Daria and Franci sat at their table waiting for class to begin. The missing partner did not seem to bother either girl as they chatted. The girls chatted loudly about how sad it was that the poison only made the girl sick, but did no harm. Daria kept looking at Marcia after her group came back from meeting with the headmaster. Daria's face registered disdain for Marcia as her mind thought of another way to harm Marcia and Naomi.

The day went quickly as the groups built small bombs to act as a defense against a single person rather than a group or building. Marcia finished her project early and yearned for time to spend alone on the lake rowing her boat. She cherished the time alone on the lake. The spirits of the school and the island were land bound, so her body and mind felt at ease and the physical activity helped to tire her. When she returned to shore, Franci watched as the boat drifted ashore onto the sand.

A small evil smile crossed Franci's face, as she thought about getting revenge for the death of her roommate. She felt Marcia had to pay for driving Chantel to take her life after suffering humiliation at Marcia's hands. She continued her fluid motion practicing with her bayonet sword, as her mind thought of revenge. The more she thought and drew some conclusions, the faster her motions with the sword became. She soon danced, jumped and twisted in the air as her arms performed a ballet with the sword.

She performed one final movement where she jumped high in the air swirling the sword in circles over her head. As she descended, the sword came down with one rapid, deadly swipe cutting deeply into the sand. Franci ended the movement with both hands tightly holding the hilt of the sword as she knelt on one knee her head bowed touching the sand. As she recovered, she looked over at Marcia thinking that move was the killing blow.

Marcia watched Franci fascinated by the fluid motion of her body combined with the sword. She moved as if she and the sword were one as the motion rotated with the sword seeming to float as an extension of her arm. As Marcia watched, she thought back to the time she spent with her mom watching different ballet movements. It almost felt as if Franci's movements were part of some choreographed dance routine. It reminded her of classical ballet but with deadly movements of the sword.

Marcia sat in the bow of her boat, as she watched Franci dance. The pull of the lake currents loosed the boat from the sand forcing her to jump out grabbing the rope to pull the boat further onshore. When the boat left the water completely, Marcia stopped pulling and tied the rope to a nearby tree. She continued to watch Franci. When she made the final leap and deadly blow, Marcia felt a cold wind surround her body and shake her soul. As the cold increased, her mind went dark, and she felt imminent danger upon her. That feeling caused her to turn toward the school and run.

As Marcia ran, her mind felt the intrusion of evil spirits threatening her with mental harm stronger than physical harm. Fright filled her, as she threw open the door of Kathy's home and stumbled into the kitchen. Kathy jumped at the noisey intrusion and ran to Marcia, who thrashed, flailed and moaned on the floor. Klaus ran to the room and watched as Kathy cradled Marcia gently in her arms rocking with her. In ten minutes, Marcia's body stilled, but the moaning continued as spirits attacked her mind.

Kathy continued to hold Marcia and rock back and forth with her on the floor. Klaus went quickly to the phone and called the headmaster. In less than five minutes, the headmaster entered the house, took Marcia in his arms and carried her to her room, placing her gently on the bed. As soon as she was on the bed, he quickly and quietly cast a spell that banished the spirits from Marcia's mind. Almost immediately, Marcia stopped shaking and moaning, settling into a gentle sleep. Kathy covered her and left the room forcing everyone to go with her.

The adults sat at the kitchen table and drank a cup of tea with some shortbread cookies. They quizzically looked at each other waiting for someone to speak. The headmaster noisily cleared his throat and wiped his lips with a cloth napkin.

"What happened here, Kathy? She had spirits in her mind. I thought we removed them from her and banished them." The headmaster asked as he angrily looked at Kathy.

Kathy shook her head in wonder and replied carefully choosing her response, "I do not have any idea what happened. Marcia stumbled into the house and fell to the floor, ranting and flailing. The spirits invaded her body and her mind. She acted as if we never banished the original spirits. As soon as I held her in my arms, the thrashing and flailing movements stopped. Her moaning and mewling continued, and we could not break through to her mind." Klaus shook his head agreeing with Kathy.

"I noticed that her choker was not around her neck. Do you know where it is? That is why the spirits attacked her again. We need to impress upon her the importance of wearing that charm."

After the headmaster's question, Kathy left the kitchen and searched Marcia's room looking for the choker. She found it in the top drawer of the bureau next to her socks. She snatched it and brought it out to the kitchen to show the men. "It was in a drawer next to her socks. I guess she did not wear it today."

"We need to get her to wear some type of charm to protect her at all times. Is there something else we could give her that is less likely to allow her to remove it?" The headmaster commented as he fingered the choker.

