I found myself in Cowlick's classroom. He, and everyone else in the room, glanced at me when I entered. He said nothing to me and went back to his lesson on an old guy from some time in Flaern history that had some ideas about something.

I stood next to the doorway waiting for him to finish. Until that point, I had been feeling less tired than I had all day but the few minutes I heard of his lesson made me nearly as tired as I had been before my lunchtime nap.

"Earlier than expected," Cowlick said when he had finished with his lecture and the other children were busy picking up their chalk and slate, "A good quality to have.” He motioned for me to follow him, "Let me give you a list of things I want you to go over with your three charges today."

Cowlick walked over to a small desk behind the lectern and grabbed a piece of paper.

"I realize you must not have much experience tutoring others, so if you need any help or they give you any trouble I am but a few paces away," He handed me the paper.

I nodded and took it.

I turned away from Cowlick and began walking to the table I had used the last time I was here. Dorito and Caldren were already sitting and were both staring around the room lazily. Helnion was not there.

I looked to where I had seen her sitting last time and saw that she was face down on her desk and was most likely asleep.

"She has been like that all day," Caldren said. "Instructor Callic managed to keep her awake all morning but gave up after lunch."

"She came to class late too," Dorito added, "One maid brought her."

I was not surprised at the news. Helnion had been out just as late as I had been. I would have felt some sympathy for her, but I had woken up much earlier than she and had to go through training as well.

I walked up to where Helnion was sleeping, motioning for Dorito and Calren to follow me. They shrugged to each other and did just that.

I grabbed Helnion by the shoulders and began to pull her off of the bench.

"Grab her legs," I said to the boys.

They both grinned, and each took a leg.

No sooner had I picked her up was I once again reminded about how sore I was. Thankfully Helnion was much lighter than she looked and the three of us carried her to our table.

"Everyone is watching us," Caldren said with a hint of embarrassment.

"This will be a great story to tell the others later," Dorito grinned.

"Yes, I guess it will be," Caldren now a grin now on his face too.

"Do either of you have any water?" I asked.

"Water?" Dorito asked. "Carrying Helnion did not tire you that much did it?"

I look to Helnion then back to Dorito.

"I need it to wake her up."

Both Dorito's and Caldren's eyes lit up in understanding.

"I will get us some water," Caldren renewed his grin.

I watched as Caldren walked towards the nearest window and focus on something outside. A smile soon appeared on his face and moments later I saw a ball of water float through the window and into the room.

"Where did you find that?" Dorito asked.

"Got it from a rain barrel.”

Caldren moved from the window back to our table and placed the water just above Helnion's head.

The ball of water itself was about twice the size of my fist and was dripping slightly.

The drips of water landed on Helnion's cheek and I saw her face twitch but she showed no signs of waking up.

"Just drop the whole thing," Dorito commanded.

"I don't think that would be nice," Caldren’s grin wavered.

"It is not like you are hitting her. I bet she will be dry by the time we finish with class," Dorito shrugged.

Caldren looked at Helnion. I saw the hesitation in his eyes and even a little shame, "All right.”

The ball of water dropped immediately and landed perfectly on her head.

Helnion groaned and after a moment later her head was off the table.

"Salis?" She said groggily when she saw me. She then smiled for a moment before realizing what had happened.

Helnion wiped her hand on her face and then looked at it. She then looked around the room and saw that pretty much everyone was watching her. Most of the other children were laughing quietly with their friends. Even Cowlick had a smile.

Cowlick noticed me look at him and immediately went back into teacher mode. He cleared his throat and began his math lecture.

"I have not had this much fun in math for quite a while," Dorito said cheerfully.

"I know," Caldren still looked guilty.

I decided this was the best time to ruin their mood and grabbed their slates and wrote some math problems on them before handing them back.

"Can you let us off for today?" Dorito grudgingly took one slate from me, "You owe us that much for helping you."

I ignored Dorito's comment and Caldren's agreement and turned to Helnion. I also ignored the grumbling that came soon after.

"Are you awake enough to get a slate?" I asked Helnion.

Helnion nodded and stood up.

She was still a bit out of it and nearly walked past the small table that held the writing slates and chalk but remembered at the last moment and was soon sitting back at the table. I then took the slate from her and wrote math problems on it.

I remembered last time that Helnion was better at math than the other two and gave her slightly harder problems. I didn't care how hard I had to push her; I was determined to have her do better than the two idiots that sat across from her.

