It had been a pretty typical Tuesday so far; I'd forgotten my algebra homework in the rush to catch the school bus, realised my gym kit was well overdue for a wash, got blamed for a paper aeroplane that hit my English teacher and got wacked on the head with a baseball on my way to last period. And then Marley Richards, who was my best friend before this, made me miss the bus home. So I was stuck walking with him, lugging half the contents of my locker with me.

Worst of all, Marley had no idea what the problem was. "But it's such a nice sunny day" he pointed out, his own nearly empty backpack swung neatly over his shoulder. "And it's not that long a walk"

Words failed to describe my annoyance, so I glared at him "Marley it is January, it is freezing and I am carrying the entire library on my back." He comically raised his eyebrows at me, which just infuriated me further so I gave him a little push "Now go away, I don't want to walk with you"

He held up his hands in a gesture of peace, grinning "Fine, I won't walk with you" He waited five seconds and then fell into perfect step with me "I am simply walking in exactly the same direction as you."

I stopped, hoping he would just carry on walking without me. No such luck.

"So what happened in English?" Marley asked "Heather said Mrs Hocking really laid into you. She's such a pain, she's always picking on me cause of my dyslexia. You know maybe we should..."

I did my best to just ignore him, thinking how much easier this would be if I could afford an iPod. But Steve was still paying off the new fridge and my birthday wasn't for months. Still if I kept saving my paper round money...

Marley really doesn't like being ignored. He waved a hand in front of my face "Hey Gem, are you listening?"

"Nope" I said, popping the p, before sprinting across to the other side of the road in-between the traffic. I know that this is a pretty stupid thing to do without really looking but hey, it's not killed me yet.

Marley yelled something after me, probably an insult as he's the type of guy who waits for signed instructions from the traffic warden before crossing the road. I smiled smugly to myself at his annoyed face and slipped down a backstreet into the park, determined to try and beat him back home. Unfortunately, the stupid traffic lights were on his side and he soon caught up with me.

"You really shouldn't do that" he said sternly, pulling my arm round so I had to look at him. Honestly, just because he's a few months older he thinks he can boss me around.

I pulled a face at him and pulled away "Gee Mom, you've changed a lot."

He sighed, Marley's got this way of sighing like he's a wronged martyr that can really make you feel guilty. If you're not me of course "Oh get over yourself Marl"

"I don't know why I bother sometimes" He shook his head irritably, but his smile gave him away and I grinned back at him.

I put on a baby voice, quoting a line he's never going to live down if his Mum can help it "Because Gemmy is your favoritist person ever ever in the whole wide world"

Marley smiled reminiscently before he suddenly looked at me, all serious "Well you are..."

I suddenly felt very grateful for the fact that my face doesn't blush when I'm embarrassed, just my ears. And they were safely hidden under my hair today. "Good to know...I like you too" My heart stopped as I heard the words leaving my mouth "I mean I love you...you're my best friend. I mean I do like you...as a..."

Marley was staring at me thoughtfully and stepped slightly forward so we were almost face to face. Oh my god, I thought, it's finally happening. The boy is finally going to kiss me.

He leant down towards me and...

A nearby shout completely ruined the moment. I span round in time to see a boy sprinting through the park. He looked about sixteen, and he was very good looking with straight blonde hair and bright blue eyes. But he set my nutter-alarm right off as he was wearing the weirdest clothes I'd ever seen. He actually looked like he was wearing some kind of metal armour and had a heavy looking sword in his hand.

I managed a few words "What the..." Then I realised I was standing on my own. Marley, wannabe hero extraordinaire, was already running after the boy.

"Hey" he yelled after him "Are you alright?" I rolled my eyes before setting off after them.

Mystery Boy obviously thought it was a pretty dumb question too, because he just kept running.

Now I don't want to boast but I'm a pretty fast runner, way faster than Marley or anyone else at school. I caught up with the boy pretty quickly, though in fairness the kid had run straight down a dead end.

"Hey you, where do you think you're going?" I asked warily, keeping one eye on his sword; it looked pretty sharp even if it was a weird bronzy colour. "Who are you running from?"

"Keep out of this mortal" I wasn't sure if he meant this as an insult but his tone really annoyed me. It just stunk of I'm-So-Much-Better-Than-You-ness "You don't know what you're dealing with"

I crossed my arms and tried to look tougher than the skinny fourteen year old I was "A medieval weapons obsessed psycho?"

The boy paused, sparing me a second look and raising the weapon "You can see my sword?"

I was about to answer when Marley ran down the block towards us shouting "Hey leave her alone"

I of course mainly found this highly insulting and patronising, but a small traitorous, backwards part of me quite liked it. Mystery Boy seemed to find it amusing "Cute, but it's alright mate your little girlfriend isn't my type"

Any kind of liking at all I might have taken to this stupid ass faded at that point. I was about to retort but Marley beat me to it "She's not my girlfriend" That stung but it's not like either of them were paying any attention to me "And why exactly were you pointing a fricking sword at her?"

