~(Y/n)'s POV~

My Shimmer was awakened about two years ago, the beginning of high school. Ever since then, I've been training on a daily basis. There's a reason for my training. For almost a century, my ancestors have been fighting an evil entity, Rath. Rath has a power much more sinister than a Shimmer. A Shade. A Shade is a Shimmer that has been corrupted by the hosts evil soul.

I carried out my morning routine, I woke up at five in the morning, went in the basement, did fifty push ups, fifty sit ups, fifty jumping jacks and then went outside for a two mile run. This routine takes me about an hour. I went home, showered, changed and finally, ate breakfast. Then, it was time to leave for school. I had to run there every day, just like I run home every day.

It was the beginning of my second week of school, and I've made a few friends. I've respected Rachel's wishes and haven't spoken to her a whole lot, however we do speak sometimes.

"Yo, (Y/n)!" I hear someone calling out to me. I turn around and see one of my friends, Cam. He ran up to me and slung his arm around my shoulder. He's about an inch shorter than me with brown hair, blue eyes and you can tell he's strong. "That homework last night was pretty challenging, huh?"

"I guess, I was able to get it over with in thirty minutes." I said

"Thirty minutes?! It took me over an hour..." Cam said, looking defeated. "You some kind of genius or something?"

"Nah, I just pay attention in class. It really helps when you actually try to learn." I said

"You're a mean person, you know that?" Cam asked

"Hey, (Y/n), Cam!" A girl called out. We turned, and it was Valerie. It's obvious her and Cam like each other, but their both too scared to admit it. They're very awkward around each other too.

"Oh shit, how do I look? Is my breath good?" Cam asked

"You're fine."

Valerie ran over to us, and walked next to me. She has slick black hair reaching down to the middle of her back, green eyes and was even shorter than Cam.

'Why do I have to be in the middle?' I thought "What's up Valerie?"

"(Y/n), I told you to call me Val!" Val said.

"Right, sorry."

"Anyways, what were you two talking about?"

"Nothing much, just about last nights homework." Cam said

"Oh yeah, it was pretty easy, right?"

"What?! You too?!" Cam yelled "Am I just stupid or something?"

"Yes." I said

"Shut up ya jerk." He gave me a light punch in my arm.

I saw Rachel ahead of us. She was walking alone, hugging her backpack close to her chest. I leaned over to Cam and whispered in his ear. "I'm about to give you a chance, and you better take it."

"What? What are you talking a-"

"Well, I'm gonna go on ahead. I'll see you guys at lunch!" I ran ahead and waved at them.

"I hate you." Cam mouthed to me.

I fell into step with Rachel and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and then looked at me. "W-What? (Y/n)!" Rachel stopped and opened her bag and started looking around for something. "Where is it, where is it?"

"What are you looking for?"

"M-My ball, I can't find it!" Rachel said. She looked like she was starting to panic. "H-How am I supposed to get through the day without it?!" She continued her frantic search through her bag. Then she looked at me and it looked like she was about to cry. "W-What am I gonna do?"

'I'd feel pretty shitty if I didn't try and help. What can she do? Is there a replacement or something of the sorts?' I was thinking to myself. "That's it!" I said.

"What? What's it?"

"Can you bring me to the art room?"

"The art room? Why do you need to go there?"

"Just trust me."

I follow Rachel to the art room and start looking around.

"Found it." I picked a piece of clay off the huge lump, and started balling it up. "Now, I know you can't squeeze this without it being crushed, however, you can also play with it and shape it however you want." I said, handing her the ball of clay

She looked at it for a few seconds, like it was some kind of foreign object to her. Then she squeezed it and the ball was crushed. She started to stretch the clay out, and it looked like she was starting to calm down. Then, after making it into a cube, she crushed it again. "I-It's working!" Rachel cheered. She had a bright smile plastered across her face while she was playing with the clay.

~Rachel's POV~

"That's great, but we should probably get to class." (Y/n) said. When he was walking by me, he rubbed my head.

I reached both of my hands up and touched the top of my head. "Right!"

~Time Skip~

~(Y/n)'s POV~

Once we got to the class, it was the end of the conversing between Rachel and I.

"Okay class, today there will be a pop quiz." There were a few groans that passed around the room. Mr. Hunter started passing out the quiz to everyone. "This will be on everything we've covered so far in class, it's only been one week, so it shouldn't be too hard."

We were in the middle of the quiz when I looked up to stretch and saw two people whispering to each other, obviously sharing answers. I decided to ignore it and go back to my quiz. That only lasted five minutes.

"Hey, what are you two doing?"

'Here we go.'

Mr. Hunter walked over to the two who were cheating and pulled a chair next to their desks.

"I'm just gonna cut to the chase. Who was giving the answers and who was asking?"

They both stayed silent.

"I'm going to ask again. If I don't have an answer, I'll send you both to the office. Who was doing what?"

"...I was asking him for the answers..." One of them finally confessed.

"Alright." Mr. Hunter got up, got a slip of paper and wrote on it. He handed it to the student who didn't answer. "You, go to the office."

The kid who didn't talk walked out.

