 
# Magic Thief

### A novella set in the world of Ava Delaney: Lost Souls

## Claire Farrell

### Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

About the Author

Books by Claire Farrell:

# Introduction

Magic Thief (An Ari Novella)

*Best read after Crossroads*

Ari never heard of a magic thief until she was condemned as one, but that doesn't stop anyone from shipping her off to live alone in secret while she's being targeted by the leader of a powerful coven.

Loneliness is almost as bad as the thought of the witches binding her magic, so it isn't long before she finds trouble - and new friends who hate Ava Delaney and the Senate as much as Ari does.

When her old life and new conflict, Ari's choices will alter the balance of power, for bad or good.
**Copyright © Claire Farrell**

Book cover provided by NA Studio Design

* * *

**Licence Notes**

* * *

All Rights Reserved.

# Chapter 1

I watched him leave work. I watched him walk home. I watched him talk to a group of people outside the halfway house. I watched him grin at something one of them said.

I watched him carelessly brush a lock of black hair out of his eyes, imagining I was the one standing there, favoured with his smile, still allowed to touch him. I watched him go inside, beyond my reach, and felt sure the sky grew darker.

I stood there, in the shadows, because Noah wouldn't talk to me anymore. Refused to even look at me.

My fingers grasped the only present he'd ever given me, a pear-shaped amethyst hanging from a silver chain around my neck. An energy surge from the demon trapped inside burned my fingertips. I couldn't talk to _him_ anymore either. I couldn't use magic, couldn't go home, couldn't even go back to school. All because I'd been born a magic thief, and that marked me for death in the eyes of monsters.

The group outside Noah's building moved on, too close to me. I ducked away, pulling my jacket closer around me. Darkness had already fallen, and a chill nipped at my bare skin. I let my hair fall around my face, pulled up my faux-fur collar, and kept walking away from the one person I had always loved, even when we were trapped in Hell together.

Going home meant silence. It wasn't even my home, just somewhere I had been shipped off to in order to keep me out of the way. Nobody had come for me. Nobody had even told me what was happening. I had to spy and watch and wait while the rest of the world acted like I didn't even exist.

Ava Delaney had promised to protect me then forgotten about me almost immediately. Her justification was that everyone who knew me was currently being tracked by the witches who wanted me imprisoned. I hadn't been alone for long before I started to doubt that excuse.

I was supposed to stay cooped up in a tiny flat all by myself, but I walked every day, half-hoping somebody would recognise me, even as I feared it. I had learned the city by heart. That was the only good thing about my banishment. In the home with other children rescued from the slave markets in Hell, I'd been trapped, unable to leave whenever I wanted because they didn't trust us. But I almost killed a child by stealing the magic from her body, and they didn't want me back.

It wasn't like I'd done it on purpose. The stupid demon had tricked me. Nobody cared that I'd done my best to help make up for my mistake. I'd screwed up too much for that. In hindsight, performing an unknown spell I found hidden in the binding of a magical book probably wasn't the smartest idea. Continuing to summon the demon that spell had called wasn't any better.

I kicked a few stones off the pavement.

"Hey," a woman walking a dog across the road called out. "Cut that shit out."

"I'm not anywhere near you."

She shouted something after me. Her dog barked. I could have destroyed them both, stolen the life right out of them, and that was why nobody wanted me around. I kept walking, shoving my hands deep into my pockets and sinking into my coat as though it could hide me.

I wanted to cry, but my eyes were dry. What did I have to cry for anyway? At least I was alive. Or something. People didn't die of loneliness. Probably.

I didn't want to go home. At least on the streets, I could pass through a crowd and feel less alone, walk behind a group of friends and pretend I was one of them. At home, I had to look into a mirror and see my own face staring back at me.

I kept walking, away from Noah, away from my home, away from civilization to a place where the nobodies of the world fit in, where the authorities were too scared to enter, where I could hide in plain sight. Entire sections of the city had been abandoned, but some had been reclaimed.

They called it Neverland, and it had sprung up as if out of nowhere then spread outward like a plague. Full of people who had nowhere else to go, Neverland was that whispered place where the unwanted could hide. Maybe it was the power in numbers, but something was luring everyone to Neverland—even me.

The closer I came to Neverland, the more my step quickened. Nobody would reach me where I was going. The streets darkened, wind blew torn rubbish bags around, and a hollowness fell over the city. I was almost there.

I rounded a corner and breathed a sigh of relief. I could already hear laughter. Neon lights suddenly flashed overhead, making me blink. I held my hand over my eyes to adjust to the glare. Somebody had managed to steal electricity from the city centre again. It tended to last a couple of days, even weeks sometimes, before it got cut off or Integration Agents came to move everybody on. The squatters always came back, and after them, the party hounds. Because not everybody was like me. Some people had other places to be, even friends and families, but they still escaped to Neverland.

A loud, even drumbeat came from one of the buildings across the street. A girl fake moaned ridiculously loudly from an open window two doors down. She sounded too young. Not that I could talk. I passed two boys kissing in a dark corner, groping at each other as though it would help them breathe. Looking made me want—made the loneliness unbearable—so I kept going.

The streets began to fill with sounds and people. The lights in the darkness brought the place to life. I ventured past the window of a club and looked inside. Teenagers and young adults sprawled across old sofas they had likely found at the dump. Somebody had spilled glitter over a sleeping young man's head. A boy who couldn't have been older than seven hid under a table to colour. A woman sat close to him, her eyes dazed as she chewed on a magenta crayon, pink-tinged dribble trickling down her chin. Most of the boy's crayons were half-chewed. An older man, his nose red and swollen, shuffled-danced in a corner as a couple of giggling teenagers threw coins at him.

Neverland was the perfect place for people who didn't want to grow up, or needed to hide, or wanted to find others who didn't quite fit in. It was full of buildings used for parties and anything else the locals felt like doing. There were a couple of leaders, and the rest were followers, happy to party or obey or whatever.

And I watched them like I watched Noah—full of longing. I watched from the outside because I was too scared to stay anywhere for long. I hadn't figured out the answers to give if anyone asked me questions.

I moved on and bought a bag of freshly made chips from an old takeaway that had been taken over by a gang of teenage boys. They charged little because they stole everything they used. When the electricity came on, the air smelled like grease and vinegar. When it was gone, the streets smelled like vomit and urine.

Glass smashed behind me. I didn't look back. I held on tight to my food—I'd learned that lesson the hard way—and hastened my step.

Sometimes I desperately wanted somebody to do something, to force me to use my magic, but it wasn't worth it. The scary head of a coven kept a trace on me now, basically daring me to use magic because then she would come for me. She was desperate to control me, boasted how people like me had been wiped out. But I remained. And for what? I couldn't even protect myself anymore.

A young woman pushed past me, almost knocking me over. She looked back and grinned, revealing a missing front tooth. She stank of magic, enough to make me jealous. Her lipstick was smeared all over her mouth and chin, and she had one black eye. She hesitated long enough to snatch a chip before she was out of sight again. She was high on something new, something that made people reckless before they forgot to live.

I left Neverland behind, sticking to the shadows. I ate the chips and licked salt and grease from my fingers. A stray dog whined from behind a bin, more ribs than flesh, and I ditched the last of my food in front of him. He didn't try to follow me home.

I walked through places I knew I shouldn't to get back to the flat. Nobody bothered me. Neverland was just the centre of an abandoned district, one where criminals from all walks of life did their business. I lived right outside that zone in an old Georgian house that had been converted into too many flats. The flats were small, and the neighbours were noisy, but they mostly ignored me.

I was supposed to stay there, hide out until somebody came for me. Except nobody ever did. Money arrived, parcels with food and other things sometimes, and I assumed the rent was paid for, but that was it. No word, no news. Nothing.

I trudged up the front steps. The old drunk from flat two hadn't made it home again. The last time I'd tried to help him, he'd urinated on my leg. This time, I ignored him. When I opened the front door, he grabbed my ankle. I kicked him off then ran inside.

Flat three were screaming at each other as usual. That was preferable to finding them shagging on top of the communal dryer. I used to scream at Noah, but he never screamed back. Sometimes, I'd thought that meant he didn't care enough. Now I knew he hadn't cared at all.

I let myself into flat number seven. It was more of a bedsit. I had a tiny television, a bed, and a kitchenette. Having a shower and toilet to myself was nice, even if it was a bit grotty. The curtains smelled like cigarettes, and I had a lovely view of the overgrown backyard. The carpet was about seventy years old and as thin as paper.

I made a cup of tea just to hold the warm cup, wrapped a blanket around myself, then sat on the floor to watch a popular teen series on television. I'd already watched the same episode a dozen times. I mouthed along with the words until my lips felt sure of the shapes.

"This is my life," I whispered. "This is _my_ life. This is my _life_." Same words, different meanings. It was as though the world was built to confuse me, to set me aside as different. I didn't fit in, so I practiced the faces the people on television made, the phrases they said, until I was sure I could pass for normal if I tried. Noah used to laugh at me, but I was sick of people knowing there was something wrong with me. If I acted just like them, they'd think I was the same as them.

When the episode was over, I was numb with cold, so I crawled under the bed with the blanket and waited for darkness to hide me. I fell asleep with the gem from my necklace in my hand, a constant rhythm beating against my palm that somehow comforted me into thinking I wasn't completely alone.

# Chapter 2

The next day, I watched television until I worked up enough courage. I could do it. I could pass myself off as normal, not one of those Hell kids who freaked everyone out. Just because I had been kidnapped as a baby and stored in a slave market for most of my life didn't mean I couldn't learn how to act like everybody else.

I took the phone I'd stolen from a passed out girl in Neverland from its hiding place beneath my mattress. Her arms had been full of track marks, but her phone was covered in what looked like tiny pink diamonds. Her mother had called her a few times, but I'd since spotted the girl back in Neverland with a brand new phone, and nobody had bothered me since. I'd bought a charger, but I only used the phone once a day.

I called the only phone number I knew and held my breath, waiting for an answer.

"Hello?" Noah said.

I bit my lip to stop myself from talking.

"Ari?" he whispered in a pissed off voice.

I hung up, heart soaring with adrenaline. He always knew it was me, and I only ever hung up to stop him from doing it first. It was the game, that part I was supposed to play. I'd learned a lot from television. How boys were drama and on again/off again was perfectly normal. Even if he hadn't really loved me properly before, he'd come back to me eventually, but I'd have to do something dramatic to earn his attention.

I wasn't allowed to see him, so I couldn't make him jealous, but there were other ways. Maybe I'd get into trouble, and he'd have to come to rescue me and realise he loved me. That we were still a team. I scratched my wrist. _Something_ had to work.

Neverland was the best place to go to get into trouble. Why not try? What was the worst that could happen to me? That didn't require much thought. The worst thing I could think of was that witch binding my magic, turning me into a vegetable. Magic was a part of me, something I'd been missing for most of my life, a new discovery that took the edge off the loneliness. Once I found magic, truly dipped my hands in the well, I knew I couldn't go back. I couldn't use it, but at least I could still feel it in the world around me, nudging me, calling out to me to take it. Losing that would destroy me. Neverland couldn't hurt me so badly.

Buoyed by that thought, I dug out the pieces of makeup I'd stolen from a supermarket. I used a thick black kohl pencil to line my eyes, using my ring finger to smudge it out to make my plain blue eyes look interesting. I picked the precious liquid eyeliner from the bag and used it to draw a dramatic double flick on both eyes. I made my lips as purple as the tips at the end of my blonde hair and left my face pale. I brushed my hair then plaited it into a scraggy looking mess. I wore the shortest skirt I could find. All of these things were my defences. I needed them to shield me. I looked into the mirror and felt ten times as confident, twenty times as safe. My appearance was about the only thing I could control.

And when I walked outside, I strode with my back straight, chest out, and chin up. My boots made noise, and I felt powerful—even without magic to protect me.

Neverland was still bright with electricity when I arrived. _Alive_. I walked around, looking defiant, meeting people's gazes and acting as though I knew exactly what I was doing.

There were plenty of places to go if you wanted to gamble or dance or sleep around. I chose the club where rich kids came from all across the city. They paid for the fun, while everyone else performed tricks for just one more drink. It was the one place that always looked like fun yet always ended in trouble. I walked by the window and looked inside. People danced or talked or kissed or played tricks on each other. Everyone had their own style, their own way of doing what they did best. I wanted to know what it was like. I wanted somebody—anybody—to talk to me.

So I went inside and held my breath, waiting for the axe to fall, for something to happen. Nothing did. Nobody noticed me. Nobody cared. I remembered to breathe, to take it all in.

A boy played guitar on the stage, refusing to take requests as he hung his long dank hair over the strings, self-indulgently strumming the same notes until his voice cooperated.

"Oh, boo!" a girl said from the sofa. She lay on top of the same sleeping boy I'd seen a number of times before. "Put on the radio before the rats come back to steal it!"

Somebody must have obeyed because a real song filtered through the speakers. Guitar boy kept strumming as though he heard nothing but his own voice.

The club was packed, and most of the crowd surged toward the dance floor to sway together to the music, although nobody danced in time. Open bottles stood freely on the bar, ready to be drunk by anybody who wanted them. A heavyset young man sat on the floor, his trousers wet with who knew what. But he sat there and smiled at nothing, white crust forming at the edges of his mouth. I wondered how long he'd been sitting there.

I gingerly stepped over him. He grabbed at my shoe and tried to take it, cooing over my foot. I kicked him, but he refused to let go.

Somebody laid a hand on my shoulder. "Hold on." He reached down and pried my foot free. "You okay?"

The crowd pushed against us, moving us and enveloping Shoe Fetish until I couldn't see him anymore.

I looked around at the one who had helped me. He was staring at me questioningly.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," I said, my voice cracked from lack of use. He looked vaguely familiar, and his expression mirrored my own. He was trying to work out how he knew me.

"We've met, right?" It wasn't really a question.

"I don't know," I said loudly, trying to be heard over the music.

"No, I get it now." All humour fled from his features. My stomach dropped. "You were there that night. You're the one who saved me."

I gaped at him for a couple of seconds until the truth dawned on me. My big mistake had been to trust a demon who used my words against me. He'd taken the humanity from a tainted nephal who then went into full monster mode. I'd stopped her from killing the very person standing in front of me. I'd only glimpsed his face for a second, our gazes briefly connecting while I used magic to protect him, but I knew him, and he obviously knew me. My mouth opened and closed in shock. Of all the places to see him again.

His smile came back, wider, more vibrant than before. "I can't believe it!" He had a nice face, a nicer smile. "I never got to thank you."

I shook my head. "No, it wasn't like that."

"What are you doing here?" He grabbed my shoulders, drunkenly setting us both off-balance. "Why aren't you out, like, saving people?"

I couldn't stop the bubble of laughter that erupted from my lips. "I'm not allowed do that anymore."

"Good," he said with a sage nod. "It's shit out there in the real world. Neverland's where it's at."

I gingerly sidestepped as a girl vomited all over the floor too close to us. "Yeah, I can see that."

He moved me away from the speakers. "It's not so bad most of the time. Where else are people supposed to go anyway, right?" He shook his head. "Jesus, I can't believe it's you. She would have killed me."

"I don't know. She didn't kill anyone."

"But she was crazy! Is she still alive? Did the Senate kill her yet?"

"No."

His mouth fell open. "But that's what they _do_."

"It wasn't her fault. It was mine."

The crowd roared as a fight erupted.

The boy looked from me to the fight and back again, fidgeting at his sleeve. "Wait, did you say it was your fault?"

I backed up. "It doesn't matter."

"It does matter," he said. "I owe you my life. It was magic, wasn't it? That's how you stopped her. I felt _something_ , but—"

"I have to go." I kept backtracking, but he kept following.

"No, wait. Meet everyone. I want to show you off, and—"

A line of people burst between us. I turned on my heel and fled. I wasn't supposed to let anybody know who I was or what I could do. If he told...

I raced home, scared of my own daring, but when I got into my flat and locked the door behind me, I couldn't help smiling when I thought of him. Somebody knew I existed. Somebody had talked to me. Somebody thought I was _good_.

I washed my face, my heart racing with anticipation. I had found a way to fit in somewhere. I just needed to steer talk away from magic and the past. He seemed nice. He would understand. And whoever his friends were, they wouldn't even care as long as the music was loud enough and the drinks kept flowing.

I turned off the lights, wrapped the blanket around me, and then crawled under the bed where it was safe. I lay there in the dark, my back against the wall, all alone, but I grinned because I knew I was going back to Neverland.

# Chapter 3

The grey light of a dreary morning chased my bravery away. I wiped the last smears of mascara from under my eyes and stared at my own reflection. Disappointment stared back at me.

I didn't have a memorable kind of face. I wasn't pretty enough or even ugly enough to be noticed. I was just there, blending into the background. A thin nose, thin lips, small eyes, and cheekbones that never grew visible no matter how little I ate. Even my hair was lank and thin, a dirty blonde colour that added to the dullness of my appearance.

I dyed the tips purple to be noticed, but they had almost faded into obscurity already. I would try grey next. I saw it on the cover of a magazine—along with girls I was supposed to aspire to be, but not even magic could make me look like them. I read an article that said we should all just be ourselves, but the problem was that I didn't know who I was.

In Hell, I was a nursemaid. I grew up there long after the others were sold because I showed no signs of power—just like Noah. We stuck together when the older ones pushed us around. Then _we_ were the older ones. Noah pushed smaller kids around because he said it was fair—the only way they would learn.

But I remembered how that felt, so I mothered them instead. I watched the women who took care of the babies, and I copied them, because I liked how the little ones called after me and wanted me with them. Being needed was everything. Fear and respect had been Noah's thing.

But then we were rescued, and I got scared. Hell wasn't so scary. It was routine. The same old, day in and out. The only disturbance was the turnover of children. I cared about them, and then they left me, but it was okay because new children came for me to look after. I knew what I had to do. I knew who I was. But once we were taken to the children's home, our saviours said I didn't have to take care of the children anymore. I didn't know who I was supposed to be after that.

