"It's not good," Wednesday said as soon as Theo was out of sight.

"What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled.

She shook her head and rubbed her forehead with her hands. "It's not clear. Well, not as clear as it should be—"

"What have you got, Wednesday?" Al butted in. "Spit it out already."

Wednesday rolled her eyes exhaustedly. "He's in trouble; serious trouble. There's some sort of organisation in the U.S. hunting him — that's why he's moved here."

Trying desperately to keep an open mind for Theo's sake, I let out a breath. "Why are they hunting him?"

"Something to do with his pack." Wednesday looked down, eyes shifting to everything apart from me.

"What about his pack, Wednesday?" I insisted, exclaiming, "You can't just tell me part of the truth!"

"He doesn't have a pack anymore, not really. He's an Omega, a lone wolf. But the worst part is that... he doesn't know that he's an Omega. He thinks he's still part of his pack. He thinks they left him..."

"And the truth, why are they hunting him?" I hissed at her.

"According to this organisation's views, he—" My best friend faltered, her skin paling. "He killed them, every single last one of them."

Wednesday's words hit me like a sledgehammer to my skull. Shock flooded my body, yet that wave of panic was rapidly countered. Every fibre in my body began to tingle with heat, making my veins buzz with energy.

I remembered the weird graffiti symbol I'd seen on the train ride back from Ashley's — that pierced heart. It had to be linked to this, to Theo being hunted.

"What do we do?" I asked through gritted teeth as I tried to push the fire down.

"Yeah, do we help him or what?" Al questioned.

If there was one thing that Sarah at CAP taught us, it's that supernaturals should always look out for one another. We don't survive on our own; it's as simple as that. And if Theo was a lone wolf, then he might be in serious danger if we left him to fend for himself.

Wednesday's face was now a stony shade of grey. "The thing that gets me is how on Earth Theo doesn't think he's killed them — and yet this organisation thinks he has."

"So...? Do we help him?" I repeated anxiously.

Wednesday mused, "First off, I think I need to read his palm."

"Well, that should be interesting," Al scoffed, shaking her head slightly and casting her eyes heavenwards.

"We'll have to find him first," I stated after a quick glance around that told me he was nowhere in sight.

"Already on it." Wednesday closed her eyes, calling Theo back.

A few minutes of utter silence later, Theo came back.

"Hey, what's up?" He said, as if nothing had happened and as if nothing had changed — which of course, as far as he was aware, nothing had.

World-shattering words had changed everything; my mundane and innocent existence had been flipped on its head. Theo was no longer just a cocky, American guy. The accusation of him being a murderer inverted and disturbed the entire universe — or so it felt, anyway.

Yet I still felt obliged to give him a shot and hear him out. It was unbelievable; the fact that he didn't think he'd killed anyone.

"Give me your hand," Wednesday instructed, jabbing out her own.

Wednesday kept her eyes open while she pored over Theo's palm. I couldn't imagine what she was seeing — yet part of me wanted to, to know his secrets and what he was concealing from the world.

Maybe it was greed driving me to this — did I actually want to know everything about him? Did I want him to know everything about me? Because here's the flipside of curiosity: even though it killed the cat, satisfaction brought that stupid cat back.

I knew that I would be satisfied if I knew the truth, but how can you hide the truth even when it could benefit somebody? How can you tell the truth when there is so much at risk?

Greater good, I told myself and pushed the questions aside — knowing that I was a concealed threat.

I'd always remain a danger unless I found a way to gain control over my emotions and harness the Phoenix that would wildly erupt out of me — a deadly volcano wiping out countless souls.

"Ember," Al spoke my name, her word echoed down a canyon of despair — before she pulled me out of my stupor and back to the hard forest ground that I was somehow lying on. "Your palms were on fire, Ember," she told me in a hushed voice. "And... you were screaming."

Confused and disbelieving, I shook my fuzzy head; what the hell just happened?

"No one heard, don't worry. I captured your scream." Al held up a small vial in which a grey substance, that was neither liquid nor gas, floated. "Open it deep in the forest somewhere or in the lake. Whatever you do, don't smash it. Well, unless you want the sound to be magnified tenfold."

My fingers closed around the vial, indifferent to the warmth of my skin, and I tucked it away inside my blazer.

Glimpsing over at Wednesday, I saw that she no longer had Theo's hand in hers. As they stared wordlessly at one another, both of their faces were ashen, which I hoped was simply a reflection of the sky.

"Is everything alright?" I asked tentatively, knowing that Wednesday would be drained after all the effort she had put into trying to figure out the truth.

"I have to get out of here," Theo uttered before turning and sprinting at an inhuman pace away from us.

Left in his wake, I stumbled around for a minute before finding a place on the floor next to Wednesday. I could feel the energy seeping out of her.

"Show me?" I stretched my hand out to her.

