It's my seventh period, Science. As soon as Mr. Elementum dismisses us, I sprint to Mrs. Grunch's class. "Hello, Mrs. Grunch?" I call, knocking.
"Come in Amber." I walk into the classroom, and Mrs. Grunch says, "What is it you need, Amber?"

"Well, I would really like to learn about potionry, and I was wondering if I could use some ingredients."

"Of course. Take whatever you need. I'm always happy to supply those with a burning need for knowledge, Amber." I grab the ingredients for a sleeping potion, and an invisibility potion. I also took a premade transportation potion for good measure. We might have to make a hasty escape, and the potion was much too advanced for me. I put the ingredients in my bag, and thank Mrs. Grunch. I sprint to our dorm, and throw the door open.

"Got it!" During English, or third period, Eve had decided to join us. We had made only the parts of the plan we were comfortable with Ms. Wordsworth hearing, however. Eve and Claudia jump up from their beds, and we head to the secret room.

"So, I've created a map out of Timendra. These are the only ways we can get out of the school past curfew, without being seen." Eve says. I glance at the map, and pretend it makes sense to me, nodding. "But I can't pick one unless we know where Fiona is." She continues.

"Okay. We'll be exiting from the west wing?" Claudia questions.

"Yes." Says Eve.

"Okay. I'll send shadow spies, and we can finish the map to wherever that bit*h is keeping Fiona."

"Shadow spies?" I ask, ignoring Claudia's foul language.

"Yup. It's really a beginner black magic spell." She replies.  Claudia holds out her hand, and closes her eyes in concentration.  The shadows in the corners of the room are drawn towards her upturned palm.  I jump out of the way just in time to avoid interrupting the spell.  The shadows swirled together, to create the cutest thing.  It was round and chubby, a little black ball, with stubby little legs, and tiny wings, that almost looked inoperable.

"Aw, it's adorable!" I cry, reaching out to touch it.  The monster transforms into a toothy hairy creature, and snaps at my hand. 

I retract it just in time.  Eve slaps my hand.  "Don't you know not to touch things if you don't know what they are?!"  I nod sheepishly, as Claudia sends the spy out, snickering.  Only a few moments later, the cute little shadow monster returns, whispering something in Claudia's ear.  Claudia's expression grows dark.

"There's no barn where they keep the stowaway familiars!  Ms. Wordsworth just cursed Fiona not to return, and left her in the Forbidden Forest, to fend for herself!" 

"What?"  I cry, horrified.  Who could do something like that to anyone, let alone a cat with a temperament as sweet as Fiona's. 

Ever one to stay calm, in a terrible situation, Eve responds with, "I only know one way to get to the Forbidden Forest without being seen." Eve snaps, and a piece of paper, an inkwell, and a quill float to us.  She closes her eyes, and the quill, scribbles, with increasing speed, until it is just a blur.  The quill and the inkwell return to the shelf, and Eve opens her eyes, as the map floats down into her hands.  "Amber, could you copy these, in case anyone gets lost?"  I nod, and retrieve the bag, of supplies, I had put together for the journey.  I pulled out a sheet of metal, and reached for my hammer, before recalling what Crystal had said to me at lunch today. 

I was walking to the lunch table in the middle of the hallway, contemplating our not even close to foolproof plan to save Fiona.  I sat down, and picked at my food, before absent mindedly pulling out my hammer, and tinkering on a piece of scrap metal, I had snuck from inventors workshop.  "What are you doing sweetie?  Don't you know, the whole point of being an inventor witch, is that you can convert matter to anything, and one you have it, you don't need tools to build? "  Crystal asked, incredulously. 

I return the hammer to the shelf.  It's time to try out my magic, now that I know how I'm supposed to use it.  I use the trick Mr. Elementum taught me, and create a copy machine, barely using any energy. I copy the map, and disassemble the copy machine. I return the single sheet of metal to my bag. Claudia goes and grabs her bag, and we are ready to go.  We exit our room, inconspicuously, as curfew has not started yet, and head to the common room.  Eve pulls on the book end, and the shelf swings around, revealing a secret passageway.  I follow my friends in awe, down the dark, thin stone stairway, until Claudia fake coughs, not too subtly, and calls my name.  "Amber, The lights?"

"Right! Sorry!" I grab a sheet of metal, and it quickly forms an oil lamp. I hand it to Eve, as she is in front. Eve sends the lamp floating slightly in front of her, as we continue walking down, down, down... "Are we al-" I start to complain.

"Shhhhhh!" Claudia shushes me urgently.

"But-" I start.

"Shhhh!" Claudia shushes me, holding up a hand, and I stay quiet. There is a loud rumbling sound, almost like a giant beast's snore. "What is that?!" Claudia hisses.

"Old walls." Eve replies, her eyes twinkling. "Or maybe it's a monster!" She makes a shadow puppet of some sort of beast sneaking up on Claudia. Claudia, rolls her eyes, but nervously steps away from the wall. "Scared?" Eve asks.

