My heart soared as I looked at him. I had found him. My Lost witch. And oh how perfect he was, I could practically smell the Magic in his blood, see the potential and power that rested on his immortal soul. He was definitely a monster, through and through. The longer I looked at him, the more obvious it became, and the more I realized that everything I was seeing, happy as it made me to find, also made him a giant glowing target for anyone in Monster society who wanted to do him harm. There was no way a vampire could have visited this school and not have found him already, which meant that either they didn't need to, or they already had. Somehow, this boy had managed to elude them this long, but he was definitely going to need my help in order to continue. But how to do I help him without calling attention to myself?

The bell rang and his adoring fans scattered, leaving Emmett in a very pink, very uncomfortable state. Maj must have noticed my staring because she said,

"Don't bother girl. I've known him my whole life, and I've been in love with him for almost as long, but he's never looked at me twice." She sighed. "He doesn't date." The others snickered.

"Oh." I feigned disappointment. "Too bad."

"What are you guys talking about?" Emmett came over.

"Emmett, this is Audrey. She's thinking about coming to school here." Beck introduced me, glancing at her watch. "Crap. Derek, we'd better move. If I'm late for History one more time I'll get detention." She grabbed her boyfriends arm and started pulling him down the hall, he waved goodbye feebly as he disappeared around a corner. Cain mumbled something about not wanting detention before awkwardly shuffling into a nearby classroom.

"Oh, okay. Well Audrey, Maj and I have a library break right now, if you want to join us?" He asked politely, light dancing in his bright green eyes.

"Please Emmett? It'll be so much fun, and I promise to be totally normal the whole night!" Majorie whined in the library, begging Emmett to take her to the Sadie Hawkins dance.

"You know why I can't do that Maj. I'm not going at all. I'm sorry, but it wouldn't be fair to you." He smiled apologetically, but she only pouted.

"So you're going to make me go alone? How is that fair?"

"Maj, please don't start this conversation again. I just want to stay friends with you okay?" He turned his face away from her scowl, not seeing her make a face at him and cross her arms angrily. "Do you think you'll come to the dance Audrey?" He said, trying to ease the tension.

"Oh come on!" Maj's scowl deepened.

"Er, no I don't think so." I replied awkwardly. "I'm busy tonight."

"The dance isn't tonight silly!" Maj laughed, her mood much improved. "It's next week!"

"Oh. Still, probably not. I've never been to a, er, Sadie Hawkins dance before, and besides, I don't have a date." I tried to make small talk, but was failing miserably. Luckily, Maj threw me a lifeline.

"Oh you'd have so much fun! You could come over to my house before to get ready if you wanted! And please, you could totally have a date, I overheard Jeremy Robson talking about you today in Monster Studies, and it sounds like you made quite the impression on him in French." She winked.

"Monster Studies?" I asked, suddenly interested.

"Yeah. Don't they have Monster Studies in England? Or wherever you're from?"

"No. What is it?"

"It's the study of Monster society. It's a mandatory course now that, you know, they've come out in the open." Emmett said. "There's a whole town of them not far from here, it's called New Salem."

"Do you guys know any monsters?" I asked, knowing the answer but curious about the response anyway.

"No way!" Maj shook her reddish curls, her eyes wide. "I've never even been to New Salem." She said the name as if it reminded her of a foul smell.

"I don't know how they did it in England, but here, we try not to bother each other. Both sides just sort of, live beside each other, but we don't mix." Emmett explained.

"So you guys haven't ever seen a monster?" I asked, worried that Emmett wouldn't even be able to recognize the vampires if they came for him.

Emmett shook his head.

"Last year some of the seniors snuck out to the Monster High School and pranked them for Hallowe'en. They tee-peed the school and smashed their pumpkins. It was pretty big news around here, almost nobody has seen a real monster, and the boys took some photos to pass around the school."

"What?!" I exclaimed, outraged. Photographs of monsters to be passed around, like show and tell? This type of treatment was one of the reasons monsters decided to live in hiding for so many millennia. I struggled to put a cap on my anger, but Emmett caught it and winced. Majorie continued, oblivious.

"Yeah, Real freaky stuff. I heard they saw all kinds of creatures; ghosts, werewolves, zombies, and a girl with a snake's tail instead of legs. One of the boys swore a vampire attacked him, he even had the bite marks to prove it!" She finished excitedly.

"Maj those are all just rumours, most likely lies. And those photos were confiscated the minute they appeared, there's no way all of that's true."

"Dalton had scars on his neck for weeks after, he let me see them! Two little marks, just like vampire fangs." She said stubbornly.

"He probably deserved it then." I said coldly, looking her right in the eye. "Vandalising the school like that. If I were a vampire, I'd bite him too."

Maj paled a little bit and opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but shut it again, pressing her lips together firmly. Emmett broke the silence with a deep, genuine laugh. He laughed and laughed, and when Maj glared at him, he laughed harder. Finally he finished, and wiping his eyes he chuckled once more. Taken a little aback, I just looked at him for an explanation.

"Oh come on Maj, really? You're telling me if a gang of them came over here, cut crop circles into the soccer fields and painted Human all over the walls you wouldn't be mad too?"

"I wouldn't try and drink their blood!" Maj shouted. "Or, I don't know, do a little hocus pocus and turn them all into toads. Emmett they're not normal people, they're very real, very dangerous monsters!" She slammed her hands down on the table and stormed off.

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Sorry about Miss Teenage Drama Queen over there." He said. "She's terrified and fascinated by everything Monster. It takes some getting used to."

I nodded my head stiffly, trying to suppress my anger. The silly mortal girl knew nothing about what she spoke, and yet I had the feeling hers was a common opinion.

