Molly decided to wear the bracelet Lily had given her to bed. She didn’t want to do a glue spell on it just yet and knew the spirit sprites would try to steal it if she left it out. Even when she did a banning spell to keep them from touching her, they still entered her room.

The gold glared at her in the dark, the sturdy metal lending a sense of security as she pressed her fingertips against it. She couldn’t keep her mind from spinning with all the things she might be able to do for Lily in return for such a gift as she turned it around on her arm. She could try to carry Lily’s books to class if they ever needed her to, even do some of their reports, even though Lily was a year ahead of her. Maybe she could let Lily practice some magick on her outside on the courtyard.

She shook her head, the pillow and her hair, ruffling chaos to her ears for a moment.

She had to think of a way to repay Lily for their friendship, but letting Lily practice magick on her might seem too lame and desperate.

She let other ideas swarm her head and had not realized she had fallen asleep until she woke up on the bitingly cold purple ice. She would never grow accustomed to it. She was stuck to the ice this time, and it threatened to peel her goosebumps away from her skin.

She heard the cracking before she saw it.

In a panic, she searched around for land, shelter, anything to try to crawl to or hold onto.

She had no idea why she did, though.

There never was anything.

Her foot burned the moment it broke through the ice.

She bit back a scream for only a moment before the water made its way into the pores of her bare foot and then froze.

She tried to pull her foot out of the water, but it wouldn’t budge.

Her right hand went in next.

The fingers of her other hand sank into the water as the ice around them splintered, giving way before her whole hand fell through.

Then her arm.

The arm her bracelet was on.

Somehow all she could think about was Lily. What would Lily say if she lost the bracelet? What would that mean for their friendship? Wouldn’t that show how careless Molly was? Who would want to be friends with her then? How was she supposed to explain that she had lost it in a random world of violet ice?

The water was slowly pulling it away, sliding it off her arm with its frozen touch.

She tried to grab the bracelet, but her other hand was going numb in the water, turning purple then blue.

Her eyes shot open. She was in her room, and something hit the floor loudly. Her hand that had been trapped in the ice shot up to her bracelet, where long blue fingers were pulling at it. It was another spirit sprite. One she had banned from her before. The spell must have worn off. It was trying to pull at the bracelet as if it were too enchanting to let go. Its eyes conveyed greed.

Molly yanked her arm up over her head away from its grasp, slid the bracelet off her arm, then shoved it under the blankets to sit on it before giving the sprite a face that made it look at her in shock before it flew away since it could not touch her skin.

Molly plugged her nose to block out the smell of burning feathers, then saw that the door was slightly open, even after the spirit sprite had flown through. Had it been open this whole time?

But something had hit the floor. When she looked over the edge, still squeezing her nostrils closed, she saw a mist there that raced after the spirit sprite and then vanished.

Molly jumped up, grabbed her bracelet, and ran to shut the door, hoping the smell would leave her room soon. She did not know if she could go back to sleep.

***

At lunch, Molly learned that the kitchen witches had left, which was humorous. A handful of students walked around with slumped shoulders and complaints building on their lips. Ova told her that it was common now for the kitchen witches to leave occasionally, since they learned more from elders when they traveled to far-off places. They took trips together as often as they liked and still got paid. But when they did leave, the students were left making their own sandwiches and eating random leftovers or bagged things.

Molly was building her own sandwich, which consisted of lunch meat and lettuce, then grabbed some popcorn before she was stopped by Lily, who put their hand on Molly’s tray, keeping it from going any further.

“I need you to do something for me,” Lily said.

The golden bracelet on Molly’s arm winked at her, letting her know that this was her chance to pay Lily back. “Of course. What is it?”

“It will have to be quick. Here. Give me your phone.”

Molly didn’t hesitate to hand it over, not even when Ova came over to them, anger etched on every line of her face. She looked down at Molly’s tray and then at Lily.

“What’s going on?”

“Exchanging numbers, Miss Templest. How about you? We’re good friends now. Hasn’t Molly told you?”

Ova looked at her, alarmed.

Molly could only smile back at Ova.

“Unless you want to listen to me bash religion and talk about money all lunch period, I would suggest you sit by yourself. I have some business with Molly to attend to…quickly.” Lily looked over their shoulder at the busy cafeteria before handing Molly back her phone.

Ova stared at Lily and then looked to Molly, a few red bumps rising on her fingers as they twitched. “I think I’ll go eat outside….”

Then she took her tray and walked off.

For some reason, Molly didn’t want to go after her. She found herself not caring at all all. All she cared about was Lily’s mischievous smile.