And then Noah changed, too. My powers suddenly appeared, as though they had been suffocated in Hell, and Noah started to get restless. We weren't the same anymore, but I was still useful, so it worked out okay. Except my power got out of control, and he hated that, too. I was the risk. I was the one getting in the way of what he wanted. And he wanted to leave. Without me. Being Noah's girlfriend had been enough for me—it had been everything once I stopped being Hell's nursemaid. Then he left, and who was I again?

Not a mother, because the children didn't need me anymore. Not a girlfriend, because Noah never came around long enough to even touch me anymore.

And not a witch, because a real witch had called me a magic thief. I hadn't known what I was doing, hadn't realised it was different and wrong, even after I'd been told. I saw an escape, something only I could do, but the rest of the world saw a monster in me. If magic had consequences, I was paying for them now, alone and forgotten in a bedsit on the border of Neverland and beyond.

If I could just get Noah to talk to me, I could find myself again. Carve out a place for me that worked—a way for us to be together—to stop the upheaval of constant change.

I sorted through the makeup on my bed. Noah liked when I looked pretty. I saw the hunger in his eyes when I wore colour, recognised it for what it was. He had always been easy. It wouldn't take much. I slapped on a full face of makeup and looked years older. I dressed up. I practised walking with a sway, practised fixing my face into an endearing smile. It didn't take much to make Noah smile back. I just needed enough time. He had to have calmed down by now.

I sat on my bed for as long as I could before giving up and going to the garage where he worked. I waited across the street, perched on a bench half-hidden by parked cars, until my hands grew red and numb. I stamped my feet, but goose bumps spread across my body. My eyes watered from the wind, and I kept dragging my fingers under my eyes to wipe away mascara smudges that I couldn't see but knew had to be there.

And then he came outside and started walking home. He looked happy. That was a punch to the gut. How could he look so happy? I ran across the road without looking, barely avoiding the path of a car whose driver beeped viciously at me. I ignored him. I only had eyes for Noah.

Noah, who turned and looked at my approach with scorn he didn't bother hiding.

I got in his way. "Hey."

He walked around me.

" _Noah_." I grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop.

"Go away," Noah said wearily. "I'm not in the mood for this."

"Could you just listen to me for a minute?"

He stopped and glared at a point over my shoulder. "What?"

_Please look at me_. I pressed my body against his. "Don't you miss me?"

"No."

Cold shards pierced my chest. "You don't mean that."

"You could have gotten people killed, Ari. People were hunting Ava down because of you."

"Oh, who cares?" I said dismissively. "She can take care of herself."

"She helped you." He poked my shoulder with his finger. "And you still act like this. Stop trying to fuck everything up already. You should be begging Ava for forgiveness after what you did to her with that demon!"

"Stop talking about Ava already! Jesus, Noah. What are you? In love with her or something?"

The tops of his cheekbones turned pink.

I took a step back, aghast. "Are you serious?"

"Grow up," he said. "And stop being so stupid all of the time."

"I told you to stop calling me that!" I screeched, something in my ears popping with the sudden flash of anger.

Shaking his head, Noah turned his back on me and walked away briskly, never once looking back.

My heart was in shatters. I looked down, convinced I had to be bleeding. How could he be so cold after everything we had gone through together? I'd always been on his side.

_Always_.

That bitch. My pain quickly turned to anger. Ava Delaney had taken everything from me. Because of her, I had nothing but the scraps she deigned to give me.

I started walking and didn't stop. I wanted to go to that woman's house and burn it down. I wanted to pull out her hair in clumps. No, I wanted to use magic.

_I bet that's what she wants_.

Of course. She pretended to be good and charitable, but she was probably waiting for me to screw up, to use my magic and get caught. Then she could say she had tried to save me, but I messed up and let a witch bind me. She could eat dirt. I would never let her have her way.

I found myself in Neverland and realised I'd been crying. I went into the club and found a mirror then scrubbed the grey tear tracks away with a dirty towel I found. A face appeared in the mirror behind me. Him again, the one I'd saved. His messy brown hair made him look as though he'd just gotten up out of bed.

"Hey," he said kindly. "You okay?"

I nodded and tried to look fierce. "Back off."

A cry sounded from across the room. I looked over. Somebody had just gotten their ears pierced.

"I have to go," I said and pushed past him. I made my way in front of the piercer. "Can you do my nose?" I pointed.

"Septum?" He shrugged. "Sit down." He took out a clean needle then pulled me into the chair and marked my nose with a pen. "Don't move like that last idiot."

I barely noticed the needle piercing through my nose, except that my eyes watered.

The piercer squinted. "Not bad."

"You're getting better at it," said a familiar voice behind me. I hadn't heard him approach.

"Practice makes perfect," the piercer said. "I'm out now. Gonna have to wait until somebody steals me more needles."

I gingerly touched the hoop he'd just pushed through my nose. "What colour is it?"

"Black," he said, and then abruptly left.

The one I'd saved took his seat then touched my face, brushing his thumbs under my eyes. "There you go."

"Do you usually touch people without asking?"

"Only when their mascara runs." He grinned. "I want to introduce you to somebody. My girlfriend, Jenny. She'll love you. I've told her about you. She's been dying to meet you. Will you come? Just for a little while?"

When I hesitated, he held out his hand. "I'm Austin, by the way."

I stared at him. Noah would tell me to go home. Fuck Noah.

I took Austin's hand, and he rewarded me with one of those nice smiles.

He me back to the group on the nicer sofas. "Sit next to me for a bit."

He made a space for me next to him on the edge of the sofa. He kept his arm around me to stop me from falling off. "That's Jenny," he said proudly, pointing to a woman who was in the middle of tearing somebody apart in a debate over... high heels?

The woman looked arrogant and sure of herself, despite her sloppy appearance. Her dark roots were at least two inches long, contrasting dramatically with the platinum blonde she'd dyed the lengths. Her face was clean of makeup, and she wore loose-fitting ripped jeans and an over-sized T-shirt, but everybody was gazing at her as though she were a queen. I couldn't look away either. I wanted to be her, easily holding the notice of an entire room of people.

People _saw_ her.

As though she felt my gaze, she looked at me, glanced at Austin, then found me again. I stared back at her. Her eyes were too close together, giving her a cunning, sly look.

"Who's this?" she asked, dropping the debate instantly. Her opponent fell silent and shied away.

"This is..." Austin looked at me questioningly.

"Ari," I said as loudly as I could manage. I'd chosen the name myself, finally settled on something that sounded right on my tongue.

Austin's girlfriend grinned, and the cunning transformed into a look of mischief as though by magic. "Hey, Ari. I'm Jenny." She raised her brows at Austin. "Is this the one?"

Austin nodded. "My hero, right here."

Jenny leaned forward. Everybody was looking at me. My cheeks grew hot.

"Where do you live?" Jenny asked.

"Nearby."

"You come here a lot? I don't think I've seen you," she said.

"Not a lot."

"But you're, what, a witch? You saved Austin with magic?"

"I..." I felt confined by their stares. "I have to go."

I fled before anybody could stop me. Once outside, I could breathe again. I couldn't keep going back to Neverland. Eventually, I'd have to answer questions. Eventually, I'd be found out. A magic thief could kill somebody if they took enough magic, and I had no idea how to control it. They would despise me if they knew the truth about me. Who was I kidding? _Everybody_ despised me—whether they knew the truth or not.

I walked blindly away from the club. Drizzle fell, and the electricity shut down. Groans came from every direction. I kept going, eager to get away. Neverland was never as appealing in the dark.

Footsteps came from behind me. Running. I glanced over my shoulder, but I didn't recognise the young man rushing toward me. I moved aside to let him pass, but he didn't. He stopped and tried to take up a conversation with me.

"Hey," he said. "Light's gone again. It's a drag, right?"

I nodded but kept moving, keeping my head down.

He followed. "We're having a party back at mine. You should come."

"No, thank you."

"What, think you're too special for a party or something?"

"No, I just have to get home."

"Come on, love. No need to be ignorant. I'm being nice to you."

I walked faster. His words grew harsher. It no longer mattered what he said—his tone said more. He wasn't the first to try to corner me. Most gave up if I kept walking away, so I ignored him and focused on getting out of there.

He slipped his arm around my shoulder. "Do I not even get a smile?"

I ducked out from under his arm and hurriedly crossed the road. I'd barely made it over before he lunged at me from behind, wrapping his arms around my waist, pinning my arms to my side. He pressed me face first against the wall. "Stupid bitch," he whispered harshly. "Acting like you're too good for me."

I wriggled, but he was stronger than me. He gripped my hair to slam my head against the wall. My knees wobbled. He put space between us then smacked the back of his hand against my ear. Dazed, I fell to my knees, seeing double for too long. He had pushed me onto my back and was on top of me, spreading my legs, before I could even figure out a way to get back to my feet. He groped at me, twisting my skin painfully with strong, chubby fingers. I looked at his face, at the snake tattooed around his neck, and I realised the danger of Neverland. In a place without rules, only the strong survived, and without magic, I was a weakling.

I tried to fight back, to struggle, but that seemed to encourage him, to prolong the horror. I grew limp, terrified, and reached for the magic. But what was worse? If I used my magic to save myself, I'd probably end up locked away for the rest of my life. Tears ran down my cheeks. I couldn't even protect myself anymore, couldn't find a safe place.

He tore my blouse. The sound made the world shrink in. Noah's voice in my head told me to fight, but not how. The young man grunted, pulling my skirt up around my hips. I pressed my hand over his mouth and nose, trying to push him away, but he bit my hand and thumped my stomach. I couldn't even coil up in pain because of his heavy weight pressed against me.

Footsteps sounded; a shadow crossed my face. I tried to call out for help, but my throat had closed up, and no sound came out.

Then there was a noise—a nasty wet sound that stirred unwanted memories—but it didn't come from me. My attacker collapsed heavily on top of me. I looked around, somehow expecting Noah to be there. But it was Jenny. Jenny was there. Jenny saved me.

With a grunt, she kicked my attacker off me, kicked him again for good measure, then dropped the metal pipe in her hands. She helped me up and fixed my clothes back into place.

"I..." I couldn't stop shaking.

"I came after you," she said. "I freaked you out, and I came to apologise, and then I saw this sick fuck." She kicked his face. Something broke, and I was glad. She looked me over. "Are you all right?"

I nodded, brushing down my skirt with a shaky hand. I said the only thing I could think of. "I shouldn't have worn this skirt."

"You could have been wearing a nun's habit," she snapped. "He'd still be the sick fuck who attacked you." She made a sound of disgust and kicked him one last time. "Let's get out of here." She smiled at me. "Don't worry, Ari. I'll take care of you. I think we're going to be the best of friends."

I had never felt so relieved in my entire life. Somebody cared. Somebody helped me. I wasn't alone anymore.

# Chapter 4

Jenny took me to get a coffee to settle my nerves before walking me back to Neverland with her. "You stick with us," she said. "Nobody will touch you again."

She sounded as though she believed it, as though anything else was impossible.

"Thanks," I said, grateful for the warmth of the cardboard cup between my hands. I was unharmed apart from a couple of friction burns and a bruise or two. I felt light as air though. I was used to pushing bad memories to the back of my mind, well able to forget the things that made my fingers shake. With Jenny by my side, I wasn't scared of anything.

"Why didn't you fight back?" she asked. "Austin reckons you're all magical. Why didn't you use it?"

I looked down, unable to speak.

She shrugged. "Yeah, well, I suppose I should thank you for saving Austin for me. I don't know what I'd do without him. He's cute, isn't he?"

I stuttered, embarrassed. I wasn't prepared for that kind of question. Was I supposed to compliment another girl's boyfriend or not? Television hadn't prepared me enough.

"Oh, don't look so distressed," she said with a laugh. "It's not a complicated question."

"Yes," I said. "I mean, I think so."

She smiled. That appeared to be the right answer.

"The electricity is gone," I said, just to fill the silence that followed.

"We've candles," she said. "Better atmosphere that way. Cosier." She looked me over curiously. "You look too young to be on your own. Why are you?"

I looked away. "Nowhere else to go."

"Not anymore." She nudged me. "Now you have me."

I shivered with anticipation at her words. She was a power, full of energy and life. I wanted to follow her to the ends of the earth and learn everything from her. If I could copy her, nobody would ever forget me again. I would never forget Jenny.

"And take that crap out of your nose," she commanded. "It's crooked. Make sure you clean it properly. When it heals, we'll get it done properly."

It didn't even occur to me to say no. I took the hoop out and threw it away, jogging to keep up with Jenny's pace.

We made it back to Neverland. People smiled at Jenny. People said hello. People even gave her things. By the time we reached the club, my hands were full, and I was in total awe.

"Just dump that shit on the counter," she said, the only acknowledgement she gave of having received anything. "Wait." She picked up a cloth from the counter. It stank of alcohol, but she used it to wipe under my eyes. "I hate when it smears."

I emptied my arms of her haul, feeling as though I wasn't even in my own skin anymore. I was flying, tethered to Jenny's halo.

She scooped a bracelet out of the pile. "Here. This might suit you better than me." She handed me a gold bracelet then turned on her heel and headed to the seats in the centre of the room.

I stared at the bangle for a moment, squeezed it onto my wrist, then followed her.

She sat down. I stood outside her circle, grateful to be even that close. She looked up at me and rubbed her temples.

"You," she said to the teenage girl next to her. "Move."

The girl obeyed willingly.

"Ari," Jenny called out loudly, drawing attention to us. "Come sit next to me."

Everybody looked at me. I sat on that chair as though it were made of gold.

The displaced girl scowled at me.

Jenny leaned back in her seat. "Got a problem, Nessa?"

"Of course not," the displaced girl said breathily. After that, she made a point to smile at me. It was fake, but I didn't care.

Austin laughed. "What a sheep." He sat on the other side of me. "So she found you then."

I nodded.

"Some creep attacked her," Jenny said nonchalantly. "So I brained him."

Everyone laughed except for Austin. "Jesus," he said. "Are you all right, Ari?"

I nodded. I was shivering inside, but there was this weird glow around me. There was an intoxicating amount of energy in the room, but I was floating on a high just from the attention. Nobody looked at me as though I didn't belong. It was as though once Jenny sat me next to her, I suddenly existed. Austin chatted to me because Jenny ignored me after that, but it didn't matter. I was there. I was a part of _something_.

I watched Jenny talk, listened to her relay stories that couldn't possibly be true to a rapt audience. Every now and then, she'd look at me and wink, and I felt as though I were in on a hidden secret. It was delicious.

Austin absent-mindedly played with my hair, and the girl I'd replaced brought me drinks and food all night. Austin took whatever I couldn't finish before passing it along to the next kid in line. Every moment made something in my chest swell. I hung on to Jenny's every word, learning the rhythm of her words and the cadence of her voice. I could learn so much from her.

A boy with floppy brown hair that hung over his eye disagreed with her on one point, and she pointed at him and told him to get out. And he did. Just like that. Everyone moved over with a smile as though it meant more for them.

"She's amazing," I whispered to Austin.

He laughed. "That's what they all say." He tugged on my earlobe. "But yeah, she really is."

"I want to dance," Jenny said abruptly. "Somebody play."

She pulled me to my feet then hauled me onto the dance floor. Somebody picked up the guitar I'd seen before and started playing moderately well, but Jenny moved to a song nobody else could hear. It was dark, but everybody's gaze was drawn to Jenny. And me, by extension. She made me dance with her, her body pressing against mine. She slipped her hands into my hair to pull me close enough to whisper in my ear. "Tell me about the magic."

I stopped dancing. "I can't."

"It's just me." She gave me her best smile, the one that made me feel as though I were the most important person in the world to her. "You could have saved yourself tonight, right? You saved Austin. Why not yourself?"

"Something worse could happen when I use magic," I said slowly, holding her gaze. "I'm not a proper witch. My magic is bad. The witch, the one on the Senate, she wants to bind me."

"Bind you," she repeated with a frown. "She can do that? I've seen her. She won't find you here. The witches never come all the way into Neverland."

"If I use magic, she will. She's trying to trace me. If I use it, she'll come for me. No matter where I am, she'll come to take me forever."

She hesitated, and I knew what she was thinking.

"You don't understand," I said. "I can't live without magic in the world. I'd die."

"Yeah," she said. "I think I get it now. Why does the witch think your magic is bad?"

"Because..." I swallowed hard. "Because I have to steal it from others to use it. I'm a magic thief, and that's forbidden."

She let out a sharp laugh. "You steal it? That just makes you a thousand times more interesting. Why did you save Austin and not yourself?"

"That was before... I didn't know what I was when I saved Austin."

"So that attack tonight... that was preferable to whatever this witch will do?" She shook her head determinedly. "Now that won't do at all."

"There's nothing I can do about it."

"Let me think about it," she said. "Let me figure something out. Maybe there's a way."

"How?"

"Just trust me." She grinned. "I have connections, and Neverland always finds a way to break the rules, right?"

She moved away and danced with the closest boy. I felt at a loss. But Austin joined me instead and danced with me for ages, long after Jenny had left me. It was nice. Thoughts of Noah had been driven well away already. But magic touched me all day every day— _especially_ in Neverland—and it was getting harder to resist it. If something happened again, and I needed to protect myself, I wasn't sure I could stop myself from using it. Jenny had buoyed me up, made me think I could have what I wanted. But she could forget me just as easily—everyone else did.

I excused myself from the dance floor and made my way to the door. When I looked back, somebody else had taken my place, as though I'd never been there. They wouldn't miss me. I went home, away from the temptations of Neverland, to sleep in the safe place under my bed, but when I dreamed, it was of Jenny's confident smile.

# Chapter 5

The next time I ventured into Neverland, the club was empty. The electricity was back on, but the club looked completely abandoned. Disappointment left a bitter, miserable taste on my tongue. I hung around for a while, just standing outside like an idiot, hoping somebody would appear. When my hands and feet grew numb, I moved on, slowly, looking over my shoulder all of the time.

