One year, Apollonia thought as she gaze about the Foyer. She brushed a hand over the smooth oak paneling. It felt warm and alive to the touch, and glowed in the cheery sunlight. It still didn’t seem real to here that the previous year so much harm had befallen this school. Slowly, she took a few steps further into the room. She paused a couple meters from the main doors. This is it, she thought, glancing around. This is where I overcame Olc.

Despite all the time that had passed since that day, the memories came back unbidden and largely unwanted. The desperation she felt came back; she could once again hear the phantom voice taunting here, playing with her; her skin even crawled at the remembrance of being under the Creature’s touch. Those sickening moments when she used all her resolve and guile to survive, all while weakened from her escape from her prison. Apollonia shut her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath. It had been chance that she had survived that encounter unharmed. She could have been killed. Or worse, the Creature could have taken my offer right here before I could react. Running a hand through her hair, she let the confrontation replay in her mind.

The hall echoed with the words spoken long ago and she saw how the Thing toyed with her and she with It. Then, in the moment she was most vulnerable, a single spell split the stale air: Xicochinetica! She felt the power pooled in her hands course into the Creature’s body and heard It slump to the ground with a dull thud!. Apollonia opened her eyes and found herself once again in the warm, inviting Foyer safe and free. She let out her held breath and allowed herself a slight smile. “The art of seduction,” she quipped, mocking the Creature that she felled.