“That was different,” I snapped. “You weren’t...” I tried to find the phrase, “...you weren’t like you are now. You were normal. My sister. Now you’re...you’re someone I don’t know.”

Alex dropped her voice and looked at me with a serious face. “You’re right,” she said, “I’m nothing like I used to be. But Dria, my change is for the better. I’ve never felt so independent, so protected. I feel strong—you can’t imagine.”

“Well, make me understand,” I pleaded. My anger subsided and was quickly replaced by sadness. “Look,” I said, placing my hand on hers, “I admit living with Beverlee and Uncle Carl isn’t living with mom, or being out on your own, but they’re great. I actually like living there and I don’t get why you just left, or why you’d bring Ashe to our house and openly disrespect Beverlee like that. She never did anything to deserve any of this.”

Alex moved her hand from mine.

“This isn’t about Beverlee and Carl,” she said. “This is about you and me. You’re my sister and you should be with me, not with family members who only took us out of obligation and definitely not with scum like that.”

I took immediate offense.

“You’re calling my friends scum?” I snarled. “My friends didn’t try to attack me. My friends have been there for me while you haven’t been. My friends aren’t part of some freakish cult that lure girls and turn them into hateful sluts.” I regretted that a bit, but it needed to be said.

Alex took it better than I expected. She scoffed and said with that eerie smile again, “Say whatever you want, but just know that you’ll have to make up your mind soon and if you can’t, I’ll have to do it for you.”

I drew my chin back in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded. “And besides, my mind is made up. I would never follow you with them.”

Alex leaned her head toward me, practically touching my ear with her lips. Her breath smelled rancid. “You know too much, Dria. And I have no control over what they have to do to protect what you know.” She paused. I could’ve sworn she actually sniffed me. “Think about it. I’ll tell them you agreed to at least think about it, but it’ll only buy you a very short time. After that, you’re on your own.”

I couldn’t believe my own sister was threatening me, that she would side with anyone else who would threaten me. I was reeling inside, but the situation had changed from a sibling disagreement, to what felt like nothing less than a life or death ultimatum. I thought about what Isaac and Zia told me about the Vargas family. It was true after all.

Tears swelled in my eyes, but I managed to hold them back.

“How could you do this?” I said. “That family is dangerous. How could you stand by and let them threaten me?”

I wouldn’t let her speak. “And how do I know too much? I don’t know anything about them! Except that they’re evil!”

Isaac was approaching from the side; his shadow advancing largely out ahead of him.

“I can’t say anything else,” said Alex, “just remember what I told you. Drop the dead weight and come stay with your flesh and blood where you belong.”

Alex left me standing there.

I hated her in that moment. Part of me wanted to cry, the other part wanted to jump on her from behind and beat the sense into her that was obviously not getting in any other way.

“Adria,” said Isaac, “we need to go.”

Julia and Harry were shouting at each other. She was in his face, urging him on, taunting him.

“You’re a stupid, wannabe skater,” Julia shrieked. “I never liked you anyway; always wondered why Sebastian did.”

“Don’t bring him into this,” Harry shouted, “I bet you don’t even know what happened to him. You’ve been too busy with...them.”

Harry was doing his best to hold back saying the things he really wanted to say.

I rushed toward them and took Harry by the arm. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” I said.

Just then, Julia’s boyfriend stepped between Harry and me and grabbed Harry by the front of his shirt. In less than two seconds, I was eating asphalt and heard fighting all around me. As I tried to crawl away and get to my feet, my hand was stepped on and then one body fell right on top of me. My ribs hurt and I could feel my face burning where the asphalt had scraped my chin. People in the crowd who were not involved in the brawl were shouting in the sidelines.

“Fight! Fight!”

“Oh shit,” said another voice, “did you see that!”

I heard a girl screaming, “Someone do something!”

“Kick-his-ass!” shouted another voice.

I stumbled out of the center of the chaos and tried to pull my senses together. I could barely tell who was fighting whom, or who was winning what; everything was a blur. But I did see Alex and Dwarf fighting.

Dwarf fighting Alex? Why would he be hitting my sister?

I was going to jump in and help her—I was on Dwarf’s side, but this was not a fair fight. To my shock, Alex dropkicked Dwarf square in the stomach and sent him soaring across the parking lot. He rolled once and then with such grace, sprung up from the ground and landed on his hands and feet like a cat.

Shock beset me, but I didn’t have much time to try understanding it.

Isaac was fighting William. Zia was fighting Julia and had Julia on the ground. Damien and Harry teamed up against Ashe and Julia’s boyfriend.

I just stood there, paralyzed.

