Page 7 of Tear of Destiny

“I’ve ruined everything,” I say. “I should have known better. I shouldn’t have believed Max for a second.”

Kate looks at me, lost for words. She seems deeply affected by what I’ve told her. She rubs my shoulder and tries to make sense of it all.

“I knew she must have done something horrible because her story was totally implausible. After you disappeared, she went around telling everyone that you ran away because of her. She said she was having problems with her parents again and Ayden was kind enough to let her sleep in his room. That you found her on his couch and totally flipped out. She said she tried to explain things to you, but you just accused her of things I’d rather not repeat. And she said you didn’t give Ayden a chance, that you attacked him in a rage. Anyway, she found plenty of people willing to listen to her story.”

I nod sadly. “I guess now everyone thinks I’m a hysterical cow.”

Kate avoids my eye and adds quietly, “Ayden’s hardly been in school at all for the past week. I kept going to him to ask if he knew where you were or why you disappeared. I was really worried too.”

I put my arm around her and give her a squeeze.

“Max took advantage of the fact that he wasn’t around,” she continues, “and told everyone that he was so upset about thefight with you that he needed to take some time out.”

I roll my eyes and snort. “Great, as if it’s not enough that I have to deal with Max. Now she’s turned half the school against me.” I flop back on my bed and take a few deep breaths. “I can’t believe she did this to me. She was using me this whole time.”

Kate lies down beside me and stares up at the ceiling too. “Not just you. She was using all of us. I can’t help wondering how Lucia will react to this – whether she’ll even believe us. She and Max are pretty tight.”

I nod. Another situation I need to attend to. But not now. Right now, I don’t want to think about anything; I need to digest what’s happened in the last few hours.

“How’s Noah?” asks Kate. “It can’t have been easy for him to hold back when he saw Ayden.”

“He wouldn’t do anything to Ayden,” I say with conviction. “He knows I’d never forgive him.”

Kate nods slowly, and we just lie side by side for a while.

As I walk down the corridor, I wonder whether I’m imagining the looks or if the other students really are staring at me – some of them with hostility. I glance at Kate, who’s walking beside me, and see her glaring at them. So I’m not mistaken. Apparently, Max has trotted out her story to anyone who’ll listen. It just surprises me that my life is interesting enough to the other students to warrant this kind of reaction. But I guess that’s what you get at a school with its own rules and conventions. Apparently, I’ve violated those conventions.

At least the tiredness that I felt deep in my bones has finally gone. It’s been replaced by anger. I don’t intend to let Max get away with this. And I want to talk to Ayden again too. It can’t just be over. Not like this.

At least I have Kate on my side. She’s still loyal to me. She slept in my room last night, and I was glad not to have to spend thenight alone.

“Unbelievable. Just shows up again as if nothing happened,” I hear one girl whisper loudly to another.

“After what she accused her friend of. Can you believe it? And all because she spent the night on her boyfriend’s couch. That girl’s crazy.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not her boyfriend anymore.”

The looks they give me are poisonous. Neither of them have any qualms about expressing their contempt. They have no shame. They must know I can hear them.

“Ooh, this should be interesting,” says one of the girls.

I look up and see Ayden at the other end of the corridor. He’s striding toward me, and my heart skips a beat. I take a deep breath, hold my head high, but I figure this is maybe not the best time to talk to him. Everyone’s staring at us, not wanting to miss the heated exchange that might happen between us.

Ayden doesn’t seem to notice me until he’s right in front of me. He sees me and stops. I see him hesitate, then he spins around on the spot and walks away. I swallow hard and try not to let it get to me, but it hurts so much. Especially when I hear girls giggling viciously and muttering things like, “Exactly what she deserves,” and “I would have done the same.”

I square my shoulders and try not to let my emotions show, determined to follow him. Maybe we can talk in private somewhere. My heart hammers in my chest, and I feel the fear and the tension building in me. My chest feels tight, and before I know it, I suddenly feel this heat inside me. When I look down at my hands, I see small flames spitting out of my fingers.

Shit. I’m getting too close to the edge again. Noah was right – I’ll have to go back to the goddesses’ lake a few more times before my condition stabilizes. I quickly hide my hands behind my back and struggle desperately to find some inner peace. I can’t let myself transform!

As if my condition wasn’t already concerning enough, now Max shows up. She walks up to Ayden and greets him with a commiserating smile. “There you are. I was starting to worry about you when you weren’t in school for days. I wanted to…”

She reaches out to touch his arm, but Ayden grabs her shoulder before she can touch him and shoves her angrily against the wall.

Full of loathing, he hisses at her, “You must be deranged if you think I want to talk to you after the shit you pulled. You’re sick! A nasty, messed up little freak.” He shakes his head and lets go of her. “Stay out of my face and don’t talk to me ever again!”

With that, he turns and leaves her standing there, and Max just stares after him looking stunned. Then, she realizes everyone’s looking at her. She pastes on a smile and shrugs.

“Hmm, I guess he still blames me for his problems with his ex. Sad.”

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