31. ADAPTATION

31

ADAPTATION

S everal days passed without incident before Charlotte asked Aiden to accompany her back to the apartment in Athens at the end of the week so she could pack everything and talk to the landlord.

She would take the most important things she couldn't do without, like video games and her favorite decor, and donate the rest to those in need. She didn't want her mothers forced to keep stuff when she already had a room there, and it all wouldn't fit in the dorm.

Once they finished in Athens, she and Aiden returned to Rosebrook Valley to meet her mothers for dinner to give them the details about her scholarship. She had only given a brief explanation during a quick phone call when she'd given her mothers the news before they set off for Atlanta to take care of her grandmother's paperwork.

The news that she would stay close to home thrilled both of them, and neither questioned the stipulation of living on campus. If the elite university would pay all expenses, who were they to question the policy, her ma had said.

She still hadn't decided on a major, and classes started in two weeks. The headmistress understood and told her to take her time, that even if she started late, they would help her catch up. The college credits she'd already accumulated both in high school and at UGA met the criteria for her to start as a third-year student alongside her friends.

It helped ease any concerns her mothers had, knowing she had friends like Blaire and Riley there. The subtle mention of her boyfriend, Aiden, didn't hurt either.

It made her feel guilty to hold things back from them. She went from hiding her discomfort about accounting, to hiding the stalking situation, to now keeping a dangerous secret that put them all at risk.

Aiden tried to reassure her when they left her mothers—he literally sensed her frustration—but it didn't stop the gnawing pain in her chest and the growing uncertainty surrounding her place in a world where her family stayed on the outside.

Now, as she sat on the edge of the large fountain staring across campus at a flowering apricot grove in the distance, she wondered what it meant in the long run for her family.

If they aged differently from humans, her mothers wouldn't miss it when Riley and Aiden remained youthful while she didn't.

"You look like you're thinking really hard," Riley said, swinging her legs, the heels of her knee-high boots tapping on the marble, making the buckles clink and rattle.

"Thinking about the future."

"What about it?" Blaire said, taking a large bite out of the taco in her hand.

"My moms. Aging. What's going to happen. "

Instead of eating lunch in the cafeteria, they came outside to have a bite to eat while the girls could have her to themselves. Aiden had a meeting with the student liaison about adjustments to his schedule for the fall semester.

Blaire finished her taco and looked at the container beside Charlotte. She'd eaten two hard tacos already but couldn't stomach the third.

Her diet since arriving at the academy had been full and consistent instead of her usual grab-and-go breakfast to ensure her medicine didn't make her sick, a quick bite for lunch if she thought of it, and a sensible dinner. Now, with Aiden needing to manage a regular schedule of blood intake, they went to the cafeteria or canteen for every meal and occasional snack.

Breakfast wasn't a single-banana affair anymore; she had an entire buffet at her disposal. She didn't even have to worry about the costs, either. The headmistress said her meals were part of the funding from the Blackthorn Clan for her use.

She didn't know if she could get used to not pinching pennies, but she wouldn't snub the hand that feeds, either.

"You mind?"

She passed the container to Blaire. "Knock yourself out."

They used to share food all the time when they worked together at the diner. She didn't have the appetite Blaire did. Her best friend was a foodie through and through.

"You're the best." Blaire scooped the fully loaded taco from the container and took a big bite.

Charlotte suspected Blaire's intense love of food came from her youth. She once read that kids who rarely got fed grew into adults obsessed with food. Something about food insecurity.

It wasn't like Blaire had starved as a child, but her mother struggled from time to time as a single parent before finding a good job, later marrying into the Wilcox family when Blaire was older.

Charlotte met them when Blaire was in high school, so she didn't know firsthand of their struggles from when Blaire was little.

Blaire had told her they never went without, but it wasn't uncommon they turned a pack of instant noodles into a full meal. Not uncommon for college students, but not the best for a developing child.

"So you're the new human?"

Charlotte blinked against the sunlight, focusing on the trio of girls standing in front of them. "I guess that's me?" She side-eyed Blaire and Riley.

"What's your name?" the middle girl asked, her head angled, shoulder-length strands of honeycomb brassy hair falling to the side. She wore tailored jeans and a fitted, soft-looking blouse that, while pretty, looked too heavy for the humidity.

"Charlotte," she said with hesitation.

The shortest girl on the left, who looked not much taller than Charlotte, smiled. "I'm Piper."

Returning her smile, Charlotte said, "Nice to meet you. I like your shoes."

The girl wore a pair of velvet platform Mary Janes in cherry red. They looked stunning with her pencil dress in solid black. Her jet-black hair was in a high ponytail tied off with a big red ribbon. She screamed rockabilly, and if Riley hadn't returned her attention to whatever distracted her on her phone, she'd no doubt have said something about the girl's fun style.

"Lindsay," the tallest one on the right said. She looked uncomfortable, twisting the end of her loose blonde braid between her fingers. Did Charlotte make her uncomfortable, or was it her friend in the middle who seemed standoffish?

"Right. Names aside," the middle one said with a dismissive wave. She didn't give her name.

Whatever. These types were everywhere, and she could spot them a mile away. For some people, high school never ended.

"Why are you here, exactly?"

"Because I have a scholarship." She didn't know if it was safe to mention the whole Korrena thing or not.

The girl scoffed, not even attempting to disguise her disdain. "Scholarship? You didn't even pay to be here? At least this human did, and she has a reason to be here."