I passed by a group of teens drinking water bottles full of blue and green glistening liquids. They could barely stand and paid me no attention. I was about to turn out of Neverland for good when somebody screamed over my head, "There she is!"

I kept walking, but somebody called my name. I looked up in surprise. A girl I didn't recognise was hanging out of an upstairs window, waving at me. Jenny's head peeked out next to her. "Come on up!" she called out. "The door's open. Just follow the noise." They both disappeared.

The building looked like it used to be a block of converted flats. I went through the open front door and followed the music to the top floor, barely making my way through an overwhelming volume of people on the stairs.

Couples kissed and fondled each other in plain sight, while others slept, their limbs entwined. An old man stared at a step while two young men flicked his ears, laughing when he didn't flinch. He smelled like urine. I looked away and kept walking, hoping the pair wouldn't turn their attentions to me. They didn't.

At the top of the stairs, outside the door where a party was taking place, a girl who barely looked older than fourteen lay strung out on the floor, her palms wide open and her track-marked arms outstretched. Her eyes were half-closed, and when I asked if she was all right, she grunted in answer.

"Leave her," a man said, coming out of the door to light a roll-up. "She's happy."

I fixed her skirt and left her, keeping a wary eye on the man. He seemed more interested in a lanky boy coming up the stairs after me. They embraced, and I went inside the flat to look for Jenny.

The girl from the window grabbed my two hands. "Where have you been? Jenny made us look for you all day. She's waiting. Come on! Didn't you hear me? She's waiting for you."

She tugged me after her, her fingers pressing hard against my hands as though hoping the shine would rub off on her. Jenny had been looking for me. Jenny wanted me there.

People lurched against me, but the girl held my hand tight and kept moving through the crowd. "What's wrong with everyone?" I asked loudly, trying to be heard over the music.

"It's just a bit of faery dust," she said with a grin. "Haven't you tried it yet? Magic gives the best high. The half-fae get so fucking wasted. It's hilarious."

I hadn't tried it, and I wasn't quite sure what she meant anyway, but I felt it. The rise of magic in the air. Why wasn't the witch coven tracing _that_?

I finally spotted Jenny, sitting on Austin's lap as she ordered people about that. She was amazing. Even amongst the surging crowd of indistinguishable faces, she stood out. She and Austin were probably the only sober people in the room, bar me.

Jenny saw me, waved, then gestured for somebody to give up their seat. I was placed on that seat, next to Austin and Jenny, but she promptly ignored me for the next hour.

She was hyped up for some reason. "What's with you?" Austin asked when she dropped a second drink on the floor.

She laughed out loud. "We had some good news today. Somebody died."

His hand clenched into a fist. "What are you talking about?"

"I have it on good authority that a story will break tomorrow. A certain crazy old friend of yours has been arrested."

He stared at her blankly.

She bounced on his lap, looking years younger. "Don't you get it? He did it! Your little friend, Frankie. He tried to steal the dagger, but he killed that traitor instead!"

"Francis? Why would he do that now?" He shook his head. "But it's been so long since..." His face fell. "You went back, didn't you? You risked everything..."

"He needed his mother," she said with a dark smile. "Oh, come on. What are you so worried about?"

"If they find you, they won't let you go. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking traitors need to pay," she said fiercely. "And that traitor abandoned my godfather, fucking destroyed his memory, all because he's a pussy who can't stand up for himself. He can act like he didn't have a clue all he wants, but..." She laughed. "Past tense. He's dead. He can't act like anything anymore. Didn't get the dagger, but the trade-off was so worth it."

"You promised me you weren't going to take any more risks. It's over. You said it was over."

"Nothing's over," she snarled, pushing herself off him.

He reached for her arm, but she slapped him away.

She stormed out of the room. I watched anxiously for her return. Austin shot me a sheepish grin. "Lover's tiff."

"Your friend killed somebody?"

He stared at his hands. "He's not a friend. Just another victim."

"Who did he kill? Jenny sounded so..."

His expression turned grim. "Don't worry about Jenny's little moods. She doesn't know what she's saying sometimes."

The girl who had led the way brought me a glass of sparkling green liquid, similar to what I had seen people drinking outside. I looked at the glass doubtfully.

"Go on," the girl said with a dark smile. "It'll make you want to fly."

Austin's warm hand pressed around my wrist when I made to drink. "Ari doesn't want any of this shit," he said. "You know better than that, Evie."

She rolled her eyes, took the drink, and left.

"What was it?" I asked.

"Something the fae drink," he said. "We stole a truckload at the weekend. It's too much. You don't want to try it, trust me. You'll lose days." He lit a cigarette. "They may smile, but don't trust any of them. They want to be next to Jenny too much."

I understood that. "What's with the needles?"

"Bloody junkies," he said. "They make me sick. So stupid, playing right into their hands." He shook his head. "Don't mind me. Some supernatural twat figured out how to make magical drugs, so now everybody is high all of the time. Can't trust them to do shit."

"How did they make magic into a drug?" I stared at the dancing crowd, overwhelmed at the thought. Magic was everywhere, but people didn't get to see it or touch it. They didn't get to take it into their hands. I thought the way I worked was the closest it got to it. I looked longingly at the used needles tossed carelessly on the floor. So much power gone to waste.

"Don't look like that," he said. "You're making me afraid we're losing you."

I looked at him sharply. What did that mean?

"You're lucky, you know," he said. "Having power like that. I felt it when you saved me. It was raw and amazing."

"Most people don't think that way."

He tapped my nose. "Ah, but I'm not even human. Did you guess?"

I shook my head.

"Hey, look. Sofa's free. Grab it before anyone notices."

We dove for the free sofa. It was surprisingly comfortable once you got past the smell.

"It's a weird thing, being open about it all," he said, leaning against me. "Humans don't have a clue when they look at me, but if they did, they'd look down on me. Same as supernaturals look down on people like me. We're not important enough. Barely more indestructible than humans. Can tolerate a beating, maybe. But no power."

"I didn't have power for a long time." My cheeks warmed. "I was... one of the slaves, you know, in the market in Hell."

"See?" He gestured toward me. "You're interesting. You have a story." He frowned. "I thought they kept your type holed up in some fancy house."

"Kicked me out."

"Typical." He made a face. "Idiots. My family is poor as dirt. Always been lower class citizens." He sunk down in the chair. "When people think of supernaturals, they think shifters and vampires and fae. But what about the rest of us? Plenty of people don't even know what they are."

"Yeah." I knew all about that.

"That's what I love about Jenny. She's all about the obscure. She's not frightened by us. She doesn't give a shit. Give her enough time, and she'll be leading all of us into a revolution. Knock down a few doors and take over. Imagine what that would be like."

He laughed, but I did picture it. Being surrounded by people like me—rejects. Being a part of something.

"She should do it," I said. "I'd follow her. Beats the alternative."

He looked at me, sympathy in his eyes. "Chin up, Ari. It's not so bad."

If it wasn't for Jenny, I might have kissed him. He was nice to me. I wasn't used to people being nice to me.

"Ari, please stop falling in love with my boyfriend," Jenny said loudly, planting herself on his lap. "Or I'll have to bitch-slap you out of here."

The room laughed as though everyone had been holding their breath, waiting, waiting, waiting for me to slip up. For Jenny to turn on me.

I inched away from them, strangely humiliated. It wasn't the words or the laughter. It was the look in Jenny's eyes when she spoke to me.

"Leave her alone," Austin said gently.

Jenny didn't even look at him. I felt trapped in the gaze of a predator. I could protect myself with magic, but she knew I wouldn't. The atmosphere was electric. I looked around the room. Everyone had stopped moving. Everyone had a hungry look in their eyes. Jenny's attack dogs were on edge, ready to go for me.

That didn't mean I had to be a sitting target. I stood and walked toward the door. Austin called my name once, and the party started again. I made it all the way outside before Jenny caught up to me.

"Where are you going now, you silly goose?" she scolded.

"You don't want me there. Nobody wants me there. I'm going home."

"Stop," she said. "I was kidding about Austin. Everybody knows he's mine."

Again, marking her territory. Didn't she realise she didn't have to do that with me?

I sighed wearily. "I don't want him. I have somebody who... I don't want yours."

"Good," she said. "Because he's too fond of you, my Austin. Other women would worry, but I know we're sisters now. In fact, I think I've tracked down something that will help you use your magic again. We'll have to steal it, but wouldn't it be worth it?"

The relief was huge. "Yes," I said without hesitation. "I'd do anything to get my magic back."

She grinned. "Good. You can help us steal it then. Think of it as an initiation." She dug her hand into her pocket and took out a wad of cash. What on earth was she doing squatting in empty buildings with all that money on her? "Be a bestie and get some food. I'm starving. Spend it all." She grabbed a passing boy by the scruff of his neck. "Go with Ari. She's in charge. Understand?"

He nodded obediently. Not even a hint of protest.

"I want to be you," I said seriously.

Jenny smiled and touched my cheek. "Stick with me then."

The boy barely spoke while we fetched enough food to feed an army. When I returned, most of it was torn out of our hands. I kept one bag and sought out Jenny and Austin. They weren't on the sofa. I found them in the bedroom. The door was open a gap, and I peeked through, my words frozen in my throat.

Austin sat on a chair, his head tilted back. Jenny straddled him, a small vial of liquid in her hands. She tipped it over, and let the drops fall into his mouth, then she kissed him deeply. When she pulled away, his eyes were dazed. She looked directly at me. "Food. Yummy." She jumped off Austin as though nothing were strange. His head lolled to the side.

"Is he all right?" I asked.

"He's perfect," she said, closing the door behind her. "He won't be eating with us today though."

I didn't see Austin again that night, but I couldn't stop thinking about what I had seen.

# Chapter 6

My favourite television programme was interrupted by a news bulletin the next day. I was in the middle of painting my nails with a bottle of nail varnish that almost matched Jenny's when a reporter spoke in a strained voice of a murder.

My mouth fell open when the name was revealed. James Buckley. A member of the Senate, one of those arseholes who stood there and watched while one of their own condemned me.

It felt right that he should be dead. A relief, somehow. One less person against me. A different feeling nudged at me, making me uncomfortable until I switched off the television.

By the time I got to Neverland that evening, a party was in full swing.

"We're celebrating," Jenny cried out when she saw me. She kissed me full on the mouth.

"Because one of the Senate died?" I asked. "Is that why you're happy?"

She glared at me. "Do you think that's wrong, Goose?"

I shook my head. "I'm glad he's dead. I wouldn't cry if all of the Senate died."

Her lips pulled back into a slow grin. "From your lips to God's ears, little sister." She glanced over my shoulder then bit her lip. "Come to my room. I have a present for you."

She took my hand and led me up to her room. An expensive laptop was open on the bedside table.

"Wait there," she said then left the room.

I couldn't help peeking. The browser was open in her email. The subjects of the emails all seemed to be around business, payments, and targets.

"Nosy much?" Jenny asked, returning to the room, bearing shopping bags, quicker than seemed possible.

I shrugged. "Didn't grow up around technology. I've no idea how to use these things."

"I'll have to teach you." She came to me and pinned my hair up with an expensive looking pin. "There," she said. "Perfect." She pushed one of the bags into my hands. "New clothes. Expensive ones. If you're going to be my little sister, then you need to look the part."

I gaped at her, my eyes watering. "Are you... are you sure?"

"Of course, Goose. And you'll have a laptop of your own soon. Now hurry up and get changed so we can get to the party."

My hands shook as I dressed. The clothes looked like things she would wear, and in them, I felt like a different person. Important.

She smiled when she noticed me admiring myself in the mirror. "Come on," she said, linking her arm in mine. "Let's go make everyone spoil you. See how far they'll go to make us happy."

_Us_. That warmth in my chest blossomed until I felt sure light was pouring out of me.

I didn't see Austin that night, but I was the guest of honour. I had never been treated so well in my life.

The more often I went to Neverland, the more people grew to know me, to accept my presence. I stopped fearing somebody would talk about me to the wrong person or that I didn't belong. Nobody cared about that stuff, and the Senate weren't about to listen to the rejects who were desperately taking over Neverland just so they had a place to belong. The people in charge didn't care about us. Jenny had disdain for all of them: the government, the Senate, Humans First. They were all part of the problem, according to her. I wasn't sure what she wanted, what the end game was, but it didn't matter because we all belonged together—thanks to Jenny. Austin told me she had been a rich kid herself, spoiled by her parents, only now she gave _us_ everything we needed.

She always had cash, was constantly answering phone calls and emails. I overheard her bossing people around, talking about paying for a job that hadn't been finished on time. She sounded like an adult, yet she bothered with us as though we were something special.

"Why do you even bother with all of us?" I asked her one night. We were alone on the roof, drinking wine while everyone else partied below. I didn't like the taste, but human wine didn't scare me as much as fae wine did. I wasn't sure that Jenny liked it either, but she had to have a certain bottle that Nessa had whispered to me was one of the most expensive out there—and that Jenny didn't need to steal it.

"What's up? Can't believe you're worth it?"

I shrugged. "It's not that. But you have a family, right? Money, a place to go. It just seems like so much more effort to come here and take care of everyone."

I didn't think she was going to answer, but eventually, she said, "I hated my family, hated everything they stood for. All of the bullshit charities they donated to, events they attended, but behind closed doors, they were selfish assholes. If they had been open about it, told the world they didn't care, I'd have had more respect for them." She stared off into the distance, a morose look in her eyes. "I had a mentor, I suppose. Somebody who showed me how things could be. He's gone now, but I like to think I can be that mentor. He'd get such a kick out of this place, what we've built here." She raised her glass. "Besides, we're hiding, too."

"What do you mean?" I asked, staring up at the stars as I leaned back on a deck chair. I hadn't gotten to see stars for most of my life. I couldn't get enough of them—and the sun. The beach seemed lovely, too, but the one time I'd gone, the water had been bitterly cold. I'd been so disappointed.

"Me and Austin. We're hiding in Neverland, too. I didn't tell you because I didn't trust you yet, but the Senate are after us."

I sat up in surprise. "Why would the Senate be after you?" I thought for an instant it had something to do with the Senate member's death, but somebody else had been arrested for it.

She shrugged. "They know we're starting something here, and they want to silence us." She looked as though she wanted to say more, but she clamped her mouth shut instead.

I sat back. We had so much in common. "Remember when we couldn't see the sun?"

"Who could forget? It was madness." She stretched. "I kind of liked it though."

"I was there, sort of, when it started."

"You saw the spell?"

"Not really. We were in the building. But I felt it. I saw... something just rise into the air. I felt it touch my skin. I think it properly unlocked what I can do. I was pretty much useless before that." I snorted. "Well, I'm useless now that the witches are trying to track me, but you know what I mean."

"I wish I'd been there," she said longingly. "You don't know how lucky you are. I'd give anything to have magic of my own. What does it feel like?"

"Like everything." I moved my fingers to my lips, suddenly pained by the grief of loss. "It was everything to me, Jenny. I don't feel right without it. It's there, around me, waiting for me. It's like... it wants to be used. But when I use it... it's supposed to be wrong. I can't win."

"One day," she said fiercely. "One day, I'm going to make it right. We'll all do whatever the hell we like, and nobody will stop us. Freedom and chaos. That will be everything. I'll need you by my side, Ari. Are you ready for that?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "Freedom is what I was promised. Didn't happen. We can only rely on ourselves."

She laughed. "Fuck the world, Ari. Because when we take it back, they'll be sorry." She settled back in her seat. "They _will_ be sorry when they see what we can do."

I slept all day and spent all night in Neverland. I got to know faces and names and found my place in Jenny's inner circle. But I missed Noah. I missed the kids. I even missed school. It was weird. I could do whatever I liked, but none of it filled the hole left behind when I was sent away.

When I looked in the mirror, I barely recognised myself. Everything about me was different. I had a new attitude, new clothes—thanks to Jenny—and a brand new life. Maybe it was time for me to leave the scutty little flat that I was forced to live in. Maybe it was time to move to Neverland for good.

Every day, I considered it, and yet I kept going home as though it meant something. A little piece of me held back from Jenny's world, maybe in the hope my old life would want me again. If I had been smart, I would have made a clean break. It was still hard to let go completely.

That night, the electricity had been cut off again, so we all sat in a massive abandoned house around a fire and surrounded by candles.

"Why would anybody leave this place?" Austin said. "It's a mansion."

"The postcode was no longer desirable," Jenny said with a grin. "Fuck those snobs. Their stupidity is our good fortune. This used to be outside Neverland, but we're growing, baby."

Austin threw a book on the fire. We'd found plenty in the library. "If Ari could use her magic, she'd have this place lit up, wouldn't you, Ari?"

A wry smile crept across my face. "I can't even remember how to use magic, it's been so long."

"No bloody witches are going to dare step into Neverland," Nessa said. "Do it, Ari. Show us your magic."

"No," Jenny said sharply. "We're not going to risk Ari." She relaxed. "Besides, I might have found a way to do it properly. After that, we'll all see what Ari can do."

I looked at her. "Are you serious?"

"Oh, yeah. I told you I have connections. There's this warehouse, full of things we could sell or use. I hear a move is imminent, making it the best time to break in. The guard will need a bit of convincing, but if we just find this one thing, you'll be protected from the witches. They won't even know you exist anymore."

"What warehouse?" I asked.

"You're going to love this." She chuckled. "One of the Senate owns it. Phoenix, that fae... whatever. Did you read the papers? There are rumours he's been kicked off the Senate. He'll be too busy with that mess to worry about his warehouse." She waved a hand. "Anyway, I'm told he has a ring that will mask the magic you use."

"Phoenix has it," I said dully. "He's had it all along then." He could have helped me, but he didn't. I should have known better. I should never have let myself trust him.

"He has a million things in the warehouse," she said. "We lucked out that we found it. Took me ages to figure out what was in there, but I have it on good authority that the warehouse is full of his mammy's belongings, and she had the ring made centuries ago to cover up her own shady deals. It's pretty perfect."

Something sharp stuck in my throat, a lump that made it hard to swallow. Phoenix could have made me safe, but he let Ava stick me in that shabby flat to fade away.

