She kept gathering the stems until she felt ready to face the others. The sticks were dry and hollow and she carried them back to the classroom under one arm. Dean and Emma were poring over their books again, Wilbur was braiding strips of grass stem into rope. She dumped the stems on the ground. "They probably won't burn for long, but they should burn fine." she looked at Emma, willing her to look up and acknowledge her, but Emma kept staring at her book.

Trix squatted down in the open corner of the room. The air was very still. She broke the grasses into small pieces and arranged them into a teepee.

"Dean?"

"Hmm?" he looked up from the notes he had been taking on one of the Latin books.

"Throw me a piece of paper?"

"Trix, I mean, I'd rather not. This is hell. This might be the only paper there is. Sorry."

"How about this" Wilbur crouched next to her and pressed a pile of fluff into her hand, like cotton wool.

"What is it?"

"I rubbed some of the grasses between two rocks to try and soften it for the rope, but it didn't work so well. This should take a flame easily though. Here." he handed her the lighter they had found in Jeremiah's desk.

Trix pushed the fluff into her pile of sticks and lit it. The flame swept through it, throwing off a warm light and licking against the sticks above. She quickly added more of the grass to the fire, building it up. The flames threw dancing shadows on the walls, giving the room depth again.

Trix sat down near the fire, far away enough that the heat wasn't too strong, but close enough that she could continue to feed it. Wilbur pulled up a chair and sat opposite, staring into the flames. Dean and Emma brought chairs over then, and next to the fire. Nobody spoke, watching the dancing flames in silence, the shadows bringing life to each other's faces.

Emma broke the silence. "Do you think he died out there? In the red clouds? Jeremiah. Did he disappear like your hand?" he stared up at the black sky. "Did it hurt, Trix?"

"No." said Trix.

"That's good, I guess. I think he saved the rest of the school with what he did at the end, even if it didn't quite save us four." said Emma.

"He caused the whole thing." said Trix, poking at the fire, "he shouldn't have kept a demon in the school, he shouldn't have tried to hide the truth from us."

"No, I caused this." said Emma. Everyone fell silent again.

"So, what next?" said Wilbur, changing the subject, "what's our plan?"

"I don't think we know enough to have a plan, do we?" said Dean. "We should stay here, continue trying to learn more from the books, consolidate our position."

"And then what?" said Trix.

"I don't know yet, that's why we should wait and see. We have no idea what's out there, at least here we know we can survive."

"And then what? Survive? What sort of life is that? Survive here, like this? I'd rather die." Trix threw another handful of wood on the fire, the flames getting bigger and bigger."

"It's not just you, Trix. There are four of us, we have a much better chance of pulling through if we work together."

"Pulling through to WHAT, Dean? We need to do something. We need to look for a way home, to find a better source of food and water, of shelter. To know what risks are out there, what resources. We need a way of turning off that BLOODY LIGHT." she threw yet more wood on the fire.

Wilbur raised his hands "Woah, woah. I regret saying anything. You're both right, alright? We can't do anything if we're dead, but Trix isn't wrong either, we can't just wait here, that's death too."

Emma stood up. "I'll go." She fixed her eyes on each of them in turn, Wilbur turned away, Trix held her look.

"You don't have to." said Dean.

"Yes I do, this is my fault, we all know it. Yes, yes, everyone is to blame, but I pulled that trigger, fucking acknowledge it." her fists were clenched and Trix could see her eyes glisten in the firelight. Emma took a few deep breaths. "Will you come with me Salomé? You might be useful, you're...from here" she said in a shaky voice.

Salomé's voice floated down from where she was sitting on the top of the wall. "Are you quite mad? I might fall into a hole and be stuck there for all eternity. No, I'm perfectly comfortable here. I doubt you'll get far, anyway. Maybe I'll still be able to watch you die from up here."

"Ok, thanks. Trix and Wilbur, no offense, but I'm not...I can't. Dean? Will you come with?"

Dean was still staring into the fire. He nodded.

"Ok." her body relaxed and her fists unclenched. "Great, good. Let's go."

"We'll go tomorrow, we need to gather supplies."

"Tomorrow?"

"After we all sleep." said Dean.

Trix lay in a corner of the room, staring at the red coals of the fire. Wilbur had tucked the rest of his puckleplum root into the coals to see if its taste improved with cooking. The others were lying on the ground around the room, using their jumpers and coats as mattresses. There was no need for a sheet in the still heat. She tried closing her eyes again but the light remained, a red glow through her eyelids. Maybe this is all hell is, she thought, this light...unending light. It just drives you insane, that is your punishment. She turned over, facing the other direction, staring at the wall instead. Will it be better to be here with just Wilbur? Maybe? She would rather be going with Dean and Emma, but it made sense. She would be a liability with her one hand. Better to stay here and gather food, see if they could boil the cactus water to improve the taste. There was plenty to do. Maybe she could try reading some of those books, too. She had taken French. She could write a journal.

She turned on her back. She was exhausted but her whole body still buzzed with energy. She could hear Wilbur snoring in the opposite corner. Bastard. Her legs felt tight and sore like she had a fever. The more she lay there the more aware of the discomfort she became.

She jerked awake to the sounds of the others moving furniture. She didn't remember falling asleep but the residue of her dream was still there. She could feel it slipping from her mind and grasped it, focusing on it. The sea? She remembered powerful water. She had been floating, was being carried somewhere at great speed. She remembered terror and a feeling of urgency. She had to tell..someone. What? She knew it was something very important. She was fully awake now, and the last fragments were gone. She was left only with the memory of a memory.

Dean squatted down next to her, "We're going to head out now. Are you feeling ok? That catus juice seems safe still?"

"What? Oh. Yes. I'm fine. It should be safe. Take care."

Emma was already standing at the entrance to the ruins, plastic bag over one shoulder. She waved and Emma raised her hand in response.

"How far will you go?" she asked Dean.

"There's something on the horizon, a tree maybe. We're going to go that far and see if we can climb up and see what's out there, see how far this desert continues."

"We'll wait here. Take care." she said again. "Be careful."