"We need to pick up our schedules," I remind Tessa as we walk off the field and weave through the throngs of people who are leaving the bleachers.

"Shoot, you're right," she mutters and starts for the edge of the crowd where she manages to break free as I jog after her.

I glance back to see that Astrid and Luke are trailing behind as they tag along before Luke catches up and walks by my side.

"So how was your summer?" he asks as his long legs easily keep pace with my short ones.

"It was good, just busy," I say as we follow a flagstone path around the side of the lecture hall.

"Same, we need to hang out some time to catch up," Luke suggests and I can't help but glance over at him in surprise.

"Uh, we'll have to see," I murmur as I focus on walking instead of the fact that my cheeks are suddenly warm.

There are still a couple of stragglers that are being dropped off out front in the circle drive as they trek up the sidewalk while Tessa ducks through a door a couple of yards down from the bell tower. A small office is on the other side and a secretary sitting behind an old, gothic style desk glances up as we enter. She smiles kindly at us as we approach her, our footsteps making the ancient, scuffed wood floor creak in a few places.

A placard with the name, 'Ms. Laroche' is propped on the edge of the desk as the woman pushes back a few strands of her shiny, black hair and tucks it behind her ear. She has almond skin and her eyes are dark and warm as they focus on Tessa, who walks up to the desk first.

"Hi, Anaya," Tessa chirps as she stops at the desk and casually leans against it like she's comfortable being here, "just here for my schedule."

"Of course, Tessa, just a moment," Ms. Laroche says as she taps away at a computer that is sat on her desk.

A printer a few steps away whirs to life and prints out a sheet of paper that it spits into a tray below it. The woman swivels in her spinning chair and retrieves the paper before she passes it to Tessa.

"There you go, I'm guessing these are some more friends?" the secretary asks as she looks past Tessa at Astrid and I.

"Yes, Astrid Hallewell and Kara Zen, they need their schedules too, if you wouldn't mind printing some extras," Tessa replies as she gives her a winning smile.

"Ah, I see," Ms. Laroche nods as her printer begins to print out our schedules, "and I haven't forgotten about you, Luke, though I assume that you've already printed out yours?" she asks as she raises an eyebrow at him.

"Yes," Luke says and nods quickly.

"Good," the woman smiles and picks up Astrid and I's schedules and passes them to us.

I eagerly take the paper from her, only to deflate when I see that, among the classes listed, there's still a math class. Ms. Laroche must see my disappointment because she laughs and shakes her head.

"The sophomores never learn, just because you're going to a school for witches, doesn't mean that math isn't important anymore, no?" Ms. Laroche chides.

I nod, even though I feel disappointed at the prospect of having to deal with advanced algebra, "Math is inescapable."

"That it is, if you have any questions or need any help, please let me know, here's a map, just in case," Ms. Laroche says as she passes me another sheet of paper that has the layout of the campus printed on it.

"I will, thank you," I tell her before I follow the others as they leave.

"Now what do you want to do?" Luke asks no one in particular as he follows us back out the door and onto the flagstone path.

I'm glad that he's chosen a mundane topic as I suddenly feel nervous about what I had done on the field and begin to doubt myself.

Surely what happened was real...wasn't it?

I'd have to talk to the others later to make sure that I'm not going insane and that I am indeed an Unfamiliar.

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"We can drop off our schedules and then we can head to the market store, I need to pick up some more crystals," Tessa says as she squints her eyes thoughtfully.

"Market?" I ask.

"Yeah, they have a little on-campus store that sells supplies and whatnot, it's a gift shop too so they have a lot of cool stuff, mainly things for spells and casting," she notes, "they can be expensive sometimes, though."

"They took my paycheck from last week just in alchemy supplies alone," Luke grumbles.

"Well that's because you're a neerd who needs to relax on his alchemy lessons," Tessa teases him.

"Geek," Luke corrects her.

"Whatever," she mutters as we round the corner of the lecture hall, only to nearly collide with a group of girls walking in the opposite direction.

The leader of the group, a girl that I immediately recognize as Ava, curls her lip as she glares at us. Even with Astrid among us, it doesn't seem to deter the wrath of the duo of girls behind Ava as they sneer from their place behind her. I feel a flash of power and have the sudden urge to conjure, though I know I would probably be summoning their familiars instead as I can't help but smile.

This is such a strange feeling.

Power, something I never thought I would be bestowed.

