Arriving at the school, Rylan saw her brother talking to Ashley in the middle of the crowded courtyard. She needed to do just the same, talk to Ashley and figure out what the hell she had done to her. Oddly enough, standing about 50 feet away, Rylan could hear their conversation as if she were right next to them. Kyle seemed to be questioning Ashley about why she had skipped the rest of school. Ashley lied easily, almost too easily. She told him that she felt sick and went to the nurse to lie down for a while. Kyle seemed to genuinely believe her, causing Rylan to shake her head incredulity. She rolled her eyes and tried to play it smart. By controlling her speed to walking, rather than running, she helped herself go around the courtyard unnoticed. She passed a few trees on her way, their leaves having already changed color. They’d only been changed a few weeks now. Fall was Rylan’s favorite season. She loved the way the different colored leaves laid on the ground like a warm, welcoming blanket. She also loved the smell of Autumn; the pumpkins, leaves, hay, and warm apple cider. Of course everyone on the streets had their houses al decorated for Halloween in a little over a week. All the school kids were already going crazy ready for that special night once a year when you got to be somebody else. The sensations of Fall gave Rylan chills.

“Finally! Where have you been?” Kyle said, with a look of shock and agitation as soon as she made it to them. Picking up his heavy backpack from the ground, he swung it over his shoulder and watched as Rylan thought her answer through. Frowning, Rylan flipped her dark, brown hair sassily.

“Oh, hush. Don’t get all worked up; you were perfectly fine talking to Ashley. I had something to do and now I’m back, so we can go home.” She made a clearly impatient noise and looked at him as if to telepathically tell him this was important. Kyle stood unmoving next to Ashley.

“Actually, I asked Ashley if she would like to come over.” Rylan looked at the girl standing beside her brother. She had weird vibes about her. Was she as innocent as she acted? Rylan could not tell. Her gut told her that she was hiding something, but Rylan ignored it for now. She hardly had proof of anything truly suspicious. Ashley’s dark brown hair blew in the cool breeze and splayed her hair along her face. She returned Rylan’s knowing stare, as if they were both mentally replaying the situation in the bathroom together.

“Great. I have some more questions to ask her. Let’s go,” Rylan said. Looking to Ashley, Kyle nodded towards the vamoosing Rylan and decided to follow her home.

The sun peeked around the clouds and illuminated the deep, blue sky. The air smelled of car exhaust and factory smoke. Rebekah’s hair was blown in the subtle wind as she kept ahold of Amira’s hand. They walked down a cracked sidewalk in the opposite direction of Cole and Maryssa. Only then did Rebekah remember she was visible and left for the humans to see her true, blue form. She snapped her fingers causing an eruption of aqua sparks to form, revealing her alter: pale skin and inky, black hair. She had forgotten put the alter on after leaving endless meetings with the warriors and the court. It had been days of non-stop interrogation of what happened and who and where. Rebekah was exhausted. She doubted she would be in any real trouble with the Head Court. She may get by with a slap on the hand, for she was close friends with the Headmaster.

Cole and Maryssa walked down the street passing by the school when they saw a group of three teenagers heading their way. One girl had dark hair and tan skin. Her beauty seemed to encapture Cole. He slowly broke from his trance to the icy, cold glare that was burning through him. He looked to see who was staring at him so intensely only to find it was the other girl in the group. She was definitely a mystic if she could see him and someone who clearly didn’t like him. Not a warlock, no glow. Probably some experiment. The warrior looked at the girl who’d not glared at him and smiled charmingly. Maryssa burst out laughing at his lame attempt at being a womanizer.

Distracted by the guy’s annoyingly perfect hair, Rylan didn’t see the giant pothole in the ground. Unknowingly, she stepped right into it and fell on the hard asphalt, falling on her ankle in an angle she knew probably shouldn’t be possible.

“Ow! Shit!” she yelled, catching the attention of everyone around including the annoyingly attractive boy she’d made eye contact with before her fall. It was his fault, anyway. She crawled away from the hole enough to sit up. She looked down at her black skinny jeans and fought the urge to cry. Rylan wasn’t a cry baby. She had gotten way over that. They’d had a rough start to life and she didn’t cry easily anymore, but whatever she’d just done to her ankle was making her tear up. Damn this pain. Crying made her weak. “Oh, no, no, no.”

