Paige walked into History just as Mr. Withers was instructing everyone to gather their textbooks. She was late and Mr. Withers didn't appreciate the tardiness. He let her off with a warning though and sent her to her desk. As Paige wandered through the room to her usual desk, she couldn't help but seek out Aaron.

He was at his usual desk, Tess sat beside him, latching onto his forearm. Like Paige, he chose to dress in dark colours today, mostly black and navy blues. Unlike Paige's woollen navy turtleneck, he wore a black shirt that adhered to him like a second skin.

She couldn't help but stare at him as she passed, his eyes locked on her, with almost as much intensity in his eyes that her own held. Tess whispered something into his ears, seeking his attention once again. When she failed to get it, her hateful eyes swirled towards Paige.

Paige barely even acknowledged the angry female werewolf as she sat down. She knew that sooner or later, Tess and Joanna were going to become a real problem.

Paige could still feel him watching her. Peeking out through a curtain of dark hair, Paige saw that Aaron wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was watching her. As always, it reminded Paige of a lion stalking a pray.

Paige had tried hard in the past few weeks not to let her emotions towards Aaron show. She didn't run from him, she didn't look away from his penetrating and intrusive glare, but this time, she ducked her head, her eyes intent on the bare desk before her. Keeping up the pretences, trying to appear calm and rational in front of Aaron just wasn't going to work out today. Not after she spoke to Joshua.

She was so goddamn sick of it. All of it. She was at a complete loss with no idea what to do next.

Perhaps Kendall was right. She should report Aaron to the police. Or the Council. But what would she say? She knew Aaron wasn't what he claimed to be, but no one else did. Kendall was still on the fence about Aaron, despite Paige's many arguments. There was the whole breaking and entering thing, but she doubted much would be done about that. Aaron was just too well-liked, and she wasn't well-liked at all.

Kids started putting their textbooks aside as Mr. Withers handed out a sheet of paper to each desk. Paige had been too wrapped up in her own thoughts and completely missed the instructions.

Kendall must have seen the panic cross Paige's face. "Pop quiz," she said. "You should pay better attention in class."

Paige shrugged. "Doesn't really sound like something I'd do," she said, accepting the quiz from Mr. Withers, who only gave her a stern expression. He undoubtedly noticed that her attention had been elsewhere.

The quiz was on last week's readings. Paige hadn't even cracked the textbook since last lesson. It was going to be an automatic fail, but she couldn't hand in nothing, so she sprouted out a bunch of half-ass answers, hoping to at least appease the teacher when he marked them.

Her fingers were stiff when the lesson ended. She knew the quiz was poorly answered, but she should have at least lessened her grip on her pencil. She had gripped it so tightly that her fingers turned pale.

Trying to shake some sensation into her numb fingers, Paige spotted Lucas down the hall. A quick glance around confirmed that Aaron had already vanished to his next lesson. Leaving Kendall's side, Paige bolted down the hall, catching Lucas just as he was about to enter another classroom.

Lucas was happy to follow Paige away from the open doorway. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Paige only rolled her eyes. She couldn't tell if Lucas was becoming some kind of friend, a weak acquaintance, or just another jock in this school. Either way, she felt oddly safe around him. "I went to Mayan over the weekend."

He arched an eyebrow. "Congratulations?"

Paige folded her arms and turned her back on some nearby students. She lowered her voice as she spoke next. "Do you know Aaron has a brother?"

A shadow crossed his face. "Aaron? This is about Aaron?" He scoffed. "Of course it is. Everything always is."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Paige didn't understand his anger.

"You're obsessed with the guy, Paige. And I think the feeling is mutual."

Paige felt a flutter in her chest as she recalled the kisses Aaron stole. His aura may feel dead, but his lips certainly didn't. She wasn't ready to accept her mixed feelings for him. "Nonsense."

"I dunno," he said. He clearly thought otherwise. "I see the way you two look at each other. If you wanna go out with him, fine. It's just weird that you're investigating him."

"I'm investigating him because he's lying."

"Right, because you're the face of honesty."