“I need you to sneak into Namu’s room.”

Molly’s heart skipped a beat but did not stop. Instead, it rushed on with a desire to fulfill Lily’s request.

***

Molly couldn’t believe she was going to sneak into the room of a boy she barely knew during lunch when it was almost over, but she knew Namu was hiding something. Not just because Lily told her he was—and she wasn’t just doing this because Lily had convinced her to—but because Namu was a level three in Spirit Magick who had a special tutor on the side.

She needed to sneak into his room. She had no choice. Besides the fact that Lily needed her help, she had now twice almost been taken in her dreams by some spirit. She was done with it. She had to know what Namu was hiding and how he knew all he did at such a young age since the teachers wouldn’t teach her how to protect herself until she had a strong enough foundation.

The solid gold bracelet on Molly’s arm quivered as she ran up the stairs from the cafeteria. Lily had said that she would keep Namu distracted at lunch so Molly could sneak into his room.

Sometimes Molly hated herself and how desperate she felt.

She could not wrap her head around the fact that she was doing this, but Lily needed help. Lily needed to know what project Namu was working on for an exam, and Molly was desperate enough to do anything to learn how to protect herself against spirit magick so that she could go back to her normal life. It was just like Kren had said: The first priority was making sure she could survive a normal life, since she was an empty vessel. Then she could go back and clean up the mess she had made.

Molly was happy she wouldn’t have to go up as many stairs as usual when she went to her hall, since she was already out of breath. Her hall was on the sixth floor, one above Namu’s.

She continued up the stairs outlined in cool stone with dark hardwood in between. They silenced her steps as her white tennis shoes pounded into them.

She almost debated turning back.

But no…. Lily had told her that it had to be now. That they were running out of time.

Molly didn’t know exactly why Lily needed to know about Namu’s project so badly, but did it matter why? Namu and Lily were both second years, while Molly was only a first year. She was sure there was a reason, and Lily and Namu had apparently been friends for a very long time. Maybe Lily was worried. There were many things to be worried about at this school.

The rune for Namu’s floor, which was an angular R, glinted a glossy black until it dulled against the grey stone a few steps above her, indicating that she was almost there. Molly had never been on this floor before. She hoped it wasn’t as vastly different as some other floors were, like the floor she had seen with the spider webs or her floor that smelled of burning feathers.

The whinny of a horse echoed down the stairwell from Namu’s hall. She paused for a moment until she heard banging that vibrated the stairs. Then she saw a shadow coming toward her. She backed up a step right as a horse—no, some kid hit the wall to the stairs before they came barreling down at her. It was a kid maybe her size with a horse’s head in place of his own. He grabbed the head as he fell, rolling and twisting. The horse’s ear brushed across Molly’s leg as she jumped away just in time, clinging to the cold wood-in-stone banister.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

She had never seen anything like this, even with all the magickal things that happened in this school and in her world.

The horse-headed kid landed with a terrified neigh near the next hall down. She wanted to help him, but…

She pulled out her phone. She didn’t know if she should intervene; she probably didn’t have time.

She thought about calling Ova for help, but knew she couldn’t. Ova would want to know why Molly was on that floor when she had no reason to be. And Ova was upset at Molly. Molly had chosen Lily over her.

A door slamming made her look back up at the hall she was supposed to be on. The kid who had fallen yelled out like a horse again. He was trying to stand up. One of his horns glimmered as he pulled at his ears, distressed. He sat up before he fell against the wall again from his too-heavy head.

The glimmer. This was transformation magick. But why?

She ran down to him, taking two stairs at a time, then did the one thing that Kren had taught her right away: She called to her own spirit magick, letting it sit in her hand, then called to the horse’s spirit magick, which was trying to pull away from her.

“It’s okay,” Molly said, scooting as she crouched closer to him with one palm out to pacify him. “It’s okay.”

He was panting and staring at her with the terrified black eyes of an animal.

When she was close enough to feel the transformation magick coming off him, she used her spirit magick to call to it and pull it to her. She could see the small transparent pink veil that indicated the magick that the kid was too young to hide. Just like Kren had taught her, she closed her hand into a fist once her magick and the kid’s transformation magick touched, and then she crushed it, disrupting any bonds. She watched the horse’s head crumble around the boy, falling away, disappearing into nothingness, until he was left with his normal head intact.

It was Derrin.

Derrin, who was panting and crying, had been too weak to keep a hold of that type of magick, so it had been easy for her to stamp it out.

He laid back and hit his head on the wooden floor, groaning.

“Are you okay?” Molly asked, coming nearer to him so she could touch his head. His black hair was soaked in sweat.