Mystery Boy grinned, like Christmas had come early or something "You're kidding me, I've found both of you. That'll show Ed, two untrained on my first go."

Marley glanced at me and I was glad that he looked as confused as I felt, though he looked more thrown. I turned on Mystery Boy glad of an excuse to be rude "Excuse me? What's untrained supposed to mean?"

He pretty much ignored me, looking the pair of us up and down. He extended his hand to Marley "William Rodgers, my friends call me Liam"

Marley shook his hand nervously "Marley Richards...and she's Gemma Hayes"

"Marley" William repeated smirking and my friend went scarlet, he's a bit sensitive about his name.

Yet another reason to dislike this 'Liam' "What do you mean untrained?" I repeated. I really wanted to just walk away but I had this really nasty feeling that Marley might actually be sucked in by this exceedingly dodgy character. I mean I'm very fond of him but he has the worst character judgement ever.

William smiled at me patronisingly "Don't worry, I'll explain everything on the way Emma"

I scowled at him "On the way where William?" A flash of annoyance crossed his face before he rearranged his features into what was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile.

"I prefer Liam" he said calmly "Tell me, have you ever seen anything that didn't make sense? Maybe a monster, but no one else could see it"

I felt my stomach twisting as I caught Marley's eye. Because that was one of the reasons we'd stayed such good friends, because nobody else could see 'them'. Did this strange boy really see the strange monsters too?

Marley opened his mouth but I cut over him, determined to show this William that I wasn't flipping intimidated by a sheet of metal it looked like he could hardly lift. "Yeah well...my name is Gemma if you don't mind and there's a free mental health centre in town mate so on your bike..."

I turned to Marley, determined to drag him away if I had to. Then I saw the look on his face, the same look he got when he first heard Justin Beiber. And the horrific thing, whatever it was, it was right behind me. I slowly turned around, or at least I meant to.

That stupid William knocked me to the ground before I could move, charging past me towards...oh no way. There was a really pale woman advancing towards us, like chalky pale. She seriously looked like a vampire, a real vampire, not some Twilight thing.

She seemed to be concentrating on William, letting out a hiss. William raised his sword "Back off, I found them first and they're coming with me" Obviously this made her notice me and Marley for the first time. She didn't pay much attention to me, this had better not becoming a regular occurrence, but her eyes lit up when she saw Marley.

She stepped towards him and her form began to morph, her skin darkening and her hair curling. I blinked; she looked kind of like a broken video, flickering from one form to the other. Or at last that's what I saw.

Marley stepped nervously towards her, looking dazed and confused "Hello? Are you alright?"

The thing giggled, fluttering her eyelashes at him. Well at least the form that had eyelashes did "Hello Sweetie." She beckoned him over with one elegant finger and Marley started towards her, utterly mesmerized.

William stepped between them, his sword pointed right at the monster "Get back you two, it's an empousa"

I blinked, was this guy for real? "Is that supposed to mean something to me?" I snapped at him, more rudely than he probably deserved. But the fact that Marley was practically drooling over an empousa, whatever that was, was really bugging me.

William suddenly lunged at the Empousa and it snarled at him, its hair bursting into flames. It blasted him into a wall; he landed with a thud and wasn't moving. The kid had managed to miss from about two feet away, now I'm not an expert but I was beginning to have serious doubts about this guys credentials. Even worse Marley didn't seem to have noticed that his crush's hair was on fire.

"Hey Liam, what are you doing? Leave her alone..." He stepped forward and the empousa turned to him, smiling and putting out her hair. She was looking at him hungrily, like those stupid girls at school did. I felt anger flare up inside me as I saw her hold out her hand to him.

I shoved my friend out of the way "Sorry, he's spoken for"

The Empousa snarled at me, lunging forward. I dodged her, just, wondering what the hell I had just done. It seemed to be conjuring fireballs in its fists, ready to throw at me. Great, I'd always hated dodge ball in gym.

Still at least it seemed to have forgotten about Marley, I was definitely the one she wanted to kill next. I was doing pretty well at dodging her blasts until one caught the side of my arm. It'd barely touched me but I couldn't stop myself crying out in pain. It had burnt right through my thick winter coat and my arm was hurting like hell.

The Empousa paused, smirking at me; oh for god's sake she even had fangs like a vampire. I tried to grit my teeth, ignore the searing pain in my arm and get ready to run but she had me up against a wall, I wasn't dodging anything else she threw at me.

I closed my eyes and waited, wondering how much it would hurt before I actually died. There was a screech and I braced myself, wondering if my Mum would ever find out what had happened to me.