The city centre was as busy as it had been earlier, only now it was crowded with people who were dressed up for the party.

Devon accosted me within seconds of my arrival. She was wearing a short, off the shoulder white dress with a diamond studded belt. Her arms and neck were encrusted with dazzling rocks and long, honey blond hair hung loose at her shoulders. Through it ran a single streak of silver, the arrival of which had prompted elation a few weeks earlier.

"You look great!" she squealed. "I love that dress on you!"

"Thanks." I smiled, suppressing a laugh at her over excited mood: nobody got excited about parties the way Devon did, even though partying seemed ingrained inside pretty much every Arcan's nature - she took sparkling to an entirely different level. "You look really amazing too," I said sincerely; she looked effortlessly stunning in a way I could never dream of achieving.

"Thanks," she gushed. "I got the dress yesterday and the bracelets are all from Auntie Grace."

"Where's Im?" I asked, glancing round.

"Still getting ready, I think." She rolled her eyes. "She'd rather be two hours late than turn up looking a fraction less than perfect." I laughed. I loved Imogen, but she was ridiculously obsessed with her appearance. Whenever we went shopping together she would spend twice as long in the changing rooms trying on new clothes as me and Devon did put together and ever since she'd learnt her dad's key-number a few years ago she'd bought twice as much as well.

I looked around at the centre. Our everyday, white-wash streets had been transformed unbelievably into a stunning party location, sparkling as if it had been strewn with diamonds. We had parties in the Arcan Realm all the time, but this was the best one I had seen in a while. "Wow Devon, everything looks amazing, you've really outdone yourself this time."

"That's me, Devon, party organiser extraordinaire!" She giggled. "You wouldn't believe how much fun I had planning this place. Have you seen the dance floor yet? It changes colour every time someone steps on it." She led me over towards the dance floor, which was already full of people laughing with delight and I stepped onto it, causing it to change from red to steel blue.

She had just stepped on to it behind me, transforming the floor into a pale purple, when Brody came over to us.

"Hey, Devon. Hi, Jasmine." I smiled brightly at him. I liked Brody, he was lovely and it was obvious that he had a huge crush on Devon, although he'd never build up the guts to tell her. "The place looks really great."

"Err, thanks," she replied, unenthusiastically, causing poor Brody to turn an unattractive shade of red. Devon must have been the only person in the Realm clueless of Brody's attachment to her and always responded awkwardly to his compliments. I elbowed her deftly in the ribs and hissed "Be nice!" in her ear while Brody fiddled with the buttons on his jacket. "And thank you for your help," she added, more graciously. Brody beamed at her, but didn't say anything else.

"Devon was just telling me how much she wanted to dance, Brody." I decided the situation caused for a little more prompting. "But she doesn't have a partner." I smiled encouragingly. I couldn't have been any more obvious about it if I had tried.

"Oh, that's a shame." He'd gone back to playing with his buttons. "Well... I'll see you guys later." He walked away again, still bright red. I let out a sigh of frustration.

"What did you do that for?" Devon glared at me. "I never said that I wanted to dance!"

"Oh come on, Dev, give him a bit of help. It's obvious he's crazy about you!"

"Brody?" She pulled a face. "No way!"

"Aw, poor, Brody, is he not quite dashing enough to be your Prince?" Imogen laughed as she appeared on our left.

"Actually, it's the fact that he finds it impossible to say anything more than a single sentence that's the problem," Devon responded, looking after him almost thoughtfully. Imogen and I laughed.

"That's only when he's around you, Dev. I've had plenty of conversations with him," I replied, but she pulled a face at me in response.

"Whatever. Anyway, since you brought up dancing, how about we get to it?" She dragged Imogen and I further onto the dance floor.

"What time's Brae arriving?" Imogen asked, swaying in time to the music rather than dancing since her stunning silver dress was too restricting to do anything else in.

"Not long now, I think. Your Aunt and Uncle were going to tell him they were all going out for dinner. So, they can't be leaving too late."

"Brilliant! I can't wait to see the look on his face!"

