Inner Demons

By Sarra Cannon

Dead River Books

For Mom

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published by Dead River Books

Copyright © 2010 by Sarra Cannon Bittmann

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

Cover design by Ken Vahn, kvahn@live.com.

Find Sarra Cannon on the web! www.sarracannon.com www.twitter.com/sarramaria

Peachville High Demons Series:

Beautiful Demons

Inner Demons

Table of Contents

Lead The Way

Something. Or Someone.

A Connection To This Demon

The Magic Doesn't Come From the Words

Behind Every Secret

Are We Ready For a Great Pep-Rally?

Because She Knows How Much I Like You

We're Talking About Things Way Past My Experience Level

Her Dark Confidence

What Did I Really Know About Jackson Hunt?

I'm Really Not Allowed to Talk About It

The Color of Air

Happy Birthday Brooke

Watch The Sky

Maybe You're Just Drawn to Bad Guys

Call Forth Her Demon

She Hates All Cheerleaders

School Pride

I Won't Have You Associating With Those Girls

Demons or Death

You've Got Five Minutes

Some Strange Addiction

I Know What I'm Doing

The Newest Initiate

Why Does It Always Have to Be About Her?

The Strangest Feeling

Crimson

I Just Know

I Might Have Seen Something Important

Anything For Drake's Girl

You Wait Just a Minute

The Elixir of Kendria

Someone is Always Watching

Wondering If Anyone Would Notice

Feel Better

There Has to Be a Way

An Old Tune

The Crystal Cup

Me In Profile

It's Not Safe

My Blood

Aerden

Nothing But Time

Lead The Way

Something startled me from my sleep. I sat straight up in bed and rubbed my eyes. The house was quiet and dark. I listened.

A small rock rebounded off the window. I crawled out of bed and tiptoed across the cold wood floor. Who the hell was throwing rocks at my room at two in the morning on a school night?

Down below, I saw the silhouettes of three girls. I laughed softly and shook my head. Of course. I lifted the window and whispered down to them. “What are you doing here? Are you guys insane?”

Giggles below, then a loud, “Shhhh!”

“Get your booty down here,” Lark said.

“It's two in the morning,” I protested.

“Don't argue,” Brooke called up to me. She adjusted the large black bag on her shoulder. “It's what we always do before the first practice, so get some clothes on and get your butt down here.”

I rolled my eyes and closed the window. Ten minutes later, I was outside, bundled up in a sweatsuit. “Okay, here I am. What's this all about anyway? It better be worth showing up at school tomorrow with circles under my eyes,” I said. I wasn't really upset, though. It was kind of fun to sneak out in the middle of the night for some super-secret tradition.

“About time you got down here.” Allison hooked her arm around mine and pulled me toward the overgrown garden. “Did you have any trouble getting out of the house?”

“Nope, I wasn't locked in tonight,” I said, then bit my lip. I realized it probably wasn't a good idea to advertise the fact that the bedroom doors at Shadowford had locks on the outside.

“Locked in?” Lark raised her eyebrows.

“Well, not literally,” I said. Attempting to laugh it off. “I just meant that no one was up keeping watch.”

“Oh,” Lark said. “That's good. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble. Most of the parents know about the ritual so they don't usually care, but then again, we're used to doing this in the middle of the summer before school starts.”

“And it usually involves a whole class of rookies,” Brooke said. She led us through the garden, past Ella Mae and Jackson's house, and out into the darkness beyond. I'd never even been this far back behind the house before.

“So what are we doing anyway?”

“You'll see,” Allison said in a sing-song voice.

“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” Brooke asked.

I shrugged. “Not really.”

“Good,” Lark said. “There's nothing to be nervous about anyway. You'll catch on quick.”

“I'm more nervous about my first game coming up in a couple of weeks.”

“At least your first game will be an away game. My first game was at home, and it was completely nerve-wracking. The whole town was there.” Allison stepped over a fallen branch and held my hand to guide me over. “Your first game will be a piece of cake. Andrew County is what? Over an hour away? There won't be nearly as many people there from Peachville, so there won't be much pressure on you.”

“I love away games,” Brooke said. “The bus rides are always fun.”

“You just like to scout out the cute boys from the other towns,” Lark teased.

“I don't know, she's been getting pretty friendly with Foster lately,” Allison said.

Even in the dark, I could tell Brooke was blushing. Her smile stretched from ear to ear. I bit my lip and kept my mouth closed. Why did no one else seem to think it was strange that Brooke was crushing on Tori's boyfriend only a month after her death? It nagged at me. When she was alive, she was their best friend, and now it was as if no one even remembered her.

“Homecoming is coming up in just a month. Has Drake asked you yet?” Lark asked.

“To the game?” I said.

“No, to the dance, silly.”

“What kind of dance?” In my mind, I was picturing a bowl of punch, some streamers, and a bunch of kids sitting on the bleachers looking bored.

“Kind of like prom, I guess,” Allison said, “but slightly less formal.”

My stomach tightened. Where was I going to get the money to buy a fancy dress? “When is it?”

“Four weeks,” Brooke said. “The game is on Friday night and the dance is Saturday night.”

“Do you think Foster is going to ask you?”

“I don't know, but he better ask me soon or I'll have to find someone else. I'm on the Senior Court this year and there's no way I'm going without a date.”

Lark punched Brooke in the arm teasingly. “You could probably have any guy you wanted.”

“Except for Drake,” Brooke said, flashing a smile my way.

Yes, Drake and I had been pretty exclusive the past few weeks. Ever since the whole Agnes thing, he'd been glued to my side like a private bodyguard. In some ways, I loved the attention.On the other hand, sometimes I wondered if Drake really liked me or if he just felt that he should be dating a cheerleader. All he ever talked about was himself and football. So far, it wasn't the most thrilling relationship of my life.

“I take it he hasn't mentioned the dance to you yet?” Allison asked.

“Not yet,” I said.

“Don't worry. He'll ask. It's still early yet.”

I didn't say anything, but I kind of hoped he wouldn't ask. There was no way I could afford a dress at this point. Not without a job, and where in the world would I find the time for that? As of tomorrow, I'd have cheerleading practice every single day after school.

“Maybe next Saturday we can all go dress shopping.”

I stumbled over a tree stump. Crap.

“You in, Harper?” Allison asked.

Before I had a chance to answer, Brooke stopped and held up her hand for us to be quiet.

The night air was crisp and wind blew my hair back from my face. We had come to the edge of the property. In front of us, thick woods spread out as far as I could see, dark and mysterious. I shivered. Where exactly were they taking me?

“Come on, unless you're too scared,” Brooke said.

To be honest, I was a little scared. I glanced at my watch. Two-twenty in the morning. I glanced longingly back toward Shadowford. I wanted to be back in my warm bed. But wasn't this what I'd always wanted? To be a part of something special? What was wrong with me?

I drew in a sharp, cold breath.

“Lead the way.”

Something. Or Someone.

The dense forest was dark.I hesitated.

“It's just a little farther,” Lark said, tugging on my arm.

I pulled back, not wanting her to drag me into the darkness. “Did anyone bring a flashlight?”

I tried to sound casual, but instead my voice came out slightly panicked.

“We don't need a flashlight,” Brooke said. “Illuminate.”

An amber spark formed just above Brooke's hand. My mouth dropped. The spark slowly grew into a perfectly shaped orb the color of the sunrise. I wanted to reach out and touch it, to put my hand on it and see if it was real.

“How did you do that?”

Brooke turned, her face bathed in the light of the conjured sun. “There is so much you are about to learn,” she said. “Come on, let's go to the clearing.”

We walked into the darkness of the dense forest. Everyone stayed close to Brooke, who was holding the orb of light in the palm of her hand. About five minutes later we reached a small circular clearing. Not a single leaf or stray pine cone littered the ground. The wind rustled in the canopy of trees above us. No one spoke, and I knew we had come upon a place of great power.

I gasped as I noticed a stone statue at the far edge of the clearing. It looked like a sister statue to the one in front of the school. Not exactly the same, but very close.

“What is this place?” I whispered.

“The clearing has been here for over a hundred years. Not a single tree will grow in this spot,” Lark said. She looked around in awe as she spoke.

How could nothing have grown here in over a hundred years? It felt as if I had stumbled upon a forgotten battleground. “What happened here?”

“Can you feel the power?” Allison asked, coming to stand at my side. She took my hand and pulled me into the circle. “It's amazing, isn't it?”

As my feet stepped into the clearing, I felt the hum of the earth under me. It vibrated in my bones and from my knees all the way up to my teeth. I felt suddenly wide awake with anticipation.“Do you remember that night at the slumber party when you thought you saw a tattoo on my back?” Lark said.

“I remember,” I said.

Brooke set the black bag on the ground and we all sat down around it. As more of my body touched the ground, I felt even more of the power begin to flow through me.

Lark leaned forward and lifted up the back of her shirt. I gasped. A small butterfly flapped its wings across her back. Its wings were bright blue and black. I shook my head and shut my eyes tight, then reopened them. The butterfly was still moving.

“Touch it,” she said. “It's okay.”

I hesitated, then reached out to run my hand across the small of her back. Her skin was warm. I don't know what I was expecting. A tattoo, I guess. Flat and lifeless, but enchanted perhaps? Instead, the butterfly was slightly upraised, and I could feel it moving across her skin. I pulled my hand away. It felt alive.

Lark laughed and pulled her shirt back down. “Cool, huh?”

I didn't know whether it was cool or freaky.

“We all have them.”

I looked at each of them in the dim light. “All of you?”

Allison lifted up the back of her shirt and revealed a small yellow and white daisy. Its petals fell off one at a time, then reset only to fall again. I looked to Brooke. She laughed and turned around. Her tattoo was of a chestnut brown horse that galloped from one side of her back to the other.

“What do they mean?”

Brooke sat next to me. “It's a sort of initiation ritual for the team. Before your first practice. All of the cheerleaders have them.”

“But how are they moving?” I already knew it was some kind of magic, but I didn't completely understand the how or why of it. “They seem so...alive.”

The girls all exchanged glances, then Brooke spoke again. “It's a spell,” she said.“Like the orb. The tattoo acknowledges you as a new recruit. It's like a hazing ritual, only this is painless and beautiful.”

The realization of what we were doing out here in the clearing came to me. “So you brought me all the way out here in the middle of the night to give me a tattoo?”

Lark laughed. “Yep. You in?”

“Do I really have a choice?” I was joking in a way, but I also wondered if I did have a choice or not. It didn't really feel like something I could turn down if everyone on the squad had one. The thought of something living inside of me like that gave me the creeps. Would I feel it constantly moving along my back?

“Of course you do, silly,” Brooke said. “But it's fun. Plus we all have them. No big deal.”

I heard her words, but the meaning behind them felt the opposite. This was something I needed to do in order to belong. And what was the hesitation anyway? I wanted to belong, didn't I? “Yeah,” I said. “I'm in.”

The girls cheered and hugged me. Lark reached into the bag and pulled out a dark blue column candle and set it on the ground. It hovered slightly above the grass. Next, she brought out a black velvet bag. She rolled it out across the grass and inside, there were shiny silver instruments. A long knife with blue stones embedded in the hilt. A syringe. A scalpel. A slight twinge of fear coursed through me.

““What are those things for?”

“Don't worry,” Lark said. “It only hurts for a second.”

“Great, that makes me feel much better,” I mumbled.

Brooke put her hand on my arm. “It's really not bad,” she said.

“What will it be?” I asked. “Do I get to choose what I want a tattoo of?”

“Not exactly,” she said. “It's more like your tattoo chooses you. It picks something deep inside your heart and brings it to the surface.”

“Let's hope it doesn't come out to be a tattoo of Drake's face,” Lark teased.

I punched her in the shoulder. “Like he's already gotten deep inside my heart.”

“He hasn't even gotten deep inside her pants yet,” Allison said.

“Oh God, you're disgusting,” I said. I'd already been feeling enough pressure from Drake in that department. I certainly didn't need it from my friends too.

“Haha, very funny,” Brooke said. She looked at her watch. “We need to begin. It's almost three.”

“Is it really going to hurt?”

“Not much,” Lark said, patting my shoulder. “It just feels a little weird for a while, until you get used to it.”

“And it lasts forever?”

“Well, it's not exactly the rest of your life or anything,” Allison said.

“So how long?”

“Until your final ritual of acceptance into the Order of Shadows,” Lark said.

Brooke picked up the syringe and held it toward the light. It was filled with a shimmery liquid.

“What's the Order of Shadows?”

The three girls exchanged looks again. I was getting tired of their secretive glances. At least tonight marked the beginning of being finally welcomed into the group.

“The coven we're all being recruited to join,” Allison said.

“How many witches are there in Peachville?”

Brooke lifted her hand into the air to quiet us. “I know you've got a ton of questions, but this has to be done at exactly three a.m. And right now it's two-fifty-eight.”

“Don't worry,” Lark said. “Tomorrow you'll start your training and all of your questions will be answered.”

“Okay,” I said. “What do you need me to do?” I was little nervous with those strange silver instruments glinting in the fake sunlight.

“Lay down over here,” Brooke said. “On your stomach,”

I laid across the dense green grass and felt the prickle of the tough blades along the front of my body.

Brooke lifted my shirt up in the back and I felt the cold rush of air against my warm skin. I trembled slightly, both from nerves and from the cold.

Laying flat against the ground, I could feel the energetic hum of the earth ten-fold. Its energy flowed through me like an electrical current, and I felt my body pass into a kind of trance. Around me, the other girls began to chant. It felt like a lullaby. I closed my eyes and sank deeper into the grass.

I heard the clash of metal, but it seemed distant. I felt like I was falling into the earth, becoming one with the ground. My body hummed along with it, pulsing to the sound of their chanting voices.

Someone's hands touched my back, then a sharp prick pierced my skin. I wanted to cry out, but I was too deep, too far away. The spot where they pierced me burned for a while, then slowly began to pulse, as if it had a heartbeat of its own. The chanting grew louder and I felt dizzy. Behind my lids, the darkness seemed to twirl and sway.

A searing heat burned my flesh, and my hand gripped the grass in desperate fistfuls. I needed to get up, to stop whatever was happening to me, but I was helpless. My mouth was sealed shut like the door of an ancient tomb, silent and dark. Visions pulsed in and out of my mind's eye like photographs. The woman in white, her dress splattered with blood. A baby crying. A young girl with long brown hair and the deepest blue eyes. My mother, Claire, in a black dress, her eyes somber and red-ringed.

I struggled against it. I wanted them to stop the tattoo. They had lied to me. I knew it now. This was a very big deal. Something was searching my memories.

Something. Or someone. But I was powerless to stop it.

The visions went dark and graciously, the burning subsided into a dull ache in the small of my back. My body was rigid and tense, every muscle on edge. Something slithered through my insides, then crawled to the surface of the skin on my back. I felt it push through like a newborn entering the world for the first time.

Somewhere behind me, I heard a gasp. Then, everything went dark.

A Connection To This Demon

I awoke on Monday morning with a start.

What the hell happened last night?

My lower back ached as if I had suffered a hella sunburn. I shuffled to the bathroom and lifted the back of my t-shirt.

Oh holy Jesus!

The tattoo on my back was not a fluffy kitten or a sunny daisy. It was a demon. A miniature gargoyle-looking thing with wings, cloaked in a dark, swirling shadow. Its eyes opened and the demon looked at me. I screamed and dropped my t-shirt.

I could feel the demon move across the skin of my lower back. It felt like fingernails raking across my already tender skin.

Anger roared inside of me like a tornado. This was definitely not just a charm or a fun enchantment spell. Something was living inside of me now. They had let something into my body that had a mind of its own. I could feel it taking up residence in its small piece of real estate.

A knock on the door to my bedroom startled me. Quickly lowered my t-shirt.

“Yeah?”

Courtney stepped into my room. Her blonde hair was bone-straight and fell across her pale face. “Good morning,” she said. “You about ready to go?”

I looked at the clock. I had seriously overslept. “Just give me a couple of minutes,” I said.

In the van on the way to school, Courtney talked about some project she had due for school. I only half listened. Ever since Agnes died, Courtney had really started to come out of her shell. I enjoyed hanging out with her sometimes, but this morning, I was seriously preoccupied.

Mary Anne, the only other girl who lived with us at Shadowford Home for Girls, was as silent as ever. She kept her headphones on almost constantly and rarely ever said so much as hello to me.

When I got to school, I went around the back way in order to avoid Drake. I was supposed to keep the tattoo ritual a secret from everyone who wasn't on the squad, but if Drake saw me like this, he'd know something was up. I wanted to talk to Brooke and the others first. They owed me a real explanation for lying to me about the seriousness of the so-called tattoo.

I found Brooke in the student parking lot rummaging through her trunk.

“What the hell did you do to me last night?” I kept my voice low, but the anger in it was apparent.

Brooke looked up, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion. “What are you talking about? We started the ritual and you passed out. Then we took you home and put you back in your own bed.”

“Stop acting like this was just no big deal,” I said. Anger boiled up inside of me, and a bottle cap rattled across the parking lot in front of my foot. I stepped on it to shut it up. “You told me this was just a fun little hazing ritual. No one said I'd be inviting some... thing into my body. I thought it was just a spell, but I can feel this thing inside of me. I can feel its mood and its thoughts.”

Brooke sighed and shook her head. “Don't take everything so seriously, Harper. It's just a spell. There's nothing living inside you except the magic ink I injected into your skin. It moves because of magic, not because it's alive or anything.”

I took a deep breath to steady myself and keep from saying something I might regret. She was wrong. This was no enchanted ink spot on my skin. “How come you guys all got pretty little images like a horse or a flower, and I got this evil looking demon thing?”

Fear flashed across Brooke's features and she looked away from me, pretending to search for something in her bag. “I don't know,” she said. “The ink chooses something deep inside your heart. How am I supposed to know what's in your heart? You're the only one who can answer that.”

“Well I know there's no creepy demon in my heart, if that's what you mean.” I followed her as she made her way toward the building. “Maybe you did it wrong. Maybe you messed it up or something. Is there any way to get it removed and start over?”

Brooke stopped and looked at me, for the first time with a little sympathy in her eyes. “Look, I don't know what happened, alright? The shadow demon is a weird thing to come out during the ritual. I've never seen it before, but it's a sacred image for the Order. You should be honored, not pissed.”

“So that's what this thing is called? A shadow demon?”

Brooke nodded. “You'll learn more about them in training, but I can't explain why one ended up on your back. All I can tell you is that somewhere in your past, you have a connection to this demon.”

I stood there, dumbfounded as Brooke left and hurried toward the building. The first period bell rang, but I couldn't force my feet to move. A connection to the demon. My hand went up to the sapphire pendant I wore around my neck. My mother's pendant. It had saved me from Agnes just a couple of weeks ago. Just when I was sure I was going to die, a demon had materialized from the shadows and carried her away.

I'd spent the past few weeks trying to deny what I'd seen. I didn't want to believe it. But now I had a constant reminder of that night tattooed across my back. I shuddered, thinking that my connection to this shadow demon went back much further than a couple of weeks.

“There you are. I've been looking for you everywhere. Why didn't you meet me out front?” Drake's voice pulled me from my thoughts and I forced a smile onto my face.

“Hey, sorry,” I said. “I had something I had to do this morning.”

He pulled me into a big bear hug. “It's okay, but you should have texted me. I gave you a phone for a reason.”

“Sorry,” I said. I wasn't used to someone keeping tabs on me all the time.

“Today's the big day, I guess,” he said. “How are you feeling? You ready.”

“Ready to learn,” I said.

Ready for answers.

“That's my girl.”

Drake walked me to class. It took every ounce of my willpower not to flinch as he put his hand on the small of my back.

The Magic Doesn't Come From the Words

“Everyone give a warm welcome to our newest Demon cheerleader, Harper Madison!”

The entire cheerleading squad was gathered in the gym after school. Mrs. King pulled me up front and I smiled as everyone cheered. I had spent most of the day getting over the anger I felt about last night. After all, I couldn't undo what had already been done. Instead, I focused on the reason I'd joined the squad in the first place. I wanted to learn to control this wild magic inside of me. I wanted answers.

“If everyone will please go into the locker room and get changed, I'd like to talk to Harper privately for a minute.”

The girls disappeared into the women's locker room. Mrs. King motioned for me to take a seat on the bleachers. She sat next to me, turning her body completely towards me. I was struck by how young she looked. She could have been a teenager herself if I didn't know any better. I found myself wondering just how old she was, but I figured it would be rude to ask.

“I heard about the ritual last night.”

I looked up, surprised. I hadn't expected her to mention the tattoo.

“Brooke told me you were upset this morning,” she said. “About the shadow demon.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but she shook her head. “It's completely understandable. To be honest, I'm excited that yours turned out to be a demon.”

“Last night, they told me it was just a hazing ritual. A charm of some kind that wouldn't be permanent. But it's more than that isn't it?”

Mrs. King smiled. “You're so much more perceptive than the others. It's exciting for me to see your level of understanding already, when we haven't even started the training.”

“That doesn't really answer my question,” I said.

“No, I guess it doesn't.” She leaned forward and placed her hand on my leg. “There is a lot you're about to learn, Harper. About our way of life here. The tattoo is the first step. It's like a leap of faith. A mark of acceptance.”

I felt as if I had been branded. My foot tapped nervously against the bleachers.

“Harper, I promise you it will be worth it. Once you see what we can offer you, you'll forget all about the tattoo.”

I studied her face. She seemed to be truly concerned about me. “So what happens next?”

“It's a bit unusual to have a girl coming onto the squad mid-season, so you've got a lot of catching up to do. Plus, you're already a sophomore and most girls start their freshman year.” Mrs. King stood and I followed her toward the locker room. “What you're about to see might come as a shock.”

Curious, my footsteps quickened. As we walked into the locker room, I stared open-mouthed at the empty space. Where did everyone go? I hadn't seen them pass by us to go outside or anything.

“Come with me,” Mrs. King said. She stood on the far side of the room at the edge of a long row of lockers.

We walked together to the back corner of the locker room where a large demon was painted onto the wall. Mrs. King stepped up and touched the demon's face. Her hand passed completely through.

My eyes grew wide and I placed my hand over my mouth. A secret passage-way in the girl's locker room? Mrs. King walked straight through it. Cautiously, I followed her, my hands out in front of me just in case. I giggled as I passed through. A sort of invisible force-field tickled when I crossed over it.

“Only girls with the tattoo and official members of the Order can pass through this doorway,” she said.

“Does that mean you still have a tattoo?”

“Not exactly,” she said. She didn't explain what she meant by that. Instead, she led me down a flight of stone stairs and into a candle-lit room below. All of the other cheerleaders were seated at stone workbenches.

A seat next to Allison was empty and Mrs. King motioned for me to take it. I sat down and waited with anticipation. I had expected to be practicing cheers all afternoon in the gym, not learning magic down in some secret dungeon training room. Given a choice, I'd much rather be doing magic. Maybe joining the squad would turn out to be the best decision I'd ever made.

“Today we're going to practice creating our own light sources.” Mrs. King held out her palm and created a spark of light similar to the orb Brooke made the night before. The only difference was that Mrs. King's light was a shimmery purple. Also, I noticed she didn't have to say a magic word to create it. “For those of you who are new, you can start with a simple candle.”

Mrs. King snapped her fingers and tall white candles appeared on the tables in front of all of the Freshman. One also appeared in front of me. I tried to hide my joy and fascination. I didn't want to look too much like a noob. On the other hand, I really was amazed. I knew being a part of the cheerleading team would mean being let in on some of their secrets, but I never dreamed it would be like this.

“Second and third level trainees can work on creating the spark. And Brooke and the other seniors will walk around and help anyone who is having trouble.”

Everyone turned to their individual tasks. I stared at the white candle on the table, then looked to the girl across from me. Her candle was already giving off a smoke, but hadn't actually produced any light. I watched to see what she was doing so I could copy her.

“Illuminate,” she said. The wick of her candle sparked slightly, then went dim. She bit her lip, then looked up and saw me watching her. “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Aren't you going to try it?

“I don't really know what to do,” I said.

“Just concentrate on what you want to happen. Like with the candle, try to imagine that it's lit up with a nice, big glowing flame. Then, you say 'illuminate', and send your energy into the flame.”

She made it sound easy. “Do you have to use the word?”

“What do you mean?”

“Mrs. King made her orb without saying any kind of magic spell word. So why do we need one?”

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Mrs. King standing beside me, listening to our conversation.

“The magic doesn't come from the words,” she said. “It comes from deep inside of you. But the words help new witches focus on what they're trying to accomplish. Most girls say 'illuminate' but you could just as easily say 'flame' or 'light' with the same result. When you get to be more skilled in your magic abilities and more in tune with your shadow demon, you will be able to do a lot of magic without using any words at all.”

“My shadow demon?” I was suddenly very aware of the tattoo on my back.

“Every witch in the Order of Shadows gets her power from a shadow demon,” she said. “Most of the girls have heard this before, but the history of the Order is extremely interesting.”

I listened carefully.

“More than a thousand years ago, a shadow demon called Mythic opened a portal into our world. He took on human form and fell in love with a beautiful woman named Aeliana.”

It sounded more like a fairy tale than a true story, but I was interested.

“When they joined together,” she said. “Wrath's power was transferred into the spirit of their baby girl, giving her extraordinary powers no human had ever had before. All of the members of the Order of Shadows are descendants of Wrath and Aeliana.”

I was a descendant of a demon? Real demons didn't exist, right?

But I knew better. My hand instinctively went up to touch my sapphire pendant. I'd seen a shadow demon before. The night Agnes died.

Part of me wanted to laugh it off as ridiculous. But part of me breathed in her story like it was my first breath after almost drowning. I felt a piece of the puzzle that had been my life suddenly click into place. I had never fit in anywhere until now, and for the first time, I was beginning to understand why.

“In a way, there is a shadow demon inside all of us,” she continued. “When you learn to communicate with that side of yourself, you will feel your own power grow.”

Under the table, my hands shook. Her words made sense to me. It was like finding myself for the first time. All my life, people had gotten angry with me for my behavior, but no one had ever tried to explain where my strange powers came from. Instead, they pretended my power didn't exist. They acted as if I was just being a bad child with a terrible temper.

But here, my power was recognized and appreciated for the first time.

“Give it a try,” she said to me, then nodded toward the candle.

Nervously, I turned my attention toward the blackened wick. In my mind, I imagined a bright flame. I put all of my energy into that thought and just as I opened my mouth to say the word 'Illuminate', the wick caught fire. I reached back and touched the demon tattoo on my back. He writhed under my hand.

The girl across from me sucked in a surprised gasp and next to me, Allison clapped in excitement.

“Did you see that?” Allison said loudly. “Harper just lit her candle without saying a word.”

Everyone looked toward me, obvious admiration on their faces. I smiled. For the first time in my life, I truly felt like I belonged.

Behind Every Secret

Over the course of the next two weeks, I spent every afternoon down in the training room below the gym. We didn't work on a single routine, but when I asked Lark about it, she told me not to worry. We were walking together toward the gym one day after school.

“We never actually work on the routines unless we know someone is watching.”

“Then when do you learn them?” I didn't want to be the only one who didn't know the routines come game time.

“Remember that black diamond necklace Brooke gave you for the tryouts?”

I nodded.

