Chapter 2



She saw Aden coming toward her as she was making her way through the hallways. Half of a day had gone by, and she was lacking on her assignment. ~Now's as good of time as any to get started~, she thought to herself.

She put on a bright smile, forced a gleeful attitude and turned to the Old Soul moving toward her. "Aden!" she exclaimed, hoping she didn't seem over-enthused. "It's good to see you."

He wore a boyish grin, jogging into place next to her. "How's your first day been so far, Lilac?"

Annoying, she thought to herself, but pushed it to the back of her mind. She couldn't forget that ~Lilac~ wouldn't say anything like that. "Same thing, different school."

They made their way toward the front courtyard of the school. "Would you like to join my friends and I for lunch?"

~Score~. "That would be great!" She followed him to a small group of teenagers sitting under a large oak tree in a secluded part of the courtyard. They all looked up smiling, a look of admiration for Aden. Aurora could see the slight confusion in their eyes as they took her in, but the smiles never faded.

Aden was addressing the group. "Everyone, I'd like to you to meet Lilac Rose."

A girl with eyes almost the same powerful lavender as Aurora's stood and held out a hand. "Unity, Lilac, I'm Thalia Brooke." Shaking her hand, the girl turned her head to the side, searching Aurora's eyes. "How old are you?"

A brief wave of desperation went through Aurora. She brushed it off, keeping her composure. "I'm eighteen, why do you ask?"

The gentle girl smiled. "Your eyes, they seem to carry many years behind them."

Aurora thought quickly. "I was an Old Soul before I changed." She had to stick to her planned introduction.

"Changed recently, I suppose?" Aurora turned to the person who the voice belonged to. A young man, no older than sixteen, was looking at her with unsure azure eyes. They glinted with a slight silver sheen from underneath long black bangs.

"A few months ago, actually." She forced a laugh. ~Here goes nothing~. She grabbed for the story in the back of her mind, made up by the Council themselves. "My Circle back in Pennsylvania was attacked by the Night World Council. I was hurt severely. The witches didn't think my soul could take the damage, and they were afraid I wouldn't come back again. There was so much work I still wanted to do with Daybreak, so I agreed to be changed. I'm here because our Circle had to separate to stay safe."

A tiny girl with bright emerald eyes and long, straight red hair stood up and hugged her. "That must have been so horrible! I'm so sorry! I'm Litchi Abforth. Don't mind Teff. He's just very wary about new people."

He shrugged from his position against the large oak. "Sorry. It's just situations like what happened to you make me cautious about new people." He waved. "I'm Teff Burdock."

Aurora nodded. Aden began to introduce others. He motioned toward a boy with golden curls and fierce gold eyes. "This is Lander Dirgham."

"A lion, I presume," she smiled, looking at the slowly softening features of the boy.

He grinned. "What gave it away? The looks or the name?"

"A little bit of both."

He gestured at a girl sitting on one of the highest branches of the tree. "That's my little sister, Kefira."

Aurora waved at the girl. Kefira let out a low growl and retreated to a leafy part of the tree.

Lander shook his head. "Don't mind her. She just failed a trig test."

Aden nodded at the last person in the group. The boy had a built body, barely clothed by the piece of fabric he considered a shirt and tight blue jeans. His deep brown eyes were looking in the distance, his dirty blonde spikes rustling with the breeze. "That's Thomas Johnson. He's human."

Aurora looked into Aden's eyes to see a look that said, "I'll tell you later."

~ His eyes are so unique~, she thought to herself. She had never seen the way the blue and gray swirled together. But hadn't she? They looked so familiar . . .

She hadn't realized she was staring. Blushing, she looked away, sitting next to Litchi.

The bright green eyes smiled at her. "So, tell us why you joined Circle Daybreak, if you don't mind sharing?"

Aurora nervously moved a strand of hair behind her ear. "No, I don't mind. I feel my story should be shared." She cleared her throat, remembering the plan. "My family was attacked when I was about eleven by a pack of renegade shape shifters. I moved to a foster family of lamia who had a son my age, and Daybreak taught me how to search my past lives. After seeing their son, Aries, in many of them, we realized we were soulmates."

Thalia sighed. "How romantic."

Teff rolled his eyes. "Where's this guy, now?"

Aurora put on the best wistful face she could think of. "He didn't survive the attack."

Teff's eyes immediately looked down. Aden furrowed his brows and Litchi's mouth opened in a sullen frown. Even Kefira had come down to a lower branch, her claws looking very odd on a human hand.

"I'm sorry," Thalia whispered. "That must be so hard."

Lander looked confused. "But lamia don't-" He stopped, realizing that he might say something painful.

Aurora sighed, trying at a sad grin. It wasn't hard. If the story were true, it would be very upsetting. She shook her head, looking up at Lander. "No, lamia don't come back. Most humans will, some witches might, there's even a possibility that a shifter can reincarnate. But there's never been a record of any type of vampire coming back."

Aden looked generally upset. "I can't believe that the Council could be so cruel!"

Aurora shrugged. "It's okay. I can remember the past. We spent millennia together. I'm happy that we spent the time together that we did. I'll never be complete again, but, 'It's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.'"

Thalia was shaking her head. "You are so strong, Lilac."

Aurora gave a genuine smile. "Thank you, I try."

A shrill bell rang through the campus. She began to rise, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "Well, I'm off to Chemistry."

"Mrs. Hopkins?" Aden asked, coming to her side.

She looked down at her pink schedule. "As a matter of fact, yes."

He grinned. "That's what I have next, also. I'll walk with you."

The others went in opposite directions, just leaving the two of them. "So what's Thomas' story?"

"His soulmate was killed about three months ago by a renegade vampire."

Aurora swallowed silently. "That's really too bad."

"Yes, but Kara was an Old Soul, so we know that she's coming back. I mean, look at your situation."

"My situation?" ~Oh yeah, stick to the plan!~ "Oh, I know. But I feel bad for everyone else that has to go through the pain of a loss like that." She decided to change the subject. She needed to find out more about these Daybreakers. They may be the key to her mission. "How did you get involved in Circle Daybreak? Don't tell me you lost a soulmate, too."

He laughed. "No, I haven't been fortunate enough to find mine, yet. Someday, hopefully. I know I've met her in past lives, but my memories are so vague, and she changed in a lot of them. Someday maybe . . ." He shook his head. "Anyway, my parents brought me into the Circle. My Aunt Lisa was used in a blood feast, so my parents joined to try and stop the evil. When they found out that I was a very early Old Soul, they were ecstatic."

She laughed. Her mother thought she had been crazy when she had tried to explain being a reincarnate. She missed her desperately.

He was continuing on. "Sometimes I feel bad. I mean, I see all of the pain that the people around me are going through, being away from or losing their soulmates. I wish I could take some of it away, help in some way. Maybe if I felt the same pain, I would feel reassured."

Aurora stopped uncontrollably, touching the sleeve of his brown leather jacket. "Don't ever wish that, Aden. It's a completely horrible pain."

He cocked an eyebrow. "But you said, it was better to have found your soulmate and lost them, then to never be with them."

~Shoot~. She was letting reality slip in. "Oh, I appreciate my time spent with Aries, but part of me is gone, my other half." She had no clue where she was pulling this from. Maybe she had heard it from a Circle member before. "I'll never be whole again."

He gave a sad grin. "Maybe it would be too much."

They walked into the classroom as the final bell rang. She sat next to Aden after letting the teacher check her schedule. During the whole period, she seemed to feel the heavy weight of lying to him in her head.