"There's just one problem," Jenny said. "We might need you to do some magic to get us in there. We'll have to be quick before the witches come, but once we have the ring, you'll be safe."

"Too risky," Austin said. "They could arrive before we get out of there."

I was too angry to be careful. Too desperate not to take the risk. "I'll do it," I said. "It's worth it."

Jenny beamed. "See? What did I tell you? Ari's a team player. She has balls." She sneered at a group of people lounging in front of the fire. "More than the rest of you."

My hands were shaking, with anger, with fear... with need. I was close, so close to getting what I deserved. I didn't have to go home. It was another prison set up by people who pretended to help me. I had a real family now, real friends, and I would soon have my magic back. I clenched my fingers into fists. Jenny was right. They would all be sorry when they saw what we could do.

# Chapter 7

I stood at the corner next to a closed supermarket, dressed all in black and more than ready to take part in Jenny's plans.

When a van pulled up in front of me, I got in without speaking. Austin was driving, a look of tension marking his expression. Jenny was hyped, singing along to the radio. Nessa and a few others were there, too, looking less than enthusiastic. I didn't blame them. Once I was able to use my magic again, I would be even tighter with Jenny.

She suddenly turned to stare me, her eyes narrowing. "Austin thinks the plan is too risky. Tell him how fine it'll be." It sounded like a dare.

"It'll be fine, Austin," I said obediently.

He grunted in answer. He looked himself again. Some nights, it was hard to even get him to talk. Some nights, it was harder to get him to stop looking at Jenny. Tonight, he was focused and a little pissed off.

Nessa passed me a folder. Inside was information on the ring, including a photo.

"This is it?" A shiver ran through me. Something so small was going to change my life. "What's the number for?"

"Everything's recorded and coded," Jenny said. "The number will help us find the thing. We could be in there a while."

I nodded, unable to drag my gaze away from the ring. It was a thin band of silver-coloured metal, topped with a blackened purple gemstone. I touched the gem around my neck without even realising it. I had missed him, too, but without magic, I hadn't even had the choice to summon the demon again. I dropped the necklace. He had been another false friend. I didn't need him anymore.

"She's already in love," Jenny teased.

"Thank you for this, Jen." I met her gaze. "I'll _never_ be able to repay you."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way," she said airily before thumping Austin's arm. "Will you ever cheer the fuck up?"

I ignored all of the chatter to concentrate on my new ring. I couldn't wait to see it, to slip it onto my finger. It was life. It was everything. I had been so lost without magic. My stomach churned in anticipation of feeling it again.

The necklace felt heavier than usual. It did that when the demon got restless, probably reacting to my own hopped up energy. I ignored the sensation. He just wanted freedom. He wanted to use me again.

"What if it's bullshit?" Austin demanded in a grumpy tone. "What if the ring doesn't work?"

"She doesn't have to use it," Jenny said coldly.

"I'm using it," I said. "I can't just go on like this." The hunger had been inside me for so long that I'd forgotten what it felt like to be satiated. I was going to be whole again, because if I didn't take the risk, I'd never be happy.

"That's my girl," Jenny cooed.

Nessa was glaring at me again. I'd figured she had been Jenny's best friend until I showed up. I smiled back at her, showing her my teeth, until she looked away. I noticed Jenny watch us with a pleased grin on her face. My insides warmed.

By the time the van stopped moving, I was buzzing on dreams of the future.

The sky was dark and dreary. The wind whipped at our skin when we got out of the van. We were near the docks, and seagulls dived at the van, eager for food.

"Nasty things," Nessa said with a shiver.

"This way," Jenny said. "The guard is on his rounds, so we can get over the gate if we're quick. Hoods up, bitches."

I pulled up the hood of my sweatshirt and shivered. So close. I followed Jenny's lead. We kept to the shadows, darting around buildings and avoiding security cameras when possible. Jenny had contacts everywhere, and she planned everything with a terrifying kind of preciseness. None of us could have done that.

Jenny held up her hand in front of a high, wired fence. "Nessa, go first."

"Why me?" Nessa protested.

Jenny smiled at her. "I trust you to be quick."

Nessa shot me a smug grin before starting the climb. Jenny waited until her feet touched the ground before gesturing for the rest of us to follow.

Once we were all over, Jenny slapped Nessa on the back. "Thanks for testing it out for me. My contact shut off the electrical charge, but I had to be sure."

Nessa gaped at her. "It could have been electrified?"

Jenny merely laughed and moved on, but the look of devastation on Nessa's face made me pity her.

"What are you looking at?" Nessa snapped, turning her head to wipe her face with her sleeve.

"Hey," Austin said, slipping his arm around her shoulder. "She was kidding."

Nessa sniffled in response, but by the tension in Austin's jaw, I knew he didn't believe what he'd said.

We continued on toward the warehouse, slower now, more cautious than before. Everything was going well until the security guard turned a corner and spotted us. Everyone ran, but I froze in the light of his torch.

"Run, you idiot." Austin came back, grabbed my hand, and then forced me to run. We split from the others and hid behind a massive skip while the security guard ran by us, not seeing us in the shadows. I held my breath. Austin's body was pressed against mine. He relaxed after a few moments and looked at me. He smiled. "He's gone. We should get back to the van." He didn't bother giving me any space.

I shook my head. "I'm getting the ring."

"It's done," he said. "We've been seen." He almost sounded happy about it.

"I don't care." I gripped his jumper. "You don't know what it's like. I'm dying without the magic, Austin. I'm not... I have to take the risk. You go back to the van. _I'm_ trying."

He stepped away and ran his hands through his hair. "Fine. I'll go with you."

"Why?"

"That's what friends do, Cupcake. Come on, while he's chasing the others. They'll be our distraction."

We ran. We'd have to be quick. Sweat trickled down my back. We managed to get inside the warehouse, and for a moment, we just stood there and stared around us.

"What the hell is this?" he asked. "Look at all of this stuff. How are we supposed to find the ring without the serial number?"

I rattled off the numbers from the file.

"You remember it?" he said, sounding surprised.

"Of course."

"This really does mean everything to you."

It meant the world. "I don't know what use the number is, Austin."

He pulled a tag free from the closest shelf. "See? It's all coded. If we find section J, the ring won't be far." He touched my shoulder. "We'll find it. I promise."

We started looking with only a torch to guide our way. The moon shone through a window, but it didn't help us much.

"Over here," Austin called from a nearby stack. "I found the right section. What's the number again?"

"347." I jogged over to him. There were an overwhelming number of items tagged with a J, but eventually, we found the 300s. My nerves twisted at the thought of it almost being over.

It took us another twenty minutes to find it. The ring was in a pretty box. It shone under Austin's torchlight. "Does it feel magical to you?"

I nodded and reached out to touch it.

He grabbed my wrist. "Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, Ari? You know how Jenny is. You saw her with Nessa earlier. Are you prepared to risk your life on her word?"

"I don't have a life without this," I whispered. "I have to trust her. Shouldn't you?"

He hesitated, holding my gaze. My heart threatened to escape my chest.

The doors opened, and the security guard came in. "I know you're in here!" he shouted. "Integration Agents are on their way. You won't get past me, so you might as well give up now."

"Shit," Austin whispered. "I'll tackle him while you run."

"No." I shoved on the ring and ran for the door. A shock of electricity ran through my entire body. The ring was... _something_.

The security guard pointed his torch at me and smiled. "Steady on now, love. There's no way out of this."

"Yes, there is." I held out a shaky hand and gathered magic to me. Magic from his body, from his life. And it surged out in such a rush that I felt sure it wanted to be in my hands.

The guard went pale and collapsed onto the ground. I stood there, horrified, while Austin ran to check his pulse.

He looked up at me with relief and awe in his eyes. "He's alive," he said. "He's just unconscious." He started to laugh, albeit nervously. "Wow, Ari. You're a bloody rockstar."

I couldn't stop shaking. The demon squirmed so hard that I felt sure the necklace vibrated. I looked down at the ring. "I wonder if it worked."

"We'll figure that out later," he said. "Come on. Before the IAs get here."

When I didn't move, he came to get me. "You're an idiot," he said affectionately. "Why don't you know when you're supposed to run?"

A tear slid from my eye. "I can't believe I just did that. It's been so long..."

"And we can celebrate after this." He kissed my forehead. "Let's get out of here and back to the van. We'll watch out for any witches. Okay?"

I nodded and followed him out. Without the guard, we made a clean escape back to the van. A part of me felt surprised that they were still waiting for us. Jenny jumped out, enraged, but I held up my hand and showed her the ring.

She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight embrace. "You did it, you mad bitch."

"Because of you." I looked her in the eye. "You're the best friend I've ever had."

She only grinned.

"The guard said IAs are on the way," Austin said. "But maybe we should hang around and see if any witches show up. Ari wiped out the guard with magic back there."

"Did she?" She looked at me with wide eyes. "What was it like?"

"Pretty kickass," he said teasingly. "She's the real deal, Jenny."

Her smile turned dark. "I knew it. How does it feel?" she asked.

"Like the sun came back," I said.

She laughed. "So poetic. We'll wait. We're close enough to see, far enough to flee if we have to. It might be a bit soon to pit Ari against an entire coven, right?"

The witches didn't show up. The ring worked. I'd had a feeling as soon as I saw it. When the IAs arrived, I sucked the air out of their tyres to make Jenny laugh. She looked at me as though I were the little sister she never had. Life was pretty freaking perfect.

# Chapter 8

We celebrated with fast food and cheap beer. When Jenny was around, nobody ever went hungry. They all depended on her. _We_ all depended on her. I drank deeply from a bottle of beer, the spark of magic still hot against my skin. It responded to my every movement, waiting to obey me, wanting to be used. How was that wrong?

And yet, doubt remained. I'd frozen at the warehouse until Austin confirmed the security guard was still alive. And it was then I'd remembered that _I_ was still alive, too.

"You look so happy," Jenny remarked, passing me another bottle of beer. "I wish I could feel magic. Not like an addict. For real."

I touched the back of her palm and willed the magic around her to crackle. She gasped and pulled her hand away then laughed at her own fear.

"It won't hurt you."

She stuck out her tongue. "Unless you want it to. Do you believe in soul mates, Ari?"

I thought of Noah and shrugged. "I don't know anymore."

"I do," she said. "I would do anything for my soul mate. That look in your eye when we left to get the ring? That's how I feel about him."

"That's lovely," I said. My tongue felt thick. The words sounded strange.

Jenny looked at me. She was smiling, but her eyes were sharp. "That's my focus, you know. To do whatever it takes to help him succeed. He's the only one who's ever truly understood me, and I'd do anything to..." She took a sip of her beer. "Have you ever felt like that about anyone? That you'd do anything at all... just for them?"

"I used to feel like that about Noah," I said. "But he doesn't want me anymore."

"Was he your boyfriend?"

I nodded glumly. "We'd been through everything together, and then _she_ started taking him away from me."

Jenny handed me another beer. I stared at my empty bottle. That was fast.

"Who did?" she said, nudging me.

"Oh." I snarled and ripped a newspaper from Nessa's hands. On the front page was a picture of Phoenix and Ava Delaney. The papers were still going crazy over the fact he'd left the Senate. As if I cared. " _Her_."

"Her?" Jenny laughed. "Are you serious?"

"She's the one who attacked Austin," I said under my breath.

"I know who she is." Her lips curled upward into a sneer. "I hated her even before that. Haven't you noticed that everything bad started to happen when she showed up? Everything she touches fails. Isn't that weird?"

"That's what she does," I slurred. "Noah and me... we were perfect. We were a team, and then she came along and took him from me, piece by piece. Got him a job away from me, a home away from me, and now he won't even speak to me because of her. I think he's in love with her or something. All because of my mistake."

"What was your mistake?"

The room had emptied. "Where is everyone?"

"Somebody found fireworks. Didn't you hear them say it?" She pointed at the window. "Look."

Colours filled the sky, but my gaze was drawn back to the photo. "I _hate_ her."

"She's bad news. I take it your mistake had something to do with her."

I touched the necklace. "It was my fault. I wasn't smart. I just don't know how to... I don't understand people. I try to copy them, try to act like I know what I'm doing, but I don't. I was just so lonely without Noah, so I... I summoned a demon, and he tricked me into making a wish. She..." I set down the beer bottle. "He made Ava Delaney show her true face, the darkness that's deep inside her, and that's why she attacked Austin. I'm so sorry. It's my fault he got attacked, and I—"

"Hush," she said, drawing me to her. Her cheek was wet with tears. She was such a good friend. "It's not your fault. I understand. I'm going to help you. We're going to get you everything you want, do you understand me? _Everything_."

I relaxed against her. Jenny always knew what to do.

I rolled over and groaned as sunlight hit my face. I covered my head with a blanket before freezing. The sunlight never reached me under the bed. I looked around in confusion. I wasn't at home.

Jenny slept next to me, her hair covering her face. Nessa and a number of others slept on the floor on blankets. I got up, my head absolutely pounding, and found the rest of my clothes. I dressed then strategically moved across the floor without disturbing anyone.

In the kitchen, Austin was cooking while wearing just a pair of jeans. He turned and smiled. "Morning. Didn't expect to see you up this early. Coffee?"

"Will that help?"

"Hungover?" He grinned. "No worries. I'll sort you out."

He made me sit at the table while he made me coffee. He finished cooking and brought me a rasher sandwich.

I shot the greasy toast a dubious look.

"It'll help. Trust me."

I did trust him. Austin was always nice, except for those nights when things got weird between Jenny and him.

"Show me something," he said teasingly as he sat across from me. "Mystify me with magic. Impress me with an illusion."

"Stop talking like that, and I'll think about," I said drily.

He just laughed.

I held out my hand. His cup came flying across the table to meet my fingers snugly.

"Showing off already?" Jenny asked from behind me.

"Only a little," Austin said. "Breakfast?"

"Not for me," she said.

Austin looked disappointed.

"Now that you have your magic back, you can start to pull your weight around here," Jenny said. "I mean, you basically live here now, so..."

"Can I?" I asked. "Live here?"

Austin's laugh was sharp and bitter. "We thought you already did." He left us alone.

"Did I do something?" I asked anxiously. I didn't want to be sent away again.

"He's always grumpy in the mornings," she said. "I'm going to send you out with Nessa and Austin tonight, okay? I have a job for you to do, something that will require a little magic. Think you can handle it?"

"Yeah," I said eagerly. "Of course." I couldn't wait to use my magic seriously again. I just had to be careful. I could be careful.

I spent the day hanging around the house. Nessa followed me around a lot. It made me feel a part of everything.

"Any idea what it is we're doing tonight?" I asked her that afternoon.

"Oh, we'll find out before we go," she said dismissively. "No big deal."

"Right. Of course not," I murmured.

I found Austin, thinking he might have some answers. "Jenny said I'm coming with you tonight."

He kept reading his book. "So I'm told."

I almost let that send me running, but I decided I deserved to know what he was so mad about. "Did I do something to you?" I asked. "Because if I did, I—"

He looked up at me. "You didn't do anything, kid. I just don't think you should be with us tonight. It's too much of a risk."

"So why are you going?"

He dropped the book onto his lap and looked out of the window for a moment before looking at me. "Sometimes, I forget," he said. "But I do it because I want to make Jenny happy."

"Because she's your soulmate," I said.

He laughed. "Jesus, where did you get that from?"

"Jenny. She said you're her soulmate."

"No, she didn't."

I stared at him. "Yeah, she did. She said everything she does is for you."

He gaped at me.

"That's what girlfriends do, dummy." No, that was wrong. The words fell flat. I'd forgotten the nuance to make the words sound light and breezy. I froze, waiting for him to get mad at me.

"Thanks," he said. "I hadn't thought of it like that before."

I beamed. Everything was going so well.

I listened to the plan with a degree of interest and apprehension. A prisoner was being transported from a police station to a holding cell closer to the courts. We had to stop that from happening. Nobody explained why exactly, but I owed Jenny everything, so I hesitated to question it.

"We're to bring him back with us," Austin said. "We can't be followed."

"What did he do?" I asked.

"Who cares?" Nessa said harshly. "This is what Jenny wants."

Doubt stirred within, but Austin's reassuring smile helped me recover. It was okay. There was a good reason for it. Probably, the Senate wanted to shut somebody up, to hurt him like they wanted to hurt me. Jenny would have us save him. That made perfect sense.

"You ready?" Austin asked me. "This won't be easy."

"I'm ready," I said. "I can do it."

"He's not high-risk," Nessa said. "Probably won't even have IAs with him."

"If he does, we'll have to be extra careful," Austin said. "He's from your neck of the woods, Nessa. Do you know him?"

"We met once or twice," she said. "He looks tough, but he's a total computer nerd."

"That must be why she wants him," he murmured. He pointed at the map. "This is where we stop them. We return by this route. It has to be this way, or it won't work. If something happens, and I don't make it, keep following the plan back here. Don't look back."

"We're not going to leave you," I said.

"I said, _if_." He shot me a wry smile. "I'm not planning on getting caught tonight."

"We should leave now," Nessa said. "Just in case they're early."

Austin nodded. "Jenny's already in place. We'll hear from her if the plans change, but we should be prepared for anything. Something always goes wrong."

"Last time, we popped a tyre," Nessa said with a husky giggle. "Jenny got so mad, I thought Austin was about to cry."

He ruffled her hair. "Look who's talking. Come on. Get a move on, and I'll buy you two ice-cream on the way."

"Race you," Nessa said, pushing me when I tried to stand. She ran off, laughing.

"That's just her way," Austin said. "She likes you really."

I couldn't tell.

An hour later, we were sitting in the van on a darkened street, waiting for our target to pass by. Jenny called to say they were running late, and it was another two hours before she got back in touch to say it was time.

"Be ready for anything," Austin said. "Remember the plan?"

I nodded determinedly.

"Bait again," Nessa said with a sigh. She got out and stood in the middle of the road. It wasn't long before the police vehicle came barreling around the corner. That was weird. Something must have happened.

