Hunted

Forty-Six: Manifestations of Guilt

Charlotte held her eyes tightly shut, waiting for the pain as the bullets struck her body, carving paths through her and stealing her life, but none came. Only rushing air and a sense of falling consumed her, making her head spin and her stomach somersault. She could still feel the soft material of James' shirt in her grasp, the sweat clinging to his chest, brushing against her knuckles. She was aware of his strong arms wrapped tightly around her, protecting her, her forehead resting against his shoulder.

If these were to be her last moments she would take them gladly. She thought she would only be aware of pain and blood, not of James' loving touch, their last embrace.

And then it all stopped, the spinning, the nausea, the cold, rushing air. Only James was left.

She chanced opening her eyes, her hands quaking, her bottom lip trembling. The heat and blinding sun had vanished giving way to the cool air and sterile lights of the new school.

Charlotte's heart was pounding, sweat trickling down her skin as she somehow came to the realisation that she was still alive and unharmed.

"Are you okay?" James breathed, into her hair. Charlotte spread her fingers across his chest absentmindedly, relishing in the solid beating of his heart and the rise and fall of his torso with each breath.

"Yeah, you?" she whispered, glancing up at his green eyes and suddenly withdrawing her hand.

"Well aren't you two a sight for sore eyes?"

Charlotte turned around, clutching her bound hands to her chest and trying to hold her balance. "Ian," she grinned, as he stepped towards her, producing a blade from his inside pocket and slicing through the ropes around her wrists and ankles. Charlotte rubbed them tenderly before throwing her arms around her friend's shoulders and crushing him in a bear hug.

"Talk about last second, O'Connell," James grumbled, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his shirt.

"Hey, I left the moment the signal went up, Alexander," Ian said, refusing to let Charlotte out of his grasp. "Plus it seemed unfair to completely destroy Elmhirst's show. He seemed to have put a lot of thought into it".

James scowled and rolled his eyes. "Thanks," he finally muttered begrudgingly, leaning against the wall with a sigh of relief. "Where's Kiya?" he continued. Charlotte stepped back from Ian, though she kept her arm tightly around his waist, fearing he wasn't quite real.

"I'm up here," came a call from above. It took a few moments before Annakiya appeared at the bottom of the stairs, grinning widely.

"Alexander," she breathed, rushing over and crushing James.

"What the hell happened to you, Ki?" he asked, pushing back and examining her legs and arms.

"Urgh, mosquitoes," she said shaking her head. "Don't worry about it".

"At least they're fed for the next year," Ian added. "We were wondering if they would become super-mosquitoes after feasting on Annakiya," he grinned, Annakiya laughed softly, before noticing Charlotte.

"Well Owens," she nodded, with a wary smile. "Good to have you back. You caused quite a fuss when you left".

Charlotte flushed, pursing her lips. "He caused the fuss," she said not looking at James. "I just got blamed for it".

"Ooh, I see we're having a little lovers' spat. How interesting?" Ian teased, rubbing his hands together. "But honestly, James we have work to do, if we don't all want to die horrible, horrible deaths," Ian said nonchalantly, indicating the door by his head.