Chapter one




Mr. Bae paused and looked at me for a moment. It was kind of strange to have a grown-up looking at me without hatred or fear. It was also really nice, because for the past few months all we have gotten are the other glances. All from evil people that wanted us dead.

But thanks to Mr. Bae we escaped the Edison group mostly unscathed. We had more emotional scares than physical. Tori was still shaken up about her mom, even if she was an evil b***h. And Derek was still reliving his time in the lab after seeing the school room and bed room that housed the four young werewolves.

I on the other hand seemed to be the best off, sort of. My stitches were still there, I had some cuts and scrapes from the ceiling falling. Some bruises from when Derek tackled me to save me from most of the debris. So we were altogether a pretty busted up bunch.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be when I told Mr. Bae I knew about Tori. He only nodded his head, and leaned back in his chair. Though it got a little awkward when he tried to explain how it happened. I had just stammered for him to stop and turned bright red.

My blush was still fading when I asked him if I could tell Derek or anyone else.

“No,” Mr. Bae said quietly. “I don’t think you should tell anyone just yet. We need to get a little more settled in and relaxed before we through them to the sharks.”

He gave me a quick smile from behind his desk. We had been able to find a house out on the edge of Maryland. It was a quiet little lake house, with no neighbors for miles. The house had three stories and it was very well taken care of by it’s previous owner, everything you could need was here. There was even some good food, but we still stopped at a grocery store before we got out of town.

We even each got our own rooms. Tori still did a complete inspection of the eight rooms before choosing one on the bottom floor, close to the back door. Derek, Simon, and I picked the three ones on the second floor. And after looking around I had found a little sitting room that connected to the room Derek had. Mr. Bae and my Aunt Lauren got their own room on the top floor.

I was really enjoying this place. The lake had a dock that came out far enough that you could jump off it into the water. Even though the waster was cold, it was nice when the sun was particularly hot.

A nice big plus was the forest that surround the other three sides of the property. It gave us perfection and a place for Derek to Change.

That may sound strange, but Derek is a werewolf. Well he is now. He had completed the Change while we were still with Andrew.

The thought of Andrew still made all of us sad. He was our friend and he was trying to keep us from Mr. Bae. Even though Andrew and been friends with Mr. Bae before all of this happened he-

“Listen Chloe,” Mr. Bae said, breaking me out of my mental battle. “I’m going to start dinner in about an hour and a half, why don’t you go out and enjoy the lake. you need to take a breather and just relax.”

He looked right into my eyes, and reached across the table to take my hand in his.

“You’re safe with me.” He gave my hand a squeeze and turned back to his laptop.


As I walked out the door and made my way to the back door, I realized what he said was true. I was safe here, with him, and everyone else.

I made my way down the old path of the dock and sat down at the end. The wood was soft under my touch, weathered from years of use, I guess.

Being alone and safe made me think of my dad. He and mom used to take me camping when I was really little, but I don’t really remember it. He told me I used to play in the river by the camp sight, finding little rocks the would catch my eye.

When I didn’t believe him I snuck into his room when he went away on a business trip. I looked all over his room but I didn’t find the collection. Right when I was going to call it quits, I looked at my moms bedside table and I found a little jar marked Chloe’s Collection. Inside were at least twenty of the prettiest rocks I had ever seen. It was really touching to know that they keeps those after so many years.

Uncrossing my legs I slipped off my shoes and dipped my feet into the water. It rippled as I swayed my feet back and forth, making my reflection waver.

In the water, I dod not see the strong confident Chloe The Necromancer, all I saw was Chloe The Scared, the small little girl who was hiding from the boogie man.

“Chloe,” a voice said right behind me. I jumped up and gave a little yelp as the cold water splashed on my legs.

As I turned around I saw Derek sit down silently next to me, his huge frame partially blocking the sun. My eyes traveled up from his chest to his face. His hair hung in his face covering up a part of his eye. Derek still hadn’t bothered to cut it, and wouldn’t let me do it. He says with the way I was so skittish, if someone came into the room, I would end up cutting off his ear. Which I would not, but still.

