Salem Falls

Harry knew how good Alexa was at reading people, so he knew that the moment he saw her she’d know something was up. She was just good that way, and it was like no matter what he did there would be no way to mask it from her. She was going to pester him with questions until he wanted to explode, but he had to hold out.

The truth was he was worried sick about what was going on in the Sixth Circle. After he and Zayn had talked about what was going on, it was all he could think about. He worried that something bad was going to happen to Alexa, just like Zayn worried that something bad would happen to Maggie. It was natural to worry, but it wasn’t natural to not do something about it, which was exactly what he was doing.

Instead of manning up and doing what Zayn had done, he was pretending that nothing was happening. He was pretending that everything was alright, because he’d never been the one to take action when things were getting bad. It just wasn’t in his nature.

So instead of biting the bullet and cutting things off with Alexa, he was meeting her in the forest to help her practice again. He knew from his conversation with Zayn that the forest was one of the most dangerous places to be at that moment, but he couldn’t tell that to Alexa and he couldn’t ask her to meet him anywhere else. Then she would really know something was up.

“You’re going to be so proud of me,” Alexa said the second Harry walked into the clearing. He couldn’t help but chuckle at her, because she had the widest grin on her face.

As he expected, just looking at her made all his worries about the Sixth Circle go away.

“Oh, will I?” He challenged, raising his eyebrows at her.

She countered with a nod, while she folded her arms across her chest. Her eyes fell shut, and Harry watched as she stuck out her tongue in concentration. He had no clue what she was doing or what she was up to, but he was more than interested in finding out.

Before Harry knew what was happening, a giant gust of wind blew around him, jolting him forward. He stumbled a bit, but still landed on his feet, and smiled at Alexa. It was the strongest magic she had ever done, and even though it wasn’t as strong as the magic the coven members could do, it was still pretty brilliant. He didn’t want to let her know that though, so he turned his smile into a smirk.

“I’ve seen better,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

He could tell by the look in her eyes that she wanted to slap the smirk right off his face, but she simply pursed her lips at him, as she cocked her head to the side.

“You won’t be saying that when I’ve got enough strength to knock you straight to the ground.”

Harry chuckled. “You’re probably right.”

He wanted her to be strong – as strong as possible, really – because then she might have a fighting chance against whomever it was that was practicing dark magic. He didn’t know for sure if Alexa had a target on her back, but he had to assume that she did, simply because her family used to be coven members themselves.

Of course, Alexa noticed Harry’s wandering mind and she questioned him about it immediately.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?” she asked, taking a few slow steps forward.

He shook his head in attempt to get her to back off. “Nothing, really.”

“It doesn’t look like nothing. It looks like a whole lot of something, actually.”

Her lips were pursed, with her arms folded across her chest, and she just looked so sure of herself that Harry knew it was going to be next to impossible to get rid of her. He was running out of time and options, because Alexa was getting closer with every step. When she was directly in front of him, looking him eye-to-eye, Harry knew it was time for him to speak. He couldn’t avoid it anymore.

He couldn’t tell her the truth, either, so he made something up. It was the first thing that popped into his head, but the moment it left his lips he wondered if it was the wrong sort of something.

He sighed, shaking his head. “Just girl troubles is all.”

Alexa opened her mouth wide, sucking in a deep breath, while she nodded her head. After a second, she closer her lips, then opened them to speak.

“I see,” she said, with her eyebrows raised up at him.

What exactly did she see, Harry wondered. Because Merlin knew he didn’t see it himself. It was an outright lie, mostly. Unless the girl he was referring to was Alexa herself. He couldn’t question her though, so he simply nodded his head.

“You see.”

She gave a nervous chuckle then took a small step away from him. There was a long pause before Alexa spoke again, holding out her arms as she did so.

“Well, let’s get on with it then. Teach me something.”

Harry shot her a small smile the nodded his head softly. It took a second for him to gather his thoughts again, but he was ready to start the next lesson just moments later.

He tried his best to focus on the progress Alexa was making, but there was always something else itching at the back of his overworked mind.