I was beyond mad. Tori had gone way too far this time.

"Tori get your butt over here, NOW!" I exclaimed as I ran down the hallway.

About a month ago my demanding attitude would have scared me, and I would have apologized right away. But I was definitely not the same girl I was a month ago.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Simon asked as I stumbled into his slender frame. He had stepped out of his room at the exact moment I passed it. I stopped for a second to look up into his almond shaped eyes and high cheekbones and saw only Tori. Not surprisingly since she was his half-sister, not that they knew it.

"Let me guess, your room?" Classic smile. "What'd she do this time?"

"She, well…ugh! You wouldn't understand…" was all I managed to get out before I turned to leave.

More like I didn't want him to understand.

He gripped my shoulders; preventing me from going any further.

"Whatever she did this time, it's probably not worth breaking our 'no fighting' bet with my dad. Are you willing to risk blowing our chance at a night out in town?"

I spun around, facing Simon with an expression of outrage that caused him to back away slightly.

"I don't care! She's got hell to pay!" Interesting choice of words for a necromancer, I thought to myself.

He didn't loosen his grip though, and I suddenly had a stupid idea.

"OH MY GOD! Derek, what are you wearing?"

I gasp dramatically and twist my expression into one of incredulity. I'd picked up a few acting tips from my short run as a high school drama major.

Predictably, Simon turned around and I escaped from his grasp the moment he did. I tore off down the hall, Simon's footsteps pounding behind me. I quickly stepped into our room and locked the door.

I heard the sink faucet running in the bathroom that adjoined our room with Aunt Lauren's and I quickly flattened beside the door. It opened not a second after I'd secured my hiding place, the faucet turning off.

Tori walked into the room, not noticing me. I counted to three before I jumped out, catching Tori off guard as I tackled her to the ground. I might have been small, but I was way too mad to consider that I was outsized both in size and power ability.

"What are you doing?" she asked as flung me off onto the ground. She stood and grabbed a pillow from her bed. She whipped it at my head, but I dodged it at the last moment.

She charged at me, knocking me over again. We continue to fight, I threw punches whenever I could (that almost never touched her) and she aimed the pillow toward my head over and over again. She had me pinned down when Derek and Simon busted through the door.

"HEY! What's wrong with you too?!"

Derek's roar momentarily caught Tori off-guard, and I took that opportunity to shove her off me.

"It's not my fault! That one," Tori said, gesturing to me "came in here and attacked me!" She stood up and straightened her clothes.

I resisted the urge to throw myself at her.

"Don't you dare play innocent!" I got to my feet. "You told Aunt Lauren about what you saw last night!" I yelled in defense.

She scoffed. "I didn't tell her anything. I should've though, seeing as you're so eager to keep it a secret. I didn't realize you didn't get your Aunt's approval before you started fooling around with-"

I lunged for her but Derek stepped in and held me back.

"Shut it Tori." The commanding tone of his voice was obvious, and it caught Simon's attention.

"Wait, wait, wait; what did she see last night?" The young sorcerer asked in a curious voice, though his grin showed that he was feeling more mischievous than curious. Tori opened her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it.

"Nothing! I was just overreacting…" I looked Tori in the eye as I said, "I'm sorry; it'll never happen again." I took a step forward and whispered, "But if you breathe a word of this to Aunt Lauren, you will regret it."

Tori rolled her eyes impatiently, as if to say my threat meant nothing to her. "She was going to find out eventually."

"I know. But I prefer her to find out from me."

A moment of tension passed between us. Simon brought his gaze from me to

Tori.

"Fine. Whatever." She said, as she plopped down on her bed. "Now as much fun as this has been, I'd sincerely appreciate it if you got the hell out."

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes as I walked out of the room. I was headed toward the kitchen, when I heard the sound of footsteps behind me.

Without turning around, I said "If you're going to yell at me, make it quick because I'm not in the mood." I grabbed an apple from the sparse bowl of fruit on the table.

"I'm not going to yell." Derek said as he opened the fridge to grab a carton of juice. Of course not, I thought sarcastically as I took a bite out of my apple and flipped through the opened newspaper on the counter.

