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108- Horror and helping
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“When did you learn all this?” I ask, baffled. Megan laughs.
“It’s something my mum used to tell me as a kid. When we were little it was unclear if it would be me or Bellamy that came out as more dominant and became the Alpha. We are twins after all. It wasn’t until our teenage years that it became clear. So we were both taught as if we might end up in charge one day.” She pauses.“Honestly, I’m glad it’s not me. Bellamy likes running things, I don’t mind as much. Which is probably why things turned out this way.” I tilt my head in question.“You didn’t know as children?” I ask. She nods firmly.“Yeah, most Shifter children grow into their positions in the hierarchy. There’s a whole nature bs nurture debate, how much of it is genetic and how much depends on who raised them. Bellamy and I are dominant, but is it because we have Alpha parents or because we were RAISED by Alpha parents. It’s hard to say. Sometimes a shift in personality causes someone to become more orRelated chapters
Strings of Fate 109- Real and repeating
I dream about the little girl again. How did I forget about her? It’s not the same dream although it is definitely the same girl. Her white-blonde shoulder length hair which was so tidy last time is unkempt and looks like it could use a good wash and brush. Her eyes are still rimmed in red, but she’s not crying anymore. She’s…. Staring. Her eyes are glazed over and looking off in space with a vacant expression. It’s somehow even worse than the tears. It’s almost like she’s not in there anymore. Like a little broken doll in flannel pyjamas. Her body is limp, sitting on the floor with her legs out to the side and shoulders drooping. The only proper sign of emotion that I can identify are the tight fists at her sides, squeezed so tight that her knuckles have turned white. I want to step towards her, pick her up off the floor, hold her, anything to return some life to her face, but I can’t. In this dream, I don’t seem to have a body or any kind of form. It’s like I’m stuck watching thro
Strings of Fate 110- Early and eating
My half of the closet has at least twice as much in it as it did yesterday morning. Which still isn’t that much since most of my things are at my place, but still. Did Bellamy put some of his stuff over here too? I sort through and nope. Every single additional item is in my size. Hoodies, a dress, a couple pairs of shorts. Each item is something I would have picked for myself. Each item is hanging there, perfectly new looking but with no tags. Bellamy must have gotten more than I thought when we went shopping. I didn’t see any of this stuff get purchased. My eyes narrow. How much did he spend? I have clothes already, I didn’t need new ones. Although some of the items DO look really comfortable. Inspiration strikes and I check the little bit that’s over by the dresser. Sure enough, there are a collection of tags that have been cut off the new items. I check the price of a few items but then I have to stop because I’m starting to feel nauseous. As someone who buys most of my clothes
Strings of Fate 111- Recognition and re-evaluation
When we finish eating, Aaron, Darrien and Bellamy clean up. Megan and I try to help but the guys refuse and insist that we sit and relax.“You cooked, we clean.” Bellamy insists. Well, far be it from me to argue if a handsome group of guys wants to clean up while we sit and chill. Still, by the time they finish, I’m getting antsy. I want to hear what Aaron found out. Megan and Darrien have no idea what the meeting is for so Bellamy gives them a quick explanation. They seem a little confused at my extreme interest, but neither of them question my desire to help, which I appreciate. It suddenly occurs to me that Aaron, AARON is going to give a report. A verbal report. He is going to TELL us what happened? That’s insane. Surely he will have to speak more than a single sentence now! My plans are ruined when he pulls out a neatly folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket and hands it to me. I smooth it out to find… he TYPED out his report. I whirl to face him. “You’re doing t
Strings of Fate 112- Lockdown and loading
