Strings of Fate

Chapter 299

Strings of FateThe Final Chapter- Ryann

lam so insanely excited and anxious that | might actually pass out. | probably look a little pale because Bellamy puts down thebox he was carrying and pulls me into a reassuring hug.

“Calm down, everything will be fine.” He promises. | rest my head against his chest and take a few deep breaths.

“| know, I’m just worried. It was super nice of you to arrange for Maggie to get a place in the Shifter compound, and I’m beyondthrilled that Logan’s mum has decided he’s better off living with her full time. I’m so excited to live near Maggie again and it'll belovely for Kiara to have her friend nearby. But... what if the others don’t approve? | mean, it’s one thing for me to live in thecompound, we are engaged after all. But I’m bringing in more non-Shifters. What if people get angry?” | ask anxiously. | know |already decided to do this, and Bellamy was actually the one who suggested it when | was stressing that Maggie really shouldn’tbet living alone and that she wanted to take in Logan but didn’t have the space. It’s the perfect solution, but | don’t wanteveryone to hate me because of it. | know my friends won't mind, but there are still plenty of Shifters that | don’t know well yet.Bellamy laughs.

“It will be fine, | promise. You're far too loveable for anyone to be really upset with you. Plus I’m sure Maggie will have everyoneon their knees begging for her to feed them in no time. What you need to do is relax. You're so stressed out. We get married inaweek and at this rate you're going to collapse halfway down the aisle!” He says the words as a joke but the concern is real. He’sright, I’m stressing out. | need to relax. Thankfully, It’s kind of hard to keep stressing with his arms around me. We stay like thatfor a few more minutes, then continue helping Maggie pack up her boxes. We're just about to take the first load of stuff downnow. Maggie will be paying rent, she insists. But she can now rent out her old place too so she has enough money to manage it.

Kiara bounces over to us.

“The last box is all taped up! | labelled it for the kitchen.” She beams a smile at me. She's ecstatic that her best friend is movingso close. I’m going to have to keep an eye on the two of them. Logan is a pretty mature kid, but Kiara has definitely beenbringing out his mischevious side lately. Still, she’s changed so much in the last few months it’s amazing. She’s so much moreoutgoing. There are times when she gets quiet and sad or scared, but between talking to a therapist and spending time withLogan, she has been doing a lot better.

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She's still nervous around strangers, particularly women, but around friends and family she is far more herself. When | asked herto be the flower girl for my wedding she was thrilled and she’s talked about almost nothing else for weeks.

“Good job.” | complement her. | look around for Logan who is rarely far behind. He wanders over from the other side of the carwith a pleased smile.

“Have you finished packing all your things Logan?” | ask. He confirms that he has. Most of his stuff was at Maggie’s anyway. Itwas really only a few furniture items and some clothes at his mum’s place.

“Perfect. So, with all your stuff in the car there’s no space for you guys. But Megan and Darrien will be coming by in a fewminutes to pick you up and drive you to your new place. Sound good?” | confirm.

“Yes!” He is bouncing in place. | was worried he would be hurt that his mum was so willing to send him to live elsewhere, but ‘heactually just seems relieved. He’s a smart kid, he knows this is for the best. Besides, it’s not like his mother doesn’t love him andhe knows that. She’s

just not a very responsible person. She wasn’t ready to have a kid and she just never learned.| head inside to let Maggie know that we're leaving and that the kids will be waiting with her. She is just finishing a final clean up.

“Are you sure this is okay honey? You're all going out of your way for me so much.” She sounds a little guilty and | immediatelyfeel better about the whole thing. Not because she feels bad but because | remember why | wanted her near us in the first place.

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“Of course I’m sure! You're my family. Besides, you’ve been taking care of me for years. It’s my turn to help take care of you.Plus, this way when Logan and Kiara inevitably decide to sneak out in the middle of the night to see eachother, at least theywon't be wandering through town at night.” | joke. Sort of. I’m a little bit serious. Logan DID actually sneak out once a few weeksago. Kiara had a nightmare and instead of waking me up, she called him. | didn’t know what was going on until Maggie called mesaying that she couldn’t find Logan. He turned up on our doorstep about twenty minutes later. The biggest surprise was that hewasn’t alone. Shaun of all people had picked him up on the street and brought him over. Apparently Amber had asked him to waiton that corner at three in the morning, so she must have known like she always does. Both kids got a lecture about safety andtalking to us first if

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they need to go out somewhere. Logan refused to apologise. He insisted that his friend needed cheering up and that he didn’tthink the adults would let him go so late at night. Eventually we all came to an agreement that as long as there was a GOODreason, we wouldn't refuse late night meetings as long as they asked first and got an adult to drive. Still, it

gave us all a bit of a fright and now | know that the kids are willing to sneak out if that’s what it takes.+1Bo03

Belllamy drives and we arrive at Maggie and Logan’s new home which is already bustling with activity. Shaun and Amber gothere early. Amber insisted on making lunch for everyone and she’s been working on it all morning. Darrien and Megan arriveabout fifteen minutes after we do, Maggie, Logan and Kiara in tow. Megan is quite literally dragging Maggie by the arm into thehouse.

“Come on! We have a surprise for you!” She insists. A surprise? | wasn’t aware of any surprise. What is going on? | glance atBellamy who grins. Oh he’s in on this too. Why didn’t | know about it? | narrow

my eyes at him and he winks at me unrepenteantly.

“Sorry love, but everyone was too worried you would tell her and ruin the surprise. Plus you’ve been busy enough with weddingplans.” He takes my hand and we follow the group. Inside Maggie is standing in the kitchen and she is near tears. | can see why.The kitchen isn’t the one she sae a few weeks ago when she came to check out the place. It has been replaced with the mostgorgeous looking kitchen | have ever seen. With a huge oven, granite benchtops lined with a fancy looking kitchenaid and a fullset of baking tins and other supplies. It's any bakers dream. How the heck did they manage all of this?

