The human watched her as she paced across each floorboard, his words frantic and rushed, but not really making any sense. Like most humans she'd encountered, their emotions were frivolous, jumping from one extreme to another in a matter of seconds. They were so erratic, so wrapped in up in their own lies, trying desperately to retain their morality before circumstance stripped it away. 

She tried to distract herself, shifting thoughts and ideas around her head about how to find her brother. This new world couldn't be that different. She'd only seen little candles in the sky. Humans, they always fell back onto old ways, they struggled to change. She straightened up.

"Take me to where you found that note," she ordered, stalking to her wardrobe. Carefully, she reached towards the back, pulling out a dusty white cloak with Artic Wolf fur trimming the neckline in one graceful swoop. She smiled, glad to see it hadn't burned. Her mother had bought it her from a market in London and presented it to her on her fifteenth birthday, enchanting the wardrobe within which it was kept. Her face fell. That was the last birthday she'd ever had.

"Are you coming?" the human boy – there was no point calling him anything else – asked from the doorway.

"Yes," she answered. Pulling the cloak snug around her shoulders, she followed him out of the room and onto the landing. She stopped.

"What now?" His voice resembled that of a hound whining for its meal. She ignored him, swooping back into her room and towards the chest of drawers. To where her sketchbook lay. Although the pages had yellowed, the cover almost ash, it was still just as beautiful as she remembered. Another fragment of her life to pick up and to carry.

"Alexa!" The boy shouted again.

"Miss Frostbite!" she retorted, equally as strong. Just because he'd awoken her like some charming Prince, didn't mean he had the right to order her around. She'd spent her whole existence being told what to do, but now, she didn't have any rules to follow. The only things she did miss were her mother, her father. Everything... Looking around the frame of her bedroom, all she could do was imagine it as it had once been. Gossamer curtains, polished wood boards. This had been her sanctuary. Until the fire. Until James. He didn't deserve to be called 'brother'. He'd lost that right when he'd destroyed everything she'd held dear. Squaring her shoulders, she pursed her lips. It was time.

"Alexa?" He was standing in the doorway again, seemingly concerned. Or annoyed. She couldn't decide which one suited him best.

"I am coming," she yelled at last and hurried out to join him.

"My mum's been missing for at least a couple hours by now. We have to hurry. If your brother is as bad as you say"—

"He is," she assured him.

"Then we have to find her". Of course, there was no proof James had done this. Not yet. But it was only a matter of time. He had a newly found habit of interfering, maybe he'd interfered with this boy, re-directing his life. Alexa's frown deepened. Why involve a human in all this? They were futile. Insects. Dull. They only provided short blasts of entertainment before dying suddenly of some disease. So why? She followed him down the stairs, but he was too slow on all accounts. She sped past him, striding to the front doors. When she could no longer hear his footsteps, she turned.

"These doors were locked last time I checked. Do you have a key around here or some Vampire mind control?" Immediately, she stiffened. So small minded.

"Humans," she spat.

"Old people," he spat back. Huffing, she focussed her attention on the doors. Then she took a step and they opened, letting in the early morning air. The human jumped, raising his hands. As if such tiny breakable bones could protect him.

"How did you?" he began.

"Vampyre mind control," she said and leapt. Out into the world. The cool breeze of morning air, the scent of trodden grass. Crystalline lights winking in the distances, while the trees dance slowly to the chime of the wind. The next thing she noticed was the ribbon. Well, she thought it was a ribbon. But it was shinier, and there were letters. Manufactured.

"P-o-l-i-c-e L-i-n-e" she read. "D-o N-o-t C-r-o-s-s. What does that mean? Why is my house under arrest?" Behind her, she could hear the human chuckling.

"It means this place is dangerous," he told her.

"Yet you came here. Do you frequently break the law?" she asked. To be fair it was an honest question. He did remind her of the little village thief, who'd been unlucky enough to try picking her father's pockets on market day. By Halve, she'd had a wonderful afternoon listening to him wail.

"Not until this morning no," he said and pointed down the dirt track into the woods. An odd scent filled her nostrils. It was sharp, as if a dinner knife had lodged in her spine. She shook her head, hoping the motion would free her mind from the stench.