We stare at each other for a minute until I am distracted by Megan giggling. I turn to her, a question on my face and she shrugs. “Ry you’re on total lockdown. Watching you argue with him is kind of hilarious. Mostly because no one else does so he has no idea how to deal with it.” She laughs again and Bellamy turns on her. “I wouldn’t laugh too soon, Megan Kane. You’re also going on lockdown. We don’t know who is going after Ry or why which means we can’t rule out the possibility that they want you too. You’ve been a harder target to access so it’s no surprise if we haven’t noticed before now. You’ll need to do your lectures online and discuss online options for any classes you need to do in person. Worst case you can repeat a few subjects if needed.” Megan begins to object but unlike me, Bellamy can silence her with a glare. She holds his gaze and resists for a full minute before dropping her eyes to the floor and sighing. “Yes, fine. I’ll see what I can do.” She gru
Strings of Fate 113- Mugs and marshmallows
There’s a moment where I hold my breath and wait. It looks a little like Maggie is struggling with something. Then before I can so much as suggest marshmallows, Maggie throws herself at me. For half a second I think she is actually furious and trying to attack me, but instead she wraps her arms around me in the tightest bear hug a tiny old woman can give. She’s shaking and… is she crying? Oh no, what happened? What should I do? After a painfully long minute, I speak.“Maggie? What’s wrong? Has something happened? Is Logan okay?” I ask. She freezes and releases me so suddenly that I stumble back a little. “IS SOMETHING WRONG? YOU INSENSITIVE BRAT! I’VE BEEN OUT OF MY MIND WITH WORRY ABOUT YOU!” Maggie reaches and gently clips me over the head in a reproving manner. She then crosses her arms over her chest again.“First you get attacked by shady guys while with your gentleman friend, then you suddenly have bodyguards, next came a fancy as hell, mind my language, security
Strings of Fate 114- Charms and check-ins
Logan looks contemplative as he thinks it through.“Would Darrien be there?” He demands. I shrug.“Sure, we could invite him too.” I agree.“What about Aaron and Bellamy?” He continues. Megan decides to step in. “We can invite anyone you want Logan. We could have a big dinner party and you could explore the whole Shifter compound if you want.” She tells him. His eyes open wide.“Really!?” He says excitedly. Megan nods.“Of course, Ryann is really important to us, you know, so all her good friends are important to us too.” She tells him. He bounces excitedly in place. “Oh, wait, I just remembered something!” he blurts out. He yanks his hands from mine and kneels on the floor by his backpack. He spends a minute digging through it before dumping the contents out on the floor in frustration. After a minute of frantic searching where several pens, a half-eaten sandwich and what I’m pretty sure is a bouncy ball scatter over the floor, he jumps to his feet, wa
Strings of Fate 115- Cards and concentration
As promised, it doesn’t take long for Alex to arrive and the pizza arrives soon afterwards. Actually, Megan went all out with ordering a variety of pizzas as well as drinks, garlic bread and even some kind of spicy chicken side that the pizza place was apparently offering as part of a deal. We lay out all the food on the coffee table and sit around in the living room to eat. Hmmm, with the addition of Alex, there are now twice as many guys here as there are girls. This seems kind of unbalanced. “You know, this lunch is very guy-heavy. Why don’t we have more girls to invite?” I wonder aloud. Megan jumps into the conversation immediately.“THANKYOU I’ve said it before. I’m always so outnumbered. I always thought it was because Bels doesn’t love inviting over heaps of girls since that time one of them tried to sneak upstairs to look at his room.” I raise an eyebrow.“Uh, WHAT?” I ask in horror. Megan shrugs. “She wanted to move up the hierarchy a bit, she thought that
Strings of Fate 116- Meeting and meaning
I watch as the girl struggles, her wrists are restrained with a zip tie and there’s silver tape over her mouth. There are tears running down her face and I can see strands of hair stuck in the tape that are definitely going to hurt when it’s removed. I just don’t understand. Why am I dreaming about this girl, and what’s the point if I can’t see anything useful? Is it even real? I know I dreamed of her once before I heard about the kidnapping, but isn’t it possible it was just a bad dream that's stuck in my head now? I almost hope it is because the look of fear in this girl’s eyes is dreadful. Something catches her attention. I wish I could see or hear anything but all I can do is watch her silent figure. She shrinks back for a second then I see her steel herself. She sits up as best as she can with her wrists tied and glares defiantly at whoever she is interacting with. I see her shake her head. A moment later she tumbles backwards and clutches her hands to her cheek. Did someone ju
