Callie rolled over and stretched, her muscles were sore from the position she had been sleeping in, a bruise was forming on her back from where she had rolled onto a rock, and a small cut ran from her thigh to her knee, she couldn't figure out where it had come from.

Sitting up she looked around, two weeks, two weeks on her own and she still didn't feel better, she felt like she was suffocating, slowly being pressed down into the ground, where no one would find her, where she was all alone, and yet, the idea didn't give her the relief it had before, in fact, she felt herself longing for company, that scared her. Two weeks, 1 day, 5 minutes, 15 seconds, 16, 17, 18.

Selena sat in her bed, looking at the ceiling, three weeks, three weeks without even a sign from Callie, nothing. She sighed and got up, stretching out her already loose muscles before grabbing her robe and getting in the shower, she needed Callie back, badly.

30 minutes later found her in the large classroom, twirling her wand between her fingers as the rest of the group sat, meditating. Callie's leave had changed all of them, keilly and Alyssa didn't laugh as often, Ben and Eric stopped play fighting, Dakota stopped trying to counter the harsh words with soothing ones of his own, even Alexa had given up hope. And then it happened, a poof of flame in the middle of the room made them all jump, and then out of the flame, a single phoenix feather materialized, falling slowly to the ground.

Selena smiled for the first time in three weeks, jumped up and grabbed the feather just before it hit the ground, it was warm and soft, the exact opposite of the sender, selena jumped back as another puff of flame materialized, a singed piece of parchment falling to the ground,

Selena opened it and her eyes nearly welled with tears as she looked at the familiar sharp handwriting,

6 Days, 12 hours, 5 minutes, and 12 seconds. Home.

Selena looked at the clock, 6 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes, and 12 seconds until Callie was back.

Eric walked over and read the note over her shoulder, his face broke out in a smile as he jumped and gave a small whoop. Alexa smiled, Keilly and Alyssa laughed, Dakota pounded fists with Ben, and Eric hugged Selena.

Callie was coming home!

Callie's feet pounded against the ground as she ran, her feet barely sinking into the snow as the thin layer of ice on top kept her from falling through the soft white blanket. Her feet were red and slightly raw from running so much and her chest heaved, trying to take in air, her eyes watered in the cold and her legs pumped for all they were worth, and she had never felt better. She pulled out her wands and cast a quick warming spell on her toes which had turned purple, and then she focused ahead, she saw a wooden fence and cleared it in one jump, sending her into the dark trees, where she didn't even have to slow her pace, her feet and body darting out of the plants way with incredible accuracy. One un yielding branch, however, caught hr in the face and whipped across her cheek bone, drawing a thin line of beading blood to the surface where it ran slowly down her cheek, almost freezing from the cold. She kept running, her legs were on fire, she could barely breath, her vision blurred slightly she was so tired, but she only had 4 days, 1 hour, 5 minutes and 18 seconds to get back o her family, 17, 16, 15, 14.

Selena jumped out of bed and ran to look outside, the snow was falling again, they had nearly three feet now, and there was still no sign of Callie, but she still had 12 hours, 23 minutes, and 6 seconds. Selena woke up Keilly and Alyssa, Alexa was already awake, the four girls got dressed and headed downstairs, eyeing the message on the bulletin board.

You are invited to this year's

Christmas Ball

The ball will be held in the Great Hall, 7-12 pm.

All students 5 year and up may attend

Formal Wear

See head of house if any questions arise

Yours truly,

Head Boy and Head Girl

Selena looked over at the other girls, all who smiled devilishly back at her, the ball was tonight, only one hour after Callie was suppose to get home, this would be fun.

Selena sat at the window, her eyes glued to the forest where Callie would emerge in 2 minutes, hopefully. She started counting down in her head, and right as she hit 0, a lone figure burst out of the woods, long hair flying out behind them, the sun setting to their back, making their features unrecognizable, but the long legs told Selena it was Callie. With a small scream she ran down the stairs, pas the others who stared at her anxiously, and out the portrait hole. She sprinted down the hall, no one was out, all probably getting ready for the night's festivities. She slide around another corner, running into someone, but she didn't even look back, from the amount of billowing black cloak she could already tell which unhappy teacher she had mowed over. She skidded to a halt in front of the entrance doors, hoping from one foot to another in anticipation, 6 seconds, 5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1—

But her thought was broken off as Callie hurdled through the doors, tackling her in a huge hug. Selena squealed with delight and wrapped her arms around the frozen girl, hugging her as tightly as possible. Callie stepped back after a minutes and Selena took in her appearance, she didn't have shoes on, and her feet were a strange color, her clothes were slightly ripped and her hair was a bit of a mess, her chest was rising and falling rapidly as she tried to catch her breath, her right cheek had dried, frozen blood on it, and her left leg had a small cut running halfway down it all in all, she looked slightly beat up, but still beautiful.

"I'm sorry Selena."

Selena just nodded and wrapped her in another hug, burying her face in the soft dark brown curls.

A skidding sound signaled the arrival of another being, and Selena turned to see Eric standing in the shadows, looking at Callie. Callie pushed away from Selena and walked over to the boy, picking up the pace until she ran straight into his arms, wrapping her arms around him tightly, Eric looked slightly taken aback but hugged her hard, spinning her around once before putting her back on the ground. Alexa was the next one to come around the corner, nearly knocking Callie over as she threw herself at her, wrapping her arms tightly around Callie's neck. Then came Keilly, Alyssa, and Ben, all who hugged Callie tightly before stepping back. Callie looked at their happy faces, and felt her heart break a little, they still loved her, after all she had done, they loved her, and she couldn't love them back.

"So Callie, I know you just got back and everything but—"

Keilly was cut off when Alexa stomped on her foot, smiling innocently at Callie as if nothing had happened.

"What's going on?"

Selena smiled slightly and pulled Callie over to the bulletin board, pointing to a small sign that read,

Christmas Ball

Friday the 18

Formal

Great hall

Callie turned to Selena who smiled back at her, a slightly evil glint in her eyes.

"Ugh, fine, lets get ready."

Callie sounded incredibly defeated as she let the girls drag her up to their dorm, all talking about dresses, Callie couldn't help but think she might have been better off in the woods.

Callie stalked upstairs and flopped onto her bed, waiting for the girls to show her their dresses, she had been hoping to get out of the whole ball with an 'I don't have a dress' excuse, but, much to her displeasure, Alyssa and Keilly informed her they had picked one out for her. Callie watched as Selena ran into the closet and came back out with a floor length black dress, it had a low v neck and the sides were an open stitch, a long slit ran up the side, Callie smiled as Selena beamed, then came Keilly, she was holding a deep pink dress, it had a v-neck and a ruffle down the front, along with an embroidered empire waist. Alexa followed her out with a strapless ocean blue dress; it was stunning, just like the others. Lastly came Alyssa, she was holding two dresses, both floor length and beautiful, one was a pale cream color the other was a bright blue. The cream one was strapless and had a tied empire waist, the tie was gold and the ends hung down the side of the dress, the top was embroidered and beaded while the bottom fell to the floor in loose, soft, cream fabric. The blue dress had an interesting neckline, it all the way to the floor and pooled slightly.

"Oh no."

Callie shook her head quickly, but as she looked at Selena, she gave up hope; the girl was nodding her head,

"Oh yes!"