"We should head that way and"—

She didn't hesitate; she flung herself into the gorse bushes, her face brightening as mud squelched in-between her toes. Trees flew past, their branches whispering a thousand stories in her wake. She didn't even listen as the boy shouted for her to wait. She was done waiting, done living in a past she no longer wanted to know. She had to kill James, whatever the cost. The boy and his mother meant nothing. Part of her reeled at the time that had passed, part of her wanted to curl up and cry. But she couldn't. All she could do was keep moving, the sting of revenge fuelling her muscles. Her smile widened and the smell of— She stopped, heaved. That stench. What was it? Her throat burned, and she doubled over, pinching her nose to try and stop the onslaught. Stumbling like a drunken, she managed to pull herself up on the nearest tree. But this tree felt different. Colder. The bark was oddly smooth. She glanced up.

"Oh Halve". She yelped as if she'd been burned, backing away from the monster. The monster in question stared at her, its cyclops eye flashing on and off and on and off. A rustle from the nearby bushes made her jump. The human. Jake.

Thank Halve, thank Halve.

"Stop," she warned and pointed. "There is witchcraft here. Pure Necromancy. There". She pointed some more. Jake took one look at her and laughed. The sound was new. Warmer. A far cry from her brother's— James's.

"And that, 'Miss Frostbite', is what we humans call a 'lamppost'".

"It has Magik in its eye!" she insisted, but he continued to laugh. Why wasn't he cowering? Isn't that what all other humans did? They feared progress too much to pursue it. Yet this thing stood here, this metal tree. She glowered, but her eye remained wide.

"Come on," he said, reaching forward. "It's not going to hurt you". She wanted to believe him ever so badly. After a pause, she let him lead her away, but kept her peripherals trained on the thin metal cyclops all the way down—

"Oh, my Halve," she gasped. The monsters before her didn't move. They just stared. All cyclops-eyes and metal bodies banding together to kill her.

"There are more of them," she hissed. Jake shook his head, trying to drag her across a rough turf. Alexa yanked her hand away and peered down.

"What is this?" she said, the strangely named lampposts soon forgotten.

"Tarmac. It's what we makes roads with. Now come on!" He tried to grab her hand again, but she darted past. The 'tarmac' was smoother than the dirt tracks, but it felt itchy and hot against her soles. She frowned. The stench she'd picked up on earlier was growing.

"Before you take to me to the note," she started. "Can you tell me what that smell is?"

"What smell?" he said, arching an eyebrow. "I can't smell anything".

"It is...ugly. Acrid. A demon in the sky". Jake arched another eyebrow, but she could see realisation dawning in his eyes. She tried again.

"I used to be able to see the sky so clearly, even in the pitch black. Now grey clogs it and I cannot see a thing up there. No stars. Nothing".

"It's called pollution," he told her slowly. "We made that too". Alexa frowned. Perhaps this was not progress after all.

All was quiet in the boy's house. He'd told her it was a house at least, but she remained uncertain. The windows were too small, the house itself too...too forged. A stage, like the wooden throne that was erected for the village plays. Whoever had built it had had money in mind rather than comfort. Jake led in her through the front door, despite her insistence that she should go first.

"You don't know this world. This era's mine," he'd said. She hadn't tried to argue. She wanted no part in this world, despite having spent so little time within it. That was how much she despised it. Perhaps, after she killed James, she would settle down in some brush to sleep. Perhaps, maybe fifty years from now, the world would revert to what it had once been. In front of her, the human crept noisily towards the staircase, giving her time to survey the downstairs interior. She tried to analyse the furniture but came up short. The pantry and cooking area proved even harder to understand. A metal box stood on one countertop, while a huge white container dominated the far corner of the room. It seemed the room had more in common with a torture chamber.

"This way". The human's voice carried her back and pulled her up the stairs. He gestured towards the nearest room and Alexa stepped inside. She paused, sniffing the air. Blood. The smell of it was overwhelming: that sharp metallic tang. She'd seen her fair share of dead when the cart had rolled around the village each Thursday, but she'd never seen this much human blood before. So fresh. Alive. Beside her, Jake reached down and held out a piece of paper. A chess piece was also clutched between his fingers.

"Let me see that," she said. He dropped the piece onto her palm, and she examined it closely. A white castle.

No. No. No, not again. Please, James. Let it be. Let it be.

"This is from my set. The one I had when I was a little girl".

"So your brother was responsible for this," Jake snarled and punched the wall. It wasn't a hard hit by her standards, but for a human...

"Sorry," he muttered after a pause or two, rubbing his hand. The skin on his knuckles had torn, like bedsheets. Alexa cocked her head. Strange. How fragile they were.

"I am sure that wall had it coming," she said, surprising herself. Then she addressed the note. The writing wasn't James's, but it was done in that typical Vaskelian scrawl.

