Aubrey was thrown so violently forward that she didn't even have the chance to breathe.

She braced herself in the mini second before she hit the opposite wall for the impact but it never came.

Instead she found herself lying on the cool hard floor with Declan kneeling in front of her. She must have blanked out that was the only logical explanation.

He placed his hand on her cheeks his eyes flashing worry,"Stay with me cupcake, you're going to be all right."

But Aubrey's vision already darkening. It was odd she didn't feel anything really. She felt like a ghost swimming in darkness and numbness.

Declan moved away from her. Aubrey could still hear him though,"You need to heal her, now!"

It was a girl who spoke next and her voice was cold and unattached yet oddly familiar,"We should let her die now, then maybe everything would be all right."

"Don't you dare." Declan roared,"You're anyways suicidal trying to pull of what you're trying to-" his voice broke and then he said in a hoarse whisper,"Please tell me the explosion wasn't you."

The other voice remained quiet.

"Goddamn it Au-" his voice broke once again and he uttered a colorful string of four letter words,"Don't do this, don't go on this bullshit self sacrifice path."

"And you're not?" The girl yelled,"You're not acting like a damn martyr trying to free me from this goddamn curse? It's my damn curse stop trying to kill yourself over it.If you die.."

Her voice broke.

"I know." He said,"As of now we don't have a choice. I'm standing by the decisions I've made. And yes it's stupid but let's face it I'm selfish and I'd be damned before I let you do it. But I'm not having this conversation now. So drop it and for once save yourself and don't let me lose you before I've even had a chance to have you."

Aubrey felt a pair of light cool hands on her side. Aubrey couldn't see the owner properly but she could make out the startling shock of blue in the midst of black.

"I'm doing this for him." The girl above Aubrey whispered softly,"If it was up to me I would have snapped your neck myself because I couldn't kill you the first time."

"Believe in him." The girls voice was softer now and she might have been smiling,"Trust him even when he doesn't trust you."

And then Aubrey lost her grip on the hazy images she was seeing and the world faded away.
___________

When Aubrey woke up the hallway was deserted. She pushed herself up slowly her eyes unblinking as she stared gape mouthed at the vending machine the stood unscathed..

She fumbled for her phone to check the time. It had barely been ten minutes.

What the actual hell.

She got up staring at the vending machine not taking her eyes of it. She slowly made her way towards it and stood in front of it.

Aubrey didn't know exactly what she was searching for but she didn't find anything. It looked perfectly normal.

Shit, Aubrey thought, addict or not she needed her damn pills.

A giggle resounded through the hallway and Aubrey nearly jumped through the roof. She breathed a soft sigh of relief as she saw it was only a freshman girl who was currently on the phone.

This was getting ridiculous.

Had she just dreamt about
Declan?

Not that it was anything new but there was something that felt so real about it.

And the girl.

She couldn't see the girl but that feeling that she should know who she was starting to annoy her.

Great, so she probably knew the psycho girl who Declan was in love with and wanted to kill her.

And what did she say again? Trust him even when he doesn't trust you.

Was she talking about Declan?

Her head was one messed up place.

She sighed as she made her way to the girls bathroom. She had to get her pill bottle back because Aubrey highly doubted she would be able to go on without it.

She'd probably have to beg Declan which wasn't ideal and that left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she rather only be called crazy and swallow her pride than actually go after off her rocker.

She splashed water on her face looking at herself in the mirror. Her dark blue eyes were wide and her face was lacking color as usual. Her dyed black hair was in a lose ponytail behind her the few strands that come lose were spilled out sticking in various angles.

The mirror rippled and suddenly she saw a girl standing behind her. She had platinum blonde hair and her eyes were glowing a bright green.

Aubrey whipped around but there was no one there.

Shit, shit, shit.

She needed to go get her prescription filled immediately bottle or not. Maybe get herself committed or something.

She reached for the door knob but the bathroom door flew open pushing Aubrey down on her butt.

What was with her damn mind and making things explode?

She looked up and she saw an image she didn't think she would ever be able to forget.

Mr Thorne her previously quaint bespectacled history professor stood in front of her, his eyes blazing with anger. But that wasn't the most shocking part, it was the fact that in his hand glowed a silver sword that was easily the length of Aubrey's arm.

He glared at Aubrey and she shrink back into the far wall.

"M-Mr Thorne." She said her voice shook,"Wha-"

Before she could even finish he lunged at her. By some unknown instinct Aubrey leaped out of the way and went stumbling into one of the bathroom stalls.