Riley's head jerked up. "Charlotte has every right to be here, so why don't you go on and leave her alone, Alex?"

"Besides, I didn't pay to be here either," Blaire said, giving Alex a shrewd look. "The Blackthorn Clan funded my way because my Korrena goes here."

"Well," Alex started, and Charlotte didn't know if the red spreading over her cheeks was from embarrassment, anger, or overheating from the outfit she wore. "What's her excuse?"

"Noneya," Riley sniped.

"None-what?"

"Noneya. None of your business," Piper said with a snicker.

Alex gave her a scathing look. "Thanks for clearing that up."

"You're welcome!"

The bright and bubbly voice counter to the sarcasm made Charlotte want to laugh. Piper knew what she was doing. It was clear she didn't agree with Alex's mean girl routine any more than Lindsay did. In fact, Lindsay looked like she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

Having enough of this after seeing how uncomfortable Alex made her own friends, Charlotte squared her shoulders and said, "I think I have the right to be here."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"Because my Korrena also attends. Why else do you think my memory is intact?"

The way Alex's face flickered through a series of emotions from shock, to confusion, to disgust made Charlotte laugh.

"You have a Korrena? That's so cool! I wish I had mine," Lindsay finally said, smiling with a dreamy expression.

"Who?" Alex demanded in a sharp voice.

"My brother, now go away."

Alex snapped her gaze to Riley. "Aiden?"

The girl's tone shifted swiftly from angry to nervous. How well did she know him?

"Mmhm." Riley didn't look up from her phone, as if Alex wasn't worth her attention.

"No, but he's—"

"Still not interested in you." Riley tapped her heels on the fountain, unable to sit still. She looked over at Charlotte. "She had a crush on him when we were kids, and while she doesn't talk to him that much, she never got over it." She looked at Alex again. "If you didn't bother talking to him for years, why would you expect him to be available whenever you were ready?"

Alex spluttered. "I didn't!" She crossed her arms. "I just thought…" She glanced to the side. "I talk to him now," she said, almost too low to hear.

Riley lifted a brow, the glitter in her eyeshadow catching the sunlight.

"Forget it." Alex huffed, spinning on her heel and storming away.

"We're really sorry about her. She's weird about humans," Lindsay said, giving an apologetic smile. "It really was nice to meet you."

"Yeah. Welcome to the academy. Lindsay and I share a dorm on the first floor of the third building down." Piper pointed in the direction of the dorm buildings. "Fourth room on the right side. If you ever wanna hang out, come find us."

"Sure. Thanks. I'll do that."

"Great!" Piper grabbed Lindsay's arm and pulled her in the direction Alex had disappeared toward the dorms.

Charlotte watched them until they rounded the main building and turned to look at Blaire, who laughed.

"Well, I'm impressed."

"What do you mean?"

"My first day around the students, I got attacked and almost bitten. I'd say your introduction to the academy is going a lot smoother than mine did."

"Almost bitten?" She looked around with caution. She thought the students didn't drink from live sources because of the ample supply of blood packets.

Riley hopped up, the chain belt of her pleated black skirt tinkling. "Not everyone is nice, but you're not in danger. Those guys aren't here anymore, and they were asshats."

If Charlotte could meet others like Piper and Lindsay, maybe her time at Blackthorn Academy might not be so bad.

"So none of them have a Korrena?"

Riley shook her head. "No, that's why Piper and Lindsay room together. Alex's roommate moved out recently when she found her Korrena. They're in my building now."

Charlotte looked up at the fluffy white clouds moving across the blue sky. "They looked our age."

"Piper is twenty-three, actually. She's in her last year. Lindsay is eighteen, though. Alex is twenty-one."

Turning her head to look at Riley, Charlotte asked, "Why are there so many students without Korrena mates? If you're supposed to find your pair by your late teens, how come so many college students are without one?"

Blaire and Riley shared a look.

"The magic that keeps the cycle of Korrena pairings going is dying," Blaire said, a serious expression crossing her face. "It's part of the prophecy. If I don't do what I'm supposed to, the entire thing falls apart."

"Over the years, the number of our kind who discover their Korrena at the ‘right age' has taken a nosedive." Riley shifted from foot to foot. "Mama didn't get hers until eighty-one. I don't know why they haven't updated the books. It'd feel less damning if they officially raised the average age, but no one knows anymore what's normal." She looked up at the stained glass windows on the front of the main building. "Besides, if everything fixes itself when Blaire does her thing, it'll go back to what they teach us, so I guess that's why they don't change it. But who knows."

"Do your siblings have theirs?"

"You know about Heather's husband, right?"

"Yeah." Charlotte remembered Riley's older sister had a husband and kids, but wasn't sure if they were paired.

"Yeah. Greg is her Korrena. Our other brother hasn't found his, though. It's why he's so focused on his restaurants."

Blaire put down the napkin she used to clean her fingers. "I hate that everyone is suffering because of me." Both Charlotte and Riley turned to look at her at the same time. "What? Like you said, if I do my ‘thing'—if I were a Vasirian—the magic would be strong enough to make others find their pairs. "

"Maybe," Riley conceded. "But none of us really know that. The Oracle said you were the only human who could be a Korrena, and well…" She held her hands out to Charlotte as if presenting her as a prize on a game show. "Exhibit A of how wrong that is."

Something didn't seem right. If everything in the prophecy she learned from the others came to pass so far, then why, when she and Aiden connected, did it all go topsy-turvy?