Violet spared a glance for Atlas as she collected her jar (Merlin, those things were cold!. Oh dear, was there romance in the air? She suspected that Phoebe James was a bit more than the younger boy could handle; she also thought sadly that she was probably not ever going to be the kind of girl that boys collected jars for. Oh well, all the more reason to learn to do things for yourself! And so she turned her attention back to the task at hand.

The Ashwinders were fascinating creatures--Violet had never seen one live before, only in pictures. They were beautiful, fiery serpents, sort of like the mythical salamanders in legends. She hurried to follow a couple of them into the maze before she lost sight of them.