Risk.

Risk is such a big part of my life, this life.

Every inhale and exhale and every step and move is a big gamble. It's why I open and shut doors carefully to avoid their telling click. If they are any louder than a pin drop, my foe will be alerted and I will be caught.

I can hear them moving around in the distance. I just have to sneak past and I am free. If I don't avoid them, then I will be subject to suffering beyond imagination.

I'm so caught up in that horrible thought that I forgot about the creaking third step. The moment I land on it and the telling eek squeaks out, I know I'm dead.

"Piper! Are you up?"

I launch myself towards the front door, hoping and praying that it's open, but to no avail- the door is locked and death is coming for me.

The shadowy presence of my grandmother, darker than mine could every be looms over me as she somehow teleports from the kitchen to the front. Still, I attempt to get out, to escape, but she gets her hand on my arm and drags me back towards the dining room.

"Grandma, I'm not hungry!" I complain.

She scolds me in Mandarin and forces me into a seat at the table.

"Mom!" I holler, hoping she, at least, can save me. The belief that all grandmothers can cook is combated by my own. She can concoct potions and poisons, but certainly not anything that would pass as breakfast.

My mother pokes her head out of the kitchen and can immediately tell what is happening. Whether it's my grandmother forcing a napkin around my neck or me struggling under her Yaoguin strength, I'm not sure.

"Ma, let her go! It's the first day of school today. She got home late last night and had something to eat then."

"She needs to eat more! To win!" My grandmother briefly lets go of me to point accusingly at my mother. I take the opportunity to slip from the chair and underneath the table. Grandma doesn't notice as I crawl through the tunnel of chair legs, scurrying away from death.

I barrel roll out from under the cloth to scramble along the floor. Luckily the backdoor is unlocked so I manage to leave the house that way, still in-tact. I can still hear them yelling as I round the house and emerge from the front, heading off to school.

My home is situated on the inland part of Happy Harbour, a town off the coast of Rhode Island. We moved here just a few years ago from Witchcliffe, Florida.

It seemed right to move here. No competition for my parents to open their restaurant, quiet, by the beach and conveniently close to a portal to the Demon Underworld.

Perfect for my not-so-human family.

"Hey ice queen. Miss me?" I ignore Marvin as he skates up beside me. "Did you hear? There are new kids coming in today."

"Of course I heard. Everyone heard. A girl and a boy, but not siblings, though they're arriving together." When I was told about them as a member of the school council, it already seemed suspicious. They had a very fast hush-hush application to the school. Their address is a house down the street from mine- I'm pretty sure that it has been empty the entire year.

"Ha- Why am I not surprised that you know that?"

"Because I'm a councillor and councillors know everything?" I respond dully. The moment we round the corner I can already sense the presence of change. Everyone's energy is buzzing, but most of all I sense the presence of something new.

Martin, however, doesn't seem to notice. He's too busy watching Wendy flit around in her bumblebee uniform to see a built boy and an outdated girl in the path of his skateboard.

I don't bother shouting out or anything. He needs to learn. Sure enough, he sails towards the built guy, who catches him in one arm by the shirt and lifts him up.

"Idiots," I mumble. Everyone stops to observe the situation as Mal approaches to escalate it. 

I turn away from the scene, but a soft gust of wind has me reversing immediately, looking back at the two new students. Suspicious. They smell familiar.

Their scent is mixed with those surrounding. Marvin's disgusting deodorant, pimple cream and fermenting shoes is his scent. Wendy's is her Taylor Swift perfume and chewing gum. The fresh smell of rubber from Karen's new shoes is paired with the sweet hint of her sugar gloss. Mal's shirt reeks of the same washing powder my mother uses, though he (or his mother) must put three times the amount- it almost smothers the smell of his cologne. The other people have similar scents, seeing as they're all human teenagers. A common one is the smell of a store in Happy Harbour that sells Superhero T-shirts, since almost everyone is wearing one. Another is the same shampoos and deodorants, occasionally the same soap or detergent.

But these two? Instead of the smells being individual like the others are, she smells like a concoction of things. I can't say it's good or bad, just new. Kind of like a forest, mixed with a gas station, mixed with baked goods, mixed with chlorine. 

Very...alien.

As for the boy, it's much different. He smells human, but only faintly. It's tainted by something that smells like, well, there's no other way to put it. Warmth.

It's in that moment, standing there watching Conner Kent move towards Mal, that I connect the scent with one I met only a day prior.

I had been called to the Demonic dimension for the next Battle Royale. As usual, the arena master, Proximo, took me on a tour of the underground to pick my death partners, should I die, and my life slaves, should I win. I didn't expect to see Earth heroes sprinting through the arena village chasing one of the pygmy demons I had just delivered to Zatara.

I had them all figured; human, Kihyu in shadow tongue, for Robin and the archer. Super Human, Zilo Kihyu, for Kid Flash. Jam Kihyu, not human, for the Martian. The Atlantean with the pretty eyes, Laklieries, water dancer. As for the boy in the Superman shirt, I couldn't tell. He smelled human and he did not.

Just like this guy. 

Now that I think about it, the Martian and the girl wearing the 80s outfit smell exactly the same.

Well, this is interesting.

"Piper, weren't you assigned to Conner and Megan as their guide?" Mr Carr questions from across the yard.

I glance at the remainders- Carr, Marvin, Wendy, 'Conner' and 'Megan'.

"Not until the bell rings," I say boredly, staring at him dead in the eye. Seconds later, the bell sounds and I turn to them. "Hi, I'm Piper, student council president and your guide."

Megan shakes first. Her hands are cold, not nervous and clammy like they should be. The guy looks skeptical, but he takes my hand anyway.

