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smiled. She liked that woman.
    “Can I see her? I was the one that brought her in. I have a right to see how my damsel in distress is doing, right?” Ari raised an eyebrow. Damsel in distress? Really?
    “I’m sorry, Mr. Delyle. As I’ve told you the last hundred times you’ve come in, what she needs is rest, and trust me, of all her visitors you would be first on my list to let in, but I don’t think that’s in her best interest. She’ll be in class on Monday. You can check on her then.”
    “But—”
    “No, Mr. Delyle. I’ll tell her you stopped by.” Ms. Neemer’s voice was firm, and Ari could hear the gentle click of the outer office door shutting as the boy left.
    Ari settled back in the pillows, trying to resume her counting. There was something about that boy’s voice… But she was sleepy and her thoughts wouldn’t connect the way they were supposed to. Before she could finish her thought, she was out cold.
    She stayed in the infirmary until Sunday night after all the other students had already gone to bed, when Ms. Neemer escorted her back to her dorm. It wasn’t because she was that injured that she warranted a weekend stay, but because dorms were noisy and she needed rest or so Ms. Neemer told her. She had also told her that several visitors had come by, but Ari didn’t ask who — she didn’t care, or at least that’s what she wanted Ms. Neemer and the rest of the world to believe. Honestly, she was just glad to be away from people, and glad to have a legitimate excuse to be away from her cell phone and out of easy reach of her grandfather. She worried about her family most of the weekend, because they did tend to get into a lot of trouble. But she couldn’t muster the energy to ask someone to retrieve her phone. Secretly, she was glad that they couldn’t get a hold of her. It was nice that they weren’t her problem for just a little while.
    “Thank you for helping me get back to my room. Without, you know, letting any more ladders fall on me.”
    Ms. Neemer smirked but said nothing. Ari smiled at the ground.
    The night air was cool as she shuffled from the main building to the dorms. She tipped her head back, finally getting a chance to take in the scenery. The school was a few miles out of town, set back away from the road several hundred yards, hidden by lots and lots of trees. There were hiking trails branching out from the huge expanses of lawn between the dorms and the main building. The headmistress had even mentioned something about a pond up one of those trails, if Ari remembered right.
    She left Ms. Neemer in the hallway, letting herself into her room, sparing a brief glance at her snoring roommate. She dug in her bag and found her phone. The battery was dead. She found her charger and plugged it into the wall but paused as she turned on her phone, biting her lip. Taking a deep breath, she decided with giddy guilt that she wasn’t going to check her cell phone or her email. She put her phone away. For tonight, she wasn’t going to hunt for traces of blue magic or analyze how best to terminate any student who was unfortunate enough to be on the wrong side of the war. She wasn’t going to be a weapon or a soldier or a hunter.
    She was just going to be a new senior about to start her last year of high school. And if it got her killed, so be it.

Chapter Three
     
    “Oh. You’re back. I didn’t hear you come in last night.” Brittany breezed in the next morning on a wake of flowery perfume. Ari glanced at her in the mirror, but didn’t turn around and didn’t bother to respond. Brittany didn’t notice. “You missed the best dance this school has ever had. It’s too bad. Sorry,” she said but there was no apology in it, and Ari hadn’t expected one. “I danced with Shane twice. He wanted to several other times, I’m sure, but I didn’t want him to think I was just sitting there waiting for him! I did have all those other guys waiting for… Hello? Where are you going? I