"Care to explain?"

Alice sighed and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear before inhaling deeply and starting,

"Well, you know how I said that I thought Lisa wasn't what everyone thinks she is? Well it's true, she isn't. Only, I thought she was nicer then we thought and that she was only mean so she could cover her dyslexia up..."

"Wait," I interjected. "She has dyslexia?" I hadn't known that. Sure, she never read anything in class and was given extra time to complete her work, and often she would do class assignments at home, but I had never even for a second thought that she could have dyslexia. She always said reading in class was for losers, and I had come to the conclusion that she somehow always managed to charm the teachers into giving her extra time for assignments.

"Yeah, she does," Alice replied. "And I thought that she was actually a good person deep down. But I was wrong. She has done so many bad things, Ells."

Her voice broke and I realised that it was not because she was sad to know that Lisa was so evil, but because she was shocked to know that any human being could actually be so horrible. Then again, Lisa was technically not just a human being. Nor was I.

"This will sound crazy," Alice continued. "Absurd even, but..." She paused to take yet another deep breath."Lisa Thompson is a werewolf."

"Wait," I said. "How did you find out?"

"I found out when..." she paused. "Do you already know all of this, Ells?"

I had to try hard to bite back a smile then. I was so relieved to hear Alice tell me about Lisa, and that just confirmed the fact that Alice was not one of them.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Ally," I stated simply. "A lot has happened between now and seventh grade. But tell me what you found out. Go on. Please?"

"Fine," she resigned. "Lisa's a werewolf and so is everyone else on the squad. I overheard the cheerleaders talking one day and what they were saying made no sense to me. They were talking about how there was this really powerful person in school and that they were threatened. Then they mentioned you so I got curious and asked Lisa. We, Lisa and I, had grown pretty close to each other by then and I thought she'd tell me anything. She did tell me what they were talking about. I was shocked. I thought she had gone bonkers at first. She told me how werewolves and vampires existed and how she was a wolf. She almost convinced me to join them. She told me everything they are fighting for and everything they wanted, but then they started talking about you.
They said you must be killed and that you were some sort of powerful being."

"I'm a Silverlight," I told her. Her eyes widened so I continued. I told her everything. I told her what being a Silverlight meant, and there was a glimmer of recognition in her eyes. When I said that Alyssa was really on our side and mentioned the plan, Alice cut me off.

"Ells, I'm not sure you should do that. When Lisa told me what they were planning for you, I pretended to be interested. But then I tried to convince Lisa not to do it but she wouldn't listen. They started blackmailing me. Lisa and I had a fight and she found out that ever since I came to know what they were planning, I had changed sides inside and she, well....she kicked me out." Her expression had become very serious now and her lips were set in a firm, thin line while her eyebrows knitted together.

"Don't worry," I assured her. "Alyssa's plan will work. It has to work."

"You know that friend of yours, Dylan Grace? He was a werewolf too and he died while he was doing something. I don't know what though."

"Dylan was on our side right from the beginning till the very end." I told her. If there was anything I was sure about these days, it was of Dylan's loyalty to us. He would have never done anything to hurt us. All these months, all he had done was protect me. That had been proved when I had asked Alyssa about him.

"Really? You sure?"

"Positive. Not all werewolves are evil and not all vampires are good. Some vampires have even started changing sides."

"So about this Silverlight business," Alice started. "Have you mastered your powers yet?"

"Almost. I still have to work on my persuasive speech and glamours."

"You know, you really should hurry up, Ells," Alice scolded, but somehow I didn't mind her scolding me like that. I definitely needed a good push to start taking this whole thing seriously.

She sat back and continued, "They are getting very strong from what I learned. They are not working for themselves alone. They are employed by some ancient family: The Sloanes. And the Sloanes are demons. They are using the wolves so they can have something. I don't know what though."

This new information was overwhelming. I could never have imagined that there could be someone even..... crazier than the wolves. It was just so shocking.. It made me feel even more responsible for what would happen if I did not master my powers in time and finish this whole thing. If I didn't then the result would be all my fault.

