"Absolutely not," Mena said in her room, shaking her head. "I refuse to have another meeting with Crulegari after the way she treated me earlier this semester."

May sat beside Mena on her bed. Janus was off on her own coffin-like bed trying to mind her own business. She couldn't help but peer over occasionally, but everytime May caught Janus doing that, she gave her a mean glare worthy of a dowdy librarian.

"Mena!" May said, gazing at the young witch as she untangled her hair before bedtime. "How else are we going to find the Dreamfish scales to help us breath underwater! You're one of the most powerful dreamers there is. Surely you can get it with some help."

"May, May, you truly flatter me," Mena scoffed as the Inflatabias lay beside her. "But surely, we can get somebody else. Why's it always gotta be me who does all the dirty work!"

"Don't you mean, dirty dreams," Janus said as she reclined in her coffin bed. "You said you have those a lot."

"I do not!" Mena screamed and kicked the Fabias inflatable off the bed. "I mean, not recently.

"Besides," the young witch said with a troubled look on her face. "Perhaps they need someone to explore their murky dreams who doesn't have as much...baggage."

She threw her head back on the pillow, letting her hair spill out like a brown birch beer. "I've got enough baggage for a year long vacation!"

"Well," May said, "It's either that or Caligari. What scares you more?"

Mena imagined Caligari snapping at her like a demon out of heck for Gemini being captured by Anguish, childishly blaming her for something that she didn't do intentionally. That fact alone made Mena writhe with anger. "Maybe I'll take a short dive in my murky waters. How bad can they be…? But first, some warm milk and a romance novel!"

When Mena turned in that night, she was feeling as comfortable as possible. She was ready to see her paradise island.

Sure enough, as soon as she dove into the depths of her subconsciousness she found herself floating until she landed on a sandy shore. She looked up above to see a palm tree shining in the sunlight. "Wowie zowie!" Mena said, "They weren't kidding about the paradise island. Singular palm tree and everything!"

There was the sound of bouncing in the sand and Mena turned to look. "Would you like some root beer, my dear!" said her animated scarecrow Straw Woman, who sported a drink in one hand and a very comfy looking maroon velvet chair in the other.

"Miraculous Magicaps!" Mena gasped. "Straw Woman waiting on me and not the other way around, this truly is a paradise island."

Straw Woman humbly bowed. "I live to serve humankind."

"Don't need to take it that far, my straw friend," Mena smiled. "A drink and a chair is good enough for me!"

Straw Woman laid out her maroon throne and placed the drink in a convenient cup holder. Mena sat down and Straw Woman added, "Howabout some razzle dazzle glasses!" She cast her straw fingers and a pair of dark sunglasses appeared on Mena's head.

Mena marveled at her glasses and flicked her finger at herself. "Wow, I really got it made...in these shades!"

Mena laid back and took a sip of her root beer and sighed. "Now all I need is some good tan lines, for once, and a shirtless hunk and then I'll truly be in paradise!"

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Out of the water, a shape emerged with a loud splash. "Did somebody say, shirtless hunk!"

Mena lowered her sunglasses and her eyes nearly popped….and it wasn't just from the chistled pecks. Looking at her was none other than Prince Tal of the Shadow Nomads. Aside from a supposed pair of bathing trunks, he was completely naked and both of his brown eyes gazed up at her as water rolled off ringlettes of chocolate hair.

"Tal…" she said softly and nervously. "But you're...d…"

"This is your island paradise," Tal said, doing a backstroke in the water. "Rules of nature don't apply here! Besides, I figured someone could use a bit of shadow to keep from getting sunburned. My shadow powers automatically extend any shadow, even this palm tree!"

"Wow," Mena said and she muttered quietly. "Who knew a gloomy boyfriend was so efficient at the beach!"

"Or…" Tal said with a come hither smile. "We could explore the murky depths of the ocean together!"

"That sounds fun!" Mena said with a nod, but then she paused. "Hold on one pancake flipping minute! Murky depths? You aren't trying to trick me, are you?"

"Your murky depths are always there," Tal said with a knowing expression. "But it's up to you if you want to explore them."

"What the hey," Mena said, "Maybe I'll catch that Dreamfish on my first go!"

Mena placed her root beer float in the chair while Straw Woman eyed her nervously with her felt eyes. "'Member Mena, you should wait fifteen minutes before you explore your murky subconscious!"

"It'll only be a minute!" Mena said and she removed her towel and dived in.

Ignoring the fact that she couldn't really swim that well, Mena dived beneath the water where all kinds of beautiful fish and reefs shimmered before her like a magic garden. Tal swam majestically too, deeper and deeper into the darkest depths. Mena had to swim faster and faster to catch up with him. Smooth sailin' so far, Mena remarked to herself, or swimmin' in this case.

They dove deeper and deeper in the wine dark sea, and suddenly, Mena lost track of where she was. The only thing she could see in front of her was Tal. "Wait…" she said, nervously. "Where are we…?"

Tal gave her a warm underwater embrace. "There's nothing to be afraid of Mena...it's just your darkest subconscious."

There was a loud lurch in the water and Mena gargled water nervously before shuttering her mouth. "What was that?" Mena asked, feeling very uncomfortable.

"What was...wha?" Tal said and suddenly Mena screamed louder than she ever could.

There was an enormous purple and black angler fish with a towering spikey hairdo and giant scythes for teeth. It was Janus...or at least a fish that resembled her. It opened its gaping maw before swallowing Tal and her whole.

Mena's body flipped around on the creatures giant tongue as she gargled helplessly, crying for Janus to stop, but the jaws of the sea beast continued to mash around her until everything went dark. Mena's chest convulsed hard as she saw nothing but pitch black from inside the angler. "Tal…?" she whimpered.

But there was no sound. The only sound she heard was from the growling Jangler fish. An endless amount of time seemed to elapse before Mena realized something: she wasn't being digested, she was simply hanging in limbo forever.

"I can't spend the rest of my dream life in here!" she cried.

She thought back to Caligari's training. The only true way to defend herself from a Nightcreeper was to outsmart it.

The Jangler fish had taken the form of Janus so it might be able to be tricked by one of Janus's weaknesses.

Mena thought as deep as she could to escape her biggest nightmare. And then it came to her, "Miniskirts and pom-poms, hairspray and Mind-Ball cheerleader chants, ra-ra-ra!"

The fish with its classically gothic taste started to gag as thousands of Nightdream magic cheerleader outfits and paraphernalia formed in its mouth, causing it to cough and sputter. It spewed peppy items like vomit. As Mena somersaulted out of the fishes mouth, she remarked to herself, "Janus would never be caught alive in any of that!"

Mena swam higher and higher out of her murky depths and burst through the surface of the water.

The young witch awoke in a cold sweat. She panted and held her hand to her rising and falling chest. She looked at Janus who was reposing in her coffin like bed. She couldn't hide from what was inside, but she could get as far away from the pixie reaper as possible.