"Come on, Pam," Nate said, starting to lead Pam up towards the stairs to the seventh floor. He wondered if Pam was awake enough to actually make it up the stairs, but was still there for support. He didn't want Pam dying or anything. The two made their way up the stairs, Nate eagerly awaiting a good nights sleep.

January 10, 2076

It was later on in the day, and once again Sierra found herself staring at her egg. She was still afraid that it was dying—or maybe already dead. It was hard to tell with a non-living metal egg. She normally wouldn’t care, but since keeping the egg alive was the only way to get house points, she was in a frantic trying to figure out what was wrong.

The egg wasn’t quivering. That’s what it did when it was too hot. It also wasn’t rolling over and seeking shelter, as that was what it did when it was too cold. Sierra had discovered both these things about her egg earlier in the school year. So…what then? She leaned over and peered closely at her egg. That was when she noticed it. The egg looked sort of tarnished. She was sure it’d been shinier when she’d first received it. She blinked. Could it be that the egg wasn’t dying but was just trying to convey the message that it pretty much needed a shower? Hesitantly, Sierra retrieved her wand from her holster. She pointed her wand at the egg and said, “Excolo!” She traced her wand all around the tarnished parts of the egg. “Excolo!” she cast again, just for added effect. Her wand traced all around the egg, and interestingly enough, the egg started to shine as the spell continued to take effect.

When she was done, she ended the spell and looked at the shiny, silver egg. In response, the egg moved just a bit—enough to let Sierra know she indeed hadn’t killed it. It had, after all, just needed a shower!