"What do you know, it's the new Zen girl, tell me, why even try to learn magic when you know that you're not going to be very powerful?" Ava asks as she tilts her head to the side. "We know that you must have used some illusion spell, there's no way that you can be an Unfamiliar."

"Ava why do you even try to act like you're a bad person? We all know that you're a fake," Tessa retorts a she steps up to my side.

"Oh look, weak witches standing up for others," Ava says as a wolf suddenly appears by her side, "how touching."

The familiar is large and has black fur that is beginning to bristle as it pulls its lips back into a snarl. I can hear Astrid sigh from her place behind me before the wolf pins its ears back. I can only guess that Astrid has summoned her lioness.

"I really hate to deal with drama, especially on my first day," Astrid says in a lazy tone.

"You're a Hallewell, why would you hang out with them anyways?" Ava asks as she juts her chin at us.

"Because I don't care to hang out with idiots who cause unnecessary drama like yourself," Astrid counters in a scathing tone that makes me smile. "Now get out of our way."

Ava's jaw twitches with unsaid words as she stares me down and I'm almost afraid that she'll throw a punch. Something flickers in her gaze after a moment before she smirks and steps to the side.

"Be my guest," she says as she makes a grand gesture like she's rolled out a carpet for us to walk on.

Tessa snorts and bustles past her. "Ignore them," she says to me in a loud enough voice that Ava can hear us, "they have nothing better to do than bully people."

"Have they given you trouble too?" I ask her in a low voice as we walk around the building.

"Ava gives everyone trouble," she replies in a sharp tone as she shakes her head.

"That's an understatement," Luke mutters, "I'm going to pick up some cash from my room, I'll meet up with you in the lobby," he says as we walk up the sidewalk toward the dorms.

"Planning on going broke this early?" Tessa inquires as she glances back at him.

"Maybe," he says, his voice echoing in the lobby as we enter.

"You need to learn to have more fun."

"Alchemy is fun," he counters.

"For the delusional or those who are training to become super villains," she says and shoots a wicked grin over her shoulder, "don't go overboard."

"I'll try not to," he promises before he splits away from us.

This time, we take the stairs and climb them quickly with our schedules in hand as Tessa talks the whole way, her voice echoing within the lobby before we enter the landing that leads into the hallway.

"I saw a really cool lapis statuette in the gift shop, it was some Hindu goddess or something, the one who has a lot of arms-," Tessa trails off as she pauses and furrows her eyebrows.

"Durga?" Astrid supplies.

Tessa nods eagerly, "Yeah! My Gran is into Hinduism and she claims that it helps her magic, I wanted to give it a try for myself."

"You can use my discount," Astrid says in a conspiratorial, hushed voice, "no one will care."

"Thanks, I'll be sure to, it's expensive, but I think it's worth it," she says as she pauses in front of our room. "I think it'll be-..."

Tessa stops talking as soon as she opens the door and her fingers clench around the doorknob as she pauses in the doorway.

"You have got to be kidding me," she hisses.

I crane my neck to look past her, only to wish that I hadn't.

White splatters of bird poop cover the room, most every surface has at least two to three spatters covering it, anywhere from the dressers to our beds as I stand in the doorway in dumbstruck horror. Our clothes have been dumped out of the drawers too and are carelessly tossed about as they cover the floor.

"Someone raided our room, and they had crows," Astrid mutters as she walks into the room and kicks one of her sweaters as a few black feathers flutter up.

"Some of Ava's lackeys no doubt," Tessa spits as she shakes her head.

She strides over to the birdcage where Peace is, the poor familiar ruffled and distressed as the bird quickly hops onto her master's shoulder to bury her head into Tessa's hair.

"Oh, Peace," Tessa murmurs as she strokes the bird on her head. "I know a tidying spell, but nothing that can clean clothes," she says as she looks back at us.

"Luckily, I do," Astrid replies and starts to make a hand motion, but stops when she sees something that makes her pause.

I turn and look, but not before I can see her face drain of color. On the wall bordering Astrid's bed there are words scrawled in black ink.

'Remember your place, we know what you did at Saint Augustine's,' is what they read, though I don't get to observe them for long. Astrid casts a quick spell that makes them disappear as the room starts to clean itself and our clothes fold themselves before they float away into the dresser drawers.

I turn to see that Tessa is still looking at the wall where the words were scrawled.

She shares a silent look with me, one that frames the thought of, "We'll have to talk about that later."