Suddenly I wished I did drink. Why was it that everyone here wanted to get al intense with me right away? "I guess."

Linda reappeared, setting down Jenna's glass of blood with a thunk that sent some of its contents slopping over the sides. I think she would have slammed down Nick's and Daisy's drinks just as hard, but Nick took them from her before she could. A look of disgust flickered over her face when their hands touched. I guess I should have been offended at that, what with her slighting my demon brethren and al , but I couldn't real y blame her.

There was something about Nick and Daisy that made my skin crawl. I could only imagine how creepy they seemed to regular Prodigium.

Especial y when I noticed that the liquid in Nick's and Daisy's glasses was pitch black and oily looking.

"Um, what is that?"I asked after Linda tossed me a room-temperature bottle of water and huffed away.

Nick quirked his eyebrows at me and raised the glass in a kind of toast. "And so the education begins! This, Sophia, is Cassandra's Elixir. It's a potion they brew here at Shel ey's."

I twisted the cap off my water bottle. "A potion? Like with eye of newt and al that?"

Laughing, Nick dipped a finger in his drink and licked it. Ew. "No, no eye of newt. Just water from the Aegean Sea, a couple of shots of hundred-year-old brandy, and a whole lot of magic. Oh, and a dash of faeries'blood."

I took a sip of water to keep my mouth from puckering in disgust.

"What does it do?"Jenna asked, turning her glass of blood around in her hands.

"They say it puts you in the right frame of mind to receive visions of the future,"Daisy said. Then she took her drink from Nick and threw it back like it was water. My esophagus burned in sympathy as Nick did the same thing.

Daisy put down her empty glass, her eyes brighter and cheeks flushed. "But real y it just makes everything in here"-she pointed to her temple-"go al ...hazy. It's nice. You should order one."

"Yeah, I think I'l pass on hazy for tonight."

Nick shrugged. "Your loss."He leaned back in the booth, wrapping his arm tighter around Daisy. She snuggled against him as he said, "So should we get to the bonding part now?"He nudged Jenna's foot with his own. "Why don't you tel us how you got vamped? That's probably an interesting story."

It wasn't. It was a sad story, and one that Jenna hadn't told me until we'd been rooming together for months. I waited for Jenna to tel them that she didn't want to talk about it.

Instead, she took a deep breath and said, "I fel in love with a vampire. I let her turn me because I bought into that whole eternal love spiel. Then The Eye staked her, and I...I kil ed someone because I was starving. Eventual y the Council took me in and sent me to Hecate."

Her voice was flat and emotionless, but I could see how much it cost her to tel that story, even such a condensed version of it.

"Oh, wow,"Daisy breathed. "I'm so sorry."For a second, I thought she was making fun of Jenna, and my hands tightened into fists in my lap. But then I real y looked at her, and saw that her sympathy was total y genuine. There might have even been tears in her eyes.

"Yeah,"Nick said, sounding completely sincere. "That's rough."

No one at Hex Hal had known about Jenna's past except me and, I guessed, Mrs. Casnoff. Stil , nearly everyone there had treated Jenna like a freak and a kil er. But the two demons across from us were looking at Jenna with nothing but compassion.

The music had changed, going from that thumping techno to something softer and slower. It was a welcome relief. "So you two real y have no idea how you became demons?"I asked. Hey, if they were gonna pry into Jenna's personal monster business, I could pry into theirs.

They didn't seem offended, though. Daisy laid her head on Nick's col arbone. "We real y don't."Her face got distant as she said, "Not even dreams.

It's like everything before is just this big black hole."She waved her fingers dreamily in front of her face, and I saw Nick's fingers tighten on her shoulder.

"Al we know is that someone did this to us,"he said, his voice tight.

Jenna shot me a look before saying, "How could you know that?"

"We can feel it,"Daisy said, closing her eyes. When she opened them, they nearly glowed with unshed tears. "It's like we were..."

"Violated,"Nick finished, and Daisy nodded slowly.

"Yeah, exactly,"she said. "It's like everything inside us is different. Our brains, our souls, our blood..."

I found myself nodding. After al , hadn't Dad said demonhood was literal y in our DNA? And I'd been born this way. How weird would it feel to just wake up a demon one day?

"It's awful,"Daisy continued, her words coming out a little slurred. "Al this magic just pounding inside your skul every single day."

Her words sounded strangled, like she was trying hard not to cry. I had no idea what to say. I mean, I wasn't exactly thril ed about being a demon either, but I certainly didn't feel like that. If that's what being demons was like for Nick and Daisy, no wonder they drank al the time.

I cleared my throat. "So do you guys actual y use your powers?"

But before they had a chance to reply, a loud cracking sound echoed through the room.

"What was that?"Jenna asked, nearly dropping her glass of blood.

"Thunder?"I guessed, even though the sound had been more like the crack of a whip, or wood breaking.

The music cut off abruptly, just as a chorus of howls started up from somewhere on the dance floor.

"Don't worry about it,"Nick said with a wave of his hand. "Probably just a shifter fight. Happens like every night."

But then someone-or something-screamed, and suddenly the room was ful of shrieks and guttural cries and pounding feet.

