Page 192 of Fractured Fate

“The Oracle didn’t tell Charlotte when they met,” Aiden said. “Why did she tell you?”

“The Celestial Conclave gave her more information since then. The magic that saved your life left a piece of itself inside of you. That spark of magic called to the dormant magic in Charlotte. It was supposed to happen this way.”

“What do you mean?” Riley asked.

“Aiden’s death was part of the prophecy, but what wasn’t said—but was still meant to happen—was if my heart opened enough to save him, then it would facilitate Charlotte’s awakening. She was meant to awaken before the other humans. So even if I chose against it, she would be with us. My magic reverberating through Aiden awakened Charlotte.”

Dominic let out a low whistle.

“Chose what?” Charlotte asked. “What choice?”

Lukas looked at Charlotte. “If Blaire doesn’t become a Vasirian, the magic won’t come back. Our kind then becomes kind of…”

“Doomed?” Riley finished for him, and Lukas winced.

“Why don’t you want to become one?”

Blaire’s gaze shifted to Noah with apprehension. “I do, but the Oracle told us it isn’t safe to do it yet. With the threat of the rogues, Lukas can’t safely turn me. I’ll be too vulnerable during the transition. I used to not know if I wanted to do it, but I do now.”

His hands went up in a sign of surrender. “Hey now. Now that I know the truth, I don’t get why the others would be against it. At least, the ones who know. I know the gang I ran with doesn’t know this. I fully support you joining us.”

“Dominic, can you contact one of the members of the Blackthorn Clan to have the Oracle reach out to me? I would like to speak to her about this new information to see if it holds any bearing on the prophecies she’s already laid out for us. I want to know if there is any additional information we can glean about the rogues’ actions.”

He nodded, looking at the headmistress. “I’ll get on that after this meeting. Nothing new has come forward so far about who’s controlling their movements. Adrian has tried to get inside information with no luck. The groups are way too organized across multiple countries to not have someone in a position of power running them.”

Noah scoffed, drawing everyone’s attention. “Oh, there is absolutely someone above the rogues. I’ve never seen them, but James always reported to someone. When Brent talked with him on speaker phone, James seemed afraid whenever they talked about making his reports.”

“Mr. Black, I want you to meet with our security team after this and give them all the information you know about the members of the gangs that operate in this region.”

He sat up and put his arms on the table. “Sure, but I gotta warn you…” He tapped his fingers a couple times. “There are several in the area. I only really know ours—well, my former one.” He gave a shake of his head, his chin-length waves brushing his cheeks.

“Several?”

He nodded at Riley.

“That’s outrageous,” the headmistress said. “How have we been able to remain in the dark about this? The Blackthorn schools and local associations keep us well aware of what is happening in the region concerning everything in the human world. We have to know to keep our schools protected.”

“Hey, I’m not lying.”

“We don’t think you’re lying,” Dominic said, giving Noah a sympathetic look. “We’re concerned. Only a couple of months ago, we believed there weren’t any organized rogue cells in the States.”

“How wrong we were,” the headmistress said, lowering herself into the seat.

40

BREAKING POINT

Aiden squeezed Charlotte’s hand before unlocking the door to their dorm room. The meeting with the headmistress took a turn he didn’t expect when she brought Noah into the room. Allowing him to join the school hadn’t settled well. Aiden couldn’t decide if he trusted Noah or not.

The guy seemed sincere, but too many times people his friends thought they could trust had proved them wrong.

“I’ll be out in a sec,” she said after slipping her shoes off, disappearing into the ensuite while he went to his bedside table to put his phone down.

Knowing Charlotte favored a neat living space, he picked up his discarded T-shirt and placed it on the bed, freezing when a blood-curdling scream broke the silence.

Charging into the bathroom, he jerked to a stop to avoid running into Charlotte. She stood in front of their smashed mirror. Shattered glass littered the counter’s surface and the floor. Among the shards were dead pink roses and petals everywhere.

Her hand pressed to her forehead, and she spoke with a fearful voice. “Why is he doing this if the stalker is dead? What does he want?”