Prologue:

Dear Melody

Dear Melody,

I've heard that you are a writer, though you are not yet known for that fact. We have not formally met, but I have heard of your comings and goings from friends and phantoms. I wish to entrust you with my story. I have many sins that will never be atoned for, but maybe I can find some forgiveness in allowing you to commit my honest memories to paper. In the package you received along with this letter you will find eight chain links. Each link represents a year of my memories while living during that terrifying war. I would not normally trust a human with this task, but for the sake of our realms, please Melody, tell my story.

Sincerely,

Leviathan Blynder

Dark Mage and

High Guard of the 13th Head Pendragon

Dear Melody,

I was honestly really surprised when Levi said he'd given you his memories. I guess people really can change, just like Alice had said they could all those years ago. Well, if my idiot brother-in-law will trust you, then I guess I can, so I've sent you the chain links of my memories from the war as well. Just be careful with them and… and apologize for me please. I wasn't the best person that I could've been in those years, but I want you to tell this tale as honestly as possible. Don't let people think I did no wrong, the truth is, I did. Please Melody, tell this story.

You have my trust,

Rozalia Tobias Pendragon

Spiritual Mage and

3rd seat of the Pendragon Court

Dear Melody,

I've heard that Levi trusts a human, namely you. This is very unheard of, though seeing as you now have Levi's memories, I need not say why. Many things happened in those years, many things that changed all of us. I used to trust easily, now, I'm incredibly wary of all people, even my friends. But if Levi will trust you, then I will provide you with my memories of those times, and the memories of what changed me… I only wish that you will tell this tale completely, and use our memories and emotions for the betterment of our realms. Please Melody, tell the whole story.

A friend,

Ethil Silvia Pensworth

Dark Mage and

Member of the Hallow's End Council

Dear Melody,

I hear that my husband Levi entrusted his memories to you. It is rare for him to trust any human, so I do assume that you are a human worthy of my trust. Right then, love, I've sent you the chain links of my memories for those years he told you of, and I have a very simple request with them. Please tell of our happy memories as well, love. You simply must know how false it is to say our lives were all tragedy, we all know that was not the case. We had our dark moments, but in those years we still laughed and played like normal children would. Within all that darkness we still held onto our light, so please Melody, tell our story, and tell it right.

With all sincerity,

Alice Marie Pendragon

Light Mage and

13th Head Pendragon

2: An Odd Little Train Ride: Leviathan

“You know they say a lot of great adventures begin on a train.”

            “Who says so?” Leviathan glanced apathetically towards the meek little spirit that his dad insisted on giving him for the journey.

            “Spirits, Shamans, Storytellers,” the tiny thing replied as he bounced towards the train with his young master’s luggage, “Once the journey is begun, you are off to a new land, and you may not turn back. Things elsewhere may change you, Levi boy.”

            “Choke, Horrace Rafêl,” the boy sneered in disdain as he recited the only spell he knew.

            The little spirit yelped in pain and dropped the luggage as the incantation tightened around its neck. Leviathan had no sympathy for it. It had been an idiot for revealing its name, it had no one but itself to blame for its slavery.

            “You know the rules, Horrace, you understand the hierarchy,” the boy pointed a pale finger towards the shrub shaped being, “so you are not to refer to me so casually. It’s young Master to you.” He released the spirit from his command and the little thing continued towards the train with the luggage.

            “I am glad the heiress will be in your year,” he mumbled, “maybe she can teach you some manners.”

            “The heiress?” Leviathan stared down at the creature coldly.

            “Did your father not tell you?” the shrub spoke brightly once more, “the heiress to the Pendragon household is in your year at Jaspal Academy! Isn’t that luck? You get to study with the royalty of the mage world!”

            “Are you aiming to be choked again, Horrace?” the boy scoffed, “The Pendragon family is by no means royalty in Hallow’s End. They’re a group of loony spiritual mages that like to preach pacifism. They’re only as famous as they are because of that stupid tragedy a few years back.”

            “I would not belittle that tragedy in their presence,” the spirit warned, “Spiritual mages or not, they are very powerful, and that tragedy hurt them greatly.”

            “Hurry up and get the luggage onto the train,” Leviathan groaned in exasperation. As the little thing bounced away he examined the train once more. It was an enormous locomotive, as was to be expected of the finest steam engine in Hallow’s End. The Sera Emine was its namesake, and it road twice a year across the skies of Hallow’s End to deliver young mages to their school of choice.

            Leviathan was awestruck in its presence, as most were, for its beautiful white exterior rose three stories high and was embellished heavily with silver. The first four cars were reserved for Jaspal Academy, the most prestigious of the schools, and the other sixteen were divided amongst the three other schools and the professors. The ten year old couldn’t care less about them though; they were simply the underclass, shoddy, ill fit mages, as his dad put it, and they needn’t be bothered with. As for the teachers, well, their cars were restricted, so it wouldn’t really matter even if he was curious.

            Leviathan sighed and boarded the white monstrosity. He didn’t need Horrace to remind him—he would be staying at school much more than half the year from now on. If there was anything he was worried about, it was losing his sanity. Hopefully weekend calls with his father would be enough to salvage that.

            Leviathan climbed to the third floor of the last Jaspal Academy train car and found a compartment near the middle of it that was empty. He took his seat by the window and waited for the locomotive to shrug along the sky. If anything, this train ride was destined to be the longest and most boring journey the boy would ever have to endure.

3: An Odd Little Train Ride: Rozalia

Two girls walked down the third floor of the Sera Emine—well, if you could characterize it as “walking”. The first struggled to grasp the carpet with her red high tops while attempting to shove off the second girl, who had promptly thrown her tiny frame onto her companion's equally tiny frame.

            “TOBI!!!” the second girl whined.

            “No Alice!” the first girl, obviously Tobi, struggled to detach her companion from her back.

            “But I’m hungry!” Alice whined loudly.

            “You ate two hours ago,” Tobi rasped in a strained voice.

            “Well I’m hungry again!” Alice moaned.