"Sounds like more than a shifter fight to me."I stood up, trying to see the dance floor. It was hard to make out anything through the smoke. Al I could see were hazy forms that seemed to be running toward the door. Then a purpled-winged faerie shot above the crowd, her wings beating furiously.

There was a flash of silver as something curled around her ankle. She shrieked with pain and fel back into the throng.

Then I saw them. Moving in and out of the smoke, like they were made of it, were dozens of dark figures. One moved near enough for me to see the blue lights gleaming off the dagger he held in his hand.

My mouth went dry, and my heart plummeted to somewhere south of my toes.

"What is it?"Daisy asked, looking more curious than worried.

I could barely get the words out. "It's The Eye."

"What?"Jenna cried, leaping to her feet. Nick stood up too, but slowly, shaking his head. "That's impossible."

A bright flash of blue il uminated the room, like a bolt of lightning, as the witch I'd seen dancing with the werewolf earlier struggled with three of the dark figures. Nick's eyes widened. "Oh my God."

"The Eye can't get in here,"Daisy said, shaking her head. "And they've never tried to raid Shel ey's before. Ever."

Nick blinked like he stil couldn't believe what he was seeing. The dance floor was utter chaos now. There was so much magic flying around that my skin ached with it, but none of the spel s seemed to be doing any good. The Eye just kept coming, more and more of them, spil ing into the cramped club. They were outnumbered, but they had the element of surprise on their side, not to mention that most of the Prodigium in Shel ey's had been drinking. That "hazy"feeling Daisy had talked about didn't make for stel ar magic.

"How do we get out of here?"Jenna asked. She was breathing hard, and her fangs were poking out from under her top lip. "Is there a back door or something?"

Nick final y tore his gaze away from the front of the club. "No,"he said. "But we can make one."He reached down and grabbed Daisy's hand, pul ing her to her feet.

"Wait!"I yel ed. Al three of them froze, staring at me. "It's just...we could do something."Off to my right, I saw another faerie trying to fly above the fight. He was struggling, though, thanks to a large rip in one of his iridescent wings. "We should help them."

Nick looked at the faerie, his mouth set in a grim line. "They wouldn't do it for us. And we need to get you out of here. Now come on."

"Nick,"I said, but Jenna grabbed my hand.

"Sophie, he's right. Let's go. Please."

I hesitated for just a second before squeezing her hand in return and fol owing Nick as he turned toward the back of the club, tugging Daisy behind him.

The back wal was solid brick, but Nick simply raised his hand and flicked his fingers. A section of the wal crumbled, and I don't think I'd ever seen anything as beautiful as that opening.

But we weren't the only ones who'd run for the back, and as soon as the hole opened up, a crush of Prodigium gathered around it, trying to squeeze themselves through.

The screams got louder behind us, and I knew without looking that The Eye was headed our way. The pushing at the hole got more intense, and I watched as a werewolf snarled and bit a warlock who was trying to shove his way to the front.

"Oh my God,"Jenna whimpered. Her eyes were bloodred and her fangs were out.

"It's going to be okay,"I told her, even though I was pretty sure we were al going to be skewered on L'Occhio silver daggers any minute now. For a split second I wondered if Archer was out there, hacking his way through Prodigium. The thought made me nauseous, so I shook it away and held Jenna tighter.

More bodies pressed in on al sides of us, so close I was afraid I'd be lifted off my feet. I shut my eyes, my body shaking.

Move, I thought, as my chest tightened with panic.

And then I felt it. Magic rose up from the ground beneath me. I didn't even have to lift my hands.

I focused al my concentration on the Prodigium in front of me, even as I pictured a sort of shield around Daisy, Nick, and Jenna. Move, I thought again, stronger this time.

I'd only meant to knock them out of the way, like my spel was a bowling bal and they were the pins. But as usual, my power was too much. As one, the Prodigium were flung into the wal before sliding to the floor. Only Daisy, Nick, and Jenna were left standing.

"Nice one, Sophie,"Nick said, clapping me on the shoulder as he and Daisy stepped over the dazed Prodigium and out the door. Even Jenna smiled at me as she went by.

The exit led to the al ey we'd been in earlier. I was shocked by how cool the night air felt compared to the humidity in the club, and shivered as the sweat began to dry on my skin. Daisy and Nick were already running down the street in the direction of the Itineris, but I turned to look back into Shel ey's. Jenna was waiting next to me.

A few Prodigium had staggered to their feet, but the rest stil lay inert on the ground. One, a witch who was about my age, blinked at me in confusion. And behind her, I could see a group of Eyes rushing toward the exit, daggers drawn.

"Jenna, go with Daisy and Nick,"I said, without taking my eyes from the hole.

"Sophie-"

"Go!"I said, more sharply than I'd intended. "I'l catch up."

She hesitated for a second before turning and fol owing Daisy and Nick.

I didn't know how much magic I had left in me, but I gathered up al my strength and raised my hands toward the men in black. There was no spark or flash of light, but I could feel the attack spel -one of Alice's-surge from my fingertips. The Eyes dropped like rocks, and my knees hit the pavement. No magic in six months, then two heavy spel s within seconds of each other. How stupid could I be?