I was impressed.

Most humans didn't just recover like that from being slapped by Lily. Usually, they ended up on the ground and stayed there.

But not this human.

Not only had she stayed on her feet, she'd hit Lily back, actually punched her in the face. It intrigued me. Where had this girl come from? She had to be the new one, Alyssa. As far as the school files said, Alyssa was straight up human, going back at least ten generations. How had she managed to stand up to Lily?

I was waiting for Lily when she came out of the principal's office, watched while staying out of sight as she threw the new girl's words back in her face and then stormed off towards me.

"Problems?" I asked casually.

The glare from Lily's electric acid eyes would've slashed me open to the bone if I'd been a normal human. But I wasn't either one - normal or human. I grinned, flashing my teeth at the witch next to me. She huffed.

"That girl hit me. She actually hit me."

"Yeah, I saw that. Why didn't you dodge?"

She stared up at me, her eyes wide, and then her hand snaked out and slapped me across the face. I didn't bother to pretend that it hurt. Well, that it hurt me. I could tell by the way she snatched her hand back and blew on her palm that it stung. I just shook my head at her. Lily was a big slapper. Didn't she realize that was a bad idea?

"She shouldn't have even tried to hit me!" Lily snarled. "Doesn't she know who I am?"

"Probably not. Most humans don't believe in you, duckies."

Lily spilled out a stream of profanity until we got to the door of our astronomy class. I just laughed at her. She punched me in the arm, but not hard enough to hurt herself again. Maybe she'd finally learned.

This Alyssa would be a good thing for Pillar High.