Maddie's abrupt exit caught everyone by surprise. Corentin surged forward to stop her and Gaius and Cleo scrambled to their feet. But Maddie was somehow faster than all of them. She heard their steps pounding behind her and expecting any second to be snatched back. The only thing that kept her from just closing her eyes and surrendering to her fate was the look of horror and betrayal she knew would be on her friends’ faces.

With her magic unlocked, Maddie found herself feeling lighter. She focused on her arm as she ran down the relatively straightforward path. She could swear she saw wisps of smoke coming off of it. Warriors in their red robes stepped out onto the path, but Maddie was almost a blur as she ran past them. She had always been a small, relatively scrawny kid, but now she ran faster than an Olympic runner. A net of magic appeared in front of her and she seemed to blur out of existence for a split second and reappear on the other side of it. If she hadn't been so focused on running away she would have been terrified by something so resembling the teleportation abilities of a Shadow Walker.

Once through the gates of the Academy, Maddie headed straight toward the temple. She needed to get out of the city as fast as possible and she only knew of two people who could help her. Both of them could be found at the temple.

It was an amazing feat of athleticism. Maddie led not only her friends and Corentin, but Druids of both red and white robes, and several city guards, on a merry chase. She reached the lawn of the Temple of All Gods and then she felt her body falling forward and everything became darkness.

Maddie woke up in a brightly lit room. Magical lanterns hung from the ceiling, eliminating any shadows. She squinted at the brightness, then squeezed her eyes tightly as she remembered what had happened. She was caught, imprisoned no doubt for the crime of being a future Shadow Walker. The design of the lights told her that they knew what she was and didn't want to give her a chance to use her powers.

Though, what were her powers? The brightness of the light and the fog of exhaustion made it hard to think.

She sat down on the floor and examined the room, squinting until her eyes became adjusted to the light. There was a thick mat on the floor. That was what she had been lying on. The floor was wood boards, the walls were plaster, and the door was solid. It looked like almost every interior room of the Academy. There was no window and the globes of light hung inches from the ceiling. They had been arranged so as to allow no shadows.

Then she felt inside herself and brought up the memory of her flight through the city. She had definitely been moving much faster than she ever thought she could. And she had definitely dodged that net of magic by...not being in the space it was. She had blurred from one place to another without going through the space in between. She had teleported, like a Shadow Walker.

The door opened and Elouan walked in. The only times Maddie had seen the head Grammaticus since the first day had been at meals, and then only from a distance. In person he looked both older and more spry. He was wearing a simple white robe, without the ornamental necklaces, crown, or gold jewelry that an Arch-Druid usually wore. His hair and beard were both quite long and of the same bright white as his robe. Under the room's lights he almost seemed to glow. His face was wrinkled but he moved with smooth motions that belied his advanced age. His eyes were the same color as moss growing on an pak tree.

“I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting in person, Miss Brigantia.”

“N...no, Grammaticus.”

“Please, you may refer to me as Elouan in this case,” he said, smiling. Maddie merely nodded.

Elouan looked around the room and then rapped on the door. A young student with a red sash opened it and stuck his head inside.

“Chairs. Two,” Elouan commanded. The student nodded and disappeared. A few minutes later he came back, struggling under the weight of two heavy wood chairs. Just as the thought flashed through Maddie's mind that she could attempt to escape, someone unseen closed the door after the student with the chairs.

After he had left and they had settled themselves in the chairs, Elouan looked at Maddie.

“I've had a report from your teacher and from the war mages and it paints a very interesting portrait. A very perplexing one, too. Now, I don't really want to keep you here, but I don't think you're fit for classes right now.”

“You don't want me here. Am I expelled?”

Elouan blinked at her for a moment, then realized what she thought he meant.

“I'm sorry, I'm afraid I wasn't very clear. When I said “here” I meant in this room. I have no intention of expelling you right now. In fact, I'm pretty sure it would be a bad idea if you left on your own. I've heard stories of this man you saw, this Tereus,” he said the name with distaste, “and none of them was good.

