[https://img.wattpad.com/story_parts/1256499826/images/1709b2c61a409e62723397295452.png]

As she stepped out into the school yard, Sophie was shocked once more.

Are there really this many students at the school?

Hundreds and hundreds of children were running around the school's outdoor premises, which looked like a playground built by nature itself. The trees were shaped like jungle gyms, monkey bars, and slides in all different shapes and heights. In the treetops, Sophie spotted small treehouses, most of them connected to each other with wooden suspension bridges.

Now she understood why the owl and Sir James had told her to find her classmates before recess began. In this chaos it would be impossible to find someone if you didn't already know where they were.

In this chaos it would be impossible to find someone if you didn't already know where they were [https://img.wattpad.com/5958790ab4db37a8d1772b725f2e9ec99b4f3f4d/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f634e3446734549626569725872413d3d2d313235363439393832362e313730396262646637376339303530643230353438353530343830332e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"There weren't nearly this many students this morning when I arrived with the bus," she said.

"That's because the buses aren't the only ways to get to the school," Mek explained. She was still carrying the petrified Vix under her arm.

"They aren't?"

"Some students come by the underground, some by the rivers, and some of the very magical ones just teleport."

"This way, Sophie," Mek said, making her way up a hill. At the top of the hill, a bunch of students were standing in a circle.

"Hey, everybody! This is Sophie, our new classmate!" Mek yelled, making the entire group turn towards them.

The group consisted of a troll, a vampire, a stone boy, a fairy, a werewolf, and an elf girl.

Sophie's eyes widened. "But that's...!"

"Sophie!" A yellow light came flying right up to her face. "I never thanked you properly! Thank you! Thanks so much for helping with..."

"Fiff, you know Sophie?" Mek asked.

"Trom and I met her on our way to class. She helped us get past Drim, because he was blocking us again. The mean sneak!"

Trom stepped forward. "Yeah, it was nice not having to take the long way around."

"Well, if you know them already, I'll introduce you to the rest of the class," Mek said, clearing her throat. "This is Rok. He's a stone giant, but I guess you can see that."

Mek pointed to Rok the stone giant, who smiled pleasantly and once again gave a small wave with his hand.

"This is Varis," Mek said, pointing to the werewolf boy. "He's kind of a troublemaker, but he's all right."

"You forgot to mention that I'm also the bravest and coolest kid here."

"It seems like I'm not the only one who's a bit out of touch with reality," commented the vampire boy standing next to him.

"And this is Beto. He's not only the smartest kid in class, he's probably the smartest kid in the entire school," Mek went on.

Beto the vampire boy bowed politely. "That is very kind of you to say, Mek. If you'll allow me to repay the compliment, I must say..."

Before Beto could finish, Mek pointed to the elf girl and said: "And this is Elva. She's... Um, well... Well, she's an elf." Mek seemed to have a hard time thinking of anything nice to say about Elva.

"And, everybody, this is Sophie," Mek finished, with a small nod in her direction.

So that's what the owl meant about being reunited, Sophie thought as she stared at her new classmates. She'd already met them all before. Rok, the stone giant, was the one who sat next to her on the bus. Varis the werewolf and Beto the vampire had been the ones outside the bus who greeted Rok when they arrived. Elva the elf was the one who wouldn't talk to Sophie. And Trom the troll and Fiff the fairy, she'd helped in the hallways.

The stone statue of Vix suddenly started making crackling sounds.

"About time," Mek said, letting out a sigh of relief and putting the stone figure down on the ground. A thin layer of stone started falling from the petrified Vix in chunks, almost like an eggshell being peeled off a boiled egg. And emerging from within the stone was the real Vix, who was now waking up.

"W-watch out! ... W-wait, w-w-what? How did I get to the s-school yard?"

"I turned you to stone by accident... Sorry about that, Vix."

"O-oh, that's f-fine, Mek." Vix suddenly noticed Sophie. "Hi, Sophie! Wh-what are you doing h-here?"

