Murmurs went up from the assembled students.

"I don't like bullies," Ivy said, her lips curling back. She made a slapping motion and sent the lycan tumbling down the hall. Her hand clenched the air and jerked. The lycan slid back toward her. She leaned over his prostrate form. "I'll make sure you never bully anyone again." Ivy raised a fist and made a pounding motion. The granite stone to the left of the student's head cracked, even though her fist never made contact. She made the motion again, and the invisible force pulverized the stone to dust. Teeth bared, her face red with rage, Ivy clasped both hands together and held them over the lycan's head. "Never again!" she screamed.

I blurred forward, caught her arms. "Ivy, don't!" I said. "Please, don't."

She seemed to snap from a trance. Looked up at me. Tears burst into her eyes, and she slumped. "I hate them, Justin. I hate the way they look at me. I hate the things they say about me." She gripped my shirt, looking up at me with tear-stained eyes. "I hate them!"

A crowd of students surrounded us. The lycan scrambled to his feet and plowed through them in his haste to escape. I heard someone whispering about how Ivy wasn't normal. Heard another say we were all freaks. Another asked why we were hanging out with a traitor.

I caught Morgana's tear-filled eyes.

"Show's over," I said to the crowd. "Get out of here!"

The crowd dispersed rather quickly, probably concerned Ivy might lose it again and kill them all.

"I don't like bullies either," Morgana said, wiping her face.

I led them down a quiet hall. Ivy took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them, her face could have been made of ice.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She smiled brightly. "I'm fine. I guess I need to work on my temper."

"You didn't seem fine. Don't repress your emotions, Ivy. It'll only make things worse when they break free again."

"Oh, that silly boy just made me mad," she said again, bouncing on her toes.

Ivy was pulling a Shelton on me, I realized, except she didn't hide her emotions with a gruff exterior, but fake sunshine. I turned to the other girl. "Are you okay, Morgana?"

She nodded.

"Do they bully you a lot?"

She looked away from me, her protective shell coming up.

"I was bullied a lot in school, too," I said. "I know what it's like."

Her eyes widened. "You were?"

"Football players beat him up," Ivy said in hushed voice. "Big mean boys."

"That's terrible," Morgana said. "Did—did your parents…" she trailed off as if unable to finish the sentence.

"Did my parents what?" I sighed. Morgana and Ivy were going to drive me crazy if they kept repressing everything. "My parents split up," I said. "My mom is an Arcane, and my dad, well, he's a Daemos."

"He's not our dad, Justin," Ivy said in a fierce voice. "It's a lie, a lie, a lie!"

Morgana and I gave her an uneasy look.

"Unless you know for sure who our dad is, can we just pretend he is?" I said, exasperated. "I mean, it's really cool if you think about it. We're the best of both worlds."

Ivy pursed her lips, and narrowed her eyes at me. "It's cool to be half evil?"

"No, but it means we have the super powers of both sides. Magic and super strength."

"I don't know…" she trailed off, eyes losing focus. "I'm not super strong."

"But wouldn't it be cool if you could pick up bullies without magic?" I asked, wondering if I might have my foot in the door on her dislike of our father.

"I suppose." She toed the floor. "Whatever. We'll pretend he's our father so Morgana doesn't get confused."

I fought back a smile. She'd given me an inch. I wondered if I could take it a mile.

"I guess my problems aren't as bad as yours," Morgana said. "I mean, at least my parents love each other, even if they are traitors."

I stared at her for a moment. "Traitors?"

"Traitors?" Ivy said an instant later. "What did they do? Tell me!"

Morgana nodded, a tear breaking free from an eyelash to spill down her cheek. "They were spying for the Red Syndicate. They're in jail now."

"I'm so sorry, Morgana." I touched her shoulder, unsure how to console her.

She flung herself against me, thin arms clinging tight around my waist, head pressed to my stomach, her body shaking with sobs. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just hugged her back, wondering if this was what it felt like to be a parent consoling a hurt child.

Ivy touched Morgana's hand. "Everyone treats you bad because of what your parents did?"

Morgana nodded. "But I know my parents aren't bad people. I just know it."

