Chapter One

Luke's hazel eyes looked up at the guy walking into the room. He nudged his friend, mumbling, "Hey, Jake, check out the new kid."

Jake glanced up and gave a grunt. His eyes went back to his phone. Luke commented, ignoring the fact that his friend didn't care, "Looks like a fag to me."

The new kid set down his bag loudly, gripping the strap with white knuckles. The eye that wasn't covered by black, choppy hair narrowed as it glared at Luke's back. He had been called "the goth", "the punk", even "the emo", but "the fag" was a new one.

"Luke, it's first hour on the first day of school, and you're already being an ass? What a great start to senior year."

He turned to the girl that had made the comment. "It's better than being a bitch like you, Stella."

The new guy looked from Luke to the girl he had called Stella. She regarded Luke with intense green eyes that seemed to change as she stared at him menacingly. The new guy couldn't really see them close enough to distinguish how they had changed, but he saw Luke stiffen.

"I dare you to call me that again," she challenged. The sandy-headed jock grumbled to himself and turned away from her, deciding to keep his life and limbs intact.

Stella's eyes went back to green, and she smiled slightly, tucking a strand of bright red hair behind her ear. She felt eyes on her and looked at the new guy. He was staring at her intently, a frown on his face. She studied him for a moment, noting his lanky form, angular face, an almost black eye, and choppy black hair that covered the other eye completely.

"Class, settle down." The elderly teacher walked into the room and added, "Welcome to anatomy and physiology."

Stella turned back to the front, aware the new guy's eyes were still on her.

"Hey, new guy!"

He rolled his eyes and turned, but stopped when he saw Stella dodging through people in the crowded hall to catch up to him.

"It's Adam," he said. His voice was quiet, but Stella could easily hear it over the swarm of students around them. It seemed to draw in her attention, along with some of the other students'. They slowed to listen and stare at him, but one look from Adam made them move.

"Sorry, Adam. Listen, don't mind Luke. He's a jerk to pretty much everybody."

Adam shrugged. "I try not to bother with people like him."

He started walking again, but Stella followed him, asking, "So, what's your next class?"

"World Literature."

Stella smiled. "I'm heading there, too. Want me to walk with you?"

He gave another shrug and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Her wavy bright red hair bounced as she walked, shining with many different shades of orange and red. Adam had never seen green eyes like hers. They shone like intense green jewels. He wasn't really concerned with her physical appearance, though.

"I don't understand," he mumbled.

"What?" Stella's eyes flicked to him.

"Nothing," he answered quickly, forcing himself to look away.

"Shit!" Adam hissed through gritted teeth, hand going to his forehead.

"Dude, I'm so sorry!" the freshman exclaimed, shutting the cabinet door he had opened the same moment Adam decided to stand from his crouched position. The sharp corner had smacked him in the forehead. Adam had almost made it through the day without any incidents, until his last class of the day.

"It's fine," he mumbled, looking at his fingers to see the blood.

"Stella, here's a bandage. Can you help him with that?" the art teacher asked, digging in his desk and handing her one of the many bandages he kept in his drawer.

"Sure." Stella wet a paper towel and turned to him, hand reached out to lift his hair off his forehead, but Adam grabbed it.

"I can do it myself."

Stella snorted, pulling her hand free. "I'd like to see you try applying a bandage to your forehead without a mirror."

"Nurse Stella to the rescue."

"Shut up, Luke." She threw a glare over her shoulder before turning back to Adam. Her eyes were still hard with anger as she pushed up the pitch black hair.

Normally Adam would be concerned about someone uncovering his other eye, but he was staring at Stella's eyes. A red-violet had started to spread from her pupils, taking over almost half the green in her irises. He watched in amazement as her glare softened and the unnatural color faded back to the intense green.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh?" Adam stared dumbly at her.

"Are you okay?" Stella asked, applying the bandage. "You looked shocked."

"Your eyes..."

She chuckled. "They do that. You have some unique eyes yourself."

Adam scrambled to cover the ice blue eye again, making Stella give another chuckle.

"It's okay. I know quite a few people with heterochromatic eyes."

"Really? Who?" Adam was confused. He hadn't seen anybody with different colored eyes all day.

Stella turned away, avoiding his gaze as she answered, "No one from around here."

Adam opened his mouth to ask, but the bell rang. As if on cue, she pulled out her vibrating cell phone and held it to her ear as she started walking out the room. She didn't bother with a greeting, just asked, "How many?"

