Violet usually didn't rush into danger, but today she was one of the first to move forward to the boxes. Today she would rather face a cockatrice in a maze than stay out here with these thugs. She grabbed a helmet and set of padding that looked like it would fit, and then went to the second crate and chose a pair of dark wrap-around sunglasses, so dark they were almost like mirrors--Violet hoped they would work like one. And, even though they were broken, she gingerly picked up the largest piece of broken mirror she could see and put it in her pocket. Might not work now it's broken, but then again, you never knew. At least the jagged edge might be useful as a weapon--and not necessarily against a cockatrice.

Finally Violet moved over to the third crate, to give the students behind her room, and looked inside--weasels, of all colors and sizes, looked back at her. And they were on leashes, like a dog or something! She hadn't known weasels even wore leashes. She stared back at them for a few minutes, and then one reddish-brown weasel hesitantly came towards her. "You want to come with me, then? Come on up, then," she said softly to it, and with both hands gently lifted it out of the crate and set it on the ground, clutching the end of the leash in one hand.

She moved aside to on her gear and then wished she had done that before she had gotten the weasel. She tried to step on the end of the leash as she awkwardly pulled on the padding, but luckily the weasel just crouched there quietly, making no move to run away. Once she was suited up, Violet's first impulse was to push forward into the maze, out of the watchful gaze of the Inquisitors, but it occurred to her that it might be better to go with someone else, so she looked over her shoulder to see who else was nearly ready.