Chapter 287

Joseph’s POV

After I hung up with Tessa, I went straight to the dormitory in Ruby’s section of the school and as soon as I got to her wing, Erika greeted me with tears in her eyes. She had her arms wrapped around her body like she was struggling to keep herself together and I could tell she’s been crying heavily and probably for a while.

“What’s going on?” I asked as soon as I stepped into the room.

Erika sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. I had known Erika for a long time; she had worked at this school as dorm advisor and mentor for many decades and students looked up to her as a parental figure.

She was wise beyond her years, even though looked as if she was in her early 40s. In reality, she was actually a few centuries old.

“She tried to warn me…” Erika whimpered. “And I didn’t listen to her.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Ruby. She had a dream before it happened. I told her it was just her anxiety and that nothing bad was going to happen. She told me exactly what she saw Joseph and it played out exactly how she said. I didn’t believe her and now several students are dead, including Sebastian. Maybe even more if the board wasn’t already on alert and went after them. She was so sure it was going to happen that she went to the board about it.”

“They obviously didn’t believe her either or else this entire thing would have been avoided,” I replied, shaking my head with dismay on my face.

I hadn’t meant to sound as harsh as it did, but she flinched at my tone, and I sighed.

“It’s not your fault, Erika. You didn’t know. You can’t hold that against yourself,” I assured her, trying to sound reasoning, but I was also a little wound up and needed to see Ruby.

Erika shook her head as more tears fell from her eyes.

“How is it even possible? She’s only been here a couple of weeks and she already has a gift. That has never happened before,” Erika, still in clear disbelief.

“Is she in her room?” I asked.

Erika nodded.

“She’s in room 5, around the corner,” she answered, pointing me in the right direction. “She hasn’t left all night. Everybody is excused from classes today because of the tragedy. Ruby hasn’t left since everything unfolded. I feel like a terrible mentor.”

“Don’t do that to yourself,” I told her firmly. “It’ll only make you feel worse. Right now, we just need to figure out what’s going on with Ruby. I’m sure she’s even more heartbroken and feeling helpless.”

Erika nodded.

“I tried talking to her, but she won’t speak to anyone. Maybe Emma can get through to her.”

“Emma?”

“Her roommate. She’s kind of like Ruby’s best friend in this place,” Erika explained. “They are very close. Ruby’s close to a few others too, but not like Erika. They are two peas in a pod.”

I nodded thoughtfully; it was nice that someone had someone like that here. She needed friends when things seemed messed up.

I thanked Erika and once again told her not to blame herself before I excused myself and went around the corner and to Ruby’s room.

I knocked on the door and waited for several seconds before knocking again. I heard shuffling on the other side of the door, and I started to grow nervous that something was wrong. Just before my mind began to spiral, the door opened, and a small blonde poked her head through the door. She looked up at me and her eyes widened.

“You’re Elder Joseph Evergreen,” the girl stammered, opening the door even wider. “Holy shit.”

I nodded.

“I’m here to speak with Ruby,” I told her, peeking around her and seeing Ruby sprawled out on the bed covered over the length of her body.

“I don’t want to talk,” she murmured.

I’m assuming the girl who answered the door was Emma; she looked worried for her friend, and she peered back up at me.

“She’s taking everything very hard. I’m sure you heard about the tragedy,” Emma explained in a whisper; not that Ruby couldn’t hear her with her accelerated vampire hearing. “It sucks that people here had to die. They didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Shut up, Emma,” Ruby growled, throwing the covers off her body to glare at her roommate.

Ruby looked pale and her eyes were red from crying. She was a mess and if Carter knew what was happening to her, he would drop everything to come here. So would Tessa.

Emma flinched at her words and turned to face Ruby.

“I’m just saying, it was a horrible thing that happened. I don’t get why you think you are the only one affected by any of this. You are acting as if these people meant the world to you. You didn’t even know any of the victims, Ruby,” Emma argued.

It was at that moment, I realized that Emma had no idea that Ruby foresaw the events happening. I’m sure Ruby probably didn’t want anyone else to know. I cleared my throat loudly, hoping to stop the bickering.

“Emma, would it be okay if I spoke to Ruby alone?” I asked, trying to be as polite as possible and not raise alarm bells.

Emma’s mouth fell open as she stared at me.

“You are here to speak with Ruby? Do you know her personally?”

