Seven ✧*。

*Hunter's pov*

Vi hesitates before pulling away. She takes a step back and stares at me for a moment. She starts to smile.

"Hunter," she starts. "You look like a skater dude." She giggles a little.

"I look that bad?" I say.

"No," she says, still giggling. "No. You're hot."

I find myself blushing when she calls me hot.

"I thought you ghosted me," I said. "Where were you last week?"

"I uh..." She says. "It doesn't matter. Magic nymph things."

I decided not to get involved with magic anymore.

"Okay," I say.

She seems surprised that I don't question further but, she doesn't say anything.

As we're walking down the hall, we run into Danny.

"You've been avoiding me again," he says to Vi.

"Danny hi," Vi says, teeth barring. "I uh... I was going to call you but you know cell reception." She looks at a janitor's closet and squeezes my hand.

"Follow me," she says to Danny. She takes his hand and leads him into the janitor's closet. I hear their voices and then they come out.

"I hope you understand why I'm breaking up with you," Danny says. What?

"I totally understand," Vi says.

"What did you do?" I ask her.

"I uncharmed him," she says.

"How did you know... you know what never mind," I say.

She kisses me on the cheek and says, "See you at lunch."

°°°°°°°

At lunch, Jake tries to talk to me but, I ignore him. I see Vi waving her hand at an empty lunch table.

"Aren't you going to sit with your popular friends?" I ask her.

"I like sitting with you better," she says.

All through lunch, I don't even touch my food. We spend the whole time laughing and talking about things I can't even remember.

*Last week*

She didn't come to school today. She's ghosting me. I can't believe it. I thought we had at least some kind of connection last night.

Maybe she's in danger. I hope she is okay.

Normally, I would have been angry or even hurt. But, I know Violet isn't a normal girl and she probably has other things to do. I know I'm putting a lot of faith in her with the icons on the stand while and she's probably going to disappear again but, I know she'll come back.

I should be scared of her. I am scared of her but, I feel feelings for her as well. So, I have decided to act on the good feelings instead of the bad.

When I think about it, the only time she seems dangerous is when Jake provokes her. So, I have decided to stop talking to Jake. I know all of this is not normal and most of my feelings don't make perfect sense to me right now but, I don't care.

For the rest of the week, I go on with my life as if nothing has happened. I don't talk to anyone and I decide to do all the things I've wanted to do but haven't because of Danny.

So, this weekend I go to the mall. I get a haircut and dye my hair blonde. I changed my wardrobe to a more masculine style that makes me comfortable. My aunt isn't exactly happy with everything I've done but she doesn't have a say in my wardrobe.

*Present today*

"Do you want to go to the mall?" I ask Violet after school.

"Like a date?" She asks, grinning.

I pause for a second. "Yeah. Like a date," I say.

"Oh... Okay," she says, blushing.

We decided to walk to the mall. On the way there, Vi faints. I get down on my knees and try to shake her awake.

"Violet, what's wrong?" I say.

Two men dressed in black wearing masks come out of a black car and the next thing I know I'm tied in what looks like a basement. I look around and realize it's Jake's basement.

"Where am I?" Vi says.

"You're in Jake's basement," I say, annoyance in my voice.

"He's really still trying to kill me?" Vi says with the same tone of voice.

I turn to look at Violet. She's not tied up, she's held by metal cuffs that cover her whole hand.

"Jake!" I yell. "Come out you coward."

"Now that's just mean. Don't you think?" I hear Michael's voice saying from behind me.

He appears in front of me and so does Jake.

"Why are you guys doing this?" I say realizing how rhetorical I sound.

"You know why," Jake says.

"She's not a threat. I know her. She won't do anything to harm anyone."

"We can't be too sure," Michael says.

He moves closer to Violet and cups her face with his hands. An expression I've never seen on Vi's face appears. Pure hatred.

"I'm disappointed in you Hunter," Michael says. "You had so much potential. You would've made a great eradicator."

"I will never be an educator," I said with venom.

"Whatever," Michael says.

Vi struggles to break out of handcuffs but, they won't budge.

"Your super strength won't help you this time," Michael says. "That metal is the strongest in the world. Even stronger than you can break."

"Justin's going to come looking for me," Vi says.

"By the time he finds you you'll be dead," Michael says, mockingly.

Vi tries to break out of her cuffs one more time but, nothing works.

"I'll be right back," Michael says to Jake.

He goes upstairs I'm assuming to get his murder weapon.

"You don't have to do this Jake," I say. "You know we can't kill her. You don't even know what her plant is."

"That's because she doesn't have a plant," Jake says.

"What?" I say.

"I was going to give up like you but, we realize that Violet doesn't have any plant, and that makes it more dangerous than we thought."

I look at violet who looks as distressed as I am.

"So what if I don't have a plant," she says. "It doesn't make me dangerous."

"Yes, it does," Jake says. "Why don't you tell her why you don't have a plant, Violet?"

Violet looks down. "I don't need to tell you anything."

"Fine, I'll tell her," Jake says. "We looked for the files of the educators who tried to kill the last nymphs and what we found was shocking. To say the least."

He takes a file from a drawer opens it and puts it on my lap.

I read out loud. "The case of the last two nymphs. The first nymph, Fawn was killed without any issues. However, what we thought was the second of the last of the nymphs is not. If she is, she is more powerful than any nymph. Once she saw us kill Fawn, her rage made her more powerful. She absorbed the strength of her flower and turned into a huge beast with wings. She killed my men without hesitation. Ripping their limbs from their bodies like they were nothing but toys. The only reason I got away was because of the caretaker who came and 'rescued' her. She must be found and put away immediately. She is a danger to everyone around. Her emotions are too strong."

I look at Violet with fear in my eyes.

"Hunter I..." Vi says.

"You told us you didn't kill anyone," I say, interrupting her.

"If I told you I killed would you have been okay with it?" she says. "You were already scared of me as it was. I couldn't rescue thinking I was a killer."

"You are a killer," I say, with venom in my voice. Holding back tears.

"Hunter," she says.

"I don't want to hear it," I say. "Maybe the person in the fire was right. Maybe you are too dangerous."

As I say this, I see the color drain from her face. She says nothing.

Michael comes back with a blade.

"We only use this on the most dangerous creatures." He looks at me. "I see you've seen our file. Now you know why she needs to go."

I say nothing.

Vi looks at me with disbelief.

"Now this might hurt just a bit," Michael says, grinning.

He's about to stab Violet with the blade when I scream.

"No!"

"You're right," he says. "Jake should do the honors."

He gives the blade to Jake whose hands are trembling. I look at Vi whose face doesn't tell me anything at all. She doesn't even look at me.

Jake takes the blade and is about to stab her. This time I don't say anything. I realize it's useless.

Just as the blade is about to go through her chest, it disappears.

Violet breaks out of her cuffs with ease and I wonder if it was ever hard for her to break at all.  She disappears and appears in front of Jake with a rope and ties him up.

She appears in front of Michael with the blade and buries it in his leg. He screams. She looks at me with anger. Her eyes glowing violet and she disappears.

"You see what I was saying," Michael says, panting. "Magical creatures let you down."