“No don’t!” Parker screamed out in his sleep. “Don’t hurt me!”

Caleb stood next to his bed, shaking him trying to get him awake. “Parker, wake up! It’s just a dream!”

Parker’s head shot off of his pillow, almost head-butting Caleb in the process. “What’s going on?” He couldn’t figure out why he was being shaken.

Caleb looked at him, worried, and said, “Parker, you were screaming. Like really loud. So, I was trying to wake you up. What was happening in your dream? You screamed ‘Don’t hurt me!’”

Parker was still trying to figure out what was going on. He wasn’t always the quickest to wake up and be ready to go. “Caleb? What are you doing here? You weren’t put into our house.”

“Well, when Master Sora tried to see if this was the house I belonged to, he said that it wasn’t clear at the time. So, he set me off to the side and said that he would try again after everyone was done, which was only like three more people.” Parker was looking at Caleb, very confused as to why they had to try again.

“What was so different about you from the rest of us?”

“Master Sora told me to come back to him once everyone was done. He looked really serious and then he took me into a different room and told me to hang on. I figured he would be right back but I sat in that room for a long time by myself. It was really nerve-wracking.”

Parker was leaning forward now, wanting Caleb to finish his story. Caleb was really into telling his story. This was the first time that Parker had heard Caleb really talk about something and didn’t stutter through it. The only other time was when he was figuring out the math of how many students were at the school.

“Do you know why it took so long?” Parker asked.

Caleb shook his head. “Master Sora never told me. He just showed up a while later with the other three masters that we met.”

Parker was thinking back, realizing that Master Sora had been a little busy. He was taking The House of Erion to their common room for the night. “That’s because he was with us! He was showing us how to get here. It was crazy! Our entrance is a hole in the ceiling!”

Caleb looked at him with a look that said, “Duh. I’m here right now.” He continued his story; “They told me I was different than everyone else but that they would explain everything later. The only thing I know as of right now, is I didn’t ‘connect’ to any one house but that I connected somewhat to each of the houses.”

Caleb could see that Parker was trying to take in what he just said. “What do you mean you connect with each of the houses? Then why did he put you in this one? Wait, when did you even get here?” He had a bunch of questions but decided he would only ask a couple right now.

“I got here and you were out cold. Nothing woke you up. I even accidentally dropped my stuff everywhere. It scared everyone else, but not you.” He laughed a little, remembering how everyone had jumped out of their beds. “And, I don’t know what it means that I connect to each of the houses or why he decided this would be the one I was placed in.”

They sat there thinking about why Master Sora chose The House of Erion to put Caleb into. Why not The House of Leith? Or either of the other two?

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Caleb stood up, and walked over to the bed he had slept in. “I think we’re supposed to be heading to the common room pretty soon. So, you should start getting ready.”

Parker rolled out of bed and pulled his suitcase out from under his bed. “Do you think we’re going to get a school uniform?” Caleb turned around, pulling his shirt down over his head.

“I bet we will get robes like Hailee had on. Actually, I would guess that she belongs to our house as well based on the color of her robe. Remember how white it was? I bet each house has a different color of robe.”

Parker nodded his head; happy with the theory Caleb had come up with. “If she’s a member of our house, that means she’s the only second year air student. Apparently, there was only one last year.”

Caleb looked shocked. “There was only one?”

Parker nodded, “Yeah, that’s what Master Sora said last night.” Parker began to finish getting ready, trying to get Caleb to move on, because he didn’t know what else to tell him about it. He started to head to the common room and Caleb held his hand out in front of him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Caleb said to Parker, with clear irritation in his voice. Parker looked at him confused about what he had done to irritate him. “This is our home now. Keep it clean! Make your bed before we leave.” Parker turned to look at his bed. The sheets were all over and his suitcase lay open with clothes hanging out.

Caleb was waiting, along with everyone else, in the common room when Parker finally made his way out.

“About time you finished!” Parker looked up, happy to hear Alexis’s voice again.

“Hey! How’d you sleep last night?” he asked as he caught up to her. The group started to make their way to leave.

“Wait, how are we supposed to…” a short brunette girl from the front of the group said. Everyone stopped and looked at her.

“What’s the problem?” Parker asked.

She turned and said, “Well, Master Sora was the one that flew us up here. How are we supposed to get back down? I’m certainly not going to jump.”

As soon as she finished saying that, Master Sora flew up from the floor. “Good morning everyone! Did you get plenty of rest? I know it was a late night full of information.”

The whole group just stared at him, still amazed that a human could fly. Parker looked forward and said, “You’ve got to teach me how to do that.”

Master Sora laughed, a deep, gravelly laugh. “Well, that is the plan for this week. That way you can get in and out of the house on your own.”

One by one, he helped each new member of The House of Erion, down to the twenty-first floor. “Hold on, if this is the twenty-first floor, then what floor is our actual common room on?” Alexis asked this with such curiosity as she stared up through the entrance.

“What is your guess?”

She looked at the master, trying to figure out how many feet the vertical tunnel was. “I would say probably about the twenty-third. The tunnel looks about twenty feet and each floor is ten feet, which would be two more floors.”

He raised his eyebrows, impressed with her reasoning. “You have good reasoning behind your prediction, however, you are incorrect. Would anyone else like to give it a shot?”

Everyone just stared at him, not sure what to say. Alexis’s answer was the best they could figure out. The short brunette from earlier spoke up, “The twenty-fourth then?”

He laughed, “Nope. It is actually located on the thirtieth floor. The very top of the castle.”

Their jaws dropped. Alexis refused to believe that. “There’s no way! The ceiling is about ten feet from the floor. There is no way that that tunnel is eighty feet long. I can see the common room while standing here.”

“Simply a trick of the eye. Our house looks like it sits a mere twenty feet above, but in order to keep the other students out, a.k.a The House of Gia, it has to be longer so that we can have protections set in place. You see, it is impossible for anyone not from The House of Erion to enter. The only possible house would be The House of Gia because they could make the ground act like an elevator. However, halfway up the entrance, wind traps are set in place that can only be turned off with the wind created by us when we fly. If they were to try and enter without flying, the traps would create winds sharp enough to cut anyone who dared entering our house.”

Everyone’s jaws dropped again. “You’re kidding right? That’s not real.”

He laughed, clearly amused at their ignorance of what the school was actually about. “Oh, no, child. It is very much real. Everything about this school is real. Now, we must get moving or we will be late for breakfast and for the opening ceremony.”