            “You have to wait! The luncheon car isn’t set up yet!” Tobi refuted. Alice was incorrigible on an empty stomach, or rather, a self-proclaimed empty stomach. Tobi found it unlikely that the five waffles Alice had happily downed at breakfast had somehow made it out of the crazy ginger’s system—she was also curious as to how Alice managed to eat so much while remaining the relative size of nothing. Must’ve had something to do with her hyperactive behavior.

            “They must have something!” Alice groaned pathetically, “Can’t we take a peek?”

            “Remind me to murder them,” Tobi muttered.

            The girl on top of her went quiet abruptly and looked down at her sister. “Murder who?”

            “Whichever person decided that putting you and a gourmet food stand on the same train was a bloody brilliant idea.”

            “Ah. Okay. TOBI!!”

            “Uahhh!” Tobi wailed as her little ginger twin finally managed to pin her to the floor and prevent her from getting away.

            “I’m hungry!!” the girl repeated in blatant desperation. This was getting old. It was an incredibly good thing that Alice was never quite right before ten in the morning. Tobi struggled and shifted onto her side to poke Alice in the forehead.

            “Leave me alone,” she threatened.

            The ginger stared at the finger blankly. “Should Alice be afraid of this finger?”

            “Yes,” Tobi lied.

            “Ah. Okay, Alice is afraid,” and with that, her crazy twin rose and walked aimlessly into a random compartment nearby. The now free ebony haired girl let out a heaving sigh of relief and made haste towards the second floor compartments before Alice decided to wage a war to the death against the poor girl’s index finger—and as drastic as that sounded, Tobi didn’t want to chance being sat on by the childish ginger again. Tobi plopped herself down by the window in her compartment and watched the scenery below, or rather, tried to watch the scenery below. It was becoming increasingly difficult for the ten year old to see past her own reflection.

            “Bollocks,” the girl muttered and pressed her face up against the window. She didn’t care to view the familiar face of a black haired girl with blue eyes. That was what the morning routine in front the mirror was for. Right now she wanted to view the scenery she would be leaving behind during her time at Jaspal Academy.

            “Well that’s one way to see the sky clearly, though I must say you look pretty ridiculous doing it."

            Tobi jumped as the voice rang out across from her and she turned to see a dark skinned boy about two years her senior. “Well that’s not exactly your business, is it?” she spoke to him solemnly in an attempt to hide how much he spooked her.

            “No need to be so rude, firstie,” the boy smirked and leaned forward, “I only tease people who ask for it.”

            Tobi felt her aggravation building up inside her and she planted her face back on the glass before it could exit her in a fit of screams. Sadly the boy across from her had no intention of leaving her alone. He jumped up from his seat across from her and sat in an uncomfortably close proximity to her.

            “Name’s Joshua,” he spoke cheerfully, “What’s yours, kiddo?”

            Tobi ground her teeth together silently. Joshua had made two mistakes in one fell swoop—he had forgotten about personal space, and he had called her kiddo. Two years age difference gave him no right to refer to her as kiddo.

            “I really don’t want to talk right now,” the young girl grumbled through her teeth.

            “Oh, Okay I see how it is. You have the too-good-for-you disease. I swear, all you rich firsties must have some sort of honors student radar! You’re the fifth one to blow me off today!”

            “I doubt that had anything to do with your brain capacity,” Tobi muttered in exasperation.

            “Are you implying something, kiddo?” the boy leaned closer to her, and she clenched her teeth in annoyance.

            “Maybe the lack of personal space?” she mumbled to herself.

            “Hm?” Joshua leaned closer to Tobi again and the girl struggled to control her temper. “Could you repeat that please?”

            “Are all the third years so intensely idiotic?” She glared at the boy that was now about three centimeters away from her face.

            “Wow, showing our fangs now, are we?” Joshua grinned, it was clear that he didn’t take her seriously.

            “Exit my personal bubble or I’ll bite,” she threatened.

            “Oh, come on! A cute little kid like you? Bet you my whole allowance that you wouldn’t harm a fly! You’re just too adorable fo—” at this point, Joshua poked Tobi in the cheek and she punched him on reflex.

            “You owe me your allowance money,” she spoke apathetically as he fell back moaning on the seat.

            “Why would you do that!?”

            “I warned you. I bite.”

            “That was a fist!!”

            “Do you prefer bloody to bruised?” Tobi giggled and pulled the boy up by his shirt. “Let me see.”

            Tobi examined the cheek where her fist made contact with Joshua’s face. It was a little red, starting to bruise, and the black coloring under his right eye was coming in nicely.

            “Seems relatively minor,” she concluded as she reached two fingers up to the wound.

            “Minor?!” Joshua flailed his arms at Tobi and forced her to remove her fingers from the wound. “This hurts like hell!!”

            “Stop it!” Tobi scolded, “You’re making it hard for me to heal it!”

            “W-Wait!!” he stuttered frantically. “I don't want a first year healing it, that's complicated magic!”

            “Relax! I've had practice on my crazy sister!”

            “That isn’t reassuring in any sense!” Joshua whined.

            “It should be! You try holding down magically gifted insane jumping bean when she’s throwing a pain induced tantrum and see how well you fare!!”

            “Insane jumping bean?” the boy repeated in confusion and Tobi took the chance to heal the wound before he started struggling more.

            “That’s enough of your struggling. Therapeía deiná sou kai na epidiorthó̱sei ta ostá sou, mó̱lo̱pes diagráfontai til deíchnei safí̱ derma,” Tobi muttered as she tapped the wound with her index finger and the damage on Joshua’s face gathered into it. Tobi smiled and patted the boy on the forehead before dumping the red residual glimmer out the window.

            “There,” the girl plopped down on the seat across from Joshua, “the pain is gone and you’re not an elephant.”

            The boy sat up and poked his cheek for insurance frantically. Once he had confirmed her claim, he smirked at her, his bright hazel eyes glinting as if he had healed the wound himself. “Greek spells, huh? Aren’t those rather difficult to perform?”

            “Depends on how much you practice,” Tobi turned back to the window with a smile, “and judging by your reaction I’d say you’re not really one for practice.”

            “Hey! I do too practice! They don’t teach Greek spells or healing spells until at least third year, and I didn’t have the privilege of an in-house library like you!”

