Faults

Chapter 26: Aydin

One Day Prior

"You're sure you didn't see anyone that gained their abilities right then at the ritual?" Archie asks me, leaning against the counter in my kitchen.

"The only thing I saw was that white-haired kid side-eyeing me," I respond, rolling my eyes.

Archie crosses his arms over his chest. "You can't hide your scars forever."

"That was insensitive," I say with a frown.

"I didn't mean it that way," he says, walking over to me. "I meant that you should be confident in yourself again." He wraps his arms around me, making me smile.

I hug him back and then pull away, arching an eyebrow. "Nice save."

"I'm good with words," he replies, grinning at me.

With a sigh, I ask, "So, how do we find anyone that's going to be useful to us?"

"Tomorrow, we go into town and we watch," Archie replies.

"That's not creepy at all."

He laughs. "It's for a good cause. Just think of it as avenging your mother's death."

"Right..."

Mother's body was found, stabbed and burned. Who else could've done this other than my brother and Christian? How could my brother have done this to his own mother? We know that Christian is manipulative, but this is taking it farther than it ever should've gone.

Archie notices my silence. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned that."

"It's alright," I say quietly.

※ ※ ※

The next day arrives and Archie and I venture into the marketplace to see if there are any of the students with their new abilities roaming about. "Do you see anyone?" Archie asks me.

"I see that white-haired kid," I say, pointing to the guy standing between vegetable stands.

Archie frowns and puts his hands on his hips. "But is he doing anything?"

"Well, if you'd pay less attention to being snarky and more attention to where I'm looking, you'd see that he just turns into a cat," I say, pursing my lips. I cross my arms over my chest and stare at Archie.

"What?" Archie's jaw drops.

I nod. Archie looks over at the white-haired-kid- turned-cat just as the other person with the cat picks him up and begins walking away. "Why didn't you say anything?" Archie asks me frantically. His eyes are darting around. He's obviously thinking about what our next move here is.

"What's a cat supposed to do in a battle? Who knows if they'd even be useful to us? " I ask.

"There's only one way to find out," Archie replies, taking my hand and pulling me in the direction the cat was carried off into.

"Archie–"

He pulls me through the town, following the guy holding the little white cat. They enter a house and Archie wastes no time running up to the cottage, aggressively knocking on the door.

"I don't see what you're so hung up on," I say, staring at the door.

Archie lets go of my hand. "Who knows what his ability is? It's not like we've seen anything else."

"Yeah, alright."

The door opens and we're greeted by the man who carried the cat back to this house. His hair is almost as white as the other guy's, just a little bit more blonde. I wonder if they're related. "Oh, Your Highness!" the man exclaims, bowing.