I should have probably ran toward the sound of Fionna screaming, but I didn’t. I walked. Calmly. Out in the hallway, the scent of smoke was stronger than it had been in my room, but I couldn’t see it. Nor did I see anyone else running or hear anyone else screaming or shouting. It was all very different than the scene at the high school had been. I was hopeful that it was the fact that Fionna should’ve been surrounded by mages here that was keeping her from hurting anyone.It took me a while to figure out where the sound was coming from. She was in the building next to the one where I was staying. I thought this was one that was for teachers only, but I couldn’t remember specifically. When I walked inside, it looked nicer than the building I’d been staying in, confirming my suspicion that this was a fancier building for “grown ups.” 

“How was your flight this time?” Liam asked me as we walked back to my room. It seemed like we were strolling, like he wasn’t in any hurry at all to get me to my room so that he could rush back to his friends who might be waiting for him. I tried not to read anything into it and didn’t hurry either, even though I sort of wanted to dash into my room and hide from this attractive guy who may or may not have been the fellow my boyfriend saw me enjoying a picnic lunch with during his death vision.“The flight wasn’t good,” I said. Now that it was just Liam and I, I figured I could be a little more open about the situation with Fionna than I was in front of the entire group. “Fionna takes a lot of energy.”Liam gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. It sounds like she’s really taken a liking to

“Okay--you’ve got to tell me, what in the world is wrong with that girl?”I tried to stifle a laugh, but it was hard. Maggie’s face was priceless as she sat next to me in first class, flying with me back to Chicago. I insisted that she didn’t need to make the last leg to Montana, but I was glad it was her flying with me across the Atlantic. While it was super hard for her to unlatch Fionna from her, the flights had already been arranged before Fionna decided Maggie was her new security blanket. We were both leery of how Fionna might react not having Maggie there, or me, but the best part about the situation for us was that neither one of us would have to deal with the aftermath. I was a little afraid she might burn the school to the ground, but Maggie had left her in the care of Mage Jaye herself, so at least it would be the head of the council who would be responsible to make

 Maggie’s last words did not sit well with me as I tried to reason through what she was talking about. “My fated-match?” I asked her. “What do you mean Ben not dying could’ve changed everything? Are you saying that you think he was supposed to die that night, and the fact that I was able to save him means that I’ve changed the outcome my life is supposed to have?” If that was what she was saying, she sounded just as crazy about the whole thing as Ben always did whenever it came up.Unfortunately, Maggie was nodding her head. Score another point for the crazies. “That’s exactly what I think might’ve happened,” she said.The words “exactly” and “might’ve” did not go together, in my experience. “So you think that Ben was supposed to die that night, an

It was great seeing my pack again. They were my family now, and even though I hadn’t been gone that long, being back with them was soothing to my soul. We spent the evening getting reacquainted, but the forest was calling to me. I wanted to go outside and sit on my stump with my eyes close and let her powers wash over me, but it was still snowing, and even though the cold didn’t bother me, it seemed a little weird to sit out there in those conditions.But when Ben asked me, “Do you want to go for a run?” I had to take him up on the offer. It didn’t seem strange at all to run around through the forest snow in the form of a wolf. Wolves are made for the cold, after all, aren’t they?We shifted in the back yard and took off for the woods. The snow falling felt good against my fur, which I&rsq