“Ready to go?” Ashlan asked.

“Of course,” Mena said, as she paraded towards the door without a care in the world.

Mena opened the door and screamed. There was an endless abyss right outside the door which seemed embedded in an enormous wall. She wobbled, flailing her arms back and forth to keep herself from plunging out of it.

Ashlan gave a haughty laugh. “Surprised, are you? I can definitely tell you haven’t been to the Dream Castle.”

Mena backed away slowly, feeling very frazzled and a little bit dizzy from the height. “Don’t worry,” Ashlan said as she walked to the door, “it’s perfectly safe…whoa!” She took one step off the edge and screamed as she fell.

“Ashlan!” Mena screamed and rushed back to the edge of the door. Ashlan was still screaming and Mena looked down and saw Ashlan standing safely along the wall.

“Gotcha!” she said, chuckling to herself.

“How are you doing that?” Mena said, her eyes wide and incredulous.

Ashlan gave a winsome smile. “I’m sure that clown already told you that this castle follows its own crazy logic. Well, here’s an example of it. Now let’s get to the dining hall.”

Mena tentatively stuck her foot out of the doorway, and as she did, her foot wrapped around it and before she knew it, she was standing sideways on the towering wall. “Miraculous magicaps!” Mena exclaimed. “This is awesome!”

She followed Ashlan down the wall made of sand-colored bricks, passing many doors embedded in the wall. They were all colored with different symbols whether they be suns, planets or moons. “If you haven’t noticed,” Ashlan said, “This is where we all sleep.”

As Mena marveled at the bizarre wall of doors, Ashlan arrived at a black door with a pale moon on it. She knocked on it and called out, “Oh Laetitia, Marie, I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet!”

Ashlan grinned at Mena. “These are my friends! Fellow nobility from Dula. The Tessellation Twins.”

The door opened and Mena gasped. Dressed in dark robes patterned with pale white moons were two beautiful elven girls with long flowing hair. Their hair was tied back with purple ribbons; the only difference between them was one had jet black hair and the other had wine colored hair. Both had an air of importance to them—with upturned noses and frosty looks in their pale blue eyes. The thing that stuck out most to Mena, quite literally, was their long, pointed ears.

She pointed and mouthed. “Are they really elves?”

“Excusin’ moi,” the wine haired girl said with a thick accent and an even haughtier voice. “We don’t point at you…even if our ears do…”

“We are not elves, we are Bourgelves!” The dark haired one added. “The highest class in the land of Dula. Ashlan, who is this peasant girl?”

Mena’s face heated up from embarrassment and her heart sank in sadness from being called a peasant girl. Ashlan immediately gave a sympathetic gaze at Mena and said, “Laetitia, that’s not nice. This is Arabella Willow’s daughter, Mena.”

“Oh my,” Laetitia said in a coy voice with her hand to her mouth. “Perhaps I spoke too soon. Sometimes even the scruffiest animals can have an amazing pedigree.”

Both elven girls gave surprisingly deep laughs in unison and Mena laughed nervously. It was the most back-handed compliment she had ever received.

“Well,” Marie said. “I suppose we can make a little room in our posse. A nice even number rounds things out and besides, I know you were telling us how much you wanted a nice girl to be close with, Ashlan.”

“Uh, never mind that,” Ashlan turned red and waving her hands before she spoke again to Mena. “Ready to see the dining hall, Mena? But I warn you. It might blow your mind!”

The four reached the bottom of the wall, stepping onto the floor. Everyone followed Ashlan into an enormous dining hall. Mena took a step back. Her mind was blown indeed.

The room was the size of a small village with ceilings as high as the heavens themselves. Much like the sky, the ceilings were painted light blue but with an overarching ridge like a cathedral. That wasn’t what stupefied Mena, however; there were people floating on puffy white clouds everywhere. Everyone was dressed in robes reflecting their magic class and happily zoomed towards a hovering buffet of food. Mena’s stomach rumbled as the smell of the feast wafted into her nostrils.

A small silver machine in the corner was releasing puffy clouds into the air and Ashlan called to Mena, “Hop on!”

Ashlan and the Tessellation twins boarded a cumulus steed and Mena followed them. The cloud was as soft as a bed cushion but surprisingly sturdy. It floated upwards to join their fellow classmates in the sky. Mena’s stomach roared from hunger, and Ashlan smiled at her, “For someone so meek, you’ve got quite the beast in your belly.”