He stood staring at her hurrying form until someone shoved past him. Luke looked back, growling, "Watch it, fag."

Adam's eye narrowed. Luke laughed and turned to the door smacking shut on his face. Swearing and rubbing his aching nose, Luke heard a soft chuckle behind him. Adam walked past, saying, "Looks like you're the one that needs to watch it."

Luke stepped forward to go after him, but the open door slammed in his face again. Adam was already halfway down the hall, and Luke knew that new kid hadn't touched it either time.

What the hell? He thought before the full force of pain from his nose and forehead hit him, causing him to utter another string of curses.

Adam took the bus across town and walked from the bus stop towards the apartment building at the end of the block. As he navigated his way through the crowds on the side walk, hands shoved in his skinny jeans pockets, he glanced into an alley that he was passing. At the sight, his feet froze, and a man bumped into him.

"Watch it, kid," he growled.

"Sorry," Adam mumbled, stepping into the dim alley and hiding behind a garbage can. His eyes went to a red-headed girl crouched behind her own can a few feet away from him, watching the wall intently. There were knives in partially pulled out of each of her boots and longer ones in each hand, making Adam alarmed.

Minutes passed without anything happening, but Stella didn't move. Adam sighed impatiently and pushed the hair away from his eye to see better. In all honesty, he hated constantly having it in front of his eye, but he hated the staring even more.

What are you waiting for? Adam thought, staring at Stella's back. He noticed she had taken off the black sweater, leaving her in a purple camisole. Her wavy red hair was tied back, and her pale shoulders and upper back were bare. Her lean muscles were tense in anticipation. The blades in her hands and calf-high black combat boots made her look edgy and dangerous.

Realizing he was staring, his body as tense as hers, he mentally scolded himself and stood.

"Get back down," Stella hissed.

Is she talking to me?

Her green eyes looked back at him. "Either get down or run away. This is going to get ugly."

"Stella, what's-"

"Shh, they're coming." Her eyes went to the brick wall again.

Frustrated, he opened his mouth, but it snapped shut as he watched a man step through the wall. Adam dropped to the ground, peering from behind the garbage can at the burly man. Three more followed him. They stepped through the solid brick wall like it wasn't even there. Adam was too shocked to notice the various swords and knives.

"Do you realize you're breaking Mundus law by coming here?" Stella asked, standing.

One of the men laughed. "This is the guardian they sent to stop us? You're just a little girl!"

Stella's eyes narrowed, the color changing. Another man added, "We aren't breaking any laws. We're just traveling here for a vacation."

"Really?" She snorted, eyes flicking to their array of weapons. "Fine, let's say you're here for a 'vacation.' Where are your travel visas?"

"Right here." The third man waved the knife in his hand.

A blade flashed through the air before embedding itself in the mortar of the brick wall, inches from Stella's head. She gave a wicked grin and jumped at one of the men, one knife up to block the sword and the other aimed at the man's chest. He fell with a grunt, disappearing into a cloud of black smoke before he hit the ground.

Whipping around, she didn't give the other men a chance to even raise their weapons. Her leg swung around and kicked the two in the stomachs with enough force to knock them to the ground. She easily killed one, but the other rolled away and jumped up the moment he had fallen. The two remaining men swung their swords at her, but she ducked underneath one and blocked the other. Her blades were crossed to hold the man's sword. She tried pushing up, but he was stronger than her and was pushing his weapon closer to her face.

The other man saw this opportunity and raised his sword to swing, but he flew into back into the wall. The first man's sword flew out of his hand. Stella shoved a knife into him before doing the same to the fallen man behind her. They disappeared into puffs of dark smoke as they died.

Taking a rag out of her back pocket, Stella cleaned the blood off her long knives and turned. Adam was standing, shocked, with his arm still up. She grinned at him, saying, "Thanks. I'm not sure I would have made it uninjured without you throwing the other guy and that sword out of the way."

"What?" His arm dropped as he exclaimed, "You're not surprised? At all?"

She shrugged, walking over to him. Adam saw her eyes were pure red-violet, but the color faded as she spoke. "Nope. I knew what you were the moment you walked into the room first hour. I felt you try to read my mind. Most people don't know you do it, but I've been trained to recognize what it feels like. Seeing your eyes only confirmed it."

"My eyes?"

"Anybody on Mundus with heterochromatic eyes has powers of the mind. The greater the contrast between the color, the more powerful the person." She shoved the knives into her belt and her brow creased in confusion. "Don't you know all this already?"

"No…"

"But you're parents-"

"I'm adopted."

