I was on my way to fifth period with Danny as my guide when I felt it yank at me. It was a pulling in my gut. It yanked hard and made me double over almost in pain. When I went down, Danny reached out to grab my arm to steady me.

"What's wrong? Are you cramping?"

Light flashed through my head, flooding me with warmth and a burning need all at once. It was like an alarm going off, screaming at me. Get to Brian. I choked out, "I have to go. Sorry."

I pulled my arm away from Danny and stumbled forward, down the hall, the feeling getting stronger the further I walked. The bell rang for fifth period and I ignored it. I needed to get to my brother. I turned the corner and faced him, faced them. Two Seniors picked at Brian. One shoved him backwards, into the lockers, and I felt it as he slammed his spine hard against it. I felt the healing after the impact. It drained me for a second and I had to gasp for air before I could shout, "Hey, fuckface! Leave him alone!"

Of course, that drew attention to me from the bullies and my brother. I read their faces quickly. Dumbass one- failing Chemistry, reads two grade levels below normal, slightly above average at math but not enough to truly excel. Follower. Weak spot- jealousy. Dumbass two- charismatic, passing classes due to charm- not intelligence, upper middle class, smokes pot on the weekends. Leader. Weakness- sleeping with his follower's girlfriend.

"Here's what's going to happen, shit-for-brains and sloppy-seconds," I commanded their attention, giving Brian time to stand up. "You're going to quit fucking around with him. Not just today. For the rest of your school career, his school career, and the rest of your pitiful, shallow, below average lives."

It didn't take long for them to respond to that. Dumbass Two croaked, "Excuse me? It's cute that a little freshman is defending her boyfriend but you don't know who you're talking to."

I was the physical opposite of Brian, which led to people assuming I was much younger than my true age. He took after our tall, skeletal mother; I took after a great grandma with the height of a small dog. Bri had black curls. I had pin straight, true red hair. No freckles though, and no death white complexion. It was a normal, peach-ish complexion- if a little on the pale side.

"One, that's my brother. Two, I know everything but your names." Brian slid up beside me. "You, big and ugly, are as dumb as they come, and not just because you've failed Chemistry twice. It's because he's fucking your girlfriend and you're too stupid to notice. How long's it been going on, rich and dumb? Two months? Three months?" His eye twitched. "Six? It's been going on for six months? Wow! How have you not noticed?"

"Shut up!" he roared. Brian looped his arm through mine and dragged me back a step.

"No!" I growled back. "Listen to me now! You will never lay hands on my brother again or I will rip your soul out. Do you understand me? I will destroy…"

I was distracted as the sexiest blonde I'd ever seen in my life turned the corner and wandered right into our midst as if we weren't in the middle of an epic showdown. My voice trailed and I stared, not reading his personality, but instead letting my eyes drag down him. Light blonde hair that was the slightest bit out of place, shocking blue eyes in a face reminiscent of a Greek God, and a body to murder thousands for. Broad shoulders, well defined chest set against a blue cotton shirt, jeans that hugged rock hard thighs, and an ass to sink nails into. I swallowed hard as Brian's fingers came up to dig into my arm.

"Are you in the middle of something?" the hotty questioned.

"Get out of here, Lahey!" Leader snarled.

While dumbfuck 1 and 2 were focused elsewhere, Brian leaned forward and hissed, "Are you looking?"

"Of course, Bri," I muttered.

"Not at his abs, stupid. Look, Carter."

"I can't do that, Burns," Lahey replied as I raised my eyes back up to his face. Abusive home life, adopted by friend's family. No. Not friend. My eyes traced his face again. It wasn't friend. It was blank. A no meaning. He had a face beneath his face that was blurring words, blurring meanings. The entire image wavered, opaque, showing a shadow beneath, a shadow with no meaning. I stepped back. Lahey continued, "A girl, Burns? You're picking on a new girl."

"Leave it alone, Isaac," Dumbass 2 chimed in, but there was apprehension in his voice.

"Leave them alone." The shadow beneath the human face moved, like it was waking up. Where it had been stationary before, it turned.

"We're actually getting to class now," I spoke up, keeping my eyes on the shadow boy. "The problems dealt with. Thank you. Goodbye."

