All's Fair in Love and War

Chapter 8 Two Steps Forward

Almost an entire week followed before Erik finally acted on Charles's advice.

In that period, it became clear to everyone else in the mansion that there was something very wrong with Evie. Her condition was deteriorating, and she had started leaving her room less and less, often leaving meals untouched no matter how many times Raven and Lisa tried to coax her to eat - to do something.

She'd started missing out on the morning workouts, although no-one commented. Evie hadn't really looked like she could go through with it anyway and they all thought to themselves that it was probably better she didn't show up of her own accord. The blonde young woman was starting to look too thin and far too pale, while the bags under her eyes got darker as the days went on.

And these changes were not clearer to anyone more than they were to Erik.

Given that Evie seemed to take painstaking care not to cross paths with him and that Erik himself had been avoiding her since 'the accident', he rarely saw her. But because he saw her only once every few days, he could see the differences in her better than the others.

The first time he'd seen her – a day after the incident - she looked like a wreck with her puffy, red eyes and flushed cheeks, clearly having cried herself out. They'd accidentally spotted each other across the hallway, and both had swerved and gone in the opposite direction without a word, Erik still too sore and Evie too guilty.

The second time he'd caught a glimpse of her, about three days later, Evie was looking pale and worn. The bags under her eyes were clearer than before, and a deep shade of purple... and her eyes were blue once more.

The last time he saw her before he finally decided, albeit a little grudgingly, to do as Charles asked, Erik had been able to tell instantly that Evie had lost weight - and she hadn't exactly been that big to start with, having had a hard time making ends meet at her previous job. She had been gaining some weight after arriving at Charles's mansion; but it seemed she'd lost it all again.

Her face was also looking worryingly sickly, the dark circles under Evie's eyes all the more prominent for the colourlessness of her skin. Erik saw Charles's meaningful look as the telepath looked between Evie and himself pointedly, but it was Lisa's irate expression and Raven's glance that finally made him cave. The taller blonde's eyes had been troubled and a little accusatory while Lisa had outright refused to speak to him at all since Evie withdrew into herself, and it made Erik bristle. Did they think this was his fault?

Determined to at least set that record straight with Evie if nothing else, Erik strode down towards the hallway where the women slept later that night. It was on the other side of the house from the guys, probably to keep the younger men – aka Sean – from getting any ideas, and Erik hadn't ever been down there before so he had no idea which rooms the women were actually in.

But Erik wasn't too concerned as he felt around for sources of metal in the hallway, and easily detected Raven's room as he felt the piles of necklaces and bracelets in the young woman's room. He'd heard the women talking once before, and Raven had said Evie was in the room across from hers.

So, using that as his guide, Erik turned to the door opposite Raven's room, lifting his hand to knock... before he paused.

Erik frowned as he felt something... off, something wrong from inside Evie's room. In the centre of the room, where he should feel the metal screws and springs from the bedframe, he felt... nothing. It was as though the entire middle section of Evie's room didn't exist.

"Evie?" Erik called cautiously, and when there was no reply he pushed open the bedroom door, noting with a frown that it wasn't locked. Not that she necessarily had to lock her door, but...