"Billions of years ago, the ground we stand on, the air we breathe, our world and everything around it didn't exist. That was until a doorway of pure light appeared, and through it came the creator. Call it God, Allah, whatever you want I doubt it really cares. What we do know is that it created everything here. That's not to say science is wrong, the creator just gave our world a jump start. But once an intelligent human presence began to manifest more beings of light came through the doorway."

Ms. Pierce walked over to the smooth rectangular stone to the right and lightly placed her hand on it.

"This doorway."

I heard the sound of a laugh being choked down and assumed it was Declan. Ms. Pierce paid it no attention.

"As the human race grew larger and smarter another doorway appeared. A portal of darkness ."

She glanced to the cracked stone on the left but made no move to get near it.

"The beings of light and dark walked side by side with the human population for thousands of years. Those of the light were intrigued by us, cared for us as the creations of their leader. Whereas those of the dark view as their personal playthings. Toys to do with as they pleased. After many years the creator and the beings of light had grown tired of protecting us and wanted to leave. But they promised to help us send the monsters back to where they had come from. A war was started and after many years had passed, and many lives were taken those of the light had finally sent every last monster back through the portal of darkness. After which they sealed off the portal of darkness, and then the creator and the beings of light left. Sealing off the doorway of light as they left and sending both of them underground."

Ms. Pierce paused looking at all of us expectantly. I stood there silently, repeating her story over and over in my head. It sounded like some sort of fairy tale, wrapped up with a perfect ending and all that crap.

"If the doors are sealed then why are we here?" I asked.

"The doorway of light can only be opened from their side. Whereas the portal of darkness can only be opened from ours. But the seal on the portal is weakening. It's cracking and breaking, has been for the last one hundred years. During that time the creatures behind it have slowly been squeezing their way through. Mostly Demons, though some witches, vampires, werewolves, and other such things have made it through as well. That also includes your demonic fathers."

With those final words, Wes' head jerked in her direction. Ms. Pierce watched him, waiting for him to say something, but he didn't. His face clearly said he wanted to, with his brows furrowed and a steady tick of his jaw. But not a word, so she continued.

"The seven of you are not the first Dembions to be born. It seems every generation since the seal started to crack, a new group is born. And every time a Dembion is conceived the dark portal lets out a pulse, always within the same month."

Ms. Pierce stopped to point from me to Sage.

"In your cases, it pulsated two times. Anyways, the organization Mr. B and I work for has created a device that tracks the pulses. It's how we knew when you all were born, and when your demonic switch had flipped. The portal pulsates for those too."

She was pacing now, her eyes occasionally shifting to me. She seemed to come to a resolution when she stopped and held her ground.

"I'm sorry Chloe, but when your mother and you were talking the other day in my office, I had a recorder listening to you talk."

I could tell she was expecting me to get angry, to lash out or yell. With everything else she had to tell us, this piece of information just didn't affect me. How could when compared to being told your half human half demon.

"It's fine."

Her body relaxed.

"When the two of you were talking your mother mentioned that your father had vanished after she told him she was pregnant. I'm not saying he would have stuck around, I honestly don't see a demon sticking around to raise a family. But I know he didn't leave that day on his own accord. Every time the dark portal pulsated to indicate a Dembion was conceived the doorway of light has opened up. Even though those of the light left us, they still don't want the monsters intervening in our world. A stray demon, witch, or anything else is not a big problem. But for a demon to procreate with a human, it just goes against what they want here on Earth. So they round up the offending demon and send them back through the door. Then they leave again."

Thoughtful looks covered everyone's faces. Especially, Wes, he looked like he was completely lost in his own mind. I tried to focus on every bit of information we were just given. It all was too much to handle, and at the same time, it felt so unreal. I had heard religious stories all my life, but nothing like this. Nothing that affected me so directly. My mothers story of my father mixed with everything else in my head. I don't know if I should feel better or worse that he was forced to leave rather than leaving on his own. Then again what kind of father could a demon really be anyway?

"How do we know those aren't just rocks?"

It was Lucas' voice that brought me back from my thoughts. Ms. Pierce stepped to the side and motioned towards them.

"Check for yourself."

Lucas raised an eyebrow at her but walked toward them confidently. He stopped at the one labeled as the doorway of light and placed his hand on it carefully. As soon as his hand was flat against the surface he was thrown back and nearly fell off the side of the stone platform.

"What the hell?" he yelled already getting to his feet glaring daggers in Ms. Pierce's direction.

"How come it didn't do that to you?"

"It protects its self against demonic energies. The only reason it didn't do it to me is that it's used to my presence, it knows I won't try anything to damage it."