"I hoped the mort-people here would be more accepting than that. Do most mor-people feel the same way about Monsters?" I asked Emmett carefully.

Emmett shrugged his shoulders. "They just don't understand them. We fear what we can't explain, and nobody around here can explain anything about Monster society. When they first, you know, came out, lots of people were scared that we'd turn into them eventually. Scared that we'd die and wake up as zombies or ghosts. The line between the two worlds is a grayish blur, nobody really knows what to make of it, and so they're afraid."

I nodded. "But you're not afraid."

Emmett's eyes clouded over until their vivid emerald shade was a muted grayish-green. "No. My mother taught me that not everything in this world can be explained, and that I should never be afraid of the unknown."

"Your mother is a very wise woman." I said, sensing his changing mood.

"Was." He said sadly. "She died when I was little. A car accident."

"I'm so sorry." I said, a little surprised that he was sharing so much of himself with me. "I know how it feels to lose someone you love."

"I'm sorry to hear that." He looked at me with sad eyes. "Who did you lose?"

My skin bristled at his question, and I struggled to keep eye contact.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want-"

"No, no, it's okay." I said, pushing away the uncomfortable tension that was beginning to blossom. "I lost my parents and my little brother. They were killed such a long time ago, I-I almost can't remember how it happened." My mind began to reel at the realization. I knew that my family had been murdered during the Witch Hunts, but the details of it…just gone. I felt fear creep into my brain as I fruitlessly searched my memories for them, how they died, how I escaped, an image my mother's face and the last time I held my little brother; his name was Rowan. Rowan. Like the plant that used to grow outside our village. They were gone. I couldn't recall my own family. I felt my heartbeat quicken and all of the sudden I felt cold. I let my eyes glaze over and forgot where I was; I lost myself in my own mind, scouring my head for my dead family. Emmett brought me back, placing his tanned, calloused hand on my white one.

"Audrey?"

"Huh? Yeah?" My eyes focused on his, dropping at the worry and sadness they found there. I quickly retracted my hand, horribly aware of how unprofessional I'd just been. I reminded myself that Audrey didn't have a tragic back-story; Audrey Whitman had two loving parents who were currently helping the movers carry all of her belongings into a new house in Salem, and they were certainly not dead. I cleared my throat, trying to smooth over the awkwardness that had just arisen.

"Audrey, are you okay?" Emmett asked, this time without touching me. There was such kindness, such genuine care in his voice that he made me want to tell him all about my dead family and how I only just remembered I'd even had a brother, why that scared me, and even more, what I knew was coming for him. What is wrong with you? I asked myself. You're about to blow cover, get it together Hex or you'll be mopping Emmett off the floor when the vampires find him.

"I'm fine." I said lightly, snapping back into character. "I didn't mean to drop all that stuff on you, bit heavy for a first day don't you think?" I attempted a laugh. Emmett did not laugh with me.

"You should know, I'm really sorry about your family. I understand what it's like losing people, maybe not on that scale, but if you ever need anything…" He trailed off.

"I'm really fine Emmett, thanks though." I struggled, trying to sound grateful and nonchalant at the same time.

"Okay." He looked unsure.

"So," I said lightly, trying to change the subject. "Do you have any siblings?" It was a weak attempt, but luckily Emmett seemed willing to move on.

"Nah, I'm an only child. Kind of sucks, I'd have liked to have a little brother or sister, you know someone to play with. What about you?"

Just Rowan. I thought. "No, I'm an only child too." I said absentmindedly, my mind already beginning to whir as instinct began to shut down the newly vulnerable side of my thought processes. No siblings, well that certainly made the job of protecting this kid easier.

"So, am I the only new kid this year?" I said, pushing my long hair off my shoulder and forcing myself to keep eye contact.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I mean, the only one I've noticed. Don't be nervous though, most people here are really nice."

"Right." As I pretended to consider this, I noticed the dark outline of a person sulking around the library doorway. I leaned over to get a better look out the window on the door. A pair of ghostly grey eyes flashed from under a dark hoodie, I craned my neck to see who it was. Emmett noticed.

"That's just Cain, don't worry about him."

"Cain?" I did not avert my gaze. The boy lurking outside the library did not resemble the nervous, flush-faced boy I'd met earlier. This one did not shuffle his feet; his gaze was steady and cold as ice. There was a storm brewing behind his eyes, thoughts churning around in his head, there was no room for fear. I recognized his look of determination and indifference; I had worn it before. My eyes turned to his hands, their motions quick and sure, never wavering over the small device in his hands. I leaned further over my chair, desperate to see what it was he held.

"Audrey?" Emmett asked, leaning to see what I was looking at. "What is it?"

"A phone." I said in a hushed voice.

"Come again?"

Cain's fingers flew over the tiny screen, sending long lines of code into cyberspace. My eyes flitted to his face in an attempt to read the emotion there, but instead found the side of the hoodie, his pale face hidden behind its folds. Slowly I traced Cain's line of sight through the library window straight into the back of the boy sitting on my right.

I met Emmett's eyes then, finding them curious and slightly worried.

"Audrey what's going on?"

I looked back to the window to see that the dark figure had completely vanished. Standing up abruptly, I made a beeline for the window, searching the hallways as I moved.

The halls were completely empty, silent as the grave, no trace that any person had ever been here three seconds ago. How could he have disappeared?

I set my jaw and turned back to Emmett, sitting so that I could see out the library windows behind him.

"Audrey, wha–"

"My name isn't Audrey. Tell me everything you know about Cain." I demanded. "Starting with his last name."