In response, she closed her hand around mine — instantly forming an almost telepathic link between us. I could never thank her enough for her gift of Sight. I didn't know then how much I would miss it once it departed me.

As images began to flood through my mind, I felt Al take my other hand, so I could transfer what I saw onto her. I opened my eyes, which I didn't even recall closing, to smile tiredly at her. She smiled back and took Wednesday's hand in support. I shut my eyes and let the pictures overwhelm my senses.

It was like a dream, a nightmare and a slideshow all at the same time. Snippets of conversation wove themselves through the pictures, creating an extraordinary array of artwork. But these were only rose-coloured fragments of the life Theo had known in his pack.

I saw the full moon shining brightly. I saw Theo's pack running rampant through rugged and wildly overgrown forests. Teens like him — like us — consisted of his pack. The shacks in which they slept were clustered in an abandoned mining town and didn't seem like much, but this was Theo's home. His pack was his home.

Montana. The single word seared itself across the picture and burnt a bright, white light before everything disintegrated.

I saw Theo waking up, alone, in a shack. His partner (or nearly partner) Jade — the strong, beautiful Jade — who frequently slept by his side was also gone. He was alone.

With none of the other pack members around, I saw him stumble into a town — where he was found by some sort of agency. An agency that promised that they could protect him, but he didn't know what he needed protecting from.

Hunters. They were intent on capturing Theo — dead or alive. Though preferably dead.

I saw this protection agency create a fake background for Theo. And then everything blurred into one and became a spinning swirl that made me feel nauseous.

Not wanting to see any more, I let go of Wednesday's hand. Consequently, Al let go of mine too, but she kept hold of Wednesday's fingers.

"That was..." I began.

"Too much." Al finished bluntly. "No wonder poor Wednesday's so shattered."

"I need to find him," I told her and then left Al holding Wednesday's limp, sleeping body in her arms — whispering comforting sweet nothings.

As soon as I checked the time, I knew I wouldn't have long to search for him. I was already running behind for the next class. And due to how hydrated I have to stay to manage my 'heat condition', I was bursting for the toilet. I dashed to the nearest girls' toilets, temporarily discarding all thoughts of Theo.

Once I was in the cubicle, I heard the three girls from my form walk in. They thought they were Challis High's — and also, Lake Oldoy's — version of Mean Girls. No one had the guts to tell them that they'd already reached the peak of their lives, in high school nonetheless. No one would remember Linzi, Vicki and Izzi in five years — even if all their names ended with an 'i'

"You know that Theo guy, the transfer student?" Linzi questioned the other two.

"Yeah, he's so fit!" Vicki agreed.

Izzi butted in dreamily, "And he's from America. Like, literally the United States of America."

I refrained from faking gagging at their combined air-headedness. Self-importance is probably one of the most irritating traits that teenagers can have.

"Do you think that I could get with him?" Linzi asked.

I'd finished by then but this conversation seemed too good to miss. Plus, I didn't exactly want to get in the way of their conversation about a guy who was actually a werewolf and had allegedly killed a bunch of people. But yeah, he's so fit, so that's all that matters — right?

As I heard three lip glosses being unwound and applied, Izzi said, "Do you think he's hooked up with anyone yet?"

"Nah, no chance." Vicki responded dismissively, "And if he was, well, then the girl would have to be pretty irrelevant. I've not heard a single scrap of gossip about Mr Strong-and-Silent yet."

I rolled my eyes but knew it was true; those three seemed to know the gossip of our year before it had even spread.

Linzi stated decisively, "I'm gonna find him at lunch tomorrow and make him sit with us."

In that case, I better let Theo know that on Wednesdays, they wear pink.

"Ohmigod that is such a good idea! We can invite him to Bella's party on Saturday!" Izzi squealed.

After another round of giggles, they left.

I flushed the toilet and left the cubicle, glancing at my watch. I still had a couple of minutes if I wanted to get to class on time. Which, in all honesty, I didn't.

Staring at myself in the mirror in front of me, I clenched the edges of the sink. As if glaring at my reflection hoping it would magically just change would make me like one of those girls. They were braindead, but they were pretty, with perfect figures, flawless lives (outside of failing Maths) and could hook up with any guy they fancied, including Theo.

It was bizarre, but for some strange reason, the idea of one of those girls dating him hurt me. Physically, he was exactly their type — with strong, muscular, near-immaculate features. The fact he was new made him even more appealing; no dirty gossip or accusations of being his sloppy seconds.

Shaking my head, I pushed the thought of Theo + a-girl-whose-name-ends-with-an-i aside. My mind drifted back to the issue of finding Theo, so I left the toilets. I should've had Religious Studies, but I highly doubted that Theo would have gone there, so I decided to track him instead.

Wednesday's gift of Sight allowed me the ability to track paths of heat, and thus anger. As strong negative emotions, such as anger, often lead to an increase in heat, it meant I could pretty much follow people if I absolutely had to.

