"So, let me get this straight: you broke out of a government building, crossed a state border and broke into one of the most well-fortified structures here in Woodflore Plains?" Capricorn asked incredulously once I had finished recounting my tale. "Yeah, that's right." Capricorn frowned. "Look, it's not that I'm not impressed by your... escape. I'm still wondering why you did it." I sighed, reminding myself of why I had struggled so much. As an orphan, I had spent my whole life condemned to an orphanage, hoping that perhaps someone would come and find me a home. But, of course, that day never came. Instead, I endured the torturous ravings of the matron every day, keeping my head down and my mouth shut despite the horrible treatment I received.

"As a kid, I had always hoped someone would take me, and when they didn't, I resolved to make myself more lovable in any way possible. Gathering all the cash that fell out of the matron's pockets, I found a way to break out of the orphanage straight from my room. Spending my savings on beauty products and, eventually, getting my hair dyed, I tried to make myself beautiful, but despite my best efforts, nobody wished to take me in. The way I saw it, it was simple: you had to be something extraordinary, something special, if you wanted to be adopted. And so seeing no potential in myself in the field of brains and brawns, I turned toward beauty, ridding myself of the copper-wire hair I had been born with.

"However, it did not work. It turned out that the world did not, in fact, rely only on outer attributes to form a liking for someone. So I stayed in that orphanage for all those long, long years, immersing myself in the world of myths and legends. Soon enough, I had begun to believe with all my heart that the supernatural existed, with all my (limited) research pointing toward a place called Woodflore Plains. Armed with a bag of stolen coins and pages ripped out of library books bearing emblems, symbols and runes linked to Woodflore Plains, I found myself travelling toward the small town, noticing a crest carved onto a ground plate. Heaving it open, I noticed a narrow tunnel inside. Easing myself in, I slipped through the tunnel, emerging in what seemed to be a medieval armory, where I had met you."

Capricorn's eyes widened. "There's... there's other... supernatural creatures in the world? I mean, apart from vampires and whatever my family is?" He seemed to shocked by my story to make any other comments. "Yeah. Werewolves, witches, sirens, hybrids..." I smiled. "I know there's magic out there; I can feel it." I laughed. "Well, more magic." Capricorn nodded, still bewildered, when I heard a bell ringing. Capricorn smiled. "So he did have the PA system installed in here as well... It's the doorbell." Capricorn looked as his arm, frowning, before making his way out of the armory into another room full of journals. "Alright; come on!"

We left the room, now standing in a library five times the size of any building I had been inside. I couldn't help but goggle at the size of Capricorn's home. If only the library was so massive, how big would the rest of the rooms be? "Pretty big, huh?" Capricorn remarked, seeming to read my mind. "Oh, would you look at that; I think we've been here for a while-it's pitch dark out." Capricorn gestured toward an oak door. "Through here."

.....

"Wow, your house is massive, and I've only seen a tenth of it!" Capricorn laughed, opening the door. "Mrs. Mayor?" A woman with glossy brown hair and green eyes stood at the door wearing a rather somber expression. "Hello, Capricorn. I regret to inform you that your father's body has been discovered on the freeway. He was... he was murdered. With some sort of wooden stake." Capricorn's mouth hung open. "My deepest condolences." With that she walked away. Capricorn sighed, sinking into a nearby armchair. "Oh, my god..." I sat down next to him, perched on the armrest. "I'm so, so sorry." Capricorn sighed. "Look, I barely knew my dad. I think we've never even spent one whole day together.

"I don't know why, but I barely feel the loss. I feel... I feel normal. Is that heartless?" I shook my head. "Look, he was no more to you than a blood relation. It's okay to be okay with his death." He nodded. "Listen, Cancer, there's... there's something else you should know. I used to be able to see this tattoo on my dad's arm. When I told my tutor, Jason, about it, he told me there was no tattoo there. Well, the same tattoo appeared on me about an hour ago." My eyes widened. "Cancer, I think I've been marked as a vampire hunter."

I gasped. "Well, how do you feel?" I sighed. "I feel fine. Like myself. But I've got this weird vendetta against vampires now. It's just popped up; I don't even understand how." I nodded. "Well, we need to get out of here and see what else there is in Woodflore Plains." I nodded. "This will be my first time leaving the manor." I smiled. "Well, Capricorn, grab some of those wooden stakes. This is gonna be fun."

.....

