“You jerk!” Laila yelled, grabbing her glass of water and throwing its contents over Marcus. “Ay--!” Marcus exclaimed, the grin instantly vanishing from his face. He pushed his seat back from the table. “Dang, girl, what’s your problem? Look what you did! I’m all wet!” “Good. Maybe next time you’ll watch what you say to a girl on the first date.” “I just said--” “I know what you said, and I know what you meant...

Chapter 1: A Warrior’s Life Royan held his sword high and watched his opponent through the eye slit in his helmet. The steel armor he wore was heavy and burdensome, but necessary. His adversary moved to strike a blow to Royan’s right. In a blurring whirl, Royan deflected the attack with his weapon and thrust at the opponent’s left flank. The foe spun away, avoiding Royan’s blade by inches. At the same time, his own sword cleaved the air and slashed at Royan’s ch...

In the boughs of a young oak tree, a hooded figure hid in the shadows. The luminous moon only penetrated through a few gaps in the Unifern forest’s canopy, therefore he was barely seen in his black cowl and pants. Toliath crept forward, the branches creaking under his weight, and pushed aside the twigs and leaves blocking his view. The glade ahead was no longer empty. Four horses and a unicorn had ridden into the ample moonlight, their riders glancing around at the dark forest around th...

Prologue The night felt darker than any other night Aurilyn had ever encountered. Not dark as in a shroud of blackness, but dark as in mysterious or wickedness. The air was ominously still and the moon could only penetrate its silver luminosity through a few gaps in the Unifern forest’s canopy. Those details should’ve been Aurilyn’s first clue that something was wrong. But she foolishly ignored her intuition. She thought she had nothing to worry about. Besides, she wasn&rsqu...

Tya and Jani went back to the station and were cheered when they stepped into the building. A lot of people were calling Tya and Jani heroes for getting the hostages out alive. Tya didn’t feel like a hero and she really wanted to go home. So she let Jani tell everyone the story while she went to her office to change clothes. Carmen came into her office while she changed. “Tya, I need to talk to you.” “You can hear the story from Jani,” Tya replied wearily, button...

Tya couldn’t get off work on the day of her and Antwon’s two-year anniversary. First of all, Tya had to work on the stolen weapons case, and second, she was being punished for not following Detective Harver’s procedure about using her partner. So Tya’s plan was to go into work early and leave around four that afternoon. She worked on her number one case the most, but didn’t find out anything new. But near the end of her work schedule, a call came in about a hosta...

Chapter 9: Ellie Escapes Ellie wouldn’t have been able to sleep even if she’d tried. Adrenaline rushed through her veins and her heart pounded in her chest. Her watch told her it was 12:05, five minutes past midnight. When was that woman Malaysa coming? Ellie was sitting by the only window in the room. Darkness hovered around her, but dim moonlight shone from outside and fell on her lap. Everything was silent except for the snores of the other girls. She had been ready an hour ag...

“I’m surprised you didn’t get suspended again,” Carmen said. She and Tya were taking a break from shopping on Saturday, eating a large order of chili cheese fries at the food court in the mall. “I think Harver finally realized that his suspensions aren’t working,” Tya said. “He did try to get me and Jani to work together, but it didn’t go too well.” “I just hope you don’t ever find yourself in a position when you drastica...

Chapter 6: The Cheerleaders Watesha managed to become excited as she walked into the gym Thursday after school. It was hard to be gloomy when her best friend, who walked beside her, practically bounced with every step. Aries had been bubbly all day. Of course, Watesha thought. She doesn’t have to deal with a bizarre water-controlling problem. She forced thoughts of that out of her mind as she and Aries walked across the gym. They spotted the other ten girls who had made the squad waiti...

Chapter 3: Frieda Frieda had just done the dumbest thing ever. She’d said yes. She had said that evil word. The word was evil if you said it to Ted. He had just asked Frieda to go to the Spring Dance with him. And she had said yes. Frieda watched as Ted walked down the hall and disappeared around a corner. The hallways were clearing because the last bell of the day had rung five minutes ago. Ted was the dorkiest person Frieda knew. He had thick, circular glasses that made him look like...