Lucas was brushing off the dirt from his pants and it hit me.

"Wait, you said it didn't do it to you because it knows you won't damage it. Why would it feel threatened by a human?"

My words clicked with everyone else as well. Wes stepped up, no longer stuck in his thoughts.

"What are you?"

"The same as you. Mr. B and I both are."

More weirdness to add to all the other shit we found out today. Wes stood there staring at her. Then she closed her eyes and her skin started to shift and reform, the color of her hair changing color, and the form of her body reshaped. When she opened her eyes Wes was no longer standing face to face with Ms. Pierce. No, now he was looking into the same gray-blue eyes as his. Standing in front of us was Wes and Wes. Then just like that, the second Wes started to shift and Ms. Pierce was back to herself.

"I inherited the shape-shifting ability from my father. I can be another person or an animal, whichever one is needed at the time."

Wes backed away from her slowly but instead of standing back with the rest of us, he turned and headed for the dark portal. He placed his head on it cautiously, like he was expecting to be thrown back. Instead, a rumbling noise came off of it and Wes' body visibly shook. After that everyone wanted to take a turn. We each lined up, making sure to avoid the doorway of light, and took a turn feeling the stone surrounding the dark portal. Each time someone touched it, it did the same thing it had with Wes.

I was the last to touch the stone. It took a minute for me to get up the courage to do it. I reached a balled fist up slowly and one by one uncurled each finger. Taking a deep breath I slammed my hand forward. The stone underneath my skin shook and the same rumbling noise as the others echoed off the cement walls. The shaking was steady and soon a pulsating feeling flowed into my hand and made its way up my arm to my shoulder, and into my chest causing me to shiver all over. It wasn't a shiver like I would get when it snowed, there was nothing cold to this feeling. It was hot and filled me with a fiery sensation. I withdrew my hand quickly and stumbled back. It wasn't like it scared me, but the thought that I wasn't scared started to scare me.

"Hey, Chloe, we're heading out."

The sound of Wes right behind me nearly made me scream. I gave a nervous laugh instead and turned to walk with him. As we walked away I looked over my shoulder to see the fire on the torches begin to shrink.

We arrived back at Landry's and had just walked through the metal detectors when the woman that worked in the office came power walking out to meet us. Well, actually she didn't really want anything to do with us. She went straight for Ms. Pierce and handed her a file with an annoyed look. Ms. Pierce looked at the file and her facial expression grew irritated as well. She took the file and the office woman spun on her heels and stomped away.

"Something we need to know about?" Sage asked.

"Not really but you'll probably find out eventually anyway."

We all must have looked worried, so she explained, "It's not just about you all, it's about everyone here at Landry's. The board of trustees has been pushing for us to create events for everyone to learn how to handle social occasions when they leave here."

Lolly started to bounce with wide eyes.

"Events?"

Even Ms. Pierce wasn't immune to Lolly's infectious excitement. Her irritated expression relaxed and she smiled.

"Yes."

"Like?"

"Movie nights, organized sports, maybe dances, and other things."

"Dances?"

Lolly's bouncing was starting to get wild, and her eyes bigger.

"Like with dresses and music?"

"Possibly."

With that, Lolly went from bouncing right in front of Ms. Pierce to bouncing a few feet away from where Lucas was standing, in a blink of an eye. Lucas jumped back surprised, and it took me a moment to remember he hadn't seen her do that the night before. Sage and I both couldn't help but let out a few giggles at the look on his face. Even Wes was smiling. Seeing Lolly teleport this time was a lot less traumatic than seeing her do it into a fire. Ms. Pierced whipped her head around looking terrified.

"Lolly, you can't do that just anywhere. What if someone saw you?"

Lolly stopped bouncing and looked deflated.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, it just happened."

Ms. Pierce nodded.

"Will we get to go to?" Declan asked stepping out from behind Wes, "To the events?"

The class B kids. I didn't even think about whether or not they would be included. My eyes darted to Wes. God, I hope they got to join. Ms. Pierce looked thoughtful obviously taking her time to think about his questions. Then she looked back up at him.

"If anyone really needs help learning how to handle themselves in social events it's those in class B."

We all lit up with big smiles. Then again Lolly appeared out of thin air right in front of Ms. Pierce and wrapped her arms around her in a big hug. Well big for her size anyway. Ms. Pierce wrapped one arm around Lolly tentatively while once again looking to see if someone was watching. Assured that no one else was in the hall she let go of Lolly and stepped back.

"Tomorrow you all are to go straight to the classroom in the basement after breakfast. We need to experiment different ways to tap into your abilities." Her eyes narrowed on Lolly. " And learn control."