1

"You do realize that I can't overlook this one. All fighting incidents are an automatic suspension."

I huffed, resting my chin on my hand as I looked away from the principal, then glanced at my mother from the corner of my eye. She didn't look surprised as she sat in the chair beside me. But she also had come to know what to expect when it came to calls about me, and especially in this current situation.

This wasn't the first time that I'd ended up in a principal's office, although I guess that this was one of my more serious issues. Usually, I was sent to the principal when I refused to stop arguing with the teachers. But what could I say when that happened? I hated it when someone was wrong and wouldn't admit it, and these teachers were full of themselves, especially in the middle and high schools.

But, I digress, this wasn't what had gotten me sent to Principal Green's office today. I was there because of a real fight. Again, it wasn't like that guy wasn't asking for it. I wasn't going to let anybody insult me or my family, and they especially wouldn't drag my twin sister's name into it.

As soon as that fight was done, which had taken all of maybe three minutes, I'd been hauled into the office. While they'd been nice enough not to call the police, they had called my parents. It was luckily my mother, Mia, who had shown up to deal with this. I preferred her being here to my father. Sean may not have gone after me that much for these things, but I hated being chewed out again for not thinking before acting, even if I knew it was coming once he got home.

"I understand, and I'm glad that we don't have to involve the police. Sean and I will deal with this and make sure it doesn't happen again." Mia assured him.

Ah yes. Mia was again dealing with the fallout of my impulsive actions. But she also had family influence on her side, which I reasoned was probably why the cops hadn't been called on me. After all, we were part of the Renaldi family, and with resounding success and money comes a lot of respect. I could say that it was working out in my favor, but I wouldn't go so far as to brag on it.

"Alright then." Mr. Green agreed. He wrote up a paper and slid it over for Mia to sign, "The suspension will be for one week, and it's your choice if you want it to be in school or at home."

"I'd prefer at home. We can make sure he doesn't fall behind, and we don't need any more problems with Sevee around other kids right now." Mia responded as she signed it.

"That's perfectly fine. It may give things time to settle down too." Mr. Green acknowledged. He took the paper back and set it to the side of his desk.

Mia stood up, turning her attention to me. Yeah, I was as bored as I looked. I just wanted to get out of there and go home now.

She let out an exasperated sigh, "Alright Sevee, let's go."

I shrugged, not bothering to say a word as I got up to leave with her. Getting out of this damned school couldn't come fast enough for me, even if I had to listen to her and dad chew me out for a while.

Everyone was in class as Mia and I walked out of the office and the nearby doors to the parking lot, thankfully giving us the quiet time to slip away. She waited until we were outside to speak to me.

"Seriously Sevee? A real fight?"

"Couldn't help it. I wasn't gonna let him say that stuff to me or drag Seraphina into it." I responded non-chalantly.

"I won't say that I don't get some of that, but you need to think about this stuff more. There had to be a better way to handle this." Mia reasoned.

She pulled out her keys from her purse and unlocked her car, which was parked in one of the visitor spaces. I got into the passenger's seat, closing the door and clicking on my seatbelt before looking at the copy of the paper she'd signed while she started the engine.

Suspended for one week. What a joke.

"It wasn't like it was that much of a fight anyway. He didn't even get the first hit on me, and I knocked him out cold." I continued.

Mia frowned at me, "You don't see anything wrong with this, do you?"

"Not really."

I glanced at my reflection in the side view mirror as we pulled out of the parking lot, taking in the sight of my reddish brown hair and bright green eyes. Damn if it hadn't made them call me a pretty boy since I was in grade school, although I guessed it wasn't such a bad thing most of the time. The girls had always been attracted to me, even if none of them really interested me.

"We can't keep doing this Sevee. Maybe it's time to figure out something else for you in school. I think we should sit down and talk about all of this with your father this evening." Mia continued.

"What's there to talk about? You both know how I feel about these schools, especially that one." I responded.

"You do realize that you act too smart for your own good. It doesn't hurt anything to listen and see things for other people's points of view." Mia reminded me.

"It's not like I don't see that. I just hate when somebody stands there and tells me I'm wrong without backing it up. It's stupid to argue like that, and most of the people around here do." I complained, resting my chin on my hand again as I looked out of the window.

I heard my mother sigh, "I'm not going to continue this argument Sevee. You know what you do."

I glanced at her as she said that. Yeah, she was definitely upset with me, and it made me feel a little guilty.