Helnion looked at the problems on the slate and furrowed her brow. She then looked around the room, her eyes lingering on the window, before coming back to me.

"Don't even think about it," I said to her.

Helnion sighed and began working on her math.

The rest of my time with these three was quiet aside from grumbles from all three or the rare occasions they finished what I had given them to work on. Sadly, most of their work was sloppily done and took them forever to complete. Helnion took the longest, but she made the least amount of mistakes.

By the time the bells rang, signaling the end of class, all four of us at the table were drained.

"About time," Dorito said angrily.

Caldren nodded his agreement.

Both of the boys stood up from the table.

"See you later, 'Instructor Salis,'" Dorito said before leaving with Caldren.

As for Helnion. She had already planted her face on the table and looked to be well on her way to sleep.

"I see it did not take her long to fall back asleep," Cowlick said, "I hate to ask you of this but would you mind waking her back up and seeing she gets back to her room."

I nodded and shook Helnion. The girl awoke easily and looked at me wearily.

“Oh," Cowlick said as I began to leave with Helnion, "While I enjoyed watching your actions with waking Helnion today, could you please refrain from doing anything of the sort again?"

I nodded slightly at Cowlick.

I wasn't sure if I could avoid creating another commotion again considering the three I had to work with, but I wouldn't mind it if it did. I had enjoyed the whole thing as much as everyone else had.

"Come on," I said to Helnion and dragged her out of the room.

Right when I left the classroom, I stopped pulling Helnion. Pie Can had asked me to get her to her room, but getting her out of the room was good enough for me. If she wanted to sleep more, she could make her way to her room easily enough on her own. If she didn't… I'm sure a maid could handle it if it came to that. For now, I would go to my archery practice.

To my surprise, Helnion followed me.

The walk to the archery range was nice and quiet. Helnion was more awake now that she was up and moving, but she was not watching everything around us like she had yesterday.

The only thing I was worried about now was whether Ferret would show up. Chances were good that she would show up after practice but I was certain I was safe for the moment.

It turned out I was safe. Although Bench and other martial instructors were on the opposite side of the fields training several groups of children, I saw no signs of Ferret. This meant if I was quick to leave when Medic finished with me I might avoid her.

It turned out I would have no chance of avoiding her. About ten minutes before training would be done for the day, Ferret showed up. She did not come too close, but she came close enough that she made sure there was no way I would not see her.

"You ready for a fun night?" Ferret said, meeting me where Helnion was dozing off to the side of the range.

"Fun?" I wondered what she would try to make me do tonight.

"Wake Helnion up and I will explain everything on the way to the dorms," She said.

I looked at Helnion. How much had she slept today? It had only taken her minutes to find her spot, and she had slept the entire two hours.

I slapped Helnion on the cheeks lightly. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"Salis? Ferra?" She looked between both of us slowly. "Good morning."

Ferret laughed, "Morning was hours ago Helnion."

Helnion thought for a moment, "Oh… I remember."

"Come on Helnion," Ferret pulled her to her feet, "I have something really fun planned for tonight."

Ferret looked at me and then began walking towards the dormitories. I began to wonder if I should have abandoned Helnion and made a run for it before Ferret caught me.

No. I thought. Ferret was a much faster runner than me and she could easily catch me. That added to my already great fatigue made it not worth the effort. I also did not want a repeat of last night.

Ferret looked around before she began her explanation, "Did you know there is a great evil in this school?”

I shook my head.

"Every year there are certain… undesirables… Yes, undesirable is a good word," She nodded, "Every year certain undesirables hold an evil ritual a few days after lessons resume after summer. These people corrupt the minds of…"

Ferret sighed.

"Dario and his minions will test some poor boys that want to get into their group. I saw what they made the boys do that wanted in last year and how they were treated after they joined. I cannot let them turn anyone else into bullies," She clenched her fist.

So we would crash Dorito's party? I liked the sound of it. Not only did I not like the way he acted, I had also seen firsthand what he had done to those two boys.

"Those of high birth or have rich parents get into the group just by asking. Any boys that got in the same way you did Salis have to go through what they call "trials." These trials force the boys to act like slaves and during the initiation tonight, if it is the same as last year, they will get beaten with sticks.

