Bastet snarls from her place next to me as we circle a fellow student on the football field. The air is cool but it's warm enough out that my class had voted to do our Advanced Familiar Training outside on the field as the sky is clear and the sun is burning high above us. Several girls for the track team are out doing warm-ups on the russet-colored track, their cleats clicking on the rubbery surface as they sprint by behind me.

My opponent circles me back, a boy in my year who has a cougar for his familiar. The wildcat twitches its tail irritably, its bright yellow eyes looking from Bastet to me. It peels back its lips to let out a hiss, which Bastet matches as she bares her teeth. I continue circling as I wait for the teacher's signal, the rest of my class sitting up in the bleachers with him as the protective shield-dome shivers around us.

I can feel every eye on us, even the runners as they slow to a jog to watch, the air almost humming with an invisible force of electricity. I dare to glance over at the teacher, Mr. Norwood, who looks serene and at ease in his khakis and sweater-vest, a red orb the size of a softball hovering next to him.

The orb flickers, the color changing from red to green as I strike.

My wand is out of my pouch and in my hand in a second, a bolt of electricity zipping across the grass so quickly that there is a clap of thunder in its wake. The hairs on my arms stand up like someone has rubbed a balloon across it as the electricity dissipates and the student across from me struggles to deflect the lightning as I strike again.

A stunning spell flashes off the tip of my wand in a cloud of gold, like a flashlight has been turned on to illuminate the dust in the air as it cascades toward the boy. His cougar roars in warning as it lunges across the field for me, the cat springing powerfully as it covers the distance quickly. Bastet rises to meet it as they tussle, their claws sheathed but their ears pinned flat against their heads as they snarl irritably.

The boy shields himself, the spell rippling around him as he makes his move, his wand twirling and flicking as neon bolts of fire crackle across the grass. The flash of blue makes me squint as I instinctively lift a ward into place, the fire dissipating quickly, like a candle snuffed out as smoke flutters through the air in gray ribbons.

The smoke works to my advantage as I fire off a couple more spells in rapid succession, the point is to win and show no mercy, to disarm my opponent to the point that they simply can't defend themselves.

Quick and clean.

My heart is pounding hard in my chest as I keep part of my focus on the familiars as I work to distract the boy. I fire a spell at his familiar, the cougar snarling as an electric spell briefly zaps it on its hip, though it's not enough to hurt. The distraction works as his attention is diverted and I use it to my advantage.

I smile grimly as a stunning spell hits its mark amidst a shower of ice picks and the boy falls limp to the ground as he cries out in shock. The dome around us disappears as a few claps rise up from the bleachers and I turn to bow to my audience.

"Class dismissed," Mr. Norwood says and gives me an approving nod as he descends the bleachers.

He heads for the stunned boy, whom he crouches next to briefly as he withdraws his wand. Tendrils of blue wrap around the boy as he twitches, his cougar standing on guard by his side as he comes to his senses.

"Well done," Mr. Norwood points out as he finishes with the boy and turns to me, "you've improved enormously."

I resist the urge to blush under the eyes of my classmates, their gazes full of envy as a compliment from Mr. Norwood is a rarity to behold. I simply regard the middle-aged man with respect and nod and sheath my wand on my hip as I let Bastet return to the familiar realm.

"Thank you," I say earnestly.

Mr. Norwood tilts his head suddenly as he looks down at my hand that I bandaged with fresh bandages this morning, as I have to resist the urge to cover it up lest I look suspicious while doing so.

"What happened to your hand?" he inquires as his dark brows furrow.

I risk a glance up at the bleachers, as the other students are already starting to pack up and leave, but I'm still anxious of being overheard.

"Oh, I just cut it while I was caring for my horse," I tell him easily, "you know, filing her hooves."

"Well you may want to get it checked by the nurse, I'm sure she can heal it up quickly," he says, but the thought of having to endure healing pain makes me nauseous.

"I actually need to get to my therapist's," I admit and it's not a complete lie, "maybe later." 

The truth is that I'm scheduled for a session but not until later, though I figure I can go ahead and get out of here before Astrid and Tessa manage to track me down.

"I see, well, have a good day," he says as he turns and leaves, his tie snapping in the breeze as he walks off and I am left alone on the field.

****

"Kara, what you've told me is very serious, I think I may need to have you put on a new medication to help you overcome this," Mrs. Nox tells me in a low voice.

The woman had sat in stunned silence for a couple of minutes after I had told her what I had been through the past couple of days. The room that we've sat in and talked so many times before feels foreign to me, the upholstered chairs losing their comforting familiarness as I shift in mine. The record player is silent today, there not even being a record sat on the turntable and instead, they're all tucked away into their brightly colored folders in the bin below.

Between the suicide and possibility that I've been seeing Luke as a result of hallucinations, she's come to the conclusion that I may be having a psychological break.

"Don't view this as a setback or something to be ashamed of," she reassures me as she jots a few notes down on her clipboard, "you're going to get through this, I'm here for you."

The scritch of her pen writing words on the paper briefly calms me and at the same time unsettles me. I've never seen what she has written about me. I don't know what she does with the papers when she's finished with them and I wonder for a moment if I could ask her if I can see what she's writing about me.

I should ask her.

She looks up at me for a second, her thin lips breaking into a smile as she stops taking down notes. In that moment, her face is so heartbreakingly hopeful that I can feel my own heart ache.

All I want is to get through this.

"I know you do," she murmurs and I blink as I realize that I had probably spoken aloud. "That's why I'm giving you this."

She writes something else down on her clipboard before she tears off a sheet of paper that I recognize as a prescription, which she passes to me.

"I believe in you, Kara," she says before she stands and smooths her skirt, "you've been through a lot, and I'm proud that you're still fighting, you're strong. You will get through this."