"Less talking, more dancing!" Devon protested, grabbing hold of my hands and spinning me round. I laughed and let her lead me around the dance floor. Devon's hair danced with her, twisting and shimmying in time to the music, following the beat much better than Imogen, who was still waddling across the floor trying to look dignified.

A hushed silence fell across the centre and someone turned off the music, as one of the servants from the palace raced on to the dance floor. "They're on their way," he gasped, trying to catch his breath. "Everybody get ready."

It had been decided in advance that, given how many of us there were in the city centre, there really wasn't much point in us all trying to hide. Instead we gathered in a mass on the dance floor, facing the street that we knew Brae and his parents would be approaching from.

"Excuse me. Make room!" Imogen ordered as we pushed our way to the front of the dance floor, arms linked so that we wouldn't lose each other.

"Devon! Over here!" Brody signalled to the free space in front of him. He was right on the edge of the floor, in perfect view of the entrance.

"Aw, how sweet is that!" Imogen whispered in my ear as we wove our way towards Brody. "Don't forget to play nice now, Dev," she added more loudly, so that Devon could hear her. She scowled at the two of us, sending us into a fit of giggles.

"Hi, Devon. Imogen, Jazz, what's so funny?"

"Ignore them - they're suffering from over active imaginations and very, very dull love lives," she snapped, facing straight ahead and refusing to make eye contact with either of us.

"Ooo, I think we touched a nerve, Jazzy."

"Or maybe we hit too close to the truth for her to handle." We both laughed again, causing Devon's scowl to deepen.

"Aw, come on, Dev, you know we're only playing," I said, not wanting her to hate us - tonight was supposed to be a celebration.

She was prevented from answering by Brae, who turned the corner that led into the city centre to a tumult of applause and "Welcome homes". It perhaps wasn't quite as organised and uniform as we would have liked, but Brae still looked overwhelmed by crowd.

Devon and Imogen rushed forward to greet him and Cameron. I stayed where I was for a moment, wary of getting too close to Brae again so soon. But it would look strange if I didn't welcome Cameron, so, after a moment's hesitation, I started forward towards them.

But Brae, side stepping the others, made it to me before I could get to Cam. "Jazz!" he cried, closing me in his arms. "So this is why you were in such a weird mood this afternoon! You never have been very good at keeping secrets you know."

"Hey! You didn't guess about the party did you?" I replied quickly, going along with it.

"No, but I knew something was up. Though I kind of thought it was going to be something bad - you had me all worried."

"Well that serves you right for trying to read into my mood too much then, doesn't it!" I was relieved that he had come up with his own way to excuse my behaviour. Perhaps if I kept providing alternative reasons he'd never find out what was really happening...

One of the city elders came over to Brae and started quizzing him about his trip, so I took the opportunity to slip away and go over to the others.

"Hey, Cam, how did it go?"

"A bit dull really," he grinned, "Brae obsessed over politics the whole time, so we didn't get to explore the other islands at all." Cameron was ridiculously tall, well-built and an adventurer at heart. He was Devon's cousin, but you couldn't tell it from looking at the two of them; they differed in everything from height, to eye colour, to hair. Cameron's hair, which hung in braids down his back, was halfway between black and silver and it shook whenever he laughed, which was often. The only similarity between them was their smiles, which could have rivalled the sun in brightness.

"That's not completely true, Cam, we did have some fun. You made it halfway over to that one island before the tide turned and you had to swim back to shore!" Brae had joined us, having escaped from the city elder.

Cameron grinned. "Looks like you've been having a much more exciting time here," he said, indicating to the silver streak in Devon's hair.

"I know! Isn't it sparkling!"

"And the powers?"

"Too uncontrollable to be of any use really." Devon shrugged, but her grin betrayed her excitement.

"We're itching for our first official mission though," Imogen added, tossing her own silvery blond hair. "We can't let you boys keep having all the fun."

"I'm sure you'll get your chance soon enough. How about we go and get some food - I've been living off of Brizan muck for way too long."

"Was it really as horrible as everyone says it is?" Imogen asked.

