[https://img.wattpad.com/story_parts/1256500898/images/1709b3521971f530580101197537.png]
Sophie's jaw dropped as she entered the dining hall. It was like stepping into a palace. Scattered all over the hall were round tables, all decked up with flowers, plates, cutlery and glasses. A beautiful glass chandelier hung from the ceiling, and the walls were painted white and gold.
Stone demons wearing fancy waiters' outfits were flying from table to table, serving the students. Sophie decided that they had to be gargoyles. In the human world, gargoyles were simply decorations that you'd see on old buildings, lifeless and carved out of stone. Here they were very much alive and flying quickly and efficiently all over the dining hall. Sophie had read a lot of descriptions of what gargoyles were supposed to look like, and the ones at the school matched those almost perfectly, with one exception: their size. Each of these gargoyles was no bigger than an apple, and yet they flew around the hall carrying dishes that were ten or twenty times their own size.
At the other end of the dining hall, a giant purple octopus wearing a chef's hat was hard at work. Surrounding the octopus were boiling pots, simmering pans, and dishes being expertly prepared. The octopus was handling all of these at the same time, moving its many arms so quickly that Sophie couldn't even guess at how many arms it actually had. Was it ten? Thirty? Seventy? A hundred? There was no way to tell.
"Sophie, over here!" Fiff called out, while energetically flying in circles over a specific table [https://img.wattpad.com/7a11ef04ea51b29f91b7dd5b784058939308eede/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f66716656465a5f646146634479513d3d2d313235363530303839382e313730633235333764646365353231383235363331323831353535392e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
"Sophie, over here!" Fiff called out, while energetically flying in circles over a specific table. The rest of the class had already gathered there, and they had saved her a seat between Fiff and Vix.
None of her classmates at the previous schools had ever been this welcoming. No one had ever made sure to include her like that. She sat down, and Fiff immediately started talking to her.
"So, what's the human world really like?"
"Umm..." What could she say? How could she even begin to describe a world that was so completely different from the world that her classmates knew?
"There's a lot less magic," was all she could think to say.
"How much less?" Fiff asked curiously.
"Um... No magic at all, actually," Sophie said.
"Sounds like a real hassle. That'd be way too much work," Trom said, shuddering at the thought.
"I'm not surprised," Elva said. "It's all because the humans didn't know how to stay in their place."
Sophie looked over at Elva who was sitting right opposite from her. Now she was being annoying again. Why did she have to be like that, always criticizing everything?
"I don't know why it's like that, but we've found some ways around it. We've got science and technology, so that helps a lot."
"I doubt it's anywhere as good as magic," Elva said dismissively.
Sophie took a deep breath. Remember what mom said. Be nice to Elva. But hadn't she been doing that all day? This was the third time she had tried being friendly towards Elva, and she was still being just as annoying.
"No, it's probably not quite as good. But since we don't have any magic, we've just got to make do with what we have," she said, doing her best not to let her annoyance show.
"But if you had just known to stay in your place and hadn't brought the world out of balance, you could still have had magic and we wouldn't have needed to close the border between our worlds!"
"Calm down, Elva," Fiff said. "It's not like Sophie's the one who brought anything out of ba-"
But before she could finish, Elva got up from her chair and pointed at Sophie.
"But that's all she's been doing! She's been messing up everything since she got here! She messes around with Vix's bones and tells him he can just put them wherever he wants! She gets in fights with Drim and puts all of you in danger! Vix got captured and almost fed to the bone slurpers. Fiff, you've still got scratches from all the branches hitting you. And Sophie would have gotten hurt, too, if Rok hadn't caught her. It's a disgrace! She doesn't know how to stay in her place at all!"
Sophie had had enough. She was done listening to Elva's criticism.
"And what about you!? You've been judging me since the moment I said hello! I hadn't done ANYTHING to you, and you totally blew me off! I only moved around Vix's bones to help him, and I went up against Drim because he was a bully! Is that so bad!?"
"Yes, it is! You shouldn't have gone up against him at all!"
Sophie and Elva had both gone beet red. They stared furiously at each other.
"You know, WE were the ones who chose to fight Drim [https://img.wattpad.com/1524b25b568f294ce9c0ef69e9f7f09a8dfff031/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6a695034756769757458306367673d3d2d313235363530303839382e313730633235336639356330373136323638363932383632353433372e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
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"You know, WE were the ones who chose to fight Drim. It wasn't Sophie who dragged us into it," Fiff said. Rok and Vix nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you would say that, Fiff," Elva snapped.
"Elva, b-b-be nice. Sophie's b-been accepted to the s-school, so I'm sure she's a-all right," Vix said, trying to defuse the situation. It didn't work. Elva pushed her chair out of the way.
"Clearly, the school made a mistake." And with those words she walked away from the table. Sophie stared after her angrily.
"What is her problem!?"
"S-sorry about that. Elva's a-always had a hard time with those of us who d-don't fit into her worldview. She's not u-usually this bad," Vix said, looking after Elva as she sat down at one of the other tables.
