It was five-fourty, and Shaylee still had no clue what the heck was going on. She'd been standing on the football field, in the cold for about twenty minutes and still no Cooper. She sighed, watching as cold misty air escaped her lips. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky seemed in the state of twilight. The football stadium lights were beaming, and were slowly starting to shut off. She blinked and was now face to face with the boy in denim, Cooper beside him. "Tell me what the hell is going on." Shaylee said bluntly, forcefully even. Maybe she didn't want to know, she was scared to.

"Not here." Cooper muttered, lowering his voice even though nobody was around for possibly miles.

"Vlarissa's?" The denim boy asked, turning towards Cooper and completely ignoring Shaylee's presence. Cooper shrugged, "Only safe place, honestly. Provence won't dare touch the Shayne's."

Shaylee stood there confused, and hugged her jumper tighter to herself. "Hello? You do realise I'm still standing here right? And who the heck is Vlarissa? And I still have no idea what the hell happened to me during assembly! And what is up with our principle!?" Shaylee demanded. The denim boy turned towards her and sighed, "Everything will be answered. After we go to Vlarissa's."

Shaylee scoffed, subconsciously backing away a step. "I'm not going anywhere with you. I don't even know you's." Cooper gave her an apologetic look.

"I'm afraid you have no choice, miss." And with that, the boy in denim lurched at Shaylee. He grabbed her, and placed her onto Cooper's back. "Hold on." Cooper half-grinned.

Shaylee unwillingly did what she was told, and then they started running. The denim boy was sprinting, faster than humanly possible. Leaping over cars, and dodging trees. Cooper was doing the same, and was right on his tail. Everything seemed to blur past them, and fade together in a confused whizz of scenery. "I'm Calador by the way." The denim boy grinned, leaping over a bright red car. "This is my brother Cooper. Quite slow ain't he?" Calador chuckled, turning around to face them. Shaylee swallowed deeply, and didn't answer. Calador laughed again, making Cooper smirk and roll his eyes. "I might be slow to you, but to her I must be superhuman." That was definitely one way to put it.

"We were gonna make you ride on me, but I let a witch do that once- and let's just say I was running so fast the back of my jacket ended up stained with puke."

"W-witch?" Shaylee murmured, as they ran along the gravel roads. Little bits of the gravel began to fling up but no indentation was made, it was like they weren't even running at all.

Cooper and Calador shared a smirk. "You really do know nothing." And with that said, they halted on the lawn of the gloomy house next door to her own.

Shaylee shakily slid off Cooper's back, her legs were wobbly and she felt faint. "Easy there, love." Calador steadied her, and helped her walk up to the porch steps.

"Maybe halfies have weaker stomachs than witches." Calador jokes, as the door to her neighbours house swung open and standing there was a latina, dark haired woman. She didn't look much older than them, and had a tattoo of a skull with a rose twisted around it on her neck. "Come in. We were beginning to worry- y'know with the Shadowers and all." She ushered them inside, and locked the door behind them.

Calador led her into the living room, which was packed with people. She recognized most of them from the assembly, but a few unfamiliar faces stuck out to her. Even her principal, Tom, was there. He looked stressed out, and massaged his temples with his eyes squeezed shut. "Please sit, Shaylee." Shaylee swallowed, and took an empty seat beside the blonde, scary looking girl. The latina stood in front of the group, and clasped her hands together. "As you all know, this girl sitting with us is none other than Shaylee Davey." A few murmurs erupted from the group, and the woman raised her hands, silencing them. "It seems we know more about her, then she knows about herself." Shaylee shifted on the couch.

The woman offered her a warm smile. "Shaylee. Do you know who your mother is?"

Shaylee looked around the room, and then back at her. "Maya Davey, ma'am."

"And your father?"

"Paul Armani."

"Then you'd be wrong, miss." The woman concluded, making Shaylee feel faint again.

"Shaylee. Is as you know a half-blood. Or as some people would call her a halfie." Nobody seemed shocked. But she certainly did.

"Uhm- wh-what's a halfie?" Shaylee mumbled.

"Exactly what it sounds like." The blonde huffed from beside her, Shaylee turned to look at her. "You're not completely human."

"Ember." The shaggy haired boy hissed, "You could be less indelicate."

Ember's head swung towards him, and a low, husky growl rumbled in her throat. "Stand down." The stance boy ordered. When Ember didn't listen, his voice got more authoritative. "I said stand down!" She looked over at him, giving a soft whimper and slumping into the couch.

"You kids need to quieten down," Spoke up Tom for the first time, he took his glasses off and placed them onto his head. "Let her speak."

The latina gave him a smile, "Thank you, Tom. Now there's been some speculation on what species you are for many years. But Nina here said she could sense what you are." The latina woman continued, gesturing towards the dark skinned girl from assembly. Nina gave her an awkward smile, and Shaylee turned back to the latina. "We have reason to believe that your father is someone we know all too well." There was a slight edge to her tone.

