I have been in a cop car many times. Both, because my dad was a cop, and well, the previously mentioned criminal record. So, nothing about the cruiser was different or weird. Giant dogs from hell and glowing disappearing swords? Those were different. And weird.

The sword had disappeared from the ground as we drove away. That, or I was hallucinating. Which was very possible at this point. But maybe it was real. Maybe I hadn't been seeing things. Maybe it hadn't been just a fire. Maybe… I had blanked out. Maybe I was being dragged into the police station by my least favorite person. Officer Jones.

Officer Jones was not a fat, friendly, donut-loving police officer. No. He was a mean, buff, justice-loving police officer. Who happened to also hate me.

I don't know why so many people hate me. I have not done anything hate-worthy. Well except — Nope. Nothing hate-worthy.

Anyway, Officer Jones dragged me into the building and sat me down in the interrogation room.

"Name?"

"Celeste."

"Full name?" His growl made him sound inhuman.

"Celeste Castellan."

"Really?" In our records, you're listed as Celeste Moen."

"Does this matter?" I asked. "You know my name."

"Shut it, kid." He growled. "Celeste Moen-"

"Castellan." I corrected. Moen was my foster 'parents' name. I hated it.

"Celeste, why'd you assault that woman?"

"Hold on. Assault?!"

"Yeah, pulled a knife on her and that cute little dog."

"Cute little dog?"

"Yeah. Unless you can prove something different." There was a silent challenge in his voice. He had a smirk on his face. Did he know?

"The dog was…" I struggled to find an excuse that wouldn't wind me up in an insane asylum. "Rabid!"

"Rabid?" He did not sound convinced.

"Yeah. Rabid. He was attacking that woman, and I was defending her." I stuttered the whole way through, but his whole demeanor changed.

His eyes glazed over. "Yeah. You were defending her. You're free to go Celeste."

"I- What?" His body tensed, and it looked like every muscle wanted to grab me right then and there.

"Free to," His face twitched. "Stay here. Forever!" He lunged towards me. His body changed, growing till his head reached the ceiling. His eyes merged, forming one giant blue iris. I screamed and ran.

I somehow made it to the front of the brownstone mansion. I pushed open the doors and rushed right past Stephanie. "Running from the cops again?" She called as I ran up the stairs. I rushed toward my room but ran right into Gavin.

Gavin was the only person in this I had ever remotely considered calling my brother. He was semi-nice. Like now. He helped me up, asking if I was okay, but I pushed past him and locked the door behind me.

I searched franticly, grabbing everything I could reach and shoving it into my backpack. A few family photos that had survived the fire, maybe three days' worth of clothes, a bag of toiletries, my phone, a couple of hundred bucks in cash. I reached for my jewelry dish to grab my necklace but remembered it wasn't there. It was around my neck.

I reached for it for comfort. It was the only gift my father had ever given me. Did he know it was magic? Nope. Magic's not real. You're just hallucinating. Somehow, the charm was there, but I didn't have time to worry about reappearing jewelry.

I slung the backpack over my shoulder and rushed past the door, where Gavin was still asking what was wrong.

I ran down the corridor, past all my 'siblings' rooms, and straight down the stairs. "Have fun in jail!" Stephanie called after me, but for once I didn't care what she had to say.

I burst onto the street and hailed a taxi. I flopped down in the back. "Hey, kid." The driver said, "I need a direction."

Right. "The beach." I decided. I always feel better at the beach.

The driver was unimpressed. "Which one?"

"Montauk."

"You got enough money?"

I showed him the wad of cash in my backpack.

"You got it." The cab took off. The whole ride my thoughts were racing. Magic couldn't be real. It couldn't be. But some part of me knew I was wrong. I was snapped out of my thoughts by the taxi flipping over.

That kind of thing tends to end all other thoughts except for 'AHHH!' The car landed and I managed to stay conscious. My right ankle screamed in pain. I grabbed my pack and crawled out of the wreckage. The driver was unconscious. There was nothing in the road that could have caused the car to flip. Then it moved, and the stars appeared. It was another wolf.

It was growling, drool dripping from its maw. I had a feeling it wasn't happy with me for killing its brother. It leaped toward me, and I barely managed to roll away. I struggled to my feet and stumbled away, my right ankle throbbing. It ran after me. "I hope you're really a sword," I muttered, reaching to my neck. Fortunately, it was. Unfortunately, the flash blinded me. I stumbled along, trying my best to go where the dog wasn't. I managed to run right into a wall of fur.

My eyes refocused, and the monster's nose was right in my face. I yelled and swung my sword in an arc, slicing right through the beast. It disintegrated into yellow dust. I sat there panting, trying to catch my breath when I heard it. A howl. There was another one. And from what it sounded like, there were a lot more.

Of course the giant evil dogs traveled in packs. Of course they did. I moved toward the beach. I wasn't sure why, but I felt something powerful there. Something magic. So that's where I went.

I made it no more than fifty feet when the first one found me. It leaped on me, knocking me to the ground. My sword clattered out of my hand. I rolled out of its paws and rushed away. I managed to limp along the beach but collapsed when I put too much weight on my foot. The monster was right above me now, but I refused to look at it. It would not be the last thing I looked at before I died. No. I would die peacefully, staring out at the Long Island Sound.

It was right above me, about to go in for the kill, when I rolled. I'm not sure why. Maybe I just wanted to avoid death. That's a very reasonable thing to want. Whatever the reason, I rolled and felt something warp around me. The monster barked but didn't attack. I heard a war cry, and a pair of sneakers ran by. Yellow dust rained down around me, then my vision went dark.