“Surprise!” Megan calls out excitedly.

“This is a gift from all of us. We started a collection when you first decided to move in. You make us so many treats we thought itwas only fair. Originally it was just Me, Amber, Bellamy, Ryann, Alex, Megan, Darrien and Aaron. It was meant to be a sort ofhousewarming thing. But when we started looking into it more and more people wanted to chip in. Basically the entire securityteam put money towards it. Then when everyone else heard that we were making a special kitchen for Ryann’s family, a lot ofpeople volunteered to help out so we got most of the actual work done for free.” Shaun explains excitedly. Wow, | didn’t realiseeveryone would be so excited to have Maggie here. Bellamy was right, | really didn’t need to worry after all.

“Oh you dear sweet things. I’m going to have to make each and every one of you your favourite deserts. So you had better starta list or a sign up sheet of something. I'll have to

3/6The Final Chapter- Ryanngive this new kitchen a whirl!” She is actually crying at this point and I’m about two seconds away from joining her.

“That’s going to take a lot of baking and will cost a lot. So I’m making a new rule. Anything you bake and give out to our Shiftersyou can bill the ingredients to me.” He declares. Maggie

shakes her head.

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“Oh no, | couldn't.” She refuses.

“l insist. Think of it as my keeping up morale.” He insists. The two of them go back and forth. for a few minutes, but eventuallyMaggie caves and agrees to let Bellamy contibute to her baking supplies. | suspect she will need it with how the Shifters fightover her baking.

Amber is getting ready to serve lunch when Aaron finally arrives. He isn’t working today since. I’m with Bellamy anyway. Butapparently this moving day has turned into a surprise party and everyone is invited. I’m beyond excited when | realise he hasbought along a plus one. FINALLY | get to meet his mystery girl. Aaron nods a greeting to me, but his girlfriend drags himforward, holding his hand and swinging it between the two of them.

“Hi I’m Penny. And you must be Ryann!” She shakes my hand with her free hand beforecontinuing.

“And your Bellamy. Which means that must be Shaun and Amber. | assume that is Maggie. The cute little blonde over there mustbe Kiara and the strapping lad is Logan. Megan and Darrien are the two on the other side of the counter, right?” She points us allout like she’s on a game show and she’s playing to win.

“Uh... yeah. That's right. It’s lovely to meet you Penny. Hey you're not an Oracle, are you? Because that was impressive.” |comment. She laughs, a light tinkling sound that is strangely

pleasant.

“No, no. I’m actually half Siren.” She responds easily.

“Oh. Well how did you know all our names? Did you study up on us or something?” | askjokingly.

“Sure, | made up flash cards and quizzed myself. I’m still waiting to meet Alex, Cam and4/6

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Harrison.” She grins at me, flicks her hair out of her face then continues.

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“Nah, I’m just kidding. It was easy to figure out. Aaron talks about you guys all the time.” She explains. We all stare. Somehow itwas more believeable that she had stalked us all online and

made flashcards.03:

We spend a few minutes getting to know Penny who is as chatty as Aaron is quiet. We're just setting up a picnic lunch since wehaven't actually brought over Maggie’s furniture yet when Harry and Cam turn up.

“EVERYONE WE HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!” Harry declares, throwing the front door open and rushing in. He does pause tohug Maggie and high five Kiara before standing before us all expectantly.

“Come on, someone ask!” He whines, Cam rolls her eyes and swats him on the arm playfully.

“They don't have to ask. I’m justgoing to tell them. The registrationfor my new coven has officially beenapproved thanks to you guys! Thatmeans | can finally sell potions andspells. Just in time for the bigre-branding party next weekend!You're all coming right?” She tells usexcited| We all braakourt in Cheersahdido gratulations. Cam needs tobe in a coven to sell magic, but sinceshe isn’t comfortable in her family’scoven anymore she needed a newone. The whole thing was Harry’sidea. He checked the MRO’s officialrules for coven registration anddiscovered that the laws don'tspecify that coven members have tobe Witches. It actually just states thatthey have to be ‘magic users.’ So,Harry, Amber and | are now thenewest members of Cam's coven. Atthis point it’s basically a drinking cluband Megan attends all our ‘meetings’but what matters is that Cam canfinally operate her bar the way shewants to. all sit down to lunch and bythe end of it, Penny has signed up tojoin our coven and has promised tosing at the big re-branding party. Thecontent is on NovelDrama.Org! Readthe latest chapter there!

We

| watch on in satisfaction and whenthe colourful strings joining everyonein the boisterous. ghdupstarts’toovetwh ome, | step into the hall toget a break from everyone. Bellamyfollows and pulls me into a hug. Thecontent is on NovelDrama.Org! Readthe latest chapter there!

“You know what this means?” | ask. He pulls back and tilts his head curiously.

“What?” He asks.

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“It's official. When we were first getting to know eachother you told me that Shifters arebetter off seperated from everyone else. You're officially wrong.” | declare and he laughs.

“| figured that out a long time ago.You, me, and our huge, mixed up,crazy family. We are definitely muchbetter off together.” He confirm sycan't h it, kreach Gp n my tiptded ‘and kiss him. With this lotaround, | don’t know if | will ever haveanother quiet day in my life. But |can't bring myself to regret a thingand | will always be grateful for theday that Bellamy came knocking onmy door and for every day | havesurrounded by my strings of fate. Thecontent is on NovelDrama.Org! Readthe latest chapter there!

+1Bo03Author's note:

Thanks for reading, my new book A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps is updating and you're welcome to read it!The content is on NovelDrama.Org! Read the latest chapter there!