Mena blushed and covered her stomach, but Ashlan laughed and steered the cloud right towards the buffet. A little woman with a chef’s hat and apron doled out plates. She had a rainbow lollypop pin fixed on her hat, much like the one Lol Pops had. Mena knew she was also a member of the Lollypop Labor Union.

Onto the plates came glistening oven roasted liccan breast, green and steaming, golden brown roasted potatoes, and circular pods of beanbeans. A hint of drool formed on the edge of Mena’s lips, and she quickly dabbed it with her tongue so Ashlan and Tessellation twins wouldn’t see.

Mena quickly gobbled down her food, paying no mind if it got stuck in her braces. She hadn’t eaten since she snuck one of Deidre’s pastries in the morning, and it made the tastes and textures of the freshly prepared food all the richer and tantalizing. Ashlan joined in the merriment, using her long fangs to tear the liccan meat apart and snarled ravenously as she did it. Only the Tesselation twins took their time, using utensils and dabbing their mouth with napkins with their eyes closed between every bite.

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As they ate, a heavy-set, pimply girl with thick rimmed glasses and a bowl cut with pigtails carelessly floated by. She wore a black-robes patterned with globes on it. The girl peculiarly sucked on a small kumquat while flipping through a book. Mena’s eyes brightened when she saw what she was a reading: A copy of Melina Penwell’s thirteenth romance novel. Cletus had stolen her copy, and Mena was still lamenting its loss. But before Mena could speak, Laetitia zoomed in and with her moon shaped wand, swiped the kumquat right out of her mouth.

Marie gave a smirk as the chubby girl looked up. “Poor little kumquat May. Still got a fixation on that fruit it seems.”

May spoke. Her voice was surprisingly deep for a girl. “My mummy says it’s good for your skin.”

“Well, in that case,” Marie said, a cruel gleam in her eyes. “Looks like you need it. Magic, magic, magic use, turn this vile fruit to kumquat juice.”

She whipped her wand towards May and the poor girl watched helplessly as her fruit was shredded into juice and rained on her head.

Mena’s stomach turned inside out watching the abuse and embarrassment of the poor girl. She looked to Ashlan who was seemingly enjoying this moment. What had Mena gotten herself into? She hoped desperately that Ashlan wouldn’t join in the bullying, but she had a sinking feeling her wish wouldn’t come true.

Laetitia quickly swiped the book away from Mae as the poor girl sobbed miserably. “Oh ho, what is this?”—she asked, paging through the book—“Only something the unwashed masses would read. For all the ugly groundborn girls who will never get a boyfriend.”

Mena’s face felt hot again. Those were her favorite books in the whole world. It pained her to hear Marie tear into it apart like that. Laetitia’s large eyes quickly swiveled towards Mena, and she laughed. “How about I let our newest member take it from here.”

Mena’s mouth wobbled as she looked at the May, drenched in green kumquat juice. “Um, that’s books not that bad,” she said softly.

“No no no!” Laetitia shouted. “Ashlan, show her how to properly dismantle filth like this! Rip it apart!”

Mena looked at Ashlan, and a nervousness appeared in Ashlan’s eyes. She looked away and then glanced back at Mena, looking for approval from Mena to tear this girl a new one, but Mena never returned an affirmative glance. She wanted to speak, but no words came out of her mouth.

Ashlan tentatively took the book and said in her astute and haughty voice. “Um…um…this book is a bad role model for young girls and gives them unrealistic impressions of what romance is. It’s stupid junk.”

“B-b-but it’s fun,” May said, whimpering in her baritone voice.

Laetitia’s face turned beat red and she howled. “I did not say dismantle it critically, Ashlan! What is this, Language Arts class?

“Aslan, what’s gotten into you?” Marie added. “Normally you’re absolutely ferocious.”

Without looking at Mena, Ashlan’s eyes dilated in an animalistic way, and she bared her fangs. With a loud snarl, she tore the book apart, right down the middle. Mena cringed, as Ashlan threw the shredded book back at May, who flew away with more deep whimpers.

Mena wanted to disappear on the spot. This had gone from a dream come true to a nightmare. Her new friends were truly a pack of bullies.

“Groundborns,” Laetitia said, rolling her eyes. “Truly the lowest of the low.”

“W-w-what are Groundborns?” Mena said nervously, fearing the answer.

“Groundborns, Mena,” Ashlan said, eager to teach her friend something new. “Are people born on the ground of Autolycus. They don’t have much magic and it takes a while for them to accumulate it….Really simple, basic folk….The magical salt of Autolycus.”