“This is what I'll do. I'll let you stay on the Academy grounds but you won't be attending any classes right now. And instead of sleeping in the dorms, you'll sleep here. We'll, um, do something about these lights.” He pointed at the ceiling and all but one if the lights winked out.

“Try to stay inside if you can. Please don't leave the grounds. And if you see this Tereus again, let someone know immediately.”

He stood up and opened the door wide.

“I'll have a proper bed and a lamp sent up here. You can keep the chairs. I think your friends want to see you now.”

Maddie was very quiet when her friends rushed in. Cleo hesitated for a second before giving her friend a big hug that left her practically gasping for air. Gaius awkwardly patted Maddie on the back. Maddie broke into tears when Cleo let go.

“It's okay,” Cleo told her friend, crouched down on the floor next to the chair. She pulled a cloth from her dress and dried Maddie's eyes.

“I've been such a bad friend!” Maddie sobbed, “you helped me and I didn't trust you!”

“It's okay,” Gaius broke in, “We don't care as long as you're okay.”

This made Maddie cry harder. Cleo put her hands on the sides of Maddie's head and forced her to look at her.

“Whatever you did or didn't do that you regret, you did a lot of good things. You supported us even when it was hard for you.”

Cleo nodded.

Cleo and Gaius comforted Maddie until they had to go to class. A little while after that, a couple of students came in carrying a cot and a mattress. Maddie thought it would be better if she left them to it.

Maddie wandered the halls connecting her new room with the rest of the Academy. She was in a wing of the main building. Students were normally housed in one of the larger outbuildings, but the teachers and other Druids had quarters within the main building. Perhaps Elouan thought that being among so many capable people would help her stay safe. After all, he had recommended that she stay inside. Maddie felt like she was in a secret world where students weren't supposed to go. With thd exception of one or two advanced students, everyone she passed was an adult. Oddly, nobody seemed to think it was strange that she was so out of place, even though her brown robes and lack of sash marked her as one of the younger students. And it wasn't as if she looked older than she was -- if anything she looked young for her age.

Eventually her meandering led her to the outside. The weather had turned, seeming to go from fall to winter overnight. Maddie knew it was morning, but the sky looked more like night. Thick black clouds hung over the city like smoke. They seemed like they were closing in on the city. Maddie imagined that she saw them come lower and lower. She waited for the inevitable rain, imagining what that first fat raindrop would feel like. But rain didn't come. The clouds started roiling but where there would usually be flashes of lightning buried deep in the clouds there was nothing. The pressure increased; Maddie felt it press down on her like a weight. It practically drove her to the ground, but she used all her will to stay standing.

The lack of thunder made every other sound stand out. Maddie could hear voices chanting in one of the groves. It seemed that some of the Druids were doing combat with the unusual phenomenon over the city. Wisps of cloud seemed to reach down from the sky like tendrils of smoke, aiming for the Druids. The chanting grew louder and the tendrils stopped, disippating into nothing. The sky grew darker. It was if night had fallen but the clouds were still clearly visible and Maddie could see as well as she could have on a normal cloudy day. The clouds swirled, pressing closer before receding slightly. They seemed to float up higher.

Then there was thunder. No lighting preceded it, it was just one abnormally long peal of thunder. The force of it was enough to knock Maddie off her feet and make her ears ring. Trees bent under its power. The storm followed the thunder with a focused burst of wind that felled the trees of the grove and sent the Druids flying.

Then, as the clouds had, the wind lifted back up into the sky. The clouds rose higher and the landscape gradually grew brighter. At a certain point the clouds came apart, revealing a strong late morning sun that nearly blinded Maddie. As she struggled to her feet she noticed her shadow next to her. The sight pulled at something in her brain, something she couldn't quite remember.

Maddie stood there, warmed by the unusually bright sunlight for a few minutes until clouds -- normal, everyday clouds -- started to cover the sky. She felt oddly calm as she walked back to her room.