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Strings of Fate 203- Beads and bonding
“Well, I think that it might actually be nice having an extra person around the house. Extra security and company. Besides, you spend most of your time here anyway. Might as well save you the commute. That is, as long as no one else has any objection?” I say pointedly looking at Megan. Sure, Bellamy could object but I already know that he won’t. Megan briefly makes eye contact with me, gives a slight nod, then finds something to stare at on the ceiling. She is clearly trying to look like she doesn’t care but she is blushing bright red. True to form, Darrien is watching her closely trying to work out how she really feels about my suggestion. Realising that she isn’t going to provide any input, he decides to push it a little. “Megan? I would like to hear your opinion. I am still courting you and I don’t want to screw anything up by making a decision like this without your input.” Darrien says clearly. His voice is mostly calm with just the slightest hint of anxiety as he monitors her r
Strings of Fate 202- Calories and clothing
I wake up late in the morning, it might even be early afternoon. I wriggle around a little which prompts Bellamy to do the same, he is apparently already awake. He raises a finger to his lips to shush me before I speak and I can see why. Kiara is still sleeping, lying in the bed between us. She is still loosely holding onto my arm, even in sleep. I slowly disentangle myself from her light grip and slide out of bed. Bellamy follows, clearly doing his best not to jostle her and wake her up. She definitely needs the sleep. She was restless for a good part of the night and almost definitely was having nightmares, but she seems like she’s sleeping soundly now. My own sleep was blissfully quiet. No visions or anything thank goodness. I’m looking forward to having several weeks of steady sleep and so help me if anything tragic or dramatic happens for the next few weeks then whoever is responsible should probably be terrified of me. We step into the hallway to talk without disturbing Kiara.
Strings of Fate 201- Touch and trust
I cross my arms in irritation. “Kiara would never! How would she even do that? She’s just a kid!” I object. Dr Dae rolls her eyes at me.“Oh calm yourself girl. I’m not saying she chose to murder anyone. I assume that she was forced to comply somehow. You’ll have to ask the girl when she’s ready to talk. As for the how, the child is a Reaper.” She says it as if it’s obvious but it really isn’t. I know that Reapers exist, but they’re the kind of Magic that most people have heard of but no one has ever met. I suppose Kiara’s dad must have been a Reaper too and why the MRO was so secretive about her markings. Most people are kind of scared of Reapers, they’re kind of the boogeymen of our society. Mostly because they can kill on a whim. All it takes is one touch and they can free your soul from your body. Obviously with no soul you die, and I guess your soul moves on to wherever souls go when you pass on. I suppose that a Reaper would make sense for the representative of Atropos. Her add
Strings of Fate 200- Healing and hunger
Since Kiara probably isn’t up to braving the stairs and she really doesn’t want to be carried around everywhere, we decide to ask Dr Dae to come up to the bedroom. It’s actually kind of weird having so many people in here. Bellamy is a fairly private person, he doesn’t generally invite people to hang out in his… our room. Dr Dae shuffles in clutching her usual bag. I’m surprised that Bellamy isn’t carrying it for her because it looks kind of heavy, but I suspect that she wouldn’t hand it over anyway. I immediately greet her.“Thank you so much for your help. Your contact has become a great friend and she’s a huge part of the reason we were able to find Kiara here.” I nudge Kiara gently with my elbow and give her a little smile. She looks very small and delicate in the oversized, mismatched clothes with her hair dripping down her shoulders. She’s so pale that the bruises on her skin stand out and look even worse than they actually are. Dr Dae gives me a half nod of acknowledgement then
Strings of Fate 199- Clean and covered