After a while, both of us went our separate ways. I had scheduled an extra dance practice today so I hurriedly made my way into the gym. The girls were all either doing stretches or had just come out of the changing rooms, clad in our red and black uniform.

After that began another dance practice. We worked through all our routines, and I would occasionally stop and help anyone who was having trouble. An hour later, we were all coming out of the showers, ready to face the rest of the day.

When the final bell rang, Alice and I decided to meet up after school the next day to start our English assignment and I told her we could do it at my house.

That evening, I waited for Alyssa's call. She had told me she'd call at seven but it was now eight-thirty. I was having a mini-breakdown. What if she had gotten hurt? What if Lisa had caught on to the plan? What if Alice was right and Lisa really could not be fooled? What had happened?? My mind was bursting with questions.

At nine thirty, my phone buzzed and I was silently praying that Alyssa had texted me but I found that it was only a text from Alice saying hi. I was so irritated and annoyed that I just ignored that text. I didn't bother replying, which I guess was wrong because Alice actually wanted the old times back and so I did I, but Alice was the only one making the effort now. I was just too worried about Alyssa to actually care right then.

At around one in the morning, I heard my phone buzzing and I reluctantly got out of bed to walk over to my desk, my feat feeling the cold wooden floor, and my whole body trembled from the cold. My heart lifted when I saw who that caller was Alyssa.

"Hey," I said into the phone."What's up?"

"Hey," Alyssa said sleepily. "After school, Lisa invited me to hang out with her at her place so I went. Then she started talking about what the wolves are offering and all so I played along. She thinks I'm going to become a werewolf!"

"That's good," I said, yawning.

"Were you sleeping?" she asked, sounding amazed.

"Uh yeah?" I said. "That's what a normal person would be doing at 1 AM on a school night."

"Oh, sorry," If I judged correctly, Alyssa had just realised the time herself, as though she had been awake all this time. "But listen, the wolves are not working for themselves alone...."

"They're working for demons." I interjected. "Alice told me."

"Oh, good. You know. That's pretty much all I have found out till now though."

"It's okay. I'll probably master my powers soon and it'll be fine."

"I sure hope so because they're trying to convince me to join them and I'm not sure if this can go on. I mean, they think I'll join them and that I actually want to be a werewolf but I don't! Lisa says she doesn't know if a vampire can even be a werewolf but she says it'll be good enough that I just switch sides and start helping them. That's what the other vampires are doing."

"Look, Just be careful, alright? Alice had to go through the same thing."

"Yeah I gathered that from what Lisa told me. I better go now. If my mom comes and sees me awake she's going to ask me why." Alyssa said.

"Okay then, take care."

"You too, Ellie."

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As the days wore on, I found myself training harder then I had ever. I had now successfully teleported from my room to just outside my school building. I had done so at around 3 in the morning so I was pretty sure no one had seen me. I had also perfected mind reading. If I concentrated hard enough, I could tell what a person was going to do next, which was unbelievable in a way. This would definitely come in handy later. I had always thought that mind-reading was next to impossible, but I guess, when you're a Silverlight, many things are possible.

The only thing that I needed to work on now was persuasive speech. I knew how to do it but I needed more practice so everyday at dinner, I would ask my mom the smallest of favours and hope that she'd agree. I made sure to ask things that she would never ever have approved off, but it was only to see whether I could be persuasive enough because out there I would definitely not be asking my enemy to let me go to Hawaii on my own!

My glamours had surprisingly been easy. It had only taken me about three days of serious training to master them. I just had to get a very vivid picture of whoever I wanted to look like and close my eyes. After about five seconds, I would look in the mirror and see someone else. To change back I had to imagine my own face and body and concentrate really hard and there I was, back to normal.

My schoolwork was a huge problem though. With all the training, I barely ever had time for normal homework. I would have to pick up the pace or I would find myself at the bottom of the class and I definitely did not need that to happen right now. Not since my senior was this close.

Elizabeth's winter dance was approaching and after she had pestered me for two whole days, I had agreed upon helping her get ready. It was now the middle of November and the dance was on the 29th. The first snowfall had occurred just the night before, blanketing everything in white. The snow had also accumulated on the otherwise bare trees, the branches would sway back and forth: snow tipped fingers that reached up to the sky, struggling to get some sunlight. The snow was about three feet deep and it made driving a huge pain because the roads had not been cleared of snow by the snow ploughs yet.

