She looked over to her bedside clock which read 12:45 am and irritably shuffled about her bed as she replayed the afternoon's events yet again, trying to convince herself that she wasn't insane. She was off to a horrible start as sleep evaded her all night long, with each painstaking hour passing by slower than the last.

Frustrated and sleep deprived, Ivy decided to go to school early in hopes of finding the boy with the sparkly eyes and getting some much needed answers, now that her brain was a little calmer.

As she walked along the hallway inspecting every guy that walked by , her spirits slowly fell. She checked her wristwatch , 7:30 am she would have to wait at least fifteen minutes before having to explain her disappearance to her best friend , who she wasn't too sure she should tell the whole truth to until she herself understood.

Ivy shuddered as she walked past the spot where Hunter attacked her. As she neared the storage closet where she met the boy who claimed to be part fairy , she tried the handle but to her dismay, it was locked. Not wanting a repeat of yesterday's freak accident , she quickly let go of the handle and made her way out to the back of the school. 

 which was unusually beautiful as it was densely yet elegantly populated with perfectly manicured fruit trees and rosebushes as far as the eye could see. She knew being aroud too

much pollen would make her sick , but this was the only spot where she could enjoy the much needed serenity.

A shuffling sound in the nearest tree to her right startled her from her train of thought causing adrenaline to course through her veins as her heart went into overdrive

she looked up nervously to find a familiar face with that special golden glint in his eye which unsettled her but calmed letting her know that st least she was safe.

"Am I like you?" she blurted out as he made his way down the tree.

He slumped down holding an apple and offered it to her , which she refused.

He smiled a pitiful smile, "That depends."

"On?" she questioned anxiously.

"On what your parents are" he then bit into his apple.

"I don't know them." she said softly.

"You're adopted then?" he questioned unaware of the discomfort it caused.

"No.. I live with my grandparents."

"Your mother's parents" he said , more like a statement rather than a question.

Ivy nodded in agreement.

"You might be a warlock , meaning your father may have been a demon."

Ivy stood paralyzed as a chill ran down her spine. 

"But.." he added quickly "it's just a guess."

 She winced as a her stomach churned and her vision became slightly blurred, "I think i'm gonna be sick." she said , holding onto the nearest tree bark for support.

"Good thing you didn't eat the apple huh?" he joked.

The thought of being a demon's spawn sent Ivy plummeting into a spiral of despair as she momentarily toyed with the idea that it might be a possibility.

"On the bright side , your magic is way stronger than mine," he said trying to cheer her up , "and I've been at this for most of my life."

He got up, picked up his things and made his way slowly toward her "By the way i'm Kai."

She struggled to maintain composure, "Ivy" was all she could bring herself to mutter between ragged breaths.

"If.." he was cut short by the bell ringing to signal the beginning of their school day.

"I'll see you around." she said as she bolted inside.

"He's wrong... There has to be another explanation... he's wrong." was all she could keep thinking.

Ivy wanted answers , but not the kind Kai provided, she needed logical explanations but instead she was told that she could possibly be a half demon.

As she hurriedly made her way through the crowded hallway she was thankful for the distraction of struggling to make it to class on time which helped keep her mind distracted from the revelations of the past few hours, at least until she made eye contact with Kyrsta.

She stopped short in the hallway earning herself a few curses from those who bumped into her.

Krysta had already begun to make her way toward her

After explaining her short lived bout of food poisoning to Claire , the pair made their way to Room 75 for their AP Math class , where the first person Ivy

noticed was a brown haired boy with a wicked grin sitting at the back of the class , Kai.

"Why does he always look so happy."

"What?" Claire questioned looking rather perplexed.

Ivy spent the entirety of Math class , confused about what she was as well as how to solve Quadratic Equations.

When class was over , Kai walked past her and dropped a folded piece of paper on the table which Ivy snatched away quickly and tucked into her jacket pocket,

praying that Claire didn't notice the exchange.

Claire had gym next so they split up, on her way to History Ivy unfolded the paper it was a phone number followed by his name and a sketch of Ivy from the Batman cartoons

She smiled warmly and tucked the piece of paper behind her phone case as she entered her class.

Midway through Mr Manuel's lecture the fire alarm went off. Everyone shuffled about gathering their things anxiously awaiting the ending of their most boring class.

"Everyone please remain calm and exit to your designated areas in an orderly fashion." sounded the principal's voice through the speakers.

**

Kai stood restlessly in line with the other members of his French class, carelessly gazing around as more and more people filtered out onto the school's lawn. A sudden faint buzz in the atmosphere caught his attention , causing him to turn around. He recognized her immediately, the delicate waves of brown hair that elegantly framed her pale face caused her to stand out, she wasn't like the others. She had seemed familiar even upon their first meeting , and now he knew why, she was a warlock. Ignoring everything they so desperately tried to instill in him each summer at the Seelie Court , he took one last look at his teacher who was obviously flirting with one of his colleagues and casually strolled across to where Ivy stood tiptoeing behind the crowd of her classmates.

**

"Alas your search is over fair maiden!" mocked a familiar voice from behind her.

"I don't take Drama.. so I don't get that reference." she said bitterly as she turned around to once more be captivated by those golden irises.

"How long do they intend to keep us here?"

"Long."

"It's not as bad as it sounds," he then whispered "the whole demon blood thing."

She looked around nervously and dragged him a little way off from the crowd, " We can't talk about that here!" she exclaimed as softly as she could.

"Looks like i'm interrupting." came a voice from behind them.

Ivy immediately let go of Kai's arm and spun around to face her friend.

"We forgot out project in class." she blurted out and grabbed his arm once more and quickly made her way through the nearest door.

"She's just ... " Ivy trailed off .

"We did look a little suspicious." he said as he closed the door behind him.

"Lost?" he questioned her as he spun around and ended up crashing into her shoulder.

When he got no response, he followed her gaze down the hall until he found her object of interest.

With a hinting of jealousy in his voice he questioned her once more , "Stunned by the view?"

"No he... " she couldn't bring herself to say what she was thinking, remembering images of his horribly distorted face nauseated her as he made his way toward them, but he was too far away to tell if his face was the same monstrosity that it once seemed to be .

A pulling on her arm jolted her back to reality, "Come on!" sounded Kai's panicked voice from behind her as he forcefully pulled her down the hall, she didn't protest for he must have noticed that Hunter wasn't human and posed a threat,she gasped for air as she struggled to keep up with Kai's pace. He stopped in front room 125 and whispered something causing the doors to fly open he pushed her inside and locked the doors and sprinkled the dust that he used to hide them in the storage closet.

As she looked around , she noticed that they were in one of the Chemistry labs, she had only been here once before with Claire.

"He's breaking the treaties!" Kai exclaimed as he slumped down on the floor next to the doors, " He has to be here for a reason." he said as he looked at her, "Have you seen him before?"

"He's the one I was running from yesterday... his face." She shut her eyes as couldn't bare to disclose anymore.

Kai bolted upright as the door rattled , someone was banging on it from the other side.He pointed to the lab assistant's room , she nodded and they hurriedly made their way toward it. Once inside the room , he took out a green velvet pouch which was full of the glittery dust from within his pocket and laid out it's contents on the floor, forming a perfect circle. He knelt and whispered something which caused the circle to come alive, now taking on the appearance of a deep blue shimmery body of water.

"I need you to trust me." he desperately pleaded with her as she gazed at the floor, "That's our only escape." he said pointing to the floor and holding out a hand for her to join him.

As the door burst open and smoke enveloped them, she grabbed hold of his hand , fear caused her heart to speed up and pound uncontrollably  as together they leaped through the mass of shimmering blue that stood before them.