"Wow, this is... this is wild. I can't believe I'm actually at a shopping center." I giggled, nudging Capricorn. "Well, you better believe it!" All of a sudden, Capricorn let out a snarl. "What?" I asked, worried. I noticed he had his eyes on a dark-skinned bleached blonde. Without meaning to, I began to feel extremely self-conscious, wondering if Capricorn did not like girls who dyed their hair. But, then again, I was the first girl of his age he had ever met... "Hey, what's wrong?" Capricorn continued to sneer at the girl. "See that blonde over there? Well, she's a vampire. And I really wanna kill her."

Tapping my foot impatiently, I sat at a table in the food court, sipping on a Mountain Dew. Now that I was immortal, I did not have to worry about my calories. One of the many perks of being a vampire. As I checked my phone once again, I began to wonder if Leo was standing me up when he emerged, strutting around as usual. "Sagittarius!" He seated himself across from me. "How are you?" he asked with as much confidence he could muster. "I mean, I haven't been to school for about a month, so what do you think?" Leo blinked, surprised by my bluntness. I snorted. "You would think that after being my so-called boyfriend for a year now, you would know me to speak my mind." Leo sighed.

"Sagittarius, is everything okay? You do realise you've missed out on so much... loads of work, countless parties..." I laughed. "You mean to say that I'm ruining your perfect reputation." Leo frowned. "Listen, I'm genuinely concerned-"

"Genuinely concerned," I mimicked, whipping out my phone. "Gimme a moment." Opening my Instagram, I created a new post, adding a picture of myself and Leo at a party. Captioning the post: "#LDR didn't work out, goodbye Leo... Spain is less exciting knowing you'll never be here with me 😕. "Check your Instagram." With that I stood, walking away, when I came face to face with a tall, lean boy clutching a black duffel bag. "No, I do not want to be a superhero and take that bag to Brazil," I remarked, pointing at his bag. He simply narrowed his eyes, walking away with a rather pretty blonde girl by his side. For some reason, I envied her. How come she got such a perfect guy? Relax, you don't even know him; he could be a psycho in the form of an extremely cute guy.

"Hello, Sagittarius." I looked up, noticing an extremely well-dressed brunette in front of me. "Yeah, sorry, I'm afraid we don't do Dior out here in Woodflore Plains." She smirked rather evilly. "I hear you like to party." She held out a hand. "Libra." I took it. "Sagittarius."

.....

"THIS IS WILD!" I screamed, throwing my hands into the air. Libra laughed rather loudly, gulping down yet another shot. "Take a seat, Sagittarius." She passed me a shot. "Listen, I'm a vampire, just like you. An Original vampire. And I have a job for you." I nodded. "Okay, what is it?" She laughed. "Alright. My dear sister, Ophiuchus, has escaped. I need you to track her down-she's here, in Woodflore Plains, looking for werewolves. Yes, those exist. She's a hybrid-both a vampire and a werewolf-and wants to make more hybrids. I know you're quite smart, Sagittarius, so I need you to investigate the family trees under these names." Libra handed me a list. "Well, what do I get?" Libra sighed. "There are two rewards. One is a surprise. The second is right here."

Libra gestured toward the party. "All compelled to obey your every command. Feel free to indulge. Have a cheat day." Libra winked. "You do that, there'll be more. But, if you don't mind, I'm gonna steal one of these humans." Gesturing toward a bartender, she sunk her teeth into is neck, draining him of his blood without allowing a single drop to spill. He fell to the floor with a thud, two minuscule bite marks on his neck. "Not quite dead yet," Libra marveled, administering him with some blood. "You know where to find me." And with that, she left. I turned toward the party, a greedy expression in my eyes. "Let's get this show on the road."

.....

"Okay, the Malik tree. Started with Chaitanya Malik, who married Anika Ahuja-nice name-and that line continued, so the the original Malik werewolf in this town must've been Chaitanya." I stuck a red pin through his name on my corkboard. "So that tracks down to some Avi Malik, who somehow had the same last name passed down to him as his descendant from some 300 years back, and he gave birth to Fiyaz Malik-wait." I thought back to when I had met Leo's parents. His dad's name was Fiyaz.

Writing Leo's name on a slip and pinning it to the last of my 20 corkboards, I sank in my chair.

Leo is a werewolf.

VIRGO

"Pathetic! Try again!"