"Well, she's nicer to YOU 'cause you toe the line, Vix," Trom said with a grimace. "She's usually got more of a problem with Fiff, Mek, Varis and me. So with us, it's all criticism and snide comments, all the time."
"And it's not like you'd ever complain and make snide comments, right, Trom?" Fiff added teasingly.
Trom shot her an insulted look while the others laughed. A gargoyle came flying over to their table.
"Whaddaya wanna eat?" it grunted.
The other kids immediately started calling out orders. Sophie turned towards Fiff.
"What kind of stuff can you order?"
"Oh, anything you'd like! With this many different types of students, the school made sure to get a chef who could make anything... But it has to be actual food," Fiff said with a hint of disappointment. "So you can't just order sweet stuff. I once tried to order a mountain of pancakes, and all I got was broccoli. I hate broccoli." For a brief moment Fiff's glow turned brown, like she was getting sick from just thinking about it. The small gargoyle turned towards Sophie.
"Spaghetti and meatballs, please," she said. It was the first thing that popped into her head. The small gargoyle nodded and flew off.
"Sophie, would you like to know why I believe that it was a lightning bird that caused the thunder and lightning earlier?"
It was Beto who was addressing her. Up until now he had been talking to Mek and Varis at the other side of the table.
Actually, Sophie had forgotten all about the lightning bird. She hadn't even assumed it was particularly notable. She'd already seen so many incredible things, so thunder on a sunny day didn't seem like that big of a deal anymore.
But there was something else that she wanted to ask Beto about.
"Um, sure, but I wanna ask you something too. Are vampires immune to sunlight in this world?"
Beto seemed surprised at the question.
"Certainly not! Vampires are still hurt by sunlight, but we've worked out ways of getting around that. You see, it all started back in..."
"It's sunscreen. They learned how to use sunscreen," Varis giggled.
"No! ... I mean, yes... I mean, it's not that far off, really. That's the short version, I suppose," Beto said, glaring at Varis. "I, however, am a special case among vampires, because I am unusually resistant to sunlight. Out of all the vampires in the world, only one in a million does as well in the sunlight as I do. Impressive, isn't it? It all has to do with a small mutation that..."
"Beto, just get to the bit about the lightning bird," Mek said impatiently.
"The short version, please," Varis added.
Beto seemed a bit disappointed, but started to explain about the lightning bird.
"Obviously, the first reason is that the lightning came from a cloudless sky. The second reason is that around this school there are a lot of mythological beings, all of whom are protecting the school against unwelcome guests. The lightning bird is one of these beings. Ergo, what we heard was most likely the lightning bird stopping one of these intruders."
Unwelcome guests? Sophie thought, remembering the dark figure in the forest.
"What if the lightning bird didn't win?" she asked.
"I wouldn't worry about that," Beto said nonchalantly. "There aren't many beings who could defeat a lightning bird. So, we're perfectly safe here."
"But haven't you been told about how this school works, Sophie?" Fiff asked.
Sophie shook her head. She'd forgotten that just as she didn't know anything about the school and the magical world, her classmates didn't know very much about her either.
"No, I don't really know anything. I didn't even know that this school and the magical world existed until this morning on the bus."
Her classmates all stared at her in disbelief.
"By the elf king's beard! Does that mean you don't even know why this is the school you were sent to!?" Fiff exclaimed.
Again, Sophie shook her head.
"It's because you've got adventure coursing through your veins!" Fiff said excitedly.
"That's just an expression," Beto explained. "Every student at this school is destined to go out on adventures during their lifetime and see all kinds of magic and wonders. That's one of the reasons that the school is called The School of Wonders, and why we've got an adventuring teacher. It's so we'll be prepared for all the stuff we'll face in the future."
The small gargoyle returned to the table with their food. It carried all eight dishes, stacked on top of each other into a tower that was wobbling from side to side. Sophie was sure it was going to all come crashing down, but the gargoyle handily placed the eight dishes on the table and flew off to the next table.
Sophie was sure it was going to all come crashing down, but the gargoyle handily placed the eight dishes on the table and flew off to the next table [https://img.wattpad.com/da5f4ca93c949924e05e723f27f8116161d2013a/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f377766636e713748764f425132673d3d2d313235363530303839382e313730633235353164373665643033313731343335373332373037322e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
It looked so good! Spaghetti and meatballs had never smelled so great. Sophie almost started drooling a bit.
The other kids seemed happy with their food as well. Fiff had gotten a plate filled with forest berries. Trom had gotten apples, tomatoes, bananas, cucumbers and watermelon. Vix had gotten some boiled beetles and insects. Rok had gotten a salad. Varis had gotten a large piece of meat that was still attached to the bone. Beto had gotten a glass with a red liquid and a straw in it, and Mek had gotten two fried mice.
But just as they were about to dig in, something unexpected happened. All the dishes suddenly started floating up into the air. Sophie looked confusedly at the others, checking to see if this was just normal procedure, but they looked just as surprised as she was. The food kept floating upwards, higher and higher, until the dishes almost touched the ceiling.
The dining hall grew very quiet. Everyone had their eyes locked on the food.
"I don't like this at all," Trom said, looking up at the food. Vix nervously nodded in agreement.
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]