The Incorruptible Bond

Chapter 20

Ember's father hadn't gotten home until late the previous afternoon. If he even is your father, she said to herself. Em was about to shake away the thoughts, but she found she couldn't. She was too tired of fighting the ideas, she realized, so she slowly let them consume her.

She hadn't even recognized herself getting ready, or eating breakfast, or loading into the car to go to school. Suddenly, Ember found herself in her normal first period room, seated next to her white-haired friend (whom she felt better in the presence of, but not completely okay). Surprisingly, the bell had yet to ring.

A strangled noise could be heard and Ember was shocked to realize it was her that had made it.

"What's wrong?" Aurora asked, concern slipping into her normally calm voice.

"What if-" her voice broke. She shook her head, as if to clear away the suffocating blanket that surrounded her, and tried again. "What if they were telling the truth? Did you ever entertain that idea?"

"So what?" Aurora made sure to lower her volume. "Say we really are twins, say we really are the children of those two werewolf people. It wouldn't change anything, would it?"

Ember didn't know who Aurora was trying to convince: Ember, or herself? And what did Ember believe? Would it change anything?

"Ember, there's something I need to tell you." Aurora took a cautious look around the classroom and added, "After school though."

The rest of Tuesday was torturous. Ember could hardly focus in class. She wasn't even able to join her friends in any carefree chatter. At lunch, she sat alone at an available table she found. The thoughts continued to plague her. Everything that her dad had told her was either a lie, or a façade created so that she would never find her sister or her actual parents.

That was why he never liked the topic of her mom. He couldn't say what had happened to cause her to pass away or leave because there wasn't anything. All the years she had thought that maybe one day she would find her mom, or gain some peace about the truth, were wasted. Ember had finally learned the truth (well, what she was slowly accepting to be the truth) and it was worse than she could ever have imagined.

Ember was still in a trance when the final bell rang and Aurora snapped her fingers in her face. "Hey, Em? You in there?"

Ember blinked. "Barely." The two girls found the same classroom they had used the day before. After checking to make sure it was empty again, they opened the door and were entering when they heard an obnoxious, "Wait up, snowflake!"

Both girls groaned.

"I'm not in the mood today, boy," Ember said in an annoyed tone.

"I take offense to that, only because I am so clearly not a boy; I'm a man!" Aurora gave a short laugh.

"Yeah? How old are you anyways?" she questioned.

The smirk immediately fell from his face. "I-uh... I'm 16?"

"That sounded like a question," Aurora pointed out.

"I'm 16, I swear!" Ember decided that she wouldn't point out the crossed fingers behind his back.

"Still, we really need to discuss things, alone," Ember pressed.

Phoenix just shook his head. "I already know more than you want me to, this won't hurt a thing."

The girls relented, and the three of them entered the room. "What do you want to discuss first?" Aurora began.

"What was it you needed to tell me in first period? It seemed pretty big," Ember remembered.