I focused on the metal sculpture with all my might, extending my hand. "Incito!" The statue began to melt, the fire I had just conjured fighting to emerge as a solid flame in its core. Clenching my fists, I envisioned a raging wildfire, channeling the energy of my thoughts to the small fire within the metal statue. Within seconds, the statue was nothing more than a liquefied lump of molten metal. "Eatenus Exstinxisti." I diffused the fire slowly. "Induresco!" Molding the statue, I created a serpent, adding embellishments to it.

"Animatis." The snake extended its forked tongue. Controlling it with my hands, I pushed it toward the ceiling. "Inanimalis." The snake clattered, landing on the floor. "Much better. However, you were unable to add full detail the last time-half a scale was not decorated properly." He stepped forward, brandishing the snake before bringing it swiftly across my back. I bit my lip, concealing my pain. "Now sleep."

Hurrying off to my bedroom, I listened carefully for my father's fading footsteps before looking at my window. I had practiced the spell with much more resistant materials-surely it would work with glass. "Liquefacio." Slowly but surely, the glass assumed a strange, liquefied state, melting off the window frame. I collected the liquid in a bucket, placing it next to the frame. As I jumped down onto the cemented floor below, I looked back at the window. "Ad Solidum." Making sure I had everything I needed, I turned away from the house that had only taught me two things-magic and the feeling called pain.

.....

"Hello, Miss. You fell asleep here the other night..." I looked up at a handsome, dark-skinned boy with feathery dark brown hair. "I- sorry. Thank you for taking me in...?" He smiled. "Taurus. I'm Taurus. But this isn't my place-my... friend, Pisces, owns the place." I nodded, smiling. "Did you... did you want something, or..." I smiled, wanting to show off for this Taurus. Noticing a nearby water tank, I raised my hand. "Volatilis." The water came toward me in a ball. Smiling, I swallowed the ball whole. Taurus grinned. "I learnt that spell in my first lesson! Here, let me show you something awesome. "Contrariorum Coligo!" Flames appeared in one hand and a ball of water in the other.

The fire slowly became a ball, enveloping itself inside the water. "Induresco." The water solidified, creating a beautiful globe. "Mutare substantiam." The solidified water turned to glass. Taurus held out the globe. "And there!" I gasped, astonished. Even I hadn't been able to master the opposite merging spell, and I had been training my whole life. "How long have you been training?" I asked. "I started last week-I've only had a few lessons, but Pisces says I'm really good-he's already moved on to teaching me some master standard spells like 'Contrariorum Coligo'. I nodded.

"Blimey, you are really good. What family do you come from?" Taurus frowned. "My last name is Miller?" I gasped. "Whoa, you're a Miller warlock?" Taurus nodded. "The Millers are psychologically the most powerful witches, also making their magical potential much higher. They're one of the Big Three-there's the Atel clan, the Miller clan and the Beischel clan. Each specialises in one of the three elements of magic-nature, creation and, of course, preservation. The Millers are masters of preservation-in other words, immortality." I sighed.

"Myself, my magic is very limited. I'm descended from a sub-clan, meaning that I come from a place of more spiritual magic. I'm descended from shamans who weren't too powerful. Through decades of intense concentration, my family's magic grew to be more powerful. But still, in terms of potential, I don't even come close to you, and I have no psychic ability." Taurus' mouth hung open. "Whoa. Well, I'll just go get-"

"Me? I'm here, don't worry." A second boy emerged from the house, his hair a sandy blonde and his eyes twinkling in the sun. It seemed as if he were an old soul trapped in a young body. "You must be Virgo." He gestured toward his home. I followed him inside, smiling. "Why don't you take a seat, Virgo? We've got some... unusual activity to discuss." I frowned. "What are you talking about?" He sighed. "You have heard of Sirens, yes?" I nodded. "Yeah, I've heard." Pisces grimaced. "Well, I left to get some groceries this morning-I was at the corner store that's about 30 miles from town-when I felt a psychic disruption.

"I think... I think I heard a Siren Song."

SCORPIO

"Are we there yet?" I asked the Uber driver. "There's the welcome sign." He pointed toward a rather rundown-looking sign. "Okay, buddy, stop the car." I let out a single note and the driver pulled over helplessly. "I have a lovely little present for this town..." Brandishing the metal dagger, I shoved the driver up against the wall, gently humming to keep him subdued. "Rot in hell. Literally." And with that, I stabbed the dagger into his heart, pinning him to the town sign.

Watch out, Woodflore Plains. Scorpio has come to town.