The cheerleaders assembled for practice on the football field of Moon High, their white and purple uniforms bright against the autumn grass. The afternoon sun stretched the shadows long across the field, creating dark twins that mimicked their every movement. Jessica watched from her position at the edge of the formation, her muscles coiled with tension. She hadn't slept properly in weeks, not since she'd first noticed the wrongness about Salina.

  The goth girl moved through their practice with impossible grace, her long white hair catching the light like polished pearls. Jessica's eyes narrowed as she watched Salina approach Tiffany, who was crouched near the sideline adjusting her shoelaces. There was calculation in Salina's movements, something predatory that made Jessica's inner wolf bristle with recognition. But it was Salina's shadow that truly betrayed her–it seemed to move independently across the grass, reaching and curling like smoke when no breeze stirred the air.

  Jessica had seen the truth about Salina in fragments this month: glimpses in the locker room mirror that showed something ancient and hungry wearing human skin like an ill-fitting costume, the way plants withered when she passed too close, the sickly sweet smell that reminded Jessica of her grandmother's funeral flowers. Most disturbing, Jessica remembered Mrs. Carpenter's face while she watched her granddaughter like a soulless shell.

  The attacks on the squad had started small, mostly on the new girls; twisted ankles, unexpected falls, inexplicable dizzy spells. Tracy had been the first, her ankle snapping during a simple cartwheel she'd performed hundreds of times before. Jessica had seen Salina's shadow twist beneath Tracy's feet at the crucial moment, but when she tried to explain what she'd seen, everyone had blamed it on the sun in her eyes.

  Now, watching Salina drift toward Tiffany with that too-perfect smile, Jessica saw the shadow reaching ahead of its owner, preparing to tangle with Tiffany's feet just as the next formation would bring the other girls charging toward this spot. The timing was flawless, the calculated cruelty of it making Jessica's blood boil.

  "Tiffany, watch out!" The words tore from Jessica's throat as she lunged forward, her supernatural reflexes carrying her across the field faster than any human could move. Salina's hand was already moving toward Tiffany's back, ready to deliver the slight push that would send her captain sprawling into the oncoming formation. The entire squad froze in their tracks, their synchronized routine shattering like broken glass in the heavy afternoon air.

  "What are you doing?" Tiffany demanded, jerking away from both of them. Her long red curly hair swung like a pendulum, her face flushed with confusion and embarrassment. The other girls stopped their approach, forming a loose semicircle of witnesses.

  "Doing? Salina was about to push you!" Jessica's voice cracked with weeks of pent-up desperation. Her hands shook as she pointed at Salina, knowing how this would look but unable to stay silent any longer. “She's the one causing all the accidents! Remember? Tracy's broken ankle, and the other girls going to the nurses’ office? Now you!”

  "Me? Jessica, are you feeling okay?" Salina's voice dripped with honey-sweet concern, the kind that contained hidden razor blades. "First you start having problems with the routines, and now these accusations..." She turned to the others, her expression a masterpiece of worried compassion.

  "Don't listen to her!" Jessica felt her control slipping, something wild and primal rising in her chest. The wolf inside her clawed at its cage, desperate to reveal itself, to show everyone the truth she could smell on Salina's skin. "She's not who you think she is. I've seen what she really looks like in the mirrors, what she's done to her grandmother—"

  "Jessica, stop," Tiffany cut in, her face hardening into the expression of authority she'd adopted since becoming captain. "Salina's been nothing but supportive since I gave her the lead position. You're the one who's been acting strange." The words hit Jessica like physical blows, each one driving home how completely Salina had won them over.

  "Oh, Jessica," Salina sighed, her dark eyes gleaming with triumph beneath long lashes. "I know it's hard accepting changes, but this is getting out of hand." Her shadow writhed at her feet, and Jessica caught the briefest flicker of something ancient and terrible in her face–purple veins beneath her skin, teeth too sharp, eyes fading to black like ink.

  The familiar rage bubbled up inside Jessica, her inner wolf howling for release. With a snarl that was more animal than human, she launched herself at Salina, fingers curled like claws. They hit the ground hard; the impact driving the breath from both of them. Jessica's hands found Salina's throat as weeks of frustration and fear exploded outward. Beneath her fingers, Salina's skin felt wrong–too cool, too smooth, like polished stone rather than living flesh.

  "Stop it!" Tiffany screamed. Multiple pairs of hands grabbed Jessica, pulling her off Salina, who lay in the grass looking perfectly helpless and terrified. But Jessica had felt the strength in her opponent's body, had seen the flash of ancient amusement in those dark eyes even as their owner played the victim.

  "Jessica, what the hell is wrong with you?" Tiffany's voice shook with anger and disappointment, the words falling like stones in the heavy afternoon air. "I totally can't take this anymore!”

