The second-biggest mistake Phenomena Willow ever made was opening the mysterious package sent to her on the eve of the winter solstice. She had just arrived at her dorm with her friends May and Janus. After dinner, they hoped to find the gifts that awaited them on that holiday.

So, girls,” Mena asked as they climbed the anti-gravity cloud wall leading to their room. “You say gifts arrive overnight on the eve of the solstice?”

“That’s what happened last year,” May responded, her round cheeks rosy from the cold temperature. “My mummy says it’s the Spirit of the Solstice who delivers them.”

“Really?” Janus asked, her skeletal eyes gleaming as her pixie-like voice rose as high as her dark hairdo. “My father told me it was the Blue Pumpkin who delivers our presents”—her eyes expanded wide as she saw a look of confusion on Mena and May’s faces. “A caped man with a blue-pumpkin for a head sneaks into our rooms and delivers some creepy gifts.”

Solstice Spirit or Blue Pumpkin, Mena couldn’t wait any longer. When they arrived at the door, she swung it open loudly and exclaimed, “Miraculous Magicaps,” to see there were indeed presents at the foot of their bed.

“Oh wow,” May said, holding her pudgy hands together. “The Spirit of The Solstice has visited us!”

“Or the Blue Pumpkin!” Janus said gleefully, before she interrupted by a groan.

Everyone turned to look behind them. A tiny man had been smashed up against the wall. He wore a blue robe speckled with white patterns of snowflakes. Heavy five o’clock shadow dotted his face; he possessed the aroma of cheap liquor. “They don’t pay me enough to do this,” he said with a raspy voice. “It ain’t either of those; they came from the Lollypop Delivery Service courtesy of your friends and family.”

“So, it wasn’t the Spirit of the Solstice?” May gasped. “But mummy told me…”

“Nope kid,” the little man said in his gruff, whiskey-stained voice. “Simply an underpaid delivery man.”

After the little man left, and after helping May get over her existential crisis, the three girls headed straight for their presents. There was a surprisingly large amount of presents for Mena, and she didn’t know which one to open first. The young witch decided to pick up a medium sized box at the top of the pile. It was shade of glossy white and smelled oddly good, fastened tightly with a ribbon. There was a small card on it. “My sweet honey bun,”

Mena gasped. “It’s from Deidre.”

She quickly read more, hoping to find out what her first employer and second caretaker was up to, “The headmaster has let me know you’re doing well and that you’re as safe and snug as a lil’ pancake lizard. Glad to hear. I hope you remember me, (“I do,” Mena said) but just in case, I decided to send you a box of my signature honey buns! They may be sweet, but they’re not as sweet as you! Love always, Deidre.”

Mena’s eyes watered. Deidre had remembered her. She placed the box of cinnamon buns on the bed and looked down to pick up another present. She gasped even louder. Right on top of it, wrapped tightly in green and orange paper was a present from the least likely person in the world. It read, “From your Auntie Grizabella.”

Mena hadn’t seen her auntie since she had transfigured into a kitten to escape Anguish the Blood Siren.

“Dear Phenomena,” Mena read aloud and even May and Janus stopped opening their gifts to listen to Mena.

“I’m alive and well in the floating city of Wormwood. I know you have never been there before, but it is a haven for sorcerers and sorceresses. Floating high above the kingdom of Autolycus, not only are magic users safe from the oppressive king and his vassals, but there is such a concentration of dream magic from the magical elites, not even Anguish can reach it.”

Mena gave a wide grin to her friends. Her auntie was more than just safe, she was completely protected.

“Still,” she read. “Anguish has agents everywhere and to be extra safe, I have remained in my kitten form. Worry not, I’m now with a group of alley cats. They know the streets better than many of the residents. We may not live the high life, but the leader of the alley cats knows exactly where the restaurants throw out their finest scraps of fish. Remind me to adopt them when I return to my witch form!”

Stolen story; please report.

Mena giggled. Even as a cat herself, her auntie was still a crazy cat lady.

“You must be wondering,” Mena continued. “What have gotten you for the winter solstice? Well, let me tell you…It’s a mystery for you to solve over the semester.”

Mena’s wide eyes blinked twice before she spoke. “A mystery?”

Intrigued, the young witch read on.

“I’ve come across a very mysterious book. One that can’t be opened with mortal hands. Even with my myriad of talents, I cannot open this book as I currently am…being a cat and all. However, I feel my inventive and imaginative niece, who happens to share your mother and I’s powerful magic, will find a way to unveil its secrets. After all, you’ve got a whole magical school and Gemini at your disposal. I’m sure you’ll find the answers you’re looking for. I love you, my niece. I’m so proud of you for finding the dream castle on your own. Love, Auntie Grizabella.

