Picture of Skylar above! ~♥️ 

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"First day of camp today, yeah?" my best friend Nate asked. "Excited?"

"More like nervous," I replied. "Really, really nervous."

"But you're seventeen this year. I thought this was what you've been looking forward to for forever."

"Hush," I said, putting my hand over his mouth and looking around. We were on the front porch of my house, and I didn't know if my parents were nearby.

"Oh, sorry," Nate whispered when I took my hand away. "I mean, you're excited, yeah? Summer camp is fun. Crafts. Archery. The works."

Nate knew that for me, summer camp didn't mean any of that. For me, summer camp meant more training with deadly weapons and arcane magic than you'd normally expect. There would be archery, but I suspected that normal summer camps didn't use enchanted arrows. That was meant to be a secret though, and I didn't know how much trouble both Nate and I would be in if my parents found out that I had told him.

"Yeah. But this year isn't going to be exactly like last year," I said. This year, things would be a lot less theoretical. This was the year I was going to get to put all my training to use. If I even got past the first day.

"So you're nervous about," Nate looked around to make sure we were alone, and lowered his voice so that I could barely hear him, "the ceremony?"

"Obviously," I said.

"Who do you think you'll get paired with?"

"I don't know," I replied, but I knew who I was hoping for. Aiden Wolf. Sure, I had practically zero chance of getting paired with him, but a girl could dream, right?

Aiden Wolf and I had both been going to this camp since we were kids. I looked forward to seeing him every year, even though I had never actually spoken to him before. I always thought about it, though. For years, I had dreamed about what his blue-green eyes would look like up close. I had imagined what it would be like to have his perfect smile aimed at me. What my name would sound like in that deep, husky voice.

I sighed dreamily. "I'm just hoping it works out. I'm kind of stuck with whoever they pick for me. You know, forever."

Or until we died a horrible death. That was always a possibility.

"Well, for what it's worth, I think that any guy would be lucky to be stuck with you forever," Nate assured me with a smile.

I rolled my eyes at his cheesiness. "Thanks."

"Hey, before you go, I wanted to ask you something."

I nodded. "About what?"

"Us, I guess. I know you're about to be paired with some guy at camp and... well... before that happens, I wanted you to know that I—"

"Skylar, there you are!" Mom exclaimed as she walked outside, "We're going to be late if we don't leave right now."

"Just a minute."

"You know how the eld—" she glanced over at Nate, wide eyed, "counselors. How the counselors feel about tardiness."

"Right." I stood up. "Well, I guess that's my cue to go."

Nate stood up too and opened his arms. "Have fun at camp, Skylar."

I wrapped my arms around him, and we hugged. "Thanks, Nate."

"I hope everything works out with your, uh, cabinmate," he said, stepping back and glancing at Mom.

I laughed. "Me too."

He smiled, but he looked almost a little sad. I mean, I guess I was sad too that I wouldn't get to see much of my best friend for the rest of summer.

"Come on, Skylar, we have to go now," Mom told me, forcing Nate and I to look away from each other.

"Okay. Bye, Nate."

He saluted at me. "Bye, Skylar."

I climbed into the passenger seat of Mom's pale blue Porsche. Mom was already sitting in the driver's seat, waiting for me.

"Do you have your stuff loaded in the back?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yup."

Mom started the car, and Nate and I waved at each other as we backed out of the driveway.

Not two seconds into the drive, my phone buzzed with a text from Nate.

NATE: are ya there yet?

ME: yup. the demons say hi.

NATE: ooh tell them i say hi back!

I laughed and rolled my eyes. He was such a child.

ME: nate, we're still in our neighborhood

NATE: oh. can i still talk to the demons?

I shook my head and laughed again, but suddenly, I remembered something.

ME: what were you trying to tell me before i left?

NATE: nothin important. see u when u get back.

ME: ok

NATE: miss u already :) remembr to txt meee

ME: you're such a dork lol

ME: ill miss you too

I sighed and put my phone down. Of course I would try my best to talk to Nate while at camp, but chances were, I'd be too busy with my training.

"Are you ready for your big day?" Mom asked me.

I shrugged. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

"You know..."

I groaned. "Mom, please. I remember this story. From all five bajillion times that you've told it."

Mom shrugged. "I'm just saying, you never know how you and your partner will get along. The elders put a lot of thought into these pairing decisions. It's completely normal if you and your partner end up becoming, er, more than partners."

"Mom!"

She laughed. "I'm just saying! It's how your father and I first got together."

I decided to not respond to that, and instead, I opted for turning and staring out the window.

"Just my advice you, Skylar." Mom said. "Treat your partner right."

I continued to watch the scenery pass by and pretended not to hear her.

***

We arrived at the camp's secret location around fifty-seven minutes later. I got out of the car, walked around to the back, and opened the trunk.

"Do you need help with your bags, sweetheart?" Mom called from her driver's seat.

"I got it!" I replied, but I immediately regretted it when I remembered how much stuff I had packed. Oh well, I was pretty sure I could take all of this in one trip without any help.

After I called back a final goodbye, I started the long walk to my cabin. I would have been mostly okay with it, if not for the bags weighing me down, just because of how pretty the trees and flowers were.

