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her?
    The laugh died as quickly as it had begun as a strange yetfamiliar ache welled up in my stomach and chest. I nearly moaned out loud. Not again.
    Even knowing the cause for the weird ache couldn’t stop me from turning and looking down the hall. My gaze immediately collided and locked with the sensation’s green-eyed source towering over most of the other students.
    Tristan
    Even in the middle of a noisy mass of students, one girl’s laugh grabbed my attention.
    I couldn’t figure out how she did it. The hallway was loud, with at least a hundred students all talking and yelling in a space only a few yards wide and thirty times as long. But every time Savannah Colbert laughed, the husky sound somehow managed to reach out and twist up everything inside me.
    Part of me wished I never had to see or hear her again. Life would be a lot easier if I didn’t. The way I felt about Savannah was all mixed-up. Once, she’d been my best friend. And the first girl I’d ever kissed.
    Then I’d made the mistake of telling my older sister, Emily, about pretending to marry Savannah during recess in the fourth grade. Emily had blabbed to our parents. Mom had blown a gasket and called the school to get me yanked out of Savannah’s class. Dad had turned purple in the face and gone all silent and scowling. And I’d known I was in big trouble.
    Ever since, I and all the rest of the descendants of the Clann had been forbidden to have anything to do with Savannah. Supposedly she was a dangerous influence or something. Whatever she was, she was definitely on the Clann’s list of social outcasts. And Mom made sure I remembered it, too, constantly pounding it into my head for the past five years to “stay away from that Colbert girl.”
    And yet I couldn’t stop myself from turning to look at her now.
    From this distance, I couldn’t see Savannah’s eyes in detail. But I remembered them way too clearly. Their color changed from gray to slate-blue to blue-green depending on her mood. Wonder what color they are now? I thought, vaguely aware of my hands tightening around my books.
    A heavy arm draped over my shoulder. “Hey, Tristan. Ready to hit the weights after school?”
    My best friend, Dylan Williams, shook me, breaking my focus. I met his usual cocky grin with a frown of my own. “Yeah, sure. Though you might want to try showing up on time today, or Coach Parker is gonna be ticked.”
    He laughed. “We’re descendants. What’s he gonna do to us?”
    I shot a glance around to see if anyone was listening, then glared at him. “Dude, ever heard of the word ‘discretion’?” I lowered my voice, trying to set an example for the dumb blond. “You know we’re not supposed to talk about that stuff in public. And Coach Parker isn’t a descendant, so he’s still going to be ticked if you’re late again. Or do you actually like running laps?”
    Dylan’s smile hardened as his chin rose a notch. “We’ll see who runs laps. No one messes with a descendant. Not even a football coach.”
    â€œEven descendants have to play by the rules, Dylan. We always have, always will.”
    He shook his shaggy bangs out of his eyes. “Maybe, for now. Or maybe we’ll be the descendants who make some changes.”
    â€œMake some changes? Like what?”
    He shrugged. “We founded this town. Don’t you think it’s past time we were running it the way we should be?”
    I rocked back on my heels. “Oh, yeah? And how should we be running things?”
    â€œI don’t know…more out in the open about it?”
    I scowled at him, hoping he was just joking around. But something about the set of his jaw and the dark look in his eyes said otherwise. “You’re not suggesting coming out about the Clann’s abilities?”
    He shrugged again. “Why not? This is the modern world. All the