Although the various relationships within their friend group still seemed strained in some regards, Alice was relieved to regain some sort of normalcy with Sloane. Several topics of conversation remained untouchable for the pair (most of them centering around Cameron) but as a whole they were closer to where they were at the start of the school year. A feat Alice never thought they would be able to accomplish again.

Even with their relationship being better, she was still reluctant to accept the early summer invitation to visit with Sloane. Alice was only able to escape the farm once or twice a summer usually, and to use one of her trips so soon was somewhat nerve wracking. However, she hadn't wished to insult Sloane by declining, so there the girls were as the hedges sprouted around them in the park. Alice instinctively gripped Sloane's arm in a vice-like grip, Sloane's brother had vanished from sight. "This park ought to be closed to the public," she exclaimed. First the squid last summer, now this. Merlin only knew what awaited them around the bends.

Slowly, too slowly, the initial panic faded as did her grip on Sloane's arm. They were fully enclosed on three sides, but a second ago the lake's shore was only a few meters to their right. They had to avoid any path that would lead them that way. "Of all days not to have your broom," Alice then lightly teased in a vain hope to distract from the fear. "Should we just stay here do you think? Someone has to drop the maze eventually."