Mena turned a sickly shade of pale. She was born on the ground, wasn’t she? What if they started bullying her like that poor girl May?

“More like the magical turds…” Laetitia said, before she was interrupted with the magnified voice of Gemini.

“Old friends and new. Gather your attention to the front!”

Mena turned her head, hoping to find any reason to divert her attention and saw by the edge of the arched window, Gemini sat on a cloud alongside three other people who could not be more different from each other if they tried.

“Welcome to yet another year at the Nightdream Academy! And for those who don’t know us. I will gladly introduce ourselves before the Magic Cloud Ceremony. My name is Gemini, current inheritor of the Dream Castle and tasked with instructing those gifted with imagicnation, I have personally selected the three best teachers to instruct you in Dream Arts.”

Mena tried her best to concentrate on what was happening with her new school. She knew the only refuge she could take were in the words of the headmaster. She would have to sort things out with Ashlan later. Or let Gemini know what she witnessed.

To Gemini’s left, two women flanked him. Their appearances drew Mena’s attention for two entirely different reason. The woman on the far left, had chipper and large blue eyes that shone brightly against rich brown skin. Her hair was short, spiked and bleach blond, fitting very well with her round, dimpled face. Her robe, bearing the golden sun insignia (that matched perfectly with the large, orb-like sun earrings she wore) was cut to show a visible midriff. Above her, was a giant orb sun that matched her outfit and jewelry.

“Head of The Solborns class and instructor of Dream Divination, Astrology and master of Pilates, Professor Stellaris Andromeda!”

“Gemini sweetheart,” Stellaris said, with a bold, yet high-pitched, girly voice. “They can call me Stella.”

“Very well,” Gemini chuckled. “Sometimes I forget how youthful you really are.”

“Head of the Lunaborn class and instructor of Lucid Dreaming and Nightcreeper Defense, along with being the last person you’d want to face in a frowning contest, Professor Cere Caligari.”

Gemini gestured to the woman sitting next to him, who quite frankly, freaked Mena out. Professor Caligari was the palest human being she had ever seen, with a dark, curved bob with square-like bangs, glowing pale green eyes and a face that seemed in-capable of anything other than a desensitized frown. Her outfit contrasted with Professor Andromeda’s flamboyant outfit, it was completely grey, bandage-like, almost like a strait-jacket. She looked like a psychotic vampire. The pale moon orb hung brightly above her.

“I’ve always wondered what her deal was” Laetitia said, belligerently.

“The headmaster found Professor Caligari in the Nightmare Void,” Ashlan responded, wanting to inform her friends of something they didn’t know. “Nobody really likes her but him really; she’s extremely strict and demanding with her arts. And, unlike Professor Andromeda, she’s got no fashion sense at all.”

“Tell me about it,” Marie said.

Mena gazed nervously back at Professor Caligari. Hearing she came from the Nightmare Void, made Mena think of Anguish. Mena gasped as those spooky green eyes shifted towards her before they returned to the headmaster. The fear she felt from Caligari’s visage almost balanced with the terror she felt from her new group of friends.

Caligari merely nodded in response to Gemini’s announcement. Gemini gestured his long-sleeved hand to his right. Sitting beside him was a bespectacled old man with large, crystal blue glasses, tiny beady but mischievous eyes and a large pair of buck teeth, curled in a smile. He wore a lab-coat patterned with globes. A giant globe orb hovered over his head.

“And last, but certainly not least, head of the Groundborn class, instructor of Dream Elixirs and Sleep Aid, and quite effective ones at that, Professor Apo Carrie!”

“Why thank you, Gemini,” Professor Carrie said, with a squeaky voice and a lisp. “And thank you everyone. If you ever have any trouble sleeping, you can always ask me to help you mellow-tonin out!”

The room fell silent, and Professor Carrie checked the hourglass on his wrist. “Wow, I thought time stopped for a second.”

“Well, I liked the pun!” Gemini said. “And now without further ado, let the Magical Cloud Ceremony Commence. New findings will be weighted on this cloud to determine their magic class. And much like everything else in the Dream Castle, you may be surprised with the conclusions it reaches.”

Mena swallowed hard as a silver cloud flew before Gemini. This was it. If she was a Groundborn, she would lose all her friends and soon they’d become her enemies. She didn’t care much about the Tessellation Twins, but she would deeply regret being despised by Ashlan.

Gemini stood up on his cloud, raising his hands to the ceiling sky. “And now, let the weight in begin!”