We all turn to face Alex in confusion. I glance up at Bellamy to see if he has any idea what’s going on but he looks just as lost as the rest of us. I continue to stroke Kiara’s hair trying to keep her calm. “Explain.” Bellamy says firmly. Alex flushes red under the attention of everyone in the room. “Uh, well. I assisted Miss Gale in updating her registration with the MRO, and uh, since her position is one of… well almost authority, over the fate’s representatives the updated registration reflects this. So she should be able to make decisions about Kiara’s care like an Alpha would for their Shifters or like a Coven leader would for their Witches. Admittedly it’s a very small group of Magics, but according to the Magic Registration Office, she is in charge of it.” He explains, his voice starts off weak but gets stronger as he becomes more confident in what he’s saying. The police seem a little stunned but I guess Alex isn’t technically wrong. If Kiara were a Shifter, her Alpha would
Strings of Fate 198- Stolen and sure
When we pull up to the house, there’s a police car waiting. There are two cops standing by it, one looks bored and irritated and the other has a fake ‘customer service’ type smile plastered on his face that I know well from experience. Yeah neither of these guys want to be here. They’re probably pissed that we made them come down here. Not to mention uncomfortable being in the Shifter compound. Non-Shifters aren’t invited here often, although I suppose that isn’t exactly true anymore with all our new friends stopping by regularly. Standing beside them looking awkward and uncomfortable is Alex. I bet they’ve been taking their impatience out on him. I narrow my eyes at them and prepare myself. One snotty comment and I am going to tear into them, it’s been a long night. Bellamy parks the car and I wait for him to get out. He speaks with the police briefly and Alex escorts them inside the house. Bellamy returns and opens the door next to Kiara. “Hey, can I help you get inside? The police
Strings of Fate 197- Leaving and leaning
As we step outside, I’m confused to find that I actually have no idea where we are. I really was just running and following the tracking spell. I don’t know how far I ran. It’s a good thing the others are here to bring back the cars because I would be wandering all night trying to find my way back. I’m also fairly sure that I left my phone in the car when I jumped out in a hurry. Kiara clutches my hand tightly as the cars pull up on the street in front of us. “Megan, Darrien. You stay here and speak to the police when they arrive. Direct further questions to me. Shaun, you stay with them too.” Bellamy directs as Shaun hops out the car. At Megan’s insistence he stays a good couple of metres away from us.“Yes Alpha Kane.” He responds cheerfully. Aaron and Rio also climb out of the vehicles. Rio stops to chat with one of the other Shifters whose name I still don’t know. Aaron immediately approaches me. Actually a better way to phrase it is that he storms over. He looks almost angry. Or
Strings of Fate 196- Rescue and retreat
Darrien is the closest to her and he sees her at the same time I do. He takes a step towards her and she whimpers in fear. He freezes and backs away slowly, trying not to startle her. I gesture for everyone else to stay back and take a few steps closer. I stop a good metre away from the little table and then slowly lower myself to the floor. Kneeling down so that I can see her properly. Kiara is covered in soot and I can see little trails of tears smudging around on her face. She is still crying and whimpering. I am careful to keep my voice gentle and calm. “Kiara?” I call her name. She doesn’t answer or look up, but her whimpering quiets a little and I can see her tensing up like she’s listening carefully. “Kiara sweetheart. You’re safe now. You can come out. We can get some something to eat, you can have a nice bath and some clean clothes. How does that sound?” I try to sound soothing. Her crying stops and she looks up at me with wide, teary, red-rimmed eyes. She doesn’t
Strings of Fate 195- Smoke and smothering
Look, I’m no fighter and the Shifters move way faster than I can even properly process in this stressful situation. I watched the Shifter woman leap towards the redhead (I have got to learn these people’s names!) and the next thing I know, both women are screaming and the living room is lit up with blue flames that are steadily growing. I watch as Shaun and Darrien leap at the Shifter woman and help her tear off her burning shirt. Bellamy takes the chance to shift and a few moments later his large black cat form is launching towards the Witch in an attempt to knock her down. He pulls back at the last second as flames light up in front of him, spreading and essentially splitting the room in half with us on one side and the Witch on the other. She’s completely trapped, both by us and the fire which is steadily going out of control. There is smoke in the air making it hard to see what’s going on and the smoke in the air is making it difficult to breathe. My throat is so dry and my lung