Paige flinched as if his words left a physical impact on her. He was right, of course, but she couldn't admit that yet. "Lucas, just listen. Aaron has a brother in some kind of supernatural group home. His brother is seriously messed up. He completely freaked when I mentioned Aaron."

If Lucas found this concerning, he didn't let it show. "I didn't know he had a brother."

"No one really knows who he is."

Lucas stepped forward, his eyes narrowed. "And you do?"

Paige felt her own eyes harden to match her attitude. This wasn't going how she expected it to. She wanted Lucas on her side. She wanted anyone on her side. "I'm the only one that's not blinded to his charms!"

"Lucas!" Joanna bounced forward, her golden hair bound into two braids. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Paige and she practically snarled at her. Placing a hand on Lucas's shoulders, she guided him back towards the open door of the classroom. "Come on," she purred, leaning way too close. "We're gonna be late. Mr. Beddoes won't be happy if we're late again. Plus, we're moving onto vamps today."

"Vamps?" Paige questioned, following them to the door. She ignored the hate-filled look Joanna shot her way.

Lucas nodded towards the open classroom door. He was either unaware of the tension between the two girls, or he found it amusing. "Bio of the Species. Mr. Beddoes is the expert on all things supernatural." He glanced sideways at Paige. "I needed an elective," he explained. "It was either this or Classical Studies."

Paige hid a smile. "Good choice," she said. "I got stuck with Ms. Clark."

Lucas didn't hide his smile but he allowed Joanna to steer him through the door. Joanne made a show of closing the door, sneering nastily at Paige as she did so. Paige tried not to let Joanna's hostility bother her, but it was becoming a real mission.

Paige wandered to her next class, missing the bell by a few minutes. Ms. Bevan didn't mind her tardiness and only gave her a sheet of paper on the way to her desk. Paige felt her mood darken as she looked down at the sheet. Another quiz. Just great.

Paige left the classroom later, with two questions unanswered, fairly certain she flunked the quiz. She shrugged off her tensed shoulders and followed Kendall down the hall to the cafeteria.

Kendall slowed her pace as Lucas and Joanna emerged through a nearby door. "We should wait," she said. "Joanna's already pissed with you. Just leave them be."

Paige glanced over just as Joanna wove an arm around Lucas. "I'm not avoiding her, Kendall. And neither should you. There's no rules anywhere forbidding me from speaking to Lucas or Aaron. Those blonde wolves need to get themselves under control."

"I know." Kendall grimaced. She almost looked embarrassed. "They don't have the history you do, Paige. They're not trouble."

Paige felt a frown distort her face but before she could say anything, she felt a firm pressure at the centre of her back. The pressure was light at first, then it became more demanding. She felt her body shudder as someone stepped in beside her.

"Trouble is fun, though." Aaron leaned in close to Paige, his breath tickling her ear. "Who wants a good girl? I like one that can fight back." The pressure on Paige's back shifted as Aaron's fingers roamed to her side. "You are quite a fighter, aren't you, Little Witch?"

Paige didn't know what she was trying to escape most, his taunting words or his touch. Either way, she hustled away from him. Without his body heat pressing against her, she felt oddly cold. She wanted to say something just as daunting to him, but her mind was at a loss.

Aaron seemed to know that. He always managed to throw her off guard. She just never knew how to respond to him. With a laugh, he stalked off.

When he was out of sight, Paige felt as if she could breathe again. Great, now he was just enjoying torturing her. She didn't know what his endgame was, but she knew, somehow, she was now tangled up in his twisted game. Did he want to kill her? Probably, but just not yet.

"I've said it once and I'll say it again," Kendall said. "Serious tension between you two."

Paige only shook her head and was about to continue the journey to the cafeteria when she passed the classroom Lucas had vacated just minutes earlier. Dealing with someone like Lucas never seemed to be a problem. She didn't actually mind Lucas. He confused her, sure, but she felt relatively comfortable around him. But someone like Aaron . . .

A thought occurred to her. It seemed rather simple. She had a lot of questions but no real answers. Maybe now was finally the time for some real answers.