He was smiling when he sat down, the kind of smile that does funny things to my stomach, but it disappeared when he looked at me.

“Chloe?” Derek said quietly. “Don’t cry. What’s wrong?”

He wiped a tear from my cheek that I didn’t realize had fallen. I sniffled once and looked down.

“Nothing,” I mumbled. But he wasn’t going to accept that as an answer, I knew that. He put a finger under my chin and lifted it up to look at him.

When I finally gave up, I saw the worry and love in his green eyes. I felt a tear fall down my cheek.

“I-it’s just. I was thinking of my dad,” I said. “I-I just wish I could let him kno-know that I’m ok. That I’m s-safe.”

I laid my head on Derek’s side, and he put an arm around my shoulder. The warmth that radiated off his body felt nice, making me relax a little bit. He was the only solid thing that kept my head from spinning when the world moved to fast.

I felt his fingers slowly stroke my hair. “Chloe, I know how much you want to talk to your dad but. . .” He looked down at me sadly.

Sighing, I sat up and snuggled closer to Derek, our legs pressed together.

“Yea,” I sniffed. “I can’t tell him anything. I get it, I do. It’s just seeing your dad, and the look on your face, and Simon’s, when you look at him.”

I looked him, begging him to understand.

“It just makes me miss him more.”


“I’m sorry,” Derek rumbled quietly. He gave me a little quarter smile and stood up. He held out his hand and I took it, getting up and falling in step with him.

“But just think,” He said as we walked back to the house. “We’re safe, we have a nice little house away from everything. There is no one hiding in the woods, or the lake,” He added.

“And,” He sniffed, just as he opened the back door. “You get to try my dad’s homemade pizza.”

I smiled at him and walked into the kitchen. Simon, and Aunt Lauren were already sitting down at the table. Tori was setting out plates and glasses, and Mr. Bae was taking a pizza with everything on it out of the oven.

“Well, nice of you to join us lovebirds,” Tori said, but the sarcasm was marred by her smile. Blushing I sat down, pulling Derek into the seat next to me.

“I would hate to eat cold pizza,” she said sitting down at the end of the tabled. Simon held a roll in his hand and bumped it against Tori’s head.

“Be nice,” he warned, shaking the bread at her.

Aunt lauren smiled at me as she stood up to help Mr. Bae move three of the pizzas to the table.

“Well I hope you enjoy the pizza,” Mr Bae said sitting down at the other end of the table. “It’s my special recipe.”

I grabbed myself a couple slices of pepperoni, as Derek grabbed half of the everything pizza, shrugging when I gave him a look.

The others grabbed slices of pizza and started to dig in, giving little moans after their first bite.

“Mhm,” Simon said with his mouth full of cheese. “I hov is pisaa.”

We all laughed as he swallowed and tried again.

“I love this pizza. When ever you made it I ate so much of it I couldn’t move for hours.”

“I remember that,” Mr. Bae laughed, wiping his mouth. Finishing my first slice of pizza I stated on my second.

“Derek was always able to put away at least two of them.”

Derek smiled from the kitchen, grabbing a whole pizza and taking a monstrous bite from it. I laughed, and Tori gave him a look as he sat back down next to me.

“I hope he brushes his teeth before trying to kiss you, Chloe,” Tori said, getting a growl from Derek. Simon laughed choking on his crust a little.

“What don’t like pizza breath, Tori?” Simon said. He scooped up some sauce from his plate putting above his lip.

“How ‘bout mustaches?” He laughed when she scowled at him. Simon licked his upper lip, slipping me a wink. I finished my crust and sat back in my chair, and looked around at these people.

The people who helped me through the toughest part of my life. Who saved my life as many times as I saved theirs. All of us the most unlikely bunch of people to come together.

But even as I thought about it. I realized it didn’t matter what happened before, all that mattered was now. And now was enjoying some of the best pizza I’d ever had and being around the people I cared about most. My family. Complete in ways it never was before, I felt like I was home.