I was used to the dirty looks I got from people when I passed them in the halls. I was used to hearing the whispers as I walked to my locker. It didn't really faze me anymore.

I walked to my locker, head held high, and pulled out the books I would need for my morning classes. I had just pulled out my English book when my locker door was pushed shut. A small smile formed on my lips when I looked into the deep brown eyes of one of the hottest guys I had ever met.

"Hey, beautiful," he said grinning. He was leaning up against the lockers with his arms crossed and looking as handsome as ever.

James Lazarus was the most gorgeous thing to ever walk on two feet. He was tall and had had shaggy black hair that fell over his deep, chocolate eyes. He worked out every day and had abs as hard as a rock. And for all his good looks, he could have any girl he wanted but he chose me. Hell, I could have any guy I wanted. I mean, I had a body that most girls—even the cheerleaders—would kill for. I worked out every day, due in large part to the mini gym my brothers had built in our basement. I was voluptuous and had the best ass of any skinny girl here. My chestnut hair fell in waves down the middle of my back and my eyes were the color emeralds. I'm not conceited but I was the hottest girl at Pasadena High, and everyone knew it even if they would never admit it. Yeah, it was true any guy would be lucky to have me but I only wanted James.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were in Italy," I said, reopening my locker.

He shrugged. "I was."

"But?"

"Your brother called me. So naturally, I hopped on the first plane here," he said.

I slammed my locker door at that. "What?" I yelped. A few people passing by glared at us.

"He's worried that you might do something stupid. Like go after Blane by yourself."

I scoffed. "I wouldn't—"

"Yes, you would," he said cutting me off. "Seph, do you remember what happened the last time you went after him? You were almost killed."

"Yes, I remember very clearly."

He pulled me in for a hug and I let him. "I don't want to lose you."

"Don't worry. I'm not going off on any suicide missions this time." I sighed. "Are Alana and Gregory with you?"

He tensed up and pulled away.

I groaned. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

"They wouldn't let me come alone. You know how they are."

"I've got to get to class." I walked away. Well, I tried to walk away but James kept up with me easily. I guess when you ran five miles a day walking at a fast pace doesn't affect you much.

"I haven't seen you in six months and you're just going to walk away?" he asked.

"I have to get to class," I replied cryptically.

"Can we at least talk about this?"

I jerked out of his grip. "There's nothing to talk about," I growled. "You and Alana and Gregory abandoned me and my brothers when we—when I—needed you the most. I almost died, quite literally, when you three left. So there is nothing to talk about.

"Seph, I would never have left if I'd had any choice. Shayne told us to leave."

"Since when do you listen to anybody but yourself? God, James, I love you but I can't do it anymore. I never know when you're just going to up and leave again. These six months without you have been great. I've moved on."

He rested his hands on my shoulders. "Don't say that. I love you and only you."

I shrugged his hands away. "We're done. We were done the moment you made the decision to leave." Without another word I walked away and didn't look back.

I sat down at my usual lunch table and found that, despite my threat, Jayde was still sitting at the table as well. I also found that she wouldn't meet my eyes. She wouldn't even look in my general direction. I couldn't really blame her.

"Jayde?" I said over the roar of the other students.

She reluctantly looked at me. "What?"

"You want to come over today after school?" By now, everyone else at the table was looking back and forth between me and Jayde, but most were looking at me, astonished. I'd never invited anyone to come over to my house after school so naturally they were shocked that I would be asking the new girl of all people.

"Why would I want to come over after school?" She glared daggers at me with those sapphire eyes of hers.

"Because there's something I'd like to show you. It might be able to help with that snake bite," I said.

Her eyes widened. "Fine."

I gave her a tentative smile and she turned away. This is going to be fun, I thought sarcastically.

My phone started to vibrate suddenly. I glanced at it under the table and saw Shayne's number across the screen. I looked up to make sure that no teachers were around to take my phone up. Once satisfied that I wasn't going to get in trouble I answered it.

"What's up?" I said, scanning the room for any sign of authority figures.

"You need to get home. Now," Shayne said and hung up. I didn't hesitate. I snapped my phone shut and ran through the cafeteria. People glanced up as I passed by but I ignored them. They weren't important. What was important was my brother's phone call. Shayne rarely called me at school and when he did it was usually because something bad had happened. I prayed to God that it wasn't Kaige. I'd already lost both my parents. I didn't think I could handle losing one—or even both—my brothers.

I was just about to reach the front doors of the school when Principal Hitney stepped out of the front office.

"Ms. Thorne, where do you think you're going?" she said.

"I've got to go," I said. "It's an emergency."

"Emergency or not, I can't just let you walk out of school without one of your brothers here to sign you out," she said.

I groaned in frustration. "I'm sorry Mrs. Hitney, but I've got to go." Without waiting for her reply, I ran out of the building and ran all the way home. There wasn't time to catch a bus or hitch a ride. I didn't know what was going on and couldn't risk wasting time.

I burst through the front door of my house and found Shayne, Kaige, James, and Gregory sitting in the living room. They all had solemn looks on their faces.

"What is it?" I panted.

Shayne walked over to me and hugged me. I didn't hug him back; I just stood there, frozen, waiting for whatever news they were waiting to give me.

"What? What happened?" I repeated, pulling away from my eldest brother. Shayne's gray eyes bore into mine. "Shayne…what…?"

"Alana's dead."