The vehicle didn't stop. It beeped, but it didn't slow down. Nessa stood there, a frozen look of horror on her face.

"Shit," Austin said. "What the fuck is happening?"

I reached out around me in a panic, gathering magic to me. The demon squirmed in the gem around my neck. I shoved the force of the magic toward the van, making it swerve off course just in time. It crashed into a lamppost.

"I didn't mean that," I said automatically.

Austin groaned, slumping back into his seat.

I looked at him in a panic. "Oh, no. Austin?" I pressed my hand against his face, willing the magic to go back inside him. But that never worked.

He patted my hand, looking exhausted. "I'm all right. It was just a surprise. Come on. We better see if we can help."

We got out of the car. Nessa was still standing there in shock. Austin wrapped his arm around her. "You're going to be okay. Sit in the van and relax yourself."

She nodded, her eyes wide and blank. She obeyed, and Austin and I checked on the van. The IAs were unconscious, but the prisoner was awake, awkwardly trying to rub the blood flowing from a cut on his temple with his shoulder.

He stopped to glare at Austin. "No."

"Come on, Raph," Austin said. "We don't have time."

"I'm not owing her a favour."

Austin shook his head. "It's too late for that."

I broke the handcuffs with residual magic in the air, and we helped the prisoner to the van. He protested all the way, but he didn't try to fight us. I wondered what kind of person said no to Jenny.

In the van, Austin called an ambulance before we left, but as we were driving away, we already heard sirens in the distance.

Austin called Jenny on the way to find out what happened. He spoke to me under his breath. "Looks like somebody else had rammed the police car already, trying to take them out. Good thing you were there or Nessa would have gotten squished."

"Why did somebody else ram the car?" I asked.

He shrugged. "People with skills are valuable. Watch yourself, Ari. When word gets out about you, you'll get popular, too."

Nessa recovered from the shock and reached for my arm. "Thanks, Ari. I'm just... thank you."

But I'd almost messed everything up. When everyone realised just how unpredictable and dangerous my magic was, nobody would want me.

# Chapter 9

Jenny threw yet another celebration at the house we'd taken over. More people than ever crowded into the rooms. I wondered if they all knew what the party was for. Magic filled the air. Even though Jenny didn't partake, there was always faery dust going around.

People were drunk, some already vomiting. I tried to find a quiet spot, but there was none because Jenny chose to make me the star. She made everyone clap for me and Austin, too, conveniently forgetting about Nessa who looked sour before she stole somebody else's faery dust.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked her when I saw her filling up a syringe.

She rolled up her trouser leg, letting me see the track marks around her ankles. "It's the best idea."

I reached out for the magic in the syringe, but I felt none. Maybe it had once been magic, but it wasn't anymore. I left her to it because I couldn't stomach watching her do that to herself.

I sought out Austin because he was safe and found him next to a window, his upper body leaning on the ledge. When I reached his side, he turned his head sharply to glare at me then relented when he realised it was me.

"Too crowded," he told me. "I hate these bloody parties."

He shoved somebody who barged into me then maneuvered me into a quieter room.

"Slightly better," I said.

His usual smile still hadn't returned. "At least there are no needles in here."

"I don't think faery dust is a good idea," I said hesitantly.

He shrugged. "Jenny made a deal. Info in exchange for willing guinea pigs. Now we're inundated."

An odd sensation pricked at my insides. I'd felt it before, knew it to be doubt, and squashed it as quickly as it appeared.

"Hey," he said, mistaking my expression. "It won't be forever. The dusters will move on."

"I thought Nessa was going to die earlier," I said. "Is that... I mean, is it always that risky?"

"Tonight was different," he said. "But yeah, it's often risky. Too much for you?"

"I..." I looked away. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. I didn't mean to take that much. I panicked. I didn't have enough time to think about what to do."

"It's all right," he said. "You saved Nessa. Got the job done, too. We brought home our target."

Whom I hadn't seen since.

"What I did is why I'm alone," I said in a low voice. "Because it's supposed to be wrong."

"If it was wrong, it wouldn't have saved somebody's life," he said. "Besides, you're not alone. You have us."

"But I hurt you," I said.

He avoided my gaze. "Non-human, remember? I can handle it."

I tried to enjoy the party, but I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach that I couldn't distinguish. I could have killed Austin just to save Nessa. I could have messed up the swerve and gotten Nessa killed anyway. What would I have done then?

The room silenced too suddenly, and a surge of energy rushed around me. I looked up in confusion as Jenny pushed a dazed looking Nessa toward me. People gathered around us. I didn't like the atmosphere. It reminded me of things I wasn't supposed to remember.

"What's going on?" Austin asked warily.

"This traitor's been telling people she's going to rat on Ari to the witches," Jenny said loudly.

Nessa gurgled, her eyes blank and unseeing. She'd taken too much. She probably didn't even know what was going on.

"She doesn't look like she's been talking," Austin said.

"She has," Jenny said. "If she rats on one of us, she rats on all of us." She pushed Nessa again, knocking her to her knees. "It's up to Ari to punish her." She met my confused gaze. "Take her tongue. You can do that, right? Or better yet, just suck the magic right out of her."

I looked at Austin. Had he told her what happened? I looked back at Nessa. "I can't."

"She was going to risk your life, right after you saved hers," Jenny taunted. "If you don't hurt her, we'll all know how weak you are."

Noise thundered in my ears. I was trapped, cornered, forced to fight, just like before. I didn't want to hurt Nessa, especially when she looked so pathetic.

"Stop this," Austin said. "Send Nessa away, but don't do this, Jenny."

Jenny glared at him.

"Yeah," I said. "Send her away. Let her suffer by... being alone."

The crowd cheered.

"You're far crueler than I am," Jenny said with a cold smile. "Banishment then."

Led by Jenny, the crowd moved off, dragging Nessa with them. I found it hard to breathe.

"It's all right," Austin said. "They'll cool down tomorrow."

"I can't torture people," I said, panicking. "She—"

"It's all right," he said soothingly. "Come on. We'll go talk to Jenny about it now."

The party had been taken outside. Austin urged me to follow, but on the landing, I looked downstairs and spotted Jenny talking with a dark-haired young man with a snake tattooed around his neck. I jumped back with a little mewling noise.

"Are you feeling okay?" Austin asked, looking amused.

I pointed downstairs, unable to stop my hand from shaking. "That's him. The one who attacked me that night. The one Jenny saved me from. Why is he here? What is he doing with her?"

He looked over the landing and frowned before leading me back into the empty room. "That's who attacked you? You're sure?"

"Yes! Why is he here, Austin?"

"He... probably just heard there was a party. Jenny's probably throwing him out right now. Don't worry," he said. "He's not going to touch you again. All right?"

I nodded, frozen in the kind of fear I hadn't felt in a long time. Not since Noah had decided to protect me.

"Jesus," he said. "You're shaking."

My mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

"I'm going to talk to Jenny about it. I promise you, I will talk to her and clear all of this up. This stuff with him and Nessa, too. I'll deal with it. You don't need to worry about it anymore."

I wanted to cry.

He hugged me. "It's going to be all right. Things are tense right now. Everybody's worried about what's going to happen next. But I promise you, it's all part of the plan. One day, we'll be living on the other side of town, laughing when we remember nights like this. Do you trust me?"

I nodded. I did. I let go of the breath I'd been holding. Sometimes, all I could do was trust another person. Austin cared about everybody. He wouldn't let anyone hurt me.

Nessa was really gone. Nobody spoke about her, and when I asked, they acted as though they didn't know whom I meant. Everyone was subdued. Only Austin looked happy, so I went to him.

"I talked to Jenny," he told me. "I was right. He was uninvited, and she told him to leave. He won't be around here again. Feel better now?"

I nodded. "What about Nessa?"

He hesitated. "That'll take a little more planning, but leave it with me. I'll figure out a way to make her useful. Jenny's too busy with the prisoner to think about that stuff."

"He's our prisoner now?" I asked, baffled.

"He just has to do a job or two, and then he can leave." He shrugged. "Don't worry. They never want to leave once they realise what Jenny is offering them. It'll all be good soon."

It didn't take long for Austin to speak to Jenny. Although I hid from her, she stalked me and cornered me alone.

"I hear you want Nessa back," she said coolly, her arms crossed over her chest. "You can never trust her again. You know that, don't you?"

I nodded. She had been in a foul mood all day. I felt myself assessing every word before I spoke. "I just think she could be more useful here," I said, remembering Austin's words. "I mean, it's totally your choice. But she could do some jobs, you know, to earn her place back."

She looked thoughtful. "I might have a role for her. I was thinking, we could try to get your boy Noah to join us here."

I shook my head. "He wouldn't. He loves his stupid job too much."

"I have ways to deal with that," she said. Her smile made me feel uncomfortable, so I changed the subject.

But for the next few days, I felt her gaze on me and knew I was in trouble. I'd asked too many questions, not pleased her enough. If I didn't start agreeing with her, I could end up banished like Nessa.

So when she asked me to take a drive with her to get some food, I agreed with a smile.

"Good girl," she said, tapping me on the nose. "Quiet now, Goose. I don't want anyone else thinking they can hitch a ride."

She took my hand and swiftly led me outside to the van. She'd just started the engine when heads began to appear at the windows, begging to come with us. Jenny waved, pretending she didn't hear, and we left Neverland together.

She didn't speak on the drive, instead singing along to the radio. When I'd first left Hell, I'd hated the music that was popular in the outside world, but Jenny had made me love it.

I glanced at her. She was the closest thing I had to family, and I felt safe by her side. Except for the times when I felt afraid...

Shortly afterward, she drove right past our preferred fast food place. "I thought we were getting food."

"We will. Just need to do something first."

I relaxed. It wasn't often anyone got to be alone with Jenny.

She drove almost to the Liffey before stopping the van in the middle of the road.

"What are you doing?" I asked, laughing as about seventeen cars starting beeping at the same time.

"Hurry up," she bellowed out of the window.

Nessa made her way through the traffic and jumped into the back of the van.

"Hey," I said, pleased to see her. Her eyes were clear and alert. Everything could go back to normal.

But Nessa refused to look at me. "Thanks for this, Jenny."

"You have to earn it," Jenny said, starting the engine again.

She blared music as she drove. I felt cold inside. Nessa was obviously mad at me, and Jenny hadn't exactly been friendly since the party. Austin said she just had something on her mind, that clever people needed everyone else to cut them some slack, but sometimes I wondered if it was me she was mad at.

I sighed and stared out the window. We were coming into familiar property. I panicked. Was she taking me to the Senate? "Where are we going?"

Jenny grinned. "Relax, you little pussy. You're going to like this. I promise."

I gripped the seat tightly. I had magic. All I had to do was act. I could take out both of them and run. But run where? Back to the crappy little flat? I had nowhere else to go.

Panic kept my heart racing until I realised we were driving to Noah's workplace.

"What are we doing here?" I asked.

"You're going to talk to him," Jenny said. "It'll give me a chance to take a good look at him and figure him out. I have a knack of figuring out what people want. I'll know what to do about him."

"He might not talk to me."

"So make him. Use your magic if you have to." She glared at me. "Don't you dare take no for an answer. I mean, who does he think he is? You were trying to do something for both of you. He can't tell you that was wrong. He's just playing hard to get." She smirked. "And if he's found somebody new, we'll take care of her for you."

Nessa giggled from the back. I swallowed hard. That dark edge of doubt had been growing louder lately, and I wasn't sure what to do about it.

"Go on then," Jenny said. "Go get him, Goose."

I had my choice. I let myself out of the car, pulling Jenny's coat tighter around me. My hands were shaking from more than the cold. Noah didn't like pressure. He hated the same arguments more than once. Getting some distance from him and being around new people had given me a different perspective on things. I had a feeling he needed more time to cool down, but I hated saying no to Jenny. I'd gotten in her way too much lately. I couldn't live without Neverland, and all it took was a word from Jenny for me to be ripped from the place forever.

Outside the garage, Dave, the owner, was talking to a customer. He raised a brow when he saw me.

"I need to see Noah," I said shakily. "It's important."

"Wait out here," he said. "No drama, eh?"

I nodded and moved along a few steps. Noah came out a few minutes later.

"Where the hell have you been?" he demanded.

I brightened. "You've been looking for me?"

"Of course not! Ava came here. She said you haven't been home in over a month."

Had it really been so long? "What does _she_ care?"

"You think they haven't been keeping an eye on you? She needs to talk to you, so you better go home before you get into trouble." He eyed the ring on my finger. "Are you... Where the hell did this come from?"

"It's magic," I whispered. "It lets me use magic without anybody being able to trace it."

"Are you stupid?" he said, sounding frustrated. "Did _you_ steal this? I know it was stolen, so don't lie to me."

"Maybe a friend gave it to me," I said. "I have friends now, all right? Maybe I don't even need you anymore anyway."

"Then what are you doing here?" He raised his hands in the air. "You're driving me crazy."

"I... I missed you." Had I? Sometimes. But then again, sometimes I thought that maybe Noah hadn't been nice to me very often, even when we were together. If it wasn't for Jenny, I wouldn't have even thought about visiting him again.

But Jenny wanted him. And I couldn't let her down.

He turned as though to walk away.

Panicked, I pulled at the magic in the air. "Stop!"

He froze. "Don't you dare use magic on me," he growled. "Let me go, Ari. Right now."

"Then listen to me!"

I let him go.

He didn't run. Instead, he turned slowly, sniffing the air. "Do you smell smoke?"

"What?"

Nessa came running over. "I did it!" She wrapped her arms around me. "Now there's nothing stopping you from getting back together!"

"What's she on about?" Noah said warily.

"I don't—"

"The fire, silly," she said. "I set the fire in the garage for you."

"What?" Noah whirled around and slapped my face. "There are people in there, you little fool!"

I held my cheek, too shocked to even feel the pain. "Wait! I didn't!"

Nessa held me back as Noah ran into the garage to help.

"What did you do that for?" I cried.

Her face hardened. "Because Jenny told me to. Now get in the van before emergency services turn up."

She dragged me away. I sought out the fire and sucked the magic from it, but I couldn't be sure that would even work. I held my stinging face in the van, keeping silent while the others chattered.

Back at the house, I was still too stunned to speak. I followed Jenny and Nessa up the stairs. Their arms were linked. I might as well not have existed. No matter how many steps forward I took, I kept moving backwards.

Austin took one look at my face and froze. "What happened to Ari?"

"Her ex-boyfriend hit her," Nessa said.

"The little prick," he exclaimed.

I couldn't take it anymore. Not for another second.

"You set his garage on fire!" I screamed. "You blamed it on me! What did you expect to happen?"

"She's a little tense," Jenny said with an amused laugh. "She'll calm down eventually. Pipe down, Ari." Her smile turned dark. "Or you can leave."

Magic leaked from my fingers. It took everything in me not to suck the life out of all of them. I could have done it, and the demon in my necklace twitched as though he agreed with me. But then I'd be left with nothing, and Jenny knew it. So I sat by the fire and kept my mouth shut, even when Austin tried to speak to me.

Noah would never forgive me now, and I had almost forgotten how awful that felt.

# Chapter 10

"Oh, come on," Jenny said two days later. "You can't still be sulking."

"Noah's everything to me," I said.

"I thought magic was everything to you," she said mockingly.

I stared at the fire. I kept it going, fed it with the anger and bitterness I was feeling. I didn't know where else to put my rage so it didn't hurt anyone.

"You have to cheer up sometime," she said. She took a seat next to me. "Austin's been grumpy, too. Do you want to know why?"

I shrugged. Did I care anymore?

"I thought you were friends with Austin," she chided. "I thought you liked us, Ari."

"I did. I mean, I do. I just..."

"Look, I need you to at least pretend to be happy. For Austin's sake."

"What do you mean?"

"It's that time of year," she said under her breath. "Didn't you know?"

I stared at her blankly.

She pulled her knees to her chest. "His mother was murdered by the Senate. This weekend is the anniversary of her death."

"Oh, no," I whispered, taken aback from the breadth of emotion I felt at the revelation. "I didn't know his mother died."

"Was murdered," she repeated emphatically. "He doesn't like to talk about it. It hurts him, you know."

"Is that why you hate the Senate?" I asked. "For Austin?"

"Partly," she said. "I've told you before, haven't I? How hard I've been working? Well, it's finally paid off. I've found something that would make things up to him, help him... deal with his grief. But you can't tell anybody yet. It has to be our secret. Can you keep a secret?"

She didn't hate me. Relief coursed through my body. "Of course. What is it?"

She glanced around as though to make sure we were alone. "There's this mirror. I heard of it a long time ago. A friend of mine was going to get it for Austin, but the Senate killed him before he could tell me where he hid it. There was a fake going around, but this is the real deal. It's been here all along, and I found it, found where it was hidden, but it's trapped in magic. I need magic to open it, and then magic to make it work."

"But what does it do?"

"If you look into Narcissus Glass, you get your heart's desire. Austin would do anything to speak to his mother again. This mirror lets you see anybody, no matter where they are."

"Even if they're dead?"

"Yes," she said. "I can get to the mirror. All it needs is for you to free it from its glamour then set up the spell. It takes a tiny blood sacrifice from Austin, and then he'll finally be able to say goodbye to his mother."

I'd often wondered what my mother looked like, if she was like me at all. Maybe, if I was really helpful, Jenny would someday let _me_ use the mirror. "He'll really be able to talk to her?"

"Yes," she said. "Every Tuesday, he goes to her grave, so that'll give us the chance to go get the mirror. We'll take it back here and start the spell, too. When he comes home, it'll be ready for him."

"This is amazing," I said enthusiastically. All of the things that didn't add up about Jenny slowly fit together again. She was bad-tempered over the fake, because she hadn't been able to help Austin. And now she could. "You really would do anything for him."

She beamed. "Of course I would."

The sudden gloom of the evening was eerie. It scared me. "Come on," Jenny whispered. "We have to be careful. The mirror's hidden in the basement. You'll need to use magic to free it, and then we can get it out of there and be on our way. But if we see _anybody_ , you need to be ready to use your magic on them."

