Shattered Promises 02 - Fractured Souls by Jessica Sorensen (motivational books for students TXT) 📕

Finally, the tears cease and she dabs the remaining ones away with the corner of her shirt. “So what’s been going on?” She clears her throat and takes another sip of water. “While I’ve been gone for the last fourteen years.”

Jesus, where do I begin? So much has happened, especially over the last few weeks. I’m not sure what to tell her, and honestly, I don’t have all the answers since I can barely remember anything.

I do my best and start at the beginning, though, at least the beginning for me.

I try my best to get all the details right and fill her in on everything that has happened. I tell her about my lifeless years with Marco and Sophia and then college. I tell her how the prickle miraculously showed up and freed me from my solitude. I tell her about the Death Walkers and how Stephan is working with them as well as Demetrius, which she knew already. How he can create the Mark of Malefiscus and that he put the mark on Nicholas. I explain my special Foreseer gift and the visions I’ve seen, at least to an extent, minus the fact that I’ve seen myself bearing the Mark of Evil. I tell her about how Stephan tried to erase my mind with that stupid rock and how the locket she gave me saved me.

When I’m done, it’s nearly dark and most of the beach has cleared. The ocean roars in the distance and a few stars speckle the greying sky.

“I’m so sorry,” my mom says after I’ve given her the rundown. She reaches over and takes my hand with a slight tremor in her grip. I wince, but don’t pull away. “I’m incredibly sorry you had to go through all of this. God, it must have been terrible for you”

I swallow hard as I sit down on the railing. “It’s not your fault…I—I know you tried to protect me.”

She shakes her head, freeing my hand, and then sinks down in a chair. “I should have tried harder. I should have tried to run away sooner. I let it go on for too long, knowing what he was going to do to you... We need to stop it—stop him.” She glances over at Laylen sitting on the railing near the open French doors. “I need to talk to Alex and Aislin. Could you go get them for me?”

Laylen nods and hops off the railing, his boots scuffing the wood. “Of course.” He shoots me a confused look before walking into the house.

“Why do you need to talk to them?” I give her a quizzical look as I slide off the railing and land on my feet.

“Because, I need all of you here,” she says, crossing her arms over her stomach like she feels sick. “Because this—all of this—involves all of you. Each of you plays a part in it.”

“Plays a part in what?” I ask. “Stephan trying to open the portal? Because I thought he just needed the star.”

“Oh, Gemma.” She extends her hand toward my face and then brushes some of my hair out of my eyes; her first motherly gesture and I’ll admit that it’s strange. “There is so much more to Stephan’s plan than just you and the star. So much more.”

Chapter 30

Time seems to stop. I’d always assumed it was me, based on what I’d been told. Simply me and the star and the end of the world. I guess I was wrong, though. We all were. Which makes me wonder just how much more we were wrong about.

Laylen returns a few minutes later with a very sleepy-eyed Aislin dressed in pink yoga pants and a fitted white tank top. Tagging along behind her is a very stressed out Alex wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. They each grab a chair and drag them closer so we’re all sitting in a circle. Alex avoids eye contact with me, stretching his legs out and staring at his bare feet. The deck light is on as well as the bedroom light and it lights up the night around us.

Aislin fidgets nervously, wringing her fingers in her lap. “Jocelyn, I can’t believe you’re here…It’s just really… great.” She struggles for words she never does quite find.

My mother gives her a tight smile. “Thanks. I’m glad to see all of you… you’ve grown up so much.” She talks almost robotically and I wonder if this is what I sounded like back when I was emotionless.

“Laylen says there’s something you wanted to tell us?” Alex asks impatiently, picking at a loose thread on a torn area of his jeans.

My mother nods and finishes the last of her water. “There is.” She sets the empty glass down beside her feet and relaxes back in the chair, her shoulders curling inward. “But I need you to tell me what you know first. Gemma’s already told me what she knows about your father’s plans and what not, however I think you might know a little more than her.”

I burn a hole into the side of his head as he presses his lips together with guilt written all over his face. He crosses his arms and shifts his weight while his eyes quickly sweep across the four of us.

“Alex,” my mom says and I’m a little shocked at the warmness in her tone. “I understand your initial reaction is to keep things a bottled up. It’s what you’ve been taught to do, but I need to know what you know—it’s important.”

He tugs on the bottom of his shirt, staring at the floor. “Where do you want me to start?”

“How about from the beginning,” she says.

“But where is the beginning?” Alex mumbles, his gaze flicking to mine.

I can tell that even after everything, he still has secrets. Maybe he always will. Perhaps I’ll never know him. The raw thought clenches at my heart. I want to know him. Every part of him. Inside and out… what does that mean