilting his head both sides as he tried to make sense of something. "You're right, but for some reason I never once picked up any ill emotion from her towards us."

"So what? She could be that good. You remember that Alphas and most experienced betas can easily hide their emotions, right?"

"Hmm… you're right."

...

"What the fuck?! She's the puppeteer!" Boyd screamed in shock.

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