“Similar to that,” she said. “Mrs. King has developed a spell that allows memories and abilities to be stored inside an item. But the genius is that instead of a necklace or something like that, she stores the memory of our routines in our actual cheerleading sneakers. All we have to do is put them on and we just sort of know the routine.”

I laughed. “You've got to be kidding me. How is that even possible?”

“Are you really going to question it after every thing you've seen so far?”

Lark waved to a couple of guys who passed in the hall. I wondered what they would say if she told them her cheerleading routines were stored in her sneakers. They'd send her straight to the looney bin.

“I know,” I said. “It's just still so unbelievable.”

“But you've been doing magic since you were little, right?”

I shrugged. “I guess, but it's not like I knew what it was.”

“Still,” she said. “That's really rare. Most of us didn't even know we had these abilities until we made the squad and Mrs. King taught us what to do.”

“I have a question.” There was something that had been on my mind ever since Mrs. King's first speech about the history of the Order of Shadows.

Lark stopped and studied me. We were near the entrance to the gym, but she hesitated, then stepped to the side of the door. “What is it?”

“If everyone with these abilities is a descendant of a shadow demon, then why are only a few of us chosen to join the Order of Shadows? I mean, Agnes obviously had a lot of power, but she wasn't chosen. Why?”

I hadn't spoken about Agnes much since her death. It was a sore subject for me. I really thought I could trust Agnes. I thought we were friends. Before she tried to kill me, that is.

“I'm not sure,” Lark said. “Maybe there's more to being chosen for the Order than just having natural abilities.”

I couldn't help but wonder what made them choose one girl over another. If we all had the same heritage, didn't we all deserve to know how to use our magic? Didn't we all deserve to know where we came from?

“Don't look so worried about it,” Lark said. She looped her arm through mine and pulled me toward the entrance to the gym. “You were chosen, right? That's all that matters.”

On the outside, I plastered on a smile. What I was really thinking, though, was that behind every secret in the Order, there was an even darker secret.

Are we Ready For a Great Pep-Rally?

Time seemed to fly by. I studied my magic every afternoon, then went home and practiced some more. I kept my door closed and my curtains shut tight so that no one could see what I was up to.

Sometimes I got a headache from too much magic usage, but it seemed to be getting better with time. It was fascinating to finally understand how to control this power inside of me.

When I was a little girl, my powers were terrifying. Every time I got upset or angry, I lost control. I didn't understand it, but I blamed myself when my adoptive father, Heath, was killed. It was my fault. To me, that meant my powers were bad. Evil. Dirty.

I never knew they could be used for something so beautiful as creating a shimmering orb of light or healing a wound. Of course, I'd learned through training that some shadow witches have special abilities. Mrs. King was primarily a healer. She couldn't bring someone back to life, but she could heal even the most horrible wounds if she reached the person in time. Not every shadow witch could do that.

Of course, healing was a top level ability. Mrs. King told us it would be dangerous for someone at our low levels to try such a powerful spell. Instead, we started small. Like with the lights. Most of our training focused on physical objects. Moving water from one glass to another or writing on the chalkboard without using our hands. It was definitely fun, but I was anxious to move on to deeper tasks. I knew there was so much more to it than simple telekinesis.

As a result of my practicing, I wasn't spending as much time with Drake. He didn't complain about it or anything, but I could tell he was feeling left out. I promised him that I'd make some time for him after the first game. So far, I'd managed to avoid the topic of Homecoming.

When the day of my first game finally arrived, I couldn't believe how much time had flown by. Nearly two weeks of training was over in the blink of an eye. Soon, I was lacing up my sneakers, putting on my Demons uniform, and getting ready for my first school pep rally.

“Here,” Allison said in the locker room. “Stand still.”

She pulled the backing off of a temporary tattoo and pressed it to the side of my face with a wet paper towel. My stomach turned as I thought about the first time I'd gone to a Demons game. Agnes had worn a Demon tattoo on her face and wanted me to wear one too. She was the ultimate fan girl.

That was also the night she murdered Tori.

I swallowed hard. Hopefully there would be no more deaths. I wasn't sure my sanity could survive it.

“There. Now you look like a cheerleader.”

I forced a smile onto my face. “Thanks.”

“Oh, but you need to take your necklace off,” she said.

I shook my head. “I don't ever take my necklace off.”

Allison rolled her eyes. “Fine, then, but you better at least hide it under your uniform.”

I tucked it inside the top of my uniform and headed out into the gym.

Mrs. King had pulled us out of class half an hour earlier for a quick practice. I was even more nervous than I thought I would be. My toes kept tapping against the floor.

Lark had been right about the shoes. The second I slipped them onto my feet, the cheers and routines slipped into my memory as well. I knew them as if I had been practicing them every day for weeks. Unfortunately, that didn't mean I was exempt from screwing up. The shoes held the knowledge and muscle memory of the routine, but they didn't completely take over our bodies and make us perfect.

It wasn't the routines that were making me nervous, anyway. It was the thought of putting myself out there in front of the entire school. I was more comfortable being the girl dressed in black and sitting on the top row in the back corner.

“Don't look so nervous, Harper,” Mrs. King said with a laugh. “You'll be fine.”

I smiled, but I really felt like throwing up. The sensation only got worse as soon as the rest of the student body started rolling into the gym. I had always thought of Peachville High as a small school. Where did all these students come from?

I looked around at the other girls and Brooke caught my eye. She smiled and mouthed, “You'll be fine.”

Lark reached over and squeezed my hand and Allison kicked her foot against my white sneaker. I took a deep breath. Wasn't this the whole reason I wanted to be a part of the squad? In the end, it wasn't about pyramids and cheering on the team. It was about being part of a group. Having friendships that mattered. Belonging to something real for the first time in my life. These girls were just like me. So what if I didn't think I was the cheering type? So what if I had to put aside my black boots for white sneakers and my holey jeans for a short skirt and bloomers? This was my chance to learn more about who I really was. Cheering in front of the school was a small price to pay, even if I did end up embarrassing myself.

“Alright Demon fans,” the principal said into the mic. Everyone cheered and she held a poster high in the air. I couldn't see what it said. “Are we ready for a great pep rally?”

I plastered my best cheer smile across my face and did one more sweep of the gym to look for Drake and the other football players. That's when Jackson Hunt caught my eye.

My stomach flipped over and I felt lightheaded. What was it about that guy?

He was nothing like Drake. Drake was tall and muscular and popular. He got good grades and was the star quarterback of the team. Everyone loved Drake. But Jackson? He was mysterious. Aloof. Unpredictable.

Why was I always seeking him out in the crowd? No matter when or where, if he was in the room, my eyes found him. Today, he was wearing black jeans and a blue t-shirt with some band name on it that I didn't recognize. My breath caught in my chest as he turned toward me. His green eyes were his most charming accessory.

I met his eyes for a moment, then looked away. When I felt him turn away again, my eyes gravitated back to him. He was with a girl I didn't know. I'd seen her around school before, though. I was pretty sure she was friends with Mary Anne, but I'd never actually met her.

She had shoulder-length black hair with bright red streaks going through it like veins, and her tattered clothes looked like hand-me downs. Actually, her long black skirt and white tank top looked like something I would normally wear. Well, pre-cheerleading squad anyway. At my previous schools, she would have been exactly the kind of girl I'd have been friends with. Now, however, I felt a twinge of jealousy for the way Jackson was looking at her. His eyes were focused on her like what she was saying was the most important thing anyone had ever said before.

They both looked at me, and I jumped and turned away. Oh God. They knew I was staring at them. I shook my head and tried to concentrate on what the principal was saying into the microphone, but it was no use. I glanced over to see if they were still looking my way, but they were locked in deep conversation. In fact, it looked like they were arguing.

“Here we go,” Allison whispered behind me.

I threw one final look toward Jackson and the black-haired girl. They were definitely arguing, but about what? Me? Why had they both turned to look at me like that? Before I had time to question it further, Principal Watt was calling the cheerleaders to the front. When I looked over again a few minutes later, Jackson was gone.

Because She Knows How Much I Like You

That night, the energy in the stadium was contagious. Even though it was an away game, there were tons of fans there from Peachville. So close to the field, the smell of freshly mowed grass was in my nostrils. The roar of the crowd on both sides was deafening. I was so close to the action. I never realized just how exciting it could be to be down here so close to the game. I found myself really getting into the atmosphere of it.

I had no idea what most of the plays were called, but I could tell when Drake threw a great pass, and I obviously knew when the PHS Demons scored a touchdown. Drake was fantastic. He controlled the dynamic of the team. It was as if he were made to play football. I knew I should feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be dating him, but I still hadn't decided if I really liked him or not.

As for my cheering, I didn't do half bad. Not that I could really take all the credit for it, of course. The Demons walked away with yet another victory, making the team 5-0 for the year. By the looks of it, we were the team to beat.

After the game was over, Brooke and several of the cheerleaders grabbed our bags and loaded up onto the football players' bus. Luckily, they'd all taken showers in the guest locker rooms after the game and it smelled faintly like soap and deodorant spray. Drake led me to a seat at the very back of the bus where it was dark and cozy. When I sat down and scooted over to the window, he pulled a blanket out of his bag and handed it to me.

“What's that for?”

He smiled, mischief dancing in his eyes. “I think a blanket is typically used for warmth. You use it to cover your body, see.” He sat next to me and situated the blanket around my legs. “There. I don't want my girl getting cold.”

Every time he referred to me as his girl I felt a little sick to my stomach. He was one of the most gorgeous guys in the entire school, but there was something holding me back. I felt so much pressure when I was around him.

Under the big blue velvety blanket, I felt his hands caress my knee. I swallowed nervously. It wasn't like I'd never been touched by a boy before. It was just that I had a feeling Drake wanted more from me than just a touch on the knee, and for some reason, I wasn't sure I was ready to give more. We'd been dating for several weeks now, but we'd never gotten past kissing and the occasional over-the-clothing groping.

I shivered despite the blanket.

Drake's hand was warm against my cold skin. When I was out on the field, I'd barely noticed how cold I was, but now, my skin felt dry and frozen.

“Wow, you really are cold.” Drake put his arm around me and pulled me close to him. We slumped down deeper in the seat and put our knees up on the back of the seat in front of us.

“I felt fine on the field, but now that I'm sitting still, I'm freezing.”

The bus started up and a few more players made their way onto the bus. Drake leaned over and kissed my neck.

“You looked amazing out there tonight,” he whispered. “I could hardly take my eyes off you.”

I didn't know how to respond to that. “You did great, too.”

He leaned in and covered my mouth with a soft kiss. His lips were so warm and soft. I melted into him, but when his hand slip up my thigh, I jerked away.

“What's wrong?”

“I'm sorry,” I said. “I didn't mean to pull away. It's just... I don't know about taking this relationship to the next level on the back of a bus filled with stinky football players.”

He laughed and kissed my cheek. “We all took showers.”

I rolled my eyes. “That's not what I mean.”

“I know. And it's fine. We don't have to do anything, but I hope you'll share that blanket. I don't want to catch a cold.”

“Haha,” I said. “Very funny.”

We settled back down as the bus pulled out of the parking lot. Up front, someone turned on some music. A couple of the guys cheered for some girl who was dancing in the aisles. I sighed and settled back into the seat.

Drake and I had never really talked about past relationships, but I doubted he was a virgin. He was almost eighteen and one of the most popular guys in school. Plus, I knew he'd had a few serious girlfriends. That right there already put him way ahead of me in the experience department. I didn't want to disappoint him, but at the same time, I didn't want to move too fast and do anything I'd regret.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked. “You looked like you were contemplating the theory of evolution or something.”

I forced a smile. “I was thinking about you.”

“Oh really?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Yep. I was thinking about how awesome you looked on that field tonight.” It was always easy to get Drake to talk about himself.

“It was a great game, wasn't it? I really think we've got a shot at getting to the championships this year. My dad's been talking to a couple of recruiters.”

“College recruiters? From where?” I hadn't thought about the fact that Drake would be headed to college next year.

“University of Georgia for one. Maybe Auburn. Florida State.”

“Wow, those are some really good schools.”

“The pressure's really going to be on. It's not like my family needs me to get a scholarship or anything, but I'd love the chance to play college ball.”

It occurred to me how little I really knew about Drake. The one time I'd met his parents, they seemed flat and boring. His mother seemed kind of like a perfect little Stepford wife who always wore just the right outfit and said just the right thing.

He pulled me closer. “I'm thinking UGA is starting to look real good.”

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Because it will put me closer to you next year,” he said.

I squirmed uncomfortably. “That's still kind of far off to be thinking about, isn't it?”

“My mom was actually the one who suggested I think about UGA so we could stay together.” His hand ran up my thigh again and he kissed my cheek.

“Wait, your mother?” I pulled away. “Why would your mom even care?”

Drake sighed. “Because she knows how much I like you. She wants to make sure I make the right choices. Besides, her and my dad met when they were in High School.” He shrugged.

Was he comparing us to his parents? I shook my head and looked out the window. Things were definitely moving too fast.

He turned my face toward his. I held my breath as he stared at me, then brought his lips to mine. The kiss started slowly. I was hesitant. His hand inched higher on my leg. I tried to push him away, but he was persistent. I wasn't sure what I wanted anymore.

“Harper?”

“Yeah?” I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against his arm. I needed to get my balance.

“Will you go to Homecoming with me?”

My stomach tightened. I couldn't very well say no, could I?

“On one condition,” I said.

He smiled. “Okay, let's hear it.”

“You have to promise that if you get a scholarship to a bunch of these schools, you won't choose UGA just because of me.”

His smile faded. I didn't say what he expected to hear. He seemed to think it over for a second. “Okay,” he said. “If it's that important to you.”

It was that important. I didn't want Drake making decisions about his distant future based on our month-old relationship. Most girls probably would have been excited to hear him talk about the future, but it made me feel uncomfortable. Pressured. Like he was claiming ownership of me. Hell, I wasn't even sure where I wanted to go to school or even if I planned to go to college at all. And if I wasn't ready to make those decisions about my own future, how could I be comfortable with someone else basing their decisions on me?

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I'm just tired.”

I laid my head against his shoulder. We didn't talk the rest of the ride home.

We're Talking About Things Way Past My Experience Level

“Harper, you have to try this one on. This color will look amazing on you.” Brooke held up a silky blue dress.

Brooke, Lark, Allison and I had been shopping at the mall in Macon for the past two hours and none of the others had yet to find a dress. And they didn't seem to be getting tired of shopping either. Me? I was so tired of boutique stores and department stores and never-could-afford-this-in-a-million-years dresses.

“Great,” I said.

“I'm going to try this red one, but I'm not sure I like this beaded flower part on the shoulder,” Lark said.

Allison had three dresses thrown across her arm, too, and the four of us headed into the dressing area together. When they'd asked me to come along, I thought it would be more fun to try on pretty dresses. But when I realized just how much all these dresses cost, the fun quickly drained out of the whole experience. When I stepped into the solitude of the dressing room, I flipped over the price tag on the amazing blue dress. I almost groaned out loud. Three hundred and fifty dollars?! I sighed and slipped it on, praying it looked like crap and I wouldn't care that I couldn't afford it.

Lark let out a high-pitch squeal when I came out to model the dress. “That's perfect,” she said. “You have to get it.”

I panicked. How could she think I could afford this? Sometimes they acted like Shadowford was just some vacation home for me. “I don't know,” I said, scrunching up my nose as I studied it in the mirror. It was fabulous, of course. And Brooke was right. The color was perfect for me. But I couldn't tell them that. Instead, I said, “It's just not the dress. I can't explain it. I'll know it when I see it.”

Brooke nodded in understanding. “You have a good point. It's so important to trust your instincts when it comes to finding the right dress for an occasion like this.”

“Well, I think you're crazy. You'll never find a dress as perfect as that one.”

She was probably right, but what could I do? Short of stealing the damn thing, I had no choice but to put it back.

Later, as we were all eating lunch in the food court, I noticed a strange woman staring at us. She was dressed in all black. Every time I caught her staring, she pretended to be looking for someone she knew. Something about her made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Lark leaned over toward me.

“Want to spend the night tonight?

I set my burger and fries down on the table. “Sure,” I said. “That would be awesome.”

“Great. My parents have some dinner thing tonight and I don't really feel like being alone.”

“Sounds like fun,” I said. I glance back over at the woman in black. She was staring again. “Lark? Do you see that lady over there by the stairs? She keeps looking at us.”

Lark turned all the way around in her chair. I rolled my eyes.

“You don't have to be so obvious about it.”

She giggled, then seemed to freeze. She turned back around abruptly and took a long sip of her coke.

“Do you know her?” I asked.

“Nope,” she said. She and Brooke shared a look. I didn't believe her for a second.

The four of us spent another hour or two shopping, then we split up. Brooke had plans for a movie with Foster, Allison was expected to be home for dinner with her parents, and Lark and I went to her house. When we got there, I was amazed at the level of security around their yard. Video surveillance. A gated front drive with a guard.

“Whoa. What's up with all the Fort Knox security?”

She looked a little embarrassed and I wondered if I'd said something wrong. “You know, with my mom being Mayor and all, sometimes we get threats.”

I nodded as if that made complete sense, but to tell the truth, it didn't make any sense to me at all. It wasn't like we were in Washington DC or New York or anywhere. We were in a small town with a population of less than ten thousand. Was being the mayor in a town like this really all that dangerous? I thought of the creepy woman who'd been staring at us in the mall and shivered.

Inside, the house was like a palace. Marble floors. A huge winding white staircase. Sparkling chandelier. It was unreal. The house didn't look like the typical southern Mayor's house, that's for sure. It was far from what I was expecting.

“Wow, did your parents design this place?”

“My dad's an architect,” she said. “And my mom went to school for interior design up in Atlanta. That's where they met.”

“This place is beautiful.”

“You think?” She looked around, a bored look on her face. “It always seems so out of place to me. Like it doesn't fit in a town like this with all these old southern houses.”

I didn't tell her that was exactly what I'd just been thinking. “But it's still gorgeous.”

She laughed. “Thanks. Come on, I'll show you my room.”

As we started up the stairs, an older black woman walked into the hallway and said hello to Lark. “You want something to eat? I've got some cookies in the kitchen. Fresh baked if you want any.”'

“No thanks,” Lark said. “We might come down later. This is Harper, by the way.”

“Hi Miss Harper. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.” I had never seen so many people working to make one house run smoothly. A security guards. A cook. I caught a glimpse of a woman in a maid's uniform dusting in the living room when we first walked in. How many people did the Chen's employ anyway? Half a dozen? More? It blew my mind a little.

Lark grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs. The carpet up here was a plush off-white carpet that I sank into with each step. Somewhere in the middle of the hallway, Lark pushed open a dark mahogany door.

“Here we are,” she said. “My little piece of heaven.”

As I walked into the room, I felt a slight shock go through my system. After all of the white and cream and gold tones in the main areas of the house, Lark's bright pink walls and dark wood furniture looked completely out of place.

“Wow, it's crazy bright and cheerful in here.”

“Um, I'll take that as a compliment,” she said, plopping down on her bed. The Queen size bed was covered with a fluffy white comforter that was decorated with violet, green and pink polka dots.

“I meant it as one,” I said. “It's so different from the rest of the house.”

“Yeah, Mom and I have very different tastes. Plus, I like to redecorate a lot.”

Must be nice. I had never once been able to decorate my own room or even pick out my own paint color. “Do you paint it yourself?”

Lark smiled mischievously, like she had a secret.

“What?” I asked.

“Watch,” she said. She slid off the bed and sat down in the center of her floor on a square pink rug. She crossed her legs and set her hands palm up on her knees.

I felt a tingle of energy on the tiny hairs on my arm. I didn't know whether to sit down with her or back away.

Her eyes closed and her lips moved silently. There was movement in the air that lifted my hair slightly off my shoulders. Underneath where Lark was sitting, the pink rug slowly turned a color of teal as bright as pictures I'd seen of the Caribbean ocean. The color crept outward from her in a circular pattern, like a drop of water spreading on a napkin.

The dark wood furniture suddenly became shiny white. The polka-dot bedspread turned black with teal and white stripes, the color perfectly matching the newly teal rug on the floor. Other details of the room changed too. Like the lamp on her bedside table. I watched as it turned from a wooden base with a pink shade to a tall chrome base with a shimmery white shade. When the circle of color reached the edges of the room, a bright white paint climbed up the walls, replacing the pink that was already there. One wall became a teal accent wall.

Less than ten minutes after Lark sat down, the entire room transformed in front of my eyes. I stood, open-mouthed, staring at each changed detail.

“You like it?” She opened her eyes and stood, hand on one hip, surveying her work.

“Like it? This is incredible.” I walked over to the bedside table and touched the lamp to make sure it was real. The chrome base was cool to the touch and very much real chrome.

“How did you do that?”

“It's called a glamour,” she said. “A staple of every respectable witch. It takes a lot of energy and concentration. I used to get super sick to my stomach after doing it, but I've been practicing. It gets easier.”

I ran my hand along the bedspread and the walls, completely fascinated by what she had done. This was definitely a higher level of magic than anything Mrs. King had taught us so far.

“Do you want to learn?”

“Are you kidding me?” I said. “I would kill to learn how to do this. Do you think I could actually do it?”

She smiled and took my hand. “Of course. Here, sit down with me.”

We sat together in the center of the room facing each other, then scooted together until our knees were touching. Lark took my hands in hers and arranged them correctly on top of my knee.

“You need to always sit palms up, like you're meditating. It's kind of like opening yourself up to the power all around you. Feel the energy of the room?”

I nodded. I did feel it. A muted version of what I'd felt in the grass the night they gave me the demon tattoo. A hum deep below the surface of the air.

“Imagine that energy is entering your body through your hands and your eyes and your mouth and your ears. Just close your eyes and let it fill you up.”

I closed my eyes and imagined that the energy was a blue light pouring into me. I soaked it in, and it felt like a warm current running up my arms and through my shoulders. It flowed from my head down through my chest and all the way down to the tips of my toes.

“Good,” she said. She touched my arm lightly and I felt a tiny shock. I pulled away and opened my eyes. Lark giggled. “Sorry. Making a connection with another shadow witch can be pretty intense.”

“Lark? What does Shadowford Plantation have to do with the Order of Shadows?”

Lark shrugged. “I don't know for sure. Only that the clearing is there on the property,” she said. “And I've heard there's a sacred ritual room somewhere underground. Kind of like our training room in the gym. It's where they take girls for their final initiation on their eighteenth birthday.”

“Have you ever been there?”

“No.” She shook her head. “But sometimes I overhear my mom talking about things.”

So her mother was definitely a member of the Order of Shadows. I wondered if Lark knew who the other members were and why they kept the names a secret from the recruits. I'd been putting together a list of potential members in my head. Lark's mom. Mrs. King. Sheriff Hollingsworth. And so on.

“Do you ever wonder why they don't just tell us who the members of the Order are? I mean, why does it need to be a secret?”

Lark shifted uncomfortably. “Do you want to learn how to do this glamour or not?”

“Of course.” Why was it so difficult to get answers to my questions? Everyone kept brushing me off like secrets were normal. I sighed.

“Concentrate again,” she said. “Try to get back to that same place of energy where you were before. Focus on your breathing and draw the energy from every item in the room.”

After a few moments of breathing and concentration, I felt the blue light flow into me again. I let the breath come in through my nose and out again, filling my chest and my soul.

“Now, keep your eyes closed,” Lark said. “I'm going to take your hands in mine. Our energy will combine and amplify, so it might tingle a bit.”

She slowly placed her hands, palm up, into my own. I felt the zap of energy, like a static shock. In that moment, I had a flashback of memory. My first day at Shadowford in Ms. Shadowford's office. I had touched the doorknob in her room and it had shocked me. Then, the first time I touched Mrs. King, the same thing had happened. This felt exactly the same, only more concentrated. More dense and full.

“Wow,” she whispered.

“What?”

“You really are powerful, Harper. And you don't even know it yet.”

I started to open my eyes, but she stopped me. “Wait, don't let it go.”

We breathed together. In and out slowly.

“Now think about the rug beneath us,” she said. “Feel it under your legs and in connection with your body. Imagine it as clearly as you can. Got it?”

“Yeah,” I said. I had a clear image of the square teal rug in my head.

“Now imagine the rug is a different color. Any color you want.”

I imaged it was bright yellow, like the sun. That's how strong the warmth was inside of me. It felt like the rays of the sun were flowing into me and filling me up with sunshine. I pictured the color slowly radiating out from beneath me, turning the teal to yellow until it reached the very boundaries of the square spot.I shifted as I felt something slither across my back.

The demon.

Lark giggled and pulled her hands from mine. “You did it! On your first try.”

I opened my eyes and looked down at the rug underneath me. It was exactly the shade of yellow I had pictured in my head. I laughed and reached down to touch it, making sure it was real. “Holy crap.”

“Holy crap is right. I mean, you were using my power somewhat too, but that was incredible. I've never seen anyone do something so large on their first try with a glamour. Pretty color too.”

I stood up and laughed. I felt giddy with joy and power and this amazing new connection to the world around me.

“Will it stay like this forever? I mean, until someone changes it?”

Lark shook her head. “It depends on the glamour and the level. These are all stationary objects. Changing their color is easy. The lamp, for example, take a little more power since I changed its shape. It won't last as long as the color would.”

“What about a person? Like if I wanted to change my hair color? Or my eyes?”

She thought about it for a second. “To be honest, I haven't tried much of that. It can be dangerous.”

“How so?”

Lark stood up and walked over to the mirror. “Well, magic is a sort of give and take. That's what Mrs. King was talking about with her healing and why it's not something witches at our level can handle. When she heals someone else, it takes something from her.”

“What?”

“I'm not sure. Power. Her essence. Something like that. We're talking about things way past my experience level, here. All I know is that if there's one person who is hurt, it's not that hard for her to heal them. But if there were, say, five people critically injured, she'd likely kill herself trying to heal them all. Certain magic can really drain you.”

I thought about what she'd said. It made sense. Nothing in this world was free, so of course magic had a cost.

“So changing my hair color or something might be too hard? Or might drain me and make me sick?”

“I honestly don't know.”

“Should we try it?”

Lark looked at me like I was crazy. “Did you hear what I said about the sickness and the possible death?”

“Oh come on,” I said. “You think changing my hair color is going to kill me?”

She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. “I guess not.”

“Okay, so here's the deal. I change my hair from blonde to brown. Then we'll see how long it lasts on its own.”

It took me nearly an hour to pull it off, and even then, my hair was more of a reddish color than a pure brown. I finally had to stop trying because Lark was right, concentrating at that level wore me out. I started to feel light-headed and weak.

By morning, my hair was blonde again.

“It must have turned back sometime while we were sleeping,” I said, studying my hair closely in the mirror.

“I still can't believe you did it,” she said. “Can you promise me something?”

I turned away from the mirror to look at her. She sounded so serious for someone who usually did nothing but giggle. “Sure.”

“Don't tell anyone you can do this, okay? My mother taught me the room thing because she was tired of having to repaint it all the time. I'm not supposed to know how to do it. If anyone found out, it could get us both in some serious trouble. Maybe even my mom too.”

“So why risk teaching me in the first place?”

Lark looked down at her feet. She was standing on the bright yellow rug. She looked embarrassed.