“That’s not your business, Emma,” Ruby muttered, folding her arms across her chest.

“What is wrong with you? What did I do to you all of a sudden?” Emma shot back, hurt in her voice.

Ruby winced at her words, but she didn’t say anything. She was angry at the world; I’ve been there more times than I could count. It wasn’t Emma’s fault; Ruby was just dealing with these emotions the best way that she could.

“Sorry, Em…” Ruby whispered, her voice shaky as she fought back more tears.

Emma’s face softened and she sighed.

“It’s fine. I’m just worried about you…” Emma said in return. “I don’t need you losing your humanity on me.”

“That won’t happen,” Ruby said firmly. “I would never let that happen.”

“If you don’t get a handle on your emotions, it could without you realizing it,” Emma said, worry clear in her tone. “You are in the same class as me, remember? We learned about this already.”

Ruby nodded and sniffled as more tears fell from her eyes. Then she looked at me and sighed.

“We should talk,” she told me, I nodded in return. Then she looked back at Emma. “Let me talk with Joseph and then I’ll talk with you after.”

Emma looked uncertain, but she soon nodded and grabbed her bag off the ground near her bed.

“Okay,” she said softly. “I’ll be back later. Then, we can talk.”

Ruby nodded in agreement and waited for Emma to walk out of the door before she groaned and flopped back onto the bed. I sighed and stepped into the room, shutting the door behind me.

“Are you okay?” I finally asked after a beat of silence.

Ruby peaked over at me as I sat on the couch.

“Do I look okay?” She muttered.

I shook my head.

“No, you don’t,” I admitted. “What happened, Ruby?”

“I’m sure you already heard all about it or else you wouldn’t be here,” she muttered.

I nodded.

“Yeah, but I want to hear it from you.”

She sighed and lifted her head to look at me; her eyes flooding with tears.

Ruby explained everything she saw in her dream but then paused and asked, “Why were they drinking vampire blood? It made no sense…”

“Sometimes if a vampire is desperate enough and there's no other choice, they will resort to drinking vampire blood,” I explained. “It’s gross, but it does happen occasionally.”

“Well, it happened with all of them…” she whispered.

I thought about that youngest one, Natalia, and I shuddered.

“Even the young one?”

Ruby’s brows raised as she studied me.

“So, she is as young as she was in my dream?”

I nodded.

“She was only 16. Out of the 5 of them, she was the only one not approved to be a vampire,” I confessed. “Two of them were born that way and were automatically approved by the council. But she obviously wasn’t…”

Ruby’s shoulders slumped.

“I was afraid of that…” she murmured. “She didn’t kill anyone. But she did drink blood.”

I nodded, relieved to hear at least the girl didn’t kill anyone. There might be hope for her; not that there wasn’t hope for the others. But they were going to be more difficult to train. I still needed to find out why the others were approved to be turned.

“What’s happening to me?” Ruby whispered, staring down at her hands. “Why did I see all that happen when I couldn’t even stop it?”

“You tried to stop it,” I told her firmly, suddenly feeling aggravated on her behalf. “I’m sorry that nobody listened to you, Ruby. But you did what you could with the information you had. There was plenty of time, if they had listened to you from the beginning, it would have been prevented. I guarantee that they won’t dismiss your concerns going forward.”

She gasped at my words.

“You think this is going to happen again?”

I wasn’t going to lie to her, so I nodded.

“Yes, Ruby. You were gifted by the moon goddess. It rarely happens this quickly after your transition, but it’s the truth. I do not doubt in my mind, that you are a prophet.”

She looked dazed by this information, and I spent some time explaining to her what it meant. She was able to stop tragedy and maybe even more before it happened. After her initial shock wore off, she seemed content and pleased with her new ability.

Just before I left for the evening, Ruby told me she was growing exhausted again and that her eyes wouldn’t remain open for a second longer.

She got into bed and passed right out. I thought about leaving right then and there, but then I saw her squirming and breathing heavily. Sweat appeared on her forehead and she started to whimper.

She was having another vision. I sat on the couch and waited for Ruby to wake. She didn’t wake until several minutes later and then she shot right back up, tears running down her face.

I stood up quickly.

“What did you see?” I asked without hesitation.

She looked startled to see me but then she calmed slightly.

“It’s…it’s Tessa…” she whispered, sending my entire world into a spiral. “Lucias is going to take her away…”