This fourth year was still crying, not quite sure she believed what she was seeing. Didn't help her get moving or anything. But Eloise finally snapped out of it when she heard Headmaster shouting or yelling very loud. Logic slowly crept back into her head. Not like anything she was seeing could be real since well the event happened when she was only eleven.

She slowly got out her wand and raised it.

"L..lu..lu...lulu..Lumos Maxima!"

Jackpot!

Nope none of this was real she repeated to herself...well besides all the students and her getting saved she hoped.

She wasn't going to make it out of here, she just knew it. There was no way she was going to look at those figures any longer and she tucked her head tighter in her arms. She could hear voices all around, some louder than others, but she didn't know which way they were coming, but then she heard Gunnar and someone was touching her hand. Her eyes snapped up to see her brother and she got to her feet clinging to his side. 'Gunnar they are going to get us." She pointed towards the things coming even closer.

She knew he wanted to get out, but how? Her green eyes straining to see if she could find something and ignore the site in front of her. "There, do you think that is their light?" Was that the wand light of her Headmaster and professor? She hoped so because she and Gunnar were going to head that way.

"Professor... Headmaster... help!" Her had was so tight around her wand she felt her nails cutting the skin, but she stopped for a second. Her wand.. her wand, yes, she might not have been able to fight, but she could try and light up around them. Lumos Maxima

The mist definitely wasn't just mist. Things that they were seeing - the things that HE had just seen was meant to scare them and it was clearly working. Piers was working through his fear to think logically in order to get this kids out of here, but... honestly, they were making it difficult. What happened to fight or flight? Because he didn't hear anyone fighting and he didn't see anyone coming through the mist to safety.

As Piers' fear started to morph into mildly annoyed desperation, he heard the Headmaster's voice boom through the air. There was no missing that. The students NEEDED to get a grip and get their butts out of there.

Thankfully, due the Headmaster's short speech, Piers was able to follow his voice and finally find him in the dense mist. He was relieved to see the man, even though it had only been... what, 30 seconds? Looking back down the path, Piers saw a light form in the mist. And there was another... and another. And some more, good. "That's good, I can see your lights!"' Piers shouted ahead. "Keep walking forward - the Headmaster and I will come find you." And hopefully there wasn't anything lurking in the mist that wanted to eat them, or else they were going to be one big, tasty meal.

Piers looked back at the Headmaster and the one, single student that had made it to safety and then looked at the rope he had and grabbed onto the end of it. "Here. Hold onto this and extend it. I'll take it down the path and find the rest." Because they clearly weren't moving and they needed to get OUT.

Holding tight to the end of the rope, Piers stepped further into the mist, quickly disappearing from view of the Headmaster. "I'm coming to find you," Piers shouted as he squinted through the fog to no avail. His head turned quickly to the side when he thought he saw a student, but he had to force himself to look away and keep moving. It was the mist playing tricks on him. "Just remember!" He shouted again. "What you're seeing isn't real. It's just trying to scare you." And it was WORKING.

Piers was coming up on his first light and was pleased to find Vita, his prefect. Thank goodness. He couldn't lose one of those. "Vita, are you alright?" He put a hand on her shoulder to make sure she was real. "Take hold of this rope," he instructed. And to make sure he did so, Piers grabbed her hand and put it around said rope. "Now, follow it to the end and you'll find the Headmaster, okay?" He patted her shoulder and then moved on, the end of the rope going with him as he walked towards the next light.

"I have the end of a rope and the Headmaster has the other end. When I come to you, hold on TIGHT to the rope and walk to the end. The Headmaster will be there and he'll lead you toward the castle." Those were simple enough instructions to follow, right??? RIGHT???

Piers found the next student and grabbed their hand and put it on the rope so they would hold onto it and not get lost. "Follow this back to the Headmaster," he told them, and then he moved onto the next... and the next... and the next. Cassidy, Indigo, Eloise, Chloe, Gunnar - Piers found ALL of the students and made sure he secured their hands to the rope before moving on. When he was sure he had retrieved all of the students, Piers turned, now deeper into the mist than he ever wanted to be... and made his way back up to the Headmaster, half tempted to close his eyes to avoid seeing what the mist was projecting at him. But he had to keep them open in case a student decided to panic and stop mid-rope to cry. He wasn't gonna deal with that well.

