Page 42 of Fractured Fate

“Yeah. Decapitation, wood through the heart, and even fire would kill anyone, not just our kind.”

“I know that now.”

Seth nodded. “We have a higher survival rate because our healing allows things that can slowly kill you to heal before they have the chance to take us.” He leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of him with his elbows resting on his spread knees. “And while it’s rare to survive a gunshot wound, our healing is no match for what Aiden went through. I’m just wondering if there isn’t some lasting effect associated with his dying and resurrection.”

“I’ve tried to research it,” Mera said. “But I’ve found no records. I can’t talk about it with the leaders of the department without raising unnecessary questions and bringing more scrutiny on Blaire.”

None of them had the answers. Aiden doubted the medical staff at the academy would know either. None of them were prepared to face the new reality they found themselves in.

They could only rely on facts.

A rogue shot him. He died. Ancient magic housed inside Blaire brought him back to life.

Beyond those facts, everything remained speculation.

If he experienced detrimental aftereffects, did it mean he would die sooner than he was meant to? He wasn’t immortal, but if he took care of himself, he had hundreds of years left. His chest seized, and he rubbed roughly at his sternum. Panic had been a constant companion since their return from Europe.

“Speaking of Kai, where is he?”

Mera looked over at Blaire. “Meeting with a professor about next year. I need to return to California for a brief internship, which acts as part of my accelerated learning, but since we can’t be separated, he will have to work out a virtual learning program. If approved, we leave this summer and won’t return for a year—at minimum.”

He remembered Kai telling him and Lukas something about missing a year of school, but he didn’t realize it would be so soon.

When Professor Velastra took over as headmistress a few months ago, she implemented a change to the structure of classes—much to everyone’s relief. Blackthorn Academy students now received a longer summer break from mid-June through end of July, instead of only one month in July. It was only two additional weeks, but next summer it would be a full two months. She hadn’t been able to adjust the exam schedules this year in time to grant anything more. The new change allowed students to catch up if they fell behind so they didn’t fail, and it gave a proper break to those who needed it.

The door to his dorm room swung open and Riley rushed in, carrying a blood packet. She pushed Seth out of the way, forcing him to the foot of the bed while she dropped down beside Aiden.

“Here. Drink,” she ordered, holding out the packet.

When he looked up at her pale blue eyes, the slightest shimmer reflected the light from his desk lamp. Red rimmed her lashes. She was worried about him.

Choosing not to argue, he sat up and took the packet. Even if it made him sick, he’d feed to rid his sister of her pain.

He never again wanted to see the look of anguish he saw when he told her he loved her right before being shot in the head. The image remained etched in his retinas. He couldn’t erase the look of horror on her face from his mind; couldn’t stop hearing her cries. It played on repeat in his dreams nightly.

The thick liquid soothed the hunger he’d felt all day, but he feared the nausea that usually accompanied his headache. He didn’t want to vomit.

“I don’t like this,” Riley said.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Seth thinks it might be from when he got shot.”

Riley whipped her head around to look at Blaire. “How? You healed him.”

“But what if it didn’t get everything? I don’t know how this magic stuff works. I don’t even remember what happened.”

From the way they told him it went down, Blaire’s entire eyes glowed gold, and he and she were both enveloped in gold and red magic. That when he took the first breath, coming back to life, she collapsed. She had her own out-of-body experience, it seemed—or her body acted on autopilot.

“So what can we do? How can we check?”

Seth clasped Riley’s hand in his. “He said he’ll go to the nurse if it doesn’t improve.”

“All we can really do is wait to see if the blood helps,” Mera added, her eyes on Riley.

“My headache is easing,” he said, hoping to reassure Riley. “I think the low lighting and finally putting something of substance besides sports drinks in my body is helping.”

The blood had helped. Only halfway through the packet, he felt stronger and less floaty. No headache, no nausea. Emboldened, he sucked down the rest.