Before the thought could become fully functional and she managed to talk herself out of it, Paige strolled through the open doorway and approached the teacher who was huddled over his desk. "Mr. Beddoes?"

It was hard to see his face with the thick rimmed glasses covering most of his pasty flesh, but Paige did manage to detect pale eyes that stared at her with curiosity. He stopped writing in a thick binder, which he abruptly snapped shut before Paige came too close to see what he was jotting down.

"Ladies." His voice sounded rough, as if he was a heavy smoker. Mr. Beddoes was an unfamiliar face, but Paige vaguely recalled his name from the list of elective subjects Mr. Mendes gave her on the first day of school. Like a fool, she chose Classical Studies instead. His pale eyes darted to Kendall before resting on Paige once again. "How can I help?"

How could he help? Paige doubted he could, but it was worth a shot. "You teach about the different type of supernaturals, right?" She didn't want to get her hopes up, but maybe this man in his fifies could provide some insight to the numerous burning questions encaging her mind.

"Not exactly," he said lightly. "I teach about supernatural biology."

"Don't be technical," Paige said, trying hard to conceal her frustration. Lucas said he was some kind of supernatural expert. She hoped Lucas didn't speak too highly of this man for no reason. "You'll need to know about the different types of supernaturals, right?"

"Of course," he said. He spoke as if the answer was obvious.

"Cool. I have questions."

Kendall gave Paige an eyeroll. "Of course you do. Paige, we'll miss our lunch."

"Then go," Paige snapped before she quickly felt bad about it and gave Kendall an apologetic smile. Kendall wasn't the reason for her bad mood. It was this whole bloody town, but Kendall has been a fairly decent friend, even willing to drive Paige to a neighbouring town on a wild goose chase.

"What kind of questions?" Mr. Beddoes said through the heavy tension. Despite Paige's burst of anger, Kendall remained in place, although her face had lost all her cheeriness.

Paige hated that she caused Kendall pain, but she quickly moved passed it and focused on something else instead. The lunch period wouldn't last forever, and within no time, the classroom would be flooded with students once more. Not to mention, Mr. Beddoes probably had better things to do than entertain a bunch of students during one of his few breaks during the day.

"I'm curious about werewolves."

He arched an eyebrow. Not what he was expecting. He was expecting a more stimulating topic to discuss. "What about them?"

"Tell me about them." Paige abruptly cut him off before he could speak. "And please don't tell me they shift into a wolf. I already know that."

Mr. Beddoes had a small smile. "There's not much to tell, really. They are strongest during the full moon. They are closely associated with shapeshifters, but unlike shapeshifters, werewolves transformations are restricted to one animal form only."

"Do werewolves retain their abilities in human form?" Mr. Beddoes's answer only confirmed what she already knew, what Lucas had already told her. Werewolves can't access their powers unless they transform. It was basic knowledge. Paige didn't know why she was second guessing it.

"Unless they're alphas," Kendall added.

Mr. Beddoes nodded at her. "That's correct. Alphas are exceptional creatures. Really powerful creatures. I think I have a few books around here somewhere." He left his desk and started looking through a nearby cupboard.

"No, thank you," Paige said trying to regain his attention once more. She doubted these books would be any help anyway. Aaron already confirmed he wasn't an alpha. He wasn't really trustworthy, but she believed him. He was something else. Time to move the topic away from werewolves entirely. She didn't really think she was dealing with a typical werewolf, anyway.

"Paige . . ." Kendall said through tight lips.

Paige spared her a glance and saw her friends face was strained. Kendall was no idiot, the moment the conversation turned to werewolves, she knew this had to be about Aaron. Lucas was right. Everything was about Aaron nowadays, but Paige just couldn't help it. Maybe Paige just needed something to obsess over, something to blame her recent spurge of magic on and Aaron seemed like a perfect candidate for misplaced blame.

Paige turned back to Mr. Beddoes. There was no doubt in her mind that Aaron wasn't a werewolf, but maybe he was, just a little bit. A werewolf and something else. "What about hybrids?"