Elva stepped in and cut off the conversation.

"She's going to join our class. Vix, now that you're done being made of stone, I insist that you put your bones back where they're supposed to be!"

"Hey! That's for him to decide!" Sophie objected.

Elva gave her a cold, disparaging look.

"It certainly is not. It's unnatural and it goes against every rule of how a skeleton is supposed to look."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Sophie was just about to respond, but Vix interrupted her.

"I-it's fine, Sophie. I th-think I like it better when my b-body is the s-shape that I'm used to." With an apologetic look, the skeleton started moving his bones into their usual positions.

"By the way, Varis and Beto, you guys haven't started yet, have you?" Mek asked.

"No, they were just about to begin," Fiff said.

Sophie now noticed two skateboards behind Beto and Varis, which the rest of the class turned their attention to as well. The kids were all forming a circle around the werewolf and the vampire. Fiff eagerly started explaining to Sophie what was going on.

"Varis has challenged Beto to a race to the bottom of the hill. It's one of those really bad ideas they sometimes have."

Sophie glanced down the hill. It was long and very steep. It didn't seem particularly safe.

"Varis, this is simply too foolhardy! Do you have any idea how likely we are to get hurt?" Beto said, gesturing down towards a thornbush near the bottom of the hill. "This is exactly the kind of situation where my seven years of bad luck would come into play!"

"Again with the mirror? It doesn't matter! Besides, I thought vampires were supposed to be some of the bravest beings around... But I guess I heard wrong," Varis said teasingly.

Beto simply shook his head.

"Vampires suck the blood of beings who are weaker than us. There's nothing brave about us. So clearly, you did hear wrong."

"Yeah, you're probably right, Beto. Too bad. I hear that girls just love guys who are brave."

Beto's expression immediately changed. His eyes darted briefly in the direction of Mek.

"But I guess you're not brave at all, are you, Beto?" Varis taunted [https://img.wattpad.com/9a72fe0413026c3629931eedcaedfddd407f831e/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f693633736d5154684f35476965513d3d2d313235363439393832362e313730396262653935663339666336383739343533373637363134302e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"But I guess you're not brave at all, are you, Beto?" Varis taunted.

"Um... Well, of course I am! Unlike most vampires, adventure is in my blood! So I'm not afraid," Beto said, his legs shaking beneath him.

Varis and Beto took their places next to each other, each with a skateboard ready in front of them. Sophie could hear Beto mumbling what sounded like mathematical calculations that would help him on the way down.

"Hmm... Based on the curvature of the hill, the wind speed, and the size of the skateboard, I should bend my legs to about one-hundred-and-seventy degrees and keep my center of gravity at..."

"Hey, you! New girl! Sophie, was it?" Varis said, pointing to her. "Do you wanna do the countdown?"

"Um... Sure, I can do that. But are you sure this is a good idea?" she said as she stepped in front of the two boys.

"It's a great idea!" Varis said.

"It's a terrible idea," Beto said. Again, his eyes darted towards Mek. "But I'm still doing it!"

Sophie lifted her arm up in the air.

"Three... Two... One... Go!" she yelled.

And with that, Varis and Beto were off. They zoomed down the hill at full speed. It was a close race. Varis rode fearlessly, but his posture wasn't quite right, so that lost him some speed. Beto on the other hand stood confidently on his board, but he was riding too cautiously. They were side by side, both of them gaining speed. Varis' skateboard started to wobble, and Beto pulled ahead.

As the rest of the class stood there watching the two skateboarders carefully, they suddenly heard the sound of heavy steps. It was a group of stone giants who were walking by at the bottom of the hill. Beto immediately started to brake, but Varis just kept on going. He overtook Beto and looked back at him gloatingly.

"Ha! Loser!" He then looked back at the stone giants. "Hey! Move it! Out of the way! Coming through!"

