The door squeaked again, and they were gone. I waited a couple of seconds to make sure it was all clear before I ran out of the bathroom as fast as I could and almost knocked over Peter as he was coming around the corner. All the books and papers in his hands fell onto the floor.  I quickly bent over to help him pick them up.

"I'm really sorry! I didn't see you coming!" I said, scooping a Math of Fire book into my hands.

"Violet, did you just come out of the boy's bathroom?"

I felt my face turn red. "Yeah. I wasn't paying attention and didn't realize it until someone came in."

"Did they see you?" Peter asked, horrified.

"No, I hid in one of the bathroom stalls right before they could see me. Please don't tell anyone!  I think that you're the only one who saw." I looked around and saw that nobody else was in the hall. "You're the only one who saw," I confirmed.

"I won't tell anyone. I would never do that to you, Violet, never!" I saw that his face was beginning to turn a dark shade of red. He straightened his glasses and ran a hand through his thick dirty blond hair.

"Thank you so so much, I owe you one." I threw my arms around him and gave him a hug. I felt him stiffen under my touch, and I let him go.

“I’ve got to go, I can't be late to class again or I'll get detention," I said and took off down the hallway.

At times like this, I really hoped my element would be wind. If it was wind maybe I wouldn't be so late all the time.

I made it to Elemental History just in time. I climbed up to my row and sat down in my seat. After a while, I noticed that everyone was staring at me. It took me a second to realize they weren't staring at me, they were staring at my hair.

"Bad hair day, Violet?" Mr. Rosewood asked and tried not to smile, but he couldn't keep a straight face. The whole class began laughing. My face turned as red as a tomato. "Wind magic?" I nodded my head.

"May I go to the bathroom and fix it?" I asked. He nodded and I walked out.

I made sure it was the right one before walking into the bathroom and up to one of the mirrors. I had to admit my hair did look pretty funny. It was just one big black frizzy mess.

I took out the last remains of my braid and went to work on my bird's nest. The magic wheel in Emily's brush helped to work through the mess. When I was done it fell in two black rivers on either side of my face.

I walked back to my Elemental History class and was about to turn the door when something stopped me. I stopped and listened.

From the other side of the door, I heard the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, the sound of birds chirping, and insects buzzing, the kind of noises that should not be coming from your classroom. Slowly, I turned the knob to crack open the door and was amazed by what I saw. The giant tree that I fell out of in my dream stood there, surrounded by a meadow of black flowers under a clear blue sky. A wind came sweeping across the meadow and gently stirred my hair.

I took a step into the meadow and spun around as I heard the door shut behind me, only there was no door anymore.

I was trapped, alone in the meadow with the tree.

For some reason, this didn't scare me like it should've.  I walked over to the tree, put my hand on it, closed my eyes, and ran my hand up and down its bark. My eyes snapped back open as I felt something grab my ankle.

I looked down and saw a muddy hand wrapped around it. Before I even had time to scream, another hand shot up and grabbed my other ankle. I fell backward onto my back. Two more shot up on either side of me and grabbed my arms, pinning them to the grass, and more wrapped around my middle until I could barely move. Then I felt one come out of the ground right beside my head.

I began to cry as it reached for my face."No!" I screamed. "Please, no!"

"Violet, wake up. Violet!" I was lying on the stone floor and Mr. Rosewood was standing over me shaking my shoulders. Not far away, my whole Magic History class stood around us in a circle. They were whispering to each other and giving me worried looks as they watched what was happening.

"Violet, can you hear me? Look at me!" My eyes snapped over to look at him. I saw the concern in his eyes. "Can you understand what I am saying?"

I nodded my head and he flung salt at me. I made a face as some hit my face and went into my mouth. "I free thee if thou is under a curse for purposes of harm. Evil be gone."

Nothing happened. I didn't feel any different; in fact, I didn't feel anything except a little confused.

"Well, at least we know it wasn't a curse." He said, dusting salt off his hand. "Can you walk?"

"I think," I said.

"Okay, somebody walk her down to the nurse," he said, turning his head to look around the class.