Cordelia took off her shoes, knelt down on the earth and closed her eyes. She rubbed the sweat from her face with the palms of her hands. Let the rain come, she thought. She let out a long breath and ran her hands over the grass, digging her nails into the soft dirt. She could smell the storm. The first droplets of rain hit her face and she opened her eyes. The wind caught her blonde hair and tousled it. It tugged at her blouse. Kyle knelt down in front of her and their dark eyes met. He held the deer between them on the ground, one hand firmly pressed to its neck, one on its small body. It had given up kicking. It stared at Cordelia but she kept looking at Kyle. The wind was howling through the trees now. The rain was falling harder. It was so cold.

"Zoe," said Cordelia, "Give me the knife."

She held out her hand. Zoe was standing close by. She produced a long ornate blade from her bag. Lightning flashed and made the blade shine bright. To Cordelia it seemed to sing. It knew its purpose. Zoe placed the knife in Cordelia's hand as a loud crack of thunder sounded. Zoe jumped, but Cordelia's hand remained steady. The fawn began to kick and Kyle frowned, holding it tighter.

"Sequere lucem," said Cordelia, "venite ad me."

She plunged the knife deep into the fawn's chest. It let out a high pitched scream. The blood spurted over Cordelia's hands and arms and face.

"Now Zoe!" she said.

Zoe thrust the squirming frog she had been holding at Cordelia. Cordelia reached out and grabbed it with both bloody hands. Everything went black.

She was no longer in the clearing with Zoe and Kyle. She was in the classroom again. She immediately spotted Misty, who was crying.

"You can't make me!" she said. "I won't do it!"

She was holding a scalpel. It was poised over a frog on her desk. The teacher grabbed her hand roughly and forced her to press the scalpel down into the frog's belly, slicing it open. Cordelia narrowed her eyes and held out her hand, palm towards the teacher. Immediately he let go of Misty and the scalpel fell to the table with a clatter. Misty let out a little moan and looked at the teacher. While she watched, he picked up the scalpel she had dropped and turned the blade towards his face. With one jerky movement, he plunged the scalpel into his eye. He screamed and pulled it out, only the plunge it into his other eye. Misty stood up. Her chair fell to the ground with a bang.

"Misty!" Cordelia said, walking towards her.

Misty's head whipped around, her blonde curls flying. Her face was wet with tears, her eyes were red. She looked confused. She was looking at Cordelia, but not really seeing her. Cordelia reached out for her but Misty flinched back, putting her hands up in defence. She stepped back and stumbled over her chair, falling backwards onto the teacher, who was silently wreathing on the floor, pawing at his face. Misty scrambled away from him and felt around on the floor for the scalpel. She grasped it in her hand and stood up, pointing it at Cordelia.

"Get away!" she yelled, swiping at the air with the scalpel, "Leave me alone. I won't do it anymore. You can't make me."

Cordelia held up her hands in front of her and patted the air in a placating motion.

"Misty it's me," she said, "Don't you remember? It' s me, Cordelia."

Misty's chest was rising and falling with her heavy breaths. Her eyes darted around the room from student to student. They were busy with their school work, and didn't seem in the least bit concerned with the events unfolding around them. She looked back at Cordelia. The hand holding the scalpel was shaking.

"I don't understand," she said, her voice cracking, "I'm so confused."

Cordelia took a step forward.

"Everything is going to be all right," Cordelia said. "I promise. We make a great team, remember?"

She bent down and picked up the dead frog from the table between them, cupping it in her palms.

"Vitalum Vitalus," she whispered.

After a moment's pause, the frog let out a feeble croak and wriggled to life. Misty's hand was shaking violently now. She let the scalpel fall to the floor and stared at Cordelia with wide eyes.

"Please don't make me kill it, please, please, Miss Cordelia," she said.

Cordelia smiled.

"Come here," she said, holding the frog in one hand and using the other to beckon Misty. Misty stepped forward and slowly reached her hand out to Cordelia. Their fingers intertwined. Cordelia squeezed Misty's hand and smiled wider. Misty moved a little closer.

"I told you once that you were under the protection of my Coven," Cordelia said. "I meant it. Now you need to trust me. This room is not real. It's nothing but a dream and you are trapped here by your own magic. But I am not a dream Misty. I am real and I am here to take you home. Close your eyes and think of your home in the swamp. Can you do that?"

Misty closed her eyes and nodded.

"Imagine for me that you're back there now. Taking care of your plants. Listening to your Stevie. You are safe, you are so dearly loved. Come back. Wake up. We will go together."

Everything went black.

Cordelia woke up. She was on the ground outside Misty's house once more. She sat up and looked around frantically. It was night time now. She saw Kyle and Zoe standing in the dark, hunched together, holding torches. They looked frightened. The rain was pouring down now. Thunder boomed.

"Misty!" Cordelia screamed. "Misty!"

She crawled over to the body of the fawn on her hands and knees. Lightning made the knife buried in its chest flash brilliantly. Its fur was drenched in its blood and it had soaked into the earth around it. Cordelia began to dig with her hands into the mud and blood beneath the fawn.

Kyle and Zoe hurried forward.

"Help me!" she yelled.

All three began to dig into the earth.

"Venite ad me, venite ad me," Cordelia muttered, clawing at the earth.

Something shot out of the mud and latched onto her arm with a steely grip. It was a hand.

"Misty!" Cordelia cried. "Kyle help!"

She gripped Misty's hand tight in both of hers. Kyle plunged his hands into the earth around the hand digging like a dog, flinging dirt everywhere and exposing a length of forearm. Another hand shot out and Cordelia grabbed at it. Her hand slipped at first then she held it tight. She pulled, and all at once the earth parted and Misty tumbled out. She knocked Cordelia back into the mud and fell on top of her. All Cordelia could see were the shining whites of Misty's eyes and teeth. Her hair was a muddy wet mane that fell all around her dirty face.

The rain poured down. Cordelia laughed and reached up to wipe away the mud from Misty's face. But all she did was smear more dirt from her hand across Misty's cheek. The rain was running through her hair and saturating Cordelia with muddy water. Misty's eyes were studying Cordelia's face as if she had never seen anything like it before. She sat up suddenly and climbed off Cordelia, looking around in wonder. Her eyes settled on the dead fawn.

Cordelia followed Misty's gaze.

"I'm so sorry," she said, "We needed a sacrifice."

Misty crawled over to the deer and used both hands to pull the knife from its chest. Blood oozed out of the wound. She laid her hands over the fawn and stared into its lifeless eyes. Its head jerked and it kicked its legs. It struggled to get up, fell once, then got up again and darted into the woods. Misty watched it go. Then she looked at Kyle, Zoe and Cordelia. Her eyes were wary. Her face, now mostly clean thanks to the rain, looked strained. Her brow wrinkled, her chest rose and fell with quick breaths.

"You can't make me..." said Misty.

Cordelia hurried over to Misty, crouched down and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her close. Misty began to cry, great raking sobs that made her whole body shake.

"Shhh," said Cordelia, "It's going to be alright. You're safe now. You've come home to me."