He groaned again.

“You need to go to the nurse,” Molly said, pulling out her phone to check the time. She had been gone from lunch for ten minutes. She had to act fast before chancing Namu coming back up into his room. She had to give herself enough time to search his stuff.

He hit her hand away. “Ye…yeah,” he said. He shook his head and grimaced, putting his hand to his normal head, “I will… yes… okay.”

She got up and held out a hand to help him up, which he took, but as soon as he stood up, he yanked his hand away from her and held it close to his chest before examining her. “Did you… did I… run into you?”

She shook her head, trying to resist the urge to look at her watch again. “No.”

He nodded. “Well. Thanks.” Then he glared up the stairs for a moment before moving down the stairs unsteadily. Molly watched him as he turned, gripping the banister so he wouldn’t fall, and then headed down another flight of stairs. She wanted to make sure he made it back to the main floor. As soon as he was gone from her view, she ran up the stairs to Namu’s hallway.

This time she didn’t let herself slow down, even when she saw the annoying spirit sprites, which noticed her right away after she had passed a few doors. There were three of them this time, coming out of the ceiling and up out of the ground. Their slender blue transparent bodies floated to her and their fingers reached for her like they always tried to do. They were as annoying as mosquitos and the worst part was that there were mosquitoes at Lockdrest, too.

She swallowed hard then swore she saw black shadow-like fingers coming through the cracks in the grey brick hall wall, but ignored them while trying to disregard the spirit sprites too.

She tried to dodge one sprite when it tried to put its finger into her shoulder blade, but even when she picked up speed, it kept pursuing her. She wished she had been more prepared for this mission. If she had known, she would have spent more time banning the spirit sprites on this floor from touching her, but her mind was too unsettled to focus and do that now.

When she reached Namu’s door at number 114, she realized another thing she hadn’t thought of. She would need a key. Namu’s key. How was she supposed to get into his room? Why hadn’t Lily thought of that? Molly knew that this was a last-minute thing, but how had Lily expected her to be get in?

She pulled out her own key to try it, but it wouldn’t fit. Then she felt a prickle of pain, causing her to cry out, and she swatted away a spirit sprite that had poked its fingers into the side of her neck. It yanked its fingers out, leaving a throbbing pain deep in her muscles. She hated how they poked and prodded her like she was some kind of interesting toy.

That gave her an idea.

She just hoped it would work.

Bending down, she slipped her key halfway under the door and used the glue spell that Mrs. Sleck taught her. She then walked back a few steps, relieved when the spirit sprites left her alone to dive for the key instead. She knew they loved to steal things with their long fingers, like she had seen them sneak into her room to do. Maybe it was their sprite magick, but somehow their bodies took form to steal items made of silver, gold, and bronze and even turn those things noncorporeal so they could hide them away in the walls, ceiling, and floors. Finally, a few students, including her, had been learning about them secretly in class.

But the glue magick she used meant the key could not be budged. No matter how much the sprites worked together to pull it, it stayed still.

Then they decided to try the other side, like she knew they would do. Floating hastily, they rummaged against the keyhole in the door, putting their fingers inside it as they pushed their long ears against the wood, until there was a click and they could sit on the knob, turn it, and then pull.

Just like they did every day and night in the halls. Invisible ghosts to most, opening and closing doors.

But even as they dove to the other side of the door, they found they could still not pull the key free.

Molly suppressed a giggle and then closed the door on the two them who had flown back to the hallway to work on the key from that side again. The other one that she had trapped in the room with her buzzed around like an angry bee as Molly unglued her key with magick and pocketed it. She could deal with one of them in the room with her, but not all three. She just hoped the other two wouldn’t try to unlock the door again.

Once inside Namu’s room she started looking for a book—any book that Namu might have that she couldn’t find in the library of magicks or even in the non-magickal selections. She found a few of Otherworldly-Times-and-Places magazine issues, but when she tried to pick them up or open them, she cursed because she realized they were glued shut.

The sprite flew around and then landed on Namu’s desk, trying to wrestle free a silver pen that had been glued down too.

Of course, Namu knew how to protect his things. He was a second year.

That meant that if he was hiding something, like Lily thought he was, it would not be at all easy to find.

Unless she used…

No.

No. She had been told not to use it. That using her cell-magick apps and paying bits of her soul to someone she didn’t know wasn’t good at all.

She pulled out her phone to look at the time but saw she had a text from Lily saying that Namu had gone to the restroom and would probably be heading up to his room next.

She had no choice. One more time. One little pixel. It wouldn’t hurt. It couldn’t hurt.