"'Checkmate,'" she read. "It is marvellous that my brother has not finished being dramatic".

"Now what? Do you even know where he might have taken my mum?" Jake said anxiously.

"I can try to summon a link with him, but I am uncertain whether I can find his presence in this world. You see James and I have one-hundred years between us, so he is inherently more powerful".

"I thought you guys didn't age".

"We stop aging physically when we are eighteen. My father has studied our physiology, but he never found out why our aging ceased. Perhaps he would have if not for..." She fell silent, not wanting to say the words. If not for that night. That night on the bridge. She tried to think back, tried to remember, but all she could see were flashes of orange flames licking at her heels.

"You don't have to talk about it," he said slowly, raising his hand as if to touch her, before lowering it and turning away. Just like all the other humans did. They saw, they denied, then they ran, leaving nothing but pain behind them. She gritted her teeth.

"Greif is an ugly thing. I will not let it consume me," she said, more for her benefit than for his. For a while neither of them spoke, until Alexa straightened her back and clutched the chess piece close to her heart.

"I will need more information about this world first. Although I cannot trace my brother, I think I can trace the Vaskels who took your mother. Their energies are more accessible".

"Sure, whatever. You do what you have to, to find my mum". Jake offered a smile, but his eyes were hooded.

"She is alive, you know. James will not kill her if he intends to use her," she said.

"I don't want her to be used either". Alexa nodded. She inclined her body towards the door.

"Then it would be best if we left right this minute".

Dawn had finished breaking by the time the human Jake declared they were ready to leave. Alexa had been ready hours before and had spent her time in, in a room. She wasn't quite sure what it was for, but she'd sat there, staring at a blank box for what seemed like an eternity.

"Okay, I've got clothes, money". Jake listed a few other items that she didn't know until he arrived at 'food'.

"Do you," he struggled to get the words out. "Do you Halfbloods eat or...?" She debated whether or not to play fair and eventually relented. They'd both endured hardship and it wasn't right to extort amusement from him at this time. But she needed a distraction. Her parent's faces haunted her; the last memory she had was of them all arguing in the entrance hall.

Let me take it all back, she pleaded the silence. I would not have said such things if I had known I would never see them again. The silence continued long after her prayer.

"Seeing as you don't drink blood, do you drink normal things? Like Coke? Hold on, you won't know I'm talking about," he sighed. She decided to put him out of his misery.

"Yes, we do eat. We do not require food or water, but we do enjoy the ritual from time to time".

"Right, I've packed a lot of chocolate, so I think we'll both be fine. And there's money to buy more. I still can't believe I'm doing this," he added quietly.

"I cannot believe I am bound on this journey with the likes of you," Alexa grunted and smiled a little.

"Well, you're not exactly who I would have picked either," he said. His lips pursed, suppressing a chuckle. He hauled a small satchel onto his back and reached into his pocket. When he removed his hand, Alexa stared in awe and horror at yet another blank box. The box was flatter though, as if it had been sat upon by some unknown force. As the human pressed something, colour flashed. She let out a shriek and jumped up into her fighting stance.

"An army of boxes! You are trying to corrupt me," she snarled. "I will rise against you".

"Yeah, I probably should've thought that one through" he muttered and held out the – the strange object.

"It's a phone," he said when she made no move to speak.

"A phone? I do not understand. Can it help me find James?" she asked hopefully. Then all of this could be over.

"Actually, that's a great idea," he said and started viciously tapping the...the 'phone'.

"What are you doing?" she said, cautiously stepping forward.

"Maybe your brother modernised, became a celebrity or something. Hiding in plain sight. You know what I mean. Well, you don't, but"—

"Just be quiet and keep doing," she stopped. "Whatever you are doing". It was barely a minute after she'd spoken, when Jake shoved the phone back into his pocket.

"No dice," he told her, as if she knew what that meant. "James isn't on any social media or anything. My news sites know nothing too".

"Odd. My brother always liked to seek attention".

"Maybe he's changed," Jake suggested.

"Maybe," she agreed. "But clearly not enough". She breezed past him to the front door and swung out.

"We have no choice but to follow the piece and my Senses". Jake followed her, glancing about them like a mouse.

"What is wrong?" she asked.

"What isn't wrong?" he countered. He pushed his fingers to his temples in pain. "This is insane. Totally insane. You're dead. My mum is missing. My own best friend tried to kill me... Lilly".

"Lilly?"

"Yeah. Oh god!" He cried, pressing his fingers hard against his scalp.

