Before she had left, Laura had reassured Janna that she was going to be okay, and that she would free her soon. She didn't dare look behind the other doors, to turn on the lights to see the faces of people she knew, helpless in their beds. She ran back down through the dorm to Violet and Maggie, who was awake again but looking worse than ever, and filled them in on what had happened, and what she had to do.

"So you're telling me that everyone's upstairs, lying in bed, tied up with a spell that Aaina has performed? And that the only way to break the spell is to undo or destroy the knot?" said Violet shaken.

"Yes, and let's not forget about the army of the dead that Aaina has risen, who must be returned to their graves. That is of course, assuming that their spirits aren't horrendously angry and do something awful." Laura added. Maggie, who was still too weak to even speak, looked at her with tears in her eyes.

"Please, don't remind me." Violet whimpered, "why is she doing this?" Laura shared another look with Maggie, but Laura didn't want Maggie to feel guilty as she clearly had been brainwashed.

"This is my fault," Laura blurted out, "when Aaina and I had been friends, I had known about this. She told me that she wanted to show her parents that she was capable, she wanted to punish them for ignoring her. Instead of doing something about it, I just stopped being friends with her and tried to act like I was none the wiser. This is all my fault, and I need to put an end to it. You both have gotten so caught up in this, and I'm so, so sorry." Laura let it out and finally felt herself breath a little. When she finally looked up into the girls eye's, she saw that they were soft and understanding. Violet took Laura's hands into her own, and even though they were cold and shaking, it flooded her with comfort.

"This isn't your fault, Laura. Aaina was set up to fail at life from the start, and she fell right into its trap. You managed to break free of something that would only hurt you in the future. That shows how strong you really are." Violet reaches over and takes Maggie's hand also, "We've all been affected by her cruel plot of revenge, and-" tears start to stream down Violet's cheeks, "-and I will not see you both blame yourselves for what she's done. We can do this, together." Violet pulls Laura in and hugs them both. Clutching at each other, Laura realizes how they might be able to fix this.

"Guys, I have a plan. It's probably not going to work, so if you have a better idea, speak up." Maggie and Violet nod in agreement as they pull away.

"Okay, so, I'm going to try and distract Aaina by talking to her, and I'm going to try and get as close as I can. Then, Violet, using the protection charm I want you to try and distract her again and I'm going to try and grab the rope off her which I'll throw to Maggie through the window and she will unknot or maybe burn one of the knots or something. It just needs to be broken, thus breaking the spell and freeing everyone."

"That's an extremely risky plan, what if she doesn't turn around? What if you can't grab it from her hands? What if you don't throw it well and Maggie never even gets it? Also, that doesn't solve the problem we're going to have straight after that. The dead? Aaina still has control over them." says Violet.

"I know... I know, but it's all I can think to do." says Laura disheartened.

"We could tell all the teachers what's going on, and have them ready to help us." Maggie croaks out, trying to sit up in the bed.

"That's a great idea!" Laura says mustering up some enthusiasm, "at least we'll have a bit more witch power on our side."

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"Okay, but what are we going to do about the dead? That spell was bound in blood." Violet says then apologetically looks at Maggie and her once bleeding hand which Violet had done a better job tying up than she thought with the bandages she found.

"I don't know..." Laura says defeated, "Maybe the teachers will know? Let's just push on with the plan, it's all we've got and we're running out of time."

*

It took longer than they would have liked, especially without Maggie's help as she was still stuck on the ground floor, to find all the teachers in the building, quickly fill them in on what was going on, and tell them to get to the ground floor where they needed to be ready to go. Laura made sure that they were told that they must be ready to help the other students, and stop them from leaving the building and being put in danger. They couldn't exactly agree, so Laura and Violet just had to hope they would. They were ready, with Maggie in place by the window, ready to be opened at a moment's notice, they all shook like crazy. Laura and Violet stood looking at the back fire exit door, which they had arrived through, silently waiting for courage to overcome their fear. But no courage came, so Laura reached over and opened the door, pushing it open into the cold night air. Dawn was slowly approaching now, Laura just wished it could come sooner and take away the dark which she couldn't see into. There could be anything lurking out there, waiting. Together they stepped out, but Laura parted in one direction, and Violet to the other. With nothing but a final look, they silently wished each other good luck.

Laura gingerly crept along the building's wall, her stomach churned and flipped inside of her, telling her to turn back. As she got closer to where they were still gathered, Laura began to hear the sound of crunching bones, it was unmistakably the dead. She felt bile start to rise in her throat, it was still so shocking that Aaina could have even thought about, let alone actually do what she'd done. It was such a disgusting violation of nature, it must be taking its toll on her. That was something that was always made extremely clear in school, if you mess with nature and dip into anything that defies it, you will physically and mentally feel the repercussions. Peeking her head around the corner, Laura could see that Aaina stood with her back to the building. Even from a distance, she could see that something was wrong with her. She seemed to be shivering, clenching and unclenching her hands around the spelled rope, the tension in her body was electric. Laura tried to calm herself by breathing in through her nose and out by her mouth, a practice that was taught early on in a Greenstern education. Laura takes one more final breath in, and she steps out from behind the wall.

"Aaina, please don't do this." Aaina spins around, anger already pulsating in her face. The veins in her eyes are burst, giving her a red glare. Her jaw is tense, and her arms are covered in deep purple bruises. Laura tries her hardest to hold everything inside, seeing for the first time the effects of violating nature was hitting her full force, and it was so much worse than she ever could have imagined. Aaina didn't look too far off than the dead she had pulled from their graves.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Aaina spat back, "it's far too late for you to stop me now".

"I can't stop you Aaina, you know that. I've never been able to stop you, even when we were friends I knew I couldn't get in your way, you wouldn't let me even if I tried".

"What do you want then? It's too late for you to join me now, I gave you your chance." She said, while clenching her fingers tighter around the rope. From the corner of her eye, Laura could see Violet quietly creeping through the crowd of the dead, with one hand covering her mouth and the other clutching Laura's protection charm.

"I want to know something, something you've never answered," Laura realises she's going to have to be quick to grab the rope for this to work.

"Why are you trying to attack the school, and not the people you're actually mad at? The people here have done nothing to you, they don't deserve to face your wrath. Greenstern is the one of the few safe places we have left, and you're tearing that away from everyone. It's the one safe place you have left Aaina."

Her eyes locked onto Laura's, and she realised something might have actually gotten through to her. She took some careful step's forward, not wanting to break the spell. Violet was directly behind her, and put her hands out in front of her, Laura took another step forward. Violet shoves Aaina forwards, falling at Laura's feet, she scrambled to get a hold before Aaina got her wits about her. Aaina looked up at Laura's face full of rage. The rope was in Laura's hands.