Author's Note: Haaaaaye ladies!

I know I just posted on Tuesday, but you guys gave me such nice reviews and amazing feedback, and updating early is my way of thanking all of you lovely ladies :) I'd like to give a special shoutout to burning, agony-fairy, freyaswrath and Jessika_XoXo for sending me random messages and being the first to add me on twitter. You girls are awesome!

Last chapter was uber long (16 pages on MS Word!) and I'm aiming for that same length for the next few chapters as well, so updates might come a bit slower than usual… on the bright side, you now get teasers (those of you who added me…if you don't have twitter, you can PM me for the link to my livejournal, but please leave comments after reading! My livejournal is looking quite sad and lonely.)Anyways, the next few chapters are sort of a transition period. They might not be that interesting, but they're instrumental in setting up the rest of the story, so bear with me please! Each chapter will talk a bit about what happened in the previous year, and it'll continue until Chloe is 15. This chapter Chloe is 11.

By the way... I'm watching Criminal Minds right now, so if the chapter starts to suck, blame Reid's adorable genius-ness for distracting me. XD

Anyways, I think that's it for now. ..Enjoy!

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It's just lil' ol' me this week guys!

Disclaimer: The following conversation occurred inside Christina and Steph's yearbooks.

Steph: Christina,
There is so much stuff I could put in here, but I think you need room for the rest of your friends, so I'll sum it all up in one word:
'stache.
-Love Steph

Christina: Steph,
You're right- 'stache about covers everything-except the fact that you don't own DP.
Love, Christina

Steph: Christina,
You are correct – I do not own DP. I do however own the plot and characters I create for my story, which means no one can copy me. EVER. Got me?
-Love Steph

Christina: Steph,
Go away.
Love, Christina

Steph: Christina,
Fine, but we will be talking about this later.
-Love Steph
PS. I waxed my 'stache. TAKE THAT YOU HAIRY WILLABEAST!

NOTE TO READER: NO WILLABEASTS OR 'STACHES WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS DISCLAIMER!

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Discoveries

Man never knows what he wants; he aspires to penetrate mysteries and as soon as he has,
he wants to reestablish them. Ignorance irritates him and knowledge cloys.
-Amiel, Journal, 1884

Eleven Years Old

Five months after our first late-night encounter, Simon and I were laying on our backs in my backyard, watching for shooting stars. It was my birthday, and the boys had come over a little earlier than usual to celebrate with me.

Simon and Derek had been visiting me twice a week every week since that night. They explained to me that they had been doing research in their father's extensive library, and they had discovered that there was a name for what I was: necromancer.

"What do you mean, necromancer?" I had asked.

"Well, the formal definition is Greek in origin and means "one who practices a method of divination through alleged communication with the astral realm."

"Huh?"

Derek rolled his eyes. "You can talk to dead people," he simplified.

"Ohhhhh! Well, did it say in your Dad's book if I can do anything else? Something exciting maybe?"

He frowned. "You can talk to dead people…and you don't think that's 'exciting'?

I had shrugged. "To be honest with you, it's getting kinda old."

He had laughed then. I remembered it clearly, having been in such a state of shock that when I realized it was a probably a rare occurrence that I almost didn't have time to treasure the moment.

"Chloe, whatcha thinkin' about?" Simon asked from beside me.

"Nothing really…where did Derek say he was going again?"

"He wanted me to tell you that he was going back to get my dad's book, but he's really just grabbing your present," he said, a mischievous smile plastered on his face.

"Simon! You guys said you wouldn't get me anything! How am I supposed to explain it to Lauren when she asks where I got whatever it is?"

Simon smiled. "Don't worry Chloe! We made sure to get you something she would never notice."

"Oh…By the way, when are you and Derek's birthdays, Simon? I wanna make sure I save up enough to get you guys really good presents!"

"Well, mine's August 29th, and Derek's is April…13th?" He bit his lip anxiously. "Yeah, that's it!"

"I'll remember that," I promised.

"I think we should spend all of our birthdays together like this. What do you think, Chloe?"

"I'd like that, Simon."

We sat in silence for a while, but being alone with Simon was an opportunity to get some of my most burning questions answered, and I wasn't going to pass that up.

I sat up. "Simon, are you and Derek really brothers?"

"We don't have the same mom and dad, but we're real brothers," he said confidently.

"Oh…was he adopted like me?"

"I guess you could say that; my dad took him from someplace really bad and brought him home. He's lived with us ever since I was real little," he explained.

"That was really nice of your dad," I said softly.

"Yeah, I'm glad he did it. I can't imagine not having Derek as a brother; he's one of my best friends."

