Intertwined: Chapters 17-25 by Britta
Characters InvolvedAden
Mary Ann
Eve
Elijah
Julian
Caleb
Victoria
Riley
Dmitri
Vlad the Impaler
Tucker
John O'Conner
Chloe
Dan
Shannon
Ozzie
Anne
Carolyn
Morris
Penny
Places VisitedD and M Ranch
School
Mary Ann's house
Tri City
The forest
Dmitri's home
Summaries
Chapters 17-25
Mary Ann discovers what Aden was like while a patient of her fathers, from her father's journal.
Morris writes that he was drawn to take a position in the institution after being drawn to Aden with great intensity. Aden was a loaner, and seemed happiest in shadows, but Morris saw longing in his eyes to fit in. Aden was assaulted by a fellow patient who stated that he wanted him to disappear. At a young age, Aden was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Morris looked through his file to discover that he had been accused of escaping locked rooms, and mysteriously reappeared in rooms he would not have had access to. Everyone believed him to be skilled at picking locks. Morris remembers having observed the same behavior in his wife. In the next session, he noticed that Aden seemed older than what he was. Aden told him about four souls living inside of him. Morris tried to dismiss his claim, but found himself intrigued with Eve and her similarities with his wife. Morris regretted ever going to work at the institution, now that thoughts of his former wife plague his mind, affecting his relationship with his new wife.
Mary Ann stops reading, questioning whether the woman she believed to be her mother is her birth mother. Later on, she and her father argue about Aden. He feels that Aden is dangerous, and wants her to stop hanging out with him. He threatens to send him away, before promising not to, if she promises to stop spending
time with him. Before she can respond, Riley arrives to walk her to school.
Aden wonders why Victoria, Mary Ann and Riley are not at school. He longs to ditch as well, but thinks better of it. While in class, John O'Conner, a ghost, appears next to him asking him if he spoke to a girl named, Chloe. Aden asks John if he had a superpower when he lived. John replied that he did not, but that he could sense people's emotions because he was too sensitive. Aden realizes him to be an empath.
John implores Aden to talk to Chloe for him, and he promises that he will. John tells him to tell her that he loved her. He explains that he asked her out on a dare. Chloe overheard his friends teasing, and wanted nothing to do with him. He could feel her pain so strongly that he did something stupid...and here he is. Aden asks him if he could get him a bottle of nail polish, and John agrees. On the way to find Chloe, Aden gets into a fight with Tucker. He realizes Tucker has supernatural powers, when he teleported them both to an alleyway outside of the school. Victoria appears, and manipulates the growing crowd into believing that they saw a tall blond stranger assault Tucker.
John appears with a bottle of nail polish, and implores Aden to find Chloe. He finds her in the cafeteria with her friends, and asks her if they can speak alone. He tells her that he and John were friends, and that John loved her, but she is outraged, believing him cruel. As she turns to leave, Aden reveals that he doesn't really know John, but that he has an ability to speak to the dead. John tells him to tell her that he meant what he told her when he said he would run away with her. He intended to give her his grandmothers' ring, and hid it in the glove box of her car to surprise her. Chloe cries, willing Aden to leave her alone, but a beam of light hits John, outlining his silhouette. Chloe reaches out, calling John's name. Aden asks her what she would say to him if she could, and she says that she believed John told her the truth when she found the ring. John thanked her, before disappearing. Chloe's friends gather around to console her, while Aden wonders if he will ever see John again. Victoria arrives, and they drive off, Aden suspicious that his day is about to take a turn for the worst.
Victoria reveals that she 'borrowed' a car so that they could meet Mary Ann and Riley in Tri City.
Aden asks her about the man at his window the other night, who heard her tell him to leave her alone. She explains that she did not want to do it, but if she hadn't, they would have been subjected to punishment from her father. She further explained that the man's name is Dmitri, and that he's never hurt her physically. Aden ponders on his feelings for her. He realizes that he loves her.
Victoria tells him that she hasn't been able to get visions of him dying out of her mind. Aden asks if he can be changed into a vampire. She explains that most times, humans die when a vampire attempts to change them. Vampires can only be born form a vampiric mother. Upon arriving at their destination, Aden surprises Victoria with the nail polish, and she loves it.
Riley and Mary Ann appear next to the car with ominous faces. Riley alerts them that something is getting worse, and it seems everyone else but Aden knows what it is. They look out at the crowds of people on the street, and Victoria points out a witch, disguised as a human. Aden notices that this woman scans those around her, and seemed to be enveloped in a glow. He asks how they can tell, and Mary Ann explains that he has to train his eye to look beneath the surface. Victoria goes on to explain that witches can bless and curse. Riley says that the witches are drawn to Aden, and will use him to increase their powers. If he is captured, they will drain him. Victoria points out a man behind the witch: a fairy. Fairies drain energy, but consider themselves protectors of humans. Goblins, the nocturnal flesh eaters, and demons are also hot on his trail.
Aden believes that if he leaves he will keep his friends safe, but Victoria warns that they will follow him wherever he goes. It's better if he's with Mary Ann, so that his powers will be muted. As the creatures begin to close in on them, Aden tells Riley to take Victoria away from there, and that they would all meet at Mary Ann's house. Before they leave, Victoria allows Aden to drink some of her blood in order to heal his wounds. Heat spreads through his body like a fever.
