As I waited for Boris and Chris to finish their visit with Bradley, I decided to check out the library. I couldn't believe how quiet it was inside. It was as if no one was around. The center had a beautiful layout of an open circle of dark wood tables and skylights up above. Surrounding the center of tables were balconies with walls of bookshelves. Behind all the tables appeared to be a checkout desk, but I wasn't sure if I would be borrowing any books. I just wanted to explore.

Near the back, I went up a flight of stairs; the stairwell had a beige-colored wall and a massive window with dark wood trim. My footsteps were the only sound in the whole place, it seemed. On the second floor, I wandered through the paths of books, the scent of old pages was the strongest it had been. It was annoying that some of the books didn't have titles on the spine -but the ones that did- didn't catch my interest. They intrigued me, but it was overwhelming because I knew nothing about "Arcane Magics Historical Analysis" and "Arcane Magics in Health Disciplines." There were also fiction stories that seemed interesting, but I kept walking through the building to get as familiar with it as possible.

The library had four floors, and I went through all of them, but when I got to the top floor, I heard voices through the maze of bookshelves.

"Seriously! It's nothing to worry about!" someone whispered angrily.

There was more hushed chatter, but I couldn't understand any of it. Following the voices, I wandered through the paths of bookshelves until I came up to a small clearing with a walled-off section that didn't reach the ceiling. It was just a partition, almost like a cubicle but with wooden trim at the top and bottom.

"Look, I understand being nervous at first, but it seriously is nothing to be afraid of. This is the easiest way to get to where we need to be," a girl's voice said

I could hear the whispering easily, stopping me in my tracks. I bent down a little bit and tried to conceal myself using a nearby bookshelf.

"I just feel like we have to wait for a little bit. I can't just jump right into it. It has to be all planned out, and that starts with more time," a different girl said.

"So what? You're just going to sit on this for a month? 2 months? This is some serious material we are-"

"Toby! No!"

"Ugh! I told you not to bring him!"

A small ferret-looking animal sprinted outside the sectioned-off space and ran straight toward me. I tried backing away, but I lost my balance and fell over. It jumped on my leg. It had orange-colored fur, like a fox, and big brown eyes with two white circles around them.

"Hey, little fella," I said and petted the top of his tiny head.

"Toby, come here! Everything's okay. I'm here. Toby!" A girl with long dark hair and bags under her eyes tiptoed out of the same area. Another girl followed behind her. They looked identical, although one had a royal blue Aquasos cloak, and the other had a Venomaus cloak. The Aquasos girl scowled, and the Venomaus girl was worried.

I held the little critter in my hand and gave it a few more pets before standing up and approaching the twins.

"Excuse me! Who are you?" the Aquasos girl said.

"Hey, I was just, uh, walking around and checking out the library, and suddenly this little guy came running at me," I said.

"Toby! Thank goodness you found him. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it." The Venomaus girl approached me and held out her hands. The little ferret leaped from my palm and landed on her forearm, sprinting up her shoulder in a blink. "Sorry about that. He usually doesn't run away from me."

"You didn't answer my question. Who are you?" the Aquasos girl pressed.

"Or you could tell me first and not be so rude," I said.

The Aquasos narrowed her eyes at me while her twin sister frowned and backed away.

I figured it wasn't worth continuing the stupid standoff. "My name is Rollie Magpie. I'm actually a new student here from the Nomagi World. It turns out I have fire abilities."

"Ah. So what are you doing in here?"

"Geez, what does it matter? I'm a new student here and I wanted to check everything out. I walked into the library but didn't see all the floors. Why are you being so hostile about it anyways?"

"I'm not being hostile at all. But if it appears that way, perhaps it's because we were studying, and we don't like our studies interrupted."

"Whatever. It sure didn't sound like studying to me but okay."

The Aquasos' eyes widened. "Snooping around, are you? Did someone put you up to this?"

"Get over yourself." I was so annoyed with the conversation that I turned my back on them.

"Elliot! You should be nicer to him; he saved Toby. Hey, wait! My name is Mandy. Thank you so much again for finding Toby."

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I turned back around. "Sure thing. You're welcome, I guess."

"This is my sister, Elliot. She's usually much nicer. Sorry about that."

"Mandy!" her sister snapped.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Mandy. Elliot? Not so much." I chuckled at my own joke. "What type of animal is that anyways?"

"It's a fureese." Mandy beamed.

I smiled. "How cute. Well, I'll leave you two alone now." I waved and walked away.

"That's it. You can no longer bring Toby with you! Is that understood?" Elliot said.

I felt terrible for Mandy. I didn't understand what they were studying or talking about, but she was way nicer than Elliot.

Outside, the night had a chill, but the air smelled so fresh from the grass and surrounding trees that it felt pleasant.

I waited outside the Venomaus Dormitory, the closest building that looked like a castle. The exterior was made of differently shaped stones, all smoothed over and variations of gray. Windows jutted out from the building and had pointy tops. I spotted Boris, and we watched the entrance from a distance, underneath some trees. Even though it was nighttime, the ominous gothic building was still well-illuminated. The campus Clock Tower stood over every other building, keeping a watchful eye.

"I swear, the Venomaus Dorm is the coolest," I said.

