Even if Mena had gotten her first official boyfriend (the wooden puppet man didn't count) and he was a total dreamboat, that didn't stop the bad dreams from coming at night.

Upon closing her eyes and drifting into another consciousness, Mena found herself where age old trees buried their knitted roots beneath the ground and vines adorned the trees like party streamers. She heard chanting in the background, "the age of self is over. Depart from your self and becomes selfless."

Mena couldn't hear where the voices were coming from because she was stuck in the body of her dark self. Through Dark Mena's eyes she gazed at her villainous mother. Anguish's skin glowed sickly purple in the sunlight and she wrapped her hands around her daughter's shoulders.

"Oh, my evil rosebud," Anguish lavished with her deep voice. "What did you dream about last night involving my erm...other daughter?"

"Oh, it was wonderful," Dark Mena gushed, with her hands resting on her purple cheeks, "Wonderfully awful. The lion stabbed the crybaby boy and he turned into a dark dragon and trashed the whole stage."

Dark Mena skipped around her mother. "It was like a great big dog lifted his leg and took a pee-pee on their whole parade."

"Marvelous!" Anguish smiled. "They're destroying themselves and we barely had to lift a finger!"

The chanting contained off in the distance, causing Anguish to giggle madly. "Even if they did manage to get inside these mind jungles, they'd witness a revolution born from an unwitting fool. Meanwhile, we shall scour this world for the dark sage with nothing standing in our way!"

"You're almost as cool as Taylor Witch, mom!" Dark Mena swooned and they both burst into laughter.

"Once I conquer the dream realm," Anguish snarled. "I'm going to get you into some real music!"

Mena's dream faded in the waking hour. Her head was warm and sweat trickled down her forehead. The night terrors always made her feel feverish, but even worse, she now knew that Anguish and her crones were miles ahead of them and they couldn't even put on a measley play.

"Another bad dream?!" Janus asked as she reposed in her skull spangled jammies.

Mena sighed. "What else...but how did you know?"

"You're pale," Janus said wistfully.

Mena raised her chunky eyebrows.

"Paler than usual," Janus added with a giggle

May sat up on her bed, her unicornea onesie drapped over her body. "What happened? Did you learn anything else from your evil family?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"That they're laughing at us," Mena said and tossed her head back onto her bed with a groan. "Oh...and they were at a cult meeting…"

"That's new…" Janus said, pursuing her dry cracked lips. "What kind of cult?"

"I dunno…" Mena said. "They were chanting some new age mumbo jumbo. No idea who or what they are."

The basic witch flipped onto her stomach. "I don't know what's going on at all…" she moaned.

"I don't think anyone does," Janus remarked. "Except...maybe... Lion Mcstabbypants."

Mena nodded. "Janus...you might be onto something."

Janus placed her spindly fingers together and smiled. "She seemed to be having an out of body experience and might have communed with a spirit!"

Both May and Mena gasped. "How would you know?!"

Janus placed her hand over her mouth and giggled. "I'm the daughter of the reaper. Of course I know when someone is out of their body!"

"So," Mena started. "You think something possessed her?"

Janus twiddled her fingers spookily. "The phantom haunting the auditorium strikes again!"

Mena climbed out of bed and stood straight up. For once she had a clear indication on what she needed to do. Her friends marveled at her and her sudden resolve. "I know who I need to talk to…"

"Who?" her friends asked.

Mena put her first forward. "Ashlan! She's the only lead we have."

The morning bell chimed sending the three off to the cloud hall. Stellaris stood at the forefront, about to make an announcement. As Mena, May and Janus gathered at their daily cloud, Stellaris began to speak. "After an accident occured in the auditorium yesterday, play practice is postponed until we manage to repair the damages."

There were groans around the room, especially from those who knew what was going on. Some even cursed Aslan out for ruining their chances of stardom.

The only people who looked relatively remorseful were, shockingly, the Tessellation Twins. They both moped on their clouds, leaving an extra seat open for their wayward roommate.

"Regardless," Stellaris said, "Classes are still mandatory except for the following students who were witnesses to yesterday's disaster."

Stellaris produced a list and read off a bunch of names which included Mena, May and Janus.

"These following students are required to report to the court in the evening time where they will be questioned about the events leading up to the accident. Everyone else will report to their classes as usual. That is all!"

"Whoo hoo!" May exclaimed, once Stellaris had finished. "No sweaty gym class with Nebula today!"

Mena was relieved too. "We can use this day off to our advantage. We can go question Ashlan!"

"But," May started. "We don't know where she's at."

Mena heard a sigh and turned to face the Tessellation Twins. "Sacre Bleu," one of them said, "oo will we boss around now that Ashlan eez gone."

There was a gleam in Mena's eyes and she flew over to the terrible twins. She gave them an innocent smile "Hello 'ladies'" she said with finger quotations. "I'm sorry to hear about Ashlan."

Laetitia turned up her nose. "What eez eet to you, peasant?"

Mena shrugged her shoulders. "I only wanted to offer my condolences to her personally. Do you know where she is?"

The silver haired Laetitia chortled coldly. "Hah and I say hah!! Like we'd tell you where she's at!"

The dimmer, darker haired Marie laughed too. "Besides," she chortled. "There eez no way you're getting into Detention Room 102 anyway. Eets heavily guarded. Believe me, we've tried."

A devious smile spread on Mena's face. "Loose lips sail ships in this case! Thanks guys!" Mena said smirking.

Laetitia whacked Marie in the head and the two bougelves began to quarrel on their cloud

Mena zoomed back to May and Janus. "Well girls. I know where Ashlan is being held."

She filled them in and May grew progressively more fearful. Janus, however, bounced excitedly on her cloud. "This sounds like fun!" the pixie reaper exclaimed. "Let's call it: Operation: Uncage the Lion!"