Upon hearing a familiar voice screaming, Kyle stopped talking to Ashley and ran over to his sister, his puppy dog face clenching as he looked down to his sister who was clearly in a ton of pain.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his worry showing in his increasing volume. He squatted down beside her and noticed she was actually in tears. The only time he knew of his sister crying was dealing with their past every so often and some very intense pain that this must be. Of course, now he was all kinds of worried. Cole figured if the teenagers could see him anyway, why worry about not helping the lovely lady? He easily left his own sister behind and instantly ran over to the girl to try to help her up.

“Here. Let me help you.” He looked at her stunning, brown eyes and smiled. “Are you okay?” Rylan gazed up at the guy before her and her mouth forced her to smile up at him on instinct. Stupid mouth. He was one of those guys who was beautiful and knew it. He was okay looking, she guessed. He had shaggy, blonde hair and eyes that were a swirl of mud-brown and light-green. His odor of cologne and sweat mixed like ecstasy to Rylan, but she was suddenly brought back to reality when Kyle waved in front of her face.

“I’m fine! Or I was fine until I ripped my favorite pair of skinnies! God, nothing makes my butt look as good as these jeans.” Rylan seemed to be holding in her emotions. Cole and Kyle couldn’t tell if she was actually upset about a pair of jeans or was just playing with them. “Oh, and not to mention I think my ankle is broken!” She paused and practically growled down at the pothole. “Damn holes. Who does that? Just leaves a hole laying around!” She sighed with defeat and looked down at the rip in her jeans. Cole chuckled a bit at this and chose to help the girl off of the ground. Her jeans were indeed ripped and dusted with dirt. He put his arm around her and helped her up slowly. Kyle watched his sister get up without any assistance and was struck severely confused.

“What the hell?” Kyle asked with wide eyes.

Ashley ran over and held the other side of Rylan to cover up what was really happening; it was obvious Kyle was not aware of what was transpiring. Cole had only just realized what happened; the boy could not see him. Who and what was this girl? What was he supposed to do? He could either talk to the girl and make her sound completely insane to the boy, or he could help her up and walk away. He decided there was more fun in the first option.

“Do you need me to take you to a hospital? I could carry you,” Cole said. She looked the boy and smiled, her cheeks flushed with purely pain. Definitely not because of this annoyingly handsome boy helping her.

“Please. Kyle, you can take Ashley home. She doesn’t need to be dragged along with us,” Rylan asked them. Ashley looked at the warrior with curiosity. She knew what they were. Their kind hated all other Mystic beings, most definitely experiments. Being an extraordinarily egotistical species, they simply assumed they were better than everyone else. Ashley looked at them with her brown eyes and then back at Kyle. His gaze was focused on his sister, who had gone pasty in the face.

“Who are you talking to, Rylan? I need to take you to the hospital. I think you hit your head pretty hard.” He started walking toward her. Cole looked across the street at his sister, she looked annoyed at his sudden involvement in the situation. Then, he looked back at Rylan.

“Should I leave you with them? You can just nod if you want me to. I do not want them to think you are crazy. Or if you prefer, I can help you get to the hospital faster,” he offered once more. Rylan looked at her brother and to Ashley. She realized her brother couldn’t see the guy beside her and wondered if only she could see him. Maybe she had hit her head? Maybe she was going crazy. She was seeing things, this stupidly stunning boy being one. The breeze had started to pick up and the leaves on the trees rattled soothingly. She nodded.

“Thank you,” she whispered. He smiled a little and gave her to Ashley, trying to make it look as inconspicuous as possible. He watched as they hurried off to the closest hospital. He walked back to his sister whose face was filled with boredom.

“Really Cole? You cannot leave a pretty face alone, can you?” She laughed and started to head back to their home. Cole looked back at the departing group of teens and then to his sister.

“You know what, I will be home late tonight,” he said as he ran after the teenagers to make sure they were safe.