“Because I saw your face when you had to put that expensive blue dress back yesterday,” she said.

Her Dark Confidence

“I need a dress,” I said to Courtney.

We were sitting on the couch Sunday afternoon watching TV. Ever since Agnes died, Courtney and I had started hanging out some when we were both home. She was only a Freshman so I didn't see her much at school, but she was actually a pretty cool girl.

“I can't believe you're dating Drake Ashworth,” she said with obvious admiration, pulling her legs up onto the couch to sit criss-cross. She pushed her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear.

“Me either,” I said. “You should have seen him the first time we met. As soon as he learned where I was living, he couldn't get away from me fast enough.”

“Really? What changed, do you think?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea. One day I was a social outcast, and the next I was being invited to try out for the cheerleading squad. I guess that's when Drake started paying attention to me.”

Of course, I didn't mention the fact that I shared a demon heritage with all of the other girls on the squad, but I knew now that was the reason why everyone treated me differently all of a sudden. Once you were chosen, you were in. What I didn't understand was why one girl was chosen and another wasn't even though they shared the same basic magical abilities. I wondered if Courtney and Mary Anne could do magic, too?

The only problem was that to ask the question, I'd be admitting I could do magic. I wasn't sure I should be talking about those things with anyone outside of the Order.

“So what kind of dress are you going to wear?” she asked.

I grabbed a handful of popcorn. “I have no clue. It's not like I have any money to buy one, but all I have in my closet are some old skirts.”

“I've never been to a school dance, but I'm pretty sure Ms. Shadowford would give you some money if you need it.”

I stuffed the popcorn in my mouth. I hadn't even considered asking Ella Mae or Mrs. Shadowford for money.

After what Lark showed me, I felt confident that if I found a cheap dress that was the right size and shape of the blue one that I liked, I could use magic to make it look exactly like the dress from the boutique store in the mall.

As I walked up the stairs, I tried to think of a store where I could find a cheap dress. That's when I saw Mary Anne step into her bedroom.

I hesitated in the hallway, then walked over toward her room. Her door was still open. I wasn't bold enough to walk in uninvited, so I knocked lightly on the door frame. “Mary Anne?”

She peeked around her closet door. As usual, she was dressed in all black. Her jet black hair was so dark against her pale porcelain skin. She stared at me, but didn't speak.

“Sorry to bother you,” I said. “Just was wondering if you were planning to go to the Homecoming dance.”

She shrugged, then turned back to her closet. God, this girl never gave me a break! Was she super shy or did she hate my guts? I honestly couldn't tell.

“I only ask because I thought you might have some ideas about where I could get a dress,” I said. She was always wearing the coolest stuff from some thrift store in town, but I had no idea where it was or what it was called.

I stepped one foot over the threshold to her room, then immediately stepped back. An eerie feeling spread through my body. I'd never been in there before, but I didn't feel welcome. The room looked very similar to my own. Large wood-carved sleigh bed. Mirrored dresser. Private bathroom. But Mary Anne had put a black blanket over the bedspread and another one over the window. Like she was some kind of vampire in here. Geez. Depressing much?

She looked over at me, and I smiled nervously. She sighed, then turned to me. “There's a place,” she said. Her voice was surprisingly soft and musical. “Downtown. They have some stuff.”

“Oh,” I said. I was shocked she was actually talking to me. “So you're going to the dance, too?”

She nodded. I wondered if she had a date. I'd never seen her with a guy before. Well, except Jackson. I'd seen them talking a couple of times before in the back yard near the garden. I wondered if she knew who Jackson was taking to the dance. I pushed away a slight sting of jealousy. I knew I was lucky to be going with a guy like Drake, but in the pit of my stomach, I felt a twinge of something like regret. I shook it off.

“Cool. You wanna go look for dresses together then?”

“No,” she said.

I shook my head, not sure I'd heard her right. “No?”

“No.” She walked toward me and started to shut her door.

“Can you at least tell me the name of the store?” I asked.

“Rags,” she said, then closed the door.

I really didn't get her. What had I ever done to piss her off? I started to knock on her door again, but she started blasting her music.

I decided to see if Courtney wanted to go instead. Ella Mae gave us each fifty bucks and dropped us off downtown while she went to run some errands.

I was a little concerned at first since we had to walk down a dead alleyway to get to the thrift store, but I relaxed once we got inside. There were three full racks of dresses, and they didn't look terribly bad.

Courtney wasn't going to the dance, so she walked over to the other side of the store to look for a new pair of jeans. Music blared in the background. Some punk band with a screaming female vocalist. I wasn't surprised this was Mary Anne's type of place. She seemed to fit here.

A plain black dress caught my eye and I pulled it from the rack. I held it up against my body. The hem of the dress fell a few inches above my knee. I checked the size. Six. Perfect. Then I checked the price tag. Thirty bucks. Even more perfect.

I made my way to the counter. “Is there a dressing room here?”

The guy at the counter had six different piercings on his face. He gave me a nod and carried my dress to the back. I heard the bell on the front door jingle and looked to see who had come into the store. I paused. It was the girl from the pep rally the other day. The girl Jackson had been arguing with.

She was dressed in all black again, just like Mary Anne. Her black hair was pulled up into braided pig tails, streaks of teal running through it this time instead of red. She looked straight at me, and I ducked my head and made a beeline for the dressing room, sure she had caught me staring. Again.

There was definitely something intriguing about that girl. Like I knew her from somewhere. Or that I was supposed to know her.

I was alone in the dressing area. I stripped my clothes of and slipped the black dress over my body. The bottom hem was frayed and there were sequins missing from the straps, but it was a perfect fit. There were no mirrors in the dressing room so I stepped back into the hallway to see if there was one out there.

I gasped as I nearly ran into the girl in black. My hand went to my heart. “Oh my God, I'm sorry. You scared me to death.”

The girl didn't laugh or even change facial expressions. Her dark eyes bored into me. The smile left my face, and my heart pounded in my ears. I knew without a doubt that this girl didn't like me. I could feel anger radiating off of her like hot sun off blacktop. For a moment, I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

“Harper Madison,” she said. “The shining hope of our little hamlet.”

What did she mean by shining hope? I felt uncomfortable being alone with her in the back hall like this. She scared me with her dark confidence. “And you are?”

“Morgyn Baker.”

“Well, nice to meet you too, Morgyn,” I said. I tried to step past her but she put her hand up against the wall to block me.

“I want you to stay away from Jackson Hunt,” she said.

Not exactly what I'd expected her to say. “I've hardly ever talked to the guy.”

“That's not true and you know it. You may not exactly remember it.” She picked up my hand and ran her finger along the scar on my palm. “But you know it.”

I shivered. Who was this girl? And what role did she play in this town with all its secrets and lies and strange powers? Was she a witch?

I wanted to ask her what she knew about my scar, but she turned away before I got the chance. She disappeared out into the store and a few seconds later, I heard the little bell over the door jingle.

What Did I Really Know About Jackson Hunt?

I laid my new black dress across the bed and felt a chill. My window was open and the air outside was getting colder as the sun started to go down. It was that strange time of year in Georgia when the days were still nice and warm, but the nights were freezing. I rubbed my arms to warm them, and walked over to the window to shut it.

Voices in the garden caught my attention. It was getting darker outside, but there was still enough light to make out the two figures half-hidden in the tall weeds. Mary Anne and Jackson. They were talking. I saw Jackson hold something out to her. She hesitated, looked around, then took a small vial from him and shoved it in her pocket.

I stared down, confused. What exactly had I just witnessed? Some kind of drug deal?

“Come on, Jackson, give me what I want.”

Tori's voice came back to me. I'd seen them down in the garden together the first night I moved to Shadowford, and Tori had wanted something from him that he wouldn't give her. It was another one of those memories that seemed to come out of nowhere. That had been happening to me a lot lately. As if my own memory was a puzzle slowly putting itself back together over time.

I thought about the way that girl Morgyn had touched the scar on my palm that afternoon. She had said something about me not remembering things. How did she know about that scar? Ella Mae told me I got it when I passed out from the fever, but sometimes I wondered.

I looked down at Jackson and Mary Anne in the garden. They were still talking, huddled close together like they shared some great secret.

What had he handed her in that vial? He didn't seem like the drug dealer type. It didn't really seem to match the softness in his eyes, but what did I really know about Jackson Hunt? I looked down at my scarred palm. Maybe I knew more than I could remember.

I'm Really Not Allowed to Talk About It

“What are you thinking about?” Brooke asked. We were down in the training room studying history. Or at least that's what we were supposed to be doing. Instead, most of the girls had paired off to talk about Brooke's eighteenth birthday party coming up on Saturday. They talked about what they planned to wear or who they planned to bring. I had been so focused on Homecoming and magic and secrets, I had almost forgotten about the party.

I shrugged. “Nothing, I guess.”

“You look like you're a million miles away,” she said. “Everything okay?”

“Yep,” I said, trying to keep my tone light. I changed the subject. “I can't wait for the party.”

“Oh my God, it's going to be totally insane. My parents are pulling out all the stops.”

“Someone said the theme is a night at the fair?”

“Yes,” she said. She turned her body toward me on the bench and talked excitedly about the plans. “There's going to be a huge ferris wheel and everything.”

My mouth opened slightly in surprise. When she said her parents were pulling out all the stops, the girl wasn't joking around. “Just as long as I get some cotton candy, I'll be fine.”

She giggled. “I'll make sure you get cotton candy in every color.”

“Sweet,” I said. I turned back to the notebook on the table. Our task for the afternoon was to practice writing on the pages without touching the pen. So far, all I'd written in my notebook was my name and today's date. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” she said.

“What happens when you turn eighteen?” My pen sailed across the page, writing my name in cursive this time with swirly curly letters.

“What do you mean?”

I looked around to make sure Mrs. King wasn't standing near us. “I mean the final induction into the Order of Shadows.”

“You know I can't tell you that,” she said. Her voice got quiet and she turned to her own notebook.

“Do you even know?”

I saw a scared look cross over her normally calm features. “Sure, it's just a secret from those of you further down the food chain.”

She was lying. I could see it in her face. So in just a few days, they were planning to put her through some kind of secret final phase of training and they hadn't even told her what to expect? I didn't like the sound of that. I mean, why was it such a big secret?

“Can you at least tell me when it happens? I mean, your birthday is actually Saturday right?”

She shook her head. “No, technically it's Sunday, but who wants to have a blow-out party on a Sunday night, then have to go to school the next morning? The party would be over by nine. I figured it would be a lot more fun to do it Saturday when people have late curfews. There's going to be a special surprise at midnight.”

“That sounds great,” I said. “Do you really have a band there for the whole night?”“Booked 'em till 2 am this year,” she said. “My parents went through the roof at the cost, but who cares? It's not like they can't afford it.”

Yeah, her birthday party band probably cost more than Ms. Shadowford spent on all three of the girls living at Shadowford in a year.

“So the ritual happens Sunday?”

She shifted in her seat. “I'm really not allowed to talk about it.”

I studied her face as she concentrated on the notebook and pen in front of her. She looked nervous. Mrs. King made it seem like the Order was full of amazing women who did so much to help this community. So what was with all the secrecy? I had no idea what the Order had planned for Brooke this weekend, but all of a sudden, I was determined to find a way to attend her initiation ceremony.

The Color of Air

That night, alone in my room, I worked on glamours and thought about Brooke's ceremony. The more I practiced, the stronger I felt. No one knew I could do a glamour, so what if I made myself look like one of the Order, then just walked into the ceremony like I was one of them?

I shook my head. I had no idea what the members of the Order looked like when they did one of these rituals. For all I knew, they could show up all wearing pink tutu's and tiaras. I couldn't count on seeing them far enough in advance to work up an identical glamour. I needed to find another way in.

What if I could make myself into something super small? Something that wouldn't be noticed in the room. But what? A fly? A speck of dust? A mouse? I had no idea if I could do a glamour that would change my size so drastically.

Lark had said those kinds of glamours didn't last long anyway, and it would suck to suddenly change from a mouse to full-size me smack in the middle of the initiation.

No, I needed to come up with something simple. Something I could maintain for at least a couple of hours. Lark had said it was easiest to create a glamour when you were just changing the color or outside look of something rather than trying to change the size or shape.

I racked my brain. I needed to be at that ceremony. I still had a couple of years before I was expected to go through my own initiation ceremony, but I hated the idea of going through this whole training process with no idea what was waiting for me on the other side. I mean, if you wanted to join a country club, they at least let you go on a tour of the place first. Not that I'd ever been to a country club, but they probably all allowed tours before you plunked down your money to become a member.

Why wouldn't the Order of Shadows let us see behind the curtain, then? What could they possibly be hiding?

I thought about the demon tattoo on my back. Brooke was the one in charge of giving those tattoos to the new recruits, and I was willing to bet money she was told to tell every one of us that the tattoo was no big deal. As long as she got us to agree with it, that was all that mattered. Once the tattoo was complete, there was no turning back.

I didn't ever want to be caught in that situation again.

I stared down at my hand. What if I could change the color of my skin? I could make my entire body and my clothes to be as black a midnight. I could hide in the shadows and follow them to the ritual site.

Then, I had an even better idea.

I held my hand out in front of my face and concentrated all of my energy into making it the color of nothing. The color of air.

Slowly, my hand disappeared. I smiled. I had just found my way in.

Happy Birthday Brooke

Brooke's eighteenth birthday party was set to be the party of the year. A band. A giant ferris wheel. Stands set up with typical fair games like ring toss and whack-a-mole. There were even rumors of fire dancers. After the way the last party I attended sort of went up in flames and I almost died, I wasn't terribly excited about the idea of yet another party, but of course I had to go. Everyone on the team was going.

I studied my reflection in the mirror one last time. I had used magic to straighten my normally wavy blonde hair and it fell straight down my back in long silky layers. I didn't want to do anything too taxing since I knew I'd need all my power for the ceremony. On the other hand, straightening my hair kept me connected to the power. It fed me.

I wore a new pair of skinny jeans I'd picked up at the thrift store with my black boots over the top, a black long sleeve shirt and a white faux fur vest I'd borrowed from Lark. I was surprised at how much I looked like my new friends. Being a part of the cheerleading squad had really changed me in such a short period of time.

With a somewhat nervous sigh, I grabbed my purse and headed out. Drake picked me up as usual. He looked amazing in his dark jeans and white button-up dress shirt. Very cool and casual. Had I judged him too harshly? Maybe I should stop keeping him at arm's length and give him a shot at being a real boyfriend for a change.

“You ready for a real party?” he asked when I got in the car.

“Sure. What makes this one real as opposed to other parties?”

“Because this is all-out,” he said, pulling onto the highway. “Brooke's parents are always trying to top themselves and believe me, when Brooke's older sister turned eighteen, they had the party of the century. People still talk about how wild and outrageous that party was, and that was what? Six years ago? I'm expecting nothing but amazing tonight.”

“Wow, what do people say about the last party? Did you go?”

“No,” he said. “I was like twelve. But people talked about how amazing the food was. Oh and they had this circus theme with animals in cages and circus acts going on in different tents. It was wild. I'm dying to see what they did with a fair theme.”

“You seem pretty excited about it.”

“Hell yeah. Aren't you?”

“I guess.”

“You guess? After everything we've been through already this year, I'm ready to just have a good time. No drama. Just plain old fashioned fun.”

I relaxed as he squeezed my leg and smiled. It would definitely be nice to have a night with no drama. Drake pushed the button to open his sunroof, then stuck his hand through and yelled, “Woohooo!”

I laughed. “You dork.”

“Proud of it,” he said.

When we pulled up to the party, an actual valet in a black vest and tie took the keys and parked the car for us. Even from out front we could hear the blazing music in the backyard. Brooke's family lived pretty far outside of town on a huge farm. At least they wouldn't have to worry about upsetting any neighbors with the noise. There wasn't a house within a mile from here.

When we walked through the gate to the backyard, a guy in jeans and a red cowboy shirt asked if he could get us something to drink. I ordered a diet coke. Drake ordered a beer.

I laughed and hit him in the ribs with my elbow. “They aren't going to bring you a beer, you dork. You're underage.”

“It's a private party,” Drake said. “No one cares if we drink as long as we don't drive home or damage anybody's property.”

“You're kidding me.” I looked to the waiter to see if he would disagree, but instead he wrote down the order and walked away to go get the drinks.

“Your next drink should definitely be something fruity like a Cosmo or something.”

“There's Brooke,” I said. I didn't want to get pressured into drinking tonight so I changed the subject. I needed all my senses to pull of that glamour later.

I pointed over toward the stage. Brooke was standing there with Foster and a few other guys from the football team. She looked amazing in tight black leather pants, a red strapless corset and black and white cowboy boots. Very un-Brooke. She was usually little miss conservative when it came to clothing.

“Let's go over and wish her happy birthday,” he said.

We walked over and Brooke gave me a huge hug. “I'm so glad you're here!”

She practically squealed in my ear. I couldn't tell if she was drunk or just high on being the center of attention, but she was definitely acting different. She was usually so reserved.

“Happy Birthday, Brooke,” I said. “You look unreal.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I figured tonight was a night to just let loose and go wild.”

“I like the sound of that,” Foster said, kissing her neck.

I was still holding her present in my hands. It was a new Coach purse that cost over two hundred dollars. Drake's mom had picked it out and put both mine and Drake's names on the card. “Where can we put these?”

“Oh, gosh.” She looked around. “I think they set up a gift table over by the face painting,” she said.

“We just got here, but so far it looks amazing,” I said. “This is such a cool theme.”

“My parents totally outdid themselves tonight.”

“I know, I can't decide what to do first.”

“Dance with me later?”

“Sure, I said. Of course.”

“Okay, y’all have fun, I'm gonna go say hi to a group of Mom's friends who just got here.” She leaned over and actually kissed me on the cheek. Definitely not typical Brooke. I smelled alcohol on her breath and figured she'd been drinking for quite a while before the party got started.

“So, what do you want to do first?” Drake asked. He took my hand in his and gave me a squeeze.

I looked around. The ferris wheel was all the way toward the far side of the yard, and it looked like there were a few other fair-type rides. “Let's go over there and ride some of the rides.”

We got several rides in before dinner. Brooke's parents had a huge backyard and there was a large tent set up on one side of the house. Dinner was served buffet style and included fair foods like pizza, corn dogs, fried chicken, elephant ears and corn on the cob. The area was decorated with hay bales and the tables were covered with red and white checkered tablecloths. It was amazing how authentic it looked. I felt like we were really at the State Fair they threw every fall in Perry. On top of each table was a giant sparkler that never stopped shooting sparks of changing colors.

Drake was impressed. “Wow, those things are cool.” He pointed to the sparklers with his fork. “How do you think they get it to do that? Normally, the only kind of sparklers I ever used as a kid would fizzle out after thirty seconds or so. But these are just infini-sparklers.”

“I have no idea,” I said. I wasn't sure how much Drake knew about the Order of Shadows – or even if any of the men in town knew about its existence and the magic involved – so I didn't mention the fact that Brooke's mom was a witch who could probably turn him into a sparkler if she wanted to. “It must have been crazy expensive though.”

Money was a language Drake understood perfectly. “I'm sure. It's neat. My parents always throw this huge fourth of July bonfire party down on St. Simons Island on the beach. We'll have to get some of these for that party next year.”

I bit into my corn dog and searched for Brooke in the crowd. She was seated up at the head table on the stage. Someone had put a sparkling tiara on her head and she was laughing at something Foster said in her ear. All of her nervousness from the other day seemed gone and she looked genuinely happy. I wondered if someone had finally explained the ceremony to her or if she had just put it out of her mind for the party. One way or another, I knew that everything would change for her tonight.

Watch The Sky

Together, Drake and I rode all of the rides several times, shared some cotton candy, watched the band perform, and looked at all of the game booths. Some of the games even had stuffed animals and prizes, just like at the fair. Drake tried to win a giant teddy bear with a red bow around his neck, but couldn't ever put the ball in the basket three times in a row.

“I don't get it,” he said. He sounded frustrated. “I can throw a damn football forty yards down the field perfectly on target, but I can't sink a few lousy hoops. That game is ridiculous.”

“Maybe it's because you aren't wearing your lucky sneakers,” I joked.

Drake didn't get it. “What?”

“Never mind, “I said. It gave me a thought though. Wasn't it possible that Drake's ability on the field wasn't entirely natural?

“This game sucks,” he said.

“It doesn't matter,” I said. “Who cares? Besides, it's not like I really want to carry a giant teddy bear for the rest of the night.”

“That's not the point.” He raised his voice loud enough to make some people near us turn and stare. “The freakin' game's gotta be rigged or something.”

“Don't overreact,” I said. I was getting annoyed with his tone. So far, we'd been having a good time, but I was starting to realize that it was always all about Drake. He didn't even really care if I wanted the stupid bear or not. All he cared about was winning. “It's not a big deal. Let's play a different game.”

“I need another beer,” he said. He led me toward the bar that was set up near the stage where the band was playing.

I thought he'd had more than enough beer. He was supposed to be driving me home in a few hours. But I had a feeling if I mentioned his drinking right now, he would flip out on me. Instead, I kept my mouth shut.

Luckily, we ran into Lark and Allison near the dance floor.

“Hey!” Lark ran up and gave me a hug. “I feel like I haven't seen you all night. Are you having fun? Isn't this party to die for?”

I nodded. “It's great.”

“Allison and I were thinking about going to get our faces painted. You want to come?”

I looked to Drake. “Do you mind?”

“Nah,” he said, taking a swig of his beer. “I'm gonna see if I can find Foster. I'll catch up with you later.”

To be honest, I was relieved to see him go. The more I got to know Drake, the less infatuated I became. My mind kept turning to Jackson Hunt and his piercing green eyes. I kept wondering what he was doing tonight. Maybe he was with Morgyn. And what was her deal anyway?

“Gosh, don't look so serious, Harper,” Allison said. “This is a party remember?”

I smiled and shook my head, trying to shake away my thoughts. Yes, this was a party and we were supposed to be having the time of our lives. “That cotton candy upset my stomach,” I lied. “But I'm sure I'll be okay in a few.”

“Aww,” Lark said. She put her arm around me and stuck out her bottom lip. “That sucks. Can I get you anything?”

“No,” I said. “I'll be fine. Let's just find something fun to take my mind off of it.”

Once we got to the face painters, I chose a cluster of hearts for my right cheek in bright blues, purples and pinks. The girl even added some glitter. I felt kind of like a kid again.

“Do you think Brooke's having a good time?” I asked. I was standing around watching the face painter put a large blue butterfly on Lark's cheek.

Allison rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding me? She's the center of attention on a night where almost everyone in school came out to celebrate her birthday. Look at this place. There's got to be almost five hundred people here.”

Allison was right. There was a huge turnout and everyone seemed to be having a great time. People would be talking about this party for ages. But I hated that I hadn't been able to keep my eye on Brooke like I wanted.

I had spent a lot of time that week thinking about the ritual and where they might perform it. Lark had said the ceremony was performed at Shadowford. Underground.

My plan was to head home before my one o'clock curfew, pretend to go to bed, then sneak out into the garden to wait for the members of the Order to arrive. As long as I could follow them, I knew I wouldn't miss anything.

I spotted Brooke dancing near the stage, and I pointed her out to the others. “We've got to go join her,” I said.

“Oh my God, I love this song, too,” Lark said.

We ran out onto the dance floor and Brooke screamed with excitement.

“Are you having fun?” she yelled.

“Yes, this is awesome,” Lark said.

We all danced together for what seemed like hours. It was great to just let loose and stop worrying so much. I closed my eyes and let my body move to the music. When the lead singer announced that it was time for a very special midnight surprise, I was disappointed to have the night come to an end.

“This is it!” Brooke said. She took my hand and told us to follow her so we could get the best seats. She led us to a spot in the grass beside the pool. We laid down together like four little matchsticks, side by side on the grass. “Watch the sky.”

Seconds later, the sky erupted in color. Fireworks! It had been years since I'd seen a live fireworks show. I stared up at the sky in complete awe. It was so beautiful! Pink, green, blue, purple, every color you could imagine blossomed in the sky like flowers made of light.

I turned to Brooke, expecting to see pure joy on her face. Instead, she was crying.

“What's wrong? This is amazing. Why are you upset?”

She discreetly wiped away a tear that had gathered on her long lashes. “Tears of joy,” she said. She turned her face toward me and I could see the fear in her eyes.

I gripped her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Bullshit. What's wrong?”

“I'm scared,” she whispered.

Then I understood. “About the initiation? It's tonight isn't it? After the party?”

“There were so many things I wanted out of life.” She looked back up at the sky. Each time a new color burst forth, it lit up the angles of her face and I could see the glassy tears hovering in her eyes.

“You can still have all those things,” I said. “This isn't a death, Brooke, it's a new beginning.”

She shook her head slightly and sniffed. “Yes, it's a beginning. But it's also the end.” She got quiet and watched the fireworks. After a minute, she continued. “Did you know I used to want to be a veterinarian?”

I didn't. It was one of the last career ambitions I would have thought cool, classy Brooke would be interested in. I couldn't picture her with her hands dirty.

“This huge backyard used to be a pasture. We had horses and I loved them so much. I used to ride them every day. I even loved mucking out the stalls. The smell was god-awful and I got so dirty. I loved every second of it.”

“So what happened?”

“I was chosen for the cheerleading squad.”

She didn't offer any further explanation that that, but I think I sort of got it. She'd been picked at the end of her eighth grade year. Much younger than when I came into the group. And getting onto the squad changed you. I fiddled with the zipper on my vest.

“My parents sold the horses that fall of my first year on the squad. I didn't have time for them anymore with my studies and my magic. And you know what? I barely even missed them. I hardly noticed they were gone. I thought that being a cheerleader was every thing in the world. I mean, I grew up watching my mother and sisters do magic. I knew it was what everyone expected of me. Plus, at the time, it was all so secretive. I wanted to know what it was really all about, and the only way to find out was to join.”

I nodded. I knew exactly what she was talking about.

“But lately, I've been thinking about those horses. I miss being close to animals. We have our kitty, and I love her, but I always thought someday I'd be able to pursue helping animals and being around them all the time.”

“Why do you think that's changed?” I turned my body to her and propped my head up on my palm. “You can still do all those things. You're going to college next fall and you can study whatever you want.”

Brooke turned to me then and I read both grief and pain in her eyes. She opened her mouth as if to tell me something important, then changed her mind. She looked back up at the sky.

“Brooke? It's going to be okay.”

She gave my hand another squeeze and we watched the rest of her birthday fireworks in silence, our arms linked tight.

Maybe You're Just Drawn to Bad Guys

Shortly after the fireworks display, people started to head home. Even though the band was booked until two, most people had curfews. Ella Mae had talked to Ms. Shadowford and gotten special permission for me to stay out until one, so I needed to leave soon too.

I found Drake by the punch bowl with Foster.

“You about ready to go?” I asked. Truth be told, I was only anxious to get home so I could start getting ready for my late-night recon mission. I needed to rest and let my energy build back up so I could turn into the invisible girl.

Drake's shoulders hunched a bit. “If you are, I guess.” His words slurred beyond the comfort zone.

“I don't think you're going to be driving,” I said. I was annoyed. After all, he knew he was my only ride home tonight. A couple of drinks early in the evening was no big deal, but he was drunk. There was no freaking way I was getting into a car with him behind the wheel.

