Every Broken Part (Series)

Chapter Twenty.

                                          D E V I N 

"I'm so happy for them!" I beamed as Rayner and I walked down the hallway.

"Yeah, me too." Rayner said. "Let's go get some breakfast!" He quickly changed the subject as we made our way to the dining hall. We quickly grabbed our food and sat at a secluded table in the corner.

"So, are you ready for your ceremony?"

I looked up from my cereal as he asked this. "My ceremony?"

"Oh my god, nobody told you?" Rayner questioned.

"No, I just like to pretend like I'm clueless." I sarcastically said.

"Oh, okay. Cool." Rayner carried on with eating his muffin. I groaned as I held my head in my hands. I forget how dumb he can be sometimes.

"Rayner!" I yelled. "What ceremony?"

"Oh!" Realization dawned on him as he set his muffin down.

"It's a ceremony that welcomes you to our city. It's like an initiation ceremony. So that you're officially one of us."

"Oh." I said calmly. That shouldn't be too bad, right? I'm not exactly one for public speaking or anything. I tend to hide in the shadows at big events.

"Of course, it's in front of the whole village, and you have to drink your own blood. And the blood of all our relatives."

"What?" I gasped as I practically spit out my cereal. I felt nauseous at the thought of drinking another person's blood. And my own.

Is that even healthy?

"Oh my god, calm down." Rayner laughed. "I'm only joking. It is still in front of the whole town though."

Anxiety filled my bones at the thought of this ceremony. I had no idea what to expect. I hope there isn't any magic involved. I don't exactly have any powers, besides my curse.

"When is this?"

"Next Friday."

I gulped. That means I had less than two weeks to prepare. I'm not even sure how to prepare for it.

"Well, what happens?"

Rayner looked uneasy as I asked this question.

"I'm not supposed to tell you."

I suddenly had a strong desire to hit him in the face.

"Then why even bother telling me that it's happening?"

Rayner seemed as if he came to a realization.

"I realize now why nobody told you about it in the first place. My bad."

Why weren't they allowed to tell me? What do they do? Kill me? Don't they realize I don't have the luxury of coming back to life like they do? How can they even die? I pushed away all the questions that continued to stir in my head as Locke joined us at our table. Rayner gave him a simple head nod, then focused his attention back to his breakfast.

"Hey." He gave me a soft smile as I made room for him at the table. "You hear that Aphelia and Ryker are engaged?"

"Yeah," I laughed. "I sort of witnessed it."

"Get ready for some huge wedding. The whole village will be decorated." Locke snorted.

I tilted my head as I stared at him. "I have a feeling Ryker wouldn't enjoy that too much."