"I have a ring that will work, but I feel she may feel better if he had a few charms to wear. That way she could choose one or all of them to wear daily. At least then, we can be sure that protection wrapped her completely. Teens today wear a lot of jewelry, so a choker, ring, and necklace would not seem out of place."

The headmaster nodded, and Klaus agreed. Kathy continued, "When I searched her things, she stirred as if she wanted to get up. I think we need to wake her and talk to her about where she was and what happened to lower her defenses against the spirits. I will bring her to the table, and we can share a cup f tea together and talk." Kathy stood and left the room.

Kathy returned to the kitchen, as Klaus poured four cups of tea and set out a small plate of biscuits. Marcia looked beaten but eager to drink tea and eat a biscuit. She sat at the table and cupped the tea with both hands warming them. She sipped the tea and eyed a soft biscuit, which she grabbed hungrily. She wolfed half the cookie and chewed it savoring the taste and texture. She sipped more tea and devoured the rest of the cookie.

As Marcia sheepishly looked around the table, she saw the adults look at her curiously. She felt they watched her follow her movements and listen to what she said next. Curiosity filled her mind because the headmaster sat in the house. Dread started to fill her mind as if she had done something wrong. She suddenly sat up straight trying to make her larger in appearance and prevent any scolding or punishment. As she sat there, she noticed a hint of a smile on Klaus' face, which calmed her thoughts.

"What happened to me? I felt as if my body and mind were under attack and I lost it. Did I do anything wrong?" Marcia exclaimed with a curious look on her face.

The headmaster looked sternly at Marcia causing her to shrink trying to hide. "Can you tell us what you saw before you ran to the house? Something scared you and your natural protection failed. Also, why didn't you have your choker around your neck?"

Marcia sheepishly replied in a squeaky childish voice, "I left the choker here because nothing bothered me for a while and it felt good not to wear it. I don't want to have a choker all the time. I only took it off this morning. I thought it would not hurt."

Kathy answered Marcia in a motherly manner trying not to scold or admonish her. "To protect you from evil, malicious spirits, you need to wear some charm. If you forget or decide not to, what you felt today will happen. We can give you a pendant, a ring or an amulet that you can wear, or you can wear all of them. You need to have protection."

"Can you get me all those pieces you mentioned? I want to choose the talisman I wear every day or a combination of them." Marcia asked with a faked innocent curiosity. Her mind reasoned that she needed a choice. The choker although nice, it stood out whenever she wore it.

The headmaster replied, "We can do as you ask, but you need to promise always to wear at least one of the charms at all times. If you fail to follow those instructions, what happened with you will happen again. You cannot allow that because someone who can help you recover may not be near you. What made you drop your guard allowing the spirits to enter?"

Marcia looked at the headmaster, Kathy and Klaus while silently pondering if she should tell them about Franci. She thought about it and decided to keep silent. Franci did not need any more trouble about her life with Daria and the death of her roommate. In Marcia's mind, Chantel's death was not suicide; someone killed her and staged the scene. With Franci, a close friend of Daria the two girls plotted a lot but had not caused any harm to Marcia and her friends, yet.

Marcia knew the Franci would soon make her move to revenge Chantel's death. She wanted to be alone with Franci to prevent any extraneous damage or hurt to others. Also, if Marcia had to get rid of Franci, she did not want any witnesses who saw the deed. As these thoughts passed through her mind, she sat quietly with her eyes closed deep in thought.

Marcia quietly spoke, "I was out on the lake in a boat rowing. As I rowed, a sudden gust of wind blew me ashore. Usually, when I row, I can relax my mind and let it drift. The spirits seem bound to the island, and I sense their presence as I row ashore and put my defenses back in place. With the sudden wind, my defenses stayed down because I tried to keep control of the boat. I came ashore before I knew it happened, the spirits crowded my mind and took over. As soon as they entered, I knew I was in trouble, beached the boat and ran to the house."

The headmaster listened to Marcia carefully and sensed she held something back but allowed the story. He had questions but decided to hold them back and allow Marcia freedom to be herself. He nodded to Kathy because she appeared to have a few questions.

Kathy spoke, "Where did you get the boat? As far as we knew, no boats existed on the island. Why did you hide that from us? Do you understand that if you drowned while on the lake we would have no clue where to find you? Will you show Klaus the boat so he can check it for worthiness?"

"Yes, he and I can go there now. I would like approval to continue rowing. It was something I did at home that relaxed and calmed me. Let me take one of the charms and he and I can go."

Kathy handed Marcia a pendant on a silver chain that she put around her neck. Marcia stood followed by Klaus and left the house. They walked to the boat that still sat high on the shore anchored to the tree. Klaus examined the boat and found it safe to use, but cautioned Marcia not to stray too far from shore.