CHAPTER 1

Unbeknownst to the sleeping figure, a shadow of a creature loomed in a corner of her bedroom. It had a purpose, and a prepared and well thought out one at that. The creature smiled hideously as it thought of the rewards he would reap if the plan went successfully. Surely its master would pay him for his work. It's reeking, rotting flesh and mud ached to be alive, and it would do anything to reach its goal. That was the way with the Dead, no matter what form it took, the spirits of each and every one existed in this world to feed on the life of the living and to eventually live again. But for now, the creature could only lurk in the shadows and cast the spell that would begin the feast that would appease its desire. It was the only thing that kept it from attacking the sleeping girl, and this creature was smart enough to follow the plan, unlike one of the lower Dead. Still grinning, it spoke a spell and cast it on the girl, and she stirred in her sleep and spoke out, mumbling the same words that the Dead creature had spoken. A light surrounded the girl, and as the spell began to do its work, a loud bark rang out and woke her, just as she disappeared from the room. The creature breathed loudly, proud of its work, but didn't dare to shout out and give itself away. Its work being done, it stealthily crept out the way it came, no one except a cat noticing any disturbance.

The white cat crept into the room, nosing around as if trying to find something. It paused for a second in its search to sniff the air. The cat hissed, fur standing on end when it caught the pungent scent hanging on the air before resuming its search. It did find something it wasn't looking for though. An open book about something or another that used to be read to the missing girl as a young child for a bedtime story. The cat overlooked that detail at the moment, finding the original task more important. Discovering that the object in question was gone, it quickly ran out of the empty room to warn his mistress. It wasn't too worried about the girl, knowing that she had the bag, but the goings on didn't promise anything good.

The cat pushed open the door and, not caring about disturbing the sleeping woman, leapt onto the bed and said, "Sabriel, you might want to hear this." The woman, Sabriel immediately woke and understanding the seriousness in the cat's tone, replied, "What is it, Mogget?"

'Great,' Laelia thought. 'One minute I'm sleeping in bed and the next,' she looked around at the swirling lights transferring her to who knew where, 'well…I don't know!' All she did know about it was that she was moving for sure. Once again the bark rang out and she looked down at her side, where the bag of things was hanging, attached to her wrist. Everyone had a feeling that something was brewing again in the Old Kingdom and decided to take the precaution of tying a bag of things they might end up needing, come an unexpected opportunity. She thanked the Charter for that stroke of luck. Then she suddenly became worried about the others, and almost just as soon heard another bark. Realizing that she still hadn't checked on her bag, she finally opened it to extract a small stone figure of a dog. It was warm and pulsing with energy.

"Oh, Dog, I'm so sorry!" She paused when she felt the stone shake, "Hold on, I'll get you out!" The Disreputable Dog barked approvingly this time. 'Maybe the Dog knows something,' thought Laelia. She began the long, tiring process, knowing that no matter how much time she had until she ended up at her destination, she needed the Dog's help.

Finally, as the swirling lights started to give her a headache and the Dog had conveniently finished telling what she knew, she knew she had arrived. The Dog was now her normal self, not the small, soapstone statue she had been not too long ago. Laelia sometimes preferred her as the latter. The light stopped swirling and for a moment was a solid white before it started fading away to reveal where she had been sent. She and the Dog sat quietly waiting for the light to disappear. When it did, she couldn't help but gasp and mentally kick herself for making a noise that might give her away. Really there didn't seem to be all that much risk considering she was sitting on a somewhat comfortable bed hidden by curtains that were pulled all the way around. No one could see her, but then there was no way of telling at the moment if there was anyone or anything on the other side. Then she heard someone shuffling around, and realizing that whoever it was might be coming to check on her bed, mentally drew a warding mark to turn the person's interest away from the bed. Just in time too, because they were just about to part the curtains. Sighing with relief, she slumped back on the pillow with the Dog next to her.

She must have dozed off because it seemed a little lighter outside the curtains now, and the Dog was patiently sitting there as if waiting for her, a sign that she had indeed done something that didn't really risk anything. Glaring at the Dog for not waking her as she received slobbery licks on the face, Laelia started thinking about what to do. Finally she decided it was safe to whisper to her companion.

"Dog, do you think we can risk looking past the curtain?" The Dog waited a second to reply.

"Well, we're not getting much done good or bad just sitting here, are we? Of course we can. I'm starting to feel a little cramped in here. Not to mention hungry." She scratched her ear impatiently. Laelia sighed. 'Okay, fine. We'll decide what to do from there, I suppose.

"There you go!" replied the Dog. "Good call!" Laelia glared at her.

"Whatever."

Taking a deep breath, she peeked out of the curtain and saw, well, more beds in a room. Three beds to be exact and it appeared to Laelia that it was a dorm room of some kind. The light she had seen through the curtains came from the moon, shining brightly right outside a window on a wall opposite a door. It looked safe enough; safe enough to explore. A sense of excitement started to spread through her body as it did when she explored the Abhorsen's house or the castle at Belisaere, her home. Only this time, she had absolutely no idea where she was or where she was going.