  Jessica cleared her throat. “But Tiffany-”

  “Shut up! Just shut up! You're off the squad, Jessica. For good." Tiffany pointed her finger toward the edge of the field. “Leave now before I tell Coach Harris to call security!”

  The finality in her tone made it clear there would be no appeal, no chance to explain.

  Jessica staggered to her feet, chest heaving with exertion and emotion. The other girls formed a protective circle around Salina, their eyes vacant and accusing. They looked like sleepwalkers, Jessica realized with a chill. Like puppets dancing on invisible strings. Behind them, Salina's lips curled into a smile that was just slightly too wide, her teeth gleaming like pearls in the dying sunlight. For just a moment, her shadow seemed to rear up behind her, taking on a shape that belonged in humanity's oldest nightmares.

  Shame and helplessness crashed over Jessica like a wave. She had failed–failed to protect her friends, failed to expose the predator in their midst, failed to control her own supernatural nature when it mattered most. She turned and ran, tears blurring her vision, the sound of her former teammates comforting Salina fading behind her. Their voices seemed distorted, as if they were speaking underwater or from a great distance.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  As she fled across the field, the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of blood and bruises. For just a moment, all the shadows seemed to reach for her with grasping, hungry fingers. Jessica ran faster, knowing that tomorrow would be worse–knowing that now there was no one left to stand between Salina and her prey. Behind her, laughter floated across the darkening field, too musical to be human, too ancient to be kind.

  *****

  The cafeteria bustled with activity, a cacophony of clattering trays and teenage chatter that seemed to mock Jessica's isolation. She sat alone in the corner, her BBQ rib sandwich remaining untouched on the institutional blue lunch tray. The fluorescent lights above flickered occasionally, casting strange shadows across the faces of her classmates. The constant drone of the ancient air conditioning system provided an eerie undertone to the typical lunch hour chaos, making everything feel slightly off-kilter.

  Her former cheer squad huddled around Salina at their usual table–the prime spot near the floor-to-ceiling windows where sunlight streamed in, making their pristine uniforms gleam. The white and purple polyester seemed to shimmer unnaturally in the light, like scales rather than fabric. The sound of their laughter echoed across the room, but it felt hollow, wrong somehow. Like a recording played slightly off-speed. Tiffany caught her eye for a moment before quickly looking away, her usually animated face now eerily blank, all traces of the girl who'd spent countless nights giggling with Jessica during sleepovers completely erased.

  "Did you see what happened in Chemistry?" Salina's voice carried across the cafeteria, somehow cutting through all other noise, its pitch perfect tone setting Jessica's teeth on edge. "Mr. Burke actually thought he could give me a B+ on that lab report." Her perfectly manicured nails drummed against the table in a rhythm that seemed to pulse through the room, making several nearby students unconsciously sway in their seats.

  The squad erupted in perfect, synchronized laughter. Jessica's stomach churned as she watched them move in unison, their heads tilting at identical angles, their hands covering their mouths in the same gesture. Mia and Camella, once as different as night and day in their mannerisms, now mirrored each other's movements with disturbing precision. It wasn't natural. How could no one else see it? Even Amber, who'd always been the rebel of the group with her own distinctive flair, now moved like a puppet on strings.

  "I just had a little chat with him after class," Salina continued, twirling a lock of her impossibly perfect hair–hair that seemed to catch the light in ways that defied physics, creating patterns that hurt Jessica's eyes if she looked too long. "He saw things my way in the end." The smirk that accompanied these words held something ancient and predatory, a glimpse of something that had no business wearing the face of a high school student.

  Jessica's heart stopped when she saw Kevin approach their table, wearing a slightly rumpled letterman jacket, which he never wore before. The jacket's white and purple colors seemed faded somehow, as if whatever force controlled him was literally draining the life from everything it touched. He moved with the same strange fluidity she'd noticed in the others, as if he were being pulled by invisible strings. Without hesitation, he leaned down and kissed Salina, his movements mechanical and practiced, devoid of the natural awkwardness that had made his kisses with Jessica so endearing.

  Something inside Jessica snapped. The protein shake in her hand crashed to the floor as she shot up from her seat, her chair scraping against the linoleum with a screech that drew several vacant stares. The vanilla liquid spread across the floor in a pattern that seemed almost deliberate, like some sort of white sigil. Her footsteps echoed in her ears as she stormed across the cafeteria, each step feeling like an eternity, the distance between tables stretching impossibly long.

  "Kevin, stop!" Jessica's voice cracked, raw emotion breaking through the artificial calm that seemed to blanket the cafeteria. "What's wrong with you? Can't you see what she's doing to you? This isn't you–she's messing with your head!" Her hands trembled as she reached for him, but he smoothly stepped back, just out of reach, the movement too precise to be natural.

