I was groggy that day. I hadn't gotten very much sleep the night before due to homework and studies. Mary all but dragged me to our first class. I sat heavily in the seat next to hers and groaned, a headache already forming between my brows.

"Try and be positive," Mary told me. "Think of the good things about today. It's warm outside." Too warm to wear a jacket. "The sun is shining." The sun is too bright. "The birds are singing." They give me an earache. "Seriously, you have to be looking forward to something today." And I was. Brian was coming over today. I literally couldn't wait, but you wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at me. The bell rang, we said the Pledge of Allegiance, and then there was the moment of silence. When we finally sat back down I realized something. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Phantom Presence - it was gone.

A loud noise echoed outside the door, making everyone, including the teacher, jump and whirl toward the noise. She replaced her marker, not bothering to cap it. She opened the door and looked out, left, then right, and as soon as she did, her face paled. "Everyone stay in your seats," she said hoarsely, and closed the door behind her as she left.

Her voice was raised, but no one could understand what she was staying. There was a gasp, and a blurr went past the door. A loud thunk sounded as a body hit the ground, followed by a series of cracks. There was a shriek of pain, and then nothing.

No one got up to inspect. No one even moved.

I did. I moved. Something - maybe bravery, maybe stupidity - compelled me to open the door. So I did, albeit shakily, and a hand gripped my arm before I could leave. "Mira, what are you doing?!" Mary's voice was panicked. I knew in that second that there was only one way to keep her safe.

I shrugged an apology to her and shoved her back with my shoulder. She went flying back, and I slammed the door behind me, hearing the lock click. Mary tugged on the door in vain, pushing and pulling and begging me to stop. She was trying to tell me something, but for some reason, that refused to process inside my head. As did everything else as I gazed at the man in the long black cloak, hood up to conceal his face.

The man didn't move for a moment. He just studied me, which I only knew because I could feel his gaze burning me. His aura was... dark. Evil. Completely corrupted. It would've made me gag, if I hadn't been completely frozen from fear.

The man's hand came up, stretching out towards me. Some invisible force tugged at my feet, at first gradually. Then, as if he was impatient, the force pulled so hard I fell flat on my back, smacking my head against the floor. The force began to drag me and I flipped over, a warrior's insticts taking over so suddenly I barely even noticed. My hands slid along the slick floor, and I reached out just before an open doorway could slip away completely. I gripped it with both hands, not about to let go. But the door moved on its own, starting to slam shut on my fingers -

Someone jumped in front of it and it slammed into him, making it bounce back. The door came back, pushing hard against the man, but he put one foot against the door frame and braced his back against it. He offered me a hand. I could only stare.

Mr. Thomas' s eyes weren't right. At least, they weren't what they had been before. They were... brown. A deep, comforting brown, like warm cocoa beside a hearth in winter.

Brian's eyes.

One of my hands was dragged away from the door frame but the man with Brian's eyes caught it, holding it with an iron grip. My hands turned sweaty as I looked into his eyes again.

"Mir, I failed," he grunted, and he sounded just like Brian. "I failed. I was supposed to protect you. I messed up. I'm sorry." Slowly, slowly, he morphed into Brian, my eyes growing wider with disbelief all the while. "I'm so sorry."

What was he saying?

The man pulled harder, making me grunt in pain. When this was over, I'd have been surprised if I hadn't grown a few inches.

Brian was here. But he wasn't... human. What the heck is going on? I had to do something. I wished I could just disappear, go back to living a normal life.

This was a dream. Yeah, that was it. The pain felt real, though. But how was that possible? Seriously, what the he-

A sudden powerful tug pulled me out of my thoughts. It hurt, really hurt, and I shrieked, "Brian, don't let go!"

I didn't even know I had said it out loud until he looked down at me, a little surprised. He pulled as hard as he could, pulled me up, up, up, and into his chest, and wrapped his arms around me. I was a little shocked, unable to react, and that was the moment it all fell apart. I slipped out of his grip almost a little too easily and went flying back. I screamed as I flew down the hall, turning around, and stopped right in front of him. I didn't know his hand was around my neck until I couldn't draw breath. And he squeezed so hard I was sure there would be a bruise there. I heard someone shouting behind me, footsteps pounding towards us as the air began to ripple like water. The man took a step back and pressed his fingers to my forehead. My vision went fuzzy, and then I was unconscious.

I woke up a few hours later, my head pounding and my insides feeling like a giant plunger had done its job with them instead of a toilet.

I groaned, looked around. The room was dark, dark enough that I could barely see a thing. There was something on my wrists, something cold and heavy. A loud noise reverberated through the space, lighting up what I could only guess was a window in the corner of my vision. It was a flash of lightning. Outside, it was raining, like there was a hurricane right outside the window. Another loud sound echoed out in the silence. My head pounded, and I groaned in pain. "Mira?" a voice murmured through the black. "Are you awake?"

Mary? I struggled to sit up, ignoring the pain in my head. What the heck.... Where are we?

"I'm sorry, Mira. I failed you. This is all our mother's fault."

What is she....

And then I realized that that dream I had had only weeks before....

A door slid open and the man in the cloak walked in.

....hadn't been a dream at all.