Lily stumbled over a tree root as she and the rest of the class walked through the forest behind Nova High. This was her first and last time as a student of Witch Agriculture, and instead of having the class at the greenhouse at the back of the school, Mrs Khan had decided to have it in the forest.

Jack laughed at Lily. "I expect a postcard from that trip!"

Lily brushed the dirt off her knees. "You'll have a collection at the rate I'm going."

"I'll frame them above my collection of crystals."

"Thanks Jack." Lily said sarcastically as they trailed after the rest of the students. When Mrs Khan took them to a clearing filled with sprouted saplings they finally stopped.

"Lesson for today!" Mrs Khan shouted so everyone could hear. "Identify what kind of saplings these all are, and then use your abilities to grow them until they're head-height, and no further!"

The class automatically drifted to pairs, and Lily stuck with Jack. As Mrs Khan walked over to them, Lily realised Mrs Khan was probably Jack's partner in class - it would be pointless putting someone as powerful as Jack with the rest of the students when she could complete the lesson with a clap of her hands.

"You two, we're planting more saplings." Mrs Khan said and lead them over to the side of the field where the grass was yellowing and the dirt was dry. Lily frowned at the field, and Jack spoke before she had the chance.

"The soil's too dry to plant anything here." Jack deadpanned but Mrs Khan just raised a penciled eyebrow.

"That's why Lily's here." Mrs Khan stared her down, motioning to her hands. "Your creature has an affinity for water, let's see how strong she is."

Jack blinked while Lily's mouth dropped. "You want to test my abilities?" She gasped. "After what happened yesterday?"

Mrs Khan nodded. "Jack and I will help you if anything similar happens."

"We will?" Jack questioned. "I mean, yeah of course I will, but how exactly? I wasn't much help yesterday."

"This time we're in a forest." Mrs Khan knelt and gestured for the two of them to do the same, and held a hand filled with seeds out to them. "Do you recognise these Jack?"

"Willow tree seeds." She said immediately.

"They were what I used yesterday when you had increased the humidity Lily." Mrs Khan explained. "Willow trees are often found near large bellies of water, like a river. They cause a lot of damage to drains near homes because their roots are strong enough to puncture metal and drink the water within."

Lily started to piece together where she was going. "They're a contingency plan?"

"Partially - I also need more willow seeds."

"So we're doing your homework for you?" Jack teased.

"Lily, water the soil for Jack and I to plant the seeds." Mrs Khan ignored Jack's remark and focused on her. "Just take a breath and try to summon the water, guide it into the soil."

Lily frowned. "But I don't know how to summon water, or if that's something I can even do."

"You never know until you try, Lily."

Jack raised her hand. "Except the time she didn't try and changed the humidity so much people collapsed."

Lily swallowed the lump in her throat and hesitantly placed her hands on the coarse ground. Mrs Khan frowned at Jack's remark and patiently watched Lily. Jack looked between the two of them and held her hands together. Her rings glimmered as her powers surfaced slightly, ready to steady Lily.

Lily didn't know what she was doing.

She'd never summoned anything before. The times when her creature had surfaced she had defended Alice and defended herself. The only time it was when she wasn't being attacked was during the lock down, when she was hiding in the bathroom and roaming empty halls before the rogues showed up.

Her eyes had glowed then. Her abilities had surfaced. What was different between then and now?

Lily scrunched her face up as she tried to remember what she was feeling at the time, maybe her feelings would trigger her creature? She was bracing herself for the rogues, but when she was roaming the halls she was following Jack's magic.

She was following nature. Instinct.

Lily softened her hands on the coarse grass and started speaking to herself, to her creature if she could hear. We need water. This place is too dry. We need water. Come on, we need water.

Her stomach sank when nothing happened. Lily dug her nails into the ground, the soil breaking apart in her hands. Hydrate. Hydro. Water. Wet. Moisten. She thought of all the terms for water she knew, hoping for a trigger word. Something. Anything. She searched for any kind of switch or latch in herself that turned her creature's abilities on.

Lily opened her eyes and looked up sadly at Mrs Khan. "I can't do it."

Mrs Khan nodded after a while. "Try one more time."

