Sometimes events move too suddenly and quickly for the mind to register them properly. Now, in this fleeting moment of panic, thoughts raced through your head like flashes of a camera—leaving you petrified in the darkness. Everything was a wild disarray of confusion and chaos. You heard a high-pitched shriek behind you. Something brushed against your shoulder. Everything was black as pitch all around.

"Everyone calm down!" You shouted through the shadows and the frantic scuffling, recovering from your shock.

"THE GHOST JUST TOUCHED ME!" A voice that obviously belonged to Alfred wailed from the dimness.

"I-I am sorry, I think that was my foot…" said Kiku from somewhere beside him.

"Quiet!" you yelled.

The voices died down into heavy breathing. You stepped backwards, only to collide with a shoulder.

"Sorry!" You responded to Arthur's surprised grunt. Turning, you were surprised to find that in addition to the darkness, you could see the faint outline of your friend. Maybe your eyes were now getting used to the dark.

"Um... Laurel...?" Alfred's voice came from behind Arthur's shoulder. You could see his face as well now, but you realized that it was crossed with fear. Some sort of green light was reflecting off his glasses.

Actually, there was a sort of green light everywhere, you realized. Was it growing?

"What are you all staring at?" You demanded with a growing sense of uneasiness as you noticed their faces turned in your direction. You realized a bit late that their gazes weren't directed at you.

"Out! Get out!" Arthur's voice jarred you with it's sudden ferocity.

"What the-" Your head only managed a half turn before you were yanked towards the doorway. Someone managed to find the handle, the door opening with a jerk as everyone spilled out into the hallway in a hurried mess.

You stumbled blindly over someone's foot and slammed into the opposite wall with an unladylike interjection. Where the hell were the lights? Had the entire upper floor gone out?

The green glow had vanished, and with it any hope of seeing through this mess. In utter confusion, you began following the noise of scattered footsteps down the hall, feeling for the wall beside you to keep from falling over.

Suddenly, you winced as a spark burst to life in the corner of your vision. "This way!" Unshielding your eyes, you caught a glimpse of Arthur's face illuminated by a small flame from the top of his wand. Then he vanished behind a corner. You sprinted to catch up with him and the only available source of light. It was nothing more than an ember, but it was the only thing you had to follow.

Nearing the end of the corridor, the light came to an abrupt halt.

"What's...going...on...?" You tried to catch your breath as you watched your friend struggle with the unrelenting handle of a door to your left.

Instead of answering your question, he cursed and turned to look you fully in the eyes. "I'm going to have to put out this light." His eyes flickered to the tip of his wand. "It will only be for a moment-just don't panic. I'll try to relight it as soon as possible."

Before you could say anything in return, his face vanished as everything went black once again. "Okay, then..." You tried to sound nonchalant as you steadied yourself in the darkness. You hoped that he knew what he was doing.

It was at that moment that you noticed it.

A faint, but familiar glow from around the corner.

"Um... Arthur?" The greenish hue was slowly magnifying.

"One more second..." Suddenly, the handle turned. "I've got it! Hurry!"

He pulled you in and up the dim and narrow staircase that lay beyond the doorway. There was no time to relight the wand. Whatever it was behind you wasn't going to wait politely. The metal stairs clanked sinisterly as you stumbled your way upwards in the dark.

All of a sudden, you realized that there was sky above your head. Arthur had pushed open a hatch at the top of the steps, and was now climbing a metal ladder. you were about to follow when a scraping noise from the stairs below made you flinch in horror.

"Grab my hand! Hurry up!" His usual testiness was overridden by a tense panic. You reached for his hand and felt yourself being hoisted up, out of the stairwell and onto the roof. Both of you collapsed on the shingles.

You twisted around, half expecting some monstrous creature to emerge from the exit, but Arthur had already dropped his wand and lunged forward to slam the hatch closed with a final clang.

There was an awkward silence as both of you managed to slowly catch your breath.

After a few moments, you tried to speak. "What... what the hell just happened?" Your eyes widened as a different realization suddenly came to you. "Oh, God... where is everyone else?"

Arthur looked just as surprised as you. "I thought that they were right behind!" He cursed. "We must have lost them. I think they'll be alright. They have Vladimir, after all. We should be fine too, as long as we have..."

He trailed off as all color drained from his face.

"My wand!"

His tone shocked you upright. "What?"

"My wand! I dropped it! Where has it gone?" His eyes searched madly over the slanted roof tiles. "Bloody hell!" He groaned and buried his face in his hands in a gesture of exasperation.

The sinking feeling you had begun to get used to over the past week crept back in full strength as you peered over the long drop to the school grounds. There was little doubt as to where it had disappeared to.

"Well, this is perfect..." you muttered. "We're stuck out here watching the sunset while some doom monster wreaks havoc on our friends." You turned to look him in the eye. "Well, at least you can tell me what you meant earlier..."

Arthur promptly stopped his string of curses. "What do you mean?"

"How exactly is this all your fault?"