Intense banging startled me from my exhaustion-fuelled sleep. I jerked upwards, eyes only half open, hands desperately patting the area around me for some kind of weapon. I found a drool coated pillow and leather-bound journal. Yep, this is how I die.

“Message from Guildmistress Ada,” a formal voice accompanied the drums of death. “Open up please!”

I groaned and kicked away the tangle of blankets I’d managed to cocoon myself in. As soon as my face hit the pillow when I had arrived home, I’d passed out from my all-nighter, so was conveniently still dressed and ready to answer the door. I ran my hands down my uniform in a futile attempt to remove the creases.

“Mistress Rivergold!”

“Yes!” I gave up on the tunic. “I’m coming.”

I rubbed my temple as the pounding on the door ceased, breathing a sigh of relief. Now I only had to deal with the internal pounding of my headache, the first sign that the price to pay for my excessive scorchbark use was coming due. The new Heatstone in my collection was worth it though so, lesson not learned.

I tried to ease the scowl of pain from my face as I opened the door but, judging from the knocker’s wide-eyed look of horror, I wasn’t having much success.

“Ah, are you alright?” he asked carefully, moving aside so the afternoon sun could punch me square in the brain. I assume the older boy did this in an effort to see my features better and check for signs of illness. As a reward for his concern, the dazzling sunlight awakened every pain receptor I possessed, and I doubled over to violently vomit onto his tunic and shoes. Farewell scorchbark tea.

“Ugh!” he shouted. Shouting was not helping the haze of red across my vision.

“What do you want?” I gasped, clutching at the doorframe to try and steady myself. Okay, maybe I could learn a small lesson here.

“Perhaps a towel or damp cloth,” he huffed in disgust, gesturing to the bile dripping from his clothing.

I retreated back into my room and embraced the shadows. Fishing a hand towel from the laundry sack, I passed it to him from behind the door. No way was I stepping outside again.

“Here,” I mumbled. “Now what do you want?”

He dabbed at the liquid staining his attire, struggling to avoid getting any on his fingers. As he bent down to do his shoes, his irritated expression faltered and I’m sure he gagged before snapping upright and growling. I’d have felt sorry for him if I were capable of anything beyond wallowing in the painful misery of my scorchbark hangover. He was lucky I hadn’t slammed the door on him and returned to my cocoon.

He threw the cloth back at me and it hit the door with a wet slap. I didn’t even try to catch it. Just watched it slide to the ground through my one open eye. He cleared his throat.

“Guildmistress Ada requires your immediate presence.” His voice was now monotone. “I shall inform her that you were not found in your class. I will also advise her of your current appearance and behaviour.”

With that, he twirled and stormed off. Some semi-conscious corner of my brain took note that his purple tunic meant he was an Apprentice, so his words would carry greater weight with the Guildmistress than a simple member of the administration team.

This time I made it to the privy before revealing more of my stomach contents, and thankfully no one else from the dorms was in there, because I probably looked as horrendous as I felt. I took a moment to wallow further in self-pity before rinsing out my foul mouth. Cringing away from mirrors, I staggered back to the room I shared with Kixi.

Fumbling through the chest at the foot of my bed, I dragged out my belt of newly created Runestones. It took me longer than it should have to undo the tie on the Healstone pouch, but I managed it just before grabbing a knife became a plausible option. I clutched the Runestone to my chest as I dragged myself to the water jug and forced the cool liquid down my throat. Dehydration was my main problem now that most of the scorchbark had left my system. Halfway down the jug, I steeled myself and reached for magic.

Black spots swam across my vision, my body too exhausted to wield magic without protest and dizziness causing me to sway where I stood. I pressed a finger to the side of the gem where I had carved the Heal Rune, and pushed through the pain and nausea with a whimper. As I forced the magic to flow into the Healstone, I felt it activate and almost sobbed in relief as an icy calm began to wash over me. My mind began to clear, and after a while I stopped the flow of magic to drink more water, so my body had a chance to catch up with the accelerated healing.

When I felt more or less human again, I began to process what had just happened and reality set in. I reached a level of mortification I didn’t think was possible, my stomach churning with guilt. I had skipped a whole day of classes to sleep, after staying up all night to perform magic I wasn’t technically allowed to attempt as a Second-year. I then managed to vomit on an Apprentice, when he came to summon me to a meeting with the Guildmistress. Wait. A meeting with the Guildmistress? What could she…

Guilt became rage, burning away the last vestiges of illness as it flowed through me. I was so furious I could have drawn a Heat Rune in thin air with confidence, and expect that it would burn the Second-year residence to ash. He had actually done it. Rin had taken his almighty law-abiding attitude off to the Guildmasters and told on me.

I grabbed my pillow and screamed into it. Awful people should not be so damned attractive! It was entirely unfair and misleading. I would never trust anyone with anything ever again. I couldn’t afford to.

Grabbing my ID tag, I flung the door open and marched towards the central tower. If I ran into Rin on the way I would kick him somewhere. Ideally in his giant, suck-up mouth, but I could deal with other places if I couldn’t get my foot that high.