Jade's Pov:

"Jade!" Jade was pulled out of her thoughts by her best friend, Maria.

"Huh? What?"

"Are you going to answer his question?" She looked back at the boy with long brown hair and wide brown eyes in front of her. Maria nudged her in the ribs. "Nathan just asked you out."

"Oh right. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Um… yeah. I'd love to go out with you. You've got my number right." He nodded and she smiled, showing her bright teeth. "Great. See you around." She turned to walk away, Maria close behind her.

"What was that?" She whispered.

"What was what?"

"I know you zone out a lot but Nathan, the guy you've had a crush on sense you got here, asked you out and you didn't even hear him."

"Was it really that bad?"

"Worse." Maria was always nice but she was brutally honest.

"You think he still wants to go out with me?"

"He looked happy when you said yes." Jade sighed. She wasn't sure why Nathan liked her in the first place.

Sure, there weren't many options in this school for 'special' kids, (Which was really code for troubled) but Jade wasn't the nicest person no matter how pretty she was. She didn't want to be mean but it just always seemed to come out that way.

For that matter, she didn't know why Maria was her friend either. Maria was the nicest person she had ever met, and being in so many schools, she had met a lot of people.

Maria was nice to everyone, even though she was always made fun of for the way she walked with a really bad limp like both her legs were broken. Jade never made fun of her though, it's not like Maria could change her messed up legs.

Maria had thin, stringy, blonde hair that somehow looked soft and damaged at the same time. Her eyes were bright blue, and lined by long eyelashes.

Jade's real name was Katerina Rhodes, but she didn't like that name so she went by Jade. She had dark, coppery skin that was brought out more by her long blonde hair she had styled in many long braids that looked a little like dreadlocks, according to Maria. She had bright green eyes and soft, small features but always had a stern look on her face. She was tall and had broad shoulders which made her look even bigger and intimidating, while still making her look feminine. When she walked around, people often avoided her, even if they didn't know her.

It was a weird concept for Jade, having a boyfriend. Sure Nathan had just asked her on one date but still, it was more than she was used to. Jade had been to a lot of schools. She had dyslexia and ADHD which made learning hard. She also had really bad anger issues that often got her in trouble.

"You coming?" Maria asked, halfway up the steps on the bus.

"Yeah, sorry." Jade followed her. Maria sat down on an empty seat and Jade sat next to her. A ding sounded from her pocket. She opened her phone and a text from Nathan was waiting.

-Nathan: Tomorrow after school, I'll take you to the movies

Jade smiled at the message.

-Jade: Sure:)

"Is that Nathan?" Maria asked.

"Yeah. We're going out tomorrow."

"Cool. Just, be careful." Jade looked at her confused. "You know, as a friend, I'm worried about you." Jade hugged her and smiled.

"Thank you. I will be." Jade and Maria both got off on the next stop. They lived next door to each other so it made it easy to hang out all the time. Jade walked up to her house and unlocked the door.

"Hi, honey." A woman's voice called from the kitchen.

"Hey mom." She walked in and saw her mom cooking dinner and her dad reading a newspaper. They weren't her real parents. Which was apparent by the obvious difference in race. Mr and Miss Rhodes were a kind white couple who had adopted Jade from the foster system when she was 6, after they learned they couldn't get pregnant.

Mr and Miss Rhodes were your picture perfect all American couple. Whit picket fence and all. And then there was Jade. She kind of felt bad for them. They had adopted this little girl and ended up with a messed up kid that had to go to expensive private schools.

She walked into her room and threw her back pack on her bed. She lay down next to it and closed her eyes. She didn't think she would fall asleep, but the next time she woke up, The sun was shining through her window.

She woke up late so she grabbed her bag and some breakfast and ran out the door. Her parents worked early so she was always alone in the mornings. She hopped on the bus and sat next to Maria.

"Are those your clothes from yesterday?" Jade looked down and sighed.

"Yeah, I fell asleep in them and forgot to change this morning."