Mr. Hunter sat back down next to the other kid who was cheating. "It's been a week. Are you really sitting here, trying to tell me that you don't remember only a weeks worth of work? One of these questions is a triangle and you have to find the missing angle, and it gives you two of the angles already, and you don't know what the degrees of a triangle is?"

He just sat there, unresponsive.

"Here's what I'm going to do. I won't let you retake this quiz. It's a zero. However, if you need help, I'll set up an extra session for anyone who needs it. I didn't send you down to the office because I believe you do want to learn. I sent him down because he knew the answers. He has no excuse of helping someone cheat." Mr. Hunter said.

'He's a good teacher. He's passionate about what he does, and wants the class to do well. I think I'll really enjoy this class.'

"Alright, get back to your quizzes everyone."

I looked over at Rachel and she was playing with her clay again.

'I guess she got a little nervous from the whole situation.'

Rachel stretched the clay as much as she could, and looked at it like she's never seen anything stretch like that before. I let out the first part of a chuckle, but stopped myself after that.

~Time Skip~

It was time for lunch. Cam and Val walked up to the table I was sitting at and took a seat on both sides of me.

'Why am I always the one in the middle?'

"So, how was your guys' classes so far?" Val asked

"Pretty good. I think I'm finally understanding the material in my math class." Cam said

"That's great, what about you (Y/n)?"

"I had a pop quiz. Although it was pretty easy, some kids got caught cheating. Both got a zero and one was sent to the office." I explained, not taking my eyes off my tray.

"Ouch. That's brutal man. On the second week of the semester too." Cam said

"Um...do you guys mind if I...sit...with you?" A familiar voice asked. I looked up, and there was Rachel, standing at the other side of the table. "T-The friend I usually have this lunch with...didn't come to school today." Rachel said. "If not that's okay too! I'll just eat in the bathroom or something." She said that last part rather quickly. Like she was scared that she was being too forward.

I laughed.

"Are you laughing at me?!" She grabbed her clay from her pocket and started playing with it in one hand.

"Of course not, of course not. Yeah, have a seat. Cam, switch seats with me."

"Huh, why?"

"Just do it."

We switched seats and Rachel sat next to me, while Cam got to sit next to Val.

"So Rachel, how's the clay for a substitute?" I asked

"It's great! It's like it just melts into the form of my hand!" She looked the least nervous I've seen her in the week I've known her.

"That's good. How'd you do on the quiz?"

"The quiz...was kind of easy."

"Glad it wasn't only me who thought it was easy."

She continued to eat one of her tacos, her clay right next to her tray.

I looked over at Val and Cam. They were talking. Sort of.

"Um...so how have ya been? I mean since we last spoke not your whole life. But if you want to tell me about your life I wouldn't mind! I mean...uh..." Cam tried his best to talk to Val. What'd I say. Awkward.

~Time Skip~

After school, I decided to walk around town before I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like somebody was watching me. "There's no way..." I muttered. I went to the alley I saw the person watching me from. It was empty, but it had a turn at the end of it. I followed the turn and came to a wall.

"Well look who I was able to track down!"

My body began to tremble from sheer anger. 'How is he here? It's only been a week and he's already tracked us down?!' I turned around, and sure enough, Rath was standing there. There was dark gray mist where his feet were supposed to be but it quickly became his feet.

"It's been a while. Why didn't you tell me you were moving?"

"How did you find us Rath?" I asked.

"What, did you think I wouldn't have a tracker on you? I'm supposed to kill your whole family, remember?" Rath said

"How could I forget?" I said "But you've kind of sucked at your job for the past century."

"Have I? I thought I was doing pretty good. That's a shame. And I was doing it all to impress you!" Rath started walking towards me. I tried to walk backwards, but the wall blocked my path. "Oh, you don't have to seem so afraid! I'm only here for a chat, not to kill you...yet."

"Why should I trust a word you say?"

He took a step closer. I could feel my heart beating. "Simply because before I kill you, I want to torment you in any way I can."

"Don't you think you've done that enough already?"

He took another step closer. I could feel my heart start to speed up a little.

"Oh, I don't think I've done nearly enough." Another step. My heart was beating even faster now.

Another step. My heart was beating faster. Then another step. My heart started beating even faster. Finally, he was standing right in front of me, looking down at me. It looked like he was towering above me, like he could crush me like an ant at any moment. My heart was beating as fast as it could.

'Is he lying? Is he going to kill me? Or is he telling the truth?' I could barely hear my thoughts over the sound of my heart beat.

Rath smiled and leaned down next to my ear. "I will make you suffer more then you ever thought was possible." A chill ran down my spine. It felt like my heart was about to explode. Then he stepped away. "Well, it's been nice catching up. However, I've got business to attend to. Do have a good day, and remember, I'm always watching you." With that, he transformed into a hawk and flew away.

I clutched the part of my chest where my heart was, trying my best to catch my breath. I slid my back down the wall and sat there, trying my best to wrap my head around what just happened.

A/n: I hope you guys enjoyed the second chapter. Next chapter, this book will start to heat up a little.