"So formal," Marvin laughs.

I don't look at him, "Follow me." As I turn around, I place my foot on Marvin's board and kick it with a bit of inhuman strength, sending it racing across the yard.

"Piper!" He whines, running after it as Wendy laughs.

I'm not entirely sure what to do with this information. Tell my mom that I know first, maybe? Everything I know about these guys I owe to her and her position in the Justice League as Pitch Black.

"Do you have your schedules or anything?"

"Uh, no, just our stationery," Megan says.

"Well we'll get your schedules first."

As I lead them through the hallways, I can't help but hope we're in the same class. It would be very...entertaining to mess with them. 

"They're pretty," Megan suddenly says, drawing my attention.

"Pardon?"

"You're clothes are pretty. I like the flowers," She says, looking nervous about the comment. Perhaps she's not used to talking to people. Or, humans, I guess. Not that I'm human.

"Thank you, I make them myself," I tell her. Today is Monday, flower day. I'm wearing a polyester short-legged, long-sleeved playsuit with a black base and big pale pink roses on it. "You're clothes are interesting. Very 80s, I like it." I glance over my shoulder to see her blushing brightly and Conner regarding every passing person with suspicion.

Okay, so maybe they're baby lambs who need shepherding.

We enter the office and are faced with Mrs Wedge, the desk lady looks less than impressed to see me, "Miss Song, what can I do for you?" Her smile is tight, her tone sweet probably due to the presence of Conner and Megan. 

"I have Conner Kent and Megan Morse here for their schedules."

Wedgie's (as Martin calls her) evil, pale eyes stare past me to the new kids, expression shifting, "Welcome to Happy Harbour High, Miss Morse, Mr Kent."

Megan says something sweet in reply. Expectedly, Conner remains silent. 

"Where have you come from, dears?" She asks as she clicks around on her one hundred year old computer. Interested in the lie they're going to build, I busy myself pulling out my own schedule to compare.

"I'm from Chicago and Conner is from Kansas."

My mother told me Martians can read minds. I wonder if M'gann is reading Wedgie's mind and seeing how much she hates children? Especially me, for that matter.

"Kansas! How lovely! Why have you come to our little corner of the coast?"

"To get their schedules," I answer for them, pointing to the two freshly-printed sheets. Mrs Wedge glares at me. I stare back at her dully. She turns in her wheelie chair to the other side of her cubicle and snatches them out. She hands them to me with the same unimpressed face. "May we never meet again," I tell her.

As soon as we're back out into the hallway, Megan asks me what just happened.

"You probably just met the worst thing about the school; Mrs Wedge. She's not here on Thursdays and Fridays though," I explain. "You're lockers were put next to mine purposely. You can set up your books in there."

When we reach our lockers, bright red and freshly cleaned since school just started, I hand them the locker codes that were given to me last week.

"Follow the instructions on there. I'm going to see what classes we have together."

Comparing schedules, it's clear Megan and Connor are very similar. In fact all of their classes are together except one of their electives. Megan is taking Biology as one of her electives, whereas Conner is taking Chemistry. They're in the same English, Civics and PE class. Both of them are also in my Algebra II, Science and French classes. I have AP Literature, History, Textiles and Business and Marketing without them.

"Looks like you start your week with Civics. I have Literature. I can walk you to class- You've already met the teacher. The goatee who broke up your fight?" I tell them as they take their books out, looking through them to find their civics equipment. "I'll pick you up from class and we'll go to Algebra together, okay?"

They nod, but share a different look with each other. Megan appears nervous and Conner seems to be covering his own real feelings up with a frown. I don't know much about these two other than the fact that Miss Martian is, well, a Martian- and Superboy is supposedly Kryptonian. Though he smells more like a diluted version of the one time I got to meet Superman.

My mom told be Martian Man Hunter can communicate telepathically. As I get my own books out, I wonder if Megan and Conner have been talking to themselves this whole time.

"Did you make your pencil case too?" She asks, pointing to it in my hand. I have a few, but today I have my favourite, one with frangipanes on it.

"Yeah, if I have scraps left over then I usually make little things with them. I get all my materials from Providence on the weekends." I shut my locker and nod my head down the hallway to indicate where we're heading. "Have you been to Providence?"

They walk beside me, instead of behind, "We arrived at the airport there, but came straight here," Megan says. I can't tell if that's true, or a lie.

"In that case, you're welcome to join me this weekend. I need more materials. I'm going there on Saturday." I'd love to hear more about the lie they're trying to build. It would give me the best angle for my 'big reveal'.

"R-Really? You're inviting us?"

It's kind of sad how taken aback she sounds, "Yeah, usually I go on my own unless Wendy and the others inconveniently show up. It's kind of what everyone does here, since this is just a town. So what do you say?"

I look at Conner; he shrugs and looks away. Megan really wears the pants in this...whatever it is.

"We'd love to!" She shrills, looking far to excited to be normal.

"Great."

I stop them at the door of the Civics classroom. Carr gives me a wave and I ignore him.

"I'll see you in, like, an hour. Okay?"

They both linger at the door, Conner's expression darkening when he sees Mal in there. Mal isn't all that bad, he's more or less a victim of everyone expecting him to be a certain way. Naturally he tries to act it out. They'll get along eventually.

Megan thanks me, takes a deep breath and steps in.

Conner gives me a short nod and follows.

Carr welcomes them with a big smile, clapping his hands together. I step out of the way as more students for this class enter. Megan and Conner head towards a desk near the back.

I shake my head, trying to dispel the mother-duck feelings. They'll be fine, even if they are a bit awkward...

Dammit. I'm stuck with them. I know it.

◊