Chapter Two
The Party

The next two days, Pence searched for money to pay the Knight Bus and devised a plan to sneak out. The night of the party finally came. At dinner, Pence went up to the staff table and to her dorm's head, Healer Faye.
"Healer Fay, can I stay in the Blue Room for the rest of the evening? I feel really sick," she asked, giving a fake cough. The Blue Room was a room secluded from the other dorms; it was painted a calming blue, other than the white like the rest of the clinic; it had a comfortable bed and a shelf of books. The room was used when one of the "patients" felt lonely, sick, or just needed to be away from everything else. Healer Faye sighed,
"This is the third time this week, Miss Auryion…I suppose. I'll send someone to get you around 9:30." Pence gave a small nod and walked away. But she didn't go to the Blue Room, she went to the dorm and changed into jeans and a dark blue shirt; she grabbed her coat and watch, and then slipped out the front door, unnoticed. She walked several blocks, and then pulled out her wand and flung out her right arm. With a bang, a purple, triple-decker bus appeared, and a man about 20 stepped out,
"I'm Jake L-"
"Cummings party, please," Pence said, interrupting him. The man smiled,
"Ah, sorry, should've known…going there myself once my shift ends. Well, in you get, then," he said, leading Pence into the bus. She gave "Jake" the money she had, which turned out to be just enough. The bus sped through the streets, dropping off and picking up people as it went along. Finally, it stopped in front of a large country manor with several acres of land as the yard. There had to be at least 300 people already there, dancing to music, talking, and having a good time.
Pence wandered over to a table of alcoholic drinks; she'd never had alcohol other than sips of wine when she was younger. She looked from bottle to bottle, contemplating on whether to have any.
"You should try the Smirnoff," said a voice from behind her. Pence quickly turned around to see a girl about 18. She was dressed nicely and had long, black hair.
"Oh, um…okay," Pence picked up the bottle of vodka and poured a cup. She took a drink and nearly spit it out. The girl laughed,
"Not much of a vodka-drinker, eh?" Pence coughed and took another drink, this time a smaller one,
"Actually," she said, "it's pretty good…just never had it before, that's all." The girl smiled and stuck out her hand,
"I'm Melissa," she said.
"Pence…" Just then, a tall boy in his early 20's with blonde hair and blue eyes showed up and wrapped his arms around Melissa's waist. She turned and smiled,
"This is my boyfriend, Andy. Hun, this is Pence." Andy nodded,
"You wanna hang around with some of us tonight, or are you here with someone?" Pence shook her head,
"I can only stay for a couple hours, then I need to er…get back home, I kind of snuck out." Melissa nodded and said,
"That's cool; I did too, but I'm staying until midnight." Someone called to Andy, he yelled back,
"I'll be over in a second," then he turned to Pence, "You comin, kid?" Pence nodded and followed the two, bottle of vodka still in hand.

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Pence's thoughts were marred and incoherent as she sat around the huge bonfire with a group of people, taking swigs of vodka when she needed. No one made any sense, yet she laughed along with them. As she laughed at something Andy said, she suddenly felt very odd. Pence glanced at her watch, it was 9:45. It seemed there was something important that she had to keep in mind…but she couldn't remember what it was.
Her stomach lurched; she dropped her bottle and slowly stood up. As soon as she did, things started spinning. Pence grabbed whoever was nearest to her, that happened to be Andy, but he continued on with his story. Pence's head pounded and she glanced up towards the sky. The moon, full and bright appeared from behind the clouds, bathing everyone in its light.
Pence fell to her knees and groaned, still clutching to Andy's shoulder. He looked down at her, shaking violently,
"You okay…?"

The last thing Pence could recall were his screams.