"No, it was worse. Mud probably would have been tastier!" Cameron grimaced at the memory but Brae, ever the diplomat, kept his face straight.

"It wasn't that bad. I'm sure it just takes some getting used to."

"Were we eating the same food? There was no way that gunk could ever taste nice. Actually, now that I think about it, you probably weren't eating the same rubbish as me at all. All those meals with the Queen... You were dining on haute cuisine while I was given all the leftovers and bits no one else wanted to eat."

"Actually, it was what they normally feed their pets. I told them you wouldn't mind," Brae said, keeping his face neutral.

"Eugh! That's disgusting!" Cam grimaced, looking slightly nauseous. "Don't even joke about that kind of thing, Brae; it's too horrible. Now I really need to go and down some normal food. Otherwise I'm going to taste cat food all night."

He started to stroll over to the food table, followed by a wobbling Imogen. Devon laughed before following after them, linking arms with her to give her some support.

"Do you want to go with?" I asked, anxious at being left alone with Brae. It was horrible feeling this way, like I couldn't trust myself around my best friend. I was on my guard continually, worried that I would give something away, or that some terrible power would materialise and he would be vaporised, or teleported straight into another Realm. I think he must have sensed my unease, since his expression changed to one I couldn't read.

"I'm not actually that hungry. How about we take a walk and chat."

Or how about I go find a nice cave somewhere far, far away and then move in since you seem so determined to keep putting yourself in danger...

"Actually, I'm pretty starved. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast, so I would really rather we went and got some food with the others," and, with that, I started off towards the food tables before he could protest. I grabbed a plate and started loading things on to it frantically, not even watching what I was picking up in my haste to catch up them.

"Um, Jazz, since when have you liked salt-mousse? You always used to say it tasted vile." Idiot! I did hate salt-mousse, it was disgusting. How did I manage to pick that up? But I could hardly admit now that I hadn't meant to grab it; it would give away that I hadn't been paying attention. Then he would be bound to want to know why I was so preoccupied.

"No... not anymore, I really like it now actually. It's like you said about the Brizan food, I guess, it just took some getting used to." He didn't look convinced but shrugged and continued putting food on his own plate, more quickly so as to keep up with me, his forehead creased as it always was when he was deep in thought.

But my haste was not all for nothing, we caught up with the others before they reached the end of the food table and I allowed myself to sigh quietly in relief. It was easier with them; his attention wasn't focused so intently on me, so I could relax my guard a little. When we were alone, he made me feel like I was being scrutinised at every moment, I panicked that if I slipped up ever so slightly he would notice at once and comment on it. It was too hard. I couldn't bear it.

If the others were surprised at seeing the two of us again so soon then they did well to hide it, though I did spot Cameron shoot a confused glance at Brae, who shrugged in response.

We went over to one of the tables Devon had set up and I allowed myself to relax enough to admire my surroundings. A wooded lattice had been suspended above the area, in which miniature lights had been hung, glinting like fireflies in the growing darkness as twilight descended. The tables themselves were made of delicate tangles of wrought iron with matching chairs.

I was about to sit down next to Devon and tell her how amazing her handiwork was when I felt a hand grip my arm firmly.

"Over here," Brae said and guided me over to another table, some way off from the others, before I had a chance to protest. "What's wrong with you today?" he asked, pushing me down into a seat and then taking the one beside me. "First you come all the way down to the quay to meet me and now you seem to be doing everything you can to avoid spending time with me. I thought maybe it was the party, but now I'm not so sure..."

"I'm not trying to avoid you," I replied lamely, but what else could I say? Sorry Brae but when I first came down to meet you I had no idea how hard it was going to be to avoid telling you that I was turning into a grotesque monster and I am worried that there is a good chance I could wake up one morning with a sudden lust for your blood. Somehow I didn't think that would go down particularly well.

He stared at me hard for a moment and then shook his head, looking down into his lap. "Have I done something wrong?" he lifted his head back up, his soft brown eyes staring at me intently in a heart breaking mixture of confusion and anguish.

