My alarm goes off. And I ache.

I know I must have slept. This bed is supposed to be great, but no matter what I do, I hurt.

Opening my eyes, it takes a moment to orient myself. I’ve been here just over two and a half years and I’ve never gotten used to the sights, sounds, or smells of the Scholomance. A school with no teachers where I’d learn to use magic sounded great on paper. Had I known then what I know now, maybe I would have made different choices.

In the upper corner, where the wall meets the ceiling above the foot of my bed, a thumb-sized clump of gray-white webbing has appeared overnight. It looks almost disappointingly ordinary, like a spider got ambitious. The problem is ordinary spiders don’t survive long here, and ordinary webs don’t pulse when you stop looking directly at them.

I keep thinking I should feel proud of myself for making it this far. I don’t. Mostly I feel the pain in my back as I put my feet on the floor.

Outside my room I can hear everyone starting to gather for the trek to the workshops. Going with them would be safer, but I still don’t fit in. And I’m not sure I can handle one more accusation.

I’m ahead of my mana budget for graduation, but that assumes everything goes as planned. Nothing here ever does. I know climbing the stairs alone is risky, but for whatever reason I earn more mana doing it than others claim to.

Then there’s the nest.

At some point I’m going to have to deal with it. It isn’t going away on its own.

1. Enter the hall and join everyone else.

2. Turn right and head up the stairs alone.

3. Turn left and get to the workshop early.

4. Poke at the nest and figure out what I’m dealing with.