We are back at the motel and I'm seconds away from losing my cool if Damian doesn't start talking. I literally just saw Roman. Roman fucking Benedict and I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around it.

"Camille." I stop pacing at the sound of his voice and look at him, he's sitting on the bed with Jessica sitting beside him quietly. She hasn't said anything since we came back. I think she's also waiting for Damian to start talking. "Calm down."

My eyes twitches as the words sinks in. "You did not just tell me to calm down?" I ask in a low tone. He didn't just say that.

He exhales and shakes his head like he didn't mean it like that. "Listen, what I'm trying to say is that–"

"So you are telling me to calm down. You said you were going to tell me everything that happened and you haven't said anything since we got here and I've been waiting."

He gets on his feet and approaches me, he raises his hands to touch me but I step back. I watch hurt flashes in his eyes but it doesn't stay long as his hands drops to his side. "Settle down, Camille. Sit down and I will tell you everything you need to know."

I cross my arms above my chest and huff, standing my ground. "The only reason I'm still standing in front of you is because you know something that I don't. Make no mistake, Damian."

He sighs and shoves his hands into his pocket. "Very well. I know Roman Benedict is alive. I've known this whole time. After he got shot and we got capture, I was killed," he reminds me one of the most painful moments of my life. Watching him burn to ashes made me angry and sad, but I guess I never thought to ask how he was alive when he turned up after the fight was over.

"Only I wasn't. The creature burned me but the wind carried my ashes, I reformed outside and left. I heard you, Camille. I knew you were losing and I didn't do anything because if I won that battle for you, you would never have learned that he was your father and you did good at the end of the day."

I can't believe what I'm hearing. Especially with hearing the tone Damian is using to deliver each words. It takes me back to the time I was dealing with cold Damian and not the one I recently got introduced to, the Damian that kisses me on the forehead.

"I went back to the school and saw Roman's body laying on the ground. I listened to his heartbeat, it was slow and weak but it worked. After I realized he was alive but didn't have much time. I took him to Nurse Grady, who told me the bullet went through but didn't damage any organs. He was lucky to be alive and lucky in the sense that he's been laying dead on the cold ground. Grady treated him. I took him to the mansion that same day before he could regain consciousness." He stops to take a breath, giving me the opportunity to swoop in and make comments.

"You mean to tell me that Roman was at the infirmary that same day we return. He was in the building. He was so fucking close and you didn't think to tell me!" My forehead line with angry vein.

"Let me finish. And then you're free to make judgement." He says.

I nod and give him the floor to continue. He's right. He should finish his story before I go crazy.

"Thank you. Roman Benedict betrayed you. He hurt you. He made you cry and it's my job to protect you, so I did something with the permission of my father and the queen. I erased his memories of his life and gave him new ones. I took him to Concord Hills to start a new life. He doesn't remember you because I don't want him to remember you. He isn't Roman Benedict anymore. He is Joshua Sinclair, an orphan raised in a humble home of the Sinclair family in Lauren Hills but they tragically died in a fire. Heartbroken, Joshua moved to Concord Hills to finish his senior year."

Damian doesn't make eye contact throughout. He keeps his eyes low while I don't have the strength and courage to tear my eyes off him. I thought I knew him. I mean, he isn't exactly an opened book but I thought I caught glimpse of who he is but I was wrong.

"How can you do that to me?" I demand.

"Honestly, you were all I was thinking about. You have no idea what it was like to see you cry and he"–directing his fingers outside like Roman is there–"made you cry. If I had the chance to go back and change anything, I wouldn't. You weren't supposed to go looking for him. The spell I made Jessica give you was supposed to give you closure but your mind is too strong and wouldn't let go, that's why you kept seeing him. The mirage you saw wasn't a spy or anything you previously thought it was. It was just a fabrication of your memories. Whatever he said and did was all you.

"I know you're about to ask me to put him back to where he was but I won't do that. I erased his memories and cleansed his soul of everything. He still has his magic and that was the only reason you were able to find him. He is still a Scorpio Wizard but he doesn't even know. He has a new life now as Josh Sinclair and that's all that matters."

I scoff humorless. "That's all that matters? How can you stand there and say that shit to me? Me? You have no idea what I've been going through. Do you think it's okay to erase someone's life and give them a new life? And you call that a new beginning. He has a family. Sisters that needs him. Penelope–"

"His family sold him to the high lord like a pig. His sisters hated him because they thought he left. There parents are members of the council, Camille. How do you think they know about your parents disappearance? How do you think they know Roman died? That's because he wasn't the only spy in The Vale. Ariana and Brianna was sent to befriend you but the girls had other plans. They came to my father and told him everything. They're good people. They didn't hurt anyone but that doesn't mean they didn't do what they were sent there to do. Those two knows everything. I expected them to figure out the whereabouts of their brother but they don't care about him.

