Gray POV

I sat on the floor of my dorm room with the box of Else's belongings on my lap.

I had pored over these items the last 24 hours, trying to make out anything that could help me understand Else better. So far, I felt like I had come up empty-handed. The items in the box only told me she was a Forest Witch, which I knew little about in general. But also, I did not know what these rings or gem pendants meant. Did they show rank? Were they related to some different magical breed altogether?

The longer I stared at the contents, the more I got frustrated with it.

Just as I was about to call it quits for the day, there was a pounding on my door.

Quickly, I shoved the box under my bed and opened the door to see Birch sweaty and out of breath.

"They are taking things out of Else's apartment," she panted.

"What?" I gasped as her words echoed in my mind.

"You should come," she huffed as she pulled on my hand.

I let her pull me out of my room, only wearing socks. I didn't know why they were removing things from Else's place, but I was going to get to the bottom of it.

In a matter of a few minutes, Birch and I were at Else's door frame watching a handful of people moved her belongings into boxes. As they moved around, paying zero attention to us as they put her personal items away and tapped the boxes shut. It looked as if they were moving her things out of here, like they wanted her out of this school.

The sight caused me to feel sick. I may have not loved Else, but I knew she gave her life to this school and the royal family. She deserved more than this.

"What is going on?" I shouted at them, unable to hold myself any longer.

It was one thing for me to be in there, but something felt very wrong about these strangers in here. They shouldn't have been here. They didn't belong here.

Walking out of the bedroom was Egrick. He wiped his hands on his dress pants and smiled at me as if there was nothing wrong. But there were so many things wrong with this scene.

"We are just looking for answers," Egrick replied calmly.

This didn't look like that. This looked like they were kicking her out.

"What kind of answers are you looking for?" I probed.

"Anything that we can use against Graywick."

"And you think you will find things there?" I snapped.

"Else was a lover to Graywick. There has to be things she left behind that we can use to our advantage."

At that moment, someone dropped one of her coffee cups, shattering it on the ground. I shot him a look, although he paid little attention to me.

"It doesn't look like that to me."

Egrick frowned as he walked out of her apartment, pushing us out with him. He closed the door behind him and sighed. "We are trying to gather any clues to help us."

"We both know Else, Egrick. She would have shared everything she knew about Graywick."

"There could have been things she held from us."

"That's not what you are doing. You are packing up her things in there. Egrick, you know Else. You know the side she was on. If she didn't bring up anything, then it's because she had nothing more. There is nothing here."

Egrick shrugged. "And how are you so sure? It's not like you knew everything about her."

His comment was a slap to the face and caused my blood to boil. "You know what I am saying is true."

Egrick frowned as he looked at Birch. "Birch, why don't you take Gray out of the school grounds for the afternoon."

"I don't want that," I voiced. "I want you to stop. You are treating Else like a criminal. That is not what she is."

"Birch, any help here?" he muttered.

Birch threw a sympathetic glance at me, then nodded. "I have to hunt of herbs anyhow. Let's get out of here, Gray," she said as she pulled on my hand.

I wanted to slap her hand away, but I stopped. There was something in Egrick's eyes that told me I shouldn't try him. "This is wrong. You know it is."

"Gray, come on," Birch muttered as she tugged on my hand one more time.

I glared at Egrick before turning to Birch and following her down the hall.

Anger raged within me as I thought about what they were doing in that room. They were taking Else's stuff away as if she was gone. But she was alive. I knew it and Egrick knew it. Else would be back and she would want her room back.

"Why are they doing that? They are treating her like a traitor. But we all know she devoted her life to the royal family," I hissed as we got out of the school. "They are going around and taking her stuff. I hate it. Like, I don't understand why they are even doing that."

"They are looking for things they can use against your father."

"What would they want from her stuff? There is nothing there."

She stopped with a frown etched across her face. Her normally messy pulled back hair was down around her shoulders, hugging her round face. She normally had such an accepting look on her face, but right now, she looked incredibly serious.

"What about the box you found yesterday?"

The way she mentioned it caused me to feel uneasy. I wasn't sure that box was important to anyone besides Else, but she made me think otherwise.

"You know about that?"

"Of course I know. You carried it into your room after I found you. It looked important."

I nodded as my mind drifted back to the contents of that box. Maybe she had a point. Maybe there were things in there that were important to more than just Else.

"I don't know if anyone else saw you take that box from Else's room. But if they did and Egrick starts asking around, they will come to you. Maybe you should hide it better and don't tell anyone about it."

"Yeah. Ok. I'll do that," I told her as we walked to the protection barrier.

Birch adjusted her gold bracelet and grabbed my hand.

I looked at our intertwined fingers as I rose an eyebrow. No one besides Stella had tried to hold my hand. But the way Birch held it, it was as if she was doing it out of necessity. It differed greatly from Stella, who held it because she wanted to be closer to me.

"Just to step through the barrier," she mumbled, then pulled me across the protection barrier.

As soon as we stepped through, she dropped her hand then looked at me to make sure I was ok.

"Honestly, I wasn't sure if that would work. Nice to know it does."

