A/N: It's a very short chapter. This is all I'm going to say: chibiyu, I warned you -- it's an absolutely horrible cliffy.

Disclaimer: I don't own JONAS or WOWP.

chapter ten: domino effect

(aella pov)

I didn't see the point in telling them. Nick was under enough stress as it was, and Joe was avoiding his little brother like the plague, obviously mistrusting him. Kevin was just the opposite; he stuck to Nick like glue, like he was ready to protect his younger brother from any threat at a moment's notice. Of course, Nick was perfectly capable, if not even more capable, of protecting himself. He had his wand close to him at all times, sometimes not properly hidden, and during class I would watch him touch it lightly, as if in the next second he would need to use it. I didn't need to give any of them something else to think about.

But the whole concept of it – that Nick was inevitably going to die – was shocking to my brain. Somehow, as I got closer to the boys, it became harder for my brain to concept that they weren't really brothers, that they were supposed to be mortal enemies. And since Joe had begun to treat Nick like that, it kind of hurt. I'd seen magic tear families apart before, but never quite like this. Oh, and did I mention I was falling in love with one of them? I hated when the future changed, and how I lost control over my own power, but that's what I was doing. I was twisting fate. I was falling, falling, falling, and there was no one to catch me. No one at all.

So what was I doing still here, when I could let my feelings for the enemy get in the way of everything? I was here to protect Nick, not his brother. For all intensive purposes, they were the enemy, but here I was, playing the part of neutral Switzerland, an innocent human blind to the power of destruction that they possessed.

And then there was Stella. If only she knew what kind of clique she had gotten herself into when she met these boys fifteen years ago. Between Joe and Kevin, or Adrian and Corbett, the most powerful of the Angels to walk the earth, and their younger "brother" Nick, or Kione, the wizard living amongst his enemies, not to mention the fact that he was at least partially possessed by an evil spirit out to destroy both sides, she was in pretty much over her head for an innocent, powerless human. She'd fallen victim to the disguise, the normal American teens, the band, the everything. It wasn't quite fake, but it wasn't quite real anymore, was it?

Of course, there was me as well. My name, the name Aella, was one from fairy tales and stories, the prophetess who knew the future. What people didn't realize was that the future was subject to change, and if you knew what had to be changed... then it could be done if you knew just how to go about doing it. And that's why everyone else knew me as Macy Misa, the JONAS fan club president and sports extraordinaire. I was at high school again to, quite simply, change the future. To ensure that Nick Lucas would live.

But the future I saw right now had him dying, and yet, I was scared to change it. I didn't know how to in the first place, and now I didn't want to because if I changed it, it could have a domino effect. Joe could die, Stella could die, Justin could die, Max could die. Alex could die, and then changing the future would be pointless – Nick would die with her.

And last, but not least, Kevin could die. And I couldn't let Kevin die, not now. Not after I was ready to fall into his heart. Not in all my four hundred years on this planet had I fallen in love. And now I had fallen in love with the enemy. Maybe it wasn't only Nick walking the enemy lines – could it be me too?

I leaned against my locker and sighed. Life was so hard already, why did I have to bottle up all my emotions and never let anyone see them?

"Macy!" Stella screamed, practically running over me. "Have you seen Nick today?"

"Nick? Why?" I immediately snapped to attention. "Did something happen? Is he hurt? What?"

"His eyes are black," she replied, stressing the last word. "I mean, it totally doesn't work with the outfit. I coordinated it so it would match his eyes..."

I zoned out after that, thinking about the eyes, black eyes... "Oh, shit," I muttered, and raced off, leaving Stella there alone. Samael was back, and if he was leaving Nick trapped... if there was any way to blow my cover, it would be this way. Nick was strong, could he do it himself? I didn't wait around to find out.

He was in the atrium, pacing back and forth. Joe was nowhere to be seen, but I found Kevin, shaking with some look of pain on his face. "Kev, what's up?" I asked, trying not to let my hormones get in the way of my mission.

"Nick," he breathed. "He..." He couldn't finish, he just broke down crying and embraced me in a hug. I tried not to melt; I needed to get to Nick as soon as possible. If I could alter this moment just a little bit, it could change everything, either for the better of for the worse. "He's... his eyes."

"Kev, I know, Stella told me," I said as calmly as I could, trying divert all the stares away from us, because people were indeed staring. "Look, I'll go talk to him."

"Mace, that's not a good idea," he breathed, but I managed to squirm my way out of his grip and throw the door open to the atrium. As soon as the door had slammed behind me, and I was looking into Nick's pitch-black eyes, I took a breath.

"What did you do with Nick?"

(nickpov)

Leave it to the spirit to simply ruin my day.