My sister's eyes met mine. "I know how that feels." She seemed on the verge of saying something, when her eyes went wide. "Oh, no. I'm really late." She looked around frantically. "They'll be looking for me. Oh, no!"

"Wait!" I said. "I need to talk to you about—"

"No time, no more time," she said in a slightly crazed voice. "I can run. Maybe blink." She stood on tiptoe and kissed me on the cheek. "Take care of Morgana, brother. She's one of us." With that, she literally blinked away, appearing at the end of the hall, about a hundred feet away. Blew me a kiss, and vanished again.

"Your sister is so cool," Morgana said in an awed voice.

Son of a— I sighed, looking back at Morgana. "Are you going to be okay?"

She shook her head. "I can't even stay in my dorm room. The girls make fun of me. I sneak out so I don't have to be near them. You're my only friend now. My other friend got sick, and I don't know if she'll be okay again."

"What happened to your parents?" I asked.

"A man came for them," she said. "They ran away and left me with my aunt. They told me they'd be back, and they loved me. But the mean man, he wouldn't give up. He found them and arrested them."

"Who was this man?" I asked.

She trembled. "I don't remember his first name, just his last." She gave me a hopeful look. "Can you make him give my parents back?"

"I don't know. But I have friends in the Templars who might be able to help."

Her eyes brightened hope. "Please, do."

"Give me the name of the man, and I'll have my friends ask him where they are," I said.

She put a finger to her chin, narrowing her eyes in thought. "I think his name was Shelton."

Chapter 33

I shoved Shelton against the wall. "How many lives have you ruined?" I shouted. I snarled, released him, and paced across the warded room where we'd discussed our battle plans the night before.

Bella watched from a seat near the door, her eyes concerned, but made no move to interfere.

"I wasn't trying to ruin lives, damn it!" Shelton punched the wall, and winced. "I was making a living." He shrugged even as he favored his knuckles. "I brought criminals to justice. Nothing wrong with that."

"How many people did you kidnap?" I asked, a burning coal of outrage simmering in my stomach. "How many mothers and fathers and siblings and girlfriends, did you take away from their loved ones?"

"I didn't kidnap anyone, Justin. I apprehended lawbreakers. Fugitives."

"Justin, these people committed crimes," Bella said, her voice soft. "Harry didn't do anything wrong."

I ran a hand through my hair. Sighed, and stared blankly at the floor for a moment. Maybe I was being unreasonable. Maybe knowing Morgana and identifying with her situation was eating me up inside. Now I was taking out my frustrations on a friend. "Was the evidence solid?" I asked in a lowered voice.

"I'm a bounty hunter, damn it," Shelton said, "not a detective. Looking for evidence isn't my job."

"Does the Overworld convict them by a jury trial?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, the tribunal does." He cleared his throat. "Although, I don't think Zagg's girl has gone to trial yet. Neither have Morgana's parents."

"They've been in prison all this time without a trial?" Bella asked, concern on her face.

"Again, not my job," Shelton said. "Who the hell do you think I am, the Primus?" He threw up his hands. "Holy friggin cow patties, people. Maybe you're confusing me with, oh, I dunno, God?"

"Who else have you arrested that I should know about?" I asked. "Before I stumble across another poor broken little child whose parents were taken away by the notorious Harry Shelton."

"Gee, it sounds so much better when you put it like that," Shelton said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I didn't intentionally arrest people for kicks and giggles. My contact—" he stopped mid-sentence, mouth open. His face blanched, and he tried to speak again, his mouth apparently warring with his brain for control. After several seconds of fighting, he dropped into a chair. "Crap. Who am I kidding?"

"What is it, Harry?" Bella asked, rising from her chair as if ready to fly to him if need be.

"I'm such a liar." He swallowed hard. "I can't do this anymore."

I was sorely tempted to pile on in agreement with that assessment, but kept my mouth shut by sheer willpower.

Shelton finally continued after another long pause. "Aerianas." His throat sounded dry. His voice cracked.

The name sounded terrible familiar. And then it hit me. Vallaena had said that name, confronting Shelton with it, and threatening to expose him several months ago right after I'd first met her. So much had been going on at the time—hellhounds trying to kill me, Aunt Vallaena trying to assign herself as my protector, and Underborn, evil assassin that he was, trying to kill my father. Ah, the good old days.