Demetri shook his head.
"This can't be happening." He whispered.
We (Isabel, Mikey, Demetri, Shandra, and me) were standing in a clearing in the woods.
We didn't invite Jerome along for obvious reasons. Isabel and I had to convince the rest of them that it was for a really good reason for him not to come along.
"Wait," I said. "what are we talking about exactly?"
"Rufus! He said he'd come back and get his revenge, and now he has." Demetri said. "The fairies haven't acted like that since the last time he was here."
Isabel started fidgeting.
Mikey was the first to notice, besides me.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"What! I-I'm not doing a-anything." She stammered.
She looked at me.
"You guys know something don't you." Mikey said accusingly.
Isabel shook her head no.
"Oh, what's the point?" I said.
Everyone looked over at me.
"Rufus is possessing Jerome. He made him kidnap us and throw us in a nasty, dirty, beat up shack farther in the woods." I continued.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Shandra asked.
Isabel answered. "Because he threatened to hurt Jerome, and there's nothing we can really do anyway."
Then Isabel turned to me.
"But now we have Alice." She said.
"What?" Demetri asked.
Isabel looked at him.
"Her mother was Marie Shadow. I saw her mothers ghost, she told me everything."
Demetri looked at the ground. "What?" He asked, even though he wasn't really asking anything.
Everyone else looked as surprised as he did.
"She has inherited her mothers power," Isabel continued, "and Marie put all of her power, in that locket." She pointed to the locket my father gave me.
"Wait, that means, that she has every power that you could possibly get." Shandra said.
Isabel nodded.
I heard leaves crunching in the distance.
"Someone is coming." I said.
"Her super hearing is already working great I see." Shandra said.
A few minutes later, Jerome came into the clearing.
Everyone tensed.
"What are you guys doing here?" He asked.
"Going for a walk." Mikey said.
"Okay?" Jerome answered.
"Okay everyone," Shandra said, "I think this is far enough."
Everyone started walking back toward the house.
As I passed Jerome, he grabbed my arm forcefully.
I was about to call out, but he stuck his hand over my mouth.
"Don't scream." He said, and he pulled his hand back.
I backed away from him.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." He continued. "I know what's going on with Rufus."
"How?" I asked.
"Well isn't it obvious? I wake up in mysterious places without knowing how I got there except for a dream of doing all these awful things then collapsing." He finished.
Demetri came into the clearing.
"Alice come on." He said as he grabbed my hand and started walking away.
I let go.
He looked at me.
I walked over to Jerome and hugged him.
"I'm sorry this is happening." I whispered.
"It's not your fault." He whispered back.
I looked up at him (because he's a head taller than me) and backed away again. Then I walked back to the house with Demetri.
The rest of the weekend went by without a problem.
~
"Alice, wake up." Isabel's voice said.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"Cause it's Monday silly." She answered.
"Ugh, why?" I asked.
She giggled. "Get up!" and she pulled me out of bed.
"I'm awake!" I said. Then I asked, "Why are you here?"
"I woke up early and decided to come over." She answered.
I sat up and opened my eyes.
"I already have the perfect outfit picked out for you!"she exclaimed.
I looked over.
She had a maroon shirt with navy blue leggings and a navy blue skirt with maroon flowers on it.
"Where did you get that?" I asked.
"I took it upon myself to buy you more clothes! You love it right?" She asked.
"No." I answered.
"Too bad, you're wearing it today." She said.
"Whatever." I answered.
~
"Looking nice, Alice." Clay said.
"Thank you?" I replied.
I walked to my locker.
"When did a flower barf all over you?" Mikey asked .
"This morning." I said. "And the flower's name was Isabel."
"Nice." He replied.
"Don't you have to go over to the middle school or something?"
"Fine, fine, I know when I'm not wanted." And he strutted off.
I walked to class and put my stuff down. Then walked back to my locker to put my bag away.
My phone started ringing.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Al? Is that you?" A girl's voice asked.
"Yes this is Alice."
"Oh my gosh! I can't believe that I found you! I've been searching for months trying to figure out your new phone number! Oh, you're probably wondering who I am." She said.
"Yeah, pretty much." I replied.
"It's Autumn, from your old school. We were best friends?" She said.
Profile: Autumn Waters
Description: average height, really skinny, shoulder length brown hair, blue eyes, has braces, and freckles.
I remembered her.
"Autumn! How, what?" I said.
"I have some good news." She said.
"What, tell me!" I said.
"I could show you."
"How would you do that?"
"Turn around."
I turned around.
She was standing a few feet behind me with a purple backpack slung over her shoulder.
"I'm moving to Florida!" She yelled.
People were looking at us but I didn't care. I ran over to her and gave her a big hug.
"I can't believe you're here!" I said.
"Neither can I! My dad got transferred here so my whole family moved!"
"That's awesome." I said.
"Plus, I asked and, we have all our classes together!" She squealed.
"No way!"
"Yes way!"
Demetri came over.
As he was walking, Autumn noticed him.
"Wh-wh-wh-who's that?" She asked.
"Demetri." I said.
"Alice," Demetri said. "I think we really need to talk." And he looked into my eyes as I resisted the urge to roll mine.
"Whatevs, just drop it for now." I said. "This is Autumn, my best friend." I said.
"Hi." He said as he held out his hand.
She shook it then stood there staring at him.
"Well I'm gonna go." He said. Then he walked away.
After he was gone Autumn said,
"Please tell me he's single."
"Yeah, he is." I said, while putting my backpack in my locker.
"Whoa, what's that look?" She asked.
"I'm not making a look." I said.
"Yeah, you are. What's up?"
"Nothing, really. He's just my cousin."
"What! You have a gorgeous cousin and you didn't start with that?" she said.
"His siblings look almost exactly like him." I said casually like it was the most talked about thing in the world.
She just stood there blinking.
I started walking to the math classroom.
"You coming?" I asked.
She nodded then followed me.

~

"So...what do you think of Autumn?" I asked Demetri.
We were at my house, working on homework.
"She's nice." He said.
"That's it?" I asked.
He looked at me and raised his eyebrows.
"What?" I said.
"Nothing, I gotta go." He said.
He playfully punched my arm and left.
Soon after he left there was a knock at the door.
I opened it.
"Luke?" I asked.
"Can we talk?" he asked.
"Sure, come in." I replied.