"All students are to immediately retreat to the nearest building…" Headmistress Kirova rang out over the intercom.

The storm hit us out of nowhere and of course with all the luck I'd been having this year (being dragged back to the academy, falling for my teacher who has his eye on someone else, being kidnapped, losing Mason while he was still mad at me, avoiding Dimitri, my mom, and everyone else, etc), I'm stuck in the middle of it.

I'd snuck out of my dorm room, walking around the out skirts of the academy, reflecting (as my therapist says) when the weather started turning against me.

Great!

I was outside of the safe house cottage (that reminds too much of Tasha) when the thunder started. With the mood I was in was going to just keep walking in the rain, through the dark forest, when lightening flashed overhead.

Getting shocked and electrocuted was an optioned.

With a sigh and what I'm sure was a heavy eye roll I skipped up the stairs and checked the windows to make sure no one (Tasha) was in there (Tasha).

The coast clear, I went inside to hide.

Time passed quickly and the weather worsened with each hour but it felt good to be alone f or once and not worry about anything except staying warm. I started a fire, its cinders crackling filling the room with life. Soon it felt like I was a normal teenager, at home, somewhere far away from anything academy related. Distantly I could hear the final bell ringing out, Kirova's announcement ringing out soon afterward. Through the window I could see the sky had darkened more now than I was used to for our reversed schedule.

Living on the side of a mountain had its perks…and its cons. Flooding was a common thing but I was just grateful landslides weren't coming because id most likely be the first person to be rolling down the hill and off the cliff.

Water was already starting to pour through the doors and the crack on top of the windowsill.

I lined the cracks with towels I found in the bathroom and sat comfortably by the window staring out into the open feeling free for the first time in along time.

And then there was a knock at the door.