Brian and I turned as one and made it around the corner when we heard the footsteps jogging to catch up. Then, we heard his voice. "Hey, wait a minute!"

We stopped and turned to face the shadow man. The smiles painted on our faces was so fake they were almost cracking. He stopped in front of us and explained, "I didn't get your names."

He inhaled and wrinkled his nose, which would have been really cute if the shadow beast hadn't surged to the surface, blurring his features for that second. I introduced quickly, "Carter and Brian Erickson. Isaac Lahey, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, thanks for helping us out. We really have to get going now. The I-got-lost-excuse only works for so long before they figure out we're blowing off class."

"Well, where are you headed? I'll help you there." He raised his hand to dig at his nose.

"No, that's okay. We wouldn't want to keep you from whatever you're doing," I objected.

"I'm just in free period. Come on. Where are you supposed to be?"

"Trig," I gave in, knowing it would seem weird to fight.

"Study hall," Bri added, his fingers digging into my tricep.

"Come on then. The library's on the way to the math wing so I'll take you first."

The entire way to the library, he dug at his nose, as if he were just about to sneeze and couldn't figure out why. Then, after he dropped Bri off, the itching stopped and the shadow settled. We walked in silence for a second before he commented, "You seem nervous. You and your brother."

"We're new here," I excused. "Just settling in."

"Welcome to Beacon Hills. Sorry for the assholes. There are actually a lot of good people here."

The shadow was calm, blending seamlessly with his face. I had to be searching to find it.

"Yeah, I've met Danny Mahealani. I think I'm pronouncing his last name right."

"Doing better than Stiles every does. Here's your classroom. If you ever need anything, let me know."

"Thank you." I tried not to stare too intensely at the face behind his face and smiled awkwardly. "Well, see you around."

I ducked into the classroom and found an entire classroom of faces turning to me. I apologized, "I'm sorry. I got a little turned around and somebody redirected me the wrong way. They must have misunderstood me."

"You must be Carter Erickson. Hm. I had you written down as a boy. Find your seat." The middle aged man grumbled, looking down at the attendance sheet on the desk and marking it while waving his free hand dismissively at me.

I kept my eyes down and made my way to the only empty seat in the room. I slid in next to a strawberry blonde and she promptly ignored me. I turned my attention to the board, ignored the drinking habits written on the face of my teacher, and tried to see around the mop of brown hair that adorned the head of the boy in front of me. Until he turned around and introduced, "Hi, I'm Scott. Do you understand how he got that answer?"

I choked on my words. They stuck in my throat. The shadow creature under his face wasn't just there. It was roiling, moving, constantly searching. I couldn't even read anything else about him. Brown eyes, brown hair, probably of Hispanic descent. That was it. No personality traits stuck out to me. I was doing what other humans did. I was reading a basic smile and tone of voice.

"Are you okay?" The shadow stirred in him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I spit out quickly. "The answer is cosine over sine."

"Well, I know, but do you know how he got it?"

For the second time that day, I found myself talking to a shadow creature and trying to make my voice stay flat while I spoke. Until the strawberry blonde next to me asked a question and I looked over to find something completely different beneath her face. She was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. But there was something below the surface that stuck out. It wasn't a shadow and it wasn't a completely different face. It was a trait, a part of her that I couldn't read and couldn't understand and, for the first time, I was terrified. I'd met two people in one body before and it was an interesting experience interpreting who they were. But I'd never met a person who was another thing, yet was only one person.

At the end of the day, Brian met me at the car and we sat in silence for a moment. Finally, I said, "I saw another one today, Bri. There are two shadow people in this school."

"I met a girl who has something behind her face and I think I fell in love with her."

I turned my head to stare at him and he explained, "She corrected our physics teacher and called him mediocre."

"Was her name Lydia?"

"Yes!"

"She's in my trig class and, seriously, there's something behind her face."

"Should we tell Mom?"

"We tell Mom, she'll freak out and move us to Texas next. That's the only other place with an open rift. I will die in Texas, Bri. I'm convinced of it."

"Then we don't tell her. We wait and see if the shadow people are dangerous. If they are, we'll move to Texas. If they aren't, we stay here."