I refused to call him by his name, Samuel or Samael or whatever it was. Evil things shouldn't have names, and they shouldn't name other people, whether they might have created them or not. I was Nicholas, not Kione, and I hated being called that name as much as I hated being called Joe or Kevin by forgetful relatives. But, I mean, he promised revenge. If watching him go to school for me was revenge... then I guess I could take it in stride. There were worse punishments. Maybe he could do my homework for me too?

Well, let's just say that I didn't get so lucky. He showed no intent of even going to all my classes, but instead stayed in the atrium for all of homeroom. I felt powerless, trapped, stuck. And I was powerless to do anything even as simply as get to class. Or warn Macy when she came barging into the room as if I didn't already look like I wanted to be left alone. "What did you do with Nick?"

Wait. Macy knew? She knew that my brothers were Adrian and Corbett, that I was a wizard, that I was being possessed, everything else? She knew at least a little about what was going on? "I'm fine, Macy," the spirit said in my own voice, acting and trying to pass it off like it was actually me speaking. "Just having a bad day, that's all."

"Oh, that's all bullshit, and you know it," she snapped, and he took a couple steps back. "Yeah, I know who you really are, Samael, and I know that you're not really Nick. What did you do with him?" She grabbed my shirt and pulled my body closer to hers. I felt so useless. So freaking useless.

"Who are you?" the spirit demanded, giving my voice an edge. "What gives you the right to question me?"

Macy took a breath, her shoulders heaving. "I am Macy Misa, otherwise known as Aella, prophetess of the stars. I have been assigned to this mission, this body, to live this life to change the future, to watch over the boy known as Nicholas Jerry Lucas. To ensure that he will live."

"He cannot live," he hissed. "It is essential that not just him, but everyone, including you, dies. The magic is a threat to human race, the mortals, the innocents that surround us." I felt my face twist into a sly smile. "So, you can see the future?" The girl I knew as Macy nodded slowly. "And my little minion is going to die?" This time, Macy didn't say or do anything. I interpreted as a yes. That I was going to die.

If one of your closest friends knew that you were going to die, wouldn't you want them to, I don't know, tell you? "Give me an answer," the spirit said, forcing Macy back a couple of steps. "Tell me now."

But Macy still didn't say anything. "What a mistake, Miss Aella," he said, and pulled out my wand. My beloved wand. My only tool of protection. And he was going to abuse it. Was he really going to expose me like that? However, Macy was quicker, even without a wand. She knocked my body to the ground easily, pinning me against the cold concrete sidewalk. Her hand was made into a fist, as if she was going to punch me, but she didn't, not at first. "I'm so sorry, Nick," she whispered, and then punched me/Samael in the eye.

I may have been completely out of control, but it still hurt like crazy, and my vision went fuzzy in my left eye. The spirit muttered something that sounded a bit like swearing in Latin, and a bolt of yellow light flew out of my wand, sending Macy into the glass, which shattered upon impact, glass shards flying. A couple (okay, a lot) embedded themselves into my flesh. It hurt. Was there anything I could do about it? No. As the spirit picked my body up off of the ground, I plead silently, Please don't hurt her!

You have served your purpose, young Kione. Your pleas and wishes mean nothing to me. He walked swiftly over to where Macy was getting to her feet in the middle of the hallway, shaking. The halls were empty; class had started, but it wouldn't be long before people were out here, trying to make sense out of what had happened. Before Samael could say another spell, Macy had knocked my body back through the windowpane to the other side of the atrium, five, ten, fifteen feet in the air. I fell to the ground with an acceleration of 9.8 meters per second square (thank you, physics class) and heard the bones in my left leg shatter upon impact with the ground. Macy came running over and without hesitation, kicked me, pretty hard, in the head. The whole world suddenly became very, very dizzying.

You see, this is what you get for taking on the sportiest girl in school, I thought to Samael, but he had completely left my head. Like any bully, he'd given up, leaving me to feel my pain. And I felt it even more, now that I could control my broken legs and my throbbing head. I struggled to keep my eyes open.

Macy stared at me for a second, then whispered one word: "Brown." Then she knelt down next to my broken body. She wasn't looking so great herself, the one spell that Samael had been able to cast had left her burned and bruised, not to mention all the blood from the shattered glass that now decorated the hallway. "Nick?" she asked, her blurry face coming into view. "Nick, I'm sorry..." I didn't know how she knew it was me again, and I didn't have the strength to ask. It probably had something to do with brown. Brown what? Dried blood? Dirt?

"I know," I managed to rasp. "Mace, I..."

"Don't speak," she shushed. "The teachers are almost here. They'll help. We'll say that something fell from the ceiling in the atrium and cracked the glass somehow. It'll be okay, Nick."

New voices now, concerned students, the footsteps of teachers... "What is going on here?" Ms. Snark demanded, and then the world went completely dark.

A/N: Is it possible to have a worse cliffhanger? Blame chibiyugixyami for that. :) Review... or maybe I leave it hanging.

~ Snowy