Chapter 3

"Raven, what is taking you so long?"

My grandmother's voice got me picking up the mirror in a rush. Seeing my father frozen hurts me in a way I'm not ready for, so I lock my eyes on the ground while sprinting past him.

"Sorry," I apologize with a grimace. "I was just shocked to see Lucy."

Surprise flickers in my grandmother's eyes. "He let you call him Lucy?"

I nod, and she smiles, satisfied with my answer.

"Why don't you head inside the portal, dear? I will be right with you as soon as I'm finished here."

"Okay..." I walk for the portal but stop myself from entering. "I wish you didn't have to take away his memories."

"It's for his safety."

"I know..." I mumble.

My grandmother seems troubled, and I notice color draining from her face as she glances at my father. "Removing memories from someone you love is never easy, and if you aren't careful, those memories will come rushing towards you."

My heart squeezes inside my chest, yet I press on without turning back. Then, quickly, I enter the portal and gasp when I turn into what reminds me of pixie dust.

I look down at my hand, blinking multiple times. I'm being shredded from existence, turning into minor pieces. First, my hands turn to dust, and then I'm sucked into a vortex.

I expect to travel through a tunnel or space; instead, I'm directly thrown into the other dimension. I scream as I fall headfirst onto soft fabric. Thankfully, I land without a scratch.

"Ouch! That hurt!" I curse, daring to open my eyes.

The trees of the forest have been replaced with banners, and I seem to be in a room with the ceiling so far away from me it's as if I've been teleported into a realm for giants. 

Luckily, I fell headfirst into something soft, and a gasp gets stuck in my throat when I push up on my arms—I'm lying on top of a guy!

He smells delicious, like some addicting shower gel. Honestly, I want to keep sniffing him, touch him everywhere, but I realize that would be freaky. Not to mention what perverted people do.

"Oh!" I talk, cheeks burning with embarrassment. "I'm sorry-..."

I forget what I was about to say mid-sentence. The guy grunts in response and lifts his head to glare at me, but I'm too busy staring down at what I'm touching.

Dear lord!

The angry guy is half-naked, wearing nothing more than a pair of black sweatpants over his sweaty, glistening skin!

He must have been working out before I hit him like a comet. Taut muscles covered by sweat contract under the palms of my hands, and I sit up, mortified about where I was touching mere moments ago.

"Did you try to kill me just now?" The guy is mumbling. "I swear you can't even workout at this school before weird shit happens... Now girls are falling from the sky..."

I'm too shocked to focus on his words. I've never touched a guy's naked skin before, and now I've felt up a carved eight-pack rippling with brawn without permission!

Wait!

Oh-my-god!

I'm a pervert!

My heart pounds—thought with all the adrenaline and nerves racing through me, it feels more like I'm taking direct punches to my chest.

"Where the fuck did you come from?" The guy is massaging his temples as if suffering from a headache.

"Uh..." My brain has chosen the best time to go on vacation.

The guy sits up, and I notice his hair is darker than black, longer and combed up, and his eyes are this rich shade of honeycomb—he is gorgeous.

He takes me in for a few seconds, entirely unphased. "Who are you?"

"I'm -... Uh..."

The hot guy with the killer abs looks at me like I've grown two heads.

There is a burst of sudden laughter inside my head. 'You're a real smooth talker.' Lucy sounds like he is having the time of his life. 'I can't believe how easy you lost your cool. Do men always have this effect on you?'

I glare down at my hands. "Shut up, Lucy!"

"And who are you talking to?" The hot guy sounds confused, and I lift my chin to look at him, gasping at him when he picks up Lucy's mirror.

Shock settles into his features as he looks at who must be Lucy, and then he drops the mirror—I catch it in the last second.

"Hey!" I glare at the guy, angry at him but relieved that I saved Lucy at the last minute. "Be careful; this thing is ancient!"

The guy stares at me. "Why do you keep a demon locked up inside a mirror? They are dangerous! What if it escapes?"

I roll my eyes. "Lucy can't escape without me speaking the words to release him; he is harmless right now."

"Harmless?" The guy snorts, and then his eyes widen with what looks like a sudden realization. "Wait a minute..." His gaze roams all over me. "Pale skin, raven hair, and a demon as a pet—you must be the principal's granddaughter!"

The principal? I thought my grandmother was an ordinary Herbologist teacher, someone who specialized in herbology. She loves nature and always kept strange fungi at home.

As if having read my private thoughts, Lucy clears his throat. 'Your grandmother needs to have a chat with you. Also, since you just saved my life, I owe to tell you that this guy right here stinks like a dog—he must be a werewolf.'

"I'm Raven Archibald," I tell him stoutly. "Margaret Broomer is my grandmother."

"So then I was right?" He smirks, and my heart does this somersault.

"I didn't know she was the principal," I admit. "Regardless, it's a pleasure to meet you." I reach out my hand for him to shake. "Who are you?"

He stares down at my hand with smoldering eyes and then lifts himself from the floor, brushing off his knees.

"I'm Blake Christian, and I don't shake hands with nerds that can't control their powers—I don't want to blow up like your school."

Lucy growls. 'It seems he knows about you already.'

I can tell Blake had meant to hurt me, humiliate me to the point of submission. But I'm not a coward.

I stand up and challenge his cruel smile with one of my own; this seems to confuse him.

"Oh, so you've heard about me already?" I nod my head without waiting for his answer. "Not bad, but you're mistaken about something."

"And what is that?"

There is a burning fire within me. "I wouldn't blow you up if you became my friend, Blake." I tap his chest with a smug smile, and what I'm hoping are treacherous eyes. "But I wouldn't hesitate to burn my enemy down to the ground, so think twice about making me your victim, okay?"

Blake's jaw drops to the ground, and I snort at his calculating eyes, seeing me in a new light—my work here is done.

"Think about it, Blake." I turn around to leave Blake alone, satisfied by his reaction. "It would be a shame to blow up such a pretty little head."

Inside my skull, Lucy is laughing, whistling loudly. 'Watch out—the dog got a boner now!'