The headmaster's office had gotten so quiet. Ms. Cyan stood there, with the window behind her back, clutching her silk scarf in her hands. Her watery eyes were looking at the distance, and the scars that were hidden under the scarf just a moment ago, were now exposed.

"Are those..." Doctor Kasian stared at the bulges on her neck like a child who's trying to figure out how a magic trick was performed.

"Gills," Professor Cyan whispered.

Doctor Kasian sighed with amazement. "Gills," he repeated.

"That is why I think you can help her," I said. I looked at him with plea in my eyes. If I had only one wish, it would be that he helped her get her old life back.

He took a few steps closer to Ms. Cyan. "Gills," he said again. It seemed as his eyes were unable to move away from my teacher. "May I?" he asked as he slowly lifted one of his hands towards scared Ms. Cyan. He froze it mid-air, waiting for her permission to touch her skin.

Professor Cyan swallowed to get rid of the lump in her throat. "I suppose," she said quietly.

She shuddered when Doctor Kasian's fingers brushed against her skin.

"I think we should give them some privacy," Mr. August said, looking at me.

I nodded and we quietly walked up to the door and into the hallway.

"Discretion," he said after he closed the door to his office behind us.

"Discretion," I agreed and smiled at him.

He kept a serious face, but I could sense the smile lurking just beneath the surface. He turned and walked away from me, down the empty hall on the first floor. I shoved my hands inside my pockets and headed towards the staircase that would take me to the ground floor. Inside the pockets, I crossed my fingers, hoping Doctor Kasian's visit would not be futile.

Before my feet reached the bottom of the staircase, I spotted the werewolf. His eyes gazed at me under the lowered eyebrows, the look that was very well known to me. He was angry again.

Just as I took a deep breath, preparing myself to step off the last stair and face ill-tempered Mathias, another voice stopped me.

"You should stay away from him," the voice said. "I don't like the look in his eyes."

I turned my head to the right, towards the source of the voice. There, sitting on a bench against the wall, was Harper. Under the light brown curls, his forehead was wrinkled. Beside him, leaned against the bench, rested his crutch.

"Oh, I haven't noticed you," I said and let the smile tug at the corners of my lips. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"I don't know about that," Harper said. "He's been standing there, staring at that door ever since you and Ardea's father entered the headmaster's office."

I leaned my elbows against the staircase railing. "Have you been keeping an eye on him the whole time?"

"I haven't exactly been keeping an eye on him. I just..." He lowered his head and stared at the gray floor tiles as if the continuation of that sentence could be found there. After a moment of silence, he looked up and said, "He's a werewolf. When he fixates something with his stare like that, it cannot be a good sign."

I couldn't argue with that logic. But it was Mathias. I knew Mathias. I had faith him.

Outside, the sun was struggling to emerge from behind the clouds although the rain still drizzled. In broad daylight, Mathias' wolf side was in check. In broad daylight, he could be trusted.

"It's gonna be fine," I repeated. Looking at him with head tilted to the side, I added, "He's not as bad as he'd like the rest of us to think."

"If you say so," Harper replied. The look on his face let me know that he did not agree with me on the matter of a friendly werewolf.

"I do say so. He won't hurt me."

I turned my head towards Mathias. He was still standing there. Stepping off the last stair, I headed towards him, followed by the worried eyes of the faun.

As I was walking towards him, I noticed that he held something in his hands; a little vial. He took a sip, put the lid on and put it away in his pocket. He was ready to face me and my Aquantien smell.

With his hands in his pockets and a grim expression on his face, it was easy to imagine why one might consider him intimidating.

"You actually did it," he seethed through clenched teeth. "You dragged him here." He didn't name the him he referred to. He didn't need to. It was pretty obvious who he meant.

"He can help her." I didn't name the person I was talking about either.

"She doesn't need help! Before you came to this school, she was fine."

"She wasn't fine," I opposed him. "She just kept her pain hidden. And now there might be a way to take the pain away. Could you really be so selfish to deny her that opportunity?"

He thought about my words for a while. His lips were pressed together, forming a thin line. "And what if something goes wrong?" he asked. "You're trying to sell her a dream. And dreams tend to turn into nightmares pretty quickly."

"It won't turn into a nightmare," I said, but I felt the chills somewhere around my heart at the thought.

"You don't know that," Mathias hissed. He leaned towards me, his nostrils flared and his teeth bared.

It was at that moment Opal and Ardea showed up.

"What pissed you off this time, wolf boy?" Opal asked a bit too cheerfully, considering the situation. Will that girl ever learn?

Mathias' stare showered her with his fury, wiping the smile off her face. Maybe there was hope for her yet.

"Mathias, calm down!" Ardea stepped between him and our gabby dwarf friend.

"You!" His voice didn't get any friendlier. "You're a part of this too."

"A part of what?" Ardea asked calmly, as if the werewolf hadn't just snapped at her.

"A part of the plan to return Professor Cyan back to where she came from. But that's not possible! You're gonna kill her with your plans!"

"My father would never endanger her life." Ardea used a much quieter voice than Mathias did.

"Do I need to call someone?" Harper asked behind my back.

None of us saw him approaching. The three of were facing away from him, and Mathias was too busy spilling his rage on us to notice what was going on around us. But once he saw him there, he pushed me aside, lashed out towards him and grabbed him by the neck. Harper's crutch fell to the floor, making a loud thud. His eyes widened as the fear took over his body.

Mathias was deaf to our cries. All his focus was on Harper and he wasn't gonna let him go.

With two quick motions of her hands, Ardea removed her contact lenses and walked up to the werewolf. She forced him to look her in the eyes and when he did, she ordered him to let the faun go. With her elven eyes exposed, Mathias was unable to resist the power of her words. He let Harper go. Once released, the faun staggered but managed to find the balance.

Mathias was chained by Ardea's stare. His breathing was heavy, and drops of sweat beaded his forehead.

"Say you're sorry!" Ardea ordered him.

"I'm sorry," Mathias muttered.

"Say you're sorry to Harper," Ardea clarified.

"I'm sorry, Harper," Mathias said, still staring into the elf's eyes.

Harper was rubbing the spot on his neck where the hands of the werewolf gripped him. Still terrified by recent events, he was unable to reply.

"You really are an idiot!" This time I was the one who said the sentence that sounded like it came from Opal's mouth. "Moments ago, I was convincing him that you could be trusted, and you've disproved all my arguments with this."

"Release me," Mathias said, unable to separate his eyes from Ardea's. "I know what I did was wrong. Release me."

"If I release you," Ardea replied, "how can I know that you won't repeat what you did before?"

"I promise I won't. I can control myself now."

"You better," Ardea said and closed her eyes.

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