Chapter 9



Aden had never felt so unutterably lost in his life as he had for the past two weeks.

Walking between classes, even though he was surrounded by over a thousand teenagers, he felt like he was the only one there.

The day after she left, the group had asked where she went. He only shrugged. He didn't want to lie, but he knew he had to protect her.

Even though he didn't know how.

He spent lunch everyday sitting quietly beside Thomas. The group eyed him, not knowing what to think. ~Let them think what they want~.

Just now, sitting in Calculus, his last class before the beginning of winter break, he stared out the window, not knowing what was being said by the teacher. He realized Thomas was watching him. He turned to his left side and looked into those dark brown eyes.

For the first time in months, he heard Thomas speak. "It's hard, isn't it?"

Aden furrowed his brows. "What?"

"She's gone. But there's always hope. You'll see her again. For now, keep your mind on the important stuff. The Battle's coming, and we need to figure out a way to kick some Night World ass."

He smiled. Thomas knew more than he let on.

Aden turned back to the window. For some reason, he did know he'd see her again.



Aurora rolled over on her bed. She looked out the window to see the bright Nevada sun beating over the rough terrain.

~I wonder what he's doing right now . . .~

She could hear her roommate rustling around in the kitchen downstairs. She rolled over and pulled the blanket over her head. She didn't want to face the world today. When she was a human, she would have been out of bed hours ago, opening presents with her little sister and parents. She just didn't see a point in the holidays anymore.

"Lavender! Get out of bed!"

Aurora sunk deeper into the bed. She couldn't get used to being called Lavender. It fit her as well as Lilac had. Nonetheless, she couldn't be Aurora anymore.

One week until the Millennium Battle and still no word on the final Wild Power. She was doomed to live a life in eternal darkness. It would bring new meaning to the phrase, "Hell on Earth."

She rolled out of the bed, or rather fell off of the bed, and made her way downstairs. Wearing grey pajama pants and a matching tank top, she found her roommate in the living room. "What the Hell do you want?" That was becoming one of her favorite lines.

The girl sitting on the couch looked up. Her unnaturally perfect red curls and stunning blue-green eyes leaned to the side. "Good morning to you, too."

Aurora plopped next to her on the couch, only to groan at the black-and-white movie playing on the TV. "'It's a Wonderful Life?' Please, Soraia. I thought you had better taste than this."

The girl named Soraia rolled her eyes. "It reminds me of being human."

Meeting Soraia Quinn had been a stroke of luck. While living in a hotel somewhere near Las Vegas, she'd bumped into this girl on a hunt. Aurora's first thought had been to run. She was obviously Night World, Daybreak or not, she couldn't be safe. Finding out that this girl shared Aurora's feeling on life, she gave her a place to stay, no questions asked.

Soraia had been close friends with Rashel and Quinn after they saved her from an attack from the Council. They'd given her Quinn's name, just to lose her own. Everyone had suspected her of being the fourth Wild Power, since her first name referred to the Pleaides. But when it turned out that she wasn't, they had forgotten she existed, too busy with looking for the "One from the twilight" to remember she even existed.

When Aurora had left Aden that day, she had just driven anywhere fast, and her intuition had taken her to Vegas. Even though that was the center of Night World activity, she knew she had to be there. She had a feeling that this was where everything was going to start.

As if reading her mind, Soraia spoke. "Have you felt how thick the air is lately? Something's going to happen."

"One week," Aurora sighed. "And the world as we know it will be gone."

Soraia was flipping through the stations and stopped on a news broadcast. Both girls leaned forward, not believing what they were seeing.

The screen revealed a myriad of shifters, all breeds, running down the Strip.

The lavender eyed girl turned to look at her friend. "It's already beginning."