I raced along the now dark halls, beginning to recognize some of my surroundings. I didn't want anyone to see me in this rather embarrassing, agitated state, so I took the shortest possible route back to the dorms. I tried to slip in quietly, but as I riffled through my trunk to fin my nightdress, holding up the sheet with one still bandaged arm all the while, I heard a whisper.

"Hello?" It was Maedel. How fondly I had thought of her this morning, before my whole world had upended itself. She would not die with her blood on my lips.

"Shhh." I hissed, "Go back to sleep, We'll discuss this in the morning." Like hell we would.

I rebound my arms with black rags torn from my oldest school robes. I hastily dressed myself in black pocketing all my most precious belongings and throwing what I thought would be most useful into a drawstring rucksack. Donning my heavy full-length black cloak, I threw myself out of the dormitory window. I could fly again! Oh, to have such wings forever! I somehow managed to land safely, without further injury, hidden in some bushes along the stone wall. Having no clue as to where I was heading, I strode towards the Forest, pacing down the walkways through the extensive courtyards, silently praying to whatever deity I now believed in that I would meet no one. Suddenly, I happened upon a young girl, a primer in her first year here, alone. Some buried wildcat instinct in me told me to crouch low to the ground, using the surrounding bushes as cover to stalk closer, careful not to make a sound. Without my acknowledgement or permission, some foreign mind had taken control over my fading sanity, and I couldn't do a thing to stop it. Now I was almost directly behind her, downwind and slightly to the left. I studied her for a moment; she had glasses, flashing blue eyes and a dreamy look on her face. She sighed as she tucked a wavy brown lock of hair behind her ear; probably waiting for her little boyfriend. I hope he's late, and he'll never have to see this, I thought in the still semi-rational part of my brain. And then I pounced.