I'll be the first one to say that my mother is a really beautiful woman. But I guess that's what you get when you have angelic blood running through your veins. Same stuff with fox blood.

My family is as unusual as it is successful. My mother's side of the family were born to an angel, and are what others refer to as Nephilim. Like most of her close family members, Mia had light blonde hair and a flawless complexion. Her hair was long, falling into curls down her back and sweeping around her pretty face. I personally thought that she looked a lot like my grandfather, her dad Michael, although she had two different colored eyes. One was light blue like his, while the other was brown.

Most of the Renaldis shared this similar trait of blonde hair and blue eyes, although there weren't that many of us. My mother had her dad, uncle and aunt, and also a cousin named Raziel who was the same age as her.

As for my generation, there was me and my twin sister Seraphina, and Raziel's son, Noah. We were all the same age, although Noah was about two weeks younger than me and Seraphina.

I'd like to say that we were a close family, and that is mostly true, but I also couldn't deny the differences when it came to me and my dad.

My dad Sean wasn't really like my mom or her family. He was born as what they called mixed breed; half human, half Fox. His mom, my grandmother Sara, is a human woman. I knew her well, especially since she'd ended up marrying Michael about ten years ago. Even though she was getting older now, she was still a beautiful lady, not to mention really kind and compassionate.

I'd never met my Fox grandfather. He'd died back when Sean was my age, just fifteen. Sean had told me before that he'd been killed by a powerful creature on the other side of the Veil, but I didn't know much more about it and never really asked. Guess I could say that I wasn't that interested in knowing anymore when I'd grown up knowing Michael. He was the grandfather I'd always known and loved.

Mia and I finally got home about ten minutes later. I felt a little more at ease as we parked in front of our house. At least I was away from all those hypocrites in that school and would be for the next week.

Our house was a nice, two story one set out more in the countryside of the little town of Madison. Well, I call it a little town. That probably doesn't really fit for how spread out and rural it is. I particularly liked our house because of the woods surrounding it. It gave me plenty of places to roam when I felt like it, even if my dad didn't like me going very far on my own yet.

Mia turned to me as I got ready to get out of the car, a set look in her eyes.

"Listen Sevee, I need to get back to the office and finish my work. Do me a favor and stay around the house. No wandering off, even in the woods." she instructed me.

"Is that a nice way of telling me I'm grounded again?" I responded, feeling the coy smile cross my face.

She didn't find it amusing, "If you want to call it that, then go ahead. Just don't leave around the house. I'll be back in a few hours, and we'll deal with things then."

"Fine. I promise I won't leave the house." I huffed as I opened the door.

"Mean it." Mia ordered.

Man she knew how to make me feel bad. I turned back, leaning over to lay my head on her shoulder. No, I never liked it when she was mad or upset with me. If there was one person in this world I hated really upsetting, it was my mom.

Well, her and Seraphina. I guess you could call them my weaknesses.

"Come on Mom, you know I do, and for what it's worth, I'm sorry about all of this. I really mean that." I apologized.

Mia sighed, giving me a hug before kissing my temple.

"I know, and I get some of it. But seriously Sevee, let's talk tonight and try to figure this out. We can't keep doing this."

"Okay." I agreed as I pulled away from her, "But can you ask Dad not to rip into me too much?"

"I can't make any promises that he won't, but I'll talk to him before he comes home, okay?" Mia offered.

"I get it, and I'll deal with whatever I have to. I was the one who chose to fight."

Mia patted my shoulder, "Just stick around the house. I'll see you soon."

I got out of the car, waving to her one more time as she pulled away. I allowed my pleasant smile to fade when she was out of sight, letting out a long breath. Damn it. I'd screwed up big time.

The gravel crunched under my shoes as I walked to the front door, pulling my key from my pocket to unlock it. The soft smells of lavender and rose greeted me when I opened it. They were comforting, familiar smells that I'd always known.

Mia loved flowers, so we always had several kinds around the house, and there was also a pretty big garden out back. Seraphina got into gardening with her, and she enjoyed helping her with planting and tending to the flowers. Sean and I helped them sometimes too. You could say it was like a family activity for us.

Again, not that I'd complain. I did like spending time with my parents and sister, and it was fun to help out with making the garden beautiful.

I headed straight up the stairs to my room. It was at the end of the left side of the hallway. I passed by the door to my parent's room, then the door to my sister's.

I stopped for a moment to peek in there. Yeah, I admit that it felt kind of weird to me that she wasn't home with me. But it was just a little after one, so she'd be home in the next two hours.

