I woke up feeling numb and unsure. Tear tracks were etched into my face, leaving my pillow damp. My stomach lurched as the memory of Theo trying to kiss me resurfaced; and the fact that he was a werewolf.

I wouldn't be able to simply forgive and forget, I knew that much. I couldn't believe that he'd tried to use me like that; especially since he didn't seem like he could commit to anything.

Fresh tears threatened to fall but I hastily blocked them in my throat and started to get ready for school. I didn't want to cry anymore. It felt like a total waste of emotion — I should've just been focusing on my schoolwork, as opposed to getting involved with boy drama.

I'd already broken my promise to myself of no boys, within the first day back at school. Though, in all honesty, I met Theo before school. I hadn't even made it a few days out of the summer holiday without screwing up.

On the bus to school, I listened to the news to remind myself that no matter what issues Theo brought, there were much worse things going on in the world. It's hard to put life in perspective as a teenager. But the world is a whole lot bigger than the goings-on in Lake Oldoy — just a small town in the north of England.

Wednesday came over to me as soon as I was off the bus. She paused to take in my tired eyes and no makeup as if to confirm what she already knew. With pity coating her words, she told me, "Al said she'd warned you. But I still wish I'd read your stars the night before last, so I could've warned you as well."

"He's a werewolf, Wednesday," I hissed at her as we moved out of the earshot of a few teachers and the crowd of kids getting off the bus. "How couldn't you have seen that coming? Like, surely you should've learnt that weeks ago?"

"I'm so sorry, Ember." Her face darkened. "I should've known; I should've been able to tell as soon as I saw him. It's like his identity is clouded, cloaked..."

"It's okay," I sighed; I hadn't meant to take my anger out on her. Forcing a small yet empty smile, I told her, "I'm fine now. Don't worry."

"What we need to know now is whether he can be trusted again," Wednesday said under her breath.

We skipped form together and sat under the few trees that Wednesday and Al had protected with charms. Our little safe space consisted of three large oak trees clustered together at the edge of the school playing fields. As soon as we entered the bubble of protective charms, we were enveloped in a tranquil lack of human noises, other than each other. Bird songs sounded from the trees and calm washed over me.

"Should we even consider trusting him after this?" Wednesday pondered while she grabbed the mats that Al had woven from grass and bark.

I sat down on one of them, which, as always, surprised me at how comfortable it truly was.

"I honestly don't know. There may be some logic behind why he withheld the fact he's a werewolf."

"Yeah, like he's hiding something." Wednesday eyed me.

"Can't you read the stars about him again?"

"It's nine in the morning, there aren't any!" Wednesday laughed lightly, before lifting her shoulders in a shrug. "Besides, when I tried to last night, his intentions weren't clear."

"Could you, I don't know, read his mind or something?" I half-joked; none of us was quite sure on the extent of Wednesday's powers.

Since her mum wasn't around anymore, we couldn't exactly get any advice from her. Though if there's anything that Wednesday's dad, Alistair, taught us, it's to not contact the dead — no matter how severe our desperation might get.

"Do you have any items of his?" Wednesday asked me, after having started to consider my suggestion.

I rifled through my bag, on the chance that I might've accidentally knocked something of his into my bag in my haste to leave his house last night.

"Got one!" I exclaimed probably a little too triumphantly and passed one of Theo's pens to Wednesday.

"This might work..." She nodded contemplatively and closed her eyes.

As I watched my best friend sit cross-legged with Theo's pen in her hands, I drifted a few years back; to when Wednesday first showed signs of her psychic abilities.

It was in Year 7, and we'd only known each other for a few months — we weren't even friends. My powers, if they could be called that, were subdued to the point of being almost non-existence. It was as if I hadn't needed my powers up until the last couple of months.

I despised Art as a subject, but thanks to Wednesday, I'd always remember one specific lesson. We were painting, and Wednesday was fully immersed in it. As she later told me, she would draw what came into her mind in a trance-like state, prompted by whatever 'spirits showed her'. My mother had warned me of the fact that I might come across more like me when I was in secondary school — so I'd been keeping my eyes open and listening to gossip with superstitions flowing through me.