Lily sighed before shutting her eyes again, leaving her hands on her knees. This was pointless. She'd never used her creatures abilities before this past month despite the amount of times she would stand in front of a mirror and wait for her eyes to burn. What difference would a change in environment make?

"Maybe you should stop thinking." Jack suggested, and Lily looked at her with a raised brow. "You know, just do it?"

"That never works."

"That never works for any creature we know." Jack corrected with a smirk. "You're different, so why not try a different tactic?"

Lily frowned and stared at the soil. The grass growing was brittle and fraying, the soil cracked like a glass pane. "Why isn't there water here?" She wondered aloud.

Mrs Khan shifted to sit down properly, folding her weakened legs. "There's a mountain north of here and it has a cave system within. I was thinking about taking the class up to the entrance, stopping by the village around it at one point. The cave system has a large river that runs through it all. One of the forks runs beneath the school and along here, but not at this end of the field. It used to be a few years ago but the mountain had a massive storm for a few days and afterwards, the field dried up."

"Do you think the storm did something in the cave system?" Jack asked as Lily stared back at the dry ground. "Bring in a boulder or something? Block it?"

"It's quite possible," Mrs Khan nodded. "But there's no way to this system from the public caves, it's too narrow. We'll never know what happened."

Lily heard them theorise the blocked cave but she stopped listening. It wasn't a matter of her creating water from nothing, it was because the water stopped coming to this side of the field - if she wanted water for this soil, it had to come from beneath.

Lily stood up and wiped her knees of the grass stuck to her. "I don't know how I'm meant to get water to a place there hasn't been for years, from a place that's possibly sealed off, that I can't get to."

Mrs Khan pulled herself slowly to her feet and Jack sprang up. "It was an idea," was all the witch teacher said before she walked over to check on the other students. Jack stayed with her and shrugged.

"At least you know what you can't do." Jack said.

"I've known that for years."

"Hey," Jack scowled. "You'll find out someday. You'll know who you are and how your creature works. It won't be instantaneous Lily. I bet you'll find out sooner than you think."

"I thought your mother was the psychic?"

"I'm trying to be inspirational cut me some slack."

"I know," Lily's head hung low. "Thank you. It's just hard to believe after being in the dark for so long."

Jack grinned at her. "Maybe you just need someone to light up your life - like Ryan?"

Lily shook her head, blushing brightly as the witch laughed at her. "Come on, class is almost finishing up. We can go and meet Ryan and his books."

"Andrew too." Lily mentioned, watching Jack blink rapidly.

"Oh the big Alpha is gonna be there?" Jack cleared her throat a little.

"It is his house."

"Yeah but I thought he'd be, I dunno, out doing whatever else he does besides hang around his house."

"Maybe he wants to light up a certain witch's life?" Lily teased, laughing when Jack lightly shoved her.

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"Oh my goodness the famous Jacinta Garcia-Slater is blushing!" Lily pointed at Jack's slightly rosy cheeks.

"I am not! You're delusional!" Jack tried to sound serious but a laugh escaped her. Soon the two were laughing wholeheartedly. Mrs Khan hushed them, the two of them still grinning as school finished for the day.

"Weekend!" Jack sang, rapidly stomping her feet. "Two days of freedom!"

Lily was walking slowly as they approached Jack's car. The witch was humming to herself. Lily couldn't work up the energy to be joyful when she wasn't feeling the same way as her friend. It was her last day at school, an early graduation for her, and what had she got out of it?

For most of her schooling she was alone, mourning and struggling with a loss no one could relate to. She'd lost her family, and her identity was in the wind with her grandmother.

But over this past week, she'd found a few friends. She'd stood up to a bully. She'd found out more about her creature than ever before, even using her abilities to save little Alice.

Lily took something out of her schooling, at least, besides drama. She still wanted more though. She wanted her creature to do something. She wanted to shake the world, scream the walls down, lift the roof. Her fists clenched as Lily stared at her now old school. All she learned from this school was the basics, foundations for her future. She wanted more, she wanted something, she wanted to rise above her grief and loss and crash down on it.

