Aaron turned to face me, wide-eyed and determined, in less than half a second. The daggers sailed straight for him, but he plucked them out of the air like they were paper planes instead of deadly weapons.

He’d once told me his gift was enhanced senses, and so far, that was the only thing he’d done to make me believe that.

His eyes glowed with the most brilliant of golds, and again I wondered why. I cocked my head to the side, watching him through narrowed slits. Any and every sound around me came out warped, and raw. Instead of hearing words, I heard screeching and panting, but one thing stood out among it all. His breathing.

Slow and steady, it calmed me, and I didn’t know why. The door in my mind was shaking violently, letting streams of golden light slip through the cracks. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but something made me reach out. Just to touch it. The handle wiggled in my grip, warm under my hand. It wanted me to open it.

Until time sped up. A hand latched around my arm, ripping me from the surreal moment.

“No!” I didn’t know who said it, but fire sprang to life in a wall around me as I turned to face my attacker… Lily.

Her eyes darkened to black as the wisps flowed from me to her. For a moment, I felt better. The world seemed lighter. Easier. Until she started screaming.

The wall of fire around us vanished just as Lily collapsed to her knees, and I remained standing. Unscathed.

“Stop! Stop! The lies. The secrets. His eyes are so dark,” Lily shrieked, ranted. Those weren’t her thoughts, though. They were mine.

“The world of the dead is coming. They are coming,” she continued.

I didn’t know how to stop her. I didn’t know how to comfort or console, when the fears she saw were my own. No one dared to touch her or help her, and the more she took, the stronger I became. I pried her fingers from my wrist, hoping that breaking the contact would be enough.

“That’s not supposed to happen,” Alexandra said uneasily.

I whirled on her, the shadows swirling under my skin once more. Unlike the other people Lily had taken from, I wasn’t weak. On the contrary, my power was nearly limitless, and this might kill her yet.

“I told you not to mess with things you don’t understand. I told you not to do this!” I yelled. If it wasn’t one form of madness, it was another. I could never escape it… Maybe it was time to give in.

“The demons are here. They live among us. They wear the mask of a friend, but you never know where evil lurks.”

I snapped back around to my sister. Her eyes were no longer black. No, something much darker was in possession of her now, and it was sending me a message. Violet eyes stared up at me as her hair ran black.

“I’m watching, Selena. Our time is coming.”

Lily fainted as the darkness seeped out of her skin and crawled back to me. Strong arms yanked me away, but it was no use. Like my hair or my skin, the power belonged to me and me alone. It rose from the ground, weaving around me but not hurting as it sank back under the surface.

With my sister unconscious, a familiar pair of arms wrapped around me, and more bewildered stares than I could count, my only thought as I blacked out for the second time in a week was that this wasn’t how I’d planned on spending my junior year at Daizlei Academy.

* * *

“Long time no see.” She cackled. Her glowing eyes made me uneasy, as always.

“That was quite the show you put on. Was it for my benefit or theirs?” I asked, being cheekier than I should’ve been with her.

She’s a figment of your mind, Selena. You don’t give nightmares credibility. You don’t name them. You don’t talk to them.

The forest was lighter tonight, not quite so dark or heavy. I should’ve known better than to let myself fall into a false sense of security.

“You liked that, did you?” She purred, her pointed teeth all the more menacing when I could actually see them.

The wind howled as it barreled down the rows of trees. The dirt was cold and compact, my bare feet hardly making a dent as I walked. She would follow; she always did.

“It’s time to wake up,” I muttered to myself again and again. It was my prayer, but no god answered. Where the hell was Nyx when you actually wanted her? There was a reason my father only ever used that name as a curse.

“You think I can’t reach you when you’re awake?” she asked mockingly, as she trailed along next to me. She was too polished for the forest, more polished than I’d ever seen her. In the last year, she’d gone from looking homeless to swaggering it up in my dreams with her corsets and leather jeggings. Something in the change both worried and confused me.

“I know you can’t,” I insisted, pushing onward.

“And yet I just did, and through your sister, no less. Her soul was too light to hold me, though. It didn’t feel right. We couldn’t connect. You and I…we’re perfection. You’re the first one who’s ever been able to handle me, you know. You’re the strongest. The only one worthy,” she rambled.

For once, it didn’t sound crazy, though. She was changing, evolving, and with it her language, her dress, even her mannerisms.

“You’re just a nightmare. Part of my imagination. You don’t have thoughts. You don’t get a history. You may be a part of me, but I’m not a part of you.”

Her wicked laugh rang through the night, as her cold fingers locked around my wrist, bringing me to a halt. Her pointed nails ran along the veins there—a silent warning of what would happen if I pulled away.

“Don’t touch me,” I spat, but the words didn’t have the bite I was looking for, and she knew it.