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I was currently sitting at home in my living room, eating pretzels and drinking my all time favourite drink: Coke.

It was a Saturday night and Alice had convinced me that now that I had mastered my powers and Alyssa's plan was going smoothly, I needed a night to just relax and have fun like any other teenager would.

The whole dance team and Alice had shown up a couple of hours ago and we were stretched out in front of the huge flat screen TV in my living room, watching some music award show. It was presently on mute and we were talking animately.

"So, do you guys want to watch a horror movie?" I asked.

"Yeah, do you have The Woman In Black, Ells?"

"Yep,"

Everyone agreed on that movie and I popped the DVD into the player. The movie was by far the most amazing film I had ever seen.

Then suddenly, my head started hurting. It was a dull throb at first, but then it turned into a heart-wrenching roar in my head and ears. It hurt so bad that I thought my head would explode any minute. I clutched my head tightly in an attempt to ease the pain but it got worse. The others were still immersed in the movie so I slipped into the kitchen alone, hoping to find an aspirin, but I doubted that would work. As soon as I entered, the pain got worse and I collapsed onto a chair. The last thing I remembered was seeing nothing but blackness.

*I was standing on top of a hill that seemed to be overlooking a forest. I looked to my right and what I saw shocked me. Alyssa stood there bound to a tall tree. Her eyes were sallow and scared and warm ruby-red blood was trickling down her face from a deep gash on her forehead that ran down the left side of her face and reached her chin. She was wearing tattered jeans and they were covered in dirt stains, or at least I hoped it was dirt.

Then out of nowhere I heard a faint, barely audible whisper. The voice was Alyssa's but her lips were not moving. She seemed to be in a kind of trance.

"Eleanor, listen to me very carefully,"

"What?" I asked, aghast and unable to comprehend what was happening. "Where are we?"

"Not we. You're still where you were before. This is a telepathy link. Some vampires have the power to create a link between them and someone else. I've been trying for ages. Thank goodness it worked."

"Okay," I said, amazed. "Are you okay?" I knew this was a dumb question, seeing as she was tied to a tree, and was certainly far from okay."Where are you?"

"I've been better. Listen, we don't have much time. It was all a trap. Lisa knew I was pretending from the beginning. She wanted me to do it! They led me on on purpose. But the things we know are true. I know what you're thinking, but no, it was not Alice Bracer who gave us away. It was something else. You have to talk to your grandmother. She'll tell you what to do. I'm at..."

And just like that the connection broke. I almost screened in frustration. I seemed to be in a bed so I forced my eyes open. Somehow, I had been brought to my room and had been laid down in my bed. Someone had pulled the warm quilt over me and had also placed a glass of cool water on my side table. It seemed to be early morning as warm sunlight was flooding my room. I looked at my phone that had also been placed on my bedside table to see that it was six in the morning.

I wasted no time in calling Alice. It seemed like she was the only one I could trust right now. The only person I could turn to, except my grandmother whom I felt really bad for disturbing at this hour.

She picked up on the last ring and her voice came out sleepy and raspy.

"Ells, are you okay? Last night, you fell asleep in the kitchen and you were sweating like a pig so the other girls and I brought you up to your room. You are extremely heavy by the way, even though you don't look heavy at all."

"Listen, Ally," I said, my tone deadly serious. "Alyssa has been taken. We need to look for her. They took her. You were right, Lisa did catch on. She found out Alyssa was spying on them."

"Okay, I'll be at your place in twenty minutes. We need to plan this whole thing out first before we do anything to save Alyssa."

We hung up, and I hurriedly changed into a pair of casual blue jeans, a long-sleeved red shirt and my blue denim jacket before rushing down the stairs to eat what I could until Alice came.

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A/N
I hope you're happy with this chapter because I worked really hard on this! Yes, the story is speeding up now because the book will end soon!! There's major action on the way too :-) Please vote and comment! Does anyone like Harry Potter? What did you guys think of this chapter?