            “You mean the privilege of an Auntie that forced you to study? I’m sure you didn’t. Not every mage in the world can have an Auntie like Auntie Amelia.”

            “She taught you that healing spell?”

            “She taught me the verses when I was five, yes. There’s much more than what I just recited, but I only need the first two lines for something so minor.”

            “Still,” Joshua leaned forward, “quite classy of you, being able to perform healing spells at such a young age, and Greek, nonetheless. Kudos to you, Miss Rozalia.”

            Tobi glanced back at the boy inquisitively. “How did you learn my first name?”

            “I may have toiled around the library for a simple mind reading spell at some point…” he whistled.

            “Clairvoyance is illegal, you know.”

            “Relax, I only found one that lets me know a person’s name and age upon contact. It was the only one that escaped the librarian’s knowledge. More importantly, you said something earlier about an insane jumping bean?”

            “Why should I say a word?” Tobi answered shortly.

            “Because I’m oh so very curious,” Joshua’s mouth bent into a wicked grin, “and I’m pretty sure I already know her name.”

            “Oh? What then?”

            “Well, you’re Rozalia Tobias Pendragon, and that would make your ‘Auntie Amelia’ Amelia Pendragon, the current Head Pendragon, correct?”

            “What’s this to do with my sister?”

            “Is Amelia Pendragon your aunt?”

            “Yes!”

            “Then it’s everything to do with your sister!”

            “How come?” Tobi finally shouted out in frustration and Joshua simply chuckled as he taunted her with his glistening hazel eyes.

            “Because that would make your sister Alice Marie Pendragon, the heiress to the Pendragon House.”

4: An Odd Little Train Ride: Leviathan

            “Leviathan!”

            The young boy glanced to the entrance of his compartment abruptly. Ten minutes into the ride and he had since met his unwanted visitor, Mary Trytte.

            The girl spread her pretty lips into a smile as he looked her way. “Finally found you!” she said cheerfully as she sat next to him, “Why in the world did you choose a compartment on the third floor?”

            Leviathan could hardly say he did it to get away from her. Mary was the daughter of a family friend, but no more than an acquaintance to Leviathan at best. She seemed to think otherwise from what he’d gathered. It wasn’t as if she wasn’t pretty for her age; in fact, Leviathan’s mother often commented about how much of a gem the girl could be as a wife in the coming years. Pale golden waves of hair sprouted from the girl’s roots and flowed to her shoulders like silk, and her bright green eyes stood out clearly against her doll-like complexion.

            She could be a great “addition” to the family, however the Blynder family was exceptionally picky about their future brides. Leviathan knew little about the arranged marriages of his family and understood even less, but he heard that certain aspects of eager little Mary Trytte excluded her from the running. Every Blynder knew that she hailed from a family with a strong spiritual mage lineage, and any spiritual mage fell short of approval by a long shot. To make matters worse for the girl, the Tryttes were simply upper middle class, and she could only attend Jaspal Academy due to her lack of siblings, otherwise her schooling would destroy her parent’s budget.

            “Are you as excited as I am?” Mary murmured into the disinterested boy’s ear.

            “The train is on an twelve hour route, Mary. It isn’t scheduled to arrive until after supper.”

            “You can still be excited, right? I bet school here will be extra fun! We’ll have plenty of time to hang out!”

            “Right! He needs to hang out with you like he needs a hole in his head!”

            Leviathan cast a glare to Horrace as he caught sign of a smirk on the spirit’s vine concealed face. “Who asked you?”

            “Is that Horrace?” Mary spoke casually with no attempt to hide her disdain for his companion, “What’s he doing here?”

            “I was asked to accompany the young master to his new school. Why are you here, Mary? Busy gold digging again?”

            Mary turned back to Leviathan in an attempt to hide her flushed face. “Why did your father choose the contracted spirit with the worst manners to accompany you?”

            “He’s amongst the more powerful spirits, also one my father doesn’t mind having outside of the house,” Leviathan replied apathetically without taking his eyes off of the snarky spirit in front of him.

            “This pipsqueak?” Mary scoffed. “I doubt it.”

            “I used to live in the trees alongside Ghillie Dhu in my younger years, Miss Trytte,” Horrace answered the girl bitterly, “I could prance circles around you with my knowledge of magic alone.”

            “If only your knowledge in common sense was so vast,” Mary sighed, “then maybe you wouldn’t be a slave and poor little Leviathan wouldn’t have to put up with you.”

            Leviathan frowned a little as he ignored the impending argument between the two and faced the window. Despite all his sarcasm and impudence, Horrace was actually one of the boy’s favorite of the contracted Blynder spirits. The little shrub clad sprite always spoke his mind even if it won him a punishment. There was something rather endearing about that fact, Leviathan couldn’t quite place it though.

            “Mary, dear, go call your parents and ask them to sign you up for remedial history lessons. Spirits haven’t been telling the Blynders their names for over two thousand years. It just so happens that someone found my name in the library records.”

            So he was still sore about that, Leviathan thought. Well, you could hardly blame him. It wasn’t as if the boy planned on apologizing for it. He smirked as Mary’s cheeks went the color of a cherry and Horrace sat silently, clearly satisfied with his handiwork.

            Mary lurched forward a bit, obviously ready to hurt the tiny spirit in front of her. “Why yo—”

            “Excuse me!”

            Leviathan cast a look to the compartment entrance just in time to see Mary nearly have her head wacked off by the rainbow splattered bag of their latest intruder. He could barely hold back laughter as the young girl fell back to the seat with an expression of absolute shock.

            “Sorry, love,” the new person spoke absentmindedly to Horrace as she—at least, Leviathan thought it was a she—threw her luggage onto the shelf above the spirit’s head, “I don’t mean to sit in your personal space for long.”

            “Well I’ll be,” Horrace smiled, “It’s not every day that you meet a young mage with enough manners to apologize to a spirit!”

            “Well, let it not be said that I’ve no manners,” the girl said cheerfully.

            “Manners?!” Mary shrieked, “You nearly took my head off!!”

            “I did say ‘excuse me’. Besides, you were the one that stuck your head in the way of the compartment entrance. That wasn’t my doing in any sense, love.”