"I do not understand! Who is she?" she asked, furious. Why did these creatures always insist on being so difficult? She was trying to prize information from him, the least he could do was conform.

"I met her yesterday, when I first moved here" he began. "She looked...she looked just like you. She had your face".

"Probably another Vaskelian illusion. James must have sent her to take your mother. I assure you I have no sisters, so it cannot be any relation of mine. I am certain if I had a twin my parents would've told me," she clarified.

"Like hell. You've been asleep for three-hundred years, you don't know anything anymore!" His eyes widened. He stopped and turned away.

"I know enough, Jake Green, not to be insulted by the likes of you," she snapped. She strode down the, the tarmac, glaring once or twice at the...lampposts as she passed. The morning air breathed coolly against her skin reminding her once again that this was real. Suddenly, a foreign noise picked up. A deep rumble. Like the village hounds on their annual fox hunt. Behind her, she could hear the human calling. Hear his footsteps hammering onto the ground.

"Alexa!" The human was anxious. She smiled. Maybe he had come to apologise.

"Glad you came to your senses," she huffed, turning around just in time to see—

Metal rocketed into her stomach. Harsh lights blinded her, but she held firm, grabbing onto the metal bonnet and crushing it with ease. The material bent to her will as smoothly as butter. Her spine curved, shoulder blades expanding until they burst the back of her dress. The bones grew longer, hitching onto the metal and stayed there until the end. Until the pain cut short. Feathers floated in-between. Three of her ribs had broken from the impact and were just starting to heal. Alexa stretched her great wings outwards, forcing them to take the blow. The metal tried to push on, but she dug her heels into the road beneath and – using her wings – cast it to one side. There was a ringing in her ears. Eventually that ringing began to form a name. Her name.

"Alexa? Alexa! Are you okay?" Why was the human concerned? She dusted off her dress, stepping towards him.

"Perfectly fine thank you," she told him, resisting the urge to throw the metal a million miles away. Jake ran up to her and gasped.

"Jesus," he hissed when he saw her. She could only guess why. Then he pointed to the metal object lying a few metres away.

"What just happened? You stopped a car. With wings. What the hell?"

"A what?" The term wasn't something she knew. Like many things in this new world, she was both fascinated and terrified by it.

"A car. It's what replaced the horse and carriage," he told her.

Replaced? But why?

She shoved the anger back into her heart and addressed the vehicle.

"How dare you come careening into me like a madman! Who do you think you are?" She stomped across the tarmac, her feet cracking the ground with ease. The wings trailed along behind her.

"Well, that's one way to make an entrance," said the driver. A woman, no, a girl. Smoke had arisen from the bonnet, making it hard to see the culprit. But Alexa carried on, reaching into the front seat. Her hand wavered in the air, expecting to grab something. Instead, as the air cleared, she saw the seat was empty.

"What on earth?" she began.

"Alexa!" Jake called again. She swerved—

It wasn't Jake who stood in front of her, though he was starting to catch up. The thing that stood before her was her. It had her face. Recognition dawned.

"Lilly," she breathed.

"Guilty as charged," the thing pantomimed. It stepped around her in a circle the way a lioness surveyed its prey. Alexa's wings twitched. It reached up to the top of its brown scalp and yanked. It was a wig. The brown hair vanished, letting a white cascade of foamy curls fall down the thing's shoulders. Next was the eye, the hazel eye. The thing fished around its glossy eyeball, pulling out a small slip of material. The thing's true eye colour was blue. Not a human blue, oh no, but an icy blue that reminded her of the river in the village when it froze over.

"'Ello dearie," grinned the imposter, winking at Jake. Then it turned back to her.

"Like looking into a mirror, isn't it Lexie?"

Her world titled. The glass of her reality shattered in once glance. This thing was her and yet it wasn't in so many ways. White hair, blue eye. The clothes she wore clung to her body like a second skin. A spot of blood had dried around her mouth, the red having turned brown and crusty. As Alexa peered closer, she realised the thing's blood was black. A wicked grin spread across her face.

"What? Nothing to say? Don't be surprised. I normally leave all the cool kids speechless," said the thing. The imposter sporting her looks, her body.

"You? What— Who are you?" Alexa took a couple steps back, nearly clipping Jake with her wings.

"The name's Wolfie. Hi!" She jumped up and waved.

This girl is insane, Alexa thought in horror, absolutely insane.

"Did you kidnap my mother?" Jake interrupted. He started forward, but Wolfie's smile kept him at bay.

"You're not still upset about that, are you dearie?" she asked. A harsh chuckle escaped her lips. "That was hours ago".