"Glad I could be your test bunny," I replied.

She smiled, then started walking into the forest. "Do you know where Darkness river is?"

I nodded as I looked toward where it was. That river was some place few people ventured to. It was said before the Darklings made that area their home. But I wasn't sure if that was true since I had been there before and saw no Darklings. I think people just wanted to make up stories when the river was nearly black. It was another proof that people liked to make up stories when something wasn't common.

"Good, you don't mind going there with me, right?"

I shook my head. I have been to a lot scarier places. Darkness River was low on that list.

"Fantastic. There are some mushrooms that grow at the banks. I'll need them for my reserves."

With that, she started walking deeper into the woods.

I followed as she weaved in between trees at a quick pace. She walked with such confidence that made me believe she had taken the path countless times before.

"Many people stay away from the Darkness River. What made you go towards that place?" I asked after minutes ticked by.

She shrugged as she continued forward. "Believe it or not, but you're not the only one that got bullied. The Darkness River was a place that few go. It was a place that I could run away from my problems."

I really thought I was the only one that got bullied here. Everyone hated me and I was so focused on that. Often I didn't see anyone else's problems around me. It made me realize that before the war; I didn't know anyone here. I surely didn't know Birch.

"Why did they bully you?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

She frowned as she thought about it. "For so many reasons. But mainly because I didn't fit the mold of how I should act. People expected one thing from me and when I wasn't what they expected, they turned their back on me."

"I'm sorry. If I knew you before the war, I would have been your friend."

She smiled as the Darkness River came into view. "I know you would have. You have a great soul, Gray. Few are as kind as you are."

I returned the smile, then looked at the murky river water in front of us. It was more brown than I remembered it, but there was something creepy about the river. All the grass around the water was a muted green, as if it was about to die.

"The mushrooms here are the best. They thrive where other things don't," Birch explained as she picked up a mushroom and handed it to me.

I looked at the thin brown and white mushroom that was no larger than my pointer finger. It had creators up and down it as if it was the surface of the moon.

"These are great for healing Darkling poison."

"So this is what Else used in her paste?"

She nodded as she picked up another one and suck it in a small bag she pulled out from her pocket. "Yeah, this is just one of the things she would use. Else's mixture was very unique, though. She perfected hers to help the students heal quickly. I'm just trying to recreate it."

The mention of Else made me think of what Egrick was doing to her apartment. Just when I started to calm down, it lit a spark within me again.

"He's going in and taking everything," I muttered to Birch.

After this move, it made me wonder if I could actually trust Egrick. Else told me I shouldn't, but I didn't see a point in it. But as he searched through her things, it made me wonder if she was right all along. There was something about this that didn't seem right. Else was on our team, but the way he phrased it, it made me think he was starting to think otherwise.

Breaking me from my angry thoughts was when I heard a growl echo through the woods. I knew exactly what beast made that sound and it caused me to stop and glance around. A Darkling was near, and it was only time until it found us.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered to Birch as I pulled out a small knife from my pocket.

"Yeah," she muttered back as she stuck a mushroom in her bag.

"We should hide. I have nothing suitable to kill one," I said as I looked at my small pocket knife. I was not prepared to fight a Darkling with the weapon in my hand.

Through the trees, a Darkling standing on its hind legs came charging for us. It roared as it went onto its four legs to gain speed. Its dark eyes trained on us, ready to kill.

Just before I had the chance to take a swing at it, Birch stepped out in front of me, holding up her hands.

The Darkling growled as it skidded to a stop before it attacked us.

"Stay back," Birch commanded it.

The Darkling howled in anger but did not move towards us.

"Get away!" Birch yelled.

My heart raced in my chest as I watched the two stare at each other. A part of me said I shouldn't stop what was going on. So, I stayed silent.

"Go!" Birch yelled again just as the Darkling howled.

It gave one last roar before hanging its head low and running back into the shadows.

Slowly, Birch turned to me as she showed what was in her hands. "These mushrooms not only heal the poison, but act as deterrents from the Darklings."

"I have never seen them act that way before. I didn't know anything could deter a Darkling."

She smirked. "I think there is a lot that you don't know about the natural world. There are so many things that grow on Churchwell that we can use to our advantage. We just don't."

"I'm shocked."

"There was a reason I survived the last Darkling battle. These things saved my life."

I had never talked to Birch about how she survived the war. All I knew was that she was left nearly unscathed, allowing her to heal the others who were in worse shape. I just thought she hid from the Darklings. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe she fought more than I originally thought. The only reason she stayed safe was because she was smart, smarter than I realized.

"I never realized," I gasped.

She chuckled as she picked up another mushroom. "I'm not surprised. Well, if you want to learn more about the natural world, let me know. I would be happy to share what I know with you."

"I would love that."

She smiled as she placed the mushrooms back in her bag, then looked at the sky. "Great. Anyhow, we should be getting back. I think I've gotten enough mushrooms for now. We don't want to walk these woods in the dark. There are scarier things than Darklings that roam at night."

I nodded as I picked one more mushroom. "Ok. Let's get back."