Ariadne did not particularly care for her master. For one thing, he'd sort of taken her from her home and everyone and everything she'd ever known. That was a big thing. And for another, he never let her go outside. For...probably more than a year--she wasn't sure--she'd been stuck in his attic, mostly lying on the floor, listening to life happen beneath her.

That was the worst part, really.

Her master was a clever witch, she had to give him that. He hadn't summoned her just to kill her. He wanted her hair and he understood that having a living Alastrian--who could regrow her hair--was more valuable than just plain killing her, as some hunters had done in the past.

But it meant that he left her up there. Sometimes for months, visiting mostly just to take the occasional snipping from her hair. She'd been surviving mostly on these awful things called 'cereal bars.' They tasted like cardboard. Ariadne tried to find the novelty and wonder in everything. But after so many of them, even that novelty wore off.

She was actually sleeping, or at least dozing, when the commotion began. Curious, she pressed her face against the floor, picking up a unfamiliar Human scent. Her master had visitors all the time, but this one didn't sound all that welcome. And after some harsh words came harsh sounds. And then one final boom louder than the rest. She smelled blood. And didn't hear her master speak again.

Normally, she could have looked at all the possible futures available and predicted the most likely one. But not here. Here, she didn't know all the variables. Which meant resorting to her own senses.

Very, very carefully, she pulled up on the trap door to the attic, peering into the hallway below that she'd only visited a handful of times.