"One of them? Who's your other best friend?" I asked.

Simon rolled his eyes. "You, silly!"

"Oh!" I laughed and Simon reached over to tickle me.

"Can't! Breathe!" I choked out between giggles. He stopped and laid back down. I was about to mimic his actions when something occurred to me.

"Simon, you're a sorcerer, right?"

"Yep."

"That night you guys first came to visit me, Derek said you didn't talk to me because he wanted to find out if I was "one of you", right?"

"Yeah…?"

"Simon, what's Derek?"

Simon bit his lip again.

"Simon?" I repeated.

"Derek doesn't want me to tell you," he admitted gravely.

"Why not?"

"He thinks you'll freak out or something."

"But I won't!" I assured him. Simon looked terrified. "Simon, what is it?" I asked again.

"He's-"

"SIMON! You weren't supposed to tell her!"

Simon and I both jumped – we hadn't heard Derek return.

"He ruined the surprise, didn't he?" Derek asked, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Wh-what?"

"He told you about the present, didn't he?"

"N-no! He d-didn't! H-he just t-told me wh-where you were g-going!" I struggled to spit it out while attempting to calm my erratic heartbeats.

"Oh, okay." Derek handed me a flat package wrapped carefully in shiny pink wrapping paper. "Happy birthday, Chloe."

"Thanks guys!" I carefully unwrapped the present, trying to save as much of the shiny paper as I could. I gasped loudly when I saw what it was.

"Woah! This is perfect! Thank you so much, guys!" I flipped through the creamy white pages of the journal, stroking the light blue cover gently.

Simon beamed. "You like it? Really?" Simon asked.

"I love it!" I squealed. I hugged Simon tightly and turned to Derek. I hugged him too before I realized what I was doing – something I wouldn't have done under normal circumstances. Derek was a strictly courteous-nod-only type of person…

I was genuinely surprised when he hugged me back. He pulled away quickly, and I could swear he was blushing again…

"There he goes again! Are you sure you're okay, bro?" Simon asked, concerned. "We could ask dad about it, it could have something to do with-"

Derek coughed and cleared his throat. "Ugh, no, I'm… okay." He turned around, pulled a book out of his backpack and began flipping through the pages.

"So Chloe, whatcha gunna use your present for?" Simon asked.

"I'm not quite sure yet… I was thinking of writing my movie ideas in it, but I could also use it as a journal or something…"

"How about both?" Simon suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"You could make a movie out of your life! A lot of famous people do it, but they call it something else…"

"You mean like a documentary?"

"Yeah, that!"

"That's a really good idea, Simon, but I'm not sure my life would make a good movie. I-" I shut my mouth, realizing the irony associated with what I was saying. "Never mind; it's a great idea! Thank you Simon!"

"No problem." He turned to his brother. "So, Derek, what are you gunna wish for if you see a shooting star? Chloe and I haven't seen any yet…"

Derek opened his mouth to respond but closed it quickly. He thought it over for a moment, then, "it won't come true if I tell you, Simon. You know that."

Simon's face fell. "Oh… sorry Derek."

"Don't worry about it. So… how're things with your mom, Chloe?" Derek asked, talking to me for the first time since he had handed me the present. I had waited a while to tell Simon and Derek about my mother's warnings – I didn't want to scare them if it was unnecessary – and ever since then, Derek had been sure to ask me about how things were going whenever he came to visit.

"Um…n-not gr-great. Things have b-been…well, h-horrible."

"Why? Did your mom tell you anything new? Did Lauren and Andrew catch you? "

"N-no, she d-didn't give me any n-new information, and no they di-didn't… but I can t-tell they suspect something; I h-hear them whispering s-sometimes, and it… scares me."

"Why?" Simon asked, confused.

"I d-don't want them to s-send me b-back," I murmured. They stared at me, the same horrified expression on both of their faces.

"Chloe! You know they'd never do that!" Derek scolded.

"Don't worry Chloe! If they try to send you back there you can come live with us!" Simon interjected.

"Really Simon?"

"Definitely! Right Derek?"

"You're getting ahead of yourselves! We have no proof that they're even suspicious of anything!"

"But they were whispering-"

"That doesn't matter, Chloe. We have to look at this logically – if you don't want Lauren and Andrew to be suspicious, you have to get rid of any reason for them to be."

"But how?"

"You're going to need to stop talking to your mother for a while."

"I can't do that!"

"You're going to have to."

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A/N: Sorry about the lateness guys (technically it's early; what I mean was updating at 3am) and the shortness, but a short mid-morning update is better than no update, right? Right? :D

Anyways, remember to PM me for the livejournal link if you don't want to use twitter.