As you sat in medical science class, you had a hard time keeping your mind from wandering. At first it was easy listening to the professor discuss the effects of different life-threatening diseases, but you were a little too jumpy to sit quietly and be a normal student.

Time slowly passed. You found that your eyes would stare off into the distance for minutes on end, and then snap back to the lecture as you struggled to focus. One of the students, a shorter, reddish-brown haired young man, had fallen asleep with his face in the textbook. His friend kept glaring at him through a pair of reading glasses, but he soon gave up and reverted to his normal, serious expression. To keep yourself listening, you pulled out a piece of notebook paper and began to doodle. Your pencil worked back and forth, almost without you controlling it. A face began to take shape.

Hmm… That was a start. You absent-mindedly began drawing eyes, and then a nose. Then, without thinking, you sketched a pair of thick, bushy eyebrows above them.

Wait… you recognized this face…

You penciled in some hair along with a sarcastic looking mouth. Arthur stared back at you from the paper where you had drawn him. How had that happened? You added a few more lines to his eyebrows, just for good measure. Then you tore off the page and stuck it hurriedly in your backpack. Okay, that was weird, you realized. You didn't quite know what had come over you, but you hoped that no one had seen it. You were honestly a little embarrassed.

Your next class was culinary arts, which you had unconsciously been looking forward to for the majority of the day.

Inside the classroom, there were rows of counters forming a line; each station equipped with kitchen tools, burners, ovens… everything a kitchen could have or need. As you were admiring the setup, you saw someone familiar sitting alone at one of the counters, fiddling with a whisk. What were the odds… you thought as you came up behind him.

"Oh, hi Arthur! I didn't know you were taking this class!" you exclaimed, thinking embarrassedly back to what you had been doing last period and deciding to banish it from your mind for all eternity.

He turned, seeming a bit startled as he quickly shoved the whisk back into its drawer. "Oh! Laurel!" You couldn't tell if it was the lighting or not, but you swore you could see him blush a little. "Hello again! Fancy seeing you here!"

Seeing as his was the only familiar face in the room, you pulled a chair out and sat down beside him. "This would be the third time today, I think."

The instructor rapped on the front desk with a wooden cooking spoon, calling the class to attention. After a quick introduction to the course, she explained that today we would be attempting to make crepes, what she described as an easy recipe for "beginners like us". Giving us a copy of the instructions, she told us to follow them with our adjacent partners.

I glanced over at Arthur as the room slowly filled with noise again. "So… have you done much cooking before?" you asked.

"Well… yes and no…" he answered.

Either he was being modest, or you had better keep an eye on him while the two of you mixed the batter.

"It's easy," you declared. "It's just like making pancakes. Everyone can make pancakes."

He didn't reply. Was he really that bad of a cook? You decided to find out for yourself. The two of you set to work measuring out ingredients.

With you supervising, the mixture turned out relatively well. After you made him pick out the shards of eggshell he had accidentally dropped in, and kept him from mistaking a teaspoon of salt for a tablespoon.

"Why don't you try frying the first one?" you insisted. "I'll show you how!"

He looked a little bit nervous, but then lightened up with your confidence. "I can try," he said, now determined.

The first crepe was a flop. Quite literally. You ended up having to clean it up off the polished floor.

The second time, you were a little more wary. As soon as he began to flip it over on the pan, you caught him before he could completely decimate his own creation. "Like this," you instructed, grabbing the handle of the spatula over his own hand. The both of you managed to flip the crepe over onto the other side fairly neatly. It was only a little overdone.

"You're doing great!" You said, noticing the embarrassed look on his face.

He didn't look so sure. "I just can't get it right," he muttered. "I don't know why. It's probably because these blasted things are from France…"

"What does that have to do with anything?" You glanced suddenly back at the crepe, which now had wisps of smoke rising from its edges. "Oh, snap! Quick! Take it off!"

By the time he had removed it from the pan, one side was almost black.

"Well, it looks as if it could be edible," you pronounced as he stared at it, his head in his hands.

By the end of evening classes, you were utterly exhausted. Not feeling that hungry, you decided to skip dinner in the dining hall, wherever that was, and find your dorm room where your luggage had been sent. As you made your way to the northernmost wing of the building, you felt a little more relaxed. The hallways were basically abandoned, an enormous contrast to the usual traffic between classes.

It took a while for you to finally reach the dormitories, but without the crowds of people, it was definitely easier to find your way around. You soon arrived at the number of your room. With the key you had received earlier that day, you swung the door open to reveal an unexpectedly spacious area, with two full beds and a variety of furnishings that gave it an elegant, yet comfortable feel. You sank down on the bed that your belongings were stacked neatly next to, but didn't feel like unpacking. Your body seemed tired enough, while your mind was too awake with the excitement the day had brought. So you decided that you should probably finish tonight's reading assignment, before the fatigue really set in. Swinging your feet up onto the mattress, you opened your history textbook and began reading at page one.

Before you knew it, you were suddenly waking to the sound of a door handle being turned. You sat upright to see a girl around your age walk into the room, closing the door behind her. Seeing you, she gave a light smile and walked over to you, extending her hand.

"Hi," she greeted. "I'm Sonia. And I'm guessing you're my roommate for the semester?"

"I guess so too," you replied. "My name's Laurel, by the way. It's nice to meet you!"

The girl's smile grew a little. A lock of her hair fell distractedly over one of her brown eyes. "Same to you!" She turned back to her own bed and leaned down to begin unpacking her luggage into one of the large chests of drawers standing by the wall. You decided it was best to do the same.

As you unpacked, the two of you got to know each other a little better. You learned that Sonia was a first year, the same as you, but that she had an older brother who also attended the academy. She told you a little about the classes, and about the different rooms to explore. Her favorite was the library, which was as large as the gymnasium and had two stories of shelves, not to mention the nicest chairs in the building.

About an hour later, the curfew knock sounded outside your door, signaling the end of the day. The two of you turned the lights down and got into bed. You were fast asleep only minutes after you crawled beneath the blankets.

Halfway through the night, you suddenly found yourself wide awake. Annoyed with yourself, you covered your head with your pillow, trying to fall back into the same peaceful dream. Unfortunately, that only made you even more alert. Figuring that shifting around restlessly wasn't going to do you any good, you slowly sat up and slid your bare feet into the pair of slippers at the foot of your bed.

You had no idea if you were allowed to leave the room or not, seeing as it was way past curfew, but you decided to find that out later. Careful not to make any noise, you opened the door and stole through into the hallway beyond.

It was incredibly quiet. Not a sound reached your ears except for that which your feet made, not a creak or a groan from anywhere in the building. You found it just a little uncanny. What you needed was some night air, but you figured that the doors to the outside would be closed and locked at this hour. What hour was it exactly? You checked the watch hanging around your neck, which you had forgotten to take off. Half past two. And yet, somehow you felt completely alert as you trotted down the hallway, without any real idea of where you were going.

You had just reached the common room when you noticed something strange. First of all, there was some sort of faint light emerging from the corridor on the other side of the room: a sort of greenish glow that shifted slightly as you stared at it. The second thing you realized was that the school wasn't silent anymore. You could hear strange noises coming from beyond, not the regular night noises that one becomes accustomed to in the dark.

Your mind was overtaken by curiosity. Throwing caution to the still air, you began making your way quickly towards the passage.