“I can drive, baby.”

“Not a chance,” I said. “Can you call your dad or someone to pick us up?”

Drake snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. “Don't go yet, Harper. It's still early. Have a drink. Let loose.”

He offered me a drink, but his depth perception must have been off because he ended up slamming the vodka-spiked punch into my arm and dumping the red juice all over Lark's white faux-fur vest. I jumped back.

“Oh gross,” I said.

“Dude, you just ruined her coat thingy,” Foster said with a laugh.

“I'll buy you a new one,” Drake said. He turned and gave Foster a high five.

I grabbed a napkin from the table and tried to wipe off some of the punch.

“Hey, I've got a great idea,” Foster said. “We should totally get the gang together and head out to that creepy graveyard. We could take some drinks, tell some tales. It'll be awesome.”

“Which graveyard?” Drake asked.

“You know, the one on the far side of town. Out by the old Brighton Memorial Hospital.”

“My curfew is in less than an hour,” I said. “I need to get home.”

“Come on, Harper. You're no fun,” Drake said. “Come here and give me a kiss.”

He puckered his lips and lunged toward me, but I side-stepped him. He looked hurt as he leaned against one of the poles holding the tent up.

“Don't be a bitch,” he said.

I'd had enough. “Sober up, Drake. Until then, stay away from me.”

I walked in the direction of the front gate, but Drake grabbed my arm. He yanked me back hard enough to send a shooting pain through my shoulder.

“Hey, that hurts, let go of me.” I tried to pull my arm away, but he wouldn't let go. Instead, he gripped me harder and pulled me toward him.

“Don't walk away from me.”

He pressed his lips on mine hard. I could feel the stubble on his face grinding against my cold skin. I pushed on his chest, but he grabbed me with both hands and continued to kiss me. If you could call that a kiss.

I stomped on his foot as hard as I could.

“Ow, dammit, what was that for?”

I stared at him with disgust. How could he not know what I'd kicked him for?

“Go then,” he said. “Find your own ride home.”

Anger fumed up inside of me like hot ash, making my mouth go dry. I never pictured Drake acting this way, but I guess I should have known from the way he acted the first time we met that he was capable of being a real dick. I guess it was only a matter of time before his true colors began to show.

I spun on my heel and walked to the gate, my heart pounding in my ears and my face feeling frozen from the cold wind that whipped through the area outside the main tent. I didn't run. I didn't want him to have the satisfaction of thinking he'd rattled me.

Crap. I needed a ride.

I thought about walking, but there was no way I could make it the six miles home on foot. A small town like this didn't have any taxis, and I didn't have any money to pay for one anyway.

I stood in the driveway looking out at the empty fields and trying to think of anyone I could beg a ride from that was still sober. Something out in the dark pasture across the road caught my eye. A spark of light? It was only an instant, then it was gone. I peered into the darkness, but headlights from an idling car made it hard to see very far away.

I walked down the driveway to the edge of the grass and looked again. Further from the lights of the house and cars in the driveway, my eyes began to adjust to the semi-darkness. Across the road, a little ways out in the field, I definitely saw something. A car maybe. A figure. Someone smoking a cigarette, I thought.

Jackson.

I don't know how I knew it was him. I just did. He'd probably brought his motorcycle out here so he could listen to the music. Of course, he wouldn't have been caught dead actually attending the party like a normal person. I ventured a look back toward the house to make sure Drake and Foster weren't following me, then stepped across the gravel road and into the field beyond.

The grass was slightly wet already from dew and each long weed I passed slithered across my leather boot like a snake. My footsteps made hissing sounds as I walked. The figure was still too dark to make out for certain, but I had the feeling he'd been waiting for me.

“Nothing like a midnight stroll through an abandoned cow pasture,” he said.

“What happened to the cows?”

“I scared them all away.”

“By the looks of this grass, that was quite some time ago.”

“Did you enjoy the fireworks this fine evening?” Jackson said. Now that I was close enough, I could make him out a little more clearly. He was lounging against the silver bar on the back of the bike with his boots propped up on the handlebars.

I tore my eyes away from him and looked up at the starry sky. “I bet it looked much cooler from out here. There were too many lights on from the party. How long have you been out here anyway?”

“Long enough to hear the last couple sets the band played,” he said. He slid his boots from the handlebar and straddled the bike. He was wearing a long-sleeve black button up shirt, jeans and his black cowboy boots.

I shivered in the wind, but wasn't sure if it was from the cold or from the way he looked in the moonlight.

“Long enough to see that asshole put his hands on you.”

His words cut straight to my heart. Weird how I had managed to keep my cool all through the actual incident, but hearing Jackson mention it, his voice laced with such anger, stirred me up. I looked back toward the house, thinking it would have been impossible for him to see that far. I could see the gate leading into the party and a few people milling about behind it, but nothing looked very clear.

“There's no way you saw that from all the way out here,” I said.

“I have very good eyesight.”

“Like Superman, I guess.”

“Perhaps.”

“So does that mean there's also a kryptonite out there for you?”

“Maybe you're my kryptonite.”

He threw his leg over the bike and stood. My heart pounded and my breath caught somewhere deep in my throat as he approached me.

“You shouldn't let anyone treat you like that,” he said. He crooked his index finger and put it under my chin, then lifted my face up so our eyes met. “You're too good for that, Harper.”

I swallowed, then opened my mouth to let in a nervous breath. I didn't trust myself to speak. I exhaled warmth, then sucked in the cold night air. Jackson's lips descended on mine, enveloping them in a warmth that spread like wildfire through every nerve in my body. I leaned into him and pressed my palms flat against his chest. Through his shirt, I could feel the heat coming from his body and it warmed my cold hands.

When we parted, our breath came out like puffs of smoke in the frozen air. Our eyes stayed locked on each other until finally, I looked away. Jackson's fingers left my chin and found their way into my hair. He slowly wrapped a strand of blonde hair around his index finger, then unwrapped it. My heart thudded wildly.

“Why do I feel so drawn to you?” I said.

I expected my question to shock him, but he just smiled with one corner of his mouth. “What happened to your curls?” he said. When I didn't fall for his attempt to avoid my question, he sighed. “Maybe you're just drawn to bad guys.”

A gust of wind whipped through the pasture and I felt it glide through me like a shadow of ice. “You're not a bad guy,” I said. “I have a feeling you're more like a sheep in wolf's clothing.”

He laughed and ran the back of his hand across my cheek. “I think you've got that backwards.”

“I don't think I do,” I said.

He glanced at his watch. “Shadowford expects you home by one. It's already twelve-forty now.”

“So I'll be late.”

Jackson shook his head and walked back over to his motorcycle. “Get on,” he said, holding his helmet out to me.

I stood still for a minute in protest, then grabbed the helmet. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” he said. “As long as you promise to get on the bike.”

“Do you feel drawn to me too?”

His smile faded and he looked straight at me. An electric energy passed between us. “Like a moth to a flame,” he said.

I climbed onto the bike and put my arms around his waist. My heart thundered in my chest. He started the bike, but before he took off, he put his warm hands over my cold ones, then moved them inside the pockets of his leather jacket. I drew my arms tighter around him, my hands now snug in his pockets, so close to the warmth of his body.

Call Forth Her Demon

In my room, I got under the covers fully dressed and waited. I was willing to bet that Brooke's final initiation would take place at three am, so I had just over an hour before I needed to venture out back to the garden. I kept myself awake by thinking of the way Jackson's lips felt against mine.

Drake was technically my boyfriend, but what kind of boyfriend got drunk when he was supposed to drive you home, then grabbed your arm and called you a bitch when it was time to leave? Not one worth keeping, that's for sure. Thinking about the way he treated me, I guess I wasn't all that surprised. I should have known he was too good to be true.

He'd just been hiding his true nature. For what reason? So he could have a girlfriend on the cheerleading squad? He'd mentioned once how important that was to his mother. If I had to guess, I would say his mother was probably an official member of the Order of Shadows and wanted to make darn sure her boy was going to be with a girl who was in the Order as well. It was no secret that women in the Order were rich, beautiful and successful. Usually, their husbands were equally as successful, probably due to their wife's magical abilities.

I had no idea how much the men in this town actually knew about the Order, if anything, but a man married to a woman in the Order was automatically rich and powerful in his community. It made sense his mother wanted that for him.

She had another thing coming to her if she thought I was ever going to marry Drake Ashworth, though. Not after tonight.

I sighed and pulled the covers from my body. Why couldn't I just be a normal teenager with normal parents, a house with a white-picket fence, a dog, and normal everyday problems like homework?

On my way to the bathroom, a flash of light out near the garden caught my eye. My stomach twisted into knots.

They're here.

I glanced at the clock. They were earlier than I expected. I had work to do. I needed to make sure I wouldn't be seen, so I sat in the middle of the floor in my room, palms up on my knees, and meditated. Deep breaths in and out let me fall slowly into a trance-like state until I could feel the energy of the earth underneath me. Strange how I could be all the way up on the second floor and still feel so grounded and connected.

The glamour I needed tonight was tricky. I needed to make myself completely invisible. I'd been practicing it like crazy for days, but it was a tough illusion to hold onto. I had no idea how long I could keep it up, but it was my only chance at sneaking into the ritual.

I stared at my sapphire necklace in the mirror. The illusion would be easier to hold without it. My fingers hesitated over the clasp. This necklace had saved my life once before. I didn't like the thought of ever being without it. Then again, I wouldn't need saving if the illusion held.

I unclasped the necklace and set it on top of my dresser.

I stripped down to my underwear and sat on the floor. I concentrated on making every inch of my body invisible from the hair on my head to the tips of my toes. I felt a strange, warm tingle pulse through my body. The tattoo wriggled across my back in excitement. When I opened my eyes, I was gone.

My happiness over the success of the spell almost caused me to lose my concentration, but I quickly re centered. I went to leave my room, but the door was locked. I almost laughed. Certainly they didn't think a locked door could hold me in this room. Mrs. King had already taught me how to move objects with my thoughts. All I had to do was imagine the lock on the other side of the door flipping over. I was free within seconds.

I left my room, made my way downstairs and walked to the garden. More of the Order had arrived. The women all wore black capes with the hoods drawn over their heads so their faces were masked in shadow. A few torches were lit along the pathway and I followed a little ways behind one of the Order members.

The women took the same path to the back of the property that Brooke had led me down a few weeks ago. Only, this time, we didn't stop at the clearing. A woman in black touched the stone demon statue and it disappeared, revealing a stone stairway that led down into the ground.

I stood in the shadows along the edge of the woods and waited as the women filed past. Once I was certain everyone was inside, I very cautiously descended into the ritual room. The members of the Order were seated in a circle around the edges of the room, their faces hidden in darkness. Five of the women wore blue cloaks and stood at the five points of a pentagram engraved on the hard stone floor. In the center of the pentagram was a smokey blue pool of water. At least, it sort of looked like water. The more I looked, though, the more I questioned it. I'd never seen anything quite like it before.

My eyes drifted around the circle. There were exactly 35 women in the room. Was this the entire Order of Shadows? Or was this just the officers? I wondered. No one spoke or made so much as a sneeze of sound. After a few minutes, there were footsteps up near the entrance. All eyes turned anxiously toward the stairs. Carefully, I hid myself in a small alcove near the bottom of the stairs.

The five women around the pentagram sank to their knees on the stone floor. They closed their eyes, then each woman put her right hand over her heart and her left hand on a small blue stone embedded into the floor in front of them.

A woman in a black cloak stepped out of the shadows. Her cloak was unique. It had an image of a demon and a woman locked in an embrace embroidered across it in blue stitching. I hadn’t even noticed her there before, but I was certain now she'd been there the entire time.

“Sisters of the Order of Shadows, tonight we invite another to join our ranks.”

Her face was hidden, but when she spoke, I knew instantly who she was. Drake's mother, Lydia Ashworth.

My heart froze like ice in my chest. My stomach suddenly felt sick, and I struggled to keep up the illusion of invisibility.

Mrs. Ashworth spoke in a commanding voice that echoed throughout the room.

“Yanora, faithful servant of the Order of Shadows, we invoke thee.

Seeker. Huntress. Join us.

Yanora, faithful servant of the Order of Shadows, we invite thee.

Wise one. Seeress. Join us now.”

A dark smoke poured from the center of the pentagram. Slowly, the shadows took the shape of a woman. The energy of the room shifted. My knees locked, and I felt paralyzed.

“Priestess, your humble servant awaits,” the figure said. Her voice sounded distant. Muffled.

“Yanora, give us the name of the demon spirit.”

“Paldoran, priestess.”

“Thank you for your service,” Mrs. Ashworth said. “Depart from us until you are called again.”

The smokey figure bowed low, then disappeared into the floor.

In a louder voice, Mrs. Ashworth called out, “Bring forth the initiate.”

Up above, I heard a girl scream. Footsteps fell heavy on the stone stairs. There was a struggle. I could just make out the figures coming down the stairs through the darkness. Four hooded women stood on either side of Brooke Harris, carrying her by her arms and legs. She was struggling and trying to pull away from them. A thin strip of black fabric was wrapped once around her body, only covering her from her shoulders to her thighs.

The whole thing felt wrong down to my core. Brooke had said she was scared, and now I knew she had damn good reason to be. I had expected to find some kind of graduation ceremony with grand speeches, a few secret spells, and maybe some refreshments. But this felt like an abduction. This wasn't what Brooke wanted. As she was carried past me on the stairs, I saw her eyes widen with fear at the sight of the hooded women in the ritual room. She screamed again and kicked out with both legs. She yanked her arms violently, but the women holding her were strong. Even when she kicked them, they made no move to retreat or let go of her.

“Please,” she said. “Please, don't.”

“Silence,” Mrs. Ashworth said.

Brooke's mouth closed, but I couldn't tell if it was by choice or force.

I wanted so badly to help her, but what could I do against more than thirty skilled witches?

The four cloaked figures pulled Brooke to the center of the room and positioned her on top of the pentagram. Her body went immediately rigid and straight and the women holding her let go. I started to reach out as if to catch her. Only, she didn't fall. Brooke hovered in the air over the strange blue circle. Her long brown hair dangled down toward the floor and her body shook slightly.

It reminded me of this one time I went to a slumber party where we played 'stiff as a board, light as a feather'. This was like that, except about a thousand times creepier.

The five women in blue cloaks kneeling on the points of the pentagram began to chant in a foreign language. The louder the chants became, the more Brooke's body seemed to fall under the influence of their spell. Her breathing became fast and labored.

I came out of the little alcove I'd been standing in so that I could get a better look at the ritual as it passed. Already it had gone far beyond what I had imagined. They didn't even give Brooke a chance to speak for herself. It looked like they just stripped her clothes off and dragged her down to a cold room, kicking and screaming the whole way. Now, she was under the influence of their magic with no free will of her own. This wasn't right. Couldn't they see? Wasn't her mother in the Order? How could she sit by and watch this happening?

I shivered, more from fear than from the cold. The only thing Mrs. King had ever told us about the final initiation ceremony was that it was a special moment that would forever change our lives. She never mentioned we'd be half-naked in a room full of faceless women.

The chanting stopped abruptly and the room went silent except for Brooke's breathless panting.

Mrs. Ashworth held her hands out to her side, high in the air with her palms facing upward.

“Paldoran, demon of the shadow world, we call to you.

Enter into this sacred place, we demand your presence.”

The five women standing in the pentagram began to chant again, and this time the blue pool in the center of the floor started to glow brighter and brighter. Finally, a small pinpoint of dark blue light shot up from the center of the smokey liquid. It seemed to pass straight through Brooke's body and continue shining all the way up to the room's ceiling.

Even from my perch on the stairs, I could feel the power and energy of the bluish portal coursing through me. In the small of my back, I felt the demon tattoo shift and twist along my skin.

The women sitting around the room all stood up and began to hum a single note in unison. The portal responded to the energy in the room, deepening in color and casting the entire room in a deep blue light. I kept my eyes on Brooke.

When the portal was fully formed, the humming quieted to a soft undertone. At the base of the portal, a dark shadow writhed and twisted. Mrs. Ashworth spoke from just outside the pentagram, her voice more intense.

“Paldoran, demon of the shadow world, we bind you.

Enter into this holy vessel, we command you.”

As she spoke, the blackish blue circle on the floor seemed to bubble up. The dark shadow poured forth from it like smoke and wrapped itself around Brooke's legs. It encircled her torso and her arms, all the way up to her face. Brooke's breathing became more labored. Her back arched upward and her legs slowly kicked as if trying to rid herself of the shadow.

“Paldoran, demon of the shadow world, I command you.

Unleash your powers and embrace Brooke, your new mistress.”

The shadow smoke writhed around Brooke's body, moving faster and faster until suddenly, Brooke screamed. It was a bone-chilling, horrifying scream that pierced through my heart and broughthot tears to my eyes. It took every ounce of my willpower to keep from crying out and running forward to help her.

As she screamed, the black smoke poured into her mouth like a thick snake. Her body convulsed wildly as the spirit entered her. As soon as the last trail of the black shadow was inside of her, Brooke's mouth slammed shut. The humming in the room halted abruptly and the circle in the center of the room faded back to a dull blue.

“Body and spirit, these two are now joined in power.”

Brooke's body lay still. Her hands hung limp at her sides and her eyes were closed. She looked dead. I lifted my hand to my mouth and saw with horror that my illusion was beginning to fade. My heart screamed for me to stay. Leaving her like this was torture, but deep down, I knew it was too late. I had to save myself.

I stumbled into the night. Tears of anguish fell down my face and my heart pumped hard. I ran to the house, my footsteps wild and misplaced. By the time I got up to my room, I was visible again. Scratches ran up my legs and blood trickled from a scrape on my knee.

I rushed to my bathroom. My stomach lurched, and I doubled over. What had I gotten myself into?

She Hates All Cheerleaders

I kept to myself the rest of the weekend. I had a fever and a stomach ache all day Sunday and could barely get out of bed. Maintaining the invisibility glamour had taken more out of me than I anticipated.

Even when Ella Mae called me down to dinner, I stayed away. I asked Courtney to bring me a plate when she was finished, but I never actually ate a single piece of food. I couldn't eat. Not after what I'd seen. I couldn't even sleep without hearing Brooke's screams in my nightmares.

I felt certain from the horror I'd seen in her eyes that she had no idea what was about to happen to her. And what exactly did happen to her?

Some kind of portal had been opened in that ritual room, I felt sure of that. Mrs. King taught us about a shadow demon who had come through the portal hundreds of years ago and fallen in love with a human, but she never mentioned to us that there were more shadow demons being called through the portal every time a girl was initiated into the Order. And what happened last night was definitely not about falling in love. It was slavery.

Unleash your powers and embrace Brooke, your new mistress.

Mrs. Ashworth's words echoed in my memory. I shuddered and pulled my comforter tighter around my body. Brooke now had a demon living inside of her. That meant every single member of the Order had their own inner demon. Their own personal power pool, taken by force from a demon.

I stayed up all night, wondering about things like how much control this demon might have over Brooke. Would she still have her own free will? Did she still have her own soul?

Everyone has heard of demonic possession, and if there's one thing I had to call the ritual I witnessed, that would be it. A ritualized demonic possession. And if that's what becoming an official member of the Order of Shadows entailed, I didn't want to become one of them.

I tossed and turned in my bed. I didn't want to be possessed by a demon. Especially not one who was torn from its own world and forced to be my slave. Besides, I certainly wasn't prepared to give up all of my own hopes and dreams so that I could serve the Order of Shadows for the rest of my days.

The girls on the cheerleading squad had no idea what they were expected to give up in order to be a part of this exclusive club of theirs. Didn't we have a right to know exactly what sacrifice we were being asked to make?

Every answer led to more and more questions until my stressed out brain gave up. I finally fell into a deep sleep.

Monday at school, I kept my eye out for Brooke. I waited for her in the parking lot, but she never drove up. I looked out for her in the halls just in case she had come late. By lunch, when she still hadn't showed up for school, I texted her. I tried to keep it light and upbeat, but inside I was in agony.

Hi birthday girl! Had a great time Sat. nite. Where r u today?

I kept checking my phone all through lunch, but I never got a reply back from her. I sat in the back corner of the cafeteria by myself, hoping to avoid the drama of dealing with Drake. He'd called me a few times over the weekend, but I never picked up and I hadn't bothered to listen to his messages.

I didn't want to see him, but I also didn't think it was such a great idea to break up with him anymore. If his mother was indeed the leader of the Order of Shadows, it probably wasn't a good idea to piss her off right now. Especially since I was certain I wanted to find a way out of the stupid Order.

So for the time being, it seemed safer to just keep avoiding Drake for as long as I could. If I didn't see him, I didn't have to face what had happened.

I slouched lower in my plastic lunchroom chair and picked at the overcooked green beans. I checked my phone again. Still no response from Brooke. I chewed my bottom lip. How was I going to find out any of the answers I needed without letting the members of the Order know I was suspicious? I needed someone I could trust, but someone who knew about the Order.

A shadow fell over my table and I looked up. Morgyn Baker stood there with three girls I didn't know. My heart fell. This was so not what I needed right now.

“You're sitting in my freaking chair, cheerleader.” She threw her tray down onto the table with a loud clack and I jumped slightly. That only made her laugh as she sat down next to me. “What's the matter? Did your precious rich friends finally realize just how much of a reject you really are and banish you over to where the rest of us rejects hang out?”

I looked at Morgyn and her black fingernails and her shiny black pigtail braids and tried to figure out just why she hated me so much. Just a few weeks ago, I'd been a lot like her. Somewhat of a social outcast. But she didn't see me as a potential friend or even as an equal. She thought I was complete scum. Her distaste was written all over her face. I didn't answer her. Instead, I just went back to picking at my green beans.

The rest of her trio of friends sat down too, one of them pulling a chair from a nearby table. No one spoke. Maybe they were waiting for me to retreat with my tail between my legs. Or maybe they just weren't smart enough to come up with anymore insults.

“Harper, what in the world are you doing way over here?”

I looked up to see Lark and Allison standing by the table. Lark studied my table full of goths and raised one eyebrow.

“Oh hey, y'all.” I tried to think of a good lie, but I didn't have the energy for it. I opted instead for the truth. Or at least a version of it. “Drake and I got into a fight, so I was trying to hide from him.”

“Well, he's not at lunch today,” Lark said. She picked my tray up from the table, then grabbed my bookbag from the back of my chair. “So come sit with us. We missed you.”

Morgyn snorted a laugh.

“Nice chatting with you as always, Morgyn.” I stood.

“Oh no, the pleasure is all mine,” Morgyn said with a forced smile.

Lark led the way back to our table, dropping my half eaten lunch tray into the trash as we walked. “I can't believe you were going to eat that,” she said. “You know my mom sends food for you.”

I shrugged.

“Plus, Morgyn Baker? Really?” Allison sat down and took the lid off a container full of fresh strawberries. “You guys aren't friends or anything right? Because if you are, we seriously need to talk.”

“No,” I said. “In fact, I'm pretty sure she hates my guts.”

“She hates all cheerleaders,” Lark said. She handed me a turkey sandwich on homemade sourdough bread. I had to admit, it looked a hell of a lot better than the overcooked green beans I'd been contemplating.

“What does she have against cheerleaders?”

“Well, for starters, she used to be one,” Allison said.

I nearly snorted diet coke through my nose. “What? No way!”

“Yes way,” Lark said. “It's a crazy story, actually. She was the youngest girl ever to be recruited for the Demons squad. She lived at Shadowford Home back then.”

I gave Lark a sideways look. “Morgyn lived at Shadowford?”

Lark nodded. “Mmm-hmm. Moved there when she was in fifth grade I think. Then at the end of her seventh grade year, she was actually scouted for the team.”

“Morgyn Baker was a recruit?” I still couldn't believe it.

“Yeah,” Allison said. “She was talented too, from what I hear. She tried out for the squad at the end of seventh grade and was scheduled to start with the team her eighth grade year.”

“Only she never did.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“That's the crazy part,” Lark said. “Apparently, her grandmother just shows up out of the blue and claims her. No one even knew she had a grandmother who was still alive.”

“What happened to her parents?”

“They died in a car accident when she was ten or something,” Allison said.

“That's when she was sent to Shadowford to live,” Lark said. “Anyway, her grandmother moved to Peachville, took custody of Morgyn and pulled her from the cheerleading squad.”

“Why?”

“No one knows.” Lark took a bite of her sandwich, and I waited for her to chew it up so she could continue the story. “I guess her grandmother has something against cheerleaders. Maybe that's why Morgyn hates us all now.”

Either that or she was bitter that she couldn't learn to control her powers. Like Agnes. A chill slid down my back like a sliver of ice. This new information suddenly made Morgyn Baker very dangerous.

School Pride

I excused myself early from lunch with the girls and ducked into the library for some research. I'd actually been meaning to go in there for a while. Ever since I'd found my mother's picture in that spare bedroom at Shadowford.

“Can I help you?” An elderly woman with short gray hair greeted me when I walked in.

“I hope so.” I smiled my best student smile. “I am doing a paper for my social studies class and since I'm new to the Demons cheer squad, I thought I'd write about past squads and the girls who were on them. You know, show my school pride.”

The woman's face lit up and she ushered me to a room full of newspaper clippings, yearbooks and other historical information about the school. “You can see pictures of all the different squads here in these yearbooks,” she said. “You should be able to find the names of the girls under the picture and in some of the articles. If you need any help, just let me know.”

“Thanks so much,” I said.

“It's no problem dear. My name is Mrs. Willow. I'll be out front if you need me.”

I started with the yearbook from four years ago. That should have been the year Morgyn Baker was in eighth grade, and I hoped to find a picture of her on the cheerleading squad. I knew they took the annual photo just before practices started in the summer, so it was possible she would be pictured there.

I quickly flipped to the sports section and searched for pictures of the cheerleaders. There, just past the football team picture, was a picture of the entire squad. Morgyn Baker was not there. Disappointed, I closed the yearbook and put it back where I found it. She must have gotten off the team before they even took the team photo.

But what about the tattoo ritual?

It was the very first thing they did once a girl was chosen for the team. The tattoo came before the picture, before practice, even before the girls were ever introduced to the training room downstairs. Depending on when her grandmother got to Peachville, it was totally possible Morgyn Baker had a tattoo on her back. Come hell or high water, I was determined to find out for myself.

But before I could leave the library, there was one more thing I needed to do.

I pulled out all of the yearbooks from the years when my mother must have been in school. I flipped through them until I found the cheer squad pictures, then quickly scanned the smiling faces, looking for the face I knew I'd recognize instantly. It took me four to find her. She was sitting in the center of the cheer group, her legs off to one side and her pom-pom filled hands on her hips. She had a big happy smile on her face and her long blonde hair was pulled into pigtails.

She looked younger than I'd ever seen her. A freshman maybe? I scanned the names hungrily until I found hers. Claire Brighton.

I stared at the name, smiling. It was like finding a piece of myself there on the pages of a book. Brighton sounded familiar, too, but I couldn't quite place it. My heartbeat quickened and my mouth went dry. I glanced at the year on the spine. 1991. I put the others back and picked up years 1991-1994 and carried them to the copier. I made photocopies of the pictures of the sports sections. I really wanted to spend the rest of the day hidden in the library looking for more pictures of my mom, but I had a stupid calculus test next period and I couldn't be late.