She could use the one that sometimes showed her magick residue.

Although everything was magick here, and maybe it would be a stupid move, she was curious to see if there was a type of magick she couldn’t spot or didn’t know existed. Or if there was a tool or a book that she could look up elsewhere that he had hidden.

Molly opened up a glittering gold screen. She had used this app multiple times in her world to try to spot where magick might have been used outside her home. Many girls used it on items they were buying to make sure magick wasn’t used to add luster. People also used it to check if someone they had met on a dating app wasn’t wearing too much magick to change their appearance.

Rexa had used it many times on dates, but it only worked if too much magick had been used or if the magick user who placed the spell didn’t know how to cover their traces. That’s what Val had said.

She pressed her thumb into it, rolling her nail into an easy curve, then breathed out onto the screen opening herself up to see all magick.

The room glittered gold all over, as if everything had been touched by lots of magick here.

She sighed. She knew that this was probably stupid and that she was wasting a pixel of her soul.

But then something interesting caught her eye—it had caught the sprite’s eye too. There was a thin line of glittering gold that glowed more than anything else. The sprite was trying to grab it. Something in this room had an extra dose of magick.

Molly went to it. It was behind a small dresser.

She pulled the dresser out of the way.

There was a square golden outline on the wall with a golden handprint on the right side as if it were a handle. She pushed her hand against it, but nothing happened.

She took out her phone and turned off the app.

Then she went to the web to search for openings that needed the palm of a hand.

It only took a minute of scrolling through images to find exactly what she needed. Many of these had been used long ago, in castles, barns, and even in aircraft to hide stowaways, cash, and magickal items.

All it took was the right incantation, spirit magick, and the push of a hand.

The most common incantation was right at her fingertips to focus the incentive.

Opla inwar displa

She said it as she pushed her hand where the golden print had been. She exerted a little bit of soul magick and watched the wall fall away like sand.

Why was it so easy? Was this place wanting to be found?

The wall gave way into a little room tall enough for her to stand up in. The room was lit up by an unearthly violet glow coming from a door in front of her. The door was wooden with a handle that alternated between gold and black metal every other moment. It was the perfect sized door for Kren, but not for her.

Why was it here?

She heard something and turned to see that the wall had completely re-formed behind her; grains of sand were rising and meshing into a solid dark wall.

Locking her inside.

Then she heard something clink and bang against the wall as if the desk had moved itself back in place.

Her muscles grew taut. The fact that her mission was failing taunted her as her hands shook and her mind numbed.

She turned back to the door that was staring at her. Inviting her. Wanting her to open it.

Taking out her phone, she went to the web again to try to research but found that she had no service.

Something that did not bode well.

And when she tried to hit text or call, the phone would not let her click on the buttons.

She sighed, utterly alone. She didn’t know what to do. If the phone didn’t work, she couldn’t use it to figure out how to get back beyond the wall. She was stuck. Trapped. Trapped in a room she wasn’t supposed to be in with no legitimate excuse when she was found.

Lily knew she was coming here, so hopefully they would come looking for her at some point. She could wait here until she heard voices in Namu’s room and start banging on the wall.

Or maybe she could just wait until Namu came and found her here. He had to know this was here. She was sure this was the secret that he was hiding. A door. But a door to what?

Did she dare look inside? Would Lily be upset with her if she went back and told her what she had found but that she decided not to open it?

Why did she care? She had learned that she needed to be careful in this school. But how could she see this door and not at least try to peek inside? What would Val and Rexa think of her if they knew of this place and knew this door was here?

She thought Rexa might be hesitant at first, but that they would coax her to go inside.

She slowly took a few steps toward the door. The air was warmer the closer she got, and it smelled of smoldering flowers. All it would take was one twist of the handle so she could peek inside and then close it right away.

Then at least she would have something to tell Lily about.

She was already reaching for the handle.

With one little twist of the heated handle, the door opened ajar.

With a swallow, she bent down and looked inside.

It was a whole other land. Fields of grass invited her to play under a bruised purple sky.

Was this where Namu learned the magick he knew?

She slid off the bracelet Lily had given her and laid it next to the door to help prop it open. Her first thought was that she needed to make sure that the door stayed open if she went inside so she could get back to Lily, but she didn’t care about Lily as she laid the bracelet down. Now she had her own curiosity.

It couldn’t be too long until someone came back to this place, could it? Maybe they would see the bracelet and know where she went.

Molly stepped through the door into the world that breathed more magick than her own. It welcomed her. She felt it need her as a warm tingle festered in her veins and the smell of burning pollen overwhelmed her.