"You coming?" Jack called and Lily blinked out of her daydreams.

"Yeah, just reminiscing." Lily said, frowning at the risen rush of her blood. "Ready to head over to the pack house?"

Jack stared at the school. "Reminiscing over this rubbish place? Don't bother Lily, we'll have better memories out of school."

As she shut the door, Lily was unaware of the rocks blocking the cave system beneath the dry field shifting after a sudden rush of water. Completely unaware of the stones crumbling and an old river returning to life.

Lily only felt a weight lift off her shoulders as they drove away from her school for the last time, like somehow what she'd done in her schooling was worth it in the end, for the few friends she'd made. She'd survived her grief, her loss, and her bullying, and her head was held high.

Isaac Munford watched the witch drive off with Lily away from the school, scowling, as he began his walk home. He lived the opposite side of town compared to Lily but some part of him wished she lived on his side, so they could walk together.

He was always drawn to the red-head girl, the loner of Nova High. The girl who never knew what she was.

It was easy picking on someone who clung to the shadows, who wanted to remain invisible to everyone. No one noticed the attention they received. It was hidden from teachers, mostly, but lately Isaac had been slipping up.

Ever since Lily's creature surfaced, the sourness in his gut turned to awe.

Isaac kicked a stone out of his way as he walked past the massive forest. He scoffed under his breath as he remembered the first time he'd seen Lily's creature surface. He would never forget those silver eyes burning when she punched Croft in the face. He didn't like Croft, but in that moment he adored whatever Lily was.

Even he didn't have the strength to momentarily knock out a werewolf, and he was just as strong. He was a vampire, he could easily go toe-to-toe with Croft.

Isaac hated superiors, couldn't stand to be anything but the best, the most powerful in the school. He was for a few days, when that alpha Andrew was out of school and sorting out his father's funeral, and all the paperwork, he guessed.

But Lily was more powerful than anyone in the school, he knew it the instant Croft went still for a second against the cafeteria floor.

He couldn't hate her - not after he smelled her blood in science. He craved her. Anything to be close, anything to breathe in that power in her veins.

Isaac kicked another stone ahead of him but froze when it was kicked back. He looked up to see someone standing in front of him. He had a dark jumper on with the hood over his dark hair. His eyes shone feral gold.

"Hey." Isaac said, drawing himself up. "What's your deal?"

The werewolf cocked his head to the side, tracing Isaac briefly. "You go to the same school as the little river?"

"The what now?"

"The red-head. The girl with the grey-eyed creature." He explained, narrowing his eyes at how clueless the boy was.

"You mean Lily?" Isaac scrunched his face up. "Yeah I go to school with her."

"Are you friends with her?" The wolf took a step forward.

"Nah, she thinks I'm a bully." Isaac kicked the ground again, eyes flashing trademark vampire red. "She's stupid and annoying, clearly doesn't know anything, especially with that witch talking to her."

The wolf paused mid-stride, and took a step back from him. "Do you want a little revenge?"

Isaac looked up. "How?"

"My friend also wants revenge. He needs the litt- he needs Lily, in order to do that." The wolf grinned at him. "What's the best way to get her attention?"

"Not by provoking her, believe me I tried that. Her friends back her up now." Isaac narrowed his eyes at the wolf. "Who are you anyway?"

"My name's Kristofer." He introduced, an idea springing to mind at the boy's answer. He knew Lily was protected by the pack. All he needed was them to back off and he'd be able to take her to the real Alpha. "My friend Yuric wants to get Lily away from the pack of wolves here."

Isaac paused. "What's in it for me?"

"What do you want?"

He didn't even hesitate. "The latest PlayStation. With four working controllers."

Kristofer blinked. "I can do that."

"I also want Skyrim, Dark Souls, and Assassin's Creed."

When the wolf agreed with a half-hearted laugh, Isaac grinned. He was finally getting that PlayStation that he'd been nagging his parents for months for. He'd rub it in all his friends faces, he'd beat them all at his new games. All he wanted was to be the best.

"Now I need you to do something for me, boy." Kristofer snarled, eyes lighting up at the chance he'd been given.

The little river wasn't getting through his grasp again.