The last few days had been a whirlwind. She'd been sorted, met her housemates, and started classes—and now she was curled up on one of the worn-out sofas in the common room, blanket and pillow in tow. It wasn't like she disliked Alys Gower. It was just... a bit too soon after the incident.

Poppy had tried that first night to do the polite thing and sleep in the bed she had been assigned. It shouldn't have mattered that Miss Gower was in the bed directly next to hers. And yet, the only thing she could see whenever she closed her eyes was that white, round face, devoid of all life and yet eerily alive. She didn't think she'd fallen asleep at all.

Rather than risk a repeat the second night, Poppy had waited until all the other girls had gone to bed and then slipped out in the dark with her things. She needed sleep, and she couldn't think of any other way to get any. Now sleeping on a sofa in the common room was her new norm. She knew she could have written her mother—maybe should have—but this was her first real time away from home. She wanted to prove that she was grown and could take care of things herself.

Millie Potts