Fractured by N.O Darling

Chapter 0021

Mr Collins takes his place on the podium and the room fall silent. Anger radiates from him and I'm unsure if it's at

my outburst or for sother reason.

“Thank you all for arriving here promptly and 1 apologise for the disturbance but this is not a matter that can

wait. This morning | have had to suspend three of our students, and | will not hesitate to suspend more should |

need to. | know the rumours that are spreading around the school may be concerning for some, and for others

this

may

be exciting. | can confirm that we highly suspect The Spark bond has been triggered between our new student,

Josie Banks and one of our previously unbonded, Theo Henry, although we are yet to have definite proof of this.

What | will not stand for is unbonded students purposely trying to trigger The Spark. We do not go around

making grabs at other students, especially when they are unwanted. The seer has kindly rearranged her

schedule and will arrive tomorrow to identify any further bonds of Miss Banks, I'm sure you can all appreciate

that this is a rare opportunity to record proof of The Spark, so contact between the bonds will be initiated in a

controlled environment. Until this tno unbonded should make contact with Miss Banks, with the exception of

Luke Weston. You may have noticed that Miss Banks has been assigned a team to ensure her safety, please allow

them space and treat them with respect as they carry out their assignment. | will not be discussing this matter

further until we have more information.”

The room begins to becloud with excited chatter and | have to fight to keep my breathing under control.

How dare he discusslike this without at least a warning first

“Just when | thought he couldn't be any more of a dick,” Luke curses and Mr Collins's eyes snap to us. He holds

up a hand, silencing the room.

“I am not done,” he booms. His eyes lock on mine as he makes his next statement and | already know this is

going to be personal. “Whilst | have everyone here | would also like to address another rumour. | have no

favouritism towards Miss Banks. | have had to take special measures to ensure her safety as she is a unique

case, but that is where the differences end. She is no more important tothan anyone else in this room. |

decided to assign her to Ruby temporarily as she is new to this realm and as you can imagine, feeling quite

overwhelmed. As Ruby is our least populated house on campus it was decided she would spend her first month

there before being moved to Amber, where she belongs. Although if the bond with Theo s true, she, along with

any other bonds will be placed in one of Ruby’s bonded suites as is our custom. So to reiterate, there is no

relationship between myself and Miss Banks except a student/headteacher one. If | hear anyone else spreading

such rumours, they will be dealt with. You are all dismissed,” he ends his cruel statement and walks out of sight.

My heart pounds in my chest, he’s just publically toldI’m nothing to him. It hurts, badly, and have no idea

why. | barely know the man but my heart aches for the loss of something | never even had.

“We need to get her out of here, now,” | hear Theo say before things get hazy. | suck in useless breaths, void of

oxygen. My heart pounds loudly, drowning out most of the noise in the room and stars blur my vision.

“Josie! Look atright now,” a voice booms.

‘Back the fuck off,” | hear another voice growl.

“Then get her under control before she brings this whole building down!”

Theo calm her down, she’s having a panic attack,

“It’s kind of hard when | feel like my heart is about to burst out of my chest,” I hear the strain in Theo's voice.

He's in pain.

“Theo?” | manage to croak between ragged breaths.

“I'm here babe, just calm your breathing, everything is okay,” He says softly, trying to hide the fear in his voice.

+25 BONUS

Chapter 0021

“Hey, Josie. Listen to me. Breathe withokay?” Luke's smooth voice soothes. | manage to nod my head and

attempt to follow the rhythm of his breathing. He takes my hand and places it on his chest. | focus on how his

chest expands and contracts under my hand and slowly | manage to match my breathing to his. “That's it,

you've got it,” he praises wrapping his arms aroundand pullingcloser until my cheek is on his chest,

listening to him breathe. “Keep following my breathing, everything is fine,”

“Shit babe, we need to work on this connection thing,” The says, his weight pressing against my back so I'm

sandwiched between him and Luke. Surprisingly | don’t hate It, In fact, | don’t think I've ever felt this safe. All |

want to do now is sleep, like this. | don’t even care that we are standing up in the middle of the hall. | don’t even

care who is watching, because here in this safe little bubble everything is perfect. Until another voice speaks.

“It should get easier when she has the rest of her bonds to ground her. You will all need to work together to

stabilize her and each other,” Mr Collins says, popping my bubble.

“We wouldn't have needed to stabilize her if you hadn't just pulled that stunt,” Luke snaps.

“You're right, | made a mistake, but it was necessary for reasons I'm not willing to discuss right now. Take her to

her room, she should rest, she expelled a lot of power,” Mr. Collins says and | hear his footsteps retreat. | want to

tell him to piss off or at least stick up my middle finger at him, but I'm too exhausted to do anything but sleep.

“Can you walk Theo?” Luke asks.

“Yeah, I'm good. You carry our girl,” Theo says, and it feels right to be called theirs.

Sometlater | awake to raised voices. | open my eyes to see I'm back in my room but I'm not alone. At the

foot of my bed Theo, Luke and Mr Collins are having a heated discussion.

word

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