They got to school and they walked through the door. The day went by quickly and when it was over, Nathan was waiting just outside.

"Hey, you ready?" He asked. She nodded and they walked together to the movie theater down the street. They bought movies to see Harry Potter. The movie had just come out but it was long enough ago that the theater wasn't so crowded anymore. They shared a large popcorn and each got a soda. They found their seats in the middle and waited for the movie to start. Halfway through the movie Jade started talking quietly to Nathan.

"Wasn't Harry supposed to meet Draco in the robe shop." Nathan sighed.

"Gods, you are so annoying." Jade laughed before she processed what he said.

"Wait, what?" He leaned back in his chair.

"I can't believe I had to go out with you." She looked at him, confused and a little hurt.

"What are you talking about?" But then it hit her. "Was this a dare?" He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"No." He got out of his chair. "Follow me." He was leaving in the middle of a movie. She hesitated before following behind him. He led her into a hallway out of the way. Jade was becoming more and more confused.

"Where are we going." He turned around, looking really annoyed. She suddenly knew why people didn't like her when she was mean.

"Just shut up and follow me." They got to an exit door that led to a fire escape. He walked down the stairs and opened another door into the garage. He turned back around to her and she saw a scary look in his eyes. They almost seemed to glow. Just then a car drove up and skidded to a stop in front of them.

"Get in." Maria said from the driver's seat.

"You can drive?"

"Get in!" She said firmly. Jade looked back at Nathan before moving towards the door. He grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.

"Don't trust her." He said to her.

"I don't trust anyone, but I trust her more than I trust you." She tried to pull her wrist back but his grip tightened. It was starting to hurt and she knew it would leave a bruise. He smirked evilly at her, making her stomach turn, sickly.

"I had hoped you would stay with me. It would have made what I'm about to do so much easier." The fingers around her wrist started to turn into claws. "You know, you are very special Jade." His skin turned leathery and wings sprouted from his back.

All she could do was stare dumbly at the sight before her. She was vaguely aware of Maria stepping out of the car. When Jade looked at her she saw Maria standing there but when she looked down her legs were replaced with goat legs. Jade felt her mind going a million miles an hour and was getting very dizzy. Suddenly everything went black and she felt her body hit the floor.

When she woke up, she was in the back of a car. She blinked until her eyes adjusted and saw Maria driving.

"Morning" she said.

"What just happened?" Jade rubbed her temples. She had a killer headache.

"I knew something was wrong with him. Gods, how could I have been so stupid, I should have never let you go. I know it's a lot but I promise I will explain it all." Jade jumped through the space in the seats and sat down in the passenger seat.

"Nathan?"

"I was able to get rid of him, but he's not dead. He will be coming back soon so we need to get there as soon as possible."

"Get where?"

"New York." Jade looked down and saw Maria still had goat legs. Maria saw her looking. "Satyress ."

"What?"

"I'm a Satyress. Half goat, half human."

"Like from Greek mythology?" Jade remembered learning about them in history class last semester.

"Exactly, only, spoiler alert, they aren't myths." This wasn't making Jade feel any better. "Trust me. It will all make sense soon." She pulled up to the side of the road. "Get out."

"We're in the middle of nowhere." Maria shot her a look and she got out of the car. There was a hill full of trees in front of them with one tree that towered over all the others.

"Come on." Jade looked and saw Maria was already halfway up the hill and ran after her. A crash sounded behind her and when she looked back, she saw the monster from earlier standing on top of their crushed car. "Faster!" Jade ran and kept running until she tripped over a root. She looked down at her mangled leg and bit her lip in pain, drawing blood.

She saw the thing running towards her and she tried to get up but couldn't. She crawled backwards but the thing was quickly gaining. It jumped as it was about to crush her and she closed her eyes, bracing for impact. But it never came.

She opened her eyes and looked up, confused and an equally confused looking monster banging on an invisible wall just in front of her.

Hands wrapped around her arms and she was dragged backwards until her back hit wood. She looked up and saw a barn before she blacked out again.