It was still dark, but at least Corrie could follow the wall. It couldn't possibly go all the way around the campus, or they would have encountered it before. Certainly the one on the east side didn't go all the way around, or she wouldn't have been able to get to the street from the campus. She turned around and reached for the wall to guide herself with. It wasn't there.
In a sudden panic, she stumbled forward, only to crack her knees on something hard. Confused, she bent down to discover that the wall was shorter here. It was only a little higher than her waist, which explained why she hadn't found it with her hands—she'd been reaching out more like shoulder height. She'd been keeping close to the wall based on a sense of its bulk alone. She tried to look back along it, but it was too dark.
Still, she could guess at how quickly the height was decreasing. At the front, where the gates attached, the wall was nearly twice her height; here, it was only a little more than half. It was too high to safely vault, at least in this darkness, but she should be able to climb over it soon.
She started walking again, keeping her keys in her left hand and her right hand trailing lightly across the top of the stone. It was rough and pitted, uncomfortable against her fingertips, but she had to move slowly anyway. Now that nothing seemed to be following her, she wanted to be quiet enough that nothing could start.
The top of the wall sloped down gradually. There weren't even any notable joins between the stones here. She would have to come back during the day and find out if there was anything interesting to see. Once her hand was at hip level, she stopped.
Once again, she looked around, but there was nothing visible, even if there was anything to see. She lifted herself up onto the wall and took a careful look at the ground on the other side. She could just see it, dirt and leaves; there must be a little light coming from the campus. That thought made her feel better already.
She jumped to the ground, and while there was no perceptible difference in the forest itself, she felt much more relaxed. She reminded herself, though, that there was no reason to think the creature wouldn't follow her onto campus. There were plenty of other faeries around. That, of course, reminded her of the antlered faerie from her party. She adjusted her grip on her keys so the points were sticking out between her fingers like a weapon.
She was able to follow the light, which turned out to be one of the emergency lights, back to campus. To her relief, there seemed to be more people moving about—people going back and forth on the paths and in and out of doors. She didn't see anyone she recognized from the art department party, though it was a small enough campus that she recognized many of the people around by sight.
Unfortunately, no one else seemed to be headed toward Gilkey, at least not once she got close. So much for getting into the building easily. Only a few of the windows were lit, and none of the ones on the first floor. She tried knocking on Charlie's and Lorelei's windows anyway, but received no response.
After circling the building and getting her bearings, she worked out which window must be Naomi and Dawn's—if she was remembering the number of windows in the bathroom right, that was. It was lit, but she couldn't see anything through it, which was probably because it was on the fifth floor and the angle was terrible. She felt around in the grass for a few minutes before finding a couple of small pebbles.
Her first thrown pebble hit the wall below the window. Her second hit the wall above. Cursing quietly and glancing over her shoulder at the darkened woods, she hunted for more. It took three more tries before she finally hit the window. Then she had to stare up at it for several minutes before anyone bothered to open the window and look out.
Corrie waved up at Naomi, not wanting to shout and call any other attention to herself. After looking around (Corrie could see Naomi's dreadlocks flapping as she moved her head around), Naomi finally saw her and waved back. Corrie pointed around the building, hoping Naomi understood, then walked to the front door and waited.
Finally, the door opened for her and she hurried inside. Naomi was staring at her with a halfhearted grin. "What the hell were you doing out there?"
Corrie shook her head. "Nothing, apparently. Looking for help. Has anything happened while I was gone?"
Naomi shrugged. "No, Dawn's still asleep. Are you all right?"
"Yeah. I'm all right. Let's get back upstairs."