PS: There is a lot I cannot write through a letter for fear it will be intercepted. But if you ever are in Wormwood, look for me. We have much to discuss about my encounter with Anguish and what happened to your mom.”

Mena’s heart thundered furiously over her auntie’s message. Even more than the prospect of a mystery book, she wanted to meet her auntie again and hear exactly what happened between her mom and Anguish. Surely, the school would have to go visit Wormwood at some point.

Mena gazed at the wrapped present. She could hardly resist seeing what this mystery book was. Still, she reigned herself in. It was polite to open her other presents first and save the best for last.

Mena opened a round package. She unveiled it to reveal a white dream catcher with a net made of shadowy material. Mena opened the letter and read it.

“Dear Willow, Since there’s always an ever present threat of nightcreepers in your dreams, I’ve sent you a handmade nightcatcher to ward off beasts from the Nightmare Void. By the way, it doesn’t work on me if you get into trouble!

Caligari.”

“She’s so blunt, isn’t she?” Mena asked, referring to her Night Creeper Defense teacher.

Janus unwrapped a brand-new scythe and smiled in response. “She loves you though.”

Mena unboxed a present from Gemini the headmaster next.

“My dear Witchy-Poo,” it read. “As a make-up present for nearly murdering you last semester, I give you one of my finest tricks—An Absolutely Fabulous Magic Mirror! No matter how bad you look in the morning, this magic mirror makes it so you always look fabulous. This mirror is great for your self-esteem, but not for telling the truth! Enjoy and please don’t hire anyone to sue me or the school!”

Mena took the mirror out of the box. It was silver with a white rouged clown face on the lid. Mena lifted the lid and was amazed when she saw a full grown version of herself with much fuller lips, shiny white, braceless teeth and long flowing brunette hair. “Wowie zowie,” Mena exclaimed. “I look gorgeous.” Much to her surprise, both May and Janus crowded around her.

“Can I see too?” May asked.

She grabbed Mena’s mirror and looked inside it. In the mirror, she resembled (to Mena, at least) a foxy teacher with a fully made up face and her hair tied up in a messy bun.

“My turn,” Janus said in a sing-songy voice, but when she took the mirror, she frowned. Reflecting at her was the same girl with outrageous dark makeup and towering jet-black hair. Only now, she had a nose and actual skin.

“Wow,” Janus responded. “I look hideous. I think your mirror is broken, Mena.”

Mena and May giggled as Janus tilted her head curiously, not understanding their reason for mirth.

“Now,” Mena said, causing May and Janus to look at her. “The moment we’re all been waiting for. Dah-Dah-Dah-Duh: To check out this secret book and see what mystery awaits our peepers”

Her friends huddled over as she picked up her auntie’s present. Removing every scrap of green and orange wrapping paper, Mena feasted her eyes on a dusty leather-bound tome. Most intriguingly, a large rainbow crystal was fitted into the center.

The book had no title, but the colors were ever swirling at the center. They spoke for the book louder than any words could.

“Miraculous magicaps,” Mean gasped. “This is gorgeous.”

Her eyes dazzled by the sight.

“It looks like an ancient book.”

Mena snorted the air. Her button nose wrinkled from the stench. “Smells like one too.”

Janus giggled. “Reeks like my dog, Bony. Before he shed his skin.”

Mena flinched but it wasn’t from Janus this time. She went to touch the book, but when she did, a piercing scream rang out from it. “Help me!”

A holographic, rainbow-tinted face emitted from the prism—a woman with cherubic but strangely two-dimensional features. Large almond shaped blue eyes, blond hair and diamond jewelry were all the trio could make out. “Please…someone. Help us…Before it’s too late. The Unwritten Kingdom has fallen into the grasp of the Ghost Writer. The balance between fact and fiction, reality and imagicnation is being offset.”

“The what?” Mena exclaimed. “The who?”

She tried to unbind the book and free the woman inside. But it was to no avail.

“Only a spontaneous burst of passion can unbind this tome,” the woman said, her voice retaining its nobility. “That’s how the author created it in the first place.”

“Who is the author?” Mena asked, panicking.

The woman’s voice started to garble. As she spoke, her form and voice faded completely.

Mena turned her head with a look of disbelief. Her friends were equally baffled.

“So let me get this straight,” Janus remarked in her sardonic but airy voice. “We received a book with no title. And we’re supposed to save a woman with no name…in a kingdom that was never written”

May added. “Oh and we have to open it by learning something from an author we don’t know either.”

“Wowie zowie,” Mena exclaimed, twirling both her fingers around her ears. “This book truly is a mystery wrapped in a magicap. But fortunately, there’s a bright side to all this.”

“What’s that?” May and Janus both asked.

Mena gave a wink with a brace-faced grin. “At least we got an extracurricular activity this semester”