~Isabel~
We didn't make it far.
Just as soon as we made it out the door, Jerome called out to us,
"24 hours and 15 minutes. I expected more, from a Shadow."
He came waltzing over to us, with the most graceful walk I have ever seen.
"What are you going to do?" Alice asked.
He was standing on top of a boulder.
He jumped down, and said,
"Nothing, I'm going to let you go."
"Why?" I asked, "We'll just go tell people."
"But that's where your wrong." He said.
I gave him a confused look.
He continued, "You'll just look crazy, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. Plus, you wouldn't want your poor big brother to get hurt." He smiled.
"What do you even want?" Alice asked.
"What I want is all the Shadows, dead." He growled. Then he smirked and Jerome collapsed.
I rushed to his side.
"What happened?" He asked.
"You were sleep walking." Alice said.
"Oh." He said. "Let's go back."
"Yeah." I said.
He looked at me and his eyes widened.
"What happened?" He asked.
"You don't want to know." I answered.
Then we walked back to my house.
~
"Isabella Shadow!" My mother shouted at me. "Where the heck have you been!"
"I'm sorry." I said.
I could feel Jerome's eyes staring intently at me.
I knew he was no longer Jerome.
"You're grounded for a week. It would've been longer but, you helped your brother." She said. Then she walked to her room.
After everyone else went out of the room, Jerome stayed.
"Nice acting...Isabella." He cackled and Jerome collapsed once again.
This was going against my will, but I needed to keep Jerome safe.

~Alice~
I hate that stupid demon. I thought. He's ruining everything!
I was going to tell Demetri that we're cousins, but Isabel and I decided not to because then he would ask how we found out. And that would be my mother-  dying. Then he would for sure figure it out.
Bottom line: too risky.
I took out the journal I'd found.

Dear reader,
I've gotten a new power.
Apparently I can now shoot giant balls of light at things.
Yeah, I knocked down a door.
I just don't understand how my entire body went through the changing thingy, but only my  hands have a new power.
I'll figure it out later.

😘
-Alice

I put the notebook back under the floorboard and went to sleep.
~
It's now Wednesday.
The last day that I was in school, before I got sick, Skyler introduced me to another one of her friends from her elementary school.
His name was Jay.
So today, I'm just sitting in lunch, feeling bad for barely working on Luke and my science project, and Jay comes up to me.
"Hey, you know Luke Underway right?" He asked.
"Yeah." I cautiously said, not knowing where this was going.
"Well, someone told me that you like him, and I just wanted you to know that he's dating an eighth grader now."
"Okay?" I said.
I was trying to act cool, but in the inside I was angry at Skyler for spreading falseness.
"Yeah, plus, now she's going to be in some high school classes because she's 'academically advanced'" he said, making air quotations.
He turned to walk away. "Sorry." He apologized.
Why did he apologize?
There was really no point to that.
A great sadness washed over me, and I tried to fight it off.
I almost failed, but then I contained my sadness, and it was replaced by anger.
Then sad, then mad. And repeat.
Ugh, what is wrong with me.
Oh, and I have to work on a project with him next class.
My emotions were fighting with me, and I barley noticed when everyone sat down.
"Feeling better?" Skyler asked.
"Physically, or emotionally?" I asked.
"Physically." She said.
"Then I'm great." I answered.
No one said a word after that.
But I did hear Zoe whisper to Skyler, "Jay needs to keep his mouth shut."
And that was it.
~
Science class had gone fine.
Luke was busy giving a tour to a new student, so I got to work on the project.
Which really helped with the guilt of not doing anything before.
I had a nice walk home, and Dad was still at work.
I walked in the house, and dropped my bag and began contemplating the day.
Why was I so bothered at lunch today? I thought. Luke and Malorie are dating, so what. It's not your decision it's his. You get no say in what he does.
Then I was okay, for now.
Friday, please come fast. I hoped.
Then I fell asleep on the couch.
~
I woke up at midnight.
Dad was now home, and I was thirsty.
I went into the kitchen.
I always get really freaked out by the kitchen at night.
It has the biggest window, and I always seem to see something through it.
Sure enough, there was something.
Little people, flying around.
Fairies. I thought.
They did look like fairies.
They were all flying at a really fast speed, out of the woods.
Like they're running from something.
Or someone.
There were at least 300 of them. And finally they were all gone.
Soon after, a woman emerged from the woods also.
She was shimmering, and floating.
It looked exactly like my mom.
But it can't be.
I blinked, and she was gone.
That was the final straw.
In the morning, I'm telling Dad.
And somehow, I was going to make him believe me.