"No. No. Not at all," my voice came out in barely a whisper. How could he think I was angry with him? I could never be angry with him. It would be easier to completely detest myself, which was actually something I was working towards...

"Really? Because it seems like every time I try to talk to you, you come up with some excuse to get away from me."

"I'm not - that's not true! I don't know... I guess I've got used to spending time with Devon and Imogen. Spending time alone with you doesn't feel quite the same as it used to. It's strange after you've been away for so long." Well, that was halfway true at least, though it wasn't very successful; he looked even more confused than before.

"Oh," was all he replied before falling silent.

"But that doesn't mean that I don't want to spend time with you," I said, backtracking now since I was worried that I had upset him. My hand was half-way across the table towards his when I stopped myself, pulling it back despite the hurt in his eyes. "I do, I really do, I just... I need time to adjust, is all. You can understand that, right? And I would have thought that you would have wanted a bit of space to spend time with your family as well. I don't want to intrude."

"You could never intrude, Jazz. You are family as much as dad or mum. You must know that. And I would always choose spending time with you over them. You are much easier to be with than they are. Well you usually are anyway. Right now, I would almost rather be trying to talk to my dad." He smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Come on, Jazz, talk to me. You know you can tell me anything."

I very nearly did tell him. He made me feel so safe, so that right there, with him in front of me and his eyes locked on mine, I felt like everything was going to be fine again, like I didn't need to worry anymore. I took a deep breath and looked up into the lights for inspiration.

"I-" But once my eyes had left his, images flashed through my mind of him recoiling, of him running away, terrified, of him telling them to lock me away somewhere, or worse. Maybe it would be better that way; at least everyone would be safe. But I couldn't do it. I was much too selfish for that, to run the risk of Brae never looking at me with concern in his eyes again, but only hate and fear.

"Is it them?" he asked, hitting much, much closer to the truth than I had expected him to.

"No." I shook my head. "I'm still no closer to finding out who my parents are." I focused my gaze on one of the other tables, a little way of from ours, trying not to give anything away.

"I've been thinking. Maybe that's because they don't come from here. Perhaps they're not from the Arcan Realm." My eyes darted back to meet his. How much had he guessed?

"What do you mean?"

"Well, while I was in the Brizan Realm, I missed you terribly and it was made even worse by their eyes. All of them, the exact same piercing blue as yours. Everywhere I went I was reminded of you; it was as if you were there, but I couldn't get to you. It was agonising. But then it got me thinking. What if it wasn't a coincidence that your eyes are the same?"

"You think that my parents came from the Brizan Realm?" It was a nice theory and would have produced a much happier outcome than my own. "There's a few problems with that: firstly, my hair is about as far away from blond as you can possibly get and secondly, my skin isn't an almost translucent white - it's darker than yours is."

"Okay, so there are a few flaws in my theory, but it's a start. Your eyes really are startlingly similar."

My heart sunk. This only seemed to confirm my theory that I was the child of one of the monsters on the Forgotten Islands. Maybe one of them had crossbred with a passing Brizan. Sailors went close to them all the time.

"There could be other explanations for that..."

"Really? Name one."

"I can't off the top of my head, but I know that I can't be a Brizan. Except maybe for my eyes, there's no resemblance."

"Don't dismiss it completely, alright? Would it really be so bad if you were?"

"No, of course not, it's just..."

"It wouldn't change anything." I tried not to smile at him, but the irony was inescapable.

"Come on," I said with false cheeriness; it was definitely time to change the subject. "Let's go join the others, before they accuse us of being boring." I stood up and gestured to where they were all dancing. Devon had dragged them all over to the dance floor a little while ago.

"As if they could say that about us; we're way too amazing." He grinned and got up as well. "How come you have your hair back again? You always wear it down."

I shrugged as casually as I could. "No reason. I fancied a change, is all." Thankfully he dropped the subject and we went to go and join the others.

The party lasted until the early hours of the morning. I saw Noni once, dancing with one of the men from church, and I noticed Caleb slipping off with King Zephyrus at about one, probably to have a game of cards. It was four o'clock when I finally returned to the house, arm in arm with Noni, and went straight to sleep.