Chapter 97

Aiden’s POV

I paced the hospital, waiting for a single word about Carol’s state. I’m not sure how long we had been here, but my heart was hammering against my ribcage, and I was growing more impatient by the second. In the waiting room, I was joined by Oliver and Carol’s parents along with Fiona who hadn’t stopped crying since she arrived an hour ago.

Her father kept asking me numerous questions about what had happened, and I gave him all the information I could, but he was still having trouble processing that his little girl was kidnapped and shot in the shoulder. I couldn’t blame him; I was having trouble processing it as well and I was the one who found her.

Oliver is keeping up to date with the search for the place they kept her, but so far, they are coming up empty.

Fury was filling me and I’m not sure how much more of this waiting shit I’ll be able to handle.

“Just sit down, the doctors are doing what they can,” Oliver said, watching me as I continued to pace back and forth. “No news is good news.”

“Or no news means something wrong,” I said without really thinking about it. Carol’s mom let out a gasp and I froze in my place, meeting her eyes. “Sorry,” I murmured. “I didn’t mean that.”

Tears rushed out of her eyes and soaked her cheeks.

“No, but it’s true,” she whispered. “No news means something could be wrong. We have to be prepared for the worst. As much as I hate to admit that.”

“No,” her father said firmly, and I could see the anger coursing through him. “She’s not dying; not like this.”

Fiona cried even harder; she stopped trying to wipe away the tears and hide her fear about 30 minutes ago. It was no use.

“I should have gone to the game with her,” Fiona whimpered. “She wanted me to, but sports aren’t really my thing, so I declined. I should have gone…”

“This isn’t your fault,” Oliver told her, and I was surprised by the gentleness in his tone while speaking with her. “It’s not any of your faults so stop blaming yourselves. Whoever did this is at fault. Whoever pulled the trigger and shot her, whoever took her in the first place, whoever ordered those men’s release from prison… they are at fault.”

“Wasn’t it Katrina that paid their bail?” Fiona asked through her watery gaze.

“Yeah, but she was ordered to do it… or asked I should say,” Oliver answered. “She might have been the one who got them released, but there is someone else in the background who’s pulling the strings. Whoever that person is, they want Carol. They are the ones who are at fault.”

“Does she have any enemies? Someone who would want her hurt?” Carol’s mother asked.

I thought about it for a moment; the only one I could think of would be Katrina, but we already ruled her out.

“What about your family?” Her father asked, surprising me.

I had to admit, I thought about my family too at first, but I don’t think they would go that far as to actually hurt Carol. At least not like that. They were more along the lines of public humiliation and destroying reputations. Not killing and hurting. The thought that my own family could be behind this made my stomach turn.

I shook my head, running my fingers through my hair.

“No,” I told them with certainty. “It wasn’t my family and we already ruled Katrina out. It’s someone else. Maybe someone from the Capitol, but not my family. All I know is that Carol is more special than any of us could possibly comprehend, and I think that might be why there’s a target on her back.”

They all looked at me, confused.

“What are you talking about?” Her father asked, cocking his head to the side.

“She has powers,” I blurted. “Magical powers. I’ve known it for a while from some of the stuff she’s able to do. Like get people to tell the truth and stand up for her, people who wouldn’t normally do that like my mother.”

They gasped at my admittance.

“And she’s able to make an entire team of players forget their fears with one speech. She’s special. I’m not exactly sure her powers or where they come from… but I know for a fact that she’s not a typical human girl,” I continued.

“Is that why you were asking if she’s adopted?” Her mother asked, her eyes wide.

I nodded.

“Yes. I wanted to know if there was a possibility that she could come from a magical family. Now that I know she isn’t biologically yours, the possibility of that is big.”

“Do you know which family?” Oliver asked.

I shook my head.

“No, I don’t. We were supposed to find out after the championships,” I told him.

“Wait, are you saying that Carol is a witch?” Fiona asked, her eyes wide with wonder.

“Yes,” I answered. “I’m saying she’s a witch. I just wish I knew her ancestry.” I then looked at her parents and narrowed my eyes. “You said a maid came to you with her in the middle of the night?”

They both nodded, holding onto one another like they were each other’s lifelines.