"Even after the boys pass the trials, they are almost treated like slaves. What is worse is what they do to any boys that do not want to join. There was a boy smart enough not to join two years ago, but they bullied him so much that he left the school after a few months."

Honestly, I was not surprised that stuff like this was happening. Even back on Earth bullying was everywhere. It was just something children did to each other. Even I had had some girls try to bully me from time to time, but I never really had it that bad.

"What are you going to do?" I asked her.

I agreed with Ferret that what these boys were doing was bad and if I could help put a stop to it I felt I should. It also sounded fun. For the first time, I looked forward to doing something with her.

"I will show you when we get to my room."

We entered the girl's dorm on the opposite side I usually did. Once inside, Ferret led me a few doors down and stopped in front of a door.

"Here is my room," She opened it.

The inside of the room was the same as mine. The only difference being Ferret's possessions and those of her roommate. Most of which appeared to be musical instruments, some cheap decorations and several large lumpy bags whose contents I could not make out.

Several girls and even a few boys were already waiting in the room. Arty was there too.

"You got her to come!?" One girl said in amazement.

I recognized the girl from the bath and the hunting party last night. Ferret had told me her name, but I hadn't cared enough about her to even give her a nickname, let alone care about her real name.

Ferret smiled at me, "Yep!"

"Hmm," one boy said, "I was hoping something like last night would happen again."

"Chasing Salis and Helnion around that late again?" One girl that had been part of the hunt waved her hand in dismissal, "I was so tired this morning I did not want to get out of bed."

A few of the other girls that had also taken part voiced their agreement.

Ferret laughed, "Not to mention that we got in trouble."

"I am just glad it was not Ekin that found us, we would have been yelled at all night," The first girl said.

"I wish I had been there," The boy said.

Everyone looked at me.

"Maybe next time," Ferret said, "But tonight we have something more important to do and hopefully just as fun."

Ferret walked to the lumpy bags that sat in the corner by what I assumed was her desk. When she got to them she opened one and pulled out something that looked like dried moss.

"We will surround the grove after Dario and his minions all arrive. We will then place this and burn it." She held a large piece up for everyone to see.

"What is it?" One girl asked.

Ferret thought for a moment and then shrugged, "I do not remember. I overheard someone saying they had burned this and that it created lots of smoke and smelled horrible. I thought it was a perfect fit for Dario's soul," She paused and then added with a grin, "I just hope he does not end up liking the smell."

Everyone but Helnion and I laughed.

Helnion herself had made her way to the bags and was rummaging through them and from what I could tell was not paying the least bit of attention to anyone in the room. Most of the others in the room glanced at her curiously from time to time, but no one said a word to her or about her.

"We will split up and place piles of this so that the wind will blow the smoke towards Dario," Ferret continued.

"How are we going to keep them from seeing us?" One boy asked.

Ferret shrugged, "I am hoping they will be too busy being stupid to notice anything."

Everyone looked around at one another for a few moments, slightly dumbfounded.

"Who cares if we get caught," A boy that had been quiet until now spoke, "It will be fun either way." He then looked to the first boy that had spoken earlier, "It might even turn into a big hunt."

The two boys grinned at each other.

Most of the girls grinned as well, but I noticed several had worried looks.

"It is about time for dinner and Dario will not be leaving until well after dark. Meet me by the weapons shed after lights out," Ferret stood up. "I will see you all then and we will go over our groups and such in more detail." She specifically looked at me when she said this.

"Do you need help hiding the bags outside?" One boy asked.

I didn't hear Ferret's reply because I was out the door as quickly as I could.

While I walked towards my room, I thought about Ferret's plan. It was more well thought out than I had thought it would be, and if the moss did what she claimed it would do I could see it working. The execution of the plan on the other hand… How exactly was Ferret planning on doing all she wanted to without being seen? Nights on Calorin were lighter than those on Earth thanks to the two moons almost guaranteeing at least one being in the sky at all times. I imagined at least some boys could use magic and would probably use it to make light or power light crystals.

I entered my room. I had lost track of time and was not sure how much longer it would be until the maids came by with dinner.

I decided that laying down sounded nice and headed for my bed. Just as I did so Arty entered the room followed by Helnion. Thankfully, Ferret was not with them.

Helnion walked past Arty and picked up my chair. She then walked to the window and set it down and sat on it.

Arty watched Helnion suspiciously but went to her bed as soon as Helnion had taken her place by the window.

No one said anything. It was great.