"Hey, Edlynne, can I see your phone?" Flanna asks suddenly.

"Yeah, why?" I reply, looking over at her. She's staring out at the field of wildflowers from our seat on my back porch.

"Well, I wanted to see what you have me as on your phone." She smiles at me, and I dig in my purse for my phone. I unlock it and hand it to her. She takes a little while, and I find that she changed her name to <3 Flanna**:)

"See, I'm changing your name, too. You're Linnie now!" Flanna giggles holding up her phone for me to see. Linnie? A nickname? We've only known each other for a week! Should I give her one, too? Is that something I'm supposed to do? What should it be? Does she want one? How do you abbreviate Flanna? Flan? Isn't that a custard? Would she like to be compared to a custard?

"Hey- Linnie? Do you remember what that Hellhound said?" Flanna asks, knocking me out of my trance.

"Something about us being trapped out together- one being tempting, but two being a treat. And then it said that my knife wouldn't hurt it, but the knife did hurt it."

"Yeah, that was weird. Why didn't it think the knife could hurt it?"

"I think that's the least of our concerns. I mean, the beast could talk, Flanna. That's a lot weirder than it thinking the knife wouldn't hurt it."

"What was the knife made of?"

"Bronze, why do you ask?"

"I don't know. I remember the knife looking kinda silvery. Maybe the beast is only affected by certain metals?"

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"I dunno- but it's no weirder than the rest of this." We sit in silence for a while longer, and I stare out at the field.

"Have you gotten the paperwork back?" Flanna wonders.

"Yes. I gave it to the school already. It's strange, though. They won't give me my schedule until school starts. Most schools send a copy ahead of time, so you can prepare."

"Yeah! The same thing happened to me, too! Do you think they need extra time since we're first years? To wait for everyone to register?"

"Perhaps. It's still strange, though."