Calculus was a small version of hell that day. I'd been able to avoid Drake all day, but there was nothing I could do when he was sitting there in class. He looked up expectantly as the bell rang and I ran into the class. Our teacher had this thing about locking the door on test days. If you were late, you got locked out and took a zero on the exam. I barely made it to class, stepping in just before he closed the door.

I heaved a sigh of relief and took my seat. I felt Drake's eyes on me, but I didn't dare meet his gaze. Let him stew about what was wrong. I didn't want to piss his mother off, but there was nothing wrong with letting him sweat about it for a little while.

I finished my test early and gathered my books together. I walked to the front to turn it in, then asked for a bathroom pass. I met Drake's eyes as I left the room. He opened his mouth as if to say something to me, but I turned and walked away before he got the chance.

Sooner or later, I knew I would have to face him. But there were other things I needed to take care of first.

I Won't Have You Associating With Those Girls

The second I got home that afternoon, I pulled out the photocopies I'd made in the library. I went through them all, year by year. My mother got more and more beautiful as she got older. She was in a lot of the candid shots of the football games and pep rallies. I went through all of the pictures, and I identified her and as many other people as I could.

That's when he caught my eye.

At a pep rally in 1993, sitting near the top of the stands all by himself, was Jackson Hunt.

My heart skipped a beat. But that wasn't possible. In 1993, he would have been a tiny baby. I held the picture up close to my face. The boy in the picture definitely looked like Jackson Hunt. Same basic style. Same haircut.

It couldn't be him.

I searched through the rest of the photographs, trying to find another picture of the guy, but there were no others. He certainly wasn't on the football team or in any of the sports groups. It was just lucky that the shot of the pep rally had captured him up on the bleachers.

Part of me wanted to go knock on his door and demand an explanation. The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized I didn't have much to go on. The picture could be his brother or a cousin or something.

Then again, Jackson could be a vampire.

Except that vampires don't exist.

I sighed. Two months ago, I would have said demons didn't exist either, yet here I am, a descendant of one.

I wanted answers, but I had no idea where to start or who to trust.

I stared down at the scattered photos on my bed and made a decision. I might not be able to trust her, but I had a feeling Morgyn Baker could help me with some answers.

Morgyn lived in a small white house on the other side of the bridge. It wasn't hard to find her address. Her grandmother was the only Baker in the phone book. After cheer practice on Tuesday afternoon, I headed straight over to her house on my bike. With practice running so late everyday, Ella Mae had started letting me ride my bike to school.

As I pulled into her driveway, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out to see who the text message was from. Drake. I should have known.

Haven't I suffered long enough? Please call. We need to work this out.

I hit ignore, then propped my bike on its kickstand. Morgyn's house was a far cry from the houses I'd visited so far in Peachville. Instead of a mansion estate, she lived in a small boxey yellow house with peeling paint and an old washing machine in the front yard.

The weather had turned colder. I pulled my sweater close and turned my face against the wind. At the front door, I knocked lightly on the wood and waited. After a short time, the knob turned and a woman with dark auburn hair answered the door. She took me by surprise. I was expecting an older, white-haired lady, but this woman was young. She didn't look a day older than forty. More like Morgyn's mother, not grandmother.

It took me a second to find my tongue. “Excuse me,” I said, unsure of myself. “I was hoping to talk to Morgyn. Is she home?”

The woman narrowed her eyes at me. “And you are?”

“Harper,” I said. “Harper Madison. I'm new-”

“You're a cheerleader,” she said. Her voice was curt and biting. She made no move to open the screen door that separated us. “Morgyn's not home.”

“Really?” I glanced around. “Because that's her car isn't it?”

I pointed to the old green Toyota in the driveway.

The woman pursed her lips. “What do you want with my Morgyn?”

There was some rustling behind her, then Morgyn's voice soared through the room. “Grandma, who is it?”

I smiled. “There she is now,” I said.

“It's one of your cheerleader friends,” she said through clenched teeth.

“You know I don't have any cheerleader friends,” Morgyn said. She came to the door with a smile, then her expression fell. “Oh great, it's you.”

“Look, I just want to talk to you for a few minutes,” I said. “Please.”

She seemed to consider it, but her grandmother shook her head. “Absolutely not. I won't have you associating with those girls.”

Her grandmother slammed the door in my face, and I opened my mouth in shock. What the hell did she do that for? I knocked on the door again, a little louder this time. There was no answer.

Frustrated, I walked back to my bike. My phone buzzed again, and I sighed. It was going to be one of those days. I pulled the phone from my pocket, knowing full well who the message was from.

Only I was wrong.

Meet me in the school parking lot. Five minutes.

There was no caller ID, but I knew exactly who it was from. I looked up at the small yellow house and smiled.

Demons or Death

Morgyn Baker's green Toyota pulled up as the sun sank beneath the horizon. She didn't bother to get out of her car. She just pushed the passenger side door open. I sat down inside.

“Thanks for meeting me,” I said.

“What do you want, cheerleader? I don't have much time, and I don't want to be seen talking to you.”

Such a nice girl. I rolled my eyes and sighed. Too bad I needed her help. Otherwise, I would be inclined to give her a piece of my mind.

“I want to know about your time on the Demons cheerleading squad.”

My statement obviously surprised her. She flipped her head toward me, her eyes wide. “I was never on the Demons cheerleading squad.”

“Maybe not officially,” I said. “But you were chosen, right?”

She put her hands on the steering wheel and stared straight ahead.

“Listen, it's obvious you hate us, and for some reason, you seem to hate me especially. I don't exactly get it, but I can live without your undying love and devotion,” I said. “I just want to know how far you got into the...” I searched for the right word to use. “Initiation.”

“You mean, did they take me out to the sacred circle and give me some crazy tattoo?” She picked at her chipped black nail polish.

“Yes, that's exactly what I mean.”

“Why would I tell you that anyway?”

“You came out here for a reason, right?” I said. “Besides insulting me? Because you could have done that just fine from your house.”

She turned and looked me in the eye, as if she were trying to make up her mind about something.

“Look,” I said. “I completely understand why you're not a fan of the cheerleaders in this town. Right now, I'm not so sure I'm a fan either. I wouldn't be coming to you like this unless I absolutely had to. You're the only person who has ever gotten off the squad. I need to know how you did that.”

Morgyn bit her lower lip, then took in a long breath. Her hands trembled slightly as she turned and lifted the back of her shirt. There, on her back was a tattoo of a demon that was strikingly similar to my own. I gasped. Brooke said no one else's tattoo had ever taken the form of a demon. She'd been wrong.

“Your tattoo is similar, right?”

I nodded. “I don't understand.”

“That's the way the Order wants it,” she said. “They don't want to actually tell their recruits anything, because if you knew the truth, you'd never agree to go along with their rituals. It's all about secrets with them.”

“How did you get out?” I asked the question softly. I didn't know if I could trust her, but I had to try. I needed to know, because if there was a way out, I wanted to take it.

Morgyn glanced around the parking lot. Her foot tapped nervously against the floorboard. “The only reason I'm going to tell you this is because we're the same, you and me.” She paused, and I wondered if she'd changed her mind. Then, she spoke again. “You are the Prima.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Do you know what that means? I've heard it before, but I don't think I was supposed to know, and I have no idea what it means.”

“In order for you to understand, I have to start from the beginning.”

I settled back in my chair. My breath moved high into my chest and my heart pounded.

“I'm sure you've already been taught that the witches of the Order of Shadows are all descendants of a human woman and shadow demon. For many years, the witches were a close-knit family. They were content with their powers and proud of their heritage because it was born from love. But one day, a group of sisters decided they wanted more power. They formed a group called the Order of Shadows and dedicated their lives to finding ways to increase their abilities and influence.

“That's when they discovered a spell that could open a portal between our world and the shadow world. They call these portals demon gates.”

I thought about the strange blue pool of light on the floor in the ritual room.

“All over the world, there are places where magical energy is naturally strong and the fabric between our world and theirs is weaker. The Order of Shadows spent centuries locating these magical places and opening demon gates in each of them.”

“So Peachville isn't the only one?”

“Not by a long shot,” she said. “There are thousands of demon gates all over the world. The Order of Shadows is extremely powerful.”

“I had no idea,” I said. “The way Mrs. King talks about it, I thought the Order was just a local coven of witches.”

“That's what they want you to believe,” she said. “The Order's goal in opening these demon gates was to harness the power of the shadow demons. Not by mating with them and passing the power on to their daughters, but by making them slaves inside each witch's body.”

“I've seen it,” I said.

She turned to me, eyes wide. “What do you mean?”

“Brooke,” I said. “She was initiated into the Order this past weekend.”

“And they let you watch? That can't be right.”

“No,” I said. “They didn't know I was there.”

Morgyn studied me, then laughed. “Maybe I've underestimated you, cheerleader. I definitely want to know how you managed to pull that off, but first, I need to tell you the rest of the story. As with all magic, there are rules involved in the opening of the gates and maintenance of the portals. When a gate is opened, a virgin witch with strong powers is chosen to be the first. The Prima. She is bonded to the the first demon called through the gate. This demon cannot be a lesser demon. In order for the portal to open, the first demon through must be a powerful shadow demon.

“The Prima is also more than just one girl. Her entire future line is bound to the same demon. When one Prima dies, the next girl in the family line is then bound to the first demon.”

“And that's what I am?” So much was going through my mind. A vision of the lady in white from my dreams. She must have been the original Prima. My great-great-grandmother or something like that.

“Yes,” she said. “And you are the only one left of your line. Without a reigning Prima, a demon gate is much less powerful than it could be. That's why you're so important to them, Harper. You already have a connection to Peachville's first demon, but it's nothing compared to what it will be when they take you through the final initiation ceremony. When the true spirit of the first demon enters you, you will become more powerful than you could ever imagine. But even more than that, every witch who has ever been bound to a demon from the Peachville demon gate will become more powerful.”

I sat back in my seat and stared down at my hand. The scar on my hand was a test. Somehow they must have tested my blood to see if I was the Prima. But how had they found me in the first place? And what had happened to my mother?

“Is that why my tattoo took the form of a demon?” I asked.

Morgyn nodded. “Yes.”

“So are you also a Prima?”

She gave me a half-smile. “You're smart, Harper. You catch on fast. Yes, I am a Prima. They brought me to Shadowford when I was only ten years old with the purpose of finding out if I was their Prima. When they gave me the tattoo, it came out a demon, but it wasn't the right one. I am a Prima, but not for this demon gate.”

“So where, then?”

Morgyn lowered her head. “Far from here,” she said.

“Why don't you just go home, then?”

“It's not that easy,” she said. “There are rules, remember? I have already been marked by the wrong demon gate. In order to go home, I have to complete my service to the Order here in Peachville.”

“What kind of service?”

She sighed and looked out the window. “You ask a lot of questions, you know that?”

I sat quietly, letting the information she'd given me so far sink in. I felt like a starving man being kept alive with tiny drops of water. I never quite got the entire truth.

“So why tell me all of this if you hate me so much?”

“I don't hate you,” she said. “I envy you. You're going to have the entire world at your fingertips.”

I shook my head. “I don't want this,” I said. “I don't want any of it.”

“Then you're a fool,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Look, I just came here to tell you that you need to be careful who you talk to and what you say. You have no idea the danger you face.”

“Danger?”

“If the last of a Prima's line is killed, the demon gate closes and every demon who came from it is instantly killed as well.”

My eyes widened. “Wait. If I die, every witch who was bound to a demon from Peachville's gate would die too?”

“Exactly,” she said. “And there are people who want you dead.”

I shivered. “Who?”

“The Others,” she said. “A sect of witches who believe that all demons are evil and have no place in our world. The Others believe our power comes from God, not demons. They believe the Order is corrupt. It's a conflict that's been around for centuries. They're always watching, Harper. And if they figure out who you are, they'll come for you.”

I thought of the woman in black who was staring at us in the mall and shook my head. “It isn't fair,” I said. “I didn't ask for this!”

“Neither did I,” she said. “But it's who we are.”

“What do I do? I can't just stay here and let them put a demon inside of me. And I certainly don't want to die.”

Morgyn sighed and looked at her watch. “Your path is your own,” she said. “The important thing for now is that the Others don't know who you are yet. It's important they don't find out. I'm sorry, Harper, but I have to go. If my grandmother finds out I talked to you, she'll kill me.”

“Wait,” I said. “You can't just drop all this shit in my lap and walk away.”

“I'll try to find another time we can talk,” she said.

“I'm sorry,” she said. “I've already stayed way too long.”

She motioned toward the door. I opened it and stepped out into the cool evening air.

Morgyn drove away before I could ask her anything else. I sat down on the blacktop of the school's parking lot and tried to make sense of everything she'd said.

Yes, she had given me some answers, but I wanted to know more. I wanted to ask her about Jackson. Was he some kind of witch? How was he related to the Order of Shadows? What about Shadowford? She said they brought her there to find out if she was the Prima. Was that all Shadowford home really was? A testing ground for orphan girls to see if we were the long lost Prima?

And what about my mother? How did she die? And why did I end up miles away with another family?

I wavered between despair and anger. I never wanted to be special. All I ever wanted was to be a normal girl. Now, I knew I would never be able to leave this town. My choices were bleak. Demons or death. And I didn't like the thought of either one.

You've Got Five Minutes

I finally managed to pull myself together and bike home to Shadowford. All I wanted to do was go up to my room and be alone, but the second I pulled into the driveway, I knew that was going to be impossible.

Drake's car sat in front of the house. In the porch light, I could see him sitting on the swing holding a large bunch of pink roses. I wasn't sure I had the mental energy to deal with him, but what choice did he give me?

I threw my bike down in the front yard and made my way up the steps.

“Hey baby,” he said. “Where have you been? I've been waiting here for like two hours.”

“Sorry to inconvenience you,” I said. I couldn't believe he was trying to make me feel guilty for making him wait when he was supposed to be here to apologize. “I was studying for a history test.”

“These are for you.” He handed me the roses. They were beautiful and probably cost a pretty penny, but roses hardly made up for the way he treated me.

“Thanks,” I said. I moved toward the front door, but he stepped in front of me.

“Wait,” he said. “We really need to talk this out.”

“You've got five minutes,” I said.

“Look, I know you're pissed, okay? I know I was a complete asshole. But I was drunk. I didn't know what I was doing.”

“You were really mean to me,” I said. “I don't like being treated that way. You know, I had to find my own way home that night thanks to you. I could have been stranded.”

“How did you get home anyway?” he asked. “Foster ended up calling his dad to come get us. I looked for you, but you were already gone.”

“I got a ride with a friend.”

“Who?”

“None of your business,” I said. “Are you here to apologize or to play twenty questions?”

Drake sighed. “Please, Harper. You've got to forgive me. I promise I won't ever act like that again.”

I knew I couldn't forgive him for what he'd done, but I also knew I couldn't break up with him yet either. “If you do, I swear to God, I'll never go out with you again.”

He smiled. “Does that mean we're okay again?”

I shrugged. “Sure.”

He grabbed me up in a giant bear hug, lifting me from the ground and squishing my roses between us. “Whew,” he said. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”

No, but I have a pretty good idea how much it means to your mother.

“I really need to get inside and finish my homework and stuff,” I said. “I'll see you tomorrow?”

“Okay,” he said. “Thanks, Harper. I really am sorry.”

He leaned down to kiss me, but I turned my head and gave him my cheek instead of my lips.

“So we're still on for this weekend, right?”

I stared at him, confused. “What's this weekend?”

He laughed. “Wow, you must be seriously focused on your schoolwork or something. It's Homecoming silly. It's three days of packed events. There's the mixer on Thursday with the alumni, then the game on Friday and finally the big dance on Saturday night. I already rented a limo for the group and everything.”

I forced a smile. “I can't wait,” I said.

“Great.” He kissed my cheek again, then bounded down the stairs and to his car. “Goodnight, Harper.”

“Goodnight Drake.”

Some Strange Addiction

I had a hard time concentrating at school the rest of the week. Even magic training couldn't hold my attention. There were so many crazy things going through my brain, I couldn't straighten it all out. Brooke still hadn't come back to school, and I was worried about her. Drake was acting like things were back to normal and he'd never done anything wrong. Plus, I had just found out that being the Prima also meant I had zero control over my own future. Even with all that going on inside my head, I was still required to smile and act interested in everyone's plans for Homecoming weekend.

Some committee had put decorations up throughout the entire school, and everywhere I turned, there was a reminder of the weekend's activities. There was talk of famous alumni flying in for the event. I for one wondered just how famous the alumni of a small school like Peachville High could really be, but when someone mentioned the actress Clara Summers, I was floored. She was one of the hottest women in Hollywood. Every movie she was in grossed millions. And she was from Peachville? I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. She was probably a member of the Order of Shadows.

Rumor was that Clara was flying in on Thursday morning and would be at both the mixer and the game this weekend.

“Have you ever met her?” I asked the gang at lunch on Thursday.

“I have,” Lark said. “She came in to town like four years ago to present some award at one of my mom's campaign lunches. But that was before she was as much of a superstar as she is now.”

“Let me guess,” I said. “She was also a Demons cheerleader?”

Allison laughed. “Of course.”

I wondered about the glamour Lark had taught me the other day in her room. How far could magic like that take a girl? Could she take herself from an ugly duckling to a real beauty like Clara? Could she make people like her enough to elect her mayor? An uneasy feeling ran though my body. Power like that made it impossible to tell where reality left off and magic began.

Besides, I had originally thought the magic was sort of special to Peachville, but after what I'd learned from Morgyn, I knew I was being naïve.

“I heard the governor of Georgia is coming too. She graduated from PHS like forty years ago and hasn't been back in ages.”

“Governor Davis?”

“Yeah,” Drake said. “She's a good friend of my mom's. I think she's planning to have dinner at our house Saturday night, but obviously I'll miss it because of the dance.”

“Speaking of the dance,” Foster chimed in. “Who is riding with us in the limo? Everyone?”

Brooke was going to the dance with Foster. When I asked him about it, he said she'd called him earlier in the week to confirm she would be there. Her excuse for missing school was that she'd come down with some kind of virus after the party and needed a few days to recover. I knew better, but I was glad she was coming to the dance.

I was going with Drake, obviously. Allison had a date with another guy from the football team. His name was Lance, and I'd only hung out with him a couple of times. Lark had been asked by some artsy guy named Aidan who was a member of the school's photography club and was also president of the debate team. I had yet to meet the guy officially, but I'd seen him around. Lark seemed excited, so I was happy for her.

While the others discussed plans for Saturday night, I casually looked around the cafeteria. I told myself I wasn't searching for anyone in particular, but when my gaze landed on Jackson and Morgyn, I knew I was only lying to myself. Some part of me had known he was there. I could feel when he was near, and it annoyed the hell out of me. He was like some strange addiction I was trying to kick, but couldn't quite lose the longing for.

As usual, he was dressed in faded jeans and black t-shirt. My heart skipped a beat as he turned to me and our eyes met across the room. I held his gaze for a moment, then my eyes shifted to the girl next to him. Morgyn leaned in close to him and whispered something in his ear. He turned to her and took her hand. I wondered if they were planning to go to the dance together.

“What do you think, Harper? Do you like Italian?”

Drake nudged me with his elbow and I brought my attention back to the table. “Huh? I'm sorry, I was zoning out.”

“We noticed,” Allison teased. “I was asking if you wanted Italian food Saturday? Or if we should go to the steakhouse. We need to get our reservations in.”

“I don't honestly care,” I said, looking back toward Jackson. He and Morgyn were deep in conversation, their heads pressed close together at the table.

“Italian it is, then,” Lark said. “I'll have my mom make the reservations for us for five-thirty. Then we'll head to the photographer, and then up here to the gym for the dance.”

Drake leaned into me. “Then back to my pool house,” he said. “I have something really special planned for us.”

I shifted in my seat. If he was talking about sex, he could forget it. This whole thing was just too much pressure. What I originally thought was just a simple dance seemed to be turning into a big serious ordeal. Pictures? Dinner at a fancy restaurant? A limousine? Drake ran his index finger along my forearm and I forced myself not to pull away.

“Sounds like fun,” I said. The lie tasted sour in my mouth.

I Know What I'm Doing

Thursday night was the big meet and greet with all of the returning alumni. All of the Demons cheerleaders were instructed to wear our uniforms with our hair down and curled. I didn't understand why it mattered so much what we looked like, but our instructions detailed exactly how we were supposed to look, down to the color of polish on our nails and the smiles on our faces.

The event was being held at Lark's house, and despite its enormous size, the place was completely packed. Drake and I arrived at six-thirty and there were already at least a hundred people there. Waiters with blue and white iced cookies and demon-themed snacks walked around the party, passing out food. I grabbed a cookie off one of the guy's trays.

“Wow, that's the best cookie I've ever had in my life,” I said.

“How can you even be thinking about cookies on a night like this?” Drake asked. There was an edge to his voice that I didn't like one bit.

I stared at him, completely confused about what he meant. “Because I'm hungry. And they're delicious.”

He took my arm and led me to the next room. “Look right over there.” He pointed to a man in a gray suit. “That's one of the football coaches at the University of Georgia. And there? That woman in the pink dress? She's the owner of more than sixty fast food restaurants in the state of Georgia. Oh, and over by the punch bowl? That's the Governor of Georgia. This is not just some cookie party, Harper. This is a major networking opportunity.”

“Since when do you care so much about networking?” Hadn't we spent our entire lunch period talking about Homecoming? He'd never once talked about how much tonight's mixer meant to him.

He sighed. “It's always been important to me,” he said. “You're the one who has been so distracted lately. You haven't even been listening to me. Remember how I mentioned that my mom was thinking of running for the state Senate in a couple of years and how she wanted me to do my best to make a good impression on the Governor?”

I nodded. “Oh right,” I said. Truth be told, I had no clue what he was talking about. Had I really been ignoring him? My mind had definitely been on other things this week. “I'm sorry. So what should we do? Just mingle or something? Try to meet people?”

“Come on, I'll introduce you to Coach Wilder.”

I started to follow him through the crowd when I spotted a familiar face coming through the door.

“Brooke!”

I turned and started to walk toward her, but Drake grabbed my arm. My jaw tightened. I was really getting tired of him gripping my arm so tight when I didn't follow his directions.

“What?” I said. “I haven't seen her for days.”

“You'll see her all weekend,” he said. “Don't embarrass me.”

I bit my tongue and took a deep breath. I looked over toward the door and saw that Brooke and her mother were deep in conversation.

“Fine,” I said. “Lead the way, then.”

I retreated into my own thoughts as Drake worked his way around the room, introducing me to all of the big-wig alumni. I knew it was important to play the part of the dutiful recruit at events like this, no matter how much I hated it. I smiled and shook hands and spoke when spoken to, but all I could think about was finding Brooke.

When Drake fell into a deep conversation with a businessman from New York City, I excused myself to the ladies room and went to look for Brooke. I weaved in and out of the crowd. She wasn't anywhere to be found.

Frustrated, I stepped onto the porch for a breath of fresh air. I thought it would be nice to be alone outside, but something in the darkness beyond the house made me feel uneasy. As if I were being watched.

I turned to go back inside when voices on the balcony above startled me.

“I know exactly what's expected of me, Mother.” I recognized Brooke's voice. I stepped into the shadows and listened.

“Then why are you still going to the dance with Foster this weekend?” her mother said. “I won't have you screwing up your mission this soon after your initiation.”

“I hardly think one dance is going to screw up my future,” Brooke said. “Besides, I committed to Foster weeks ago. I can't back out the week of Homecoming.”

“After Saturday night, I never want to see you with him again, you hear me?” There was acid in her mother's tone. “Every step you take from here on out is critical.”

“I know what I'm doing.”

Brooke and her mother stepped back into the house, but I stayed outside for a few more minutes to collect my thoughts. What kind of mission had the Order given her? And what were the consequences of not achieving that mission?

Later, I watched Brooke mingle with the people at the party. Brooke, who had always been so classy and beautiful, was now ten times as magnetic. She was stunning. Her dark brown hair looked glossy. Her posture was perfectly straight. She seemed to somehow take up more space than before.

She was spending a lot of time talking to the governor's son. He was a student at Harvard and had flown in for the weekend. At one point, I overheard her saying that she'd always been interested in politics and was planning to major in political science. When the governor's son asked her where she was planning to go to school, she smiled and told him that Harvard was her number one choice.

I wondered if he was part of her new mission.

An uneasiness settled in my stomach. I felt as if my worst fears had been realized. Brooke was no longer herself.

The Newest Initiate

The air was crisp and cool down on the field. This was my second game at the Peachville stadium, but the energy of the place still surprised me. With almost the entire town in attendance, there was a lot of excitement in the air.

All of the cheerleaders wore white turtlenecks under our uniforms, but my legs were frozen. My hair was pulled back into a french braid tight against my head, and my ears felt like little popsicles.

A girl named Astrid lifted me onto her shoulders, and I gripped the large banner in my hands. And to think, I always imagined the cheerleaders spending hours before the game painting the banners and coming up with the witty sayings like “Roast the Pigs!” In truth, the team banner making took place just a few minutes before we headed to the field and consisted of Brooke standing in front of the giant white sheet of paper and telling it to say “Demon Pride. Let's win this one for the Alumns!” One second the sheet was blank and the next it was perfectly painted and ready to go.

Brooke was still distant and strange. She'd come to school today, but she barely talked at lunch. I was hoping to find some time to talk to her tonight, but so far she'd always been surrounded by other people.

On the field, I held the banner up, steadying myself on Astrid's shoulders. Behind the banner, Drake winked at me and pressed two fingers to his lips, then sent it off to me with a smile. Then, he put his helmet on and crashed through the banner with the rest of the team. I smiled and tried my best to act cheerleadery.

The game actually ended up being a lot more fun than I expected. There were even more people there tonight than normal because of all the alumni. Clara Summers, the movie star, was there with an entourage of people from photographers to a bodyguard and possibly her stylists and personal assistants. She was staying in the only hotel in town, a bed and breakfast housed in a large white antebellum mansion called the Black Swan. From what I heard, she had pretty much rented the whole thing for herself and her entourage. I had no idea where the other alumns were staying. I doubted the governor was staying at a friend's house.

I had gotten a chance to meet Governor Davis last night at the mixer. She recognized Drake from the few times they'd met before. She seemed anxious to meet me and had said, “We're counting on you, Harper.” Of course, all that did was make me uncomfortable. I didn't want to be the shining hope of this town. Especially not if it turned me into some kind of robot like Brooke.

As soon as the game was over, I searched the crowd for Brooke, but couldn't find her anywhere. Mayor Chen waved to me and Lark ran out to her to give her a big hug and kiss. Ella Mae was in the crowd as usual, but as all the rest of the cheerleaders greeted their family and friends, I felt out of place. I decided to head back to the locker room and see if I could find Brooke there.

Allison and Brooke were both there, already changing out of their uniforms and into jeans and sweatshirts.

“What are you guys up to tonight?” I asked.

“Clara, the governor, and some of the other alumni are coming over,” Brooke said. “They want to welcome the newest initiate into the Order of Shadows.” She smiled, proud of her new title.

I wondered if the governor's son would be there, too.

