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shocked him. He sat up suddenly, his body tense.
    He shook his head. “You know I don’t want to talk about my past,” he said. “We’ve been over this.”
    Yes. We’d been over it and over it during the week I’d spent in the hospital waiting for my arm to heal. Jackson didn’t want to tell me about his past or about his being a demon. He didn’t want to talk about himself much at all. But I needed to know the truth. He hadn’t said a single word about what that guy Isaac had told me. He’d said that Jackson killed people when he came through the portal for the first time. Was it true? I didn’t want to believe it.
    And he hadn’t told me how he knew the demon attached to my necklace.
    “I’m asking about my past,” I said. “Not yours.”
    His eyes searched my face. I thought he was going to stand up and walk away from me like he’d done so often in the hospital when I pressed him about his past. Instead he moved closer to me on the blanket. He ran his finger along the silver chain around my neck, his warm fingertips brushing against my skin.
    “Aerden,” he said.
    My eyes opened wide. Aerden. That was the name he’d called the demon when he first appeared that night in the old hospital. I took Jackson’s hand in mine and lifted it to my lips. I kissed the knuckles on his fingers.
    “Who is he?” I asked. “Every time I’ve been in trouble, he’s come to help me. Did my mother send him to watch out for me?”
    Jackson swallowed hard and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. He didn’t speak for a moment, and I didn’t dare interrupt the silence. It was as if there was a war going on inside of him. I knew he was trying to decide whether to open up and let me in or whether to keep shutting me out.
    Finally, he looked up and moistened his lips.
    “Aerden is my brother,” he said.

There’s Got To Be A Way
     
    My mouth fell open in surprise. “Your brother?”
    “I told you it was a long story,” he said, taking another sip of wine.
    I couldn’t put a voice to all the questions that flooded my thoughts. I knew that what the Order was doing to the demons was wrong, but I’d never thought of them as having families and being capable of love the same way humans were. But that was silly wasn’t it? I mean, I knew Jackson was a demon, yet I desperately wanted him to love me.
    “Tell me,” I said. I put my hand on his. “Please.”
    Jackson began slowly, his voice shaky. “Aerden is Peachville’s first demon. The Prima’s demon,” he said. “He was torn from our world a hundred years ago.”
    “That’s why he protects me,” I said. I slid the pendant back and forth along the silver chain. The zipping sound was so familiar to me now, it brought some comfort.
    “When a demon gate is first created, the witches of the Order use a special stone. It isn’t always a sapphire. Sometimes they use emeralds or topaz or even diamonds. I don’t know the exact reason behind the different stones, but I think it has something to do with the specific energy of the location.” He stood and began to pace the ground under the branches of the pecan trees. “The stone is used to create the portal, and a part of the connection between the first demon and the first witch is trapped inside the stone. A piece of the stone is chipped off to create a necklace like yours.”
    “What does it do?”
    “It connects you to the demon. To Aerden,” he said. “Whenever someone tries to use magic against you, he’ll always come to help. It’s especially important when it’s worn by a Future, like you. Before she’s been combined with the demon in the initiation ceremony. After the initiation, the necklace takes on different powers. Like allowing you to teleport to the ritual room. Every Prima in your family has worn that necklace before you.”
    I pictured the stone around my mother’s neck. And her mother before her. It was the only solid connection I had to my family, and it was precious to me. I never knew that