Mr. Beddoes stopped fussing over the contents of the cupboard and turned back to Paige with a narrowed face. "Hybrids?"

Paige nodded earnestly. She couldn't help but feel a little nervous under Mr. Beddoes intense gaze. She laced her fingers together in front of her and leaned against a nearby desk. What she really wanted to do was backtrack out of this room, hell, maybe even take up Finn's offer and backtrack right back to Solace Academy. She never had any of these problems while she was locked away at that school. "I'm a little unclear about how hybrids, you know, come to be. I know there's a lot of mixed relationships."

Mr. Beddoes agreed. "There was a lot of controversy about mixed relationships in the past. A lot of concerns and prejudices. At the turn of the century, it actually became more common for members of different species to marry and produce children."

"I imagine there's still a lot of concerns regarding these types of relationships," Kendall said slowly. She never had any issues with hybrids or mixed relationships, but she knew a lot of people did. They never really fit in with either races their bloodlines came from.

Mr. Beddoes faced the cupboard again, and after a few moments he came away with a thick blood-red covered book. "Accepting change is never easy," he said, offering Paige the dusty old book. It was an anthology detailing the emergence of hybrids and the public response.

"What about the kids of these relationships?" Paige asked. "You know, like if a werewolf and, I don't know, a witch have a kid. What about the kid? Are they a werewolf or witch? Or both?"

Mr. Beddoes was already shaking his head. "Hybrids are children born to two distinctive species but they only become one of these races."

"I don't really get it."

"There's a fifty-fifty chance the kid will be a werewolf and a fifty-fifty chance the kid will be a witch," Kendall explained, taking the book from Paige and flipping through the pages. Paige didn't protest the removal of the book. Kendall is far more likely to read it than she ever was.

"Who decides what the kid becomes?" It was slowly becoming clearer.

"No one does," Mr. Beddoes said, then he quickly recounted. "Well, technically, I guess you can say the kid does. There's a lot of debate about this. A lot of research, but generally it depends on the child itself. Some people just aren't werewolf material, so, in the example you provided, they'd become a witch instead. It depends on what race the child is more compatible towards."

"So you're one or the other?" Paige muttered to herself. She looked from Kendall to Mr. Beddoes, then back to the ground once more. She could practically feel the wheels turning in her mind. "Never both?" She snapped out of the fog encasing her mind. "So a werewolf couldn't have abilities outside of his race? Even if he was a hybrid?"

"No." Mr. Beddoes was becoming concerned. "What is this about?"

Paige only shook her head and blinked back tears of frustration. She had thought, hoped, that Aaron was some kind of hybrid. That would explain his healing, his strength and speed. It would explain his unusual abilities, but it wouldn't explain why she sensed so much darkness from him. There had to be a few hybrids at this school, even if she didn't know them personally, she would be able to sense it. Aaron is the only one she sensed such darkness from.

Paige suddenly felt like this was a bad idea. Mr. Beddoes offered as much insight as he could, but he couldn't truly help. Maybe she should just be upfront with Aaron? Demand some answers. Ask him outright. But would he even tell her? She doubted it. Aaron was just having too much fun.

Paige only nodded a farewell to Mr. Beddoes before she headed out the door. She felt disheartened and utterly lost. She heard Kendall follow her out but Paige couldn't make eye contact with her just yet.

"Are you okay?" Kendall tentatively touched her arm.

Paige didn't pull away and only nodded. The hallway was near deserted apart from a small group of human goth kids that huddled around a locker, passing a water bottle back and forward. Paige wasn't naïve enough to think there was actually water in that bottle.

Paige felt like she was back to square one, but then a slither of thought crossed her mind. What had she been saying all along? Aaron wasn't a werewolf. But everyone else thought he was.

Before the thought could disperse, Paige strolled back into the classroom, feeling a mix of anxiety and hopefulness. "Mr. Beddoes, just one more question. Is it possible to appear as one race, but you're actually something else entirely?"