Allison shrugged. “I'm spending the night at Lark's,” she said. “We're probably just going to watch some movies and pig out on junk food if you want to join us.”

“Thanks, but I can't,” I said. “Ella expects me home right after the game since I'll be staying out late tomorrow.”

“Okay then, see you guys tomorrow.”

Allison hurried out of the locker room, leaving me alone with Brooke for the first time since she'd come back to school.

“Hey,” I said. “How are you feeling? That must have been some virus you came down with after the party.”

Brooke avoided my eyes. “I'm fine,” she said. “Turns out all I really needed was some rest.”

I swallowed hard, trying to choose my words carefully. “Brooke? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she said with that perfect grin.

“Do you still want to be a veterinarian?”

Her head tilted to one side as she studied me, then she shook her head and laughed. “Where on earth would you have gotten that idea? I have always wanted to be a politician, just like Governor Davis.”

I watched her as she gathered her things and walked away. I could swear out of the corner of my eye, I saw the shadow of a horse move across the wall.

Why Does It Always Have to Be About Her?

Ella Mae pulled the Shadowford van into the driveway just after ten. Courtney and Mary Anne hardly said a word the whole way home, and I was lost to my own thoughts. I couldn't shake the image of that shadow from my mind.

“Aren't you coming inside?” Courtney asked, holding the door open.

I shook my head. “No, I think I'm going to sit out here on the front porch and clear my head for a minute.”

“Okay,” she said. “Don't stay out here too long though, it's freezing!”

I laughed. “I'll be okay.”

I tossed my duffel bag onto the front porch swing and sat next to it, pushing myself back and forth.

When I'd asked Mrs. King if she still had a tattoo, what was her answer?

Not exactly.

I hadn't been able to understand what she meant by that back then, but now maybe I did. If the tattoo was all about bringing our inner connection to the shadow demons out onto the surface, the final initiation was about taking on an inner demon. A enslaved demon who could only be seen in shadows. Brooke's tattoo had taken on the form of a horse because it was the one thing she loved most of all. Maybe her new shadow demon also took the form of a horse.

I shivered. I would have to pay more careful attention to the women in this town from now on. I needed to study people I knew were in the Order and see if I could recognize their inner demons as well. If no one was going to share any information with me, I would have to figure this out on my own, like a detective.

The sound of a girl's voice echoed off the side of the house, and I stopped swinging. Morgyn?

I got up and tiptoed to the edge of the porch, then looked around the side of the house, careful to stay in the darkness.

“I'm not going to let you go alone, and there's no use arguing about it,” Morgyn said. She was standing near the old fountain in the garden talking to Jackson.

“Jesus, Morgyn, why do you have to be so damn stubborn! I'm telling you right now, if you go tomorrow... well, you know as well as I do what's going to happen. We can't take that risk.”

“And what do you think will happen if I don't go?” Her voice softened and she placed her hand on Jackson's shoulder.

I felt a twinge of jealousy at the obvious affection in her features. She loved him. I could see it in her face.

Jackson ran a hand through his hair and paced back and forth in front of the fountain. “Maybe we just both stay home,” he said. “We could stay here and watch a movie or something. Pop some popcorn.”

Morgyn smiled, but it was a sad smile. “That sounds perfect.”

Jackson shook his head. “But I can't leave her there unprotected.”

“Of course you can,” Morgyn said. “She isn't even on their radar. She'll be safe.”

“I can't take that risk.”

“Why does it always have to be about her?”

I slumped against the side of the house. How much did Jackson know about the Order of Shadows? What exactly was supposed to happen at the dance?

“You know why,” he said, so softly I almost didn't hear.

Morgyn took his hand and laced her fingers through his. I knew I had no business intruding on their private moment, but I couldn't tear myself away.

“We're in this together,” Morgyn said. “If we have to, we'll fight them together.”

Jackson pulled her into a hug and they stayed that way for a long time. Finally, I made my way back to the swing, picked up my bag, and disappeared into the house. I suddenly wasn't looking forward to tomorrow night's dance at all.

The Strangest Feeling

I stared at myself in the mirror and frowned. The black dress I'd bought at the thrift store was the right shape, but it was definitely not the look I wanted for tonight. Luckily, no one would actually ever see this dress.

I slipped out of my scuffed black heels and sat cross-legged on the floor of my room. I placed my palms up and laid them lightly on my knees, just like Lark had shown me. My eyes closed and I breathed in and out, concentrating on the rise and fall of my chest and the energy of the room around me. At first, all I could think about was Brooke and how the magic I was learning was borrowed from a group of witches who were planning to turn me into something I never wanted to be. I couldn't concentrate.

I shook my head and tried again. I needed to shut out my fears and all these thoughts about Brooke and the Order. I needed to forget my worries about what would happen in two years when I turned eighteen and think about the present. My only mission these days was to continue to play along and be careful not to raise any suspicions.

I drew as much air into my lungs as I could, then slowly let it out in a calming hiss. I let my body really connect with the floor and the room. I imagined the energy of this room and the house and even the garden and the forest beyond. I felt it begin to hum inside my veins. The blue energy of it soared through the air and into me. I opened myself to it, letting it take up residence inside my frame.

When I felt every inch of my body buzzing with the power of the magic, I slowly re-imagined myself. Instead of a tattered black dress, I imagined a blue dress made of fine silk. The dress I had tried on when we'd all gone shopping. The one I could never afford. In my mind, I zipped the dress onto my body, and it fit perfectly. I imagined a pair of gorgeous silver heels in place of the scuffed black ones.

I pictured myself with the perfect makeup. Every flaw on my skin was covered. My eyelashes were long and thick. I thought about the way actresses looked on the red carpet and tried to picture myself in their makeup. Smokey eyes, perfect pink lip-gloss, a light blush that looked natural.

The changes became so clear in my mind, as if I were looking at a photograph in my head. My breath grew rapid and my skin began to tingle. When I opened my eyes and stood in front of the mirror, I smiled triumphantly. Come what may, at least I'd look good tonight.

Twenty minutes later, the limousine pulled down the long driveway. I watched from the edge of the front balcony as Drake climbed out and looked up at the house. He looked amazing dressed in a black suit with a blue tie, but good looks just weren't enough.

I stepped back from the window and waited. I'd never been to a dance before, but I imagined it like a scene from the movies. The guy stands in the doorway and looks up as the beautiful girl makes her way down the staircase. The only problem was that I had the feeling I was more in a kind of horror movie these days rather than a romantic comedy.

The knock on the door echoed throughout the front hallway and I heard the click of Ella Mae's heels on the wood floor.

“Well, Mr. Ashworth,” she said. “Don't you just look so nice this evening.”

“Is Harper here?” He sounded like such a gentleman. I just hoped he would actually manage to be a gentleman all night. I prayed no one spiked the punch.

I walked slowly to the top of the stairs and placed my hand lightly on the wooden rail. As I made my way down the stairs, I kept my eyes on Drake's face. The look there was priceless. His mouth opened slightly and his eyes were wide with appreciation.

“Wow, you look beautiful,” he said, taking my hand when I reached the bottom.

“Thanks,” I said.

He planted a light kiss on my cheek, then handed me a small bouquet of blue and white flowers. I sunk my nose into them and inhaled the aroma. I found myself wishing Drake had never been such a jerk at that party. Sometimes he could be so thoughtful and sweet, but every time I thought about that night, my stomach felt all twisty inside.

“Just have her home by two,” Ella Mae said. Ms. Shadowford had agreed to extend my curfew for the special event, and I was grateful.

Drake didn't take his eyes off of me for a second, even after we were in the limo. So far, it was just the two of us and he instructed the driver to take us by Foster's place next. “Harper, you look...I mean, you're always pretty, but you are like a goddess tonight.”

My face felt warm. I smiled, but inside I was feeling a little bit guilty. Using glamours was fun, but it also seemed a little like cheating. My blonde hair fell in perfect spiral curls all the way down my back with diamond clips at the side. The blue dress clung to my body in all the right places. My makeup looked professionally done. Not too much. Not too little. Just perfect. I could never have looked this good without magic. I reminded myself that I shouldn't get too attached to the idea of using spells for my own benefit, especially since being a witch came at such a high cost.

Drake pulled me into his arms and held me close the whole ride into town. I could smell the slightest scent of alcohol on his breath. I definitely needed to be on my guard tonight. There was no telling what might happen.

We stopped at Foster's, then picked up Lark and Allison's dates, and then we headed to Brooke's house where Lark and Allison were already waiting. Brooke's mom took pictures of the group in the backyard out by their garden.

“Nice dress,” Lark said with a knowing wink.

“Oh, isn't that the dress you tried on at the mall?” Allison asked. “I thought you said it wasn't the one.”

I shrugged. “I just thought it was too good to pass up. Plus, I couldn't find anything better.”

“Well, you look beautiful,” Brooke said.

I looked around as each couple posed for the camera. Everyone looked happy and perfect, but deep inside my heart, I felt this terrible sense of wrongness. I glanced around the backyard, straining to see into the night, past where the outside lights from Brooke's house could shine. Like the mixer the other night, I had the strangest feeling we were being watched.

“Come on, Harper, get in the picture,” Lark called out. Everyone had gathered together for one last shot.

I took a deep breath and tried to shake the eeriness I'd felt, but no matter how hard I tried, the fear followed me like a predator waiting in the inky darkness.

Crimson

The PHS gym was decorated in blue and black steamers, balloons, and sparkling white lights. If they went this crazy for Homecoming, I wondered what Prom must look like here. I also wondered if it was possibly just another glamour. My new-found magical knowledge had me questioning everything and everyone I saw in this town.

Of course, I couldn't exactly judge anyone for using a glamour to improve their looks. Not after what I'd done. I still felt slightly tingly from my use of power. The demon tattoo on my back constantly moved from side to side. My skin felt soft and deep inside, I felt hyper and energetic. Like I'd had an entire of pot of coffee for dinner. It was a fun feeling, and I could see how someone might become addicted to it. I understood how some people would be willing to sell their soul to increase their power. Or share it with a demon.

“Will you be alright here for just a second while I try to figure out where I need to line up for the Senior court?” Drake asked.

“Sure,” I said.

Foster and Drake took off, leaving Brooke and I standing together near the entryway. We'd gotten to the gym early because both the guys and Brooke were all on what PHS called the “Senior Court.” It was a group of six girls and six guys from the senior class who had been voted as having the most contribution to the school. Basically, it ended up as a collection of the most popular people in the senior class.

Brooke was pulled away by a few girls I didn't really recognize, and I was left standing alone near the punch bowl. My confidence wavered slightly. I walked to the snack table and looked at the goodies, but after eating so much Italian food at dinner, none of it looked appetizing. Across the room, someone laughed loudly and I turned to see who it was. A group of younger boys, maybe freshman, were running up and down the bleachers, acting crazy. I shook my head.

I wished they'd start some music or something. The place was too quiet without it. The boys on the bleachers shouted again and on instinct I turned back to see what they were up to. That's when I saw the strange figure.

The person was standing in the shadows by the back door to the gym. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but I knew they were staring at me. Studying me. A wave of dizziness washed over me. What were the Others doing here at the dance?

“We found it,” Drake said. I jumped at the sound of his voice. “You okay?”

I looked back toward the door, but the figure was gone. “Yeah,” I said. “I'm fine.”

Drake grabbed my hand and led me to the side of the gym where the Senior Court had gathered behind a wall of blue gauzy fabric. “Wow, your hands are freezing,” he said.

And no matter how much I tried to warm them, they stayed cold for the rest of the night.

It didn't take long for the gym to fill up with students, parents and alumni. For the opening presentation, Clara Summers made a speech about the importance of coming home and celebrating your roots after you find success in the outside world. Governor Davis talked about how she married her high school sweetheart and that forty years ago, their first date was the Homecoming dance her sophomore year. Alice Kensington, a tall brunette who graduated six years ago and now lived in Iraq working for the US Embassy, gave a short presentation about a program she was running over there.

It amazed me just how much Peachville's influence spread across the world. Women in power all over the state and even the world? It sent a strange tingle across my skin. It would be one thing if these women had accomplished these things on their own merit, but I knew better. Their beauty and charisma came from a supernatural source. A demon, torn from its world against its will, was the only reason for their power. And now, they wanted to use me to make them even more powerful. I was certain these women would do whatever they had to in order to make me accept their Order.

There was a part of me that wanted to just accept my fate. At least I would be a leader as the Prima. Wouldn't that afford me some freedom? Plus, I would have all kinds of knowledge and power at my fingertips. I could make a difference in the world.

But there was a much stronger voice inside that knew I had to fight against what they were trying to do to me.

“It's our turn,” Drake whispered. His breath was warm against the side of my face, but I couldn't shake the chill of fear that had been following me all night.

Mayor Chen introduced the seniors on the court one at a time. When they called Drake's name, I looped my arm in his and we stepped into the spotlight. Mayor Chen listed Drake's accomplishments as we walked. I noticed his parents sitting on the front row of bleachers, their faces beaming with pride.

“As quarterback of the Demons football team, Drake has taken our home team to a record 10 consecutive wins. He is also an honor student. Drake often spends his weekends volunteering at the local nursing home. He plans to attend the University of Georgia in the fall on a full football scholarship. Let's hear a round of applause for our Demons quarterback, Drake Ashworth.”

The crowd cheered as we made our way to the end of the row of seniors. I studied their faces, looking for the hooded figure I had seen earlier. Instead, my gaze landed on Jackson Hunt. He was leaning against the doorway near the ticket table, and when our eyes met, he lowered his head in a slight nod.

My mind went back to the conversation I'd overheard between him and Morgyn Baker in the garden the night before. He had told her he didn't want her to come tonight, but why? Did he have the same sense of icy fear that I'd had all night?

After the court walked in and the speeches were finished, the lights dimmed and the DJ started with some hip hop and a light show. Most of the parents and alumni left, and the students slowly made their way onto the dance floor. My silver shoes lasted about two dances before I kicked them off near the bleachers and decided to go barefoot.

I tried to let loose and just have fun, but my eyes kept moving toward the back door. With the main lights turned off, there were so many dark corners it made me nervous. Every time I turned my back on the shadows, I felt eyes on me. About an hour and a half into the dance, a rush of nausea hit me like a punch in the stomach. I doubled over in pain and had to put my hand on Drake's arm to steady myself.

“Are you alright?”

“I don't know,” I said. I couldn't tell him the truth. He would think I was insane for worrying about dark figures and a group of witches who might be out to get me. “I think maybe I ate too much. I'm sure it's nothing. I'm just going to go to the restroom for a minute, but I'll be right back.”

The fluorescent lights in the bathroom buzzed and flickered. Even after all the dancing, my hair and makeup looked flawless and fresh, but inside I felt like a mess. Maybe I could tell Drake I had food poisoning and convince him to take me home early. I wasn't sure how much more of this night I could handle.

Out in the gym there was a break in the music. The silence was brief, but pronounced. Then, someone screamed. A terrifying, hit-you-in-your-gut kind of scream that echoed through the entire gym. My stomach tightened and my breath caught in my throat.

I ran out into the gym, knowing this was the moment I'd been dreading all evening. What I saw would haunt me for the rest of my life. Jackson Hunt knelt on the cold gym floor. His hands and face were covered in blood and he clutched a girl's limp body in his arms. I gasped and stepped forward. Students ran in all directions, fleeing from the red pool that snaked and slithered across the slick surface of the floor.

The black lace of Morgyn Baker's dress was drenched in crimson. As I rushed toward them, I saw she had been pierced through the heart with a silver dagger. Her eyes were closed, and her body was lifeless and still. Jackson slowly rocked her back and forth as if he were trying to rock her to sleep.

Movement in the shadows caught my eye and as I looked toward the dark back corner of the gym, the hooded figure stared coldly back at me, then turned and fled into the night.

I Just Know

The paramedics had to practically pry Jackson's arms from Morgyn's cold, dead body. They placed her into a black plastic body bag and zipped it up, then the police came in for Jackson. I watched in horror as they stood him up and put him in handcuffs.

Drake pushed through the sea of students to stand by my side. “What the hell happened?”

I could only shake my head. The police were arresting Jackson like they thought he was a murderer. Didn't they see the way he was cradling her body? A killer wouldn't do that. They should be searching for whoever did this horrible thing. What if they hurt someone else?

“I knew that guy was a freak,” he mumbled. He tried to take my hand in his, but I yanked it away, then crossed my arms in front of my chest, suddenly feeling cold and empty. “Hey, what's your problem?”

I stopped listening to him. It felt as though I were under water. Everything moved so slow. The sounds around me were distorted.

Before Jackson was pulled away, he turned and looked straight into my eyes. His sorrow and fear pierced through me like the silver knife that had been stuck through Morgyn's body. His eyes pleaded with me, as if I were the only one who would understand.

But I didn't understand any of it. How had he known something bad was going to happen tonight? I wanted to ask him about the dark figure who had killed Morgyn, but there was no way I could talk to him here. Not with all those people watching. Sheriff Hollingsworth, the petite black woman who had questioned me about Tori's murder over a month before, stormed through the gym's front door. She took one look at the massive pool of blood on the floor and wobbled slightly on her feet. A strange look passed over her features, but then she seemed to pull herself together.

“Why are all these students still standing around?” she shouted to her officers. “Someone get a perimeter set up here or we're going to lose valuable evidence.”

She turned and looked at Jackson, anger flashing in her eyes. When she saw he was staring at me, she looked from him to me, then back again, her anger turning to concern. I stepped back and tried to blend into the crowd. She yanked Jackson's arms and pulled him from the building.

“Get this kid out of here. Take him down to the holding cell and lock him up tight. No one gets in for questioning. And someone call Ella Mae Hunt,” she said. She motioned to a woman standing near the doorway, then whispered something in her ear. The woman looked toward me and nodded.

The crowd in the entryway seemed to breathe all at once as the officers set into motion.

“You heard the Sheriff,” Officer Grey said. “I want all students to go back into the gymnasium and have a seat on the bleachers. Officer Ellis, you go lock up the back doors and make sure no one gets in or out back there. Lancaster, you and Forbes keep an eye on the students and get them organized so we can start questioning them just as soon as possible. I'll start gathering evidence up here.”

There was a flurry of movement as students were herded back into the gym. The mood of the evening had changed from fun to fearful. A third death in just two short months of school? Even for a large school in a big city, that would be nearly unheard of and disturbing. But here in such a small community? It was pure devastation. Kids killing kids. Technically, Agnes' death was ruled an accident, but most of the students knew what really happened. The cops had stopped looking for Tori's murderer after that.

Thankfully, no one had ever really questioned my involvement in the fire. I felt I had Mrs. King to thank for that. But who would Jackson turn to? He had his mother, but she didn't seem to have much power in this town. She wasn't rich and in charge like the sheriff or the mayor. And from the look in the sheriff's eyes tonight, she thought he was guilty.

He'd been kneeling in her blood. His prints might even be all over that silver dagger. Jackson was going to need a super lawyer to get out of this one, and something told me Ella Mae wasn't going to be able to afford a lawyer at all.

Drake put his arm around me and guided me up the bleachers to the very top where Brooke and the others were already gathered. They all looked shaken and scared.

“What happened out there? Harper are you alright?” Brooke said.

I nodded and swallowed, my mouth was hot and dry.

“Who was it?” Allison asked. “Someone said it was that weird girl, Morgyn.”

“She's dead,” I said. My voice came out like croak. I cleared my throat and stared down at my hands, not even really seeing them at all. “And she wasn't weird, she was...”

My voice trailed off. She was like me, I thought.

“Jackson Hunt killed her,” Drake said. “Stabbed her in the heart with some crazy silver knife. It had these blue stones in the handle, like it was some kind of ritual dagger from a movie or something.”

Brooke shifted in her seat. She seemed uncomfortable.

“Jesus,” Foster said. “That guy is seriously disturbed.”

“Why would he do something like that tonight?” Lark asked. She had taken her date's black coat and put it around her shoulders. She was shivering even though it had to be about eighty degrees in the gym from all the dancing. “In front of everyone?”

“Maybe he was trying to make some kind of statement about the school,” Allison said.

“Or maybe he's just a psycho lunatic,” Drake said.

I was in a daze. Hypnotized by the searing image of such red flowing blood. But Drake's words brought me out of it. “Jackson didn't do this,” I said.

Brooke's eyes widened. “How do you know? Did you see something?”

“Not exactly,” I said. “I was in the bathroom when it happened. I didn't see who did it, but I ran out as soon as I heard the scream.”

“Then how do you know Jackson didn't do it?”

I shook my head. “I just know.”

“Harper Madison?”

I looked down at the woman who had called my name. It was the same lady Sheriff Hollingsworth had spoken to before she took Jackson away. “Yes?”

“You and your friends need to come with me.”

I Might Have Seen Something Important

The woman introduced herself as Madelyn Carr. Brooke and the others seemed to already know her. She said she was a friend of the sheriff's, and I took that to mean she was a member of the Order.

“The police told us to stay here for questioning,” I said.

“Not you guys,” she said. “I've been instructed to take you to Mr. Ashworth's house right away. Your limousine is waiting for us out front.”

I looked at all the students who had to stay behind. They might be there all night, waiting to have questions barked at them. Most of them looked scared. Many of them were crying. It didn't seem fair they all had to wait while we got whisked away in a limo. Besides, I had seen the murderer. I felt certain of it.

“I think I should talk to the police,” I said. “I might have seen something important.”

“This isn't up for debate, Miss Madison,” Madelyn said. “We leave now. There's no time to waste.”

I sat back down on the bleachers. “I'm not going anywhere.”

Drake gripped my arm. “Harper, now is not the time to be fooling around.”

“Ow,” I said. I yanked my arm away from him. “Don't ever touch me like that again.”

“Whoa, why are you so angry? She's giving us a free ride here, and you're treating everyone like garbage.”

Madelyn Carr signaled to a couple of officers, and I watched with dread as the two men walked toward us. “Officers, I need you to escort these teenagers to the limousine outside. If you have to, you are authorized to use force in order to get Miss Madison to the car.”

I opened my mouth in protest, but my voice caught in my throat as the two policemen climbed up the three rows of bleachers toward me.

I stood and held my hand out in front of me. “I'll go,” I said. My voice was barely a whisper.

Once inside the car, I sat alone. Drake and Foster took seats at the very front. Lark, Allison and Brooke were huddled together on one side of the limo. Brooke's eyes stayed trained on me the entire time, but I avoided her gaze. She was one of them now. She couldn't be trusted.

The two guys who had come to the dance with Lark and Allison looked terrified. It was obvious they had no idea what was going on or why we had been chosen to leave when everyone else had to stay. They were smart enough to keep their mouths closed, though.

“Boys, please give the driver your addresses,” Madelyn told them. “We're going to drop you off at your houses first.”

The guys recited their addresses and the driver took them home immediately. Then, he turned onto the street where Drake lived. Even though we'd been going out for a while, I'd never actually been inside his house. Drake had driven me by here once just to show me where he lived, but he never invited me inside or anything.

The Ashworths lived in luxury, just like everyone else in this limousine. Excluding me, of course. Their home was a blue, three-story house built before the Civil War. Pretty white shutters adorned all of the many windows in the front of the house. The limousine pulled into the white, dome-shaped carport attached to the left side of the house and everyone got out. Several women, including Mrs. Ashworth, were waiting to usher us into the house.

Mrs. Ashworth looked around, squinting into the darkness. Was she looking for the hooded figure? It definitely seemed like the Order was trying to protect us from something, but if they thought Jackson was the murderer, why would they bother? They already had him in custody.

The fear on Mrs. Ashworth's face told me that the Order knew Jackson Hunt wasn't responsible for Morgyn's death. Now, they were surrounding me with witches who could keep me safe if the assassin came for me.

Madelyn led us down to the basement and told us to stay put. There was a pool table, a large flat-screen TV, and several leather couches down there, but there was no door to the outside. I felt like a prisoner.

“At least there's a bar down here,” Drake said. He walked over to the mahogany bar in the far corner and set up several crystal glasses with ice. “Who wants one?”

I eyed him angrily. Great, just what I needed. Drunk Drake was much worse than sober Drake, and I already felt like I'd had more of him than I could take in a lifetime. Screw his mother's wishes, there was no way I was going out with him again.

“Load me up,” Foster said. “Brooke?”

“I better not,” she said. She had finally stopped staring at me. I think she was annoyed that she was down here with us instead of upstairs with the other members of the Order.

“Harper?”

I looked at him like he'd lost his freakin' marbles. “No thanks.”

“Well, I'm pouring you one anyway,” he said. His voice was full of laughter. “Out of all of us, I think you need one the most.”

He poured vodka into a glass, then topped it with cranberry juice. “Here.”

“Are you joking? I just saw a girl bleed to death in front of my very own eyes and the guy who lives next door to me was arrested for stabbing her in the heart and murdering her. I don't really feel like partying right now.”

Drake stepped away, as if I had slapped him across the face. I looked away from him and down at my shoes. Only I wasn't wearing any shoes. Damn! I'd left them in the gym. With horror, I noticed the edges of my blue dress were beginning to turn black. Cinderella was about to turn back into a pumpkin, or however the story goes. And I had nothing else to wear.

I looked frantically at Lark. She told me not to ever let anyone know about the glamours. If the Order found out we were doing magic beyond our level, we could get into some serious trouble. It only figured that my glamour would wear off now, when we were in a house full of members of the Order.

“Lark, can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked.

She stood and joined me over near the stairs.

“Look,” I said. I pointed toward the hem of my dress. The black section was small and faint, but it was definitely there.

She pulled in a long breath. “Oh god. This isn't good.”

“Can you change it back?”

She shook her head. “Not here in front of everyone like this. It would draw too much attention.”

“More attention than my dress suddenly turning black?”

“You've got a point there,” she said. She bit her lower lip and made a soft whining noise. “I honestly don't think I could concentrate enough to do it even if I wanted to.”

“I'll figure something out,” I said.

Lark went back to sit down, but her face looked pale and worried. If the Order found out, it might even get her mother into trouble. Plus, if they knew the extent of the glamours I could perform, they might figure out what I'd seen, and I couldn't let that happen.

I had an idea.

I walked up the stairs. Madelyn Carr was standing there, guarding the entrance to the basement. “Miss Carr?”

“I need you to stay downstairs, Harper.”

“I know, and I'm sorry I haven't been very cooperative,” I said. “It's just been a really stressful night.”

“I'm sure it has,” she said. Her features softened a bit. “Did you need something?”

“I'm just feeling really cold.” I pointed to my feet. “And I left my shoes at the gym. Is there any way I could get some clothes to change into?” I rubbed my palms up and down my arms, as if trying to get warm.

“Aww, you poor thing, I hadn't even realized how cold it must be down there,” she said. “Hold on just a minute and I'll see if Mrs. Ashworth has something you can wear.”

She stepped away for a minute, then came back with a plastic bag full of clothes. “Here,” she said. “You can go into the bathroom in Mrs. Ashworth's study to change. I'll wait here outside the door for you, okay?”

I thanked her and stepped into the cool, dark study. The light in the bathroom was on, and as I crossed through the room, a black bag caught my eye. At first, I barely noticed it, but something tugged at my mind. I shook it off and closed myself in the bathroom. Thankfully Mrs. Ashworth was about my size. I put on the pink velour track suit, white t-shirt, thick socks, and white tennis shoes. I stuffed the fading dress into the shopping bag and tied it closed.