I nodded. Anything to make Austin and Jenny happy again. Anything to feel like my magic wasn't as wrong as people made it out to be. Helping somebody... that was worthy. That proved the witches wrong, regardless of the methods used.

We made our way through the garden. The house looked empty. I felt no life inside. "I don't think anybody's there," I said.

"Still. Always be ready," she said. "And... don't touch anything in the basement. There's a lot of weird shit down there."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've been there, idiot. I couldn't get the mirror myself, and that's why you're here."

We broke through a window and climbed in. Jenny refused to turn on any lights, but she seemed to know her way. I held on to her jacket so I wouldn't lose her. It was freakishly shadowy in the house, and for a moment, I wondered if Austin was really sitting in a graveyard in such darkness.

Jenny took a key out of her pocket and unlocked a massive double door. "Down here," she whispered.

I had a sudden fear that she was going to lock me in the basement, but she went down first, urging me to follow.

She switched on the lights down there because there were no windows to alert the neighbours.

"Just as I remembered it," she said, seeming to forget my presence. She went straight to a stack of boxes in the corner and dug through them. She took out a clock and rested it onto the nearest flat surface.

"This is it," she said.

"It's a clock."

"That's just a guise," she said impatiently. "Try and break the magic."

I hesitated. "I could break the mirror, too."

"And I could break your face. You don't know how hard I've worked for this, so get it open. Now!"

I shivered at the anger in her voice. But it was for Austin. Austin was nice. Austin was worth the trouble. I touched my bruised cheek. Austin would _never_ hit me.

I took a deep breath and searched slowly, taking my time. The magic was dense around the clock. Now that she said it, I could feel it clearly. There was something binding the mirror, something thick and heavy. I siphoned the magic away as slowly as I could, panting with the effort of fighting against my natural instincts. The power in me wanted to drain and erase, wanted to soak up everything, but I couldn't risk damaging the mirror. Not if it was for Austin's mother.

Finally, something clicked, and the surge vanished. It grew easier to pull magic away. "It's almost done," I said.

Less than a minute later, the clock opened up as though on a spring, revealing the mirror.

Jenny gasped. "You did it."

I looked at the mirror. It was pretty and ornate, but it didn't look like anything special. At the base was a little carving that looked like a bowl. "That's for the blood," Jenny said. "The magic doesn't work until you use a spell. Let's get out of here."

She carefully covered the mirror in fabric and carried it out under her coat. We weren't stopped, and we made it to the van unhindered. It had been so easy in the end that I kept waiting for Integration Agents to appear out of the shadows.

Jenny giggled in the van. "I can't believe it," she said. "All of that work, and it's finally here. We did it, Ari." She glanced at the time. "We better hurry if we want to be done before Austin gets back."

She looked pleased with me, happier than she'd been in weeks. I sank back, relieved that the tension between us was gone.

# Chapter 11

When we made it back to the house, Jenny kicked everybody out. We had the entire place to ourselves. She handed me a piece of paper. "This is the spell," she said. "It cost me my dignity to get a hold of that thing, so you better be able to read it."

I skimmed it. "It's not in English, but it's made to be understood by anybody with magic. I've never done anything like this before. Are you sure this is safe?"

"No, but we've gotta take risks, right?" She grinned. "Aren't you excited? I'm excited."

She sang as she ran around lighting candles at my direction. I practiced the spell over and over again, making sure I knew exactly what should happen when. I started the spell as Austin came up the stairs, and by the time Jenny led him into the room and onto the chair, it was almost done.

"What is this?" he asked curiously, nodding at the mirror on the table in front of him.

"Just wait," she said. "It's a gift for you, my love. I just have to take a tiny bit of blood."

Before he could protest, she pricked his finger and squeezed it over the bowl to gather a drop of his blood. The blood disappeared as though the mirror itself consumed it. A gleam of red glistened through the design around the mirror for the briefest moment.

I shivered in spite of myself. There was something dark about the spell, but I supposed reaching the afterlife wasn't exactly the kind of spell I was used to.

"Say the last words," Jenny said excitedly. "Austin, keep looking at yourself in the mirror. Just trust me."

He obeyed, shrugging as though he were humouring us. I wanted to laugh at the thought of his surprise when he saw his mother in the mirror looking back at him.

I spoke the last words of the spell, and my necklace jumped off my chest as though trying to take part. My skin prickled with anticipation. I wanted to look into the mirror, but Jenny had warned me not to, saying it would only work with one pair of eyes. I couldn't ruin it for Austin.

Austin made a strangled noise, and the candles all flared then dampened as one. Magic chilled the air. I shivered. Something felt off.

"Austin?" I said in a quiet voice.

He didn't answer.

Jenny moved to his side. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

He was frozen in the chair, his hands clenched into fists. He nodded slowly, confusing me. Why didn't he speak to his mother?

Jenny made a squealing sound then straddled him, shoving her tongue into his mouth as she kissed him.

He pulled back, holding her off. "What are you doing?"

"Kissing my boyfriend," she said with a grin. She moved aside so he could look at the mirror again.

"Clever." He flexed his fingers.

"Ari helped with everything," she said. "Her magic is so different than anything else I've felt."

He looked around at me, and I took a step back. Austin's eyes were dark without the light of the candles to make them shine, but even so, they didn't look normal. His expression seemed flattened somehow.

"She looks like a frightened mouse," he said.

I took another step back. Why was he looking at me like that?

"Ignore her," she said. "Let's go to bed. We have a lot to talk about." She looked at me. "Ari, make sure we aren't disturbed. Send food and good whiskey up to my room. Oh, and a bottle of the wine I like, but other than that, do not disturb us. Understand?"

I nodded slowly. Austin kept looking at me in a way that made my skin crawl.

Jenny took his hand and led him out of the room.

I went to the mirror. It looked so ordinary. I reached out to touch the glass, but the necklace jumped again, scaring me. I ran out of the room and went downstairs to sit alone.

Jenny and Austin stayed locked up in their room for an entire week. People went in and out of the house, wondering what to do now that Jenny wasn't telling us. I spent more time with Nessa and the others. Now I wasn't the favourite, they all bitched about Austin solely.

Nessa and I sat in an abandoned overgrown park the following week. "Ugh, I am so _bored_ ," she complained. "I thought they'd be done shagging by now."

I laughed at her.

"Seriously," she said. "He always goes to his ma's house on a Tuesday. It's freaking Wednesday now, and he's still stuck in there."

"You mean the graveyard," I said. "He goes to his mother's grave on a Tuesday."

She looked at me as though I had just sprouted wings. "His mother's not dead, you loon. He sneaks over to her house, he told me, because the Senate are after him for something."

"Oh," I said, thinking hard. We all had different stories then. I couldn't imagine Jenny lied to me, but doubt niggled at me. I touched the gemstone, and it warmed at my touch.

Jenny and Austin didn't rejoin us until that weekend, and it was painfully clear something had shifted between them. He didn't smile, and when he did, it never reached his eyes. Jenny was hyped up, suddenly ready to obey Austin's every command. Usually, she bossed him around. If anybody else noticed, they didn't mention it.

Jenny hugged Nessa and me. "I've missed you girls," she said. "Let's have fun tonight. Austin wants to take a look at the other side of the city. Want to take a few risks and join us?"

Nessa and I exchanged an overjoyed glance. We were never going to say no. Jenny kissed us both on the cheek. "Lovely. Be ready to go. Wrap up well. I don't want anybody getting sick on me now."

The warmth of her care surrounded me, chasing away the doubt and odd feelings all over again.

We drove to the beach first. Pretty much everybody ended up there. We partied on the sand for hours, listening to music and dancing around fires we made. I let them blaze when encouraged. When I tired from that, I found a couple of beers and brought them over to Austin, plonking myself next to him.

"Beer?" I handed him the bottle, but he sneered at it.

"No, thanks."

"Oh." I stared out at the sea. I had never been past it as far as I could remember, but there were lots of things I didn't remember.

"You were in Hell," he said as though it had just dawned on him. "What was that like for you?"

I looked at him in surprise. "It was home. For a long time. But this is better. This is freedom."

He made a noncommittal sound.

I scratched my cheek. "Um, I don't mean to upset you, but is your mother dead?"

He snorted softly. "My mother is most certainly dead."

_Oh_. I wondered how Nessa had gotten confused. But that explained why he was acting weird. Anybody would need time to recover after unexpectedly seeing the face of their dead mother. Maybe we should have warned him first.

Jenny rounded a couple of us up after a while. "Let's go," she said. "Austin's ready to leave."

I wondered why we were suddenly following the beat of his drum, but like everybody else, I jumped into the van when he and Jenny did. Nessa sat next to me, shivering. I let magic warm up the air.

"Surely you can think of something more interesting to do with that power," Austin said coldly.

"Like what?"

His lips curled back into a grin. "Surprise me." It sounded like a dare.

A bubble of nervous laughter formed inside me, but I wasn't sure why. Nessa clutched my hands, grabbing for the warmth. We hadn't spoken the words aloud, but I sensed we were both unsettled by Austin's change in behaviour lately.

We headed into town, further than we had ventured before. We drove by IAs gathered around a bloody scene outside a cinema, stopped for food under the fluorescent lights of a busy fast food restaurant, and walked freely around a shopping centre that was open for late night shopping.

We didn't hide, and people avoided getting in our way. I almost wished the people I used to know could see me now, see I'd moved on, had better friends. Had family. Jenny and Austin weren't perfect, none of us were, but they gave me a place to belong. I owed them.

Austin glanced over his shoulder at me. Nessa's hand tightened around mine. "Keep up," he said.

"Yes, Dad," she said smartly before dragging me ahead, next to Austin. She used to try to walk next to Jenny. Things had changed.

Nessa giggled at something I said, drawing Jenny's attention. "Shut up," she said harshly. "Go home, you two."

"No," Austin said.

The word was simple, his tone even, but Jenny clamped her mouth shut and didn't argue. That had to be a first. Nessa glanced at Austin, almost admiringly.

Jenny's mood remained odd and disconnected. She constantly looked to Austin for approval, kept reminding him of things we'd done. For a moment, she reminded me of _me_ , trying to get through to Noah, and I cringed. I'd been foolish before—I saw that so clearly now—and it hurt me to see my friend making a fool of herself

"Ari was a good choice," she enthused. "Ari, show him something."

A shiver ran through me at the desperation in her voice. "He's seen it before."

"Show him something new," she said impatiently.

"Look at that eejit," Nessa said about a drunken middle-aged man staggering down the street. "Make him fall or something."

I shook my head, grinning as I thought of my old pranks. "Watch this." I reached out and took magic from all directions so that it wasn't noticeable. I whirled the magic around him, making him feel as though somebody were tapping his shoulder. He spun around in a circle, confused and drunk, teetering.

Jenny giggled. "What a fuckwit."

The drunk eventually fell over and struggled to get up. Austin didn't laugh. Nessa was in contortions laughing, even Jenny couldn't hold back her mirth, but he didn't crack a smile. I'd always been able to make him smile.

Frustrated, I made a sharp movement and every window on the street exploded outward. It took everything I had to block us from the spray of glass.

I looked at Austin, panting from the effort. While Jenny and Nessa had covered their heads, he had stayed still, only one corner of his mouth twisting upward. _Finally_.

He met my gaze, lifting his brows. Why didn't he enjoy our company anymore? "Impressive," he said.

"Imagine what she could do for us," Jenny said, recovering from the fright. "The coven want to bind her magic. We could set her free."

"We'll see," was all he said. "Come on. Let's cause some mayhem, see what else the little witch can do."

For the rest of the night, he encouraged us to destroy and bother the city, rewarding me with praise and half-smiles. He stayed by my side, whispering in my ear, filling me with chaotic ideas. And I couldn't think of one reason why I shouldn't listen.

# Chapter 12

I awoke the next morning feeling uneasy. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I realised Austin was sitting on a chair by the window, staring at me. I shifted back on the mattress, pulling the sheet closer to me.

The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk. "You did quite a job last night, Ari. The IAs are swarming the city looking for us. The Senate ordered them to take us in—dead or alive."

How did he know that? "I... I'm sorry," I said, glancing around the room. We were alone, and for the first time, that didn't feel safe.

He abruptly stood. "You mistake me," he said calmly. "This is perfect." He came over to kneel by the mattress then reached out and touched my hair. "We are alike, you and I. Both survivors."

I nodded, but I had no idea what he was getting at, only that Jenny would be pissed if she found us alone in a bedroom. "We should find Jenny," I whispered.

"Why?" He looked mildly surprised. "You're the one with the power. We are the forgotten, the citizens of Neverland, a place the world refuses to acknowledge. They don't want us to exist, but we do, and thanks to you, we're finally being noticed." He twisted my hair around his finger. "Who could forget you?"

He was right. We squatted and stole and did whatever it took to survive, and now we were making people _see_ us. But that was because of Jenny. Nobody remembered me.

"Can you do more?" he asked. "Are you up for the challenge? The rest of us will be out on the streets again tonight. Can you push the limits? You've been given your magic back. What are you going to do with it?"

"I thought you didn't want me to use my magic," I said. "I thought you didn't want us to be noticed." I was begging him to tell me why he was different, to give me a reason that made sense.

"Things have changed," he said, and his gaze wasn't focused on me anymore. "Don't die with regrets. Leave your mark on the world. We don't know when our days will end, but for some of us, death won't mean it's all over."

He grinned, and for an instant, he looked like the Austin I was used to, and I couldn't help smiling back.

"There she is," he whispered, taking my hand and helping me stand. "We're fighting for freedom, Ari, and you will be so important in the battles to come. People like you and I... we can choose our own destiny, but to break the way the world thinks, first we need a little chaos. You're the only one around here who can truly make a difference."

He leaned closer, brushed his thumb across my mouth. I stood there, entranced, my head full of notions that Noah would absolutely hate.

"And of course," he added in a whisper, his nose to mine. "There's the benefit of ruining the life of our mutual enemies. They will regret casting you aside, Ari."

He left me trembling from the encounter.

I was as hyped up on adrenaline as the others when we headed out that night. Austin kept me by his side, watching me constantly to see what I would do.

And so I performed. I showed off, trying to impress him because Austin had become the new Jenny, and the old Jenny constantly pawed at him for attention. I wished Noah could see me, but in the same breath, dreaded the thought of it because he would stop me, confine me, suppress everything that made me _me_. Noah had always wanted to change me. Everybody wanted to change me. What did _I_ want?

We strode through the city centre, causing mischief wherever we went, until a young boy I didn't recognise came skidding over to us, panting as he tried to speak.

"IAs, heading this way," he gasped. "Coming from the Southside. There's a lot of them."

"We should get out of here," Jenny said.

"Why?" Austin took my hand and squeezed it. "We have the little witch to protect us."

"The magic thief," Jenny said scornfully. "She'll need to drain us all to fight off that many Integration Agents."

"She can do it."

I looked at Austin. He was too still. He usually fidgeted, talked with his hands, was so tactile he was constantly reaching for the closest person. He usually worried about risks. I wished I knew why he was so different. Jenny hadn't mentioned the mirror again, but ever since that night, everything had been different.

"Why are we doing this?" I asked Austin.

He looked at me, and I shivered at the coldness in his eyes. "Because we want to be heard. This will keep the Senate and their minions busy for a while."

"Why do we need them busy?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?" He shook his head. "When you need to know, you'll know."

The others giggled as though I had been chastised. Austin had always been the one keeping everyone in line, making sure nobody went too far. Now that he had released the leash, everyone was going crazy. Nessa had no sense of risk. Jenny egged everyone on. I felt like I was slipping, about to lose myself to things I couldn't control. And Austin watched the chaos as though he were no part of it. I didn't get it. But if I hung around, maybe I would find out.

"We wait here for them to come to us," Austin said. "If the rest of you are too cowardly to wait, Ari and I will deal with them."

Warmth blossomed in my chest, and I knew I wasn't going to leave. Nobody else did either, but Jenny looked as though she'd eaten something rotten.

I strode to the centre of the road and waited for the IAs. They squealed toward us in cars, half a dozen of them, and I held up my hands and drained the world around me of magic. The necklace bounced on my chest, vitalized by the power.

I was drunk on it myself, my skin twitching and pulsing with the sensations running through me. I caught sight of Austin, met his gaze, and held it as I threw the power back into the world, right at the cars. They swerved and screeched, spinning as I directed until all six cars crashed into each other.

I dropped my arms, panting. Austin approached me, his mouth curving upward. "Very good," he said. "But this night is far from over."

The lot of us hurried over to the cars. Nobody was dead. I could tell that much, having controlled the crash myself. Most were groaning or unconscious in their seats, unsure of what had happened, and a twinge of that filthy doubt nudged at me again.

One IA, a female, had been thrown through a windscreen. She crawled along the road toward us, bleeding from her head. I couldn't tell her species, but she was tough.

"Kill her," Jenny urged, her voice dark and desperate. _Afraid_.

I glanced at Austin, but his face was expressionless. I pinned the woman with magic then shrugged. "If we kill people, who will talk about us?"

Austin laughed then, and I shivered with anticipation at the sound. Jenny's eyes darkened, and for the first time, she looked at me as though she truly hated me. And for the first time—drunk on Austin's admiration—I didn't particularly care.

"Let's move on," Austin said, gesturing toward where we left the van. "We've other places to leave our mark tonight."

We headed back to the vehicles then drove on, far from the crash site. Sirens were already singing in the distance.

"Take out the lights," Austin commanded from his seat next to me.

I obeyed. Street after street went black, drained of magic, and I felt high on the power. Austin kept watching me, and I tried to do better for him, hoping to see his real smile again.

We got out of the vehicles and led everyone through the blackened streets. More sirens went off in the distance. Somebody was screaming nearby.

"It reminds me of when the sun disappeared," Jenny said longingly.

I looked at her sharply. Was that what they wanted?

"Destruction," Austin whispered in my ear, his hand tight around my wrist. "Show me what you can do, Magic Thief."

