The next day at school, Raven approaches me. To my surprise, she shoves me against the lockers.

"What the hell are you doing?", I hiss. She smiles.

"Deals with the devil. We're all looking for someone whose demons play well with ours, and what story would be complete without a villain?", she simply states, blowing me a kiss. What. The. Hell! This is not normal. Then again, nothing is when Raven's around, I guess. I don't know.

Well, if she's saying that, then Luna's visit to her was completely useless. (Yeah, that was me and Cole... We told her to talk to Raven, it didn't go too well. Apparently.) I don't stop to think for even a minute, and I know it's stupid, but I can't help it.

I turn her around and punch her in the face, harder than I thought. She falls over and slowly picks herself up, turning to face me. Her mouth and nose bleeding, but she doesn't seem to notice yet. When she does, she touches her lip, and her finger comes away red and wet. She smirks like she's used to this, and I wouldn't be surprised if she was. Then, she does one of the weirdest things I've seen. She licks her finger and then wipes away the blood from her nose, still leaving blood trailing down her face.

"Oh, honey, you chose the wrong day to make me angry. Death will not do us part.", she says. And that, my friends, was the worst mistake of my life, not doing that ever again and probably won't cause she looks like she's about kill me. Yep, her eyes are green. I'm dead.

As soon as she curses me, I can feel my arm, a couple of ribs, and my nose break and then she takes out her knife and cuts my other arm.

"You will always, always, be fond of me. I represent all the sins you never had the courage to commit!", she snarls. I can't do anything, I'm on the floor. And in so much pain.

"It's not murder if you say sorry after, is it? You see me in the spotlight. This is our battle. Battle of the wits. You really wish, don't you? We both know that's not true though, is it? Don't lie, I can smell when you're lying.", she says, suddenly harsh. That's the last thing I hear before I'm surrounded by darkness. Again.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Is it any surprise that I wake up in the hospital? I wake up to bright lights and Cole's invading my personal space. I push him out of the way and sit up. His expression doesn't change the slightest.

"Raven attacked you. She broke a lot of your bones and cut your left arm, so now you have scars on both arms. She left you in the hallway. We found you at the period change, but an ambulance came right as we found you so that suggests that she called the ambulance. You've been out for about a week.", he says.

Oh, great, now I have scars down both of my arms. This girl is dangerous! Well, I know she's capable of more, I'm just glad I didn't get killed.

"Ok. How long was I out, what did I miss, and what did we do?", I ask, getting straight to the point. I don't usually miss a day of school, ever, so I want to know what I have to make up.

"I brought your work.", he says, handing me a folder. One sheet of math problems and a reading log, that was it. Each week we get a reading log for homework. Must be a Monday... oh well. Cole interrupts my thoughts.

"Luna was here a couple of times, so was Jack. They made cards and dropped them off." I turn to my side table and see the cards he mentioned, but the mention of my step brother causes me to look at him. "And I think Raven was here a couple of times as well. On her own, not with Jack or Luna."

I stare at him, wide-eyed. Raven, the girl who put me in here, came to visit me. My world is upside-down, but I guess pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Cole takes a deep breath.

"She's here right now, actually.", he said, looking at his phone. Raven walked into the room but didn't go anymore than 5 feet into the room. She leaned against the wall and stared at nothing. I think she spaced out...

"The bad moon's rising. I see darkness coming.", she said suddenly. I look at her with a confused look. What does she mean 'the bad moon's rising'? And what is 'the darkness'? Please no more attacks...

She looks up at me. I can't understand that look, it's like sadness and annoyance. Well... awkward silence.

"We are all looking for someone whose demons play well with ours. We all have the potential and ability.", she said, in a zoned out sort of way.

I give her a look of, "And?" and she gives a sharp huff.

"I can't elaborate at the moment. Sorry.", she snapped. And... she's back.

"Well you didn't have to get angry, you know.", I said, getting angry. I can see that familiar glint in her eyes. It's her warning sign. If you see a murderous glint in her eyes, run like hell.

"Fine! Hell forbid I try to be civil with my boyfriend's sister!", she snarls. Cole and I give her a look.

She smirks. "Don't look at me like that. You should already know this. Remember the warehouse?"

I do, but I don't want to... I don't want to believe that my step brother is dating the devil. Actually, scratch that. She makes the devil look like a fluffy, loveable bunny. I don't see how he can be evil during the day, and at night be loved by the same girl who has so much blood on her hands...

"By the way, you both have to be at the courthouse on Monday. You both are scheduled to testify at my trial.", she smirks. Cole and I both gape at her.

"What did you do?", Cole asks in a hushed voice.

"Stop questioning me or I'll put you six feet under. You can wait til Monday to find out.", she says. What did she do now? We didn't get an answer as she walks out of the room. I take out my phone and check the calendar for the 28th of March. Nothing, so it looks like I have to go to a trial.