"You probably shouldn't have done that though."

"What, did you want her to tell Aunt Lauren? She'd probably assume I'm pregnant or something and kill us both."

He paused for a moment, and I could've sworn his cheeks flushed slightly. But it was gone as quick as it appeared.

"'Course not. But you have to admit you probably could've handled it better."

It was a perfectly sensible comment, but I it made me inexplicably angry. I slammed my half-eaten apple on the table and walked over until I was standing in front of Derek.

"Why? Because she's bigger than me, stronger than me, and has more control over her powers? She could get really mad at me, and then I'd be helpless to her? Or worse yet, I could get really mad and then accidently raise an army of undead zombies ready to attack Tori?"

"That's what you're all worried about right? That if I have a mood swing or something I'll accidently raise the dead because I'm too silly and small to understand the extent of my powers? Wow, I guess no matter what I do or what we go through, I'll always be defenceless, useless, little Chloe." I said, fists clenching hard enough into my palms to draw blood.

"I didn't say that Chlo-"

"No… you didn't have to."

I rushed from the kitchen into Aunt Lauren's room, slamming and locking the door behind me. I fell to my knees, drawing them close and dropped my head down. Hot tears stung my cheeks, but I refused to cry out loud so that Derek wouldn't have the satisfaction.

Satisfaction? What was I taking about? Why had I just snapped at Derek when all he'd been trying to do was give me a helpful suggestion?

Lately, it had been happening this way: I'd be perfectly fine one minute and then I'd be ready to scream at the next person who'd walk by for no reason. It wasn't like me. As much as I hated to admit it, Tori was right; I was too nice. Why was this happening? I wiped the tears from my face and picked myself up off the ground. Whatever it was, it had to stop.

I took in a shuddery breath and stood in front of the mirror. It'd been a little over a month since we'd escaped the Edison Group and I looked different now.

I'd chosen to wash out the black hair dye, and instead chose an auburn colour that almost hinted at red. My hair had grown out and now reached my shoulders.

Aunt Lauren and Kit insisted on us staying out of sight, so I had started spending a lot more time in our apartment building's gym. Tori and I figured that it was private enough and our guardians had ultimately agreed, hoping it would help ease the frustration we felt at our house-arrest sentence. All those crunches and squats had shaped my figure more, to the point where I doubted I would be confused for a 12 year old.

I even felt older, having been through what I had in the last few weeks. I was a different person. I supposedly tougher and more mature person who wouldn't lash out at friends the way I just had.

You had a bit of an excuse this time, I tried to convince myself. It was somewhat true. Tori had woken up early this morning to find Derek and me sleeping together in my bed. He'd snuck in around 2 in the morning and we both figured since she was such a heavy sleeper and not an early riser, we could just talk for a bit and he'd leave before she woke up.

I didn't expect us to fall asleep and she definitely didn't expect to find us like that. The door had creaked when she left the room, waking Derek up who in turn woke me up. My first instinct had been to get to my aunt first, but Derek informed me that both she and his dad had gone to run errands early in the morning, and had told him that they wouldn't be back until late afternoon. Derek went back to his room so that Simon wouldn't see he was gone and I went back to sleep, dismissing it as something I could deal with later.

When I finally got up to eat, I overheard Tori talking to Aunt Lauren on the phone and my name came up. There was only one thing I could think of that she could be discussing with my aunt. So I decided to talk to Tori and figure out how much she'd told her, but my anger got the better of me and I ended up trying to hold my own against her pillow.

My justification somewhat lacked rationality, but I decided to suck it up and just go apologize for my actions.

I checked my reflection in the mirror. You could probably tell I'd been crying, if you looked closely. I put my hair up into ponytail and wiped my eyes again.

I cracked open the door.

I could see Simon, well, the back of him sitting at the computer in the living room. The door to mine and Tory's room was still closed, so I assumed Tori was still in there. The door to Derek and Simon's room was slightly ajar.

I made a break for it, spinning and closing the door behind me. I didn't even get a chance to open my mouth before Derek had his arms around me, pulling me into a hug.

