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Oliver's POV

Standing in the gym beside Zack, we waited for Alyx and Amy to return, making small talk as we hung around. I didn't know Zack very well so it was a bit on the awkward side. As he chatted about different styles of guitars and amps (something that I liked and had knowledge of but wasn't too interested in at the moment), I kept glancing in the direction of the two sets of double-doors--the only entrances and exits of the gym--hoping to spot Alyxandria. Time seemed to tick by so slowly; why did girls have to take forever in the bathroom?

I was getting anxious, close to calling her cell when the power suddenly cut off, covering us all in darkness though not completely. The large lights in the parking lot shed their glow through the high windows, letting in wide beams of light. The strobe lights shut off abruptly, and the band onstage looked at one another, confused, trying to figure out why their amps refused to work. The hum of hushed voices began to grow, echoing in the huge room as the students expressed their concern and anger. My eyes darted throughout the gym again, trying to see if Alyx was anywhere within sight.

She wasn't.

My heart rate increased, a heavy feeling of dread filling my chest. "Come on." I told Zack, motioning for him to follow. We walked toward one of the exits; without warning, the doors slammed shut and locked on their own accord, causing anyone in a five-foot radius to stagger backward because of the unseen energy.

"Excuse me! Will everyone keep quiet and pay attention?" the Vice Principal, Mrs. Richardson, shouted, making her way onto the makeshift stage. She was waving her arms in the air frantically, trying to get the students to look up. Mr. Williams, however, wasn't even in the room. "Everyone calm down, all right? There is no need to be alarmed. We've just had some difficulties with the power; I'm sure it's just a blown fuse or something. We're going to try to get it repaired."

"What about the doors?" someone yelled. From my location on the floor, I could see Mrs. Richardson grimace. She ignored the question, and climbed off the stage, waving her hand once more to call the chaperones over.

I knew this wasn't a simple power failure. The doors hadn't been anything normal, either. Van Holt was definitely the one behind this; I had no doubt in my mind about that. It made sense. Prom was the night when he could get at least half the population of the school in a confined area and plan some sort of attack. He also had to have had prior knowledge that Alyx, Amy and I would be in attendance tonight. That's what scared me the most--for the moment, Alyx and I were separated. If something were to happen, I wouldn't be there to save her. And I had made a promise to Alyx's father and uncle to keep an eye on her.

Zack tapped me lightly on the arm. "Dude, what are we gonna do? Ames and Alyx are trapped outside." His voice was worried; by the way he'd called Amy 'Ames' I knew he cared about her well being on some level.

Quickly, I fished my cell from my pocket. "I'll call Alyx," I said to him. "See where they are." I dialed her number rapidly, not even having to think twice about the correct numbers.

"Oliver?" she asked immediately, her tone carrying a bit of urgency but at the same time relieved that I had called. It was good to hear the sound of her voice, to know that she was safe for the time being. "You okay?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," I laughed. "I'm fine, don't worry over me. Where are you and Amy?"

"In the hallway outside of the gym. We were in the bathroom when the power went out. The gym doors are locked, though…what's going on in there?"

"The doors shut and locked by themselves." I explained. She groaned.

"Van Holt." It was a statement, not a question.

"Of course. Would you expect anything less?" I asked sarcastically.

"Why does he have to pull a stunt like this now? On the night of Prom!" She heaved a sigh. "Nothing's ever easy with us, is it?"

"Unfortunately, no," I agreed. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Oliver." she declared. In some way, I had a feeling that it was. I was the one causing the complications for the two of us more often than not. No matter what happened to us, the fact that I was half-demon and she was a hunter would always be an issue.

"What's the plan?" she questioned, tearing me from my reverie. I thought for a moment.

"Do you still have salt in your locker?"

"Yes."

"Go get it--take Amy with you; don't go alone. Bring it back down here and put it around the gym. As long as everyone's locked in here, they'll be safe with some kind of outside protection."

"What about you?" she inquired.

"I'm going to call your father," I replied. "I'll tell him what's going on, and see if he and Sam can get down here as quickly as possible with weapons."

"Can you get out of the gym?"

"Yeah. I'll be waiting for you and Amy in the hallway."

"Good." I could almost hear the smile in her voice.

I laughed. "Be careful. Please."

"You know I will," she answered. Then, she paused briefly. "Love you." she told me. I smirked.

"Love you, too." I said before hanging up. I was about to call Alyx's dad when my phone beeped, indicating that my battery was low. I raised an eyebrow, puzzled, since I'd only just charged it this morning. There was a presence in the gym--probably keeping guard over everyone for Van Holt and making sure no one could call 911 for help--something that was slowly draining the battery from electronics and making the entire room grow colder with each passing minute. (I suddenly noticed this, since the girls had started to shiver.) Rapidly, I called Mr. Winchester, to tell him of our dangerous situation at the school--we'd need backup shortly; I had a bad feeling about that.

Alyx's POV

I tucked my phone away in my purse. "Let's go," I said to Amy, who was looking anxiously up and down the almost deserted hallway. (I say almost because Brittany and her date were still there, unaware of the impending peril that we were all in I could hear her giggling in the alcove as she and her boyfriend shared kisses.) Ignoring them, Amy and I walked fast--as fast as our heels would allow--up the stairs to my locker. I twisted the combination lock with expert skill, throwing the door open once it was unlocked. Digging through my belongings, I picked up two containers of salt, passing one over to Amy. I couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu course through me, remembering the night Kylie and I had put salt around her house in the same fashion.

