The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 23

+25 Point

Threads and Shadows–1

Iva made one decision with absolute clarity: she would use the school library computers to the maximum.

She could not–would not–risk using the one at home.

Her father was too connected, too respected, too feared. If she so much as typed a suspicious sentence, and especially after her escape, she was certain he would ask the pack’s IT division to track her searches, to comb through erased histories, cached data, anything that could betray her intentions.

Better safe than sorry.

Yet safety, she quickly learned, was becoming harder to find.

Ella and her group had grown bolder, sharper, more vicious with every passing hour. Whispered insults followed Iva through the halls. Laughter erupted too loudly when she passed. A shoulder accidentally” slammed into hers between classes. A crude comment murmured just loud enough

to hear.

They wanted to break her.

She kept her head down and walked on.

Nick, of course, watched it all with that same infuriating smirk, his confidence untouched, his

cruelty effortless. And as if the emotional torment was not enough, the red thread between them

still burned in her vision–a thin, glowing line stretching from her chest straight to his.

She hated it.

She hated that her heart still reacted, that the bond did not care about lies or humiliation or

betrayal.

But today, something new happened.

As she sat in class, staring blankly at the board, her breath caught.

Another thread.

Red.

It stretched from one student’s chest to another, both sitting just a few rows apart, oblivious to the invisible truth binding them together.

“Oh Goddess…” Iva whispered internally.

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<Threads and Shadows–1

“You see it too now,” Avalon said quietly, her tone calm but charged with significance. “Your

awareness is expanding.”

“So… I’ll be able to see all of them?” Iva asked, her heart pounding. “All the fated ones?”

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+25 Point

“Yes,” Avalon replied. “And in time, more than that. You will sense them. Feel their presence. Even

across distance.”

Iva swallowed. “That’s… terrifying.”

“It is power,” Avalon corrected gently. “But power must be controlled. Or it will overwhelm you.”

Iva leaned back in her chair, stunned. She was changing faster than she had ever imagined.

During lunch, she found Lori nearly vibrating with happiness.

“I still can’t believe it,” Lori gushed, gripping Iva’s hands. “Lycan Academy! Medical track! I swear I’ve reread the acceptance letter twenty times already.”

Tomorrow, she told herself. Hopefully tomorrow.

Iva dragged her feet home, exhaustion seeping into her bones. When she opened the front door,

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