"I'm sorry." I mumble into his chest. He stepped back and looked at me.

"Why are you sorry?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Because I overreacted? You gave me a friendly suggestion and I went all Godzilla on you."

He stopped for a moment, a look of contemplation on his face.

"Ok. I forgive you." The sincerity in his voice made me smile.

I playfully slapped his arm. "Gee thanks." He smiled in return. Then his eyes travelled down to my lips and he moved his face down to mine. I reached up on my toes to meet him halfway when the door opened.

"Hey Derek, you gotta come see this vid-" Simon stopped short when he realized I was there too.

"Oh, hey Chloe. You can come watch too… that is, if you want because, like…" He reached up to awkwardly scratch the back of his head. I felt my heart squeeze.

I know Simon is completely fine with his brother dating the girl he liked first, but it was still awkward sometimes. I stepped back from Derek and gave Simon a smile.

"Sure, sounds like fun. I actually have a few movie clips I've been meaning to show you guys. I think we can use them as inspiration for the comic."

At the mention of the comic, Simon perked up to his usual self. The project was still something the two of us were working on together, just as friends. We both had fun bouncing ideas off each other and turning what were actually terrifying experiences into something more dramatic and blockbuster-worthy scenes.

"Awesome! Let's get to it then."

He turned to leave and I grabbed Derek's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze before letting and go and following him out.

As we passed Tori's room I stopped. "I'll be right there; I just want to talk to Tori. Two sceptical looks. I crossed my arms and looked up at them both. "Just talking."

Simon raised his hands in surrender and walked away. Derek just gave me another pointed look and followed after his brother. I took a deep breath and knocked.

"What do you want?" Tori's voice came through the door.

"I want to talk to you."

She scoffed. "Talk or jump me?"

I sighed. "I want to apologize."

A moment of silence. Then the lock clicked.

I took that as an invitation and opened the door. Tori sat on her bed, her laptop on her legs and headphones off to the side.

She raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

"I'm really sorry for barging in and attacking you and threatening you-"

"You left out accusing me."

I rubbed my arms. "Right, that too." I looked her in the eye. "Look, the point is that I am really sorry. I don't know what got into me. I was angry because I thought you had told Aunt Lauren about me and Derek, but that was not an excuse for how I acted."

I searched her face for signs of forgiveness. She thought about it for a second, before nodding her head.

"Fine, yeah. I forgive you." I offered her a smile and then sat down at the foot of the bed.

She gave me a look that said, I forgive you but that doesn't mean you can sit on my bed. I ignored her and opened my mouth to speak.

"I just, don't understand. Ever since we got here I've felt so out of it. I've never been more mood-swingy in my life." I half expected her to say that she didn't care and order me out (to which I would've resisted since it was my room too), but she surprised me.

"Well, I've been meaning to tell someone and it might as well be you," she said, setting her laptop to the side and pulling her knees up to her chest "I get them too. At first I thought that they were just side effects from being off of all the drugs they were shoving down my throat at Lyle House. But they just feel so... strange."

"I just, can't shake the feeling that something's up. I have that voice telling me to get the hell out but I look around and I can't find a reason to. We're all together, with your aunt and Kit, and no one knows who we are here."

"We haven't heard anything about the Edison group trying to track us down in like a month and even Derek seems fine. I mean, usually he's the first one to say we should leave to get you out of danger."

I took in all she'd said. Could it be a coincidence that Tori and I both felt something was up? Was it a side effect from the experiments? Would it be better to keep this to ourselves for now, in order to avoid making everyone even more wary around us?

"Hey, are you guys coming or what?" Simon's voice carried over from the living room and snapped me out of my thoughts. I got off the bed.

"Let's talk more later. The guys and I were going to watch some videos Simon found. Wanna come?"

Once again, I braced myself for a snarky remark about how she wouldn't be caught dead hanging out with us losers. But Tori just smiled and got off of the bed herself. My surprise must've shown on my face. She just shrugged and walked over to the door.

Huh. I could get use to this new Tori.