Seraphina's room was decorated a lot like I envisioned other teenage girls' were. She had a pretty daybed with a white duvet on it, and her light blue walls had different posters and paintings that she'd done decorating them. My sister really was a great artist. It was something she'd inherited from our mom and grandfather.

I turned away and went through the door next to it, taking in the familiarity of my own room. Like my sister's and parents', my room had a good amount of space in it. I had a twin bed against the far wall right under one of my windows, along with my TV and Playstation. I also had a desk in there with a laptop, much like my sister did. I didn't care much for posters, so my walls had shelves on them with various statues of dragons and wizards that I'd collected since I was a little kid.

I flopped down on my bed, putting my hands behind my head and looking at the ceiling as I thought over my morning. Nope, I didn't have any regrets about punching that guy, even if I didn't look forward to the trouble that might come out of it from my parents. I wondered how upset Seraphina was going to be with me too. She hated it when I wasn't at school with her.

But thinking about it, I knew that she hated it when she couldn't be around me. Maybe it was the twin thing. Even if we were a boy and girl, we still shared that connection in a lot of ways. I admit that I felt most comfortable around Seraphina too. Other than our parents and grandparents, she was the only one who truly seemed to understand me.

My eyes grew heavy as I laid there, but I fought falling asleep. I hated sleeping. It was never restful for me, and the only reason I did sleep was because I couldn't stay awake anymore. I'd be damned if I was going to let it overtake me now.

With this resolve, I got out of the bed and headed back downstairs. Mia said for me not to leave the house. She didn't say anything about not going outside into the yard.

I went outside through the patio door that was attached to the kitchen. We had a nice deck out there, and the day was pleasantly warm. A soft breeze was blowing as I walked down the five stairs to the backyard, rustling the leaves in the nearby trees.

I stopped as I stood under one of them, closing my eyes and taking it all in. Ah yes, this was the most comforting place for me.

I won't deny that I'd always had more of the Fox side when it came to my instincts. It was strange when I thought about it. Seraphina had always shown more of the Nephilim side. It was like our heritages divided between us when we were born. Yes, she did have extra strong senses in smell and hearing, but she leaned a lot more towards the Renaldi side.

As for me, I ended up being more of the rogue of the family. Although I was extremely smart from an early age, I also spoke my mind without thinking much about the consequences. This became my biggest vice once I'd started school. As noted, Mia quickly got used to having to come and deal with me being in some sort of trouble, even if fighting wasn't something I normally did.

As I'd grown up, I'd realized pretty quickly that I leaned a lot more towards my Fox side. I loved being outside, especially around the woods, and I learned how to transform myself into a full fox by the time I was ten years old. This was something Sean could also do, and he'd taken the time to teach me everything I needed to know in that form.

When it came down to it, my dad did a lot to help me with my heritage. I guess he understood a lot of how I felt with it, and he did his best to support me however he could as I grew up.

I opened my eyes and took in the filtered sunlight through the leaves. Some son I was turning out to be. I couldn't even get through high school without being suspended.

But I couldn't deny that I didn't want to be there. I wanted to leave this world, to go into the Veil with other Foxes. That had to be more of a place for someone like me than being here with a bunch of humans and a family of Nephilim.

I ended up going back to my room and grabbing a book before sitting out there under the large willow tree. At least I could relax out there.

Before I knew it, two hours had passed, and I heard a car pulling up in the driveway. I sniffed the air as it turned off and the doors opened. Mia was back, and she'd picked up Seraphina.

A smile crossed my face as I set my book down beside me and waited patiently. I knew my sister way too well. She was going to come looking for me as soon as she got into the house. With what I'd done earlier, I was sure she would.

It only took about five minutes before I saw the patio door open and my sister come out. She scanned the yard before spotting me under the tree, then made her way over to me. Her hands were immediately on her hips as she stood in front of me.

"Are you serious Sevee? You got suspended?!" she scolded me.

Yep, I'd been waiting for this since I got home. She'd never let me off the hook that easily.

My sister Seraphina was actually the younger twin, born about five minutes after me. Most people can definitely tell that we're twins too. We have the same hair and eyes, even if her hair is longer, almost to her waist. Of course, Seraphina's also a girl, so she's about seven inches shorter than me. I like to think that she resembles Mia more too. She definitely inherited our mom's pretty features.

I grinned at her, "You really expected any less? You knew it coming eventually." I teased.