One day, Wednesday painted a beautiful yet terrifying image of a burning woman with flames dancing all around her. Once we were friends, Wednesday told me it was some sort of vision; though whether it was of the past, or of the future, I didn't know. She refused to tell me.

When I saw the painting, shocks of heat seemed to convulse through my body, and the flames started up. Within a minute, the entire canvas was burning, seemingly shredding itself to pieces. The teacher grabbed the fire extinguisher whilst the other kids in our form screamed and ran in random directions.

Despite all the commotion, Wednesday and I were standing stock-still, staring at one another. In that instant, I could tell she knew what I was, and I could tell that she knew that I knew what she was. The word branded itself inside my mind and was surrounded by a hundred whispers of the same word over and over again: witch.

From that moment on, we became best friends — always having each other's backs. It wasn't long until we came across Al, and since then the three of us were pretty much inseparable.

Wednesday spoke, "I'm sorry Ember, but I can't focus enough with you here."

"Oh, okay. I'll, erm... go to class, then." I hesitated, speaking whilst standing up, "When will you know your answer?"

"I'll find you when I know."

Due to being in different classes, I was able to avoid Theo. Bumping into him was inevitable, but I dreaded it all the same.

We had French together, seeing as there was only one French GCSE class. Our teacher, Madame Augustine dumped Theo opposite me, so I physically couldn't get away from him as I hoped I would've been able to. From his nonchalant body language, it didn't seem like he was going to apologise for the night before.

The bell rang for break time and I all but sprinted away from him. Wednesday and Al had somehow ended up helping out younger Psychology students over break time, so I had to go to the backup friends —the ones I hung out with enough so that they wouldn't be too bothered if I dropped in to hang out with them.

The one downside of these backup friends was that Eric was friends with them. I couldn't decide whether confronting Theo or Eric was better.

"Hey, Ember." Meg, a girl with light brown braids, smiled at me as I went over to the benches where they were sitting. "How's it going?"

"Nothing much." I forced a smile. "All fine."

Theo walked around the corner and crashed right into me, causing the plastic smile to slide right off my face. I glared at him as he edged around me. Which was a mistake; the too-perceiving eyes of Eric caught it.

"What's going on between you two?" He dived in.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." I gritted my teeth. "He just, urm, kicked me under the table in French." Which wasn't a lie; though I wasn't sure if it was an intentional kick or not.

"I need to talk to you, Ember," Theo muttered close to my ear, his breath tickling my skin.

"Well, I don't need to talk to you." I huffed and tried to rack my brains for something to say to Meg and her friends — who were casually talking amongst themselves, seemingly unaware of me and Theo.

"Hey, Maia, how was your summer?" I smiled across at Maia, who was probably my closest non-supernatural friend.

She opened her mouth to reply but Theo spoke over her, "You have no idea, do you?"

"No idea about what, Theo? About how you're using me for something?" I scoffed, spinning to face him.

He grabbed hold of my arms. "I'm not using you. You need to listen to me, something's going on—"

I hesitated; what if he has something useful to tell me?

"Ember, can I talk to you for a minute?" Eric asked out of nowhere.

"Umm, sure." The ex-boyfriend had to be better than Theo's confusing behaviour right now. At least I knew Eric and could read him fairly easily. That's how I figured out he was cheating on me; he was an awful liar.

"So..." Eric rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and looked over at Meg as we stepped a little away from the group.

Meg must've gotten him to save me or something.

"What's up, Eric?" I studied him and his perfectly combed hair.

"How are you? How are you, really?" He frowned, like feigning concern over me was difficult.

"Umm, I'm fine." I shifted uncomfortably and folded my blazer tighter around my chest. Even now, his cool grey eyes seemed to burn right through my clothes.

Nausea curled in the pit of my stomach as I remembered the good times I had with him. Our intimacy had seemed so perfect and absolute. Until he got bored of me and decided to sleep with another girl, of course.

As if reading my thoughts, he asked, "Do you ever miss us?"

