Children of the Stars

Chapter Twenty One

I woke gasping for breath in a tiny space. I was curled up in a tight ball, pressed uncomfortably into a corner and buried under a layer of discarded winter coats. I was pretty sure I had been sleeping on shoes, too. For a moment, I wasn't sure where I was. Then, all the memories of the evening flooded into my brain.

I had snuck out of the infirmary when Ms. Ramsay left to join the teachers at the head table for dinner. I had a plan all ready in my mind, but I couldn't have anyone knowing I was out of the infirmary. That would raise too many questions. When Jasmine visited in the afternoon, I whispered my plan to her and she agreed. At one o'clock in the morning, she would Puddle into the pipes and go to the Leo dorm to get Kaylin and we would meet with my dorm-mates at a supply closet on the second floor. Until then, I had to wait. I decided to hide in the common room, so I could know when everyone went to bed and it was safe to leave. I had accidentally fallen asleep somewhere around eight, with a lullaby of horribly off-tune singing from a group of Aries.

I unburied myself and checked my watch. 12:39 AM. I had twenty minutes to wake up my friends and meet Jasmine and Kaylin at the supply closet. I roused myself, stretching life back into my cramped legs and back, and crept from the closet. The first thing I noticed was how dark the common room was. I had never seen it in pitch black before. Only a sliver of navy light drifted in from the world beyond through the small windows at the top of the far wall, giving me some sort of reference as to where the doors to the dorms were. Luckily for me, there were emergency lights in the hallways of the dorms—which were always on so that no one could creep up and scare people in the dark—that made a small fraction of golden light visible from underneath the doors. I still managed to run into a wall and open the wrong door—I think it was Aries' dorm; it was a very unfamiliar hallway with black singe marks along the length—before I opened the right one. Once inside a better lit and more familiar environment, I sighed softly and relaxed. My steps became confident and sure once more.

I made my way into my dorm, thankfully left unlocked by one of my forgetful roommates, and just took a moment to observe the place I had missed while in the infirmary. Someone had made both mine and Kitch's beds in our absence. On top of Kitch's pillow sat a small stuffed animal. I couldn't make out what it was in the dark, but I grabbed it none the less and shoved it into a pocket. Ember was peacefully snoring with her hand hanging down over my bed; Emma was sprawled out on her back, eyes shifting rapidly in a dream; Skylark was mumbling something about donuts, and Isobel lay still and silent on her side, facing the wall. I walked over to Emma, who looked to be like she would be the easiest to wake.

"Emma," I murmured, shaking her shoulder. "Wake up."

She moaned and swatted me away, rolling over onto her side. I shook her a few times, but the blonde was out cold. I took a step back and sighed with my hands on my hips. I knew that Isobel slept like the dead and it was very near impossible to wake her up—Kitch and the alarm clock proved that—so Emma was my best shot. I tried a few more times, but as one o'clock rolled nearer, I knew what I had to do. I stuck my little finger in my mouth and at the same time, swiped some of her hair away from her ear which faced the ceiling. Once my finger was sufficiently slobbered, I stuck it in her ear.

Her eyes snapped open and she flinched away with a roar. I had hardly a moment to back away when she locked eyes with me and screamed, "I'm going to kill you!"

Immediately, the other three popped their heads up in surprise, but by the time I noticed this, I was on the ground and a half-asleep Emma was shaking me into the ground, my head thunking painfully off the floor.

"Ow, ow, ow, Emma—stop!—ow!"

"Emma, stop, it's Amythest! You're gonna hurt her!" Skylark grabbed the girl around the middle and dragged her back from me. She seemed confused as to what she was doing, as though she wasn't quite alert yet. She blinked a couple of times and frowned blearily at me.