Seraphina grunted in frustration, sitting down in front of me.

"Don't give me that. You know you could've avoided all of this if you'd just walked away. You're lucky they didn't arrest you." she continued.

"Guess you've been hearing all about what happened." I noted.

No surprise there. I betted the entire school had been talking since that fight. Both me and that guy were pretty well known, although on my part it wasn't like I wanted to be.

"Yeah, they've all been talking." Seraphina confirmed. She let out an exhausted sigh as the breeze blew through her hair, carrying the Spring scents on it, "I heard that there was some kind of fight right after lunch, then some of the girls were telling me that you knocked out Brayson Hicks. They said that he didn't get one hit on you before you knocked him out cold."

"That's about the gist of it."

"What happened this time? Did he get into a debate with you that went too far?"

I shrugged, "Not really. He's been trying to start trouble with me for the last month. You know that. He was saying something about me trying to take his girlfriend or something stupid like that, then he tried to tell me that he could get you to go out with him in revenge. It pissed me off, and that was it."

"Come on Sevee. You know I'd never go out with him, and that whole thing with his girlfriend is probably because he's jealous. All the girls like you anyway, so it doesn't surprise me that his girlfriend's interested in you too." Seraphina reminded me.

Well, she did have a point. This wasn't the first time since I'd started high school that guys had confronted me just because their girls happened to like me. I called it the curse of the cute guy, and the Fox blood didn't help.

I decided to move on from the subject. No sense in getting into things I didn't feel like talking about.

"Anyway, you know I don't have a choice right now. They've already suspended me for the next week."

"I know, and I hate that. It sucks to go without you." Seraphina complained.

I got why she didn't like it. She was the only one of us who would be at the high school now. Noah had been homeschooled since middle school because he didn't like all of the attention he got from the other kids, not to mention some of the trouble from the other boys. While he did have a pretty tough personality like me, Noah was usually pretty quiet natured too. He just didn't want to deal with all of it, so he opted for the homeschool choice when his mom offered it.

But thinking about that, it suddenly dawned on me that maybe that was the answer for me too. It wasn't like I liked what was happening with school either. I never could fit myself in there.

"Yeah, I get it, but I've been thinking too. Mom said that she wanted us all to sit down and talk about all of this, and I think I'm gonna ask her and Dad about switching to homeschool too." I told her.

"You really think you want to do homeschool like Noah?" Seraphina asked, looking as skeptical as she sounded.

"I don't see where it would hurt anything. You know how I've felt about the public school stuff since we were little kids. I don't fit in there and I can't make myself do it. Noah felt the same way. Besides, I'm perfectly capable of managing learning on my own." I reasoned.

Seraphina looked defeated.

"I guess, and I do get it. But seriously, I don't want to go there alone. If you're gonna do the homeschool thing, then so will I."

Yes, I'd expected this, but it wasn't something I particularly wanted for her. My sister didn't have the same problems I did. She was actually pretty popular, and a lot of the other kids liked her because she was very kind and outgoing.

"You sure you wanna do that? I get where you like being around me, but you'd be giving up a lot of stuff." I told her.

"Maybe," Seraphina acknowledged, "but I don't mind. It's not like I do a lot of extra stuff anyway, and I could still talk and text with friends if I want to. It's not like I like keeping close friends anyway. A lot of them only hang around with me because of who my family is, and some of them are just trying to get close to you."

"That's stupid. Like I'm gonna look at a girl just because she hangs out with my sister." I scoffed.

"You know how they are." Seraphina sighed.

Yep, I'd definitely made up my mind now. I was gonna get out of that school one way or another, and if Seraphina wanted to join me, then so be it.

I decided to make these views known later that evening over dinner. While Sean hadn't been happy at all with me when he'd gotten home, he'd refrained on getting on me until he heard me out.

"So that's your choice? You really believe you'll do better with homeschool?" he was saying as we sat at the table. Mia was near us, putting dishes in the sink to wash them.

"I know I would. I've already told you how I've always hated this school system. It's not for me, and I think this proves it." I responded.

Sean let out a long sigh.

"Well, I can't put up much of an argument against this. We've seen where you've had trouble socially from the beginning." he relented.

"I can't help it if they all rub me the wrong way. They're too damned stubborn anyway." I complained.

"Language Sevee." Mia reminded me.

"I don't think it's that bad of an idea Dad. Noah's been doing homeschool for the last four years, and he's done fine. He also does extra things outside of the house." Seraphina offered.