            Leviathan felt some sort of eerie nostalgia in this girl’s presence; he couldn’t put a finger on it, but something about her was familiar. She wasn’t exactly the type of person that looked forgettable; that much could be seen just by watching the red orange tangle of what must’ve been curly hair bouncing around by the middle of her neck, or by examining the cable knitted soft green sweater that she wore with soft green galoshes, tattered black stockings and white overalls with the shoulder straps dangling by her knees.

            An unforgettable mop of hair with an unforgettable outfit that probably had plenty of unforgettable cousins in her unforgettable splatter-painted luggage. And yet Leviathan couldn’t draw up any moment where he had seen her before. Maybe he had simply caught a glimpse of her at the station, she did look like an honors student due to the tattered stockings.

            “Maybe you should knock before inviting yourself into a compartment, Miss I-have-manners!!” Mary snapped at the girl.

            “I was in here before you two, I just went back to get my things, is all,” she replied as she finally pushed her bag onto the shelf, “Oops, almost forgot something.”

            “Are you Jaspal Academy’s honors student this year?” Leviathan asked as he watched her climb the shelf again to get something.

            Suddenly the girl’s body stiffened, almost as if his voice had triggered something in her. “No,” she said quickly, her voice much heavier than before, “I’m not an honors student.”

            “Well since you barged in,” Leviathan cleared his throat and tried to ignore her sudden change in demeanor, “Why don’t you introduce yourself? Who are you?”

            “Alice.”

            “Who?”

            The girl fell down from the shelf and sat next to Horrace with an embellished silver disk in her lap. “Alice Pendragon,” she repeated as she stared straight at Leviathan, and he felt for sure now that he must’ve met her before. Her heavily freckled cheeks and dark green eyes were simply too familiar to be a coincidence. But Leviathan knew for sure that he had never once met Alice; he had never met any of the Pendragons.

            “You’re the heiress!” Horrace said, “I’m surprised!! You don’t look very much like a Pendragon! Then again, you were rather nice to me. I’m Horrace,” the little spirit announced proudly, “that brat near the door is Mary Trytte, and this is my master, L—”

            “Leviathan.”

            The boy looked up at Alice again as his name rolled off her tongue, now certain and worried at the prospect that she knew him. There was no doubt about it now, they had met, but he still couldn’t place it. He wanted to tell himself that it wasn’t a big deal, but he couldn’t shake off the look of absolute terror in Alice’s eyes as she repeated herself again.

            “Leviathan Blynder.”

5: An Odd Little Train Ride: Alice

            He didn’t remember her. Alice could tell that much with a single look into his icy blue eyes. Leviathan was simply seeing her for the first time; he heard her name and probably conjured up the image he expected for her and made his comparisons, which were likely halfway between shameful disappointment and pleasure at the unexpected appearance of—dare she say it—heiress to the Pendragon House.

            Alice couldn’t look at Levi with those eyes. The world blurred with memories of a daunting past as soon as she saw his face. He hadn’t changed much—still the same paper pale boy with glossy black hair and a tall thin frame; still dressed like a business man ready for work and still retaining his slightly sunken eyes and thin frowning lips—only now he looked more like his father with the addition of electric blue tattoos streaming down his cheeks and halfway down each side of his nose like tear stains. He still looked like Levi, though she knew that by now he couldn’t possibly be the Levi she remembered.

            “Oy! Pendragon-wannabe!! Stop staring at Leviathan!!”

            Alice snapped back to reality as a crude voice rang out from the platinum blonde next to Leviathan. She didn’t know how long she had been staring at him for; frankly she didn’t care, after all, he had been staring back.

            “So,” Leviathan cleared his throat and turned his eyes downward, “you’re the supposed heiress to the Pendragon House? You certainly don’t look it.”

            “Lots of folks say that,” Alice giggled in response, “I guess I look more like my dad’s side of the family.”

            “And your father is…?”

            “A lower class mage. You wouldn’t know him.”

            “Hold on, I remember seeing you at the station,” the blonde girl commented, “with that black haired girl and a large tree spirit. Who was she then? Your hand maid?”

            Alice gazed at the girl with a quizzical expression. Hand maid? “Pendragons have never had human servants,” she murmured in response.

            “Oh? Who was she then?”

            “Oh that was Rozy,” Alice giggled, “She’s my twin.”

            “Your twin?” Leviathan repeated.

            “That’s so funny!” the blonde smiled threateningly at Alice, “So you must simply be impersonating her then, hm?”

            “What do you mean?”

            “She must be the real heiress, and you’re just playing pretend.”

            “Why would I be doing that?”

            “Who in their right mind would make you head of the family?”

            “Maybe someone who values talent and skill more than appearance.”

            Alice looked down at the disk in her lap and the golden haired girl across from her latched onto Levi in fear.

            “What was that?!” she shrieked.

            “You can come out Skimble,” Alice spoke to the disk, “you’ve been eavesdropping anyway, haven’t you?”

            “I prefer to call it studying.” A bright red orange light sprung from the silvery plate and formed into the torso of a vaguely human-like fiery being with ox horns protruding from its crown. “You know Tobi would kill you if she found out you called her Rozalia.”

            “I called her Rozy,” Alice pointed out.

            “Even worse.”

            “Is that an ifrit?” Leviathan glanced at the creature casually, “That’s a rather high classed demon for a ten year old to have.”

            “Put it back!! You’ll set the compartment on fire!! Are you crazy?!”

            Alice tilted her head and passed an expressionless stare to the girl across from her, “Why yes, thank you for asking. And Levi, dear, Skimble isn’t mine.”

            “Then why is he with you?” Leviathan asked as he ignored the panicking girl on his arm.

            “I’m contracted to Amelia, little boy. I came with Alice under her orders. Besides, I like Alice, she’s fun.”

            “A girl who’s ‘fun’ in an ifrit’s eyes…”

            Alice looked to her right at the little spirit named Horrace.

            “So the rumors are true. You’re quite the tamer.”

            “Skimble and Auntie both said that, but I still don’t understand it. I just like talking to spirits is all.”

            “A rare mindset among mages these days.”