Quickly, I made my way through the study again. I looked at the black bag, trying to figure out where I'd seen it before. Then, it hit me. This was the bag Brooke had taken out to the clearing that night she gave me the tattoo. As quietly as I could, I unzipped the bag, then choked back a scream. Strapped inside was a silver dagger with blue stones on the handle.

Anything For Drake's Girl

Mrs. Ashworth knocked on the door to the study.

“Harper? Is everything okay in there?”

Crap.

I zipped the bag and stood. “Just finishing up,” I said. I made sure everything looked exactly the same as when I'd come in, then opened the door. My heart was racing. “Thanks again for the clothes. I really appreciate it.”

“Oh, it's no problem at all,” she said. “Anything for Drake's girl.”

I almost gagged. Could this night possibly get any worse?

“Here, let me take that dress. I'll have it dry-cleaned for you,” she said. She tried to take the plastic bag from my hand, but I pulled it away.

“No thanks,” I said. “I've got it.”

She pressed her lips together and folded her arms across her chest. “Alright, dear. Let me know if you need anything downstairs. Are you hungry at all?”

The thought of food made me nauseated. “Why are we here?”

She raised her eyebrows. “We just want to make sure all of you are safe, that's all.”

“You don't think Jackson killed that girl, do you?”

“I hardly think now is the time to discuss this,” she said. “Miss Carr, will you escort Harper back to the basement, please?”

“Wait,” I said. Obviously my ultra-direct questions weren't going to work. “I'm just really scared. You have to understand that. Why would you bring us here unless you thought we were in some kind of danger? Please, can you at least tell me what's going on out there.”

Mrs. Ashworth sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Everything is going to be okay. In time, I promise I'll explain everything to you, but not tonight. Miss Carr?”

I made my way back down the basement, my mind full of new questions. The dagger from the black bag was an exact match to the one that killed Morgyn. I'd been so certain the dark figure in the gym was an Other, but now I couldn't be sure. How would the Others have gotten hold of one of the Order's sacred ritual daggers?

The actual dagger that killed Morgyn had been taken into evidence by Officer Grey at the school. I saw him put it into a large plastic bag. That meant there were at least two daggers that looked exactly the same. Possibly more. If I could figure out the significance of the dagger, maybe I could also figure out who killed Morgyn Baker.

You Wait Just a Minute

I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing Jackson hovering over Morgyn's dead body, blood everywhere. Jackson kept looking up at me and asking me to help him. But I was so helpless. No one believed me when I said he was innocent. Once Mrs. Ashworth finally released us from her basement, I had gone to the police station and tried to file a report about the figure I'd seen fleeing the scene, but Sheriff Hollingsworth dismissed my story. She tried to convince me I was merely stressed out and suggested I see a doctor about my hallucinations.

According to the news, Jackson still hadn't been charged with murder, but to most, that didn't mean he was innocent. Most people had already convicted him in their minds and now were just waiting to put the final nail in his coffin. The dagger was the primary piece of evidence, and Jackson's fingerprints were all over it. Plus, dozens of students were on hand to testify that they had seen Jackson kneeling over Morgyn's body.

I followed the story throughout the week. Every day when I got home from cheer practice, I turned on the five o'clock news and waited to hear the latest. The closest local news station was in Macon, which was a good forty miles away. They covered Morgyn's murder pretty heavily the first couple of days, but by now, nearing a week since she died, the news had grown pretty scattered.

Scattered like my brain. I couldn't concentrate in class. I wasn't doing a very good job learning the new spells. It was like everyone at school had simply accepted Morgyn's death and Jackson's guilt, and moved on. Mrs. King kept a close eye on me, but the immediate danger seemed to have passed.

All anyone wanted to talk about these days was the chance the Demons would be going to the playoffs. No one seemed to care that three different girls had been killed since school started in August. Of course, as far as the general community was concerned, Morgyn was pretty low on the totem pole. After all, she wasn't a precious cheerleader.

But what about the Order? Mrs. Ashworth had to be concerned about the possible repercussions of Morgyn's death. Somewhere out there was a demon gate who had just lost their Prima. It was possible Morgyn wasn't the only Prima still alive from whatever town she belonged to, but if she was, I knew that more than one person had died on Saturday night. Of course, if some kind of mass murder had occurred, no matter where in the country, that probably would have made national headlines.

As I lay in bed, I also wondered about Morgyn's grandmother. What was her story? There was something strange about the way she'd shown up out of the blue to take Morgyn off the cheerleading team. And why wasn't Morgyn immediately taken back to her home demon gate once they found out she was a Prima? She'd said she still had to perform a service for the Order, but she'd never told me what it was.

I sat up and paced the room. It was obvious my mind wasn't going to just let this whole thing go. I couldn't do what the rest of the town was doing and just let Jackson take the fall for this. I also couldn't let Morgyn die without justice. Her killer was still loose out there, and I intended to figure out just who that was.

I figured my best bet at getting answers was to go straight to Jackson Hunt. Unfortunately, he was still locked up at the local jail. It wasn't exactly the kind of place that allowed regular visitors.

Still, the next day after school I stopped by the Sheriff's department to see if anyone would let me talk to him. Of course, first I spent some time behind the station working up a glamour that made me look about fifteen years older with brown hair and glasses. I told the bearded officer at the front desk I had an appointment to see Jackson Hunt.

“What was your name again?” The man eyed me with suspicion.

“Lacy Cranwell,” I lied. “I'm an attorney who works for the family.”

The officer wasn't buying it. “Well, Miss Cranwell, unless you have a signed statement from his mother, I can't let you in to talk to Jackson Hunt.”

Then, I had an idea. “I'd like to talk to your supervisor,” I demanded. “Ella Mae Hunt will not be happy about this. I have a good mind to call the State Police and let them know you're refusing council to a minor.”

The man's face went red with anger. “You wait just a minute-”

“No, you wait,” I said. I gave him my best voice of authority and straightened my shoulders. “I asked to speak to the supervising officer, and if you don't go and get him or her, I will write down your badge number and make sure Sheriff Hollingsworth hears about this.”

The officer's nostrils flared and he took in several huffing breaths. I stood my ground and finally he waddled off to the back room. Quickly, I moved around to the other side of the desk and checked the work schedule for the next week. Luckily, it wasn't hard to find. They had it tacked up on the bulletin board just behind the desk.

Officer James Ellis was scheduled to work Friday evening during the football game. Alone.

By the time the bearded officer came back with his supervisor, Lacy Cranwell was long gone.

The Elixir of Kendria

“What is with you lately?” Brooke set her lunch on the table and sat next to me.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you're moody. Ever since Homecoming. You aren't acting like yourself,” she said.

She was one to talk. “I'm fine.”

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and tried to smile. Drake put his arm around me and I wanted to scream. With everything that had been going on, I hadn't found the right time to officially break things off between us.

“Well, this Friday is the last regular game of the season, so we really need you to be one hundred percent,” Brooke said.

“This won't be the last game, though,” Foster said. He looked at Brooke, but she'd been completely ignoring him for the past several days. I could tell he was both hurt and confused by her sudden change in behavior.

“Not a chance,” Drake chimed in. “Win or lose Friday night, we're probably still going to the finals. If we win, we're definitely in. If we lose, then it all depends on what the Red Devils do over in Hawkinsville. If they win, we're out, but if they lose, it's us against Northridge in two weeks.”

“Either way,” Brooke said. “We still need to make sure all our girls are feeling good and ready to perform. You haven't been feeling sick have you?”

“She's fine,” Lark said, coming to my defense. “Jeez, give the girl some space. Last weekend was rough on everyone.”

Under the table, I squeezed her hand in thanks and she winked at me.

Friday's game against the Hornets was pretty much attended by the entire town. I did my best to stay in the moment, but my head wasn't really in it. I knew I couldn't afford to make Brooke too suspicious. I tried to concentrate, but what I was really thinking about was Officer Ellis all alone at the police station watching Jackson.

After the game, some of the other officers would probably join him, but during the game, he was alone. Making myself invisible again, even for a few minutes, would be tough. I needed to keep my head together.

The police department was a good two miles from the stadium, and I had hidden my bike in the trees across the road before school that morning. As we neared half-time, my stomach tightened into knots. If anyone on the squad found out what I was doing, I would be in some major trouble. I had to play this out perfectly.

When the buzzer went off announcing half-time, the football team retreated into the field house and the cheerleading squad followed close behind. Usually at half-time, the boosters had refreshments set up in the front room of the field house. I got Lark's attention and hung back from the crowd.

“Thanks for standing up for me yesterday,” I said. “The truth is, I'm really just exhausted. It's been crazy at home since Jackson was arrested. Ella Mae's been so busy, we're all having to do extra chores and stuff to make up for it. I think I might be coming down with something.”

“Aww, I totally understand,” she said.

“Could you do me a huge favor?”

“You know I'd do anything for you.”

“Cover for me during half-time. I want to go into the locker room and lay down for a few.”

“Sure,” she said. “You sure you don't want me to tell Mrs. King you aren't feeling well? She'd probably let you go home early. Or maybe she could even help heal you if you've got a fever or something.”

“No,” I said. “Please don't tell anyone. I'll be fine, I just need some peace and quiet for a few minutes.”

Lark gave me a big hug and promised to watch my back. As soon as she had disappeared inside the field house with the rest of the squad, I made a break for my bicycle.

**

Officer James Ellis was watching TV when I reached the doors of the police station. I went around back and sat down in the darkness, palms up. It took a few tries to get centered. The movement across my lower back was particularly distracting tonight, but eventually, I began to fade away.

Unfortunately, being invisible didn't mean I could walk through walls. I needed to get inside somehow, so I improvised. I picked up a rock from the parking lot and tossed it at the glass window in the front door. It wasn't hard enough to break anything, but I definitely got Ellis' attention. At first, he just sat up and stared at the door.

I threw a second rock, and this time he got up and came to investigate. He opened the door wide.

“Who's out here? Run along now before you get into some serious trouble,” he yelled.

Carefully, I slipped past him. I held my breath and pressed tight against the wall so he wouldn't feel me beside him. He turned in my direction and inhaled deeply. My heart skipped a beat, realizing he must have been able to smell me.

I moved quickly. While he was still at the door, I grabbed a set of keys off the wall and let myself into the back of the station house.

Jackson was alone. He sat on his bed with his back propped against the gray cinder-block wall. He was reading a book. He looked up as the door opened, then smiled.

“Hi Harper.”

I dropped my glamour and cocked my head. “How did you know it was me?”

“I could see you,” he said.

“That's not possible. I was invisible.”

“And how exactly did you pull that off?” he said. “That's some pretty high level magic for a witch your age.”

I stepped toward the cell. I had been worried about how I was going to explain the whole invisibility thing, but apparently he was way ahead of me. “So you know about the witches?”

“I know a lot of things,” he said. “I've been in this town for a long time.”

My stomach tightened. I thought of the yearbook picture.

“How long?”

He narrowed his eyes at me.

“I found a picture in an old yearbook from 1993,” I said. “Jackson, it was you, wasn't it?”

He set his book on the mattress and walked over to the bars. “There's so much I want to tell you, but it would be useless.”

“Why?”

“Because of this.” He reached through the bars and took my hand. With his index finger, he traced the scar along my palm. “As long as they control you, they can wipe your memory any time they please. And as soon as anyone finds out we've talked, you can bet this conversation would be the first thing they erased from your mind.”

I suddenly felt heavy and helpless. “So how do I get out from under their control.”

Jackson let go of my hand and I immediately missed the warmth of his skin against mine. “There's a book,” he said. “On the third floor of Shadowford. Do you know the room I'm talking about.”

I nodded. “The library room.”

“In that room, there's a spell book called Memoria. It's full of different ways to manipulate memory and the way people remember certain events.”

“How do you know about that room?”

“I've been there before,” he said. “There's a potion in that book. It's called the Elixir of Kendria. You can find the ingredients for it inside the blue cabinet in my bedroom. Make the potion and drink it. It'll help you remember.”

I leaned my head against the cold steel bars. “I'm so tired of fighting for answers, Jackson.”

“The potion will make you see everything with new eyes, I promise you that. You just have to be patient. The answers will come.”

“If I do this, you'll tell me who you are? How you can live for so long without changing?”

He nodded. “But Harper, whatever you do, you cannot let Ella Mae or anyone else know that you were in my room or that you had access to that spell book. Don't take the book from the room either. You'll have to memorize the potion, or write it down.”

“Ella Mae isn't really your mother, is she?” It was something I'd been thinking about ever since I saw his picture in the yearbook.

Jackson shook his head. “No, she's a member of the Order. My keeper, in a way. She can be very dangerous. Promise me you'll be careful.”

“I promise,” I said. “But what about you? What's going to happen to you?”

He looked around his sparse cell and lifted his hands into the air. “I have everything I need right here,” he said. “The Order has me in here to protect me Harper, not to blame me. They know just as well as you do that I wasn't responsible for Morgyn's death.”

“Why would you need protection? Are you in danger?”

Jackson looked toward the door to the front of the station. A flash of panic crossed his features, then disappeared. “There's no time, Harper. Officer Ellis will be coming through those doors in a few minutes. There's a back door at the end of the hallway. You should go.”

I slipped my hand through the steel bars and touched his face. “I'm sorry about Morgyn,”I said. “I know you cared about her.”

Jackson took my hand and closed his eyes. “Thanks,” he said.

I pulled away, my heart aching to tell him how much I'd come to care for him, too. I opened my mouth to speak, then moved quickly toward the back door of the station.

Someone Is Always Watching

I made it back to the school with only moments to spare. Even though I'd only used the glamour for a few minutes, I felt drained and sick to my stomach. I dropped my bike to the ground and walked toward the field house. The second half of this game was going to be pure torture. I clutched my stomach in pain and leaned against the door to the field house, not wanting to go inside.

“I think a lot of people underestimate you, Harper.”

I swung around to find Mrs. King standing at the bottom of the field house steps, watching me.

“Oh gosh, you scared me,” I said, out of breath. My heart was already racing from the bike ride, and now it sped up from fear.

“I don't want to see you get into any trouble,” she said. She climbed the stairs toward me, a serious expression on her face.

“I don't know what you mean.”

Mrs. King placed her hand on the small of my back. I could feel the demon writhe against my skin.

“Someone is always watching,” she said. “Especially when you're a recruit. I would hate to see you get mixed up with the wrong kind of people.”

My heart skipped and panic set in. Did she know I'd been to see Jackson?

“Are you saying this tattoo does more than just let me into the training room?” I asked.

Mrs. King looked around. “I'm saying that nothing is ever as simple as it seems. And you never know when the Order might be watching you.”

With that, she opened the doors to the field house and announced to the squad that it was time to get back into the stadium.

I doubled over against the metal railing and threw up.

Wondering If Anyone Would Notice

I sat on the bleachers for most of the second half. My body temperature went from freezing to burning up to freezing all over again. Mrs. King handed me a fuzzy blue blanket and a cup of hot chocolate when I started to shiver.

I begged my body to recover faster. Every little shiver or grimace of pain was a clue to anyone watching that I'd been doing some kind of forbidden magic beyond my level. Why didn't I think of the consequences earlier? I thought I was being all sneaky and undercover with my talks to Morgyn and Jackson, but now I wasn't so sure.

Mrs. King implied that the tattoo on my back was also used as some kind of tracking device. A way to monitor recruits. Nothing I did was private. Did any of the other girls know the Order was watching us? I made a mental note to question Lark about it later, but for now, I had more pressing questions on my mind.

If the Order was watching me, how the hell was I going to sneak up to the third floor library? Much less Jackson's bedroom? Just thinking about it made me want to throw up all over again. I pulled the blanket tighter against my body and begged my stomach to calm down.

Once the game was over, the PHS Demons were officially in the playoffs. Drake ran off the field and pulled me up into a hug.

“We did it!” he said, pumping his fist. “Let's go celebrate.”

Did he seriously not even notice that I'd been sitting on the sidelines for the past hour and a half? I had to stop myself from punching him in the face. He had to be one of the most selfish guys in the world. I don't know how I didn't see it before.

“I don't feel good,” I said. “That's why I sat out the entire second half. Didn't you notice?”

He frowned. “No. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it's not like I'm dying or anything,” I said. “But I think I'd rather just go home and get some rest.”

“Bummer. Foster invited us over this his house to go swimming. He's trying to get back into Brooke's good graces. I thought you might want to come.”

“It's freezing out,” I said, shivering.

“Indoor heated pool,” he said. He wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “With a hot tub.”

I shook my head. I couldn't take this anymore. The more time I spent around Drake, the more I began to despise him. The thought of hanging out with him in a hot tub made me feel even worse. “Listen, Drake-”

“Great game, son!” Drake's father came up behind him and give him a big pat on the back.

“Thanks Dad!” Drake turned around and gave his dad a strong handshake.

Mrs. Ashworth was close behind. My heart rose into my throat, and I felt slightly dizzy.

“Yes, that was a great game, dear,” she said, raising up on her tiptoes to kiss Drake's cheek. “Exactly what I wanted to see tonight with so many recruiters in the stands.”

I stood by silently, wondering if anyone would notice if I made a run for it.

Then, Mrs. Ashworth turned to me, and I was stuck. “Harper, honey, what happened to you the second half? You looked miserable down there on the bleachers. Are you ill?”

I nodded. “I really think I should be heading home,” I said. “I might be coming down with something.”

Mrs. Ashworth studied me carefully. I felt my heart pound against my ribs like a frantic, caged bird. Could she tell I'd been doing magic?

“I'm sure all this training has been hard on you,” she said. “Maybe you should go home and rest. I hope you get to feeling better. We'd love to have you over to our house for dinner sometime soon, now.”

“Yes ma'am,” I said. “Goodnight Drake, good game.”

He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “You want me to drive you home?”

“No,” I said, perhaps a bit too quickly. “I'm just going to catch the van home to Shadowford. I'd hate to get you sick, too.”

As soon as I could, I made my way back up to the parking lot and searched for the Shadowford van. I spotted Courtney coming out of the stadium gate and jogged to catch up with her, glad to be rid of the Ashworths.

Feel Better

“Courtney, wait up,” I called. A sharp pain shot through my side. I slowed to catch my breath.

“Hey Harper,” she said. She stopped and waited for me. As usual, her stick straight blonde hair covered half her face. She wore a pair of tattered jeans and a black hoodie.

“Thanks,” I said. I doubled over slightly as a wave of nausea passed over me. Man, using magic got more and more dangerous to my health each time I used it. This time, I had only been invisible for ten minutes at most. Why was it affecting me so harshly?

“Are you alright?” Courtney rushed over and put her hand on my shoulder.

“I'll be okay,” I said. “I think maybe I ate something bad.”

She helped me to the van. The whole ride home, she kept looking over at me as if there was something she wanted to say to me. When I met her eyes, though, she just looked away.

Mary Anne sat quietly in the backseat. She had taken Morgyn Baker's death quite hard, retreating even further into her shell. For days after the dance, Mary Anne stayed in her room. She missed school and refused to eat. Several times, when I'd knocked on her door to ask her to come down for dinner, I'd heard her crying.

Tonight, she was silent and still. I was surprised she'd even gone to the game at all. Maybe Ella Mae made her come.

Whenever she was around, tension hung in the air. Even now, in the van, I felt her eyes on me. I wanted to ask her what her problem was, but since I knew she'd just lost a good friend, I figured she deserved a little space.

When we arrived home, Courtney helped me up the stairs and into my bedroom. I said goodnight and went to wash my face, but when I came out of the bathroom, she was still standing there.

“Oh, hey, I thought you'd gone to bed,” I said.

“Can I come in for a sec?”

I shrugged. I didn't really have time to sit and chat. Not when I was so close to getting my memories back. But I couldn't exactly tell her to leave. “Sure,” I said. “I probably won't be up too much longer, though.”

Courtney turned and stuck her head into the hallway, looked both ways, then closed us into my room. “You were using too much magic.”

She said it as a fact, not a question. I narrowed my eyes at her. What did she know about it? I didn't know whether I should trust her. I didn't answer her. Instead, I walked to my closet and pulled out some pajamas.

“I recognize the signs,” she said. She moved to sit on my bed. “Believe me, I've been there before. This one time, I tried to get my stereo to work without any electricity running to it. That knocked me out for a few hours.”

“You can do high level magic?” I asked. I forgot my pajamas and joined her on the bed.

“Some things,” she said. “Probably nothing like what you can do, but I play around some.”

As I looked at her, I realized I didn't know that much about Courtney's past. How did she end up here at Shadowford? From what Morgyn told me, Shadowford was being used by the Order as a way to draw in orphaned girls like me and Agnes. They were looking for the Prima, but what were their intentions with the girls who turned out not to be the Prima? If they were so powerful, why weren't they recruited and trained? It didn't seem fair.

“What can you do?” I asked.

She looked around the room. Her eyes settled on something near my closet. I followed her gaze. The pajamas I discarded on the top of my dressing table floated toward us. I laughed and clapped.

“Where did you learn to do that?” My pj's landed beside me on the bed.

Courtney's face broke out in a smile, but she dipped her head to hide it. She shrugged, but I could tell she was glad to share her ability with me.

I touched her arm and got a slight shock of static electricity. “Oops,” I said. “Sorry.”

“It's okay,” she said. “Sometimes the air in a room gets charged with a little bit of electricity after magic is used.”

“I've noticed that before,” I said. “Actually, the first time I met Ms. Shadowford, the door gave me a shock. She's a witch, too, isn't she?”

Courtney nodded.

I winced as another wave of pain shot through my abdomen.

Slowly, Courtney reached out to take my hands in hers. “There's something else I can do,” she said.

I looked up, curious.

“Close your eyes.”

I closed my eyes, unsure what to expect. At first, nothing happened. The house was quiet and still. The only sound was the sound of our breathing.

Then, Courtney's hands became burning hot. On instinct, I tried to pull away, but she held firm, refusing to let me go. My eyes flew open. I was frightened. Was she trying to hurt me?

“Shhh,” she whispered. “It'll be okay, I promise.”

The burning heat spread through my body like hot lava. My lower back screamed in pain. I bit my lip to keep from crying out. Just when I didn't think I could take it anymore, an instant calm settled over me. My skin cooled and felt refreshed. Suddenly, my nausea was gone.

Courtney dropped my hands. “Feel better?”

“What did you do?” I took a deep breath. I felt strong.

She smiled shyly. “I recharged you,” she said. “It's one of the few things I know how to do.” She cleared her throat and swiped at her eyes. “I used to do that for Agnes all the time. Before she...”

I touched her shoulder. “Thanks,” I said. “I really do feel better.”

She nodded and sniffed, then rose from the bed. “Well, I'm gonna head to bed,” she said.

“Goodnight,” I said. “Maybe we can share magic tips or something sometime.”

She turned around, her face creased with worry. “I had no idea she wanted to hurt you, Harper. I never would have helped her if I thought she would do something like that.”

I breathed slowly in and out.

“I know.”

There Has To Be A Way

As soon as I was alone, I started to formulate a plan. With my power restored, tonight was my best shot at getting up to the third floor.

But what if someone from the Order was watching me?

I looked at the clock. It was almost eleven-thirty. What were the chances someone would be watching me this late? Especially if they knew I was safely in bed asleep?

I changed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth, then cut off the lights and crawled into bed. If anyone had been watching me tonight, they'dsee my regular bedtime routine and hopefully assume I was safely accounted for until morning.

I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep.

Visions of Brooke's initiation ritual flashed in my mind. I thought about the way the shadow demon had snaked around her body. I shuddered and pulled the covers closer.

This plan better work.

I hated to think what the Order might do to me if they found out I was planning to drink the Elixir of Kendria. I knew they couldn't kill me, but that didn't mean they couldn't lock me away or erase my memory all over again.

It was a risk I was going to have to take. I needed to get my memories back so that Jackson would tell me the truth.

After fifteen minutes had passed, I got out of bed and put on my stealthiest outfit – black pants and a black t-shirt.

I tiptoed down the hall and entered the secret passage-way up to the third floor.

The stairs creaked slightly as I stepped onto them. I froze. Listened for footsteps or voices.

When I was sure the coast was clear, I continued up to the circular room. The four doors were closed shut, but I remembered that the library room was to my left. I opened the door and slipped inside. There were no light switches along the walls, so I held out my palm.

“Illuminate,” I whispered.

A small white orb appeared over my hand. I lifted it high into the air and studied the thousands of books on the shelves. Jackson had said the book was called Memoria. I walked around and glanced at the titles, hoping they were arranged in some kind of alphabetical order. No such luck. I knew it could take me days to find the right book. I didn't have that kind of time. Besides, I couldn't even reach the ones way at the tippy-top.

I sat down on the floor and placed the orb on the ground. With palms up, I concentrated on the book I wanted to find. I don't know what I expected to happen. I guess I thought maybe it would just float down from wherever it lived on the shelves. After a good five minutes of willing it to come to me, I gave up and decided to try something else.

There has to be a way.

I walked around the room, touching the books, hoping for inspiration. A book with a bright pink binding caught my eye. For a moment, my heart pumped faster, thinking I might have found the right book. But at closer look, I saw that it was called Memorizzia. Not quite exactly right, but worth a look anyway. I tugged on the book. It wouldn't budge. The books were really crammed together.

I pulled harder and my fingers slipped. I fell backward, my shoulder slamming into the bookcase on my right. I sucked air through my clenched teeth and tried not to yell out. Something rolled off the bookcase beside me and fell to the floor with a clack. I jumped, afraid I'd been discovered, then saw the golden pen lying at my feet.

I leaned over and picked it up. It was a beautiful, heavy golden pen with blue sapphires embedded into it. I twisted it to open it and a puff of golden glitter wafted through the air. I smiled and waved the pen around. As it moved, it left behind a trail of shimmering dust that seemed to hold its shape. I drew a circle and it hovered in the air in front of me for a few seconds, then fell to the floor where it completely disappeared. I wrote my name in the air, laughing as it held its shape until I was finished writing.

I looked from the books to the pen and had an idea. Carefully, I wrote out the name of the book, Memoria, in the air. The word lingered in the air for a moment, but instead of falling to the floor, the glitter zoomed toward the top of the bookcase closest to the door. I followed close behind, amazed. The glittery dust attached itself to a large black leather book, pulled it from the shelf, then delivered it into my hand. I looked at the binding.

Memoria.

An Old Tune

I clutched the book close to my chest and spun around happily. By blind luck, I had found the key to how the library works. I placed the pen back on the bookshelf and sat down with Memoria.

Jackson told me I shouldn't take the book out of the library. No doubt the Order had some kind of tracking system for the books. I didn't want to forget the recipe for the elixir or make any mistakes, so I pulled out the flip phone Drake had given me when we first started dating. There was a pretty decent camera built in, and I planned to put it to good use.

The first thing I did was locate the recipe for the Elixir of Kendria. It wasn't too hard to find, and thankfully, it was written in English. I snapped a picture of the ingredients and instructions, then flipped back to the beginning of the book. One by one, I snapped pictures of each page. Total, there must have been at least a hundred pages with different handwritten spells. Near the end, I smiled when I noticed the spell that Mrs. King used to store our cheerleading routines in our sneakers.

