I hear the giant television in the den hum to life and then bits and pieces of various programming in the background as Uncle Carl flips quickly through the stations.

“What about Uncle Carl?” I say, remembering suddenly that his approval kind of overrides hers.

She smiles softly with confidence. “I’ll talk to him. He’ll be fine with it. I want you to go and have a good time. I’ll give you some spending money.”

I shake my head. “No, I saved money from work. I’ll use that.”

“That’s your car money,” she says and I start to complain, but she stops me. “Keep it for your car.”

My shoulders relax as I let out my breath.

“Thank you for cleaning the house,” she adds just as she goes to leave, “and for…well, for everything.”

I smile at her as she turns the corner, her voice carrying over the History Channel as she starts in about what Uncle Carl will want for dinner.

I grab a dishtowel from the bar top beside me and begin wiping the counter down where the tea pitcher had left a water ring. Harry and Daisy make their way back into the kitchen.

“So?” says Harry, looking at me eagerly.

“I’m good to go,” I say and realize at that moment how excited I am about it. I mean, I’ve been excited to go all along, but the whole guilt thing about wanting to stay home and help Uncle Carl has been overshadowing.

“Awesome!” says Harry.

The front door creaks open as Isaac and Nathan walk back inside.

“Will have to WD40 the door too,” Nathan says to Isaac while swinging the door back and forth to test the sound.

Isaac comes over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. I feel the warmth of his body pressed into my back. As chill bumps raise the hairs on the back of my neck, I feel strangely lightheaded and I raise my hand, gently touching my forehead.

“Are you alright?” Isaac says, pressing the side of his face against mine.

I catch my breath, putting the palm of my hand against my chest and shake the blur from my eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I say. The lightheadedness seems to have left as fast as it had come. “Just felt a little dizzy for a second.”

Isaac squeezes me once and then turns me around to face him. “You sure?” His inquisitive face looks so intense that I can’t help but smile about it.

“Yeah,” I say with a hint of laughter in my voice. “Are you alright? Y’look so paternal.” I mimic his serious expression, completely over-exaggerating it.

He shakes his head, smiling. “I won’t be back until late tomorrow afternoon,” he reminds me. “But you know not to leave me in the dark if anything happens. Anything at all.”

I chortle. “Isaac, what’s going to happen?” I say grinning up at him. “If I hit my leg on the corner of the coffee table again, I’ll be sure to call you right away.”

Somewhere between a blush and grin, Isaac decides to stand there without any sort of comeback—he must know I’ve won this one.

“I think being here is safer than where you’re going,” I add more seriously and now my smile evaporates, replaced by unease.

He squeezes my upper-arms gently. “Now who looks all serious?” he says, though with a little less humor than I had given him. “It’s what I do. It’s what I’ve done long before we met. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

I force a smile. When it comes to Isaac having anything to do with his father, I’ll always worry about him.

Everybody leaves shortly after Uncle Carl’s homecoming. Isaac leaves last, wanting to be with me for as long as he can before heading into the mountains to babysit Aramei.

I hate it. Every time he has to go there, I can’t picture anything but the night I was there and I saw that man die. And when Isaac’s father, Trajan, crushed Isaac against the rock floor out of rage.

It was terrifying.

Trajan is terrifying….

3

“IS SHE SERIOUS?” Harry says sitting next to me in the auditorium at school. “This has gone too far. I mean no joke. Too. Damn. Far.”

I stifle a laugh.

Harry’s head jerks over to look at me. “Adria! It’s not funny. I’m traumatized. I swear I’ll never be able to get it up—”

“Hiii, Tori!” I say standing up fast from the seat, cutting off the derogatory comment he was going to finish. My face is stretched as far as it can stretch into the fakest smile I can fake. I can’t stand Tori. She can’t stand us. But nothing’s worse than having to sit next to her with her and Harry at odds. It never used to be this way. Everybody likes Harry. But these days, Tori has it out for all of us, and a few weeks ago, Harry just happened to be in her line of fire and he hasn’t been able to let go of it since. I think every time she sees Sebastian and Zia together it just ticks her off that much more.

I don’t think Tori still has much of a thing for Sebastian—I mean it’s been months—but she’ll probably hold the grudge forever. It’s a pride thing.

Tori sneers at me. “Oh spare me, Adria. That welcome is as fake as that perfume you wear.”

Here we go again. She will never learn.

Harry props his feet on the chair in front of him, blocking her and the two girls with her access to the three empty seats down our row. They thought they would find empty seats elsewhere in the auditorium, but after wandering around, up and down several rows, they couldn’t find three side-by-side that were empty. And these girls are so hooked on each other that it’s kind of disturbing.