Amy looked at me incredulously. "This stuff really works?"

I grinned. "Yeah."

"I'd read about it online once…salt's supposed to pure; something that comes straight from the earth, right? So--"

"--demons or any other evil creature can't cross it. Exactly." I finished, surprised by how much she knew.

We started to walk hurriedly, glancing every which way, alert. Who knew what sort of supernatural menace was waiting around the corner for us? We were coming down the stairs when the entire school shook violently. Amy and I had to grip the railing to keep from falling down and breaking our necks.

"All right, that can't be normal!" I hollered, trying to steady my racing heart.

"I'll say." Amy agreed as we safely reached the bottom floor. We meandered down the hallway in the direction of the gym. Oliver wasn't waiting outside like he'd promised; for a fleeting moment I thought something was wrong. I had no time to worry, though, because Amy and I got to work putting the salt lines down. By the time we were finished, we'd used both containers, discarding them in a nearby trash can.

We stood outside one of the sets of doors, peeking down the hall, wondering where on earth my boyfriend was. Finally, I pressed my ear against the door, only hearing frightened and complaining conversations on the other side.

"Oliver?" I called, pounding on the door loudly, hoping that by some miracle he'd be standing in close proximity of it to hear me. "Oliver!"

Unexpectedly, Oliver walked out into the hallway to stand beside me--by way of the wall. He'd just strode right through it like it was nothing. The salt didn't have any effect on him, as far as I could tell. If it did, he didn't say anything anyway. Amy had witnessed this dead-on, too. She gave a terrified shriek, hand clapping over her mouth in shock.

"What…what are you? How did you do that?" she wanted to know. Oliver glanced at me.

"It's…complicated." I replied. She threw Oliver a weird look.

"I'm half-demon." he said casually. Like it was no big deal. Amy's eyes bulged out in horror, and she tried to make a run for it but I grabbed her forearm gently.

"Amy, it's okay." I reassured her.

"No, Alyx, it's not okay. I'm trapped in a school that's been taken over by some psychotic freak who practiced devil worship, and now you decide to tell me that your boyfriend is the spawn of Satan?"

Oliver snickered, approaching me. He placed his arm around my waist, and gave Amy an amused glance. "Now, that's a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"I don't care!" Amy said, mortified, her voice breaking. "You lied to me!"

"We didn't lie, Amy," I said. "We didn't want to tell you because we have to keep it a secret."

"I won't hurt you, I swear." Oliver promised.

"How can I trust you?"

"I'm on your side, aren't I?" he countered.

"Point taken." she muttered.

Out of the blue, my cell phone rang. Taking a glimpse at the caller ID, I could see that it was Dad.

"Hey," I said. "You here?"

"Yeah," he answered, sounding frustrated. "but we can't get in."

"What do you mean?"

"Sam and I went around the whole school--every door and every window is locked. We can't even pick the locks. It's like there's some kind of energy barrier surrounding the place." he explained, but I could barely make out what he was saying. My phone was beginning to cut out.

"We'll be right there. I gotta go; my phone's dying." I stated. It finally died after I hung up. I made my way to the front door, Oliver falling into step with me, and Amy keeping her distance from Oliver, still wary. We reached the doors, seeing that Sam and Dad were standing outside, holding guns and other arsenal. Before I could get a plan out of my mouth, Oliver was breaking through the glass with his fist, ignoring the cuts he was receiving from the sharp debris. I wondered why Dad hadn't thought to break through the glass in the first place.

Oliver, being the tallest, helped Dad and Sam get the guns through the broken window. He handed a shotgun full of rock salt over to me, and gave Amy a smaller gun that Dad had informed me was filled with regular bullets. She took it, giving me a skeptical look, but not asking a single question pertaining to it. Oliver received the pistol loaded with silver bullets. Dad said he had no clue as to what we'd actually encounter, so he brought a range of things to be safe.

We told Dad and Sam to go over to the closest bottom level window, and we'd break it to let them in, since we couldn't even get the door open from the inside. The window was in the hall; Oliver used his elbow to break through it this time. Just as Sam was about to climb up, the broken shards of glass reassembled themselves rapidly, and the window was instantly fixed, like it hadn't shattered at all.

"Damn it," Oliver cursed. "He's onto us. He must've seen that we found a way out--now he's making sure that there are no other exits out of this place."

"Great," I mumbled. "This night just keeps getting better."

"It looks like you're going to have to take care of this one by yourselves." Dad hollered, his voice slightly muffled through the glass. Sam shot him a worried look, which Dad dismissed.

I stared at him, shocked. "Are you insane?" I yelled back. "I'm in a friggin' dress and heels! I can't fight the supernatural in this!"

"You don't have a choice!" he shouted. "Sam and I will try everything we can to get in, but you're going to have to find out what's going on in there and fix it before someone gets hurt, got it?"

I didn't feel the need to argue right now. "Yes, sir." I replied automatically.

We fled from the window, ambling down the hallways not knowing exactly where to start. The whole school building gave another terrible shake; the three of us shared cautious, alarmed glances.

Just then, a blood-curdling scream filled the approaching hall by the gym. Oliver and I moved forward, guns at the ready, while Amy trailed behind, fear etched in her face. We heard the scream again, this time more ear-piercing than the first.

"Please, someone help!"