"You are not answering the question," said Alexa, already tired of her games. This had to be just a Vaskelian illusion. Otherwise she didn't know what to do.

"You don't miss much, do yer' Lexie?"

"Do not call me that". She flared, great wings twitching.

"Sorry darlin'". Wolfie's accent was thick, and heavy in places, but Alexa couldn't pin-point its origin.

"Did you take my mother?" Jake repeated, balling his hand into a fist.

"Yes. No. Maybe?" The thing with her face bubbled into hysterics. It was clearly safe to assume that she had. That meant.

Oh James, she sagged. What in Halves' name have you done? She began backing away, tugging on the sleeve of Jake's coat.

"We need to go. We are not safe here," she told him. Her wings started ruffling nervously.

"Not until I find out where my mother is. She might tell you where James is too". The look in his eyes begged her not to move, but they didn't have a choice. This creature – whatever it was – was most likely under James's influence. They couldn't risk it. As soon as they stepped away, Wolfie spun around until she was in front of them again.

"Leaving so soon?" she asked innocently. As if anything about her could be innocent. "The party hasn't even started yet".

"Why are you doing this?" Alexa whispered, almost with pity. Almost, but not quite.

"Why dearie? Because I'm bored. Why else does anyone do anything?" She twirled a long strand of her hair around her finger. "Now you crazy kids had better come with me. I promised him I'd bring you in the first chance I got".

"Promised whom?"

"Yikes, no one talks like you anymore Lexie dearest. I dunno why, it is kinda sexy". Alexa felt the sudden urge to vomit in the nearest flower bed. She didn't get the chance.

"Alexa's brother. You're working for him," said Jake.

"Ding! Ding! Right answer". She nudged a knife out of her boot and brandished it in front of her. "Now then, enough talk. I want to hear some screaming". Alexa's mind whirred into action. If they let themselves fall victim to this girl, they might never see the light of day again, let alone get anywhere near her brother. Wolfie might have been the latest in a long line of James's corruptions, but that didn't mean she'd take them directly to him. She didn't seem like the type to be loyal to anyone. What choice did they have?

"We need to find James another way. Not like this. We shall keep to the original plan," she said to Jake. He nodded, but didn't speak.

"Are you coherent?" she asked.

"Just freaking out a little that's all. How come you didn't tell me you had a twin?"

"Yes, well. I had not the knowledge up until a few minutes ago. And she is not my twin. We look nothing alike". That was a blatant lie and she knew it.

"Alexa, you guys have the same face".

"Yeah, but I'm the fun one", Wolfie butted in, sliding closer. "What's it to be then? Quick ticket to fun time with James or"—

"We will not go with you and I doubt you could make me," Alexa began. Wolfie's eye glinted with malice and for a moment, she could see the black socket where her other eye must have been. Alexa reached up, touched her own empty socket. She stared, just as a spark flashed between them. A connection of some sort. A memory. No, she didn't have time for this. Not now.

"Oh, I think I could make you do anything I want". Wolfie swept closer, smile moist and hungry like the knife.

"We have to go, Alexa. We can find your brother with the chess piece, like you said," Jake prompted from behind. She felt him pull her arm to one side, but she didn't move. She stared the Demon down.

"Oh, you won't need to worry about finding him, Jakey boy. He'll find you. Well, after I've had my fun". Even though she was speaking to him, her eye was fixed on Alexa.

"I exact vengeance on my own terms, Imposter," she said.

"You won't get the chance whether you come with me or not," Wolfie shrugged. "James has big plans for you. For both of you". Walking forward, she pressed her lips to Alexa's ear. Death against death. Ice against ice. Cold and hollow.

"You ready to be my little toy, Lexie?" That was it. Alexa latched her hand around the thing's wrist and shut her eye. Immediately her back bulged, shoulder blades snapping and expanding like clockwork. Alexa swore she could feel Wolfie trying to wrench her arm free. She let herself smile. Her wing bones bulged, larger than they ever had before. Feathers fell and danced around her shoulders and then they flapped. All seven feet of them. Her wings.

"Bloody hell, you were never one for subtlety were you darlin'?" Wolfie struggled slightly in her grip. Alexa let her go, flicking her away as one would do an insect.

"What else can you do?" Jake's voice. Still in shock. Typical. Alexa gave the wings an experimental flap and stood her ground. Wolfie stood opposite, cradling her arm against her chest.

"I am not afraid of you," she hissed.

"Then you are a fool". With that, she walked away, tucking in her wings. Jake followed soon after.