Boris bobbed his head. "Yeah, it's not bad. They're all unique and have their own things that make them cool. Not sure if I'd call it the coolest."

I was annoyed and didn't want to argue. "So, how did your visit with Bradley go?"

Boris paused and shrugged. "I'm not really sure. It was kinda awkward, but I could tell he was happy to see the two of us. We didn't really talk about a whole lot."

"So I take it you didn't tell him about our little plan tonight?"

Boris chuckled. "Are you crazy? You don't tell anyone what you're up to outside of the main actors of the job, don't you know that?"

"Hey man, I don't know all the rules for misbehaving."

Boris glanced around. "And don't openly say we're misbehaving either."

I nodded.

The conversation ended, and we stood there, like statues, waiting for ten minutes.

"What's taking him so long? I don't get it. He should have been in and out. Chris isn't someone who talks to a lot of people. How in the world has he been held up this long? I'm getting a bad feeling from this," Boris said.

"Isn't it a little late for you boys to be hanging around in the trees?"

I jumped, and I'm confident Boris did too.

I spun around and saw a Mage Force Officer in a silver cloak.

Boris' lips trembled. "Uh, uh, we were just uh."

"That's all right, young man. I didn't ask what you were doing. I was just making an observation. It's awfully late to be out here, especially with what happened earlier today. Don't you think?" The Officer raised one eyebrow.

"Yeah, you're right. We were just waiting for our, uh, friend. We are going to the rec hall to see some others, and he lives in the Venomaus Dorm," Boris pointed.

"You're waiting for your friend from Venomaus, but you're hanging out here instead of the Venomaus lounge?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but seeing that you're in the Mage Force and you most likely went to school here, you know how it is. Mages going into dormitories that aren't theirs is a little weird."

The Officer thought about it. "I see. Well, they might be more lenient if you wait in their lounge after a day like today. And I hope I don't seem like I'm being rude. I just want to make sure you kids stay safe. Us Officers are about to leave campus, and as I was leaving, I noticed you two standing here, and I just wanted to make sure everything was all right."

"We appreciate that, sir. Thank you. We are just waiting for our friend and going to the rec hall," Boris said and forced an awkward smile.

"Right, you already said that. You boys stay safe, have a good night."

"Thanks, you too," I finally said. It felt strange letting Boris and the Officer do all the talking, but I didn't know what to say or how to say it. Boris felt like a pro in comparison.

The Officer waved and walked away, disappearing into the night. Boris and I watched him until we couldn't see him anymore.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?"

Boris and I jumped again. I almost screamed. Spinning around, it was just Chris standing in front of us.

"What took you so long, dude?" Boris asked.

"Sorry, Veronica wouldn't stop talking to me."

"What's up with that? We have a special mission tonight, and you start chatting with the front desk worker? Do you have a crush on her or something?"

"No, dude. I just kept nodding as she talked to me. I barely said a thing."

"Did you get the supplies, at least?"

"Yeah, eventually, I was able to get in the supplies closet. Here are some jars of ink." Chris reached into his cloak and held out a few black containers.

"All right, perfect. Let's peek inside the rec hall to see how many people are there."

The three of us walked to the rec hall, a tall, colonial building with a clock at the top. Peering through the giant rectangular windows, there was no one inside.

"Let's go around to the side. There is a perfect section without any windows. Chris, we'll need you to stand watch, got it?" Boris said.

"Yeah, I'll stand watch."

Boris and I went to the side of the building, I wanted to run, but I was following Boris' lead. Arriving at the patch of wall that was a perfect white blank canvas, Boris said, "This is what you're going to do, Rollie. I need you to slowly pour out the ink."

I nodded and uncorked the glass of ink, slowly pouring it out like a precious chemical. Boris aimed his fingertips at the flowing ink, and a jet of wind hit the wall in front of us.

"All right, I'm going to make this quick," Boris said.

I increased my pouring speed, and the wind shooting out of Boris' fingertips came out perfectly. It was as if he had tried this out before. The ink hit the wall, writing out the message I had planned. Although the writing looked sloppy, the message was there after a few minutes. Chris stood by and never gave us any warning.

"All done, Rollie." Boris cracked up and strolled back to the front of the building, and I followed. We linked back up with Chris.

"You guys done?" Chris asked.

"We're all set. You can admire the artwork tomorrow if you'd like." Boris snickered. "This is where we split up. Have a good night, boys."

The three of us went back to our respective dormitories, and when I got back to the Fyron Dorm, no one was around, and most of the lights were turned off.

Getting back inside my room, I was quiet with my keys and gentle with the door. The lights were off, but it seemed like Tim and Randolph had a light on in their room. I could hear their muffled voices, but it was almost silent. Going into my room, it was utterly dark, but I could see just enough through the little light bleeding through the curtains. Fortunately, the area around my bed had been cleared away, but I could tell the only thing Mortimer did was move all his belongings in one pile up against the foot of his bed. Unbelievable.

As I lay in bed, I closed my eyes, but no part of me felt tired. I was still on a rush of adrenaline and on the verge of bursting out with laughter. I remained silent, though. But it was tough bottling in the hilarity of it all. I kept thinking about all the students crowding around the message in the rec hall, talking about who did it, and having no clue. Meanwhile, I'd be in the back with Boris and Chris, laughing uncontrollably.