I was tempted to take my time with the book, but I knew I still needed to try to get to Jackson's room before anyone noticed I was gone.

As soon as I was finished with the book, the glittery dust that stuck to the binding floated the book back to where it belonged. When the book was back on the shelf, the glitter fell to the floor and faded away. I smiled, amazed at how cool magic could be sometimes.

I stuffed my phone in my pocket and stepped into the main room. As I placed my foot on the top step, I heard footsteps below in the hallway. My body tensed. The passage-way opened and I jumped back. I needed a place to hide.

I had no way to know which room the person coming up the stairs wanted to go into. From the last time I was up on the third floor, I knew there was a library room, a potion room, and a room with beds. None of those rooms had a good place to hide. The fourth one, however, the one with the demon face engraved on the wood, held a long corridor of doors. On instinct, I chose this door.

The length of the corridor was shocking. Some kind of magic allowed there to be more space on this floor than was physically possible. I had no explanation for what I saw, but all I cared about at the moment was not getting caught.

I pulled open the first door on my left and stepped inside. The room was completely dark. I leaned against the door and tried to catch my breath. My heart pounded against my chest. Part of me was certain the Order had been watching me.

In the distance, I heard a woman humming. Ella Mae? I'd heard her hum that song before. It was an old tune I couldn't quite place.

I waited and listened, trying to track her footsteps and guess where she was going. Then, the demon door opened and her humming grew louder. I placed my hand over my mouth to muffle the sound of my breath. I stood as still as I could, but my knees were shivering.

Ella Mae's footsteps passed by the room where I hid, then continued down the long hallway. I sighed in relief. No one was coming for me.

I didn't move for a while, listening for some indication of whether she was still out there or not. Eventually, I heard the clicking of a door as it closed somewhere far away. I wished I had the energy to make myself invisible, but I knew I couldn't risk it. If I got sick again, I might not be able to make the potion.

I had no choice but to step back into the hallway and try my luck. There was no sign of Ella Mae, but as I left the small dark room, I could swear a pair of red eyes opened, watching me as I fled.

The Crystal Cup

With Ella Mae gone into some room far down the hall, I knew that now was my best shot at breaking into Jackson's bedroom. I quickly fled into the main circular room, down two flights of stairs to the first floor, and out the back door.

I was careful to avoid the motion sensor light from the barn as I made my way around to the back of Jackson and Ella Mae's house. Something about the process felt so familiar. As if I'd done this once before. I wasn't sure how I knew which bedroom was Jackson's, but as I came up to a window on the far side of the house, I just knew.

The screen was easy to remove. I used a small amount of magic to unlock the window and push it up, then I climbed inside. It was dark and I didn't want to risk turning on the overhead light. Instead, I opened my flip-phone and let the light from the display guide me to the blue cabinet Jackson told me about. Inside, there were all sorts of strange vials and plastic bags full of various liquids and herbs. Thankfully, everything was clearly labeled with neat print handwriting.

I pulled up the picture of the recipe and gathered the various ingredients for the elixir. I expected things like eye of newt and tail of lizard, but the ingredients were mostly herbs I recognized, like lavender and thyme. Once I had everything I needed, I combined the ingredients in a small crystal cup.

I was skeptical about how all these herbs would come together to form a liquid, but as I added each piece, the items in the cup began to melt together. The final ingredient was the strangest. Water from an iceberg. When I uncorked the black bottle that held the water, I was amazed at how bright the water was. It practically glowed. Steam rose up as the warm air hit the still-cold liquid. I tipped it slightly and counted out exactly six drops of water. The crystal cup slowly iced over as a bubbling vapor rose up from the glass.

I lifted the cup to my lips and drank.

A vision flashed before my eyes so violently, it spun my head backwards. My body went rigid, as if I were suffering from a seizure. I lost control and fell into a whirlpool of memory. Everything came back to me in a rush. The way the cheerleaders treated me when I first came to town. Tori and Coach King at the field the night I went back to search for my necklace. Ms. Shadowford giving me a strange-tasting water to drink just before I got sick and passed out. I remembered it all.

I remembered Jackson. The way he'd kissed me here in this very room. He'd shown me drawings of the future. Me in a room of flames.

I remembered the ritual. The members of the Order with their dark cloaks and hidden faces had cut my hand and tested my blood with magic. They used a special dagger. I remembered it now. The same dagger with the blue stones that I had seen at Mrs. Ashworth's house. When they cut my hand, the blood on the dagger had turned from red to blue. That's when they had called me their Prima.

The Order had erased all of my memories of Jackson and Tori and any instance where magic was used around me. But now I had those memories back.

I looked down at my palm. The scar was gone.

Me In Profile

Out of all my regained memories, one thing seemed to slap me across the face. Jackson could see the future! He had drawn Tori's death before it happened, and he had seen me in a room of flames the night Agnes died. Now, I remembered that he also warned me not to take my necklace off. He had known the demon spirit attached to the necklace would save me.

I reached up and touched the sapphire pendant. What else had he seen since then?

I opened my eyes and looked around his room. Even in the semi-darkness, I could see his desk. It was littered with papers. I turned them over, one by one, hoping to see some of the drawings. All I found though were homework notes and random doodles. There was no sign of the notebook he'd had the night I was in his room all those weeks ago.

I searched through his drawers and in his closet with no luck. Frustrated, I sat down on his bed and laid my head on his pillow. I inhaled deeply. It smelled like him. I moved my hand under the pillow to support my head, and that's when I felt it. The notebook was hidden under his pillow.

I pulled it out, but before I had time to flip through his drawings, I heard the front door to the house open.

Crap.

Ella Mae was beginning to be a real pain in my ass. If she found me here, she certainly wouldn't keep it a secret from Mrs. Ashworth and the rest of the Order. I wasn't sure how easily they could reverse the effects of the elixir, and I didn't want to find out. Now that I had my memories back, I intended to keep them.

The house phone rang, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I heard Ella Mae pick up in the other room. Quickly, I put all of the ingredients back into the blue cabinet and climbed back through Jackson's window.

By the time I got back to my bedroom, I was thoroughly exhausted, but I knew I couldn't sleep. I took out Jackson's notebook and studied each drawing carefully.

There were lots of things in the beginning I didn't recognize. Probably things that happened long before I came to Peachville. Then, there were the drawings I knew. Tori's death. Agnes and I in the room of flames. I flipped past them, eager to see what came next.

I gasped as I saw a clear drawing of the horrible scene I'd witnessed Homecoming night. I looked away. I'd seen enough of Morgyn's blood to last a lifetime. The image was burned into my memory. I didn't need to see it again.

Why would Jackson have gone to the dance if he knew what was going to happen? His drawing explained what I had overheard between him and Morgyn. He was trying to convince her to stay home, but when she'd suggested they both stay home, what had he said to her?

But I can't leave her there unprotected.

He'd gone because of me. Tears formed at the corner of my eyes and I let them fall. Morgyn Baker's death was my fault. I tried to tell myself that she didn't have to go to that dance. Jackson tried to talk her out of it, but she'd insisted. She was in love with him.

I wiped the tears away with the back of my hand and flipped to the next page.

A picture of Jackson sitting in a jail cell talking to me. I laughed through my tears. He'd been expecting me all along. I flipped to the next page and my eyes widened. There was a picture of Jackson being dragged from his cell by several figures dressed in dark clothing. I covered my hand with my mouth and choked back a sob. The Others! They were planning to capture him.

Frantically, I flipped to the next page in the book.

The next image was a picture of Jackson chained to a wall. His hands were out by his sides and his chest was bare. A dark figure held a silver dagger to his chest.

I turned the page, but there were no more drawings.

I sniffed, then went through the final series again. Jackson in jail, then taken in the night, then chained and stabbed in the heart. I couldn't let this happen. I needed to get in to see him right away. Making myself invisible again would take a lot of energy, but that was a risk I had to take. I knew it was dangerous, but I had no choice. I had to try to help him escape. I could hide him somewhere. On the third floor of Shadowford maybe?

I tore the last two drawings from the notebook and stood up. As I did, the notebook fell to the floor and several loose pages from the back of the book fell out. I leaned over to pick them up and saw my face.

I laid the loose pages across my bed and stared at them, open-mouthed. There were at least thirty different drawings of me. Portraits. Me in profile. Cheering at the game. Me in class. Each image was drawn with such care. He must have spent hours on them.

I traced my finger across the pages. I was touched by the level of detail he'd put into every feature of my face and every curl of my hair. I'd been wasting all this time with Drake the jerk when a guy like Jackson had been patiently watching me from the sidelines. Were these drawings proof of his feelings for me?

I was determined to ask him face to face. Right after I found a way to get him out of jail.

It's Not Safe

It took me nearly twenty minutes to get to the police station. I was nervous that making myself invisible might somehow send off some kind of alarm with the Order. When I got there, however, I realized that going invisible wouldn't be necessary. There was no way I was getting inside the station tonight.

Cops swarmed the area. Sirens blared all over town. My heart sank. Something had gone terribly wrong. I got off my bike and walked up to an officer who was standing to the side smoking a cigarette.

“What happened?” I asked.

The man shook his head and took a deep drag. “Jackson Hunt escaped,” he said. “You really shouldn't be out here by yourself.”

At his words, I hopped back on my bike so fast I nearly fell over.

“It's not safe,” he called after me.

As I passed by the row of police cars, I heard a voice come through the radio and announce there had been a break-in at the Ashworth mansion. Jackson Hunt was their prime suspect, but I knew better.

The dagger!

Panic seized me and I pumped the pedals wildly. Every cop in this town was no doubt looking for him, but I was probably the only person with any real clue where he was. When I got safely around the corner, I stopped and pulled out the last two drawings from Jackson's notebook.

In the first, he'd drawn five figures in dark clothing. Three women and one man. I couldn't tell who they were or how old they were, but they didn't look like teenagers. Others, for sure. What could they possibly want with Jackson?

In the second drawing, there were very few clues as to where they'd taken him, but one thing did stand out to me. In the far right corner of the page, Jackson had drawn a portion of an ambulance.

They've taken him to the hospital.

I tucked the drawings back into my pocket and raced toward the hospital. The streets were crowded with cops and bystanders even though it was almost midnight. It seemed that everyone had come out to help with the search. I pulled a hat out of my jacket pocket and tucked my hair into it, hoping no one would recognize me. The last thing I needed right now was to bike straight into Mrs. King or another member of the Order.

Peachville General Hospital was about two miles from the police station. I biked as hard as my legs would carry me, but it still took several minutes to get there. When I pulled into the emergency room parking lot, I started to think about what I'd done. This didn't make any sense. How would they have gotten him into the hospital without anyone noticing?

I took out the drawing again. Jackson was chained to the wall. Modern hospitals weren't exactly known for their torture rooms. I shook my head, angry at myself for making such a costly mistake. The Others hadn't taken him to Peachville General. That would be too risky. There were too many people here who would see them.

No, they needed a place where they could have complete privacy. A place where Jackson could scream all he wanted and never be heard.

The Others had taken him to the abandoned hospital on the other side of town. Brighton Memorial.

I had wasted precious time coming this way. My legs felt like rubber and my back tingled. I prayed no one was watching me. My only hope was that with all the commotion surrounding Jackson's disappearance, no one from the Order would be concerned with monitoring recruits tonight.

I pushed my body to the limit. My lungs burned. The cold air sent stinging tears rolling down my face. But I kept going, picturing Jackson chained up against that wall. There had already been so much death this year. So much heartache. I couldn't bear it if Jackson was hurt or killed.

When I got to the old hospital, I immediately knew I was in the right place. The area was out on the edge of town next to an old graveyard and an abandoned school. No one ever came out this way anymore. It was the perfect location for the Others to have a hideout.

I noticed a trail of tire tracks through the tall grass, so I dropped my bike by the side of the road and followed the pressed trail. Close to the building, an old ambulance sat parked under an archway. I held my hand close to the tail pipe. Heat radiated from it, telling me that the Others had just gotten here.

I wished I had a gun or something. Or a plan. All I could think about on the ride over was making sure that Jackson was safe. Now that I had found him, however, I had no idea what I intended to do to save him. What was one girl against five or more adults?

Morgyn had said the Others were made up of both regular non-magical people and witches like Agnes who had abilities but were never invited into the Order of Shadows. I had no idea what kind of people or abilities I would be up against tonight.

I thought about making an anonymous call to the police station. If I told them Jackson was hiding out here, they would come with sirens blazing. Of course, the Others might panic and kill Jackson on the spot. It was too risky.

I crouched down and made my way around the old ambulance. The door to the hospital was slightly opened and I made my way toward it, stopping every once in a while to make sure no one was behind me. There were no lights on inside the building and once the door closed behind me, I couldn't see a thing.

Summoning an orb of light didn't take much concentration, but it might draw some serious attention to me. Of course, so would smacking into a gurney in the pitch black darkness of the hallway. I opted for a super-tiny blue orb of light that was soft and only allowed me to see a few feet ahead.

I made my way down the hall slowly. My hands were shaking and I was sweating inside my jacket. I pulled it off and set it on the floor. As I came to the end of the first corridor, I looked both ways down the intersecting hallway. Toward the very end of the right hall, I saw a flicker of light. I listened. Voices.

My heart raced. What was I getting myself into?

I paused and took several deep breaths. I needed a plan before I took another step. With Jackson chained to the wall, I couldn't very well barge in and tell him to make a run for it.

If I made myself invisible, I could try to find the key. His drawings didn't give a specific time frame, so it was possible the Others were planning on keeping him locked up here for days before they were going to kill him.

If that were the case, I could just wait it out. Eventually, someone would have to go to the bathroom or they would fall asleep and I could make my move.

Then I remembered the demon tattoo. The second anyone realized I was missing from Shadowford, someone in the Order would track me.

I was going to have to just wing it. I inched closer to the source of the light. When I got to the door, I carefully peered through the clouded window. Jackson was there. He was chained against the far wall. I counted at least two men in the room with him. There was no sign of the silver dagger.

I can handle two guys.

Just as I was about to make my move, however, I felt a sharp object dig into the skin on my shoulder.

“Don't move,” the woman said.

My Blood

I turned to see who was behind me, but the woman grabbed me by the back of my hair and pushed me through the double doors leading to the old operating room.

“Look what I found snooping outside,” she said.

Jackson's face twisted into a look of horror when he saw me. He yanked against his chains and kicked the wall behind him.

“Was she alone?” One of the men walked toward me. He was tall and completely bald. He had a military presence about him. He got in my face and I could smell the onions he'd had for dinner. “Who knows you're here little girl?”

“Wait,” the other man said. He lifted his flashlight and shone it right in my face. I grimaced and tried to look away, but the woman still had hold of my hair. “I recognize this girl. She's one of the new cheerleaders. I can't think of her name, though.”

“Are you sure?” the bald guy asked.

“I'm positive. She's new this year.”

“What's your name?”

I cleared my throat nervously. “Harper,” I said.

“Well, Harper, what brings you to our little party?”

I glanced toward Jackson. He was alive, which was a good sign, but for how long? I wanted to run to him and tell him I was sorry for screwing everything up. Our eyes met across the room. I realized that I had never cared for anyone more in my entire life.

“Let him go,” I said. “What use is he to you? He's just a normal guy, but I'm a recruit. I'm more valuable than he is. Let him go.”

The bald man tossed his head back and laughed. “That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time,” he said. “What do you think Mary? Top five dumbest things ever said?”

Behind me, Mary laughed along. She still had her fingers in my hair and something sharp pressed into my back. I could feel the demon tattoo on my back open its eyes.

“This kid has no idea, does she?” Mary said.

“A normal guy, huh?” the bald guy asked. “He's an abomination. He's pure evil. Go ahead, tell her what you are.”

Jackson struggled against his chains. “She has no idea what she's walked into,” he said. “Let her go. She's innocent.”

“She's a recruit,” the younger guy said. “She's half-way to becoming one of them.”

“Arnold's right. We can't just let her go,” the bald guy said. “She's seen too much anyway.”

“Check and see if she's got one of those tattoo's,” the young guy said. “They can track her with those.”

“Everyone in town will be looking for Jackson Hunt, the escaped murderer. No one is going to be looking for the recruits. By the time they come looking for Harper here, she'll be dead.”

I tried to break free of Mary's hold on me, but she stuck the sharp point of her knife deeper into my skin. I cried out in pain.

“Leave her alone!” Jackson yelled.

“Or what, demon? You'll kill us all?”

“Demon?” I looked to Jackson questioningly. “What is she talking about?”

Mary laughed. “Your little boyfriend here isn't human. He's a shadow demon.”

I shook my head. “That's not possible. Shadow demons don't look like that. I've seen one before.”

The bald guy laughed again and I clenched my jaw tight. He was seriously starting to get on my nerves.

“Do you want to tell her the story, Jackson? Or should I?”

Jackson glared at the guy, his body tense with anger. “Isaac, you don't want to do this. I'm telling you to let her go.”

Isaac. So that was baldy's name. A religious name.

Isaac clucked his tongue in disapproval. “Jackson came to this world more than fifty years ago, didn't you Jackson? Only when he first got here, he was a big smokey black shadow. He was supposed to be joined with a recruit in one of their horrible ceremonies, but Jackson was too powerful for the girl. She died and he was set free. He killed, what, five members of the Order before the witches finally trapped him in human form? Or was it only four?”

“Stop it,” Jackson said. He pulled and twisted at his chains, but they wouldn't give.

I wanted to put my hands to my ears and block out Isaac's words. Jackson couldn't be a demon! He certainly wasn't a killer.

But a part of my mind reminded me of the pictures from the yearbook. Those pictures were taken over fifteen years ago, yet he looked exactly the same. How was that possible? He could also see the future. That wasn't exactly a normal, everyday ability for a teenage boy.

I shook my head, not wanting to believe it.

To my right, a rolling cart full of medical instruments began to rattle and shake. I tried to get control of myself, but I was too upset. The cart sprinted forward and Arnold, the younger guy, had to jump out of the way.

“Well, well, we've got a feisty one,” Isaac said. “Powerful, too. Maybe we can use you somehow to bargain with the Order. But I can't have you messing up this ritual tonight. It took us years to figure out a way to kill this demon. We tried a hundred different ways before we found the one object that was capable of piercing his flesh. We almost killed him the night of the dance, but Morgyn Baker got in the way.”

Isaac shook his head. “She was a traitor. She came into our group and we accepted her as one of our own. We shared all of our secrets with her, and how did she repay us? By falling in love with a demon and sacrificing her life for his.”

Morgyn's mission.

Her service to the Order must have been as a spy. But she wasn't the target that night, and neither was I. The Others had been targeting Jackson all along. Morgyn didn't die to save me. She died to save Jackson.

I twisted my head to the side and Mary lost her grip on my hair. I stumbled forward. She jabbed forward with her knife and I felt it slice through my arm. I crashed against a bookcase, then fell to the ground, cradling my arm. Blood trickled down my hand and onto the floor.

“Isaac,” Mary said. Her voice was low and serious. “You need to see this.”

Isaac stepped forward, then drew in a sharp breath. When he turned around, I saw that he was holding the silver ritual dagger. That must have been what Mary was holding to my back the entire time.

Along the blade, I could see a streak of bright blue blood.

The Prima's blood.

My blood.

Aerden

“No!” Jackson shouted. He pulled against his chains so hard, I could see the veins in his arms begin to strain. “Leave her alone.”

I scrambled backwards toward the wall, but Arnold made a quick move to intercept me.

Isaac stood there, staring at the dagger. He had this wild gleam in his eye.

“We've found the Prima.”

“But how can we know if she's Peachville's Prima or not?” Mary asked. “Morgyn's blood turned blue for a moment when I stabbed her too, but she didn't belong here. She belonged to another demon gate.”

“Killing any Prima is a victory,” Isaac said. “Because of Morgyn, an entire line of witches might someday die out, taking all of their demons with them.”

I listened to them talk, but my heart pounded so loud in my ears I could barely process what they were saying. They knew who I was. They were going to kill me.

I looked to Jackson. He was staring at me. Tears welled up in his eyes.

“I'm sorry,” I mouthed to him.

He shook his head, then looked away.

I'd really managed to make a mess of this whole evening.

“Pick her up,” Isaac said. “Put her on the operating table.”

Mary and Arnold each grabbed one of my arms and lifted me up into the air. I kicked and tried to pull away, but I was no match for the two of them. They placed me on top of the cold metal operating table in the middle of the room. Isaac held the silver dagger in front of my face.

“This dagger is made of a special silver that is only found in the shadow world,” he said. “It's the only thing that can kill a demon, but it works just fine on witches too.”

He lifted the dagger high into the air.

I moaned and tried to pull away, but Mary and Arnold held me down. No matter how hard I kicked, I couldn't get any leverage against them.

My eyes darted around the room, searching desperately for a weapon. The rolling cart I'd moved earlier was positioned just behind where Isaac stood. On top of it were several different kinds of sharp medical instruments.

I calmed myself and closed my eyes. I needed to create a connection to the earth. Despite the panic rising up inside of me, I had to find a way to connect to my inner power.

A sliver of energy began to hum through my body. It started deep in my belly, then spread across my arms and down toward my toes. I opened my eyes and concentrated on a pair of shiny scissors that lay on top of the cart. With my mind, I lifted them into the air, even with the back of Isaac's neck. Just as he made a motion to bring the dagger down toward my heart, I sent the scissors flying toward his flesh.

He screamed in pain, then dropped the knife. It fell and pierced my shoulder. I screamed. I could feel the warmth of my blood as it trickled down onto the operating table, soaking my t-shirt and jacket. Isaac stumbled backward, then yanked the scissors from his neck. From what I could see, he was bleeding even worse than I was. He sank to his knees, then collapsed on the floor.

Mary and Arnold both rushed to Isaac's side. As soon as they released me, I pulled the dagger from my shoulder and sat up. Dizziness threatened to overcome me, but I willed myself to stay awake.

Arnold stood and lunged forward, reaching for the dagger in my hand. I plunged it deep into his gut. He fell to the floor next to Isaac, clutching his stomach.

I stood and ran toward Jackson, but Mary sent a ball of fire streaking across the room towardme. It barely missed me and struck the wall of cabinets on the far side of the room.

I felt my sapphire pendant grow warm against my skin. I remembered the shadow demon who had come to my aid the night Agnes tried to kill me. I ducked behind a gurney and clutched the pendant in my hand.

Please help me again.

The fire from Mary's blast spread slowly. The walls were cinder-block, but most of the cabinetry was made of wood.

I stood, ready to fight.

On the other side of the room, Mary pulled the silver dagger from Arnold's dead body. Her eyes were fixed on Jackson. Panic rose up within me like a tidal wave. She was closer to him.

“Harper, run,” Jackson called.

I couldn't leave him there. Through the growing smoke, I searched for a weapon. The medical cart was blocked by the operating table, and nothing within arm's reach seemed to be sufficient.

Except the fire itself.

I didn't know how to create a fireball, but I did know how to move things with my mind. I focused on the wall of fire. I'd moved water before, so I thought of the fire in the same way. The flames danced and writhed as one, moving toward the center cabinet to create one giant wall of flame. I held out my hand to direct its movement. Just as I prepared to send it in Mary's direction, a blast of cool air pushed the doors of the operating room wide open.

A swirl of darkened shadow moved into the room. I recognized the demon from before and instantly felt my own power surge to new heights.

Mary screamed. She looked from Jackson to the new demon, fear and hatred in her eyes. She lifted the dagger as if trying to decide which demon to go for first.

The shadow demon moved forward. I could feel its energy pulsing through me, and I soaked it in, unsure whether to help or stand back and watch. Then, suddenly, the demon stopped. The smokey darkness of it took shape, and I could see its eyes. He was staring straight at Jackson with an expression I couldn't quite read.

Jackson shook his head, his eyes thick with tears. “Aerden.”

The demon's name sent a shiver through my body. The earth seemed to turn in slow motion. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Mary lunged toward Jackson, the silver dagger raised high.

With my hand, I pushed the flames across the room like a giant orange wave. The swelling fire arched high over my head, then crashed down on top of Mary, pushing her to her knees. I shielded my face from the heat as her body slowly turned to ash.

The ritual dagger fell to the ground with a loud clang.

Along with the flame, the shadow demon faded away and turned to nothing more than lingering smoke.

I rushed to Jackson's side and placed my hand on the shackle that held his left wrist. The lock inside obeyed me and flipped open. My arm throbbed. I had lost a lot of blood.

I used the last of my energy to free his other hand, then collapsed into Jackson's arms.

Nothing But Time

I woke to find Jackson at my side.

“Where are we?”

He smiled and grabbed my hand. “We're at a real hospital,” he said. “No more of those abandoned hospitals for you, okay?”

I tried to laugh, but every inch of my body ached.

“Mrs. King is on her way,” he said.

“You called her?”

He nodded.

“Was she mad?” I had no idea what the Order would do to me once they found out what I'd done.

“She was worried,” he said. “I think she blames herself for not watching out for you more.”

The moon shone through the gauzy white curtains at the window. “Will they send you back to jail?”

“No, now that Morgyn's real killers are dead, the police said I'm a free man again.”

A hot tear rolled down my cheek. “I thought we were going to die,” I said. “I was pretty stupid, huh? Going in there all by myself, thinking I could save your life.”

Jackson ran his thumb along the side of my face, wiping away the stray tear. “You did save my life,” he said.

I closed my eyes and let the events of the past twenty-four hours rush over me. I ran my fingertips along the smooth surface of my pendant.

“Are you really a demon?” I whispered.

Jackson sighed and gently kissed my hand. “It's a long story.”

I opened my eyes and motioned to the hospital room around us.

“I've got nothing but time.”

SHADOW DEMONS

Book 3 of the Peachville High Demons Series

February 2011

About the Author

Sarra Cannon grew up in a small town in Georgia where she learned that being popular always comes at a price. Now, she lives in North Carolina with her amazing husband and her teeny tiny Pomeranian, Snickerdoodle. Books and music are her greatest passions. She has never been a cheerleader, but it's possible she knows a few things about casting spells.

Connect with Sarra Online:

Website: www.sarracannon.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/sarramaria

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/sarra_cannon

My Blog: thesweetiechronicles.blogspot.com

Table of Contents

Lead The Way

Something. Or Someone.

A Connection To This Demon

The Magic Doesn't Come From the Words

Behind Every Secret

Are We Ready For a Great Pep-Rally?

Because She Knows How Much I Like You

We're Talking About Things Way Past My Experience Level

Her Dark Confidence

What Did I Really Know About Jackson Hunt?

I'm Really Not Allowed to Talk About It

The Color of Air

Happy Birthday Brooke

Watch The Sky

Maybe You're Just Drawn to Bad Guys

Call Forth Her Demon

She Hates All Cheerleaders

School Pride

I Won't Have You Associating With Those Girls

Demons or Death

You've Got Five Minutes

Some Strange Addiction

I Know What I'm Doing

The Newest Initiate

Why Does It Always Have to Be About Her?

The Strangest Feeling

Crimson

I Just Know

I Might Have Seen Something Important

Anything For Drake's Girl

You Wait Just a Minute

The Elixir of Kendria

Someone is Always Watching

Wondering If Anyone Would Notice

Feel Better

There Has to Be a Way

An Old Tune

The Crystal Cup

Me In Profile

It's Not Safe

My Blood

Aerden

Nothing But Time