            “Maybe that’s because none of you have manners. And Mary, he’s just an apparition, get off!” Leviathan shrugged off the porcelain faced girl clasped to his arm and glared at the ifrit. “I don’t suppose you address everyone so casually, do you?”

            Alice glanced between Skimble and Leviathan; nothing good would ensue if Levi angered Skimble.

            “I don’t suppose you’re in a position to stop me, hm?”

            “Ifrits will address you with respect or high regard if they deem you worthy of it. Otherwise they’ll speak down to you until they have a viable reason not to. You shouldn’t argue with them, they take challenges quite seriously,” Alice looked up at Skimble and grinned, “They like competition and mischief.”

            “Which leads me to wonder what mischief you have in mind, Alice. Surely you have something planned, otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten me out.”

            “Keep it to yourselves.”

            Alice glanced over to Leviathan as he turned his scowling face back to the window. “Hm?”

            “I’m not interested in causing any trouble. I doubt Mary is either. Leave your stupid plans to yourself or I’ll tell.”

            “Skimble, can you use your fire portal from in there?” Alice stared at her fiery friend until he turned his malicious glare away from Leviathan.

            “Yes… why do you ask?”

            “Can you please transport me to the dining car?”

            “The fire portal is too big for that, it’ll take two compartments at the smallest size. Why can’t you just walk?”

            “The dining car’s closed.”

            “Then wait to go!” Leviathan yelled at her in protest.

            Alice turned to him again with an impish grin pasted across her face. “Not a chance, I’m hungry.”

            “I think it could be fun,” Horrace commented, “After all, what’s wrong with a small mid-morning snack?”

            “We’ll get in trouble, you ignorant shrub!!” Mary shrieked.

            “Hardly,” Alice giggled, “I’ve never had trouble with second breakfast. Of course, except for that time with the llama…”

            “What llama?!”

            “Or was it an alpaca…?” Alice considered her childhood memory of the incident as Mary continued to panic across from her.

            “Levi, this girl is insane, get her out of here!”

            “I like her,” Horrace chuckled.

            “Alice, beat it before I tell!!” Leviathan warned.

            Alice blinked and grinned. “Alrighty, Skimble, dining car please!”

            “One second breakfast, coming right up.”

            “No!!”

            Alice giggled once more as Leviathan dove for the disk in her arms just before a warm orange light spilled from the silvery plate and engulfed the compartment.

6: An Odd Little Train Ride: Ethil

           Ethil Pensworth might’ve been the only little girl on the train who felt the portal open as an ifrit and company traveled from a compartment tenth from the back on the third floor of the train car to the car in front of them. Many would’ve felt that was an impressive feat from her compartment two from the front on the second floor of the car, but Ethil probably would have said they needed to use their brains, and she’d likely win a good slap for it. Ethil certainly knew that her pyro child of a first friend hadn’t noticed—if that had been the case maybe she’d be graced with some peace and quiet. In all honesty the discussion of Doctor Who and celery sticks was beginning to wear on her.

            “Be quiet,” Ethil said faintly to her comrade, “I felt something.” Sadly the boy was too absorbed in his rant to hear her. “Lucien!” she pleaded again.

            “Yes Ethil?”

            The voice of her friend waited patiently for her and she let out a sigh. “Please be quiet. I’m trying to see who opened the portal.”

            “Did you just say see?”

            Ethil sighed again as she felt Lucien’s breath by her right cheek. He was ever so fond of invading her personal space on a moment’s notice.

            “I thought you said—”

            “Yes, I’m still blind, thank you for asking,” Ethil murmured and gently pushed Lucien away in momentary flare of agitation. “I meant I’m trying to identify the mage that just ordered their ifrit to open a fire portal.”

            “Somebody opened a fire portal?”

            And yet again, Lucien had jumped into her personal bubble. “Yes, now quiet please. You’re making it hard for me to concentrate,” Ethil gently pushed her friend back to the seat across from her and focused back on the auras she sensed.

            All the while, Lucien expressed his excitement about the “fire portal”. “How badly does it singe humans when you pass through it? Does it hurt? Man, I wish I could have an ifrit. How powerful do you have to be to contract an ifrit anyhow? Do they—”

            “I thought I asked you to be quiet!”

            “Alright alright!”

            Ethil closed her useless eyes and studied the auras slowly until she finally found the culprit who demanded the portal. There was a playful little mask about her energies, bubbly and bright with enough impishness to disguise whatever sinister demons plagued her. Ethil only managed to catch the girl’s surname before the ifrit protecting her warded the blind girl’s intrusions off.

            “Can I speak yet?” Lucien waited patiently like an excited puppy denied of love and Ethil let out a faint giggle. “What? Was it something I said? Come on, I wanted you to answer my questions about that fire portal! Ethil!”

            “No…” Ethil re-opened her eyes and raised her head to face where she perceived Lucien to be. “It would seem that one of the Pendragon twins is up to no good.”

7: An Odd Little Train Ride: Leviathan

            Irritation didn’t quite describe how Leviathan felt when they fell into a random pantry in the dining car. Livid was a better way of putting it. Apart from the singed nature of his once clean and well-kept clothing, his body ached from the fall to the hard floor—well, everything with the exception of his head, which had landed on Alice’s stomach. She didn’t appear to be pleased with that fact.

            “Oy,” Alice grunted, “Can you please get off? I’m not keen on losing my first breakfast.”

            “Oh is that so?” Leviathan mumbled dryly as he pushed himself up onto his soon to be bruised limbs, “Maybe you shouldn’t have insisted on second breakfast.”

            “Nonsense!” Alice bounced up happily, “A girl like me needs her morning grub! Second breakfast is essential! And don’t you forget it! Now then, what’ve we got in this little slice of heavenly pantrydom?”

            “Don’t you mean this troublesome slice of a bad place to let a crazy ginger Pendragon drag you?” Leviathan followed Alice begrudgingly across the dimly lit room as she scanned each cold metal shelf for a food that she deemed edible.

            “What a fancy attempt at wit,” Horrace commented, “You shouldn’t try to be clever, Levi boy, it doesn’t suit you.”

