The Rosewood Prophecy

Chapter 66

Aaron

It was so ridiculous I wanted to laugh, but also so absurd that I was shocked into silence. Lord Victor? One of the Rosewood Seven? Who was he kidding?

I met Katherine's eyes. Her expression was filled with astound and disbelief. Neither of us knew what to say. How could Lord Victor be one of the Rosewood Seven? We were the only chosen ones. If there were another group that came before us, wouldn't we have learned about them in school? Why would the Elders hide from us about something as big as this? Most importantly, how did a member of the Rosewood Seven become the very person they swore to defeat?

Lord Victor watched our expressions. He scoffed. "I knew what you two are thinking. I can see the doubt plastered all over your faces. You think I'm lying."

"Yes, because it doesn't make sense. If there really was another group of Rosewood Seven before us, how come no one knew about them?" Katherine voiced our confusion. "Why wasn't the prophecy fulfilled?"

"Prophecies are fickle. They never mean what you think they mean, and your interpretation will always be wrong. You know what I think of this prophecy?" Lord Victor glared at us and spat on the floor. "That's what I think of it. It's wrong. It's not true at all. I can't help it if you don't believe me right now, but I will show you what happened, all those years ago, and you can decide for yourself if you still think the Elders are good and righteous."

Lord Victor began muttering spells. Then he lightly pressed his right index finger to his temple and extracted a silvery wisp that wound itself around his finger. With a gentle flick, Lord Victor cast the silver wisp into the air, where it expanded to fill the entire room. Figures flickered to life and the grounds of the Academy filled in the background. Katherine and I watched it all with our mouths hanging open. Lord Victor was showing us his memories from a third-person perspective. We were surrounded by the translucent illusion as the events unfolded on a big screen.

I saw a group of three students walk by, chatting and laughing. They looked to be our age and wore school uniforms from hundreds of years ago, the kind that we see in glass display cases in the Academy. The boy in the center was tall, with sparkling brown eyes and dimples. He had one arm around a girl with wavy, strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes, and the other arm around a boy with raven black hair and emerald green eyes. With a jolt, I realized that the third boy was Lord Victor, except he looked a lot happier and a lot less evil.

"This was my best friend, Marcellus, and his girlfriend, Annalise." Lord Victor's voice sounded from beside me. He still stood over us, but his eyes were glued to the memory playback. I saw a hint of longing in his gaze. "I had known Marcellus since we were young kids. He was like a brother to me, and I to him. At this time, he and Annalise had only officially begun dating for two months."

The trio walked to the fountain, where a group of three boys were lounging. Hellos were exchanged as the trio sat down beside them. Lord Victor spoke their names: the lanky boy with a shy smile was Hugo; the muscular boy with the ginger hair was Caspian; the boy with glasses and piercing blue eyes was Atticus. Soon, two more girls walked up, one with curly brown hair and a wide smile, another with black hair braided down her back and soft brown eyes.

"That's Gemma," Lord Victor pointed at the girl with brown hair. "And that's Bianca." His gaze lingered on Bianca with longing. I counted the students—there were eight. One of them was not part of the chosen seven.

The next scene showed the seven preparing to depart. Bianca was not one of them. Instead, she held both of Victor's hands and tried not to cry. "Please be careful, Victor. Promise me you'll come back, safe and sound."