Her eyes were sphinxlike spheres of glowing amethyst, set in black veined sockets. “I have no intention of hurting you. I am you, and it’s only a matter of time until you see it.”

Her words sent a shiver down my spine.

She dropped my wrist and backed away, her Cheshire cat smile haunting me long after she was gone.

The sudden jarring foghorn in my dream awoke me, and this time I remembered everything.

“I think it’s time we all had a chat,” a voice next to me said.

My eyes flashed open, and I tilted my head to the side to see who’d spoken, even though I already knew. Aaron was seated on a too-small plastic chair, next to the bunk I was lying in. Which wasn’t my bunk, but Blair’s. On the other side of him, my friends were all crammed together on his bed, for who knew what reason. Alexandra stifled a gasp when I opened my eyes, and I had a feeling I knew why, but didn’t want a mirror to confirm my suspicion. I tried to sit up, but a gentle hand held me back.

“How are you feeling?” Aaron asked, with a surprising kindness in his voice, not the animalistic roars and growls I was getting used to hearing.

“Like I was knocked out of my body and dragged back. One of you assholes hit me like a freight train.” My head pulsed, searing like it was being cleaved in two.

“Apologies. That was me,” Johanna said. She came into view from around the corner of the bed, and I glared up at her.

“What did you do?” I asked, forcing myself into a sitting position despite Aaron still trying to force me down.

Johanna smiled tightly, her eyes glowing gold briefly before it disappeared.

“And what’s with the creepy glowing eyes? Why does everyone have gold eyes?” I asked, my questions bubbling to the surface, and with them my anger.

“Well, you’re one to talk,” she said, motioning to my own eyes.

Yep. As I’d suspected, they were still violet. It was fading less and less everyday. Pretty soon, they were going to stay this way permanently, unless I figured out a way to stop it. Still, I gave her a glare and the middle finger. Kindness was never my strong suit.

Blair sighed deeply from her spot next to my sister, while Amber and Tori let out a laugh. Aaron…Aaron just watched me with his ever intense and always perplexed gaze.

“You weren’t raised in this world, were you?” Johanna asked, more curious now. She was either ignoring me flipping her off or didn’t understand that it was an insult. I suspected it was the former and she had the patience of a saint.

“No. She wasn’t,” Aaron said.

I turned my gaze back to him, narrowing them at his audacity in answering for me.

“Do not be angry with your signasti. He means well,” the girl said.

Signasti?

“Why do you call him my bound?” I said, stunning both her and Aaron into temporary silence.

“You know Latin?” Johanna asked, her eyebrows pulling together more and more the longer we talked.

“My father ensured I had the best possible education until he died. I speak Russian and Latin. I’m skilled in four different forms of combat, and can wield almost any weapon like a master. I’ve died and come back. I’ve fought demons and Vampires alike, and right now I’m getting more irritated by the second as you keep asking questions without answering mine.” The bite in my tone didn’t faze her in the slightest.

In fact, she laughed, as did several others I didn’t really know or recognize. All part of the nine.

“Also, who are the rest of you people? We all sleep in the same goddamn room stacked on top of each other like dominoes, and I still don’t know who you are.”

“You are not what I expected, Selena Foster, but I think we’ll hold off on introductions for now. I will answer your questions as best I can. Firstly, what you called ‘knocking you out of your body’ is actually quite accurate. You needed to be shut down temporarily, and so I sent you into the spirit realm to try to help your mind heal. The body doesn’t always know how or when to do it for itself, so I…expedited the process. You seem more or less yourself, although the purple is still there.” She frowned like something had just occurred to her.

I wanted to ask her what but stopped myself—at least someone was telling me what the hell was going on here.

“As for our creepy eyes. It’s because we are what pureblooded Supes consider half-breeds. My family, and those of your friends, were blended. Think of it as someone having a dark parent and a light one. Wouldn’t the child be mixed?”

I nodded stiffly. I wasn’t that dense. “I’m not an idiot. What are you mixed with? How is that even possible from a biological perspective?” I asked, for once feeling like the smart one in the room.

Johanna grinned just a little.

I’m happy you find this so amusing. I rolled my eyes.

“Certain species are more compatible than others. The theory is that far enough back, we were all one species, which over the millennia became many. My father was both part-Supernatural and part-Witch, which is one of the most common. I believe your signasti is part-Shapeshifter.”

There was that term again. My signasti. My bound. I didn’t even want to try to interpret that, or why they kept saying it. My lips pursed, and Johanna fell silent, probably sensing the reason.

“And no matter the combination, your eyes are always gold?” I asked.

Johanna nodded

“What are you, Amber?” I asked.