            “Oh thanks,” he replied dryly as he looked over to the sprite, “I would choke you for that remark usually, but I doubt Lady Pendragon would appreciate it.”

            “It’s Alice!”

            Leviathan turned back to his ginger companion only to have a surprise tub of peanut butter hurtle towards his face—and he was without enough time to duck.

            “What was that for?!” he roared as he picked himself and his quickly crumbling dignity up off the ground and faced Alice, who stood next to him with her arms crossed in frustration. It might’ve been slightly disconcerting if not for the fact that her height forced her to look up at him like an eager child. “What?” he mumbled with a half-hearted smile.

            Alice took a step towards Leviathan and stared at him. “My name is Alice, Levi dear, not ‘Lady Pendragon’.”

            “Well my name isn’t ‘Levi dear’,” the boy pointed out, “It’s Leviathan. Lev-i-a-than. Are we understood, Miss Alice?”

            “Just Alice, Levi, and ‘Levi’ is my nickname for you, love, get used to it.”

            “We aren’t friends,” Levi spat and turned away from his freckled companion, “You don’t know me well enough to address me so casually.”

            “Man, you’re uptight as always, Levi.”

            Leviathan froze where he stood as the nostalgia in Alice’s voice won over; the words “as always” rang through his ears like an old melody long forgotten. He had yet to grow accustomed to the girl’s familiarity, and yet it seemed clear that she knew him. Why couldn’t he remember her?

            “I wonder how much energy it takes to be so serious all the time,” Alice continued behind him, “I mean, I’ve tried it before, but I’ve always found it immensely boring. You deserve kudos for being serious so much. Of course, I’m far more likely to just take them away since you still don’t know how to have fun.”

            “How do you know me?” Leviathan turned back to her just in time to see her go rigid the way she had when she first heard his voice. “You keep acting so casual around me, like we’ve met before. How do you know so much about me?”

            “You don’t want to know.”

            “I do actually.”

            “No you don’t.”

            “Yes I—”

            “No you don’t!” Alice turned back to Leviathan and he caught a glimpse of the same terror he had seen in her eyes earlier. “If you wanted to know you would already know. You wouldn’t need to ask.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            Alice broke back into her normal blank façade and began looking around the pantry again. “We need to hurry up here so we can trot back to the others.”

            Leviathan looked back around the pantry and suddenly realized that Mary and the ifrit that brought them here were missing. “Where did they…?”

            “I think we were separated from them accidentally when you dived at me. Skimble’s been yelling at me on the spirit plane for a while.”

            “You can hear the spirit plane?”

            “Only if they let me in. Of course, unlike you, I tend to be nice to spirits, so they do let me into their communication plane far more often.”

            “There’s no need to be nice to spirits,” Leviathan mumbled as he looked over to the rather unusually silent Horrace.

            “Well, that won’t win you much approval with them,” Alice called out as she continued to search, “Even Horrace has quite the list of bad points to address about your attitude with him, and he actually likes you a bit.”

            “I thought I asked you to keep it hush hush,” Horrace finally spoke and Leviathan realized that Horrace had also been talking to Alice through the spirit plane.

            “You two were talking about me,” he clarified, “While I was in the room? Have you lost all your class?”

            “Well it’s not as if you can hear us, besides, your faults require some serious venting. Ah! Fantastic!”

            “What?”

            Alice pulled out a strange rectangular box from a shelf and hugged it. “Human breakfast! Oh thank you indiscriminate train folk chefs! You are the savior of young hungry mages all around the world!!”

            “That’s human food?” Leviathan walked up to Alice and stole the box from her arms. The strange scarlet exterior seemed impenetrable and it was unusually labeled with the words “Lucky Charms” and other childish pictures. “How is this edible?” he asked her as she took the box back.

            “Well you don’t eat the box it comes in!” Alice giggled and scampered towards the door, “Come on! We must find some milk to go with this fine delicacy!”

            “Stop being so chipper!” Leviathan complained as Alice began to trot out the door, “We might get in trou…” the boy trailed off as Alice bounced into a shadowy figure standing in the doorway, holding Alice’s silver disk and followed by Mary and two boys that must’ve been from the compartment next to them.

            The figure stepped forward and the light revealed a teenage boy already dressed in the spiritual mage uniform and armed with the prefect badge on pinned to his beige loose sleeved shirt. Most surprising of all though was how similar he looked to Alice; his bright orange hair appeared to be the exact same shade as hers and though the dim light revealed a much more elegantly contoured face than hers, he still appeared to have the same shade of dark green eyes as Alice’s.

            A smile broke out across the boy’s face and he spoke as if he had just found and abandoned pouch of coins. “Hello Alice.”

8: An Odd Little Train Ride: Alice

            Alice fell back as the prefect before her came closer to her and confiscated her discovered box of cereal. “No!” she whined, “Markyl! That’s my breakfast! Give it back!”

            Markyl held back the little girl by her forehead and studied the box. “How typical of you, Alice. I can’t count on you to behave for five minutes.” The boy forced Alice’s face up by the chin and she tried to ward off his glare with the best bambi eyes she could manage. “The dining car does not open until 11:00 o’clock, and there are no exceptions for hungry Pendragons. Are we understood, Alice?”

            “Can I have my second breakfast back now?”

            “Do these ears of yours work?”

            “Not when they hear you, can I have my breakfast now?”

            “Alice!” the young girl felt Levi tug her back by the arm and she turned to see a worried frown crossing his thin lips. “Don’t be rude, he’s a prefect.”

            “He’s my cousin,” Alice stated bluntly, “I refuse to listen to him.” Levi groaned and Alice turned back to the now thoroughly angered Markyl, whose strongly furrowed brow and clenched fists spoke enough about his lit fuse. “Can I have my breakfast back now?”

            “No.”

            “But I want my breakfast.”

            “You’ll have to wait until 11:00 then.”

            “But that’s nearly two hours from now!!”

            “So I guess you’ll have to be patient then.”

            “No! Second breakfast is supposed to happen now!!”

            “That’s it.” Markyl strode towards Alice and the little ginger immediately tried to flee from him only to be caught by the back of the collar. “I know someone who can get you to listen.”