Her history teacher stopped himself before he hit the wall and turned towards her just as Aubrey slammed the door of the stall.

"You think you can hide?" He snarled. Aubrey didn't reply and crawled under the partition of the two stalls. She was silent, desperately hoping that she could reach the last one so that she could somehow manage to escape her psychotic sword carrying history teacher.

Her day was getting way to ridiculous for her liking.

The vending machine, Declan, the faceless girl and now this. This was just flipping unbelievable.

"I didn't think you were a threat." He said,"We were going to see what level you were, assuming you were just a measly diviner."

Diviner?

He kicked the door to the first stall making Aubrey wince but she continued on, she was almost there.

"Today in the class messing with the Vaughn boy, I never thought with your powers developed completely that you would be that foolish." He said,"But bursting into my office and trying to steal the Morningstar book was even stupider."

He pushed open another stall.

Aubrey didn't have time to think about what he was talking about but she just had an idea.

He was still babbling some nonsense two stalls away as Aubrey scrunched up her jacket and then threw it into the last stall in a way that made it look like she was crawled up and hiding on the floor of that stall.

It worked because when the next door opened the push wasn't as forceful, which meant Aubrey was right, he was toying with her making his way leisurely to where he assumed she was foolishly hiding.

This would be her only chance to get out and she knew she had to make it count. She gently put the seat down and lifted herself up. She crawled up to the lid of the tank and prepared herself for what she was going to have to do when he opened the door.

She couldn't say how she had become so athletic all of a sudden but Aubrey had a stinking suspicion it was the fact that she didn't want to die in a damn bathroom.

She survived a freak storm, a crazy grandmother with a knife and now she was going to die because of her history teacher who had robbed a museum and gone off his pills and decided to perve around in the girls bathroom.

"We've been waiting centuries for you to awake the real god, our rulers." He was saying as he opened the door to the stall next to hers,"The heir shall-"

He couldn't complete because the minute he opened the door to her stall she lunged towards him tackling him to the ground.

Taken by surprise he crumpled under her weight and he lost his grip on the sword which skittered under the sink.

Aubrey quickly picked herself up and made a desperate grab for the already ruined door trying to open it. Before she could go any further he grabbed her ankle and Aubrey fell forward.

Aubrey managed to land on her shoulder which at least protected her from hiting her head on the floor. Her shoulder throbbed but almost immediately the pain ebbed out. She didn't have time to think about it as she tried to tug her leg free from him.

She kicked him hard on the face with her free leg and smiled when she heard a satisifing crunch. In fact the force of the kick pushed him backwards so much so that he slid back to the other wall and for one precious second Aubrey wondered how the kick had been that strong.

Aubrey got up to her feet opening the splintered door when she felt it.

The sword barely touched the back of her neck but pain radiated from that spot.

"Turn around." He commanded,"And if you even think about screaming I'll cut your pretty throat."

Aubrey gulped and turned slowly. With all the noise being made surely someone would have heard?

Her teacher looked wild, glasses cracked,shirt blackened and bloodied. Blood flowed from his nose freely and Aubrey managed to smile a little bit proud with her kick.

Aubrey tried her best to keep her voice even as she said,"I sat in someone else's seat and turned in my paper in a little late. Don't you think killing me with an ancient thingamajing sword is a bit of an overreaction?"

"Don't play dumb with me girl." He said itching the sword closer to her if that was even possible,"I know who you are now and I've seen what you can do."

Aubrey shrugged carefully. So far her plan to delay him was working but she had this sinking feeling in her gut that no one was coming.

"See what I can do?" Aubrey said mockingly,"I assure you Mr Thorne that my essay on Henry the Eight was moderate, I can do much much better."

And in that moment of shock where he freezed trying to process her absolutely snarky reply Aubrey pushed herself backward through the splintered door. She landed on her back with a heavy thud and she felt something sticky spreading from her back.

He leaped once again this time his sword in a deadly arc with full intention to kill her. Aubrey rolled aside missing the blade by mere centimetres.

Okay so the crazy dude actually knew how to use the ancient thingamajing sword.

The pain in her back had somehow eased up but the small scratches on her neck burned.

What was the sword dipped in? Acid? Poison?

"I suspected the Vaughn boy was-" he started to say as he raised the sword to deliver the final blow.