It was my turn to frown. "Not really."

Standing this close to Eric made me feel uncomfortable — he was nothing but the cheating scum that used me. I was so wrong to think that facing him would've been better than facing Theo.

Wednesday constantly reiterated that he was not even worth talking about after how he treated me that summer... It was my own fault, though; I'd started the whole damned thing. But I wasn't going to even dwell on it — I was trying to put it behind me.

"We could go back to how we were; you know?" He spoke, suddenly close to me.

I hadn't even realised it but, he'd been slowly stepping closer to me, pushing me back to a wall.

"Eric..." I gulped and colour began to paint my cheeks and forehead as my anxiety pushed its way to the surface. "Could you maybe give me a bit of breathing space?"

"Why? Am I making you uncomfortable?" Not an ounce of concern was in his voice.

"Please, Eric." I smoothed my hair back against my head in a futile attempt to calm down.

"I like seeing you panic like this." He sniggered cruelly; the other thing about Eric was that he could never understand people or know when to stop.

Desperate to get away from Eric, I stepped away. Though Eric continued his trivial cruelty and stepped toward me. Until my head bumped lightly against a brick wall. Eric's breath was on me at that point.

The fire was beginning to burn — I couldn't let it happen at school.

I mustn't let it happen.

"Still feeling uncomfortable?" Eric smirked, inches away from my face.

"Please leave me alone." I whimpered, saying it more for his sake than mine; he'd end up the one burned. I couldn't even think of another way to get away from him; I didn't want to make a scene and I seemed to be frozen.

"Hey, man," Theo intervened; and for the first time since meeting him, I was grateful to hear his voice. "She said to leave her alone."

Eric didn't move, he simply smirked cockily, "This isn't any of your business, new kid."

"I said back off," Theo growled slightly as he walked over and yanked Eric away from me. With him out of my face, I felt like I could breathe freely once again, and the fire quietened down a little.

Eric yelled before grumbling to himself, his nervous stutter becoming apparent, "...was only j-j-joking. P-p-people cannot t-take jokes these d-d-days..."

"Are you okay?" Theo asked as Eric walked sullenly away.

"I'm alright. Thanks," I told him, "But I'm not looking for a saviour, so you can get that idea out of your head."

He replied incoherently, his words hidden under his breath.

"What?" I frowned.

"Uh, no worries. I mean, I was a jerk to you last night and this way I've kinda made up for it."

"Kinda. Only a little." I pursed my lips to refrain from smiling. "I don't need you to save me, though. Not currently taking applications for a white knight, sorry Mr American Werewolf."

Ignoring my quip, he simply said, "Regardless of whether you wanted my help or not, Eric shouldn't have done that to you. That kid has no idea what—"

"What you could've done to him, right?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What an amazing girl he lost when he screwed up."

"You don't know me, Theo," I reminded him.

Any display of tenderness fell away, and that hard façade of nonchalance returned alongside a smirk. "No, but I know that you're hot. Especially when you get mad."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Well if you continue getting on my nerves, me getting mad will continue."

"Not a problem with me, Milburn."

"Whatever, Aquila," I quipped back just as quickly, bringing a smile to his handsome face.

It was like Theo's beauty distracted me from the fact he was a dangerous supernatural. So I had to remind myself when I bumped into Al a little later.

"Did you know what he is?" I demanded.

"I had a couple of suspicions." Al shrugged, before stating, "Sarah is considering making him part of CAP."

CAP stood for 'Committee of Abnormal People' and was basically where supernaturals could get 'counselling' about how to control their powers. A half-pixie called Sarah ran it and constantly insisted that the three-letter acronym of CAP meant that we could go to it whenever we needed. But, in reality, it just made us seem like we had an extra eye.

"What?" I blurted out, "Does she not know how dangerous werewolves are?"

Al looked at me pointedly, "Firstly, you are probably more dangerous than him. And secondly, that's the exact reason the committee exists — to protect ourselves and others from danger." She folded her arms, looking unimpressed, "Do you ever listen to anything Sarah says?"