It wasn't a skill I deployed often at all, so it took a few minutes for me to settle back into it. Pressing my hand against the wall beside me, I relaxed my shoulders and imagined myself putting infrared goggles on — visualising normal, non-supernatural objects sometimes made psychic abilities slightly easier for me to approach.

"Where are you?" I whispered aloud, beginning to sense Theo's heat signature in the hallway. I shut out all the other heat paths, focusing only on him.

I followed him before the path stopped — Theo's outline of his body heat was clear as he stood still and talked— Who is he talking to? Reluctantly, I let a few other heat paths blur back in.

Linzi, Vicki and Izzi had spoken to him. Jealousy raged inside of me as I saw the three of them converge on him. He stepped away from them — and a modicum of relief lightened the heavy envy that was settling itself around my heart.

I couldn't hear or understand their conversation, but from what I gathered from the girls' body language, Theo had said something rude to them. Probably something along the lines of thanks, but no thanks, or so I hoped.

Theo's outline crumbled back into a shadow and raced out the door. I let Linzi, Vicki and Izzi's heat signatures disappear, as I wished they would in real life.

It wasn't much longer before I found him. Imitating the epitome of desolation, Theo was sitting on a bit of wall with his head drooping down. Waves of sadness radiated from him — I didn't need to sense his heat signature to see that.

"Hey," I said softly as I sat down next to him.

In his silence, I studied him. Those bold jawlines were taut, and that nerve in his cheek twitched ever so slightly as he clenched his teeth together. He twisted his hands together, the skin turning a bleached shade as he did so. He was undeniably handsome, beautiful, even — his face was sculptured to perfection.

How is it that such a perfect image could be so flawed as a person? I thought critically as nagging doubt in the recesses of my mind reminded me that he might be a murderer. But I could hardly bring myself to believe such a concept.

Some unknown voice within me was urging me to continue building my trust with him. Whether it was in my head or my heart, I didn't know. Perhaps it was a combination of the two.

Deep down, I felt as if Theo saw me as innocent or maybe even weak for not being capable of harnessing my power. I wanted to prove him wrong. I wanted to let the fire burn openly to show him who — or what — I truly was. Then again, there might've been a part of me that wanted — needed him to be protective of me. Because that would've meant that he cared about me.

I wanted him to see me as an equal that he could trust. I knew, even then, that if I could reach my full potential, I would be miles more powerful than him.

Theo sniffed — cutting off the rant inside my head.

"Are you okay?" I hesitated, placing a tentative hand on his back. He tensed as soon as I touched him; his muscles went taut beneath his shirt.

Strong in body, weak in mind.

"I'm fine," he said gruffly and kept his head down. I was half-expecting him to move away from me, but he didn't. I could feel his heart beating steadily under my palm.

"Theo..."

"What do you want from me, Ember?" He faced me. A touch of harshness entered his voice, causing my eyes to widen. "Do you need to drag up every single memory of the worst day of my life? Do you need to know every single detail of my life to know if I'm 'worth saving'?"

"No, I—" Shocked, I faltered and let my hand slide off his back. I knew he was lashing out, but he'd flipped from hurting to attacking so suddenly I was temporarily thrown.

A bipolar werewolf. Now that would be fun.

"You were trying to figure out a way to use me — weren't you? You and your witchy little friends?" Hurt tinged every syllable he spoke. "Oh, and for the record, I didn't kill anyone."

"Wait, Theo, let me—"

Leaping to his feet, he cut me off, "No, I don't want to hear it. I came here because I thought you could help me. I thought that you would know how to help me."

"Me?" I asked shrilly. "How the hell would I know anything about helping you? You won't even tell me what's going on!"

"Something that a friend told me. But I guess she was wrong." A flicker of pain flashed across his eyes before the anger returned. "Because you are not even capable of helping yourself. You can't even control your emotions enough to harness your power. And to think!" He laughed exasperatedly in disbelief. "To think I came here depending on you."

Confused and distressed, I felt a lump form at the back of my throat and my eyes began to prickle with tears. Not because I was offended by what he was saying, but because I knew it was true.

"You—" Theo choked on his words as he shook his head. "I thought I could trust you. But I guess not." He lunged forwards and grabbed my wrists — yanking me up to face him. "You're useless."

I forced back my tears and stared defiantly at him. "I may be unable to control my emotions and harness my power, but at least I don't run away every time it gets difficult, or complicated. We know that you allegedly murdered your pack, Theo. How the hell would I even know how to help you?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." He shook his head firmly, gritting his teeth. "You don't know a thing."

"You may have a strong body and good looks," I spat at him, "But your inability to let yourself be helped shows that you are as weak as me on the inside. At least I don't try and be someone I'm not."

And with that, I turned and left him exactly how I found him at Ashley's.

Alone.