I am sooooooooo sorry that it took me so long to upload again! Legitimately, I just forget. :P Remind me! As an apology, I'll upload two chapters :) Here's the first one. Enjoy!


Third period I had U.S. History with Chloe. It was possibly the most boring class ever. I decided I should use this time to get to know Chloe a little better before Jasmine and I had to talk to her this afternoon.

She was sitting three rows in front of me and two rows over. At the moment, she was hunched over her desk taking notes furiously in her notebook. Her long, wavy blonde hair cascaded down her back, and moved slightly as she wrote. Every time she paused for a moment to think, she tapped one finger on the edge of her desk. Her eyes would light up with recognition, and she would begin to write again. I listened to her heartbeat, to familiarize myself with it. Thump, thump...thump, thump...thump, thump...

I jumped as the bell went off, signaling the end of class. Shoving my stuff into my bag, I made my way to the door.

"Hey man," Connor said, hitting me on the arm. We were 'buddies,' you could say. He was…one of the people I disliked the least on the basketball team. Let's just say he wasn't a complete moron.

"Sup," I nodded to him.

"Dude. What's up? You were staring at that Chloe chick like all class. D'you like her or something?" He just looked at me waiting for a response.

"What? No, I don't like her. C'mon Connor, really?" How was I going to get myself out of this one? I mean, I didn't like her, but I couldn't just say that I was her protector and we both had crazy cat powers, even though she didn't know it yet. Mental face palm, big time.

"Alek. You stared at her. The entire hour. Something's up, I know it."

"Really. I don't like her. I'm just exhausted. I spaced out."

"Whatever you say, dude. But I still don't believe you."

"You're mental, Connor. Catch you later, I gotta go." I made my way down the hall and towards my next class. How could I have been so stupid? Now all the guys are going to be on my case about this for days. Great. Just great.

Before I entered my next class, I pulled out my phone and shot off a quick text to Jasmine, telling her to meet me at my locker after school, and to bring Chloe. From there, we would head back to our place and then we could explain to Chloe what's going on.

I was sitting on one couch next to Jasmine, and Chloe was across from us on the other.

"I'm what?" Chloe asked incredulously. Her clear blue eyes were wide with disbelief.

"You're Mai," I told her again. "And we are too. We're your protectors."

"Okay… and if that's actually true, why do I need protecting exactly?" She was looking at us like we were crazy, expecting her to believe a story like that.

"Well…" I started, before explaining the prophecy, how she was the Uniter, and had nine lives. Then Jasmine helped me explain how the Order was trying to kill her, and why.

"I still don't believe you," Chloe said.

I retracted my claws. "Can't you do this?" I asked with a smirk.

She gasped. "I- I don't think so." She looked at her hands questioningly.

"Okay," I said, knowing she very well could. "What about your super speed, hearing and sight? Or how you're still alive after you were pushed off that tower? Explain that."

"I can't," she sighed.

"It all happened when you turned sixteen, didn't it?" Of course I was right, I knew I was.

"Yeah, but… wait, how did you know that?" She looked confused.

"Because," I smiled smugly, "You're Mai."

Jasmine just looked at me before explaining everything to Chloe again. She was much more patient than I was, answering Chloe's many questions. They talked forever, and I stopped paying attention after a little while.

After several hours of more questions and explanations, Chloe finally seemed convinced that we were telling her the truth.

"So, let me get this straight. I'm 'Mai' and I have powers, like super speed, strength, sight and hearing. I'm also the 'Uniter' so I have nine lives, one of which I lost. I have to defeat this Order-thingy and unite the humans and the Mai once more. I also can't kiss a human or they'll die. Is that it?" Chloe looked overwhelmed with all the information, but also a little excited at the same time.

I nodded. "Yes. That's it." She still didn't seem to grasp the importance of what she was, who she was.

"Also," I added, "Tomorrow we start training. Midnight. We'll meet you on your roof. Think you can sneak out?"

"Wait, hold on. Training for what?" She looked completely taken aback.

"Mai training. You know, fighting, hand-to-hand combat, stuff like that. You need to be prepared, Chloe. You could be attacked at any time." Even though I thought that this whole thing was completely ridiculous, I was being serious. Chloe needed to learn how to fight for herself so she could preserve her lives for when she might actually need them.

"Um, okay, yeah I'll be there." She frowned. "Can I go home now?"

Before I could say anything else, Jasmine interrupted. "Of course you can. I'll walk with you."

As I watched them leave, I started to realize what an undertaking this actually was. Jasmine and I were in for it, big time.