Then a man emerged from the darkness as if he were part of the shadows.

It was surreal how everything just stopped. The fighting, the shouting, the excitement of the onlookers; all at once ceased in an instant.

It felt like I was the only one among them who breathed.

The man walked slowly onto the blacktop, his hands folded together and resting on his backside. He walked with such dominance and authority; his black hair pulled into a ponytail behind him. Both arms were canvases for tattoos, even along the tops of his fingers, which I noticed as he unfolded his hands and let them rest at his sides.

Suddenly, the spectators broke the calm, all running for their cars. Some dashed away on foot. Tires squealed and headlights bounced through the darkness until they were too far away to see anymore.

It was quiet again. It seemed like many minutes had passed before the man spoke.

“In public is not the place,” he said.

Somehow, I knew this man was not here to break up the fight for the sake of doing the right thing. That cold and calculated look on his face suggested a man of power, not of morals.

“That law has never stopped them before,” Isaac said to the man.

A faint, yet sinister grin crept up on his face, but he dismissed Isaac altogether and looked at me.

“You must be Alexandra’s sister,” he said. “You favor her.” The man then said to Alex without looking at her, “We have much to discuss later.”

“You don’t have anything to say to my sister,” I demanded, stepping up. “I don’t know how you did it, but I’m not going to stand by and let you brainwash her!”

Isaac grabbed me by the waist and pulled my back into his chest. “Don’t say anything else,” he told me. “Keep your mouth shut.”

At first, I tried to break away from Isaac, but his grip was unrelenting.

“You should not have come here,” the man said to Isaac, “any of you. You should have stayed where you were and out of our affairs.”

I thought he was talking about The Cove. That would have made sense, but as the man continued talking, I became more confused.

“Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia,” he said. “Trajan should pick a spot and mind his own business.”

“Everything you do is Trajan’s business,” Isaac said, “especially when it comes to Innocents.”

Isaac passed me to Zia as if I was a possession and they were trading watch over me.

“You and Harry get in the Jeep,” Zia said.

I looked at her argumentatively.

“Go. Now,” she demanded.

I felt like a child, but as much as I hated it, I knew I had better do what she said.

As Harry and I walked quickly toward the Jeep I heard the man say, “You know it’ll happen—“

“If you have anything to say,” Isaac interrupted, “say it to Trajan.”

“I do so plan on it,” the man replied.

8

I WATCHED ALEX AND the others disappear with the man through the woods. Not until they were completely out of sight did Isaac and his family rejoin Harry and me. No one spoke on the ride back, except for Dwarf who had started to comment on how good his fighting skills were getting. Zia shut him up just by looking at him.

I may have had plenty of reason to demand answers, but I was much too upset thinking about Alex. It was over. I lost my sister for good and that was something I never prepared myself for. Rebellion I prepared for. I also went over in my mind what would happen if we ended up in a physical fight, which had never once happened in our lives. I prepared to face the fact that she was in love with the worst piece of scum on Earth, and even thought about her ending up pregnant. Horrible things. Unforgivable things.

Losing my sister completely to something other than death was not something I could ever accept.

But I knew she was gone.

Damien drove me home a route I had never gone before and it seemed to take forever. I was lost in a trance while Isaac held out his hand to help me down from the Jeep in my driveway.

“If your sister comes here tonight,” Isaac began, “alone or with anyone, you call me.” He slipped a piece of paper into my hand with his phone number scribbled on it.

“Will you?” he said.

“Uhhh, yeah, no problem.” I put the paper in the back pocket of my jeans.

“Look at me,” said Isaac. He placed his hands on my shoulders. Any other time I probably would’ve been glowing, but my crush on Isaac Mayfair was the last thing I could think about. I did look up at him though. I saw how his perfect dark eyes regarded me with care and how he seemed so thoughtful beneath such a hard and attractive visage. This was the first time since I’d met him that I knew he cared for me.

“We’ll be watching out for you and your family,” he said.

“Thanks.”

I heard Isaac sigh. “Don’t worry about your sister, either,” he added. “As much as you hate where she’s at and who she’s with, like we said before, I can assure you they won’t hurt her.”

I found no comfort in his words, but I didn’t want him to know that.

Harry followed me up the dirt driveway and toward the porch, but I stopped before I got too far and said to Zia, “Thanks for taking me, even if it didn’t turn out like I had hoped.”

Zia waved apologetically and they drove off.

“Do you think they’ll mind I come in for a while?” said Harry.

I didn’t even think to ask Zia if they could give Harry a ride home. He had walked to my house earlier, but it was still daylight then. His car had been in the shop for two days.