"No!" Claudia scoffs in response. The lantern goes out with a hiss, punctuated by Claudia's scream. I giggled, as Eve handed me the lantern to relight it.

"Claudia, the black magic witch, is afraid of the dark!" I cry.

"Whatever!" Claudia stomps ahead.

"Wait! Wa-"

"Ow!" Claudia exclaims, interrupting Eve.

"tch out for the end of the passageway..." Eve finishes her sentence, wincing. I jog to Claudia, and give her a hand. Eve pushes on a brick, and the wall squeaks to the side slightly.

"It's old. Help me push it open more." Claudia says. I nod eager to help, and start pushing.

"Come on guys, don't you remember my powers?" Eve asks, incredulous that we are trying to move a wall with our hands.

"Yeah. We remember your powers. And we remember what happens when you use them too." I reply.  Claudia snickers. Eve rolls her eyes, and I smile. She's getting more comfortable around us.

"That only happens when I try to lift something too heavy. I'll just lift the rust off the mechanism."

"You're a genius!" I cry.

"Yup!" Eve replies, grinning. "What would you do without me?"

"Probably buy a new cat!" I joke. Eve lifts the rust off the mechanism, laughing. The door groans the rest of the way to the side, and we step into a cave. The rumbling noise is louder here, almost unbearable.   Claudia's lips are moving, but her words are lost, in the ocean of rumbling snores. 

"That is not old walls!" she screams, her voice barely breaking a whisper, compared to its competition.  The snores stop.  We freeze, terrified.  We hear a loud, enormous footstep, and run from the cave screaming.  I trip over a rock, and in my attempt to break my fall, pull a large heavy stone out of the cave's wall.  It lands on my cloak, and as I struggle to free myself, the footsteps become louder and louder. An enormous, purple and blue winged creature enters the cave. It is a dragon! I survey the scene, and realize she is a mother, and the round things on the ground, I originally took to be large colored stones, are her eggs. Another green female dragon, by the looks of her, enters the cave, and lets out a low guttural growl, but since I don't speak dragon, it is impossible to tell what she's saying. The purple dragon roars in response, stepping protectively in front of her eggs.  The green dragon growls and snorts, opening her mouth to reveal, a row of huge, sharp glistening fangs.  The green dragon attempts to lunge around the purple dragon, to reach the eggs, but the purple dragon anticipates the move, and dives in the way, biting the green dragon's neck from underneath.  the much bigger green dragon, gives one mighty shake of her head, and sends the purple dragon flying hard into the cave's wall, and large rocks topple over her, burying her body in rubble.  The green dragon begins to gather up some of the eggs, but the purple dragon emerges from the rubble, and charges toward her at full speed.  She is wounded, and one of her wings is torn, but she will do anything to protect her unborn babies.  The green dragon turns toward her attacker, and as though she is nothing but an annoyance, refocuses on her task, snorting.  The purple dragon, rams into the green dragon's side, slamming her into the cave wall.  This time it was the green dragon's turn to be encased in rubble, but unfortunately, so are the three eggs closest to her, and the two she's already put into her pouch.  The green dragon shakes off the rubble as if it is nothing, ignoring the large gashes on her side, made by the purple dragon's talons, and the smaller gash on her face, from a sharp rock.  The green dragon has decided that the purple dragon is a worthy opponent, and turns to focus on her. The purple dragon realizes that it's now or never. She charges the green dragon, and bites into her neck with all her strength. The green dragon, enraged, bounds all around the cave, jumping to slam her opponent into the roof of the cave, and thrashing her neck, trying to free herself from the purple dragon's death grip. The green dragon is slowing down, and will soon die of blood loss. Out of spite more than anything, she smashes the last egg, and gives a powerful whip of her neck. I wince at the sound of bone snapping. The purple dragon's neck is bent at an odd angle. Her jaw relaxes, and she slides to the cave floor. The green dragon collapses. Both are dead. I stare at the grisly scene in dismay. A loud cracking sound echoes from the dark corner of the cave, Startling me. I hear a funny whining sound, and then the clicking of talons on stone. The only egg left had hatched, leaving behind this orphan runted baby dragon. I say she's runted, but she's still the size of a large Christmas tree. From what I knew about dragons, if the mother couldn't be there for the hatching, she'd leave behind a live animal for them to feed on. I was to be the little purple dragon's first meal. I close my eyes, but the teeth never came. I open my eyes, and the baby is staring at me, smiling a toothy little grin. It hiccups, and a tiny flame shoots out of its mouth. The flame catches my cloak on fire where it meets the rock, and soon I can pull it free, and put out the fire, leaving a singed hole in my cloak. I couldn't just leave an orphaned baby to fend for itself, no matter what race it was.

"Come little one. Let's find my friends." I say, patting my new friend on the nose. She wags her tail, breaking one of the last remaining stalagmites.