I glared at him, too high from the magic to calm down. I covered his hand with mine and pulled magic from him. He blinked rapidly, shocked from the sensation. He let go of me and stepped back, but he looked pleased, thrilled even. I'd never seen that heat in his eyes before, but it reminded me of Noah, and that was confusing. "Very good," he said.

Jenny wrapped her arms around him, but he shrugged her off. "Not now, Jennifer."

"Leave her alone," she said in a low, whining voice. "Don't touch her. _Please_. Not her."

He looked down at her in disdain. "After everything I've taught you, you still let emotion get in the way."

"There are other ways," she said urgently.

He patted her back, but his face was a mask, apart from the predatory look in his eyes.

I backed away, chilled. Their relationship was screwed up sometimes.

We kept going, and I made sure to keep well away from Austin and Jenny. Their vibes pulled me back down, and I wanted to keep flying.

We came across a group of Humans First protesters shouting outside a tall building, even in the darkness. In fact, that only made them shout louder.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"It's where the Senate hold their press conferences," Nessa said. "They probably held one because of us. We're famous, baby."

I stared at Humans First. They wanted people like me dead. I remembered them outside of my school, and I got mad. I strode toward them, ignoring Jenny's calls for me to return. I kept going. Some of them turned to look at me. I looked like a normal teenager, and they had no idea what I had in store for them.

I reached out my hands and pulled magic from their bodies, sending it back to crackle around them like lightning. Most of them collapsed to the ground, leaving me to carry all of the magic around them in my hands. It was too much. The ground cracked, and lines ran up the sides of the building.

Austin moved to my side. "I can almost feel it," he said. "There's so much around you that I feel as though I could touch it."

"I have to let it go," I said mournfully. "I took too much. It has to go somewhere."

"You could send it back," he said.

"They'd die."

"So?"

I blinked. "They want me to die. I don't care about them."

"Then send it upward. Make a sign to the world that we're here, and we're not going away."

I glared at him. "What is it you really want, Austin?"

He shrugged. "I don't care what you do, but do it soon, that building is rumbling."

I looked over my shoulder. He was right. The building was making dangerous sounds, as though it would collapse from the weight of the magic around me.

"Come on then," I said. "I'll let it out slowly along the way."

I ran, and everyone followed me, whooping and laughing along the way. We ran alongside the Liffey as I shot colours into the sky. The entire city was in darkness, and I held all of the light. It was heavy though, tiring to carry. I let it go as gently as I could, making beautiful shapes in the darkness. Destruction might be fun sometimes, but what was the point of it?

"Make us warm!" Nessa screamed.

I warmed the air around us. We gathered on a bridge and watched the Liffey dance with colours. Nessa climbed onto the bridge at Jenny's urging. She danced with the colours, desperate for attention. I was growing tired. It was too much.

"I have to stop," I said weakly. "We have to go home."

"No," Austin said.

Somebody threw something at Nessa. It hit her in the temple. She screamed as she lost her balance, toppling backward. I rushed to stop her before she fell into the water, to help her, but the magic was gone. I didn't even hear a splash. I tried to pull more from the others, but it was too late, the magic too unreliable, my body too weak. Nessa was gone.

"We have to get her!" I shouted.

"Too late," Austin said. "Too dark."

"If we get her out now, she'll be fine!"

"She was too close to the walls. She either hit her head on stone or broke her back on debris. There's barely any water left."

I ran for the steps to go downward, but he grabbed me and held me back. "She's already gone," he said, and he didn't care. "Send a light down if you don't believe me."

I tried to find her. I lit the way, but I couldn't see her, and the light stuttered out because I was completely drained. I could only depend on my magic when I was being destructive. Maybe the witches were right about me. I reached out for the magic in Nessa's body, but there was nothing left, nothing alive. And nobody cared but me.

I felt sick. Everyone was still drinking and shouting and laughing, and Nessa was dead. One of us had just died, and nobody seemed to care.

When nobody was looking, I slipped away and ran home. I couldn't stand seeing anybody for one more second. I imagined Nessa's body in the water and threw up on the way. If it hadn't been for me, things would never have gotten so crazy.

Reality set in, and I saw everything clearly for the first time. I had acted the way the witches expected me to, and Nessa had died because of it.

At home, I paced the room then hid under the bed, but none of it worked to calm me back down. My hands refused to stop shaking, and I was jittery from the loss of magic. I drained a little from my neighbours to get me by then set up a summoning circle to call the demon to me.

"Shax," I whispered as he appeared, relief flooding through me at his familiar handsome face.

"You set a demon free," he said in a cruel tone. "A servant of cruelty and chaos itself. Yet you lock _me_ away."

"No, I didn't," I said, startled by the sudden lack of charm. He had never been nasty before. "Stop lying to me!"

"I felt it. You did a terrible thing, and you're going to get hurt."

"Begone!" I didn't need to hear any more of his lies.

# Chapter 13

I got hungry eventually. I'd spent an entire day crying over Nessa, my choices, and Shax's accusation. I didn't know what to believe anymore, and I was so exhausted and panicked that I couldn't even think straight.

I went out to get something to eat in the corner shop, but Austin was standing outside, waiting for me. I'd never told anybody where I lived, but he had found me.

I stood there, frozen and unsure, as he pushed himself off the railings and came right up to me. He wrapped his arms around me and just held me, and I was so starved of _everything_ that I clung to him. I cried, and he let me. We stood there for ages, and I forgot I was hungry. I forgot everything. Except that Austin was there, was back, had something of his old self in him after all.

Somebody cared. Somebody didn't hate me. I had to hold on to that if I wanted to make it through the day.

"Come on," he said at last. "We're going home."

I looked up at him, still hesitant.

"This isn't home," he said scornfully, gesturing toward the building. "This isn't your life. You're meant for better things, and I can give them to you." He gazed down at me. "You know you're special, Ari. You've always known you were meant for more. We all were. And we can all be great together. Sometimes things go wrong, and we'll make mistakes along the way, but as long as we're together..." He sank his fingers into my hair and kissed my forehead. "Come home. Even for a while to let Jenny see you're okay. She's been tearing her hair out with worry that the Senate picked you up."

I followed him to the van because I didn't know how to tell him no when he spoke to me so softly. He didn't speak on the way back to the house, but he kept his hand on my knee, and I felt calmer for the connection. I hated to be alone. I loved being a part of a family. That was all I wanted. If Noah had just realised that, my life would have been so much simpler.

Back at the house, nobody was around but Jenny. "You found her," she said, throwing her arms around me. "We were so worried. I was terrified that you'd jumped down after Nessa. We stayed all night, trying to find you."

"Really?" True surprise rang out in my voice.

Her face crumpled. "Of course!" She held me tighter. "You know we love you. Austin just didn't think it was safe to go into the water in the dark. Anything could have happened. So we waited until daylight, and we found Nessa. Oh, God, Ari, we found her, and it was awful. Her neck was broken, and I'm so glad you weren't there to see it. We kept looking for you, but Austin figured you had just left. I can't believe he found you."

"Me either," I said croakily.

"Never leave us again," she said firmly, pulling away to take my hands. "Promise me you won't ever leave me. I need you."

I promised, overwhelmed by her affection for me. Nobody had ever begged me to stay before. Nobody.

And for the next few days, they spent all of their time on me. Nobody else mattered. Austin petted my hair and sat with his arm around me most of the time while Jenny did her best to please me with my favourite foods. It was almost perfect.

_Almost_.

# Chapter 14

I was reading a book by candlelight in an empty room when Austin came in, his eyes hard and unfeeling. I resisted the urge to run to Jenny. He'd been so nice to me, but I wasn't comfortable being alone with him anymore. I never felt truly safe, always just a little on-edge, and then guilty for being so ungrateful. I wasn't sure why he suddenly intimidated me so much, why the necklace vibrated ever so slightly whenever he came close, but I owed him so much, I had to stick it out.

"I hear your boyfriend was a guard in Hell," he said, staring at me in a way that made my skin crawl. There was something not quite lifelike about him sometimes—he didn't fidget or even blink. "He must be tough. I thought I heard that all of the guards were hellhounds and the like."

"Not so much. Anyone who could fight and wasn't worth selling stayed behind to keep watch."

"They could have sold him as a bodyguard," he said thoughtfully. "If he was so worthless."

"He wasn't worthless," I said hotly. "He just held back enough to stay with me. And the others. We stuck together because..." I wasn't even sure how to continue. Austin looked too pleased, and it made me feel as though I'd just stepped right into a trap. I had to stop thinking like that—Shax and Noah had been the ones to betray me, lie to me, desert me, never Austin. Austin had chased after me, took me back into the fold. He had to care.

He moved to the window and looked outside. "We have need of strong bodies," he said. "Can you persuade this boy to join us?"

" _No_." My heart raced at the idea of Noah doing Austin's bidding before I could even consider why.

"No?"

"He... hates me."

He smirked. "You have magic. Use it."

"I can't make him come here. He would never stay. It would take too much to hold him. He'd fight it."

"Are you really so weak?"

I didn't dare speak. The dread I'd been smothering broke free and crawled all over me.

"Jennifer told me what happened to his workplace," he said, half to himself. "Perhaps we can offer him work. That could be your carrot on a stick. Once he's here, he won't want to leave."

Another chill ran through me. Once, that would have sounded like the perfect outcome. Now, it horrified me.

He looked at me. "He'd stay for you. I know a lot about what people want. I can help give him what he wants."

Jenny had said something eerily similar once. "And what do I want?" I said shakily.

He smiled, but there was no mirth in his expression. "A family," he said. "To belong. I can give you a family, help you surround yourself with the things you need."

I felt cornered again. "I don't know..."

"Do you want to stay here?" he snapped. "If you do, you must pull your weight. I want Noah here, and you're going to bring him to me."

I looked away, guilt turning my stomach.

He strode over to me and touched my hair.

I refused to look at him.

He knelt by me, and his voice turned gentle again. "I understand you, Ari. More than Jenny, more than anyone else. How long did you suffer alone? First in Hell, then that school, and finally that run-down little flat? You were pushed aside, time and time again, because people underestimated you. I can give you what you need, what everyone like us needs. Do you think those in power will accept you when you're such a threat?"

I met his gaze and saw nothing familiar. All of the warmth was gone. "Who are you?" I blurted, not even sure what I was asking.

He smiled, but his eyes hardened. "Jenny knows how to choose them." His fingers curled into my hair and tugged it, pulling my face closer to his. "Who am I, Ari? I'm your friend. Your family. Alone, we're weak, but together, we're strong. Able to protect ourselves." He released my hair and gently stroked my cheek. "But if you don't agree, then you can leave if you want. We'd like you to stay, but we won't force you. But I'm afraid you won't be safe out there alone. You've made powerful enemies. Enemies who might target those you care about in order to hurt you. Those children you took such good care of, for example."

My stomach clenched. "I want to stay," I said weakly as the necklace burned against my chest. "I don't want to be on my own again. I just want—"

"A family," he said. "A safe place. It doesn't have to be just you. I can give all of your friends a home, Ari, the children you protected, anyone you deem worthy. Who could conquer you all together? Even the Senate would sit up and take notice. You can force them to accept your existence. You can make the rules. Don't you want that?"

I did. I wanted it so badly it hurt. But there was a high price to pay. "I'll try with Noah," I said. "I don't know if it'll work, but I'll try."

Nerves made me feel as though I were about to vomit, but Jenny kept talking and laughing about what we would do when Noah came back to the house with us, and I started to believe I was paranoid, that I could have everything I wanted if I just learned to trust people.

It was just Jenny and Austin with me in the van. He'd gone quiet again. I missed the old Austin. I hated his new mood swings. The demon still burned in the necklace, and I remembered his words, but they couldn't be possible. He was trying to trick me again.

But doubts constantly burned through me. The change in Austin, the way things went down when Nessa died, the different stories about Austin's mother, and seeing Jenny with the very person who had attacked me and sent me running into her arms in the first place. Did I believe in Jenny because I desperately wanted a friend? Or was the demon putting doubts into my mind for kicks? I couldn't even trust myself.

I twisted my hands into the fabric of my skirt, still unsure of myself. Maybe when I spoke to Noah face to face, things would become clear. He'd taken my call and organised a meeting. That wasn't like him. In fact, I felt sure he was planning something, but a part of me no longer cared. I wasn't sure of who I was or wanted to be anymore. The things Jenny had us do disturbed me sometimes. The power was a high, and using my magic so freely felt glorious, but afterward, guilt generally followed, and there was something about being able to do anything you liked that sucked the fun and danger out of it all.

"What's up with you?" Jenny asked me.

I shivered. "Just nervous to see Noah."

"She loves him," Jenny said scornfully. "He's her soulmate." She reached out and touched Austin's knee. "Just like us, eh?"

"Not now," he said, scowling. She must have done something to annoy him because he rarely touched her anymore.

She sat pouting for the rest of the journey.

"It's just up here," I said. "Outside the park."

"We'll be waiting at the corner," Austin said. "Don't let me down, Ari."

As I got out then closed the door behind me, I heard the whine of Jenny's voice as she started some argument with Austin. They were fighting a lot lately.

I walked slowly toward the park. I felt sick. Sweat trickled down my temples. As badly as I wanted a home for me, I didn't think I could do that to Noah. I didn't want Austin to taint my Noah, didn't want to see him join the dusters. The thought of the children I'd protected ending up like Nessa made my stomach churn. I couldn't do it.

I was about to leave when I heard Noah call my name. Everything seemed better somehow. He used to mean safety, and I suddenly realised how afraid I'd been all of the time lately.

Noah strode toward me with purpose. He knew who he was, and our paths had diverged so drastically that maybe letting him go was the only good thing I could do for him. And yet my heart still raced at the sight of his face.

"Hi," I said softly. "It's good to see you. I hope nobody was hurt at the garage. You have to believe me, Noah. I'd never do anything like that to—"

"I don't want to talk about that," he said sharply.

He hated me. My heart sank. He would hate me more when he realised why I was there. Despise me when he understood the life I was living. "Just go then."

He frowned. "What? This was your idea."

"I... I changed my mind," I said, backing up. "You have to go. You were right all along. Just forget me."

He grabbed my arm, pulling me to him. "You can't leave, Ari. I'm not alone."

"For once, just trust me! Get out of here. Before they make you come with us. People never want to leave, so go!"

" _What_? What's going on?"

I shrugged him off, a flash of colour in the corner of my eye drawing my attention. It was her. Ava freaking Delaney, walking toward us as though she owned the street. Noah had never wanted to see me. "How could you?" I spat before running back to the van.

"Ari, wait! I'm trying to help you!"

I ignored Noah's shouts, threw some magic his way to slow him down, then ran to the van. Austin opened the doors as I reached it.

"What are you doing?"

"Ava's here." I tried to push past him, but he stopped me. "She's come to take me back."

"You have magic, you simpleton. Stop her."

"We need to leave!"

"Hurt her," he said, looking across at Ava as she jogged toward Noah. Austin wasn't scared or angry—he was completely without emotion. "See how long it takes you to make her bleed."

"What? No!" I glanced over my shoulder. Noah and Ava were both coming toward us, slowly pushing through a wave of magic. "Didn't you hear me? We have to go!"

He shoved me, but he kept hold of my hair so it tugged when I almost fell.

Tears came to my eyes as things I hadn't wanted to see flashed warning signs I couldn't ignore. Austin would never hurt me. "Let go of me."

"This is your chance to end her," he urged. "You take care of her, and I promise to take your boyfriend with us."

Noah would never forgive me. Never voluntarily join Austin and Jenny. But the darkness in Austin's gaze, the way the necklace vibrated when he touched me, was far more terrifying.

"Okay," I said fearfully. "I'll do it."

He let go of me, and I darted toward Noah, away from Jenny and Austin. Noah still felt like safety, even if going to him meant facing Ava Delaney. I hated her, truly hated her, but when Austin ordered me to hurt her, I realised that I didn't want to hurt _anyone_. I'd seen death, felt guilt, and I didn't want any part of it.

When Austin mentioned bringing the children I'd protected to Neverland, I realised that wouldn't be a good life for them. I didn't like the magic thief I'd become with Jenny and Austin, and the people I cared about most would be terrified of me if I didn't change. I wanted to go back.

So I ran from the family I'd been offered, back toward loneliness and shame.

Jenny jumped out of the van, screaming, "She's lying! Stop her!"

Austin tackled me, knocking me to the ground. Jenny leapt on top of me and scratched my face. "Ungrateful little rat."

Noah bellowed something. I heard footsteps running toward us. I tried to suck the magic out of Jenny and Austin, but he smacked my head against the ground, leaving me dazed. Jenny slammed my arm across her knee and took the ring right off my finger. I couldn't use my magic without bringing a world of trouble on my head.

Suddenly Jenny was waving a gun around. Where had that even come from? "This one's for your lover boy," she hissed.

She pointed the gun at Noah. He was the nearest target. Ava was running, but I'd stupidly slowed her down along with Noah—she wouldn't reach him in time. She couldn't outrun bullets.

Curled up in a ball of pain, watching people who were capable of awful things ready to hurt Noah, knowing he wouldn't back down, I lost my mind and forgot the danger. Magic surged between my fingertips, coming straight from Jenny. But not Austin. Not anymore.

She sank to her knees, panting. Austin looked back at me, smirking, then lifted Jenny and carried her back to their vehicle. He threw her into the van and drove off as Noah reached me. He gathered me into his arms while Ava chased the van, but she soon gave up and returned to us.

And I burst into tears at the loss of my family. At the realization that they'd never cared for me. That it had all been a lie, and I'd been too desperate to see the truth until it was too late.

"She's bleeding," Noah said frantically.

"We'll take care of her," Ava said.

It was my turn to take care of things. I had to learn to save myself. To stop the path of chaos that followed me from hurting anybody else.

"I used magic," I said shakily. "They took the ring back. The witches will find me. You have to run."

"You've nothing to fear from those bloody witches anymore," Ava said sharply. " _That's_ why I've been looking for you. Noah, help me take her back to my place. Anka will clean her up."