Expertly dodging her question, I had to run to a lesson. Saved by the bell.

Once Theo and I were done with English, which we had together, I knew that I had to get back to the woods. Wednesday had spent all morning there; she must've had her answer by now. Or I hoped she did, at least.

I set off for the woods, leaving Theo behind me — or so I thought.

"Can you help me with French and Chemistry tonight?" He asked after jogging to catch up with me.

"Nope. I'm busy." I shook my head instantly. "Sorry."

"What are you up to?"

I hesitated, before telling him, "I've got an appointment. It's important."

"What sort of appointment?" Theo questioned — forcing me to wonder if he would ever stop asking questions.

"It's to do with my..." I dropped my voice to a whisper, "Being a shifter."

It wasn't a complete lie; CAP regularly held after-school meetings to discuss controlling abilities and who you can and can't tell. We also talked about any flare-ups that we'd experienced. Well, that was mostly me. It was kind of like a small-scale Alcoholics Anonymous for supernaturals. In fact, I often joked we should change the name to something like Supernatural Unspecified.

"Oh. Can I come?"

"Well, the woman who runs it, Sarah, hasn't actually invited you yet." I pondered for a moment, "It depends, I guess. Do you consider yourself to be a danger to yourself or potentially others when you're shifting or being a shifter in general?

See, I do listen to Sarah and read her leaflets. Sometimes.

"Most of the time, no," Theo replied, and I didn't want to ask about the rest of the time.

"You don't need to come then," I said blankly, mind whirring all the while as I wondered how long he'd been a werewolf. A few weeks, a few months, a few years? Would the duration of being a werewolf alter his behaviour? Could he possibly be less dangerous than we'd originally thought?

I started to peel away from him, but he stuck with me. It didn't seem like I was going to be shaking him any time soon, so I let him tag along as I went to the charmed trees.

We reached the trees and Theo breathed, "Wow," as he, no doubt, experienced the force of the charms that surrounded the place.

"Yeah, my friends Wednesday and Al put these protective charms here," I told him. "Wednesday's a witch. And Al — she's a pixie."

Al arrived behind Theo, just in time to hear him say, "A pixie, seriously? That's an actual thing?"

Al smiled mischievously behind him, raising a finger to her lips I ensure I didn't say anything. In that instant, I knew she was planning to work her abilities. She began to formulate a vision for both me and Theo to experience.

The forest in front of us seemed to expand for miles and darkness cloaked the land around us. Sounds of the night echoed in the shadows, whispering my darkest fears and tracing skeleton fingers down my back.

"What's happening? Ember?" Theo blundered around in the darkness, shocked.

"I'm here," I told him, keeping my voice steady despite the mist now swirling around our feet, masking our shadows.

It's fake; this isn't real, I had to remind myself.

Out of nowhere, a full moon emerged from behind a tree. Its haunting beauty illuminated the phantom woods, and I could see a glimmer of terror in Theo's eyes.

"Theo...?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't know much about werewolves, but I knew the basics: a full moon causes werewolves to shift. For a moment, I forgot we were only in an illusion; the desire to protect Theo was overpowering.

"It's fine, Ember," he said calmly — before I saw him twist around and grab at Al viciously.

Immediately, the illusion disintegrated, and we were back at school. Warmth flooded back into my body as the false night's presence departed.

"Theo, what are you doing?" I exclaimed shrilly when I saw he was still grasping Al by the throat.

"I had to stop... whatever that was." He shrugged, letting go of her. "It wasn't—" He faltered, "It was putting you in danger, Ember."

Triumphantly, Al grinned, "Ha, thought so."

"You were testing a theory?" I frowned; though not at Al — at the fact Theo was worried about putting me in danger. "You could've hurt him!"

"It's more likely that he could have hurt you." She looked me up and down with a frown knitting her eyebrows together, before hissing, "Why did you bring him here?"

"He's like us."

"I know that much." She rolled her eyes at me.

"How can you be a pixie?" Theo asked doubtfully.

"I was born this way, mongrel. Most of us are," she retorted. "So tell me, Theo. When do you shift?"