Monday comes around, and Luna, Cole, Serena, and I are excused from school to testify at Raven's trial. In the car, I notice that Cole is fidgeting.

"Stop it. You'll be fine.", I hiss. He stops and looks at me.

"I'm worried. I've never testified at a trial before. What exactly am I supposed to do when they call me up?", he asks, obviously nervous by the tone of his voice.

"All you need to do is answer the questions truthfully. They'll walk you through it when we get there.", Serena tells him. "Relax."

He nods and takes a deep breath. We sit in silence for the rest of the ride, occasionally glancing at one another. Arriving at the courthouse, we're guided to our waiting area to take the stand. From where I'm sitting, I can see Raven led onto the stand, hands cuffed behind her back. She has on a smirk, so this can't end well.

"Raven Alise Stevens, you have been charged with the first degree murder of John Miller, 37, on March 23, 2016, on Diagmont Road. Do you accept these charges?", the judge asks. Raven just stands there, smirking.

"Maybe...", she drawls. The judge looks aggravated now.

"Miss Stevens, if you wouldn't mind...", he says.

"Not at all, Your Honor. Not at all.", she says innocently. Which is ironic, because here she is on trial.

"Thank you. You've entered a plea of not guilty, Miss Stevens. You will have a chance to present your defense in a moment, and then witnesses may be called.", he says. Raven presents her defense, although I wasn't really paying attention, I was trying to get Cole to stop fidgeting, so I missed most of it.

"... You could trust me, but then, where's the fun in that? I've been here before, I know how these work.", she finishes.

"Thank you, now if you have any witnesses, please call them."

"The defense recognizes Angelina Smith.", Raven's defense says. I get up slowly, and make my way to the witness stand, where I take the pledge to tell the truth the entire time.

"The accused is your classmate, correct? How would you describe her?"

"Yes, she is my classmate, although we're not friends. We sort have an enemy relationship between us. Describing her, I'd say rebellious, short-tempered, mean, um... manipulative, I guess..."

"How long have you known the accused?"

"I've known her since second grade, which is seven years.", I say, doing a quick mental calculation.

"Is the accused capable of murder, do you think?"

"More than. Definitely.", I immediately respond. My time in the stand wraps up and then Cole is called up.

"How long have you known the accused?"

"I only met her this year. Same with Angelina, Serena, and Luna. I switched schools.", he says, starting to relax. His time wraps up, and then so does Luna's, and Serena's, and then we're lead to the audience box, where we stay and watch the rest of the trial for today. The judge calls recess for today, and we have to come back tomorrow, even if we aren't going to be called onto the stand, just in case we are needed back on the stand for more evidence. Bleh.

The next day, after the trial wrapped up (Which ended at around 5. Raven was found not guilty.), Cole, Luna, and I go to the warehouse where we were last time to talk to her about the verdict. We find her in the middle of a science experiment.

"Come in and sit down. Have a science lesson.", she says, waving a hand at us. We all share a look and hesitantly sit down. I notice it's really cold, probably because of the big open freezer with fog spilling out of it. Her other hand was holding a beaker of some sort of substance. "I'm making difluoride krypton. When a krypton and fluorine mixture is cooled to -320.8℉, which is also the boiling point of nitrogen, and the krypton-fluorine mix is zapped with X-rays, the result is the formation of difluoride krypton, KrF₂."

She writes down the chemical transformation equation (which she said was Kr(s) + F2(s) → KrF2(s). I have no clue what that means, but whatever. I'm not a big chemist.), and takes off her safety glasses.

"Are you here about the verdict? If you are, I'm not talking about it. I got off, and you need to deal with it.", she says before any of us can open our mouths. Great, she can mind-read.

"Well, did you kill him?", Luna asks.

"Maybe...", Raven says in the same drawling tone she had at the trial. She looks around. "Yeah, what's it to you if I did?"

"It means that you lied in a court of law. You didn't get a fair trial or give fair evidence.", Luna says, standing up to face her sister.

"So? I've done it before. Didn't you hear me? I said I'd been there before, that I knew how they worked.", she says with the same bored expression. " And if you're going to get worked up, you can leave. The threat still stands for you."

Cole and I are confused. What does she mean? Well, we get our answer.

"It doesn't concern you, as it wasn't a threat for you.", Raven says, turning to us. Turning her back to her sister, she addresses Luna. "I think it's best if you and your friends leave. Now."

Luna doesn't even look back. She storms out of the warehouse, and as soon as we're all outside, she lets loose.

"Ugh. Raven is so infuriating sometimes! I can never get a straight answer out of her!I can't believe she lied in a court of law! She is constantly doing illegal things like she wants to be caught!", she yells. I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down before you wake the entire neighborhood. School's tomorrow, we should all go home now if we want to be able to get some sleep.", I say. She nods and we all head home. All we can do is wait for tomorrow, I guess.