            “Really?” Mary finally spoke hopefully, “Introduce me immediately!”

            “Well that sounds like a total downer,” the identical boys behind Markyl sighed together.

            “Please let me go,” Alice murmured as her cousin smirked at her helplessness.

            “No can do, kiddo. You’re in trouble.”

            Alice stared at Markyl a little longer and then squirmed furiously as he led her back to the fourth Jaspal Academy train car and up to the second floor.

            “You seem rather desperate,” one of the boys commented. Alice paused for a moment as they traveled up the stairs to the second floor and studied the boys strolling beside her cousin. The auburn haired twins appeared to be roughly a year her senior, and their rather ratty plaid button down shirts and ripped jeans gave the impression that they must’ve been the second year honors students, though their twinkling sea blue eyes and subtle smirks charted them out more as a couple of mischievous enigmas.

            “Names?” Alice asked quietly.

            “I’m Zach Castellan,” the first boy spoke, “and this is my brother Teddie.”

            “Hello,” the second boy continued, “so you’re the famed Alice Pendragon, eh? Not quite what we’d imagined.”

            “Expectations do tend to lead to disappointments, don’t they?”

            “A fair point,” Zach admitted, “but when every Lady Pendragon to date has looked like the Lady Pendragon before her, you tend to have an expectation.”

            “Well argued,” Alice grinned.

            “Why thank you,” Zach grinned back.

            “Well it was nice to converse with you Zach, Teddie. Now then…” Alice swung her body back and forth a little and then went right back in to struggling against Markyl’s grasp. “Let me go!”

            “As Mother would say, cool your knickers and stop giving me trouble,” Markyl sighed.

            “Auntie doesn’t forcefully grab me by the collar!”

            “If she did you wouldn’t struggle!!”

            “That’s because Auntie is scary,” Alice muttered and stuck out her tongue, “You’re just a meanie.”

            Markyl shook his head and threw open a compartment door three quarters down the hallway. “Tobi, you need to fix your twin again!” he announced as flung Alice through the doorway into the compartment where her sister sat across from a dark skinned kid with braided chocolate brown hair.

            Tobi addressed her with tired blue eyes and Alice let out a half-hearted guilty laugh. The ebony haired girl stood up and crossed her arms as she gazed at her sister sternly. “What did you do?” 

9: An Odd Little Train Ride: Rozalia

            Tobi didn’t like having to play the “mom” to Alice, especially in the presence of others, but when she was graced with the presence of her twin and several singed victims accompanied by their prefect cousin, playing “mom” happened to be the usual turn out.

            “Alice only wanted breakfast,” the guilty party mumbled.

            “You already ate! Dear Lord, Alice, we’re the same age! I shouldn’t have to babysit you!” Tobi rubbed her temples from the impending stress-induced headache, “I had hoped that you would let me have a normal, uninterrupted social life today.”

            “I didn’t bring me here,” Alice pointed out, “Markyl did.”

            “Oh don’t worry, I’m getting to that,” Tobi growled, “Markyl!”

            “Hm?”

            Tobi addressed her smug sixteen year old cousin with a solemn look. “What did she take?”

            “Why does that matter?”

            “Oh, it matters.”

            Markyl sighed and held out a red box in front of Tobi that she immediately recognized as human cereal. “Found her trotting out of a pantry with this. And him,” he added with a gesture behind him to a face Tobi knew all too well. The thin lips and slightly sunken eyes gave him away in a heartbeat.

            “Y-You must be Alice’s twin sister,” the boy spoke anxiously, “She mentioned you earlier. Nice to meet you, I’m Leviathan.”

            “Oh, the little Blynder,” Tobi feigned surprise, “That’s right, you’re in our year. How lovely. I hate you, by the way.”

            The boy’s icy blue eyes narrowed into a quizzical expression and the platinum blonde next to him furrowed her brow deeply. “And I thought your sister was trouble,” she hissed at Tobi.

            The ebony haired girl opened her mouth to reply but found her words halted by one chocolate colored hand from Joshua as he reached around her shoulder and nonchalantly placed his fingers over her lips.

            “Tsk tsk, I thought prefects were supposed to prevent conflict, not oversee it, am I right, Markyl Pendragon?” Joshua smirked at Tobi and she frowned momentarily before biting the hand covering her mouth. Joshua winced but kept his arm over her shoulder after he removed his hand. “I think your cousin is rabid.”

            “Joshua White,” Markyl grumbled, “to what do I owe this annoyance?”

            “You know my rules, dear Markyl, I don’t start pulling pranks—”

            “Prankster?”

            Tobi turned her eyes between Joshua and Alice nervously as a grin spread across her sister’s face from ear to ear, but Joshua just chuckled.

            “—until after we reach the Academy. Until then, I’m keen on a relaxing train ride with my new best friends.”

            “Who’s that now?” Tobi muttered.

            “Why you, of course,” Joshua smiled, “and Alice.”

            “Oi!”

            “No, I haven’t forgotten you, Zack, Teddie. Trust me.”

            “Who…?” Tobi tilted her head closer to Joshua and the identical twins he addressed came into view.

            “So my question, Markyl,” the dark skinned boy continued, “Why fuss over a simple box of ‘Lucky Charms’? It’s not as if the kitchen staff will miss it.”

            “She broke the rules,” Tobi reminded Joshua, “He’s supposed to reprimand her.”

            “You live with the two of them, do you not? How much would you bet that this is more about a family feud than a rule?”

            “Isn’t that not your business?” Markyl sighed.

            “Isn’t this interesting that you’re being owned by a third year?” Alice smirked.

            Markyl paused then dropped Alice abruptly and threw the box after her. “Fine, you win,” he sighed.

            “What?” Leviathan shrieked, “You’re letting her off the hook? Aren’t you a prefect?”

            “Aren’t you guilty by association?” Tobi seethed, “Try to be thankful before he changes his mind.”

            “In your case, that is,” Markyl added, “Alice is too stubborn to bother with.”

            “Great, the authority is rigged,” the blonde girl muttered, “Come on, Leviathan, let’s get out of here. Oh, and Alice.”

            “Yes Mary?” the little ginger sat up and addressed the girl as she walked out of Tobi’s hearing range and spoke again.

