“Whoa, I'm your girlfriend now?" Archer shrugged. "We've tried to kill each other, fought ghouls, and kissed a lot. I'm pretty sure we're married in some cultures.”

“Archer isn't hot anymore.... He tried to kill me, and his girlfriend is Satan.”

“Both of us widened our eyes and said, "Woah."Then I immediately blushed. Oh my God, had I just looked at Archer and said, "Whoa"?But...wait a minute. Had Archer just looked at me and said "Whoa"?”

“Are we all going to high-five now?' Jenna asked after a pause.'No, but I can make up some kind of secret handshake if you want,' Archer said, and for a second, they smiled at each other.”

“There was an intruder on a forbidden part of the island, and the security system was compromised." Another image of Archer's sword slicing through a ghoul came to mind. Yeah, compromised was one word for it.”

“Cal shrugged. "That's one word for it. I'm not all that thrilled with it either."I pushed the covers off and got out of bed, making sure my nightshirt didn't ride up. "Cal, I already have to deal with an angry dad today. Please don't pull some macho "bethrothed" thing on top of it, okay?"He caught my wrirst. "I'm not. And it's not you I'm pissed at. It's them. They shouldn't have taken you there."His hand was warm on my skin.”

“Taking deep breaths, I gathered my power until I could feel it crackling in my fingertips. "Let him go!" I commanded in what I hoped was my most "I am a powerful demon" voice. Probably would've been better if my voice hadn't cracked on the last word. I released the magic in my hands, which felt kind of like snapping a giant rubber band.A bolt of power flew from my fingertips, crashing into a nearby tree with a thunderous crack. There was a bright flash like lightning, and a branch fell to the ground. The ghouls startled, which meant the one holding Archer jerked his head back even farther. The smallest one made a noise that might have been distress, but they certainly didn't seem under my control.And they weren't letting Archer go.Okay, so my first experiment with necromancy was an epic fail.Take two.I fought panic and frustration. Shooting off my magic at the ghouls was no good, but what else was I supposed to try? "Think,Sophie," I muttered under my breath."Yeah,please do that," Archer replied, his voice slightly strangled. The ghoul holding him had wrapped a hand around Archer's throat. The thing's expression wasn't threatening, just curious, like he was little kid trying to see what would happen if he just kept squeezing.I slammed my eyes shut. Okay, they were dead. Yucky dead things. That smelled like-okay, those thoughts were not helpful.”