But before the woman could speak again, Shaylee leapt up from her seat. "Are you all crazy!?" She bellowed looking around at them all. "Are you running some sort of crazy cult!?" She turned to the latina woman, her nostrils flaring. She felt sick to her stomach, she wanted to scream, vomit, and above all wanted to get the hell out of here. The chandelier, and room began to shake rapidly, a few objects began to float and the lights flickered. Things began to circle around the room, and Shaylee couldn't care less. Everyone looked around surprised, and the latina woman stepped forward an inch. "Vlarissa." The green eyed boy warned, only a few steps behind her. Vlarissa put a hand up to silence him. "Look." The latina woman said, her voice was warm. She put a hand on Shaylee's shoulder. "I know this is all- overwhelming to you. But I, we can help you." She gave her a sad smile. "Your possibly the only one that can help us." Shaylee shook herself harshly out of her grasp, and backed towards the door making sure she could see each and every one of them. "Shaylee. We want to help." Cooper said, his eyes were sad and he took a daring step closer. She pointed a shaky finger at them, "Stay right there!" She yelled, making Cooper put his hands up in surrender. "You all- stay the hell away from me." She snarled and opened the door rushing out.

"Nice. This meeting was so productive." Ember scoffed.

"Shut it Ember." Ryan ordered. Ember looked at him with betrayal swelling in her eyes.

"Should we go check on her?" Melvin asked, his colour turning green.

Vlarissa pondered this for a moment, "We should leave her be. She's not ready to accept her place in the world."

"None of us were." Ryder mumbled, watching as the girl leapt off their front steps.

She practically flew off their steps, and sprinted like a maniac across their lawn and into her front yard. She flung her door open, and then remembered to slow down a tad. She had to look like everything was normal. "Hey ma." She closed the door behind her, and plonked her keys on the unit beside the door. "Hey hon, how was your first day?" She was in an armchair with a bottle of wine, a book and in front of a crackling fire. Shaylee cleared her throat, "Erm- interesting."

"Any cute boys?" Her mother turned back to look at her and smirked.

"Officially leaving this conversation." Shaylee thudded up the stairs.

"Ant told me how you looked at them this morning!" Her mother called, chuckling as she did. Shaylee's door shut, and she plonked onto her bed. Something was SERIOUSLY wrong with those people. Paul was her father, that was that. End of discussion. Those people were obviously a crazy, worshipping cult of some sort. She sighed, and stared up at her ceiling. She was in a town full of crazies. Shaylee scoffed to herself, Vibrant culture? More like a culture full of weirdos.

She didn't see the cult people the next day. The table that they sat at in the cafeteria, remained empty. Nobody else in the high school dared sit there. Shaylee sat at a table in a corner, by herself. It wasn't until around a week later until something shocking happened. "These aren't reserved for the queen or anything?" Shaylee's eyes snapped up, and a familiar pair of striking green eyes looked down at her. He shrugged, sitting down anyways. "I thought I told you and your clan of freakazoids to keep the hell away from me." Shaylee huffed.

"Ouch." His tone was sarcastic, and he rolled his eyes.

"Do you want something?" Shaylee offered, taking a sip out of the coke can she had.

"No." He stabbed some pees and shoved them in his mouth.
Shaylee huffed, and turned away from him. He smirked, "It's fun making you mad."

She glared at him, and got up to leave. "Wait." The boy huffed. Shaylee looked over at him, slowly sitting back down. Her eyebrows raised, and she gestured to him to go on. "I'm Ryder."

"And I'm annoyed." She stood up abruptly and swiftly walked out of the cafeteria. Ryder grinned, getting up and trailing after her. Shaylee dodged around a group of laughing cheerleaders, and nearly bumped into a boy smoking a joint. Ryder slid and hurried down the hallway after her. "Look halfie." Ryder was in front of her now, jogging backwards.

"Don't call me that." Shaylee pushed past him sharply. Ryder jogged after her, "Davey. I didn't introduce myself out of politeness."

Shaylee rolled her eyes, "Pity?" She dodged a skateboarder, who decided it was a great idea to skate down a crowded hallway.

"Believe me I'm not that nice." Ryder repiled, as they turned a corner. "Trust me. I don't give an ounce about your feelings, and particularly don't care for you at all."

Her eyes rolled again, "Noted."

Ryder was seriously not winning her over, he really sucked at this socialising thing.

Shaylee pushed open the double doors that led out into the parking lot, and belined across the carpark. "But just hear me out." Ryder was in front of her again. She tried to move past him, but he clasped a hand on her shoulder. "Get off me." Her voice was venomous, and her eyes menacing.

"Not until you hear what I have to say." People walking past had begun to stare, and start whispering again. Great, she was the root of another gossip train.

She huffed, crossing her arms across her chest. "Talk."

He adjusted his bag strap, "Look. I personally don't give a damn about how this affects you." She tried to move past him, but he grabbed her harshly on the arm.

"Let go." She seethed.

"No." He hissed back, his green eyes glinting now.

"A few of my best friends are half-bloods. My whole world is in danger because of them being halfies. They're being hunted. Y'know all those missing posters around town?" She nodded, "Halfies, all of them. They're being hunted by those shadowy people from the assembly, they're called Shadowers. All those halfies are probably dead by now." His voice was sharp. "We need a halfie like you to help us-"

Shaylee snarled, "You're doing a horrible job of winning me over."

"Please Davey. They're not only hunting my friends...." He stared deeply into her eyes.

"They're hunting you."