She shrank the bag with a charter mark and motioned to the Dog. The Dog came easily enough since she had been ready to go a long time ago. Quickly and quietly the pair slipped off the bed and out of the door, and coming to a staircase, they decided to continue and go down. It was understandably dark, but were surprised to find that they were in a castle, but they didn't recognize it from anywhere in the Old Kingdom. Once they were at the bottom of the staircase, they came to a room with a fireplace and some chairs and couches, probably used as some gathering place or something. They started moving toward what appeared to be the only exit when Laelia noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She jumped, startled before she realized that it was a girl sleeping on one of the couches, quill in hand and book and parchment on the floor next to her. Laelia pointed it out to the Dog with her eyebrows raised. She had parchment? If they weren't in the Old Kingdom as far as they knew and Ancelstierre and everywhere else across the wall didn't use it anymore, being more in touch with technology, then where were they? It didn't make sense. The Dog acknowledged it but motioned that they should move on anyway. She agreed and they pushed open the door. It led to a hallway and then another, and they came upon rooms and more rooms in other hallways. They looked in some of them, and they all appeared to be classrooms. The castle started to look more and more like a school, like Wyverly in Ancelstierre.

They came to a trophy room and were about to read the plaques to figure out where exactly they were when they heard a noise. When Laelia turned around, the Dog was gone and she realized that the Dog had done it again: disappeared when she needed support, just like she had for her mother. The look of anger and annoyance about the common behavior of the Dog changed quickly to surprise and apprehension when she saw a dark cat with accusing eyes appear from around the corner.

She wished she was the Dog right now, able to accomplish a smooth getaway leaving even her companions wondering what happened. Though Laelia knew that the Dog was hiding like she usually did to keep herself a secret from others, but that still hurt her knowing that somewhere she was watching her get caught. The only redeeming factor was that she knew the Dog wouldn't abandon her but follow her and later show her face when she decided it was a good time.

The cat started meowing loudly as soon as she spotted Laelia as if she was calling someone. Laelia was only partly relieved when she discovered the someone was a human being, definitely alive although not very…nice looking. The old man in front of her got a good look, laughed out loud, and, finally when he got over himself, managed to say in a gleeful tone, "Well, do we have another student out of bed tonight? Say, what house might you be in, eh- so that I know what teacher to inform of your weeks' detention with me!" He grinned maniacally, waiting for her response. But he was disappointed because Laelia could only stand there, shocked and very confused. "What? Having second thoughts about tricking good 'ole Filch and his cat are you? Well, then I guess I'll be taking you to Professor Dumbledore now to see that you get what you deserve!" She continued to stand helplessly. "Are you mute? Come on!" With that, he grabbed her arm roughly and dragged her through more hallways and up and down staircases until they reached a gargoyle. Filch stopped, mumbled something and a doorway appeared in front of them. She suppressed a gasp before he dragged her the rest of the way to Dumbledore, whoever that was. 'Wait!' she thought, 'Why does that sound familiar?' But the memory was too vague to come up with anything yet.

Filch grabbed for the doorknob, called out "Professor Dumbledore, sir!" and swung the door open. Pulling Laelia inside, Filch brought her towards a cheery, tired old man with noticeable sparkly blue eyes. She couldn't help but feel a little better. She stood there silently as Filch made a scene yelling and screaming about the third student out of bed while the old man, Dumbledore, she assumed, patiently sat at his desk, not moving except for his eyes as he watched Filch pace around his office. If the circumstances were different, Laelia was sure she would have secretly smiled at him when Filch wasn't looking.

At long last, Filch, apparently the caretaker or something, finished his story, and Dumbledore thanked him and to her surprise asked him to leave and resume what he had been working on. She hadn't expected to get a civilized talk to explain herself.

"Please sit down, dear, and tell me everything you wish. I'm you're friend, honestly, and I know you're not supposed to be here – I know all of my students, and at your age I would be ashamed to have forgotten such a pretty young lady."

Laelia hesitated as she blushed. 'Is he really this nice or was it just some disguise? That Filch guy is like the complete opposite of this kind old man…I wish the Dog were here. I guess I'll just go along with it.' Her mind was made up, and Dumbledore didn't need to be told.

"Please, sit down. First, your name." He began.

"It's Laelia Sayre, sir." Dumbledore smiled.

"Well, Laelia, you can call me Albus in private, but I have I feeling you'll have to call me Professor Dumbledore otherwise. Now, what brings you to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, especially at this time of night?"

"Oh, um, you see…" Laelia stopped short. She suddenly realized why his name sounded so familiar. When she was little, her mother read her bedtime stories about a magical place different from her own, a whole different kind of magic with a whole different array of monsters and heros and creatures. And then there was Hogwarts, the greatest school of magic. She still had the huge book at home, she had kept it after her mom had died to keep those memories alive. And somehow she was transferred to the place she had dreamed about so often. She smiled. If only her mother could have known.