Jade walked up to dinner a few hours later, a comfortable warmth under her robes. After Potions class, she had gone upstairs and strung the tiny bottle on a thin chain and hidden it under her dress. Now it was bobbing along as she walked, sparkling slightly at the disturbance. It buoyed her up a bit, made her feel a little bit powerful.

She entered the Great Hall and immediately searched for her friends. West was getting food, and Alana was sitting and scarfing down her food already. Jade grabbed two sandwiches and a packet of chips and sat down next to them.

"Hey guys," she said, stretching her arms over her head and trying to make her new potion-bottle necklace a little less noticeable.

"Hey," said West, yawning. Alana gave her a thumbs up and kept chewing.

Alana swallowed. "Where even were you last night? I fell asleep late and you still weren't there, but then I woke up at like four in the morning and you were coming in the room and you told me to go back to sleep."

"Well..." Jade looked up from her sandwich. "I was still in the library, trying to find information on the Windigo."

"Were you by yourself? Please tell me you weren't by yourself." West took a sip of juice.

"No...I actually wasn't." Jade smiled softly, thinking about blue eyes and reassuring words and his smile...

"Was it a boy?!" Alana screeched through a mouthful of bacon, lettuce, and tomato.

"Was it Jack?" West stole Jade's plate away so she couldn't have an excuse to hide.

Jack caught Jade's eye across the room, and winked. She jumped a little. "None of your business."

"Tell us everything!"

"Okay, fine." Jade straightened up and pulled her robes forward a smidge. She was ready for storytelling. "I was in the library, and I heard footsteps behind me. It was just Jack, but I thought he was an attacker, and I may have almost decapitated him." Alana fell over in silent laughter. "And he helped me research, and we discovered that the Windigo feeds off of magic, and that it looks almost exactly like the creature in my Vision." She shuddered. "And then I said I was scared, I didn't think I could beat anything again. And then Jack said-" She lowered her voice a few decibels, opened her eyes wider and shaped her face into an expression of earnest. "He said, 'Jade, it's okay. We can do this, I really think we can.'

"And I said, 'We?'" She returned to her normal expression and tone. "And he said, 'Jade, you don't have to do everything alone, you know. Your friends are here. I'm here.' And then, well...."

"Well what?" West and Alana were practically on the edges of their seats.

"We were really close, like thisclose. And- guys, I think he would have kissed me."

"Why didn't he?" Alana, apparently decided that there were no more juicy details, went back to her sandwich.

"We heard a footstep and saw a shadow- and I'm pretty sure it was the Windigo." Jade took a potato chip and examined it contemplatively. "I wimped out and ran away."

She reached for her sandwich in the center of the table, then screamed as a silvery-white head appeared next to it. But it was just Abigail, their ghostly friend.

"Hey, Abigail." Jade waved perkily and smiled. Abigail however, was in no mood for humor or small talk.

"Girls, it's important. Jade, Alana, West- tell me everything you know about the Windigo."

"Okay," said West, pondering for a second. "It's a skeletal beast with big horns."

"It feeds off of magic, and is usually attracted to witches and wizards," added Alana.

"And not much else is known about it," Jade finished. "Why?"

"Because." Abigail's glow had gone from a warm silver to an ice-cold, threatening white. "There's one more thing you should know about the Windigo."

"Yeah?" Jade asked, finishing her grilled cheese.

"It's breached our boundaries, and it's headed this way."