‘Alice?’

A voice broke her reverie and shook her awake. She scrambled to her feet, her heart racing. Her overcoat and nightgown were soaked through and she suddenly realised how cold her bare feet were, exposed as they were to the rain.

Out of the darkness, a figure appeared – hair soaked through, wrapped up against the elements, scar glinting in the broken moonlight. Grace.

‘Alice?’ She spoke again, firmer this time. ‘Alice, what are you doing out here? Where are your shoes?’ Grace stomped over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. ‘Are you mad? You’ll catch your death!’ She had to shout over the deafening thunder.

Alice could only gaze into Grace’s wide, terrified eyes. She still cares.

‘Alice, for goodness’ sake! What’s wrong with you?’

There was something bursting within Alice. It had roused her from her pacing; it had sent her out of her bedroom in the middle of the night. It had convinced her to climb up and out through a vent in her nightgown to stand in the pouring rain. And it had led her here, to Grace.

Grace let go of Alice and stepped back, running a nervous hand through her soaked hair. She could sense it too, Alice knew she could.

Before she could lose the courage that had been building and building within her, she finally did what she had been waiting for Grace to do ever since they met.

She covered the distance between them in two strides and their lips touched for the first time. The kiss was gentle, tentative. Alice pulled back to check that Grace was all right and found her glowing. They pressed their foreheads together, hands intertwined. Alice could no longer feel the pouring rain falling upon them. All she could feel was Grace.

‘I’ve been waiting for you to do that for a while…’ Grace smirked, pulling Alice into a tight embrace.

Alice laughed. ‘And I’ve been waiting for you!’

Grace shook her head and chuckled.

Alice began to cry softly, not from sadness, but from an overwhelming, all-encompassing swell of emotion. She felt warmth flow through her bones and around her veins, the warmth of magic, the flow of power, and Grace leapt back, her eyes round, inquisitive. Alice was quite literally glowing. A warm scarlet light was radiating from every inch of her skin. It wasn’t hatred, anger, pain, or stress that really allowed her to tap into her magical roots.

It was love.

Grace stepped forward and embraced Alice once more. The two girls were alight: a fiery beacon, a lighthouse lamp glowing bright as an exploding star, despite the storm raging around them.

‘Shall we go inside before we freeze to death?’ Grace asked, and Alice could only nod, still flying high up in the rainclouds.

They managed to sneak back along the silent corridors until they were safe inside Alice’s room. The fire was still lit in the grate and its warmth was blissful after so long shivering in the rain. They spent every evening together, so why did Alice suddenly feel so awkward? Nothing had changed and yet … everything had changed.