fade away.

nine.

. chapter nine

August couldn't believe it. She knew it was her fault. It wouldn't leave her mind. She saw it first, so therefore she must be responsible for Darwin's death. Angel leaving is a different story; she didn't know that would happen. But she could have prevented Darwin from dying in such a brutal way. August could have saved him – could have helped.

It was tearing up her insides. She was barely paying attention to where the group was going because her thoughts were focused on nothing but Darwin. It was her fault, no matter what anyone said, it was. August has his blood on her hands, which is something she will never forgive herself for.

The car parked outside a ginormous mansion. August stopped only for a moment to take it in, before she continued thinking about Darwin. Her whole body was numb as she followed the mutant group out of the vehicle.

August stood just behind Erik, staring up at the large building, her thoughts jumbled as she tried to stay at peace with her mind.

To her left, she heard Sean shuffle. "This is yours?"

"No," Charles smirked, staring proudly up at the mansion, "it's ours."

August would have smiled, but all she really wanted was to lay in bed for the rest of the day. She was in no mood to be around people, especially people she knew she let down, even if they didn't know it.

Thinking back on the night, what had happened that caused her to see into the future like that? Is it the same thing that she felt when trying to assure and protect Angel and Raven? It couldn't be possible, but August could only think of one explanation. Are her mutant abilities finally surfacing? Could they really come that easily?

The group began to advance, moving in the direction of the front doors of the mansion. August followed behind at a slow pace, trying to connect with the same energy -or lack of- that she felt the night before. She couldn't seem to channel it, though, which left a sour look on her face.

"August?"

August jumped at the sound of Erik's voice, now noticing that they reached the kitchen. Everyone had their eyes on her, each look held concern and confusion as to why August had spaced out.

"Are you joining us for lunch?" Erik asked, seeming to repeat himself, something August could tell he doesn't enjoy doing.

"Uh, I'm not all that hungry," she said, but it was a lie. The last time she ate was yesterday, for lunch, before the attack. She was starving, to say the least, but she couldn't bring herself to eat.

She caught Charles' gaze as the others accepted her answer and walked away. He gave August a skeptical look, knowing that she had lied. He tipped his head to the left, motioning to the hall, and August complied.

Stepping through the kitchen door, August sighed. Why was it always Charles that was there? Sometimes Erik, but that was once, or twice counting the bicycle incident.

Her green eyes were trained on Charles as he made sure that the others would not interfere with their discussion.

"What's the matter, August?" he asked, genuine concern in his blue eyes. "Something is troubling you."

"You tell me," August huffed. "You're the telepath."

Charles pressed his lips into a thin line, averting his gaze from her. "I'm not going to read your mind, August."

August didn't want to say this aloud, though. It would be too difficult, and she may burst into tears in front of him. August needed him to read her mind.

"Please," she whispered, her eyes never leaving him as he looked back up in surprise at her tone.

He nodded, taking a step closer so that he stood only a foot away. He stared into August's eyes, and soon she felt the familiar prodding in her head. She allowed him access, and felt him sweep through her thoughts, reading every single contemplation.

Then, the sensation left her head.

Charles shook his head, looking at August solemnly. He took her shoulders in his hands, and pulled her into him.

"You didn't kill him, August," he mumbled into her ear. "It wasn't your fault that Darwin died. You know it wasn't."

"But it is, Charles," she protested, pulling away from the Professor. "You saw what happened. I saw it happen before it actually occurred. I-I could've stopped Shaw, stopped Darwin and Alex, if I had been paying attention. It's all my fault he's dead, Charles. It's all my fault."

Hot tears were now streaming down her reddened cheeks as she messed with the hem of her sweater.

Charles pulled her back into his embrace, kissing her temple swiftly, in a comforting way. He set his chin on top of her head, running his hands up and down her back as she cried silently into his shoulder.

"I'm here, August," he whispered, his grip on her tightening. "I'll always be here, no matter what. I won't leave you alone again."

Hello there.

I would like to inform you about my schedule next week. I'll be going to Universal during the whole of next week.

Don't worry, my updates will still happen, I assure you. However, I may forget about updating and do it the day after, or whenever I do remember.

Yes, I'm on vacation, but I'm not going to use that as some silly excuse so I don't have to update this book. It's not that hard for me to open the app up on my phone and press a button to update.

This is just a warning about any irregular updating that may happen any time during next week.

When I write a book, I feel I should be dedicated to it. I feel this way because I failed to do so during the last series I attempted to write. I won't be abandoning this series any time soon.

Thank you for reading,
Mikayla x