Lucy Rudolf's P.O.V

I sighed dramatically. "It happened again, Aurora..."

She looked taken aback. "No way! He wasn't there?"

I shook my head violently. "No, it's not that. It's just, I chickened out again! I managed to find him in the park a couple hours ago, but as soon as he saw me I just ran away! He probably thinks I'm a creep or something!"

After what happened today, I wouldn't even be surprised if he never spoke to me again, not that he does anyway. It was no secret that I really liked Everett, but it seemed like he was the only person that was clueless. Everett and I grew up together in the same neighborhood, and we were best friends all throughout elementary school and middle school, but he became distant as soon as we started our freshman year of high school. He was the coolest guy I knew, but not in your typical popular-guy kind of way. He had a very calm and collected way of doing everything, and something about the way he talked made you believe anything he said. He just had a way with words, I guess you could say.

If he were to tell you that two plus two equals five, you would believe it. I'm guessing that the only reason other girls didn't really like him was because of him being hot headed and slightly rude at times.

Aurora frowned and glared at the sheet of paper in her tiny hands. "Lucy, you can't be doing that! If I were you, I would just go for it! What's the worst thing that could happen?"

I knew she was right, but the last thing I wanted to do was admit it. Instead, I just changed the conversation.

"So what's that in your hands?"

She looked at me, then back at the bright yellow paper. "Oh, this? It's the study guide for my history class. I want to try and do good this year!" She smiled.

I couldn't help but smile back. Even though we were the same age, we always had that big/little sister relationship. Aurora had been my friend since elementary school, and we first met when I was in second grade. This kid that I knew bullied her for being extremely small for her age, and I felt inclined to step in. I may not have directly stood up to the bully, but I was there for Aurora when she needed someone's shoulder to cry on.

"Same here, my parents won't stop talking about how I won't pass high school with just a B."

She stopped in her tracks. "Really? I would be incredibly lucky if I got B's."

I laughed. "Anyway" I started again after I walked back to Aurora. "I checked out this book this morning at the library, and I wanted you to take a look at it."

I handed her the thick book I've been carrying around all day. "It's on mythology, since one of my classes is mostly centered around it."

She flipped open the book to a random page. "Elves? Werewolves? Demons? Wizards? This book sure covers a lot of different territories. Why would you need to know about these things?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Beats me. What time is it?"

The look on her face was priceless. She yanked her phone out from her coat pocket and turned it on. "It's already 5:00! I should be at home studying!" she shoved the phone back in her pocket and handed the textbook back to me.

"Sorry Lucy! I'll call you tonight!" She hurried away from the school and waved before leaving my line of sight.

I waved back before cracking the book open again. After planting myself on the park bench, I looked back at the page I dog-eared earlier.

The chapter title read "Wizards". For some reason, I felt that I should really look this section over, perhaps this could be in our end-of-year test. According to this book, Wizards actually did exist, but faded out of existence hundreds of years ago, so not much information is known about them. There were two different types of wizards, Black and White.

It's exactly how you think it would be. Black Wizards were known for their notorious acts of evil and villainy across the continents, while White Wizards were known for fixing everything with acts of kindness. As cheesy as that sounded, I absolutely loved the magical feeling it gave off.

By the time I looked up, I realized that it was already starting to get dark. I closed the book once again and picked up all my things before heading out.

I held the book close to my torso and headed straight for home.

Once I arrived at the Rudolf's driveway, I heard a clashing sound from inside the house. It sounded as if dishes were dropped or a window being broken.

I shook my head and raced for the front door as quietly as I could. My parents shouldn't be home right now, and I was an only child. Something was going on inside.

Once I managed to sneak up to the front door, I peered into the small window. What shocked me was the fact that not only was someone in our house, that someone wasn't even human.

This thing almost looked like a human, but a couple things differed from him. He had strange light blue markings on his face and neck, and sharp orange horns that protruded from the sides of his head. His wild silvery hair flailed as he continued to tear apart my house.

I would have called someone, anyone, but there was no way I could identify the person. He wore an orange and yellow mask that prevented me from seeing who this mystery person really was.

I suddenly grew tense when he jerked his head towards the window. His demonic-looking yellow eyes met mine for a split second, and I ducked down as quickly as I could. I felt like my heart was going to burst straight out from my chest.

"Who's there?!" I could hear him shout from inside. He must have broken through a window.

I expected him to find me, considering this thing wasn't human, but nothing happened. Everything grew too quiet.

By the time I peeked again through the window, the demonic entity was gone. All that was left was the mess in the kitchen and living room.

My heart dropped when I turned back, however. This demon knelt right in front of me and glared daggers.

"What business do you have here?" His voice was low.

I wanted to scream, or run away, or both, but I went with the next best option.

"This is where I live. Why were you destroying my home?"

He frowned and stood up. "Yeah? So what? Does this face look like I care?"

As much as I was shaking due to fright, I felt like I needed to ask him a few questions.

"Fine. What are you? What's your name?"

He crossed his arms. "I guess I could tell you, considering people may think you're crazy if you told them about me. I am the Black Demon, Malefici."

A demon? So I was right?

But before I could say or do anything else, he disappeared into thin air.