"She's shaking," he said, looking at me with wide, worried eyes.

I didn't understand. I couldn't even feel any pain. Only tears.

"Noah," Ava said sharply. "You need to pull yourself together and help me."

"I shouldn't have let her run back," he said. "She wasn't making any sense. I thought she was just being dramatic."

"It's not your fault," Ava said. "Those people are on the run for a reason. I can't believe they had the balls to come back." She looked down at me. I thought I saw pity in her eyes, and that was worse than her anger. "I promise you, Ari. They won't be able to touch you now."

The sunlight beaming down on me hurt my eyes, so I closed them. I must have fallen asleep because when I opened them again, I was in a bed.

# Chapter 15

I had the worst headache. The back of my head throbbed so hard I thought I might throw up. I sat up slowly, unable to open my eyes properly.

"It's aliiive," somebody said from close by.

Flashes came back to me in an instant. I jerked away, ready to fight my way out.

"Hey, it's just me."

My vision cleared, but I didn't relax when I recognised the voice as belonging to Carl Darcy, a teacher at my old school. He was human, supposedly, but he didn't seem to know many actual humans. He was always involved in everything. I shouldn't have been surprised to see him there.

What I didn't recognise was the room. I had woken on a single bed in a cosy room furnished with little more than a bed and wardrobe. "Where am I?" I asked suspiciously.

"Your new bedroom." He gestured at the pale peach wall. "Nice, isn't it? I helped paint it, but then you went on your little adventures, and we couldn't find you."

"Uh..." I tried to focus, but I couldn't make sense of his words. Haziness filled my brain instead. I remembered Noah's voice, the way he had finally worried about me, _saw_ me, just as I'd hoped for. But it was too late.

The old me wanted that from him. Nothing Noah could give me would wipe my mind clean of the anger on Jenny's face—the terrifying coldness on Austin's.

"You knocked your head pretty bad, so we've had to keep an eye on you all day. Are you hungry? I bet you're hungry."

"I could eat," I said slowly. "But you still didn't tell me where I am."

"Ah." He shrugged. "Don't freak out, but you're in Ava's house."

I bit my lip. A world of trouble was about to fall on my head. "I think I did something bad," I said slowly.

He sighed. "Haven't we all?"

"No, I mean _really_ bad." I exhaled shakily. "They're going to kill me this time."

He didn't even bat an eyelid. "It can't be that bad."

"How bad is it right now?"

"Somewhere between a grounding and execution," he said breezily. "And if it's the latter, you might as well have breakfast first."

I didn't smile.

"Ari," he said gently. "Nobody's going to hurt you here. Come on downstairs. Noah's in the kitchen, waiting for you to wake up. You can eat and tell us how you ended up with Jennifer freaking Boyle and Austin Foley, of all people."

"Poor Austin." Tears came into my eyes. I hadn't wanted to see it before, but Austin was gone. Something terrible was in his place. "He was such a nice person."

"Was?" Carl raised his eyebrows before offering me his hand.

I took it. He wasn't threatening or creepy in any way. He listened to us at school. He was kind to all of the kids, even the weird werewolf ones.

"You're shaking," he said in an odd tone, as though it hurt _him_.

"I'm scared," I admitted. "Please don't let her hurt me."

"I would never," he said firmly. "I promise you that you're safe here."

I believed him.

We went downstairs, and I was grateful for his help because my knees didn't feel steady. The kitchen felt overwhelmingly full, but only Noah, Ava, and Phoenix were waiting there. I swallowed hard. I wanted to run, but it was time to face the music.

I glanced at Carl, who nodded reassuringly.

So I made a choice. "I'll tell you everything I know, but only if you promise to help Austin."

"Austin's in a lot of trouble," Ava said, frowning in confusion.

"I don't think Austin's in his own body anymore." I took a deep breath. "I think a demon is. And... it's sort of probably my fault."

They exchanged a concerned look. "Shax?" Ava asked in a worried tone.

I shook my head. "It's... complicated."

"You should sit down," Phoenix said wearily. "Start at the beginning."

"Will you help him?" I hated the trembling of my lips as I spoke.

"Okay," Ava said, surprising me. "If I can help him, I will. Good enough?"

I bit my lip. "It's pretty bad."

"Then let us help you," Phoenix said. "Tell us everything."

So I did. I told them how life had been for me, why Jenny's appearance had been a ray of sunshine, and how great things had been at first.

But when I reached the part about the ring, I couldn't stop myself from shooting Phoenix an accusing glare. "The ring belonged to you. I could have been safe from the witches all along."

He looked taken aback. "Ari, it belonged to my mother, not me. I may have inherited her belongings, but they repulse me. I haven't investigated what's there very thoroughly."

"Maybe you should," Carl said. "Or at least get better security."

"You could have talked to me about it, Ari," Noah said sharply.

"You didn't want to talk to me at all." I folded my arms across my chest, putting up a barrier between us.

"You can't blame me for this."

I agreed. "I blame me," I said in a quiet voice. "I know what I did, how stupid it all was, but I belonged somewhere, and that felt good. I had a part to play, and it helped me ignore the things that made me uncomfortable. They acted liked they really cared about me. I _know_ Austin cared. And when Jenny told me his mother died, was murdered by the Senate, I felt sorry for him," I said. "I've no idea who my family is, and the thought of seeing my mother..." My voice broke a little. "Well, I wanted him to have the chance to say goodbye to his mother."

"But she's not dead," Carl said.

"Jenny can be convincing, and I fell for all her lies." And still, a part of me didn't want to believe it had all been fake. "The point is that Jenny had this mirror. Narcissus Glass, she called it. She said he'd get his wish and see his mother. All I had to do was break into some house and unlock its casing. It was hidden in a clock in a basement in Donnybrook."

"Donnybrook?" Phoenix glanced at Ava. "Could that be—?"

"Yes." Ava groaned. "Kenneth told me his window had been broken, that somebody had been inside his house. When he couldn't figure out what was missing, I thought he was paranoid."

"So the mirror was here all along," Phoenix muttered. "The paragons were searching for it, and Rosa roped my family in to help. It's said to be so dangerous, the paragons would have warred on Ireland to find it."

"That's why she was here?" Ava looked uncertain. "What does this mirror do exactly?"

"I'm not sure anybody knows for sure," Phoenix said. "There are disturbing theories however. Ari, what exactly did Jenny do with the mirror?"

"She gave me a spell. She said the mirror was only one part, that you needed the spell to unlock its power fully. It was simple enough, but nothing like anything else I'd ever tried. Austin had to give a drop of his blood and look in the mirror while I finished the spell. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he'd do anything for Jenny. Everybody does what she tells them to do." I stared at my hands. "It's hard to say no to Jenny."

"What happened with the mirror?" Noah asked.

"I... I'm not sure exactly. He changed. He acted like a different person, but I told myself he was just dealing with seeing his mother again. He didn't smile anymore, and they sort of swapped roles. Before, Jenny was in charge, then suddenly, Austin was the boss. They locked themselves away for ages, and I heard that his mother wasn't dead after all, but when I asked him, he said she was definitely dead."

"She's definitely alive," Ava said wryly. "But you couldn't have known."

"Things changed after that. Austin used to be the one holding everyone back. Jenny liked to cause mischief, but suddenly Austin wanted to destroy everything, and she started obeying him. It was like he was testing out different scenarios. We... no, _I_ drained the lights because we didn't have light most of the time. I destroyed things, broke windows, caused a car crash. I was cruel. And Austin encouraged us, which wasn't like him at all. And then..." I swallowed hard.

"Take your time," Carl said. "You're safe now, Ari. I promised you, didn't I?"

I nodded. "Everybody was hyper, and one of us... our friend, she fell into the Liffey, and she died." A tear rolled down my cheek. "I tried to help her, I swear I did, but the magic was already drained, and I couldn't reach her in time. I wanted to go into the water, but Austin wouldn't let us. I ran, and I... did something else bad."

"Go on," Phoenix said. "We might as well hear everything."

"I summoned _him_ again." I touched the necklace. "Shax. I just needed to hear a voice, and I had nobody else, but he was freaked out, said I'd unleashed a demon, and I sent him away. I knew he meant Austin, but I thought he was trying to trick me. I _wanted_ to think he was trying to trick me. I couldn't believe it. I mean, demon is a word that gets thrown around a lot. The Humans First protesters always call _us_ demons, and I..." I shivered. "Like I said, I didn't want to believe it. But Austin came for me, and he acted nice. I convinced myself I was overreacting because Jenny seemed so happy to see me, and they had explanations for everything. And I thought she loved Austin, so why would she do anything to hurt him?"

"I get it," Ava said, more softly than I would have expected. "It's easier to forget than to dwell on the truth."

"We've all been blinded," Phoenix added.

"They wanted Noah next," I said. "They wanted me to persuade him to join us. Austin's been acting like he's building an army lately. Jenny talks about taking the Senate down. They even started talking about taking the other kids in the home, and I decided I didn't want Noah and the kids to be near Austin. I didn't want them to see or do the things I'd been doing."

"Because you knew it was wrong," Carl said. "And you wanted to keep them safe."

"Nobody's safe," I said bitterly. "There's always somebody trying to start a war. I just wanted friends. I wanted a family. They offered it to me, but the price was too high. When I saw Noah, I tried to pretend that I was trying to persuade him to come with us."

"She told me to leave," he said. "She warned me. I didn't get it."

"I knew when Ava arrived that it would go bad," I said, glancing at Phoenix and Ava. "They don't like either of you. Before Austin changed, Jenny kept crowing over the newspapers because some man they knew had been arrested for murdering a member of the Senate. She said he deserved it because he betrayed her godfather."

"She thought James betrayed Egan." Ava rubbed her face, looking exhausted. "That must have been when Francis was arrested. Phoenix, I told you they had to be involved in that."

"Not Austin," I said. "At least, not lately. He was angry with Jenny, said she took too many risks, that she had promised she would stop and leave that man alone. But she had been going behind Austin's back. He tried to protect me, stood up to her over a bunch of stuff. She didn't like that so much. I think maybe it was my fault she used the mirror on Austin. That I made her mad at him. And now he's not even himself anymore. I swear, if I'd known, I'd never have helped her with the mirror. Somehow, I let a demon possess him, and I have to fix that."

"It's not your fault," Ava said. "You didn't know what was really happening." She glanced at Phoenix. "And it sounds like Austin didn't know either. Not that _we're_ sure."

"But will you help him?" I asked.

She looked sorry. "I don't know how. If we can, we will, but I don't even know where to start with this demon possession thing. You're not even sure that's what happened. How do we know that Austin isn't just a really good actor?"

"Why would Jennifer allow a demon to possess her boyfriend?" Phoenix said aloud. "What would she gain from that?"

Ava glanced at the others. "You know what I'm thinking."

"Yeah," Carl said. "Declan Egan is the only person who Jenny would listen to. He died, but somehow, he's found a way back."

"By invading some kid's body?" Ava shivered. "I feel sick."

"Declan Egan?" A heavy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. "The slave trader who killed himself?"

"Yes," Ava said. "It was his brother's house you broke into. He was the one pulling Jenny's strings in the past. Why not now? If he had the mirror, maybe he planned all of this. Even his own death, knowing that he had found a loophole somehow."

Jenny had mentioned a mentor, called Austin her soulmate. Maybe I had mixed up whom she was actually referring to. I felt so stupid. They'd made me think I was special, that they could give me freedom, when she'd been working with the person who helped ensure I'd been a slave in the first place. My hands curled into fists.

"But he's human, not a demon," Phoenix said. "This doesn't make sense."

"If anybody could figure out how to cheat death, it's Declan Egan," Carl said. "We have to warn the Senate."

"But will they believe us?" Ava tapped her fingers on the table. "They'll want proof."

"Ari doesn't have the best reputation," Phoenix said. "And she's not even sure what happened."

"She's not lying," Noah said fiercely.

"I don't believe she is," the fae said. "And yet, it doesn't make sense. There's no concrete proof. We're not even sure there's actually a demon involved, least of all that demon being Declan Egan. All of these connections to a human. How could Declan Egan possibly be in a young man's body?"

"Lavinia did insinuate that he wanted to be supernatural. She even mentioned the word demon." Ava sighed. "Though she said it would take a long time. We all know that Egan's been involved in awful things for most of his life. The wendigo made deals to become what they are. Do enough evil, and something dark will reward you. I wouldn't put anything past Declan Egan. But what are the terms? What's he trying to achieve? Can he move from one body to another?"

I shook my head. "They're obsessed with power. Austin has no power. He doesn't even know anything about his heritage."

"What if this is part of something cyclical?" Carl suggested. "What if Egan was the one possessed all along, and this is just another stepping stone for some kind of demon?"

"No more nightmare fuel, thanks," Ava said breathily before groaning. "I just thought of something. This could just be the beginning. What if they have plans for this mirror? I mean, what if there's more than one demon ready to crossover? All they need is a witch."

And I had already proven myself. Austin had warned me that useful people ended up as targets. If Jenny planned to use the mirror again, I would be her safest bet.

"That's the part that worries me most. The questions we didn't even know to ask," Phoenix murmured. "Ari, can you take us to where you've been staying? Or at least direct us there?"

I nodded. "We squat in Neverland."

"Neverland?" Carl said doubtfully.

"It's the empty part of the city," I said. "Nobody goes there, so people with nowhere else to go have settled in. Jenny finds us, and we stay. It's mostly young people. We steal electricity and stuff. Austin was talking about expanding territory. It can get rough, but it's also like a community."

"There were reports that something was going on," Phoenix said. "But the Senate voted reported squatters as unimportant in the grand scheme of things."

"They won't think that way when Jenny comes for them," I said. "The place is full of drugs and desperate people, but Jenny's been rounding them all up, building a group of people who hate the Senate."

"What was the plan, Ari?" Phoenix asked. "What was going to happen next?"

I shrugged. "We were preparing for, I don't know, war or something."

"We'll have to find them and verify all of this," Ava said.

"What about Ari?" Carl asked.

She looked me over then held up a ring hanging from a chain around her neck. "Did you know that Phoenix is about to become king of the fae?"

I shook my head, missing the significance.

"Well, he is, and the fae are following him instead of the Senate now. He and I made a deal that puts you under our protection. And I've made arrangements to become your legal guardian—just in case. So you're safe from the Senate while they're too weak to take on the fae. The only problem is your lack of control when it comes to magic." She looked at Phoenix. "Think Lucia and Lavinia would mind a third person in their coven?"

I was about to open my mouth to protest when Noah shot me a pointed look. I recognised it. Survival had to come first. Escape would come later. And if I was lucky, revenge might even follow.

I was stuck with Ava Delaney while the fae searched Neverland, but everybody was gone. There was no trace of Jenny or Austin left behind. They would just settle elsewhere until everything died down.

Ava told me in no uncertain terms that I was to never go back, that I was now living in her spare room, and I was going to learn, even if I wasn't allowed back at school. I agreed, but I was just biding my time. She hated me, and I had to find a way to disappear before Jenny and Austin found me. I wasn't strong enough to fight them, and not even Ava Delaney could save me if he really was a demon now.

Noah was still cold with me, but he was safe, so I could live with that. The Senate decided they didn't believe in demon possession, particularly when it was connected to a human whose death had given them so much bad press. I hadn't expected anything more from them. I wasn't sure even Ava and Phoenix really believed me about Austin.

But in a weird way, I wasn't alone anymore. With my so-called worst enemy, I felt safer, not from Neverland, but from myself, the things I was capable of doing. I wasn't happy—I couldn't imagine being happy again—but at least I had a chance to work out a way to help Austin before I figured out my future.

Jenny and the new Austin were still out there somewhere, and I had a feeling they weren't going to let me go so easily. I just had to make sure I was ready when they came for me.

# About the Author

For more information, check out Claire Farrell's blog or email the author. Sign up to be notified of new releases or like the Facebook page for more regular updates. Click here for an updated series reading order.

Contact Me:

www.clairefarrellauthor.com

claire_farrell@live.ie

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# Books by Claire Farrell:

**C haos Series:**

One Night with the Fae (Companion Prequel)

Soul (Chaos #1)

Fade (Chaos #2)

Queen (Chaos #3)

Usurper (Chaos #4)

Blight (Chaos #5)

Kings (Chaos #5.5)

Sacrifice (Chaos #6)

Chaos Volume 1 (Books 1-3)

Chaos Volume 2 (Books 4-6)

* * *

**A va Delaney Series (Completed):**

Thirst (Ava Delaney #1)

Taunt (Ava Delaney #2)

Tempt (Ava Delaney #3)

Taken (Ava Delaney #4)

Taste (Ava Delaney #5)

Traitor (Ava Delaney #6)

Awakening (Ava Delaney Volume I – Books 1-3)

Uprising (Ava Delaney Volume II – Books 4-6)

* * *

**L ost Souls Series:**

Tainted (Ava Delaney: Lost Souls #1)

Tethers (Ava Delaney: Lost Souls #2)

Tithes (Ava Delaney: Lost Souls #3)

Ava Delaney: Lost Souls - Volume 1

* * *

**V BI Series:**

Demon Dog (VBI #1)

Bad Blood (VBI #2)

Secret Self (VBI #3)

* * *

**C ursed Series (Completed):**

Verity (Cursed #1)

Clarity (Cursed #2)

Adversity (Cursed #2.5)

Purity (Cursed #3)

Cursed Omnibus (Entire Cursed Series)

* * *

**S take You Series (Completed):**

Stake You (Stake You #1)

Make You (Stake You #2)

Break You (Stake You #3)

* * *

**S hort Story Collections:**

Sixty Seconds

A Little Girl in my Room

* * *

**O ther:**

Death is a Gift (A standalone banshee novel)

Zombie Moon Rising (A Peter Brannigan Novella)

Ghost Moon Rising (A Peter Brannigan Novella)

Crucible (A Phoenix Novella)

Bind (An Esther Novella)

Relativity (A Lorcan & Lucia Novella)

Crossroads (A Phoenix Novella)

Magic Thief (An Ari Novella)