It was kind of funny because, from the outside, this looked just like any other high-end summer camp. If there were a few less deadly weapons and no magic, I'd almost swear that it was one.

My phone vibrated against my thigh and I groaned. I figured that it was probably Nate again, and, while I wanted to reply to him, he had the worst timing. After some careful shifting of the bags in my hands, I finally managed to maneuver my phone out of my pocket, only to crash into a firm chest. Strong arms reached out to steady me before I could fall on my face. I looked up, ready to thank my savior, but the words caught in my throat when I realized that it was Aiden.

Not only that, but he was shirtless, a towel dangling around his neck and his perfect six pack abs on full display. From the looks of things, I'd say he was on his way to the camp pool. It was what a lot of kids did if they arrived early enough to have time to kill before the big meeting.

"—okay?"

I blinked out of my trance and lifted my face from his chest.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I asked if you're okay," he said, giving me a weird look.

"Oh! I... um... Okay? Yes," I stuttered out.

Leave it to me to make a complete fool of myself in front of the hottest guy in all of camp.

Aiden chuckled, but not in a mean way. "Well, I'm glad that you're okay."

I nodded and tried to move out of his way, but my feet were frozen in their spot.

Aiden laughed again and stepped around me. "See you around, Kylie."

HE KNEW MY NAME! Well, sort of. I wasn't eighteen yet, so legally changing it should be pretty easy. Kylie Wolf sounded a lot better than Skylar Wolf anyway.

"Bye!" I finally managed to say, but Aiden was already gone.

I sighed. My feet unfroze, and I continued trudging along.

I found my cabin pretty easily, thanks to years of being here before. The cabin was already filled with other girls, so I set my bags down on the last unclaimed bed.

I had just barely started to unpack when we received the summons. Only one other girl in my cabin, Laura, was seventeen this year, so the two of us shared nervous glances while all the others cheered and offered encouragements.

"So on a scale of 'heart beating a little faster' to 'peeing your pants', how nervous are you?" Laura asked me as we started on the path to the meeting hall.

I shrugged. "Probably 'seeing my crush in the school hallway'," I replied.

Laura nodded. "So like, way above my scale? Same."

We made it to the meeting hall with time to spare. There was still a few minutes before the elders would start the meeting, so in the meantime, the guys and girls had moved to opposite ends of the room to whisper about who they wanted to be paired with. Aiden's name was obviously tossed around a lot. I spotted a group of girls that I recognized, so I said goodbye to Laura and made my way over to them.

"—but if I can't have Aiden, obviously my second choice would be Derek," Rebecca was saying.

"No way, Beck. Chase is so much cuter," Jessica argued.

"You're all so shallow," I told them, chiming into their conversation. "There'll be more to your partner than his looks, you know."

"Well, yeah," Rebecca said, flipping her long, chestnut brown hair over her shoulder, "but looks are definitely a plus. I mean, he'll be by my side for the rest of my life. He might as well be okay to look at."

The rest of the girls in the circle voiced their agreement.

"Witches! Wizards! Please be seated," a voice boomed through the speaker system that was set up at the front of the hall. We turned towards the stage and saw all of the elders standing in a row. The head elder had stepped forward to call everyone's attention.

He waited until we all sat down before continuing.

"As you all know, today is a very important milestone in your training. We couldn't be more proud of all of you and all that you have accomplished so far. I would like to take a moment to remind all of you how important today's ceremony is. After today, your real work will begin, and you will be training nonstop to learn how best to work with your partner. Speaking of partners, you must know that this is the reason we are gathered here today. A lot of time and careful planning has gone into deciding the best partner for each and every one of you. We have spent years observing the performance of everyone in this room to compile this list of pairings that I'm holding right now. It is, with great honor, that I get to share these with you today. Now, the moment you have all been waiting for. Without further ado, let us begin."

"Finally," Rebecca muttered.

"First up, we have Laura Michaels and Devin Miller!"

Everyone clapped for them, and some guys patted Devin on the back to congratulate him. I guess I was glad for Laura, but I was pretty disappointed that I hadn't been announced first. The nerves were killing me.

The more names that were called, the less hope I had of being paired with someone decent. Why weren't they calling me yet? Nobody wanted to be dead last.

As the elder kept listing off the pairs, the initial enthusiasm gradually started to drain out of his voice. Likewise, less and less people clapped after each announcement until eventually the pairs got no applause at all. I watched as one by one, the expression on each girl's face morphed from apprehension to either happiness, relief, or disgust. After each pair was called, the boy and the girl met up at front of the stage and left the meeting hall together.

"Next, we have Rebecca Smith with Chase Rider."

Rebecca squealed from her seat next to me.

"Good luck, Sky," she whispered as she jumped up and skipped away to join her new partner.

As the room emptied, I spaced out to feel sorry for myself. There was no way I'd end up with anyone even halfway decent at this point. I'd probably end up with one of the losers in the back of the room that nobody wanted. Had I really done so badly over the years that I didn't earn a good partner?

"And last but not least, Skylar Morgan has been paired with... Aiden Wolf."

Like I said, just some loser that nobody want—Wait...

... Aiden?!?