Our dad ran a hand through his black hair, letting himself mull this over. I admit that I did see the resemblance between us as I looked at him.

There were a lot of things I felt like I'd inherited from him as his son. We were about the same height and build now, and both Seraphina and I had eyes just like him. Of course, while I shared his high IQ, I also admit that I was a little more confrontational than him. Sean was usually a very calm and collected man, always analyzing whatever situation came up to figure out the best solution. Hell, he'd always been good at it when it came to me. That was why I was sure he'd go with this if I made a convincing enough argument.

It was kind of strange when I thought about it though. Looking at our parents, I admit that they didn't look much older than us. This was something else that apparently came with the spiritual bloodlines, at least from what I'd learned as I'd got older. Nephilim like our mom stopped aging once their blood awakened and they developed their wings, which were hidden in their back. Even my grandfather Michael didn't look much older than her.

As for our dad, his youthfulness came from his father's side. Our Fox grandfather had been a very powerful one, and he'd passed that bloodline onto Sean. With that, he'd been able to stop his aging process too. I guessed that was a good thing when it came to his being with our mom, although I often wondered how our family kept anybody else from noticing.

Mia spoke up from where she was standing.

"You know Sean, I really don't think it's a bad idea to give it a try. Sevee's usually pretty trustworthy when it comes to doing well in school, and I know he'd be disciplined enough to keep up on it like he should. I could also ask Anna about what program Noah's using. That might work well for Sevee too." she suggested.

"Um, if it's okay, I'd like to do homeschool with Sevee too. I mean, we've only got two more months this school year anyway, so I could see if it's a better fit for me too. I do get kind of bored sitting in those classes when I already know what they're teaching." Seraphina spoke up.

Yeah, she was a lot like me with that stuff. Both of us had inherited the advanced Fox IQ, and we tended to be fast learners, not to mention we liked studying things on our own. We'd always ended up way ahead because of that, and it had made classes boring a lot of times.

"Are you sure about that Sera? I don't mind if it's your choice, but it is pulling you out and away from your friends." Sean reminded her.

"I know." Sera responded, "But I really don't mind. It's not like I have a lot of real friends anyway, and maybe it'll give me time to get into more of what I like to do too. Noah's really been able to focus more on his piano studies, so maybe I could go more into stuff with art."

I had the sense that Seraphina had thought about this even more than me in these last few hours. I needed to give her more credit for that.

Sean sat back in his chair, "I can't say I'm against any of it, and I have seen where it's benefited Noah in the last few years." he said. He glanced at our mom, "What do you think Mia? Want to give it a shot and see how things go?"

"I think it's worth trying. They are fifteen now, and we can trust them. Plus I can ask Raphael if he'd check on their progress like he does with Noah." Mia agreed.

Now we both knew we'd better keep our end of the bargain. Michael's brother Raphael was no nonsense when it came to this stuff. He'd made that much clear with Noah, although Noah never gave him a reason to worry about it either.

Good move Mom, I thought. We can't get one over on you two now.

"Very well." Sean nodded, looking back at us, "We'll go with this approach then. Your mom and I will file for you to be pulled out into homeschool, and we'll get you both started next week. But we expect you to do right, or you're both going back at the beginning of next year."

"We'll make sure we do it right." Seraphina promised.

"No problem." I added.

But as we got up, Sean called to me.

"Hey, one more thing Sevee."

I stopped to face him.

"What's up?"

"I'm only allowing this because I feel like it'll help you. I expect that you'll keep yourself out of trouble."

"I will. Besides, this is what feels right for me, and who knows? Maybe I can work with you or Pop this summer too." I suggested.

Mia really seemed to like that idea.

"That would be great. Michael's businesses are always busier during the summer too, so I'm sure he'd like the extra help, and it wouldn't hurt for you to teach Sevee some bookkeeping too." she chimed.

"That is true." Sean responded, standing up with me. I didn't miss the look he was giving me. It was his warning for me to stop screwing up, "Either way, let's go from here and try to put this trouble to bed, okay Sevee?"

"Sure." I nodded, "I can do that."

I really did mean that promise at the time. I wanted to move on with my life, and getting away from the public school system was going to be my first step. Maybe I could even end up working with my dad and grandfather, and learn some of the tricks in business to further myself once I finished all this school stuff. I could make myself a bright future, even if I didn't feel like I belonged in this world yet.

What I didn't count on was what a drastic turn my life was getting ready to take.