Author: Jillian Anderson

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I am jolted awake by the sound of the bell and file out of the library along with everyone else as they make their way back outside and into the busy corridors for passing period. I do a double take as I watch Victoria come out of the gym hand in hand with Jackson. He’s laughing at something she said, and she’s twirling her hair around her finger while she swings her arm back and forth as their hands are intertwined. Victoria is decidedly not mad at me anymore because she lets go and comes skipping over to me with a giant smile on her face. She twirls me around and gives me a hug that lifts me off my feet as she says that Jackson told her how angelic she looked and how her beauty had captivated him, and he couldn’t seem to look away. 

“What did you say to him?”

She smiles thoughtfully before saying, “The only thing he needed to hear was…Worked like a charm, don’t you think?” 

Victoria turns to me expectantly, as if I have something good to say about her and him together after his girlfriend just died. I felt very unsettled and didn’t know what to say, so I stayed silent.

The late bell had rung and the halls were now deserted, leaving me alone with Victoria. She rams me against a set of lockers so hard that I start to feel dazed and start seeing stars. I fell hard on the cement and lay there feeling weak and broken. Victoria doesn’t seem to be done and lifts me up with one hand around my neck as she starts to choke the life out of me. Obviously, by now I welcome the darkness that starts to fill my vision and hope this moment will be over so I can just die. It seems to happen in slow motion as I start gasping for air after she releases her grip on me. I slide down to the floor once more as her face comes into view. Victoria wags her finger at me and says, “You have no idea who you are messing with. I made you who you are and this is how you thank me! I can be your best friend or your worst nightmare-your choice.” I struggle to sit up as she seems to blend into the shadows as she walks away, as if there’s this dark energy surrounding her. 

Feeling disoriented, I sit and struggle to grasp what just happened. Someone must have flipped a switch inside her head, because whatever that was, it wasn’t human. Something supernatural seemed to be at work, because nothing else could explain how a five-foot girl who weighed only 100 pounds could do what she just did. What was she, and more importantly, where did she come from? I have a desperate need to send her back to whatever ghostly plane she came from. I have no clue where to start, and half the school already thinks I am a crazy loner who has been taken under the wing of the mysterious new girl who seemed to take pity on me. I blossomed from an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.

If Victoria could charm a boy into getting what she wants, maybe I can charm my way into the good graces of Carly, our resident paranormal expert and all things weird. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and if I have to get down on my knees and beg Carly to help me, so be it. I am so not having a major lapse in judgment and know that I have to stop her before she tries anything else.

Here I am, knowing I am way over my head and about to beg Carly for her help. While most teenagers are out basking in the sunshine, others tend to cling to the shadows. This girl practically blends into the shadows with her dark brown, almost black hair and a wardrobe that is sapped of almost all colors, except for black. Well, that and the streaks of dark pink hair. Most students steer clear of her, but I, on the other hand, feel drawn to her, like she and I share some unspoken secret. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. One step at a time. The strategy is simple: 

1. Beg for assistance, being dramatic if necessary.

2. Read up on Victoria’s past by venturing into the restricted section. 

3. Try not to make a fool of myself and end up dead in the process.

4. Prevent Jackson from being doomed to roam the Earth forever with Victoria, whatever she is.

5. Defeat a manipulative, two-faced psychopath who happens to be in the form of a seemingly innocent teenage girl. 

Nothing scary about that, right? Wrong! In fact, it is quite scary to go toe to toe with what could be the Devil herself.

Stay tuned! This is only the beginning.