Cassidy was still crying when the professor reached her. All she could give out was a stiff nod as he secured her hand on the ropes. The vision in front of her was still the worst thing she had ever seen and she did not want to see it anymore. This rope was the only thing that was going to save her.

She walked along it, moving hand over hand, not wanting to lose her grip on it. It was leading back to the headmaster. Back to safety. Away from this nightmare vision. She saw some of the other students ahead of her. She must've been close to the end.

There. There was the headmaster. Cassidy let go of the rope and sprinted toward the headmaster. Not caring what he or anyone else thought the first year wrapped her arms around his legs and continued to sob harder. She was out of the nightmare but couldn't wipe the vision from her thoughts.

To be honest, Indigo was feeling like he wouldn't mind if he just got lost in this mist forever. It wasn't that he didn't want to run, necessarily, but his legs didn't seem to be working. Neither were his lungs. It felt like he hadn't breathed in ten years, and when he did his breathing came in short gasps. He had bypassed mild anxiety and jumped straight into a full blown panic attack.

The voice of the headmaster managed to actually reach his ears, thanks to the magical amplification. Yes, help, they needed help. Maybe it wasn't too late. He became suddenly aware of his wand, still gripped tightly in his hand. "Lumos." His voice was just a bit shaky but the spell still worked. Please come and find him. The next voice that reached him was that of Fuller-Thompson. Not real? He looked hard at the figure in front of him, trying to convince his brain that it wasn't real, but the panic was hard to pierce through. Still, it was the mantra of not real, not real that allowed him to finally get to his feet and obediently grip the rope being placed into his hand. He was still hyperventilating a little, but his feet kept carrying him forward back toward the headmaster.

Malachi kept a firm grip on the rope, allowing Piers to take the other end and head out into the students. There was a nagging little feeling...that someone else was doing the rescuing while he stood by but those snapping jaws...yeah he'd wait for the students to get he--eh?

The Headmaster saw a mass moving toward him and flinched believing it was another of the many horrors that lurked in the mist but once it was close enough, he recognized it as Burke. Malachi said nothing about her latching onto him like his own children would, not at first. When he did react, it was nothing more than an awkward hand at her back and another promise that everything would be fine.

When all the lights from the different wands began lining up--along the rope, he assumed--he began walking.

"Hang on everyone, we're getting out of here." And true to his word, against everything he was seeing, Malachi followed the lit path he'd created. Back to the castle and he wouldn't be stopping until they were safely there. "Anyone in need of the Healer, please head up to the Hospital Wing when we get back!" For now, they were out of here.

Vita wondered if Fuller-Thompson was real the moment she saw him, shrinking some as he put his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes were still wide, red-rimmed, filled with fear. Her cheeks were tear stained. She felt numb. She didn't answer his question, the lump in her throat was too big to allow for that. Instead she let him place her hand on the rope and did as she was told, moving towards the direction he'd indicated. She would've squeezed her eyes closed if she wasn't aware that other dangers might be lurking out in the mist somewhere. She just...she didn't want to see-she couldn't handle seeing what she'd seen again. She couldn't. And so she kept on walking, feeling the rope being tugged along now, guided by their headmaster. Weirdly, she wanted to laugh at his suggestion about seeing the healer. How could the healer help heal the damage that had been caused by what she'd just seen? No, no, she wanted Maverick. He'd help.

Cassidy felt the pats on her back and pulled herself away from the headmaster, just glad to be close to someone that was actually solid and there. She wiped some of the tears away from her eyes and nodded at his words. She grabbed a hold of the rope again, following him out of the dreadful mist. Anyone in need of a healer go there. Did she need a healer? Would a healer even help everything she just saw in front of her? Maybe, but first she needed to see her twin brother and then maybe head up to the healer.