As they move away from the creatures passing as humans, Mary Ann tells Aden that she ordered the birth certificates, and that she read her father's journal. Her father really liked Aden but he was disturbed about his ability to time travel, and the connection it had with her mother. Aden thanked her for finding out more information. They drive to Mary Ann's house to wait for the package, and Riley and Victoria, but neither arrive. Before Aden leaves, he warned Mary Ann to lock her doors, and to call him if she hears from Riley and Victoria.
Mary Ann receives the package of birth certificates. She discovers that they were both born on the same day at St. Mary's hospital. Along with this, she also discovers that the woman she always thought to be her mother is really her aunt. Her father explains that he started dating Carolyn, her aunt, but afterwards fell in love with her sister, Anne, at first sight. Anne, like Aden, would disappear for hours, claiming to go back in time to a former self. After Mary Ann was born, her mother passed away. Overwhelmed, Mary Ann decides to leave home for a break. On the way she meets Riley, and they move to find Aden.
Aden experiences after affects of tasting Victoria's blood. He's linked to her, and he can now see as she sees, feel as she feels. Through her, he witnesses her kill a man who is abusive to his family in an alleyway. As she heals the man, Dmitri appears behind her commanding that she come home with him. She is unwilling, and Dmitri leaves, but threatens that her 'fun' will soon end. She goes to Aden and they meet Mary Ann and Riley. Mary Ann fills him in on the news of her mother, and their births. Aden believes that Eve could be Mary Ann's mother.
They go to a hotel room to rest, and explore this new possibility further. Aden allows Eve to take over his body so that she and Mary Ann can get to the bottom of it. Mary Ann gives Eve her mothers old journal to look over, and as Eve reads, it unlocks memories which cause her to teleport back into time for a moment. When she teleports back she realizes she is Mary Ann's mother. They share a moment, talk of memories, and then Eve realizes it is time for her to leave forever. She is now at peace. Aden finds it hard to comprehend that this soul who has been with him for so long, is now gone.
Tomorrow is the day of the Vampire Ball, the day Aden will meet Vlad the Impaler. Along with this, other mystical creatures such as the goblins, fairies and witches are flooding into the town seeking the energy that Aden emits unknowingly. Riley, Victoria, Mary Ann and Aden come together preparing for their appearance. As they prepare, Aden finds out that Dmitri is Victoria's betrothed. Before he can fully react, a group of witches surround them. As the main witch steps forward to talk, Caleb feels something very familiar about her, but is unable to see her face. The witch warns that they will organize a meeting with their elders in one week, and they expect Aden to be there. If he doesn't show up, Victoria, Riley and Mary Ann will die.
Everyone prepares for the Vampire Ball. Victoria gives both Mary Ann and Aden outfits to attend the ball, she a damsel, and he a knight. Once they arrive at the ball, Dmitri seems to welcome them. They witness other vampires drinking from blood slaves. To Aden and Mary Ann's shock, his old enemy Ozzie and her boyfriend Tucker are tied to tables. Ozzie's already dead, and the Vampires are drinking from Tucker as he yells for help. After a while, Ozzie rises from the dead, and Aden attacks him. Victoria warns Dmitri that her father would deal with him, but Dmitri is unscathed. Dmitri has killed Vlad, thus making him the new King. Aden challenges Dmitri, and if he wins he gets Victoria's hand. They attack each other to the death. In the end, Aden wins, but he wins a bit more than he expected. Upon killing Dmitri, he became the new Vampire King.
Quotes"...I had felt drawn to this institution with the same intensity they were drawn to drawn to the boy" (305, Chapter 17).
"Hey, Chlo. God, I miss you" (332, Chapter 18).
"Tell your friends to stop going out after dusk. The missing persons count is about to sky-rocket. The death toll, as well" (343, Chapter 19).
"The more time I spent with Anne, the more I realized she was a bit unusual...She would claim that she had traveled into a younger version of herself" (359, Chapter 20).
"What if I did indeed draw you into my head the day of my birth? We agree you're human souls without bodies of your own. What if you're actually ghosts? What if you died the day of my birth, in the hospital I was in? What if you, Eve, really are Mary Ann's--... And there it was. Out in the open. Eve might very well be Mary Ann's mother." (383, Chapter 21)
"I love you, Mary Ann...This isn't Aden's doing. It's mine. My time to go. I was granted my final wish, and now it's someone else's turn so that Aden can have the peace he's always wanted. The peace he deserves." (Chapter 22, 397).
"We will call a meeting in one week's time, when our elders arrive. You will attend that meeting, human. If you fail to do so, the people in this circle will die. Doubt me not." (Chapter 23, 409)
"I'm saying his decision to allow your human scum to live was wrong. I'm saying he should have had better control of you, for he who cannot control his own daughter has no business reigning over an entire race of vampires. I'm saying...he's dead. Dead by my hand this very morning." (Chapter 25, 431)
"The vampires were now bowing in his direction...'With the death of my father, Dmitri was indeed king. But you just killed Dmitri, which means...'" (Chapter 25, 436)
Questions:
Why do you think each group of creatures, aside from the witches, are drawn to him?
Who else do you believe Aden will draw to him in future novels?
If you were Aden, would you have felt relief at the thought of the souls leaving?
What do you think is the significance of the souls in Aden's mind being ghosts, instead of originating with him?
What do you think of Eve's discovery that she is Mary Ann's mother?
What do you suppose the connection is between Caleb and the witch?
Do you believe that Tucker will play a huge part in future plot lines, as he is still a demon?
What do you think of Aden being the king of the vampires? Good ending for book one..not too sure?
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