"Yes, they're grieving but it's not about Roman. The only people that cares about him is you and Penelope. Now you see why I didn't tell you."

I sigh and shake my head. "I don't see any-fucking-thing think but your lies and deception. We're done, Damian. We're fucking done. I never want to see you again."

His lips parts to speak but nothing comes out. "Very well but I will be escorting you back to school."

I nod, keeping a strong front while my inside breaks. He didn't even apologize.

"What now?" Jessica speaks for the first since we entered the room.

"Now we return to The Vale."

I found Roman. My little road trip has come to an end. I need to return to school, at least there I would be too distracted to think about anything and everything else.

****

I find myself stuck in a limbo, uncertainty fills my mind even though everything has been revealed and some things finally make sense.

I've always longed for the truth and no matter how it's delivered, it's always hard. I know learning the truth wasn't going to be easy. I had a debate with myself about how I was going to take it but I never thought I would be this devastated and hurt. I never asked for anything but the truth. I guess that's too much to ask.

Yet I find myself wondering why Damian didn't talk to me. Why didn't he tell me any of this? Does he not trust me? After everything we've been through together. After everything I've been through.

I was so convinced that Jessica created the ghost Roman to spy on me. I was so angry at her. I never thought Damian could ever do this to me. Was it fun watching me get lost inside my own head? He said he wanted me to learn. He wanted me to grow by myself but this isn't growth, it's fucked up. He and Dean didn't fight the high lord even after knowing what they did to my parents. Damian knew Arihmatheo was planning to kill the high lord and didn't say anything.

Hearing him say all those things made me feel like a damn fool and don't let me get started on Ari and Brie. I thought they were my friends. They were the first to speak to me and I actually thought they it was genuine. I didn't know it was all set up. And they had the nerve to blame me for Roman's death after everything.

When did the whole world turn upside down?

I keep wanting to adjust to this new life. New powers. New school but everyday, a challenge comes up. One I fight to end but this is just the one thing I can't figure out. Why me?

There are so many people on Earth. So why me. Why now? Why is everything happening now? The universe picked the wrong person and fate be damned.

Everytime I think I've won a battle, a war stew in the back and I wouldn't know of it until it comes to knock me down my ass.

It's always easy to accept things that have happened rather than think about what could have happened if I'd fought it. Every time I make a blind decisions, it always comes back to me and I've always accepted it because I try not to regret the things I do but this is one thing I can say I regret, and it's letting myself be vulnerable to Damian.

I don't think he ever had real feelings for me. To him I'm just a thing he's been asked to protect. He'll never see me as an equal. I'm always going to be the lesser being and I don't blame him. I don't blame anyone but myself because this whole situation wouldn't have been messy if I hadn't opened my heart to him. My feelings isn't something I can control but I could have done a better job keeping it in instead of acting on it and pursuing him.

Now he's fucked me over and made me see that I can't trust anyone but myself. I am the only person I can count.

I don't need anyone.

I just can't believe Damian did that to me. Me! To me! I don't think I can ever get over this and to think he was actually giving our relationship a go. What a waste of my time.

Everything he did hurt but him acting like it was something he needed to do hurt more. He wasn't remorseful about his actions. He brainwashed Roman and he dared call it a better life. Better life for whom? Certainly not for me or Penelope.

I'm going back to school now where I have to face her. She isn't my biggest fan and I have the same opinion about her but she has the right to know. As for the twins, I don't know what to do about them.

"The bus is here." Jessica shakes my shoulder as she speaks.

Thinking about nothing else but getting back to school and curling up in tight ball on my bed. Damian could open a portal so we get there fast but I don't want to talk or look at him. Hence our arrival at the bus stop. I open my eyes and notice the bus pulling over in front of me. The bus stop is standing in front of an open field and I wouldn't have any problems with the incoming storm but I look up and see the dark clouds that shadows my feelings. I know it's going to take me a while to let this go.

I look down beside me to check my backpack and see it there. I grab it as I get up. I sling it on my shoulder and approaches the bus not waiting for the others to join me.

The driver opens the door, I raise my head and gasp when I see what's waiting for me.

"Oh, shit. Fuck no!"

The man pulls the trigger of his shotgun.

Not getting the chance to react, the numerous small pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles hit my chest, spreading across my front as the impact takes me flying away. My body crashes against the glass that shelters the bus stop.

"Her head is mine."

Yeah, I should have just let Damian open the portal. Now I'm going to die.