They push their way past me, and Tori, in the lead, tries shoving Harry’s legs out of the way.

“Move, Harry,” she says through her teeth.

“You have to ask nicely,” Harry says casually, barely looking at her as if she isn’t even there.

Tori forces her way through, knocking his feet from the seat and onto the floor.

Harry laughs under his breath, but when Tori starts to sit in the empty seat directly next to him, he draws the line. “Ummm, that’s not gonna’ happen,” he says putting his hand in the seat and letting the smirk disappear from his face. “I can’t sit through this thing with you next to me flashing your man cave the whole time.” I see him visibly shudder. I, on the other hand, slide my back heavily down against my seat, trying my hardest not to burst out laughing. I’m trying to be mature about this, but it’s just so hard.

Tori always brings this on herself. Harry may be the nicest guy I’ve ever known, but get on his bad side and he is a professional when it comes to verbal revenge. He’s like Hannibal Lecter, minus the creepy prison cell and body count.

Harry points to one of Tori’s friends. “You sit here or none of you sit here.”

Tori looks down at Harry with revulsion. “That’s actually a good idea.” She even helps her friend into the seat next to Harry, though the friend seems to be irritated at how she wasn’t given a choice in the matter. Tori continues to glare down at Harry. “I don’t want to sit by you,” is all she can think to say.

I really thought being this close to graduation that this kind of stuff would weed itself out of everyday school life. I was so wrong about that one.

Tori and the other girl take the next two seats, and just like Harry was referring to, Tori doesn’t cross her legs even though the skirt she’s wearing is so short I’m surprised she hasn’t been sent home for it. It also doesn’t help poor Harry’s sex life that in addition to her skirt, the top three buttons are open on her shirt and all she will need to do is bend over a couple inches too far and everything will fall right out.

Harry leans toward my ear and whispers, “I wonder if she’s that crude on purpose or if she’s just always been that way and doesn’t know the difference?”

I just shake my head, still trying to hold back the full intensity of my smile.

The lights in the auditorium dim as the announcer comes out on stage.

“We should’ve sat this one out like Sebastian and Zia,” he says.

“I don’t mind it so much,” I say about the play. “Though I guess I would rather be in Boston at a concert than sitting here.”

School will be out next week and I’m kind of going to miss it. Don’t get me wrong, I love living in the secret supernatural world that found me last September, but I actually like school because it kind of helps me stay connected to the human world I left behind.

I didn’t really have to force Harry to come to this play with me. Daisy was the one who forced him. Ah, the benefits of being Daisy’s brother’s girlfriend. Sometimes it’s not enough just being Harry’s best friend when I want to make Harry do something he’d rather not.

After the play is over, I catch a ride with Harry. Isaac didn’t come to school today. He’s still watching over Aramei in the mountains while his father, Trajan, attends some kind of gathering with Elders from Serbia and Bulgaria. It always makes me nervous when Isaac leaves me alone to deal with that kind of stuff. Not because I’m afraid of not having him around, but because I’m afraid of what his father is capable of doing to him. I know it shouldn’t worry me much seeing as how Isaac’s been doing this all his life, under the thumb of a dangerous father who scares the crap out of me. But it does and it always will make me nervous.

Harry and I head straight to the skate park after the play. I think I’ve spent more time watching skaters in the past many months than I have ever spent doing normal things that girls usually do. But Harry insists I hang out with him there. I think it’s more for Daisy’s benefit than his own. He confided in me one night about Daisy being out there while he’s doing his skater thing. He said he didn’t want to bore her to death, but really I think it has a lot more to do with Layne and Evan who light up whenever Daisy is around.

Harry really has nothing to worry about when it comes to Daisy, but he’s a guy and guys get jealous.

When we arrive, it’s easy to spot Daisy in the crowd. She has the prettiest golden blond hair and whenever she gets here before we do, she’s usually waiting near the parking lot for us.

Psycho Cecilia loves Daisy to death and sometimes latches onto Daisy’s company whenever she shows up, so I brace myself just in case. But thankfully today doesn’t appear to be a Cecilia day—she’s almost more unbearable than Tori. But only almost. Thankfully we don’t have to suffer through her at school; she goes to some private school not far from here.

Harry lifts Daisy off her feet and kisses her. They do their normal lovey-dovey stuff before Harry kisses her goodbye and heads out with the rest of the skaters.

“I see he dragged you out here again,” Daisy says, pulling me into a hug.

“Nah, I don’t mind at all really,” I say and we start to head to our usual spot near the concrete skate bowl. “What else am I going to do to pass the time?”

Daisy tosses her arm around my shoulder and we walk a little farther, finally taking a seat on the grassy hill about fifteen feet from the concrete.