The Dark Witch: The Nox Haven Series

Chapter 20: Grounded or Imprisoned?

ALIX's POV:

Caddie was starting to worry me. She never left the school or did anything remotely interesting. I had thought she was finally coming out of her shell but now it'd seemed like something was pushing her back in. Normally, I wouldn't be so nosy, but she was my best friend. And her existence had turned into a nightmare of homework and classes.

I had heard about the incident with Mira. Not directly from Caddie, as she never said a word about it, but the whole school already knew. By the time the school day was over, all the students knew what happened. I was fully prepared to congratulate her for finally growing a pair, but then I saw her huddled on her bed with the dead look in her eye.

In the past few months I had seen Caddie at some low points, but I had never seen her so drained of life. When she first came to Nox Haven, she had that special gleam in her eye like there was a secret part of her that she kept hidden from everyone else. I had seen that part, and I was dying for it to come back.

"I'm going out," I said simply, slipping on my platform boots.

She looked over at me with mild curiosity before returning to her studies.

"Okay."

That was all she said. Normally, we would banter over something stupid and then I'd bring her with me, but not anymore. If she could, she'd stay inside of our dorm for the rest of the year. It broke my heart that I couldn't convince her to come. I had tried that before, and she only seemed to get worse. I'm no saint, but I don't particularly like peering into the future of others.

The future is always changing and it's never set in stone. So it's a hackle to keep up with it. But I have to look into Caddie's future constantly; I'm her protector. It's literally my job to be over-protective. I knew about her choice to save Dmitri, I also knew that this selfless act was going to take more from her than she bargained for. Starting with her freedom.

I left without another word. The atmosphere seemed to shift in the hallway. I could no longer feel Caddie's black cloud, but that didn't lessen my concern. I waved to a few of the other girls and made my way to the bottom of the stairs. My brother was already waiting for me.

"Do you have any concept of time, woman?" Jaxon asked checking his watch, "You said you would be ready ten minutes ago!"

I fluffed my red mane and smoothed my leather collar, "You have to understand that when a girl says she'll be done at a certain time, it's really an estimation. You have to give her at least a fifteen minute buffer time."

He tried to scowl but his smile shined through the cracks.

"What you actually mean is that you're worried about Caddie."

My thoughts always give too much away. Well two could play the invasion of privacy game.

My lips curled into coy smile, "Speaking of concern for girls, you should be worried about Bethany Wilde."

His smiled faltered, he looked around to see if anyone was watching and then he lowered his voice.

"What do you mean?"

I slipped my Maui Jim sunglasses, and walked out of the school lugging, my poor, naive brother with me.

"Let's just say you shouldn't have loved her and than left her so quickly. The stupid girl thought it meant more to you," I said, stepping into the private car.

Shame flooded his face as he groaned. My sweet, angelic brother had a lengthy list of girls he had screwed and left before the crack of dawn. It's a piggish habit he has, but it was my brother I couldn't hold him accountable for all of those shattered hearts. This is the boy I raced for the Christmas presents and spent some of my most precious memories with. In my eyes, it was never his fault.