Several heads turned to her, and she blushed just a little but recovered fast enough. “My mom was a Shapeshifter and my dad’s a Supernatural.” I could tell she wanted to say more, but Aaron gave her a look, and she stopped short.

“And you?” I asked pointedly, drawing my legs into a cross-legged position. The sheet pooled around me. My tiny tank top was pulled down just enough to give the room an eyeful. I adjusted myself quickly and discreetly, but Aaron’s gaze hadn’t left me since the moment I woke up—and that was a bit unnerving.

“My father is a Shapeshifter,” he said stiffly. I assumed that meant his mom was normal, but I guess you couldn’t make assumptions.

Alec caught my gaze. His eyes were also gold, but that didn’t make sense. Lucas’s were green. Tori’s were green.

“And you?” I asked him.

Tori shifted uncomfortably, and when he looked at her, she gave him a shrug.

“I know what you’re thinking. I was born before my parents met, though. My birth father was a Shapeshifter, and he left my mother when I was very young. Tori and Lucas are my half-siblings.” He seemed uncomfortable enough that I let it drop, but one answer led to another question.

“Where is Lucas?” I asked.

A very slight rumbling came from Aaron, but I could tell he was trying to keep himself under control.

“I don’t know what your deal is, but I’m getting sick—” I started to snap again.

“The boy is lucky he’s not dead. While you may not know any better, that little wanker did,” Johanna said, attempting to be my voice of reason.

“Where is he?” I asked, putting more of an edge behind my tone.

“Not here,” she mimicked.

I wanted to facepalm myself. Clearly, he isn’t here, Captain Obvious. “Not here as in he’s being beaten and tortured in another room, or not here as in he went to the gym?” I knew I was being dramatic, but I needed to ask, and everyone here seemed hesitant to bring him up because of the arrogant boy sitting next to me.

Johanna’s lips twitched in what I thought was a smile. “He went off on his own for a while, as far as I’m aware,” she added, her eyes glowing again before she nodded.

A small moan came from another bed—a voice more familiar than even my own.

“Lily,” I breathed. I tore through the room and was at her side before most of them could even blink. Her body looked so tiny, curled up in a ball on Alexandra’s bed. I crouched on my knees before her, and pulled the blanket back far enough that I could see her face.

“What the—” I dropped the blanket, backing away.

Her hair was as black as mine, not a strand of blond in sight. I’d dreamed of my other, which meant I’d been out for a while, but for how long?

“She’s still healing, but it may never be the same again. Whatever she was trying to do to you rebounded, and she was hurt. I was concerned it would do the same when it returned, but whatever rejected her seems to cling to you.” She sounded surprised, disturbed, even, by the thought.

I wasn’t, though. I knew what it was. My darkness. My particular brand of evil. Like the shadows, my power clung to me—and if my other was to be believed, she did too. I reached forward to brush Lily’s hair from her face.

“I would rather you not,” Johanna said, catching my hand before our skin made contact.

I faced her, my mood darkening instantly.

She held up her hands in surrender. “It’s not you I’m worried about. Just like you lash out in your sleep, she is too. Touching her could accidentally hurt her if she starts trying to pull from you.”

I stared at her, silently weighing my options. “How much time has passed?” I murmured.

“Two days.”

“Has she woken up?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.

“No.”

At least she didn’t sugarcoat it. There was no point asking if she would wake up. The brain was a fickle thing; maybe it would just take more time for her to get better. I had to believe that. She wasn’t dead, and that was something. I just hoped she was the same Lily when she woke up, and not some sort of hybrid demon changed by whatever the other me had done to her.

“She needed more time. You have a signasti’s strength to aid you, and she does not.”

There was that word again. The only question she’d so very carefully danced around, but I wasn’t having it. If Lily would be okay, it was time to get some more answers.

“Why do you keep referring to him like this? What does that even mean?” I asked then instantly wished I hadn’t.

“Signasti animam is a soul-bonded person. Think of it like—”

“I think that’s enough, Johanna,” Alec said quickly.

I was already backing away. Toward the wall. Toward the darkness.

She watched me coolly, never changing her stance, never advancing. I wish Aaron had done the same.

I could handle sickness and crazy.

I could handle demons and Vampires.

I could handle all this half-breed nonsense, and the hippie vibes she gave me from time to time.

I, however, could not and would not buy into this soul shackled nonsense. I’d studied Latin. Signasti roughly translated to bound. Pretty vague.

Signasti animam, on the other hand, that translated to soul shackled—quite literally. And I most definitely was not okay with being shackled to my sister’s ex-boyfriend. More chains were the last thing I needed, even as the noose tightened ever so slightly.

Aaron stood from his rickety chair, looking at me like I was everything, when all I wanted was to be nothing. Soul shackled? Not happening. It only took one look from him, and I bolted straight for the door.