            “Oh, okay, I’ll use Skimble’s paycheck then.”

            “Alice!!”

            “Bye Levi dear!!”

            Tobi frowned as Alice scampered into the hallway and waved at the young boy’s departure.

            “Have a nice train ride! Sorry about your suit by the way, of course, I’m sure you have more! We should hang out again at the Academy!”
            “Rumor has it that the Pendragons and the Blynders are longstanding enemies,” Joshua murmured into Tobi’s ear, “Tell me, is there some sort of history between that boy and your sister?”

            Tobi’s eyes widened at the boy’s words and she glared at him. With a gruff shove, she pushed away Joshua’s arm and strode towards Alice. “Stop it!” she yelled as she grabbed the girl by the shoulders, “Just stop! Why are being so nice to him?! How can you? You know what they did!”

            “Levi didn’t do anything to Alice,” her twin whined, “He didn’t!”

            “That’s not true and you know it!” Tobi shrieked.

            “Stop it Rozalia!” The young girl felt Markyl’s hand yank her away from Alice and pull her up against his torso, “You need to calm down. Now.”

            Tobi gulped and looked up into her cousin’s solemn eyes. “You know he doesn’t deserve it,” she whispered.

            Markyl sighed, training his eyes back to Alice. “Hey you little twit.”

            Tobi looked back to Alice; her messy curls followed her head’s tilt as she looked up at Markyl.

            “Does Alice get second breakfast now?”

            “Yeah, and I can’t believe I’m letting you get away with it. Wait here, if you’re going to break a rule, you better eat that cereal properly with milk.”

            “Hold on.”

            Tobi jolted as the weight of Joshua’s arm fell on her shoulder again. “The goody two shoes Markyl Pendragon is breaking a rule? Maybe I should pinch myself and wake up.”

            Markyl smirked and tossed Skimble’s disk back to Alice. “You already said it yourself, Joshua, it was mostly a family thing. I wouldn’t have found her unless I was waiting for her to go rule breaking. That’s a bit too biased on my part.”

            “I agree with you so I must be dreaming.”

            “’Fraid not, but if try to use this as blackmail against me it won’t end well.” Markyl pulled out a bronze pendant from beneath his loose beige shirt and wrapped the leather band twice around his index finger. “Sylphie.”

            “Yes, my Lord.”

            Tobi fell back on Joshua as a cyclone encircled her cousin completely; within seconds he was nowhere to be found and the windstorm where he once stood had ceased.

            Tobi hoisted herself up to her feet and looked over to Alice as the little ginger rocked back and forth on her heels. “So I guess you get your second breakfast.”

            Alice glanced over at Tobi and grinned. “Of course, love, don’t I always?”

10: An Odd Little Train Ride: Leviathan

            “… and that prefect! To think he’d punish you for simply being there while he lets that little runt get away with trespassing, theft, and vandalism! I swear if that twit doesn’t pay for the dress she ruined she’ll be in for it! And to think she’d even suggest…”

            Leviathan sighed as Mary’s shrill complaints reached him. He didn’t care to hear her complain about Alice, or about the singed dress that no one else on the train would care to complain about and instead maybe see it as an improvement to the garment. Luckily the Sera Emine shrugged across its cloudy tracks loudly enough to muffle the sound around Leviathan’s window seat; not to mention how Horrace was already halfway into reading off the riot act to Miss Trytte.

            The young boy was rather happy about that—he didn’t want either of his companions to really notice him just yet. Did it make sense for him to feel so conflicted after one chance meeting with the unexpectedly familiar and witty Pendragon heiress? How had she known him so well when he couldn’t even connect her to a single memory? It scared him, the thoughts that somehow his mind was hiding Alice and everything he might’ve once known about her from himself. Would it?

            We should hang out again at the Academy!

            Leviathan clenched his hands in tight fists on his pants, but he couldn’t help but smile a bit. Spending time with Alice did seem like it could be some amount of fun, even if it posed a good amount of trouble. Of course, those chances of “hanging out”, as she had said, were slim; Alice would be a spiritual mage, and Leviathan was destined to be a dark mage. A frown hit the boy’s thin lips as he realized how the Opening Ceremony at Jaspal Academy would doom them to never be on friendly terms again.

            Leviathan sighed again, such was the way it would’ve been straight from the beginning. Blynders and Pendragons weren’t friends—that was common knowledge enough. He knew he would never be friends with Alice, and he had no problem with that. At the very least though, he could silently remember those distinct ratty ginger curls and the way she grinned at him even though she should have scowled.

            If fifteen minutes spent in the company of Alice Pendragon could entertain his memories more than every experience he had yet to have—well, it was all he could hope for; maybe Leviathan’s smile could even last him all the way to the famed Jaspal Academy. The very thought brought a brief chuckle to his lips that finally caught the attention of Mary and Horrace.

            “Something funny, Levi boy?” Horrace jeered, still rather heated from his discussion with Mary.

            “Nothing funny,” Leviathan murmured, “just odd. Rather odd, that’s all.”

            “What?” Mary inquired with a tilt of her head.

            “Ah… I see,” Horrace chuckled, “indeed. Quite odd, isn’t it?”

            “Am I missing something?”

            Leviathan turned back to the drearily blue sky with its boringly white puffy clouds and smiled for a childish grin that was aggravating yet somehow the only thing that had ever given him warmth. “Quite the odd little train ride indeed.”

11: Friends for a Spell: Alice

            Dusk rolled itself across the train cars of the Sera Emine playfully with twilight close at its tail and running fast. Alice could already see the first evening star in the sky as she sat by the table window and played with her supper.

            “Oh come on, Alice!” Tobi whined as the little ginger twirled her fork around in her hand, “Eat your food! What’s gotten into you?”

            Alice tilted her head at Tobi and then veered her eyes over to Zack. “How many desserts?” she murmured.

            “Fifty different kinds at the least,” he grinned.

            “I think I’ll wait to eat,” Alice announced immediately; as expected, Tobi groaned and the boys toppled over in laughter.

            “Alice, you need to eat your supper…” Tobi whined.

            “Man, kiddo, you are something