Al dropped down onto the floor and began to grind up some herbs with a pestle and mortar she carried in her bag. It was odd, but I'd gotten used to it. Truthfully, she was most likely just making a calming spell — she got headaches according to the weather; one of the cons of being connected to the earth, I guess.

Anxious to avoid experiencing another pixie-induced vision, Theo replied promptly, "I shift either at a full moon, obviously. Or when my heartbeat rises too quickly." He glanced across at me.

I blinked; I didn't know that second part.

"How about you, Ember? When do you shift?" He asked, which startled me even though I probably should've seen it coming. He knew I was a shifter; it was only natural that he wondered what triggered my shift.

"I don't." My words were a mere squeak so I cleared my throat, "I don't shift."

"Why not?"

"I can't — it's... too dangerous. I'm too dangerous to everyone if I shift." I admitted. Even though I had never shifted before, I knew that I would become too dangerous if I did. The fire's chaotic enough, and that's when it's accidental.

"Huh. Weird. Do your parents know what you are?"

"Wrong question to a-ask," Al said in a sing-song voice, only somewhat masking her irritation with Theo.

"It's fine, I can talk about this," I told Al, before continuing: "My mum originally had the Phoenix. She unintentionally passed it to me."

"How? I mean, you don't have to tell me but—"

I cut him off, waving a hand, "No, no it's fine. I totally get it. I'm fine about it now. Sorta." I took a deep breath, "When I was eight, I was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors didn't know what type it was, the only thing they knew was that it was killing me. They did all they could — radiotherapy, chemotherapy, endless tests — but nothing worked. They gave me two months." The tears started to leak from my eyes, but I continued.

"On the Friday of my last week, my mother came to see me. She thought that it was the end. And the flame was burning within her — she was about to lose her only daughter, her only child. I remember it as if it were yesterday. She said to me that I was going to a better place where I would be well again. She said that she and my dad couldn't come with me, but that they would always be thinking of me.

"I told her I didn't want to die, and she whispered back to me, 'You're not dying, you're just moving on. If God wanted things to be like this, then he did.'"

The birds had stopped singing now and even the trees were deadly silent, no wind stirred their leaves and it almost felt like the entire world was soundless. Apart from my voice, and the stifled tears escaping down my cheeks.

"It was then that the flame left her — she didn't even know it at the time. The fire and the Phoenix within her left her and entered me. It burnt through my skin, here." I pointed to my wrist, where the fire emblem lay. "When I lived through the rest of the week, then another month, the doctors called it a miracle. And it was, but my mother had lost her identity. Who she was — it was gone...

"Now my mother is always cold towards me, and she blames me for stealing her powers — for stealing her Phoenix," I concluded with a sigh and crudely wiped my cheeks dry.

At that time, it was tough to comprehend the power that the Phoenix potentially held — especially since it had become a source of shame.

"Every time I hear that," Al said, her tears running endlessly, "It makes me so, so sad!"

I shrugged. "Story of my life."

I stole a glance at Theo. His eyes were also slightly glassy.

"She shouldn't blame you for that—" His voice broke with emotion. Words failed him, so he falteringly reached over and gently enveloped me in his arms.

It was then in that moment that I was beginning to feel safe with him, and I knew that he cared about me — my heart fluttered, and my nerves began to thrill as his face ever so lightly touched mine. Somehow, I could already feel my trust in him developing and growing.

"I'm so sorry, Ember," he whispered to me. "You must've been through so much... And all I've done is be an absolute jerk to you."

I pulled away from the embrace. "It's okay."

Al chuckled as she used a leaf to smudge away her tears, "At least he realises how much of a jerk he was."

It was then that Wednesday appeared, seemingly from out of a bush. Her hazel eyes were stretched wide, and her thin mouth was pinched in with worry.

"I need to talk to you," she said directly to me, without even taking a glance at Theo.

"I... I'll leave then?" Theo asked hesitantly.

I pressed my lips together firmly and nodded.

What Wednesday was about to say would potentially either save Theo or endanger him.