Stella frowned, gazing at him with troubled green eyes.

"What?" Adam exclaimed, exasperated. He hated not knowing what she was thinking. The girl was already too damn confusing without the lack of being able to read her thoughts. He said through gritted teeth, "Penny for your thoughts."

Stella laughed. "At least I know my mental block is working."

"Mental block?"

"I was also trained to put up a wall so people like you can't read my mind."

Adam became defensive at those words. "People like me? What about you? I've never seen anybody like you."

"I'm a fighter. You can tell by my eyes. They change colors when I'm angry or in a battle." Stella's eyes flashed to his forehead. "I'm also a healer. Do you want me to take care of that?"

"Take care of what?"

With a roll of her eyes, she shoved the hair away from his forehead and peeled off the bandage. A purple bruise had formed around the cut, standing out against his pale skin. Adam tried to step back, uncomfortable with the closeness of her body, but Stella ordered, "Stand still."

He froze, not wanting to anger her after having seen her kill four men. Stella's fingers lightly touched the wound, and Adam felt a warm tingling sensation as red sparks knitted the skin together and got rid of the bruise.

"All better," Stella said, smiling and stepping back.

Adam's hand flew to the cut. His fingers met uninjured skin.

Stella stepped past him, saying, "I should get home. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," was all he could say. He followed her, numb. They both stepped out of the alley and turned the same direction. Confused, Adam asked, "Where do you live?"

"Apartment building at the end of the block," Stella answered. "What about you?"

"Same."

She chuckled and started walking. "Let's get home then."

Shaking his head, he followed her, hands shoved in his pockets again. They walked in silence, until Adam noticed no one on the side walk was even glancing in their direction, despite the various knives on Stella. He caught up to her and asked quietly, "Why isn't anybody staring at you?"

She looked at him, confused. "Why would they be?"

Adam gestured to her weapons.

"Oh, those." Stella pulled out one from her belt and pointed to a black jewel on the hilt. "Cloaking device. It shields my weapons from human eyes. Only people from Mundus can see them. They're also the reason no one noticed the battle. There are some on the walls next to the portal."

"But then why can I see them? I'm not from Mundus."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I've lived on Earth my whole life."

Stella sighed and stopped, forcing people to go around them. Shoving the blade back in her belt, she lifted up her shirt. Adam saw the swirling black design right above her left hip. She said, "See this? It's a birth mark. Everyone from Mundus has one. I bet all my weapons even you do."

He did, only his was on his right shoulder blade. Adam gulped and forced himself to look away from her slim waist. "Fine, you're right, but-"

"Adam," she interrupted, fixing her shirt, "please. I know you must have a lot of questions, but it's going to rain and I have math homework. Can we just go home? If you want, you can come to my place, and we can talk."

He glanced at the sky to see the dark clouds looming above them. He nodded. "Fine."

They walked toward the apartment building, rushing to get there before the heavens opened up on them. They managed to make it inside just as the first few drops started falling. As they climbed the stairs from the lobby to the first floor, Adam said, "I should check in at home first."

"Alright. I'll probably be in the shower when you come over. Just walk right in." Stella stepped on the next flight of stairs to climb to the next floor. "I'm in 22."

Adam watched as she hopped up the steps before turning to walk down the hallway.

Once in her apartment, Stella stored her weapons in a trunk at the foot of her bed before going into the bathroom for a shower. She always took a shower after a battle. It calmed her tense muscles. Even though she was born to fight, she wasn't fond of killing. Every time she plunged her blade into her enemy, the healer in her recoiled. It was sometimes difficult being made for both taking and saving lives.

As she let the hot water massage her back, Stella remembered the first time she had killed anybody. It had been when she was thirteen. Her mom had been warned that there was a man coming through the portal that wasn't suppose to be on Earth. She had gone with to see what her mom did and to prepare herself for her future of guarding the portal.
The man and her mom ended up fighting, but he had been much stronger than her. He had his beefy hand wrapped around her mom's throat, choking her. Stella had grabbed a dropped knife and plunged it into the man's back. He died and disappeared, like they always did. Even without having to see the body, Stella felt sick. She had dropped to her knees and vomited, nauseated the rest of the day.

As the years passed, it got easier. After her training on Mundus, she managed to ignore the healer part of her until after battles. That's what the shower was for.

Thirteen. Stella thought in amazement. So young...

She snorted bitterly. That's what you get when you're the child of two guardians.

Author's Note: Just to forewarn you readers, the title may change if I come up with something better.