The stone giants heard Varis' yells, but they didn't seem to be able to make out his words, so they stopped in their tracks, trying to figure out what he was saying.

Varis was going way too fast for him to be able to avoid them. He let out a loud, not-so-brave scream and then smashed directly into one of the stone giants. The crash sent him flying through the air, all the way into the thornbushes, which he disappeared into.

The entire class stood back, holding their breath. Fiff's yellow light turned a greyish blue.

"Varis, are you okay?!" Beto yelled.

An arm shot up from the thornbush. It was all covered in thorns, but the hand was folded into a fist with the thumb pointing upwards. He was okay.

The entire class broke into laughter, and Fiff changed her color back to yellow [https://img.wattpad.com/e343d0d259a921e6848a8906d436b676f97204a7/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f52724d4b63676c6b36685f7572513d3d2d313235363439393832362e313730396263303337336265393864383133353533363434303637312e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

The entire class broke into laughter, and Fiff changed her color back to yellow. Sophie laughed along with them. It seemed like her classmates were far from normal. She smiled at that. At all her previous schools, people would be shaking their heads at that kind of behavior, but here people seemed to appreciate it.

The stone giant that Varis had crashed into walked over to the thornbush and lifted Varis, now completely covered in thorns, out of it. The stone giant put Varis gently down on the ground, and Varis bowed deeply at the stone giants before they turned and walked on. Beto had now made it down there, and together they started walking back up the hill. With hundreds of thorns sticking out of him, Varis had to lean on Beto to walk.

"Ouch... It hurts more than you'd think," Varis said when they reached the top of the hill.

"You should go see Nimum. She should be able to help you get rid of the thorns," Mek said.

"That's a good idea! Mek, will you help me carry Varis?" Beto asked with a huge smile.

Mek let out a tired sigh, but she still walked over to Varis' other side so that he could lean on her. Together, the three of them walked back inside the school.

"Why would Nimum be the one to help them?" Sophie muttered to herself.

Elva heard her mumbling and immediately stepped forth with a lecturing tone.

"Of course she'll be able to help them. Adventuring teachers are supposed to be prepared for any situation. Otherwise, it wouldn't be safe for us students to attend their lessons."

"Really? Do we have any adventuring lessons today?" Sophie asked, wondering what an adventuring lesson would even be like. It had to be pretty serious if the teacher needed to protect the students.

"Yes, it's our third and final lesson for today. I can't believe you don't know this already," Elva said sharply.

Fiff was immediately ready to defend Sophie. "It's Sophie's first day, Elva, so be nice!"

Elva gave Fiff an insulted look.

"So? I was fully prepared for my first day of school. But of course you'd defend her, Fiff. She looks just as weird as you do."

Then she turned on her heel and walked over to one of the tall trees with a tree house in its crown. She put one hand against the trunk of the tree, and suddenly one of the branches started to move down towards her. She stepped up on the branch and it lifted her up all the way to the tree house. Sophie was amazed, but the rest of the class seemed to find the whole spectacle pretty dull.

"How did you do that?" Sophie yelled to Elva, her eyes glinting with admiration.

Elva seemed surprised to have impressed someone, and Sophie could hear the pride in her voice as she answered.

"That's something those who are worthy of magic can do. I'm lucky enough to have been blessed with magic by nature," she said.

"Being worthy has nothing to do with it," Fiff said. "It's not like the magic chooses you based on skills or morals or anything like that."

Trom just shook his head. "It's no use, Fiff. Elva's a lost cause. Just leave it."

Elva scoffed, turned away, and crossed the drawbridge over into another tree, leaving the rest of the class behind.

Sophie was lying in her bed with the duvet pulled up over her head [https://img.wattpad.com/8c8906bfb2eff326a3f9cd52b86ce8ec6d8acc52/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f767862706948304a73664a7570673d3d2d313235333934313835302e313733663230616534623765333861363936343636313337343032322e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

- Next chapter Monday the 16th of January