  Kevin turned to her with vacant eyes, the warm brown that had once looked at her with such affection now lifeless, like painted glass. "She’s not messing with my head, Jessica. It is you.”

  Jessica’s eyes widened in shock. “What? Kevin-”

  “We're done, Jessica. I don't want to be with you anymore." His voice was flat, emotionless, like he was reading from a script. The words emerged in perfect cadence, lacking all the small stutters and verbal tics that had been uniquely his.

  The words hit her like a physical blow, forcing the air from her lungs. Memories flashed through her mind–Kevin surprising her with sunflowers after practice, their first kiss at the park, their supernatural mystery investigations, and his fingers intertwined with hers as they sat through the endless procession of well-wishers. That person couldn't be gone, replaced by this hollow shell standing before her.

  "Kevin, please," she whispered, reaching for his hand, noticing how his skin seemed almost waxy under the fluorescent lights. "Remember when we went to the movie together? And—"

  "He said he's done," Salina interrupted, her perfect black lips curving into a predatory smile that revealed teeth that seemed just a fraction too sharp. "Don't embarrass yourself more than you already have." The surrounding temperature seemed to drop several degrees as she spoke.

  Without thinking, Jessica lunged at Salina, her vision blurred with tears of rage. But suddenly she found herself surrounded, her path blocked by a wall of uniforms. Her former squad members moved in perfect unison, their synchronized movements more like a military unit than cheerleaders. Tiffany, Mia, Camella, and Amber formed an impenetrable barrier, their eyes holding the same empty look as Kevin's–these weren't the girls who welcomed her to their squad, who had helped her through school drama, who raised her spirits during the football games.

  "Tiffany?" Jessica pleaded, looking at her former best friend, searching for any trace of the girl who'd stayed up all night with her when her mom first got sick. "Tiff… We've known each other since I joined your squad. Remember when we survived the incident at the castle last Halloween? This isn't you!"

  Tiffany's face remained impassive, her usually expressive features frozen in a mask of indifference. She was only as emotionless as the others.

  Salina's laugh carried an otherworldly echo that sent chills down Jessica's spine, the sound seeming to bounce off surfaces at impossible angles. "Look around, Jessica. You're alone now. No one will believe you." She stepped closer, her movement fluid like a snake approaching its prey. Her voice dropped to a whisper that somehow seemed to reverberate inside Jessica's skull, each word leaving an oily residue in her mind. "Why don’t you leave town while you still can. Before something... unfortunate happens."

  The threat hung in the air between them, heavy with promise. The fluorescent lights above flickered more intensely, and for a split second, Jessica could have sworn she saw something else standing where Salina was–something tall and ancient, with too many angles and not enough humanity. But beneath her fear, Jessica felt something else stirring–determination. She thought of her mother's last words: "Sometimes being brave means standing alone."

  Jessica's hands trembled, but she held Salina's gaze. In those eyes, she glimpsed something ancient and terrible, something that had no place in a high school cafeteria. "This isn't over. I'll find a way to stop you and save everyone." The words came out stronger than she felt, carrying an echo of her mother's strength.

  "Such drama," Salina sighed, examining her perfect manicure with nails that seemed to shift between red and black depending on how the light hit them. "Kevin, escort your ex away from our table. She's ruining everyone's appetite." The command rippled through the air with an almost visible force.

  Kevin's hands were gentle but firm as he gripped Jessica's shoulders, turning her toward the exit. His touch, once so familiar and comforting, now felt cold and foreign, like being handled by a mannequin. Jessica shrugged him off, refusing to give Salina the satisfaction of seeing her manhandled away. She couldn't help but notice how his new jacket carried no scent at all.

  She turned and pushed through the gathering crowd of onlookers, forcing herself not to run until she reached the hallway. Her footsteps echoed off the empty lockers as she walked away, each step feeling heavier than the last. The sound bounced off the walls in ways that defied acoustics, sometimes seeming to precede her movements rather than follow them.

  Her mind raced with questions and half-formed plans. There had to be a way to break Salina's hold–the library might have something in the old town records, or she could sneak into Salina’s house and borrow one of her books… Unless the thing inside of her burnt all her stuff.

  Jessica took a deep breath, remembering her mother’s last words. She would have to find another way to save everyone–but this time, she'd have to do it alone. As she rounded the corner, she could have sworn she heard Salina's laughter echoing through the halls, but when she turned back, there was nothing there but shadows that seemed to move independently of any light source.

  The empty corridor stretched before her, the usual inspirational posters about achievement and perseverance now seeming to mock her isolation. But as she walked away from the cafeteria, Jessica felt the first stirrings of a plan forming in her mind. If Salina thought she would give up without a fight, she was about to learn just how wrong she was.