You may have trouble believing all of this, or you may have already, experienced the side effects of being a. Darking — one who is half demon and half human- Please try to open your mind to this, because it is the truth. Wear the bracelet I've giv en you. It will help focus your power and may, with practice, make it man' ageable. Let Michael lead you to see me, I trust him implicitly. I look forward to finally meeting you after all this time.

Your father I set the letter aside. My hands were shaking.

My father was a demon king. So that meant I was a half-demon princess-a Darkling? He ruled the. . what had Michael called it? The Shadowlands?

The letter had talked about side effects. Well, other than a persistent headache, I hadn't experienced anything strange since I turned sixteen. So what was it? A magical headache? A demonic migraine?

I glanced at my reflection in my vanity mirror. Long, straight honey blonde hair. A scattering of annoying freckles on my nose that only went away if I took the time to use both foundation and pressed powder. Hazel-colored eyes with golden flecks. Pale lashes that required two coats of mascara to give the look of actual eyelashes.

Well, hello there, demon princess.

What a joke.

I tore the letter into itty-bitty pieces and then threw them in the toilet bowl. I flushed them away before going downstairs to take two Tylenol with a glass of milk. Stress headache. That had to be it.

Even though I'd rationalized the entire experience, I still felt shaken and tired and more than a little mad. It had been such a great day and this Michael freak had to go and ruin it for me. I couldn't even concentrate on studying, so I decided to forget about it. There would be some time in the morning to read about the doomed star-crossed lovers and try to fake my way through the test.

I was exhausted. Utterly exhausted.

At least one good thing had come out of this lousy experience, though.