Maisie
"No-no-no--" I cried as the Great Hall vanished around me. The people vanished. The red carpet split beneath me, my ceremonial staff slipping from my fingers as I plunged into the abyss of darkness.
Everything was wiped away like smoke.
And I reached for the last fragments of it, sobbing as my fingers closed around nothing. And all I saw was darkness.
I hit the ground hard enough to drive the air from my lungs. For several seconds, I couldn't move, wretched sobs slipping out of me as I remembered.
None of it was real.
When I opened my eyes, I expected to be back at the Academy, back at the wrecked field, the misery of grey that had become my life.
But instead, I saw ash drifting from the skies. I was surrounded by a wreckage so whole, it took me a moment to realize I was at the Academy.
Everything was destroyed. The walls had collapsed completely, and the reek of death coated my throat, my tongue, and I gagged at my first intake of air.