“Yes,” her mother answered after a short pause. “We still don’t know why she chose us, it was the strangest thing. We will be forever grateful for our little miracle.”

“And this maid didn’t give you a name?”

They both shook their heads.

“What did she look like?” I asked.

“Honestly, I can’t really remember much about her,” her mother breathed as she got lost in thought. “It was so dark outside, and she purposely kept herself out of the light. But she was short, and she sounded young.”

“I remember her dark unruly hair that crowed her round face, but that was about it,” her father chimed in.

“Oh, right. She did have unruly hair, didn’t she?” Her mother said, thoughtfully. “I remember the wind blowing it around her face. I thought it was so pretty.”

My stomach tightened; at least that was something, but that didn’t help all that much because it described literally anybody.

“Do you guys think she’s going to be okay?” Fiona asked in a whisper, staring down at her hands.

“She has to be,” I said without hesitation. “I’m not letting go of her this easily.”

Soon, Oliver’s phone rang, turning all of our attention to him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and frowned at the screen. He turned his back to us as he answered the phone.

“Yes?” He said into the phone. “Are you sure?” He paused as the other person spoke. “Shit. Okay, I’m on my way.”

He hung up the phone and turned back to us.

“They found the hide they kept her in,” Oliver said, meeting my eyes. My heart fell into my stomach. “They got her scent all over the place and her blood was on the ground as well. The entire place was wiped out though. Whoever was there is long gone, however, they found another room and it looked like they were getting ready to do a transfer ritual.”

“A transfer ritual?” I asked, shocked.

He nodded.

“What does that mean?” Her mother asked, worriedly.

“When a young witch or wizard fully gets their powers, another witch can do a transfer ritual which will transfer one power to the other. It only works once you have your powers though, which is why whoever took Carol, waited until now. They were waiting for her to get her powers so they could do the ritual and take her powers.”

“Are you serious?” Fiona gasped, covering her mouth with her hands as the shock of it all consumed her. “But why?? Why would they do that?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Oliver said. “I’m going there now to check it out.”

“I’ll go with you,” I said without much thought.

Oliver shook his head.

“I can handle a little investigation, Aiden. You should stay here just in case there’s news on Carol.”

“I need to find the bastards that did this to her,” I said through my teeth. I was seeing nothing but red.

Oliver put a hand on his shoulder.

“And you will, but they aren’t there anymore. I’m just going to find clues about their potential whereabouts and what they could possibly want with Carol. Why her powers?” Why did they want her out of all the other witches and wizards in this world? That’s all I’m trying to find out right now. Just stay here and I’ll keep you updated.”

I was about to argue with him that I should be out there with him and investigating this, but then the doors of the emergency room opened, and Carol’s doctor walked out.

“Are you Carol Miller’s family?” He asked us. We all turned ot face him; her parents standing up quickly.

“Yes,” her father answered, wrapping an arm around her wife. “How is she, doctor?”

“She’s out of surgery and it went well,” he said, much to our relief. “We aren’t sure when she will wake up, but we are hopeful that it’ll be soon. She’s lost a lot of blood, but thankfully that bullet was a flesh wound and didn’t do much damage. They pumped her with Starlight, which is a powerful drug that can knock any large beast out, but we were able to clear it from her system. She has a few cracked ribs and a bruised tailbone. She also has a slight concussion, but nothing too serious.”

I felt like I could finally breathe for the first time all night.

“Can we see her?” I found myself asking.

“She’s being bandaged right now and then we are transferring her to a room so she can rest and recover. Once we have her situated, I’ll let one person at a time visit with her.”

We nodded in agreement.

Oliver gave me one look and I knew that I couldn’t go with him, so I nodded to him. He patted me on the back.

“I’ll keep you updated,” he promised.

“Thanks,” I said to him. “For everything.”

“Hey, it’s what friends are for,” he said with a wink and a grin. With those words left in the air, he turned and left the hospital.

I turned in time to see Carol’s father asking the doctor some other questions about his daughter's wellbeing. Once he was done, the doctor turned and was about to leave but I stopped him.

“When you bring Carol to a room, make it a private room,” I told him. “I’ll pay for everything.”

The doctor nodded.

“Yes, sir. I’ll be back soon.”