"You mean, masquerade as a particular race?"

Paige nodded. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but she could feel her heart begin to race with adrenaline. "Yeah, like everyone thinks he's a werewolf, but he's actually something else."

"Someone could always claim to be another race," Kendall said, sliding the red-covered book into her backpack. Mr. Beddoes hadn't asked for it back, and it actually seemed like an interesting read. She could definitely learn something from it. "Unless you're born with distinctive features – like vampire fangs, sylph's unique hair colouring, or siren scales – it could be easy to pass off as another race if you appear human enough."

Paige turned to look at Kendall. She knew the minutes were ticking down, there was little chance they'd have the time to eat before the bell rang again, but she couldn't seem to make her legs move towards the cafeteria. She felt like there was unfinished business here. She was close. She could feel it. "Yeah, but what if you retain the abilities from the race you masquerade as, as well as possess abilities from this different race."

Kendall was quick to nix this idea. "Mr. Beddoes already said that hybrids can't possess abilities from two species."

"But what if it's not a hybrid?" Paige practically shouted, then quickly attuned her attitude.

"There's no such thing!" Kendall's frustration was beginning to show.

"Not necessarily," Mr. Beddoes said with a thoughtful expression on his face. He retained a far-off expression even when both Kendall and Paige turned back towards him. "It is possible to begin as a particular race, but certain circumstance turned them into something else. A race distinctive from the one they were born into."

"What?" Kendall tried to hide her disbelief. "You can actually turn into something else?"

"That doesn't actually seem like a real thing," Paige said, even though it was her asking all the questions. She didn't really expect to be correct. She was rarely correct.

"It's rare," Mr. Beddoes said. "Exceedingly so, but there are a few species that cannot be born as such. They are . . . created, I guess you could call it."

"You mean like how vampires are turned in all those TV shows?" Paige asked, feeling ludicrous for considering such a thing. Everyone knows that vampires, like werewolves, are not created, but born into their race.

"Not exactly," Mr. Beddoes said, marvelling at how shows and movies could be so inaccurate about supernaturals, even though humans and supernaturals have lived side-by-side since before the Middle Ages. "Typically, these . . . entities are incapable of creating more like themselves. That's why they're not that well known. They barely exist. Some don't even consider them a race, because there's not many of them at all."

Paige met Kendall's eyes at the precise moment Kendall turned to look at her. Mr. Beddoes was challenging all their beliefs. Maybe his class wouldn't have been such a terrible elective after all.

"Can you give some examples?" Kendall said, her voice shaky. She was thinking about everything Paige had said to her lately. About Aaron. A few minutes ago, she thought that maybe Paige was just making up stories, but now, she wasn't so certain.

Mr. Beddoes wasn't certain this was an appropriate conversation to have with two teenagers, but neither girl would relent. Finally, he heaved a sigh. "There are a few," he mumbled, his forehead creasing in thought. "Not many, just a few. Salamanders are the most common. They're like fire parasites. Human-psychics and demons don't really need an explanation, do they? The names are self-explanatory." He didn't wait long enough for a response, just continued rambling onwards. "Then there are revenants – animated corpses; and draugrs are vile creatures."

Paige was already wearily hanging her head. Some names were somewhat familiar, but she didn't really know much, or anything, about them. Demons and salamanders weren't exactly a well-discussed topic. She felt like she had enough from this teacher. Enough to start with, anyway. If she needed a clarification, she could always come back and ask a dozen more questions.

With a final farewell, she left the room, Kendall trailing after her. Paige was silent as they descended a nearby staircase. After a few moments, she became aware of Kendall speaking. Kendall was trying to get her attention and Paige had the feeling she had been calling her name for a while but she had just been too lost in her own thoughts to respond until now.

"What are you thinking?" Kendall asked, finally seeing a conscious light spark in Paige's eyes.

Paige was almost hesitant to speak next, but she couldn't lie to Kendall. Not about this. Kendall was on her side, Paige knew that. Kendall wanted to help. A quick glance around confirmed that no one was nearby. "I think Aaron's a demon."