Aubrey managed to sweep his leg from underneath him by sliding her legs beneath him making him fall backwards. The sword clattered as it fell to the ground next to her alongside her history teacher.

Aubrey glared at the professor and slowly got up. She lifted the sword in her hand by the hilt and raised it up. Surprisingly it felt exactly right like she was meant to use it.

And yet there was something about the sword she was holding in her hand that made stomach churn.

And then the voices that had been quiet the whole day started pounding on her mind once again.

And then they started screaming. The noise was so unbearably loud that it sounded like knives grating against her mind.

The lights over her sparked and flickered. The wind picked up around her and her hair flailed around her. Locker doors were thrown open and the rattled as a freak storm formed indoor.The voices got louder and louder and Aubrey shrieked dropping the sword tumbling back to the ground.

And just like that the voices stopped along with the wind.Aubrey gasped for breath her head pounding and her vision red.The lights over her sparked and flickered as they died.

Mr Thorne was still on the ground watching her with fascination,"Oh you really are her and your much more powerful than we can imagine. She's inside you already, you fear the blade."

"Stay away from me." Aubrey's voice trembled and she pushed herself as far away from her teacher and the freaky sword as possible.

Mr Thorne got up and retrieved the sword,"The heir shall die, the queen shall rise and she'll break the seals and bring up hell."

And then suddenly he was being thrown backward, his head slamming hard against the wall his sword once again falling from his grip.

That's when Aubrey noticed Declan, leaning against one of the lockers, his gold eyes trained on their history teacher. He was holding a sword that was of dark midnight black color against his leg and the his other hand was outstretched, his palm open facing Mr Thorne who was pinned against the back wall his feet suspended a feet above the ground.

How?

His eyes flickered towards Aubrey and she managed to gasp out pointing towards the weapon on the ground,"The sword."

His eyes fixated on the sword on the ground and he went pale as if all the blood from his face had drained away.

Mr Thorne laughed,"You recognise the sword don't you boy?"

Declan's face hardened and Mr Thorne was slammed into the wall once again.

"How did you get it?" Declan seethed,"And how do you know my relation to it?"

Mr Thorne let out a full laugh that made Aubrey shiver but she stood up unsteadily against the wall and asked,"Why are you trying to kill me?"

Declan turned towards her shocked that she was even speaking but her teacher regarded her with his cold eyes,"The queen shall rise." Then eyes flittered towards Declan and his lips turned into a sadistic smile,"Time shall stop and hell shall reign the Earth."

Declan had gone rigid as if someone had electrocuted him.

And that's when the silver sword on the ground started trembling and levitated off the ground and shot straight towards Aubrey.

Several things happened at once almost instantly, Declan sprang into action as if someone had pressed play. He moved forward faster than humanely possible. Before she could blink he was in front of their professor, his dark sword in his hand which he sank into their professors chest.

The silver sword stopped inches from Aubrey's chest and clattered loudly as it fell to the ground.

Declan's outstretched hand dropped and Mr Thorne slumped onto the floor no longer suspended, his eyes cold and unseeing as blood pooled around him.

Aubrey just stared at the body shocked and Declan glanced at her his face expressionless. He made his way carefully towards Aubrey and then knelt down in front of her.

For a second Aubrey thought he was going to kiss her as he bent a little forward so that their lips were almost touching.

Instead he reached for the hilt of the silver sword that had fallen on the ground and retreated. He looped it around his belt and then gave Aubrey one thoughtful glance before turning around.

He stood up and carefully and slowly and Aubrey watched him silently as he went into the bathroom and came out with a wad of toilet paper which he was used to clean the blood of his midnight black blade.

And then he opened his mouth to say the last thing she would ever expected him to say,"Scented toilet paper? Really? And we are accused of being sexist? Jeez I'm just going to change my gender looking at this. If you go to the boys bathroom you'd be lucky to find toilet paper that's unused."

Aubrey's mouth dropped open and she somehow managed to find her voice,"I almost died because my history teacher with some freaky powers like yours decided to take an equally freaky sword and kill me. On top of that you just killed him and you're talking about scented toilet paper?"

He smiled a little,"Well in my defence he was a crappy teacher. His pop quizzes were a pain and he graded like there was a sword stuck up his ass."

Aubrey glared at him and he said,"Too soon?"

"Jeez you think?"

Aubrey knew it was completely ridiculous, how lightly they were talking but she knew that if her brain started to catch up with everything them she would go into panic mode.

"Id like to think I have a charming sense of humour cupcake." He said,"But I think a simple thank you for saving my life would be nice."

Aubrey looked at him unblinking for a second and then everything sank in.

The swords, the fact that Declan could throw around people with a flick of his hand and he- he had just killed someone.

Aubrey's chest constricted and suddenly she found it hard to breathe,"Y-You j-j-just k-k-k-killed our h-h-history teacher with a s-sword and h-he tried to k-kill me too."

Aubrey's vision blurred and she found it tougher to breathe as rambled out, words just tumbling from her mouth. Suddenly Declan was in front of her his palms against her cheek.

Aubrey jerked back, the vending machine, the faceless girl everything came flooding back.

"Y-you were there earlier the vending machine." Aubrey was hyperventilating so badly that she was barely breathing her lungs were on fire and she couldn't get enough air,"I-It exploded and y-you said, oh god Mr Thorne is d-dead."

She frantically looked around trying to escape Declan's overpowering gaze and that's when her gaze fell on where her dead history professors body was supposed to be.

But it had vanished.

"It's gone." She whispered as dark spots danced around her vision and she started to shake,"He's gone, he was right there, you- you killed him."

"Aubrielle." His voice was sharp,"Look at me."

Aubrey forced her gaze up at him mets his fierce gold eyes.

"Calm down and focus on me." He said slowly,"It's okay-"

"I'm actually crazy aren't I?" She whispered softly,"This is all a hallucination and I'm actually cra-"

"You're not crazy." He said softly,"Focus. You're smarter than this so take two deep breaths and just calm down."

But Aubrey was way to far gone.

"I'm not crazy." Aubrey repeated,"Then this actually happened.You were actually here this time not some figment of my imagination as usual. The pentacle outside my house was actually drawn in blood, I act-"

"Go back." He said,"Someone drew a pentacle in front of your house?"

"Yes, the demonic ones I've read about." She said finally coming to terms with what had happened. Well, mostly coming to terms,"With the weird symbols."

He looked at her his eyes widening as if for the first time he was seeing her. He took in a sharp breath and looked at her evenly.

"The silver sword." He said carefully,"Do you recognise it?"

She shook her head.

"You should have left this town when I had warned you to." He sighed,"But now you're going to be dragged into something bigger when they come after you."

"Who? What are you talking about?" She asked managing to find her voice.

"It doesn't matter." He said and then backed away,"Not now. This needs to be our little secret, okay?"

And for some reason she nodded her panic disappearing and then asked,"I'll keep it but from whom?"

His eyes darkened,"You'll find out soon enough."

"I think I deserve to know now." She jutted her chin out pointing to where the body had just vanished from,"Considering the fact that Someone just tried to kill me with a sword. A sword!"

He raised his eyebrows,"You're more shocked at the fact that he tried to kill you with a sword than the fact that he tried to kill you."

"Yeah buddy that's coming too." Aubrey replied trying to get herself off the floor,"But I like to deal with one thing at a time."

He grinned this time but almost immediately wiped the smile off his face as if he had done something wrong. The change was sudden and yet so strikingly different and cold that it was impossible to miss.

Aubrey tried to shrug off the hurt she felt and said,"So you better start explaining."

He looked at her innocently,"Explaining what?"

She started at him disbelieving,"Umm everything?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked,"Mr Thorne the guy you just killed-"

"Mr Thorne? Who is that?" He asked and Aubrey's mouth fell open at the complete one eighty degree turn he had done.

"Our history teacher w-whom you just killed." She stammered out but doubt flickered all through her voice.

He looked at her quizzically,"Our history teacher is Mrs Vincent. Are you feeling all righ-"

"No!" She yelled stop lying,"I saw you...."

She glanced down at where he had kept the swords but they too had disappeared. She stood up hastily and surveyed the hall which seemed perfectly all right.

The lights were all working, the bathroom door was perfectly whole.

Declan looked at her calmly as if waiting for her to take it all in and then said with what seemed like genuine concern,"Are you all right? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine." She said through gritted teeth but even as she said it she knew it wasn't true.

There was something wrong very wrong with her and it wall getting too much.

Once again that familiar feeling of panic overwhelmed her constricting her chest making it difficult to breathe.

"Easy there cupcake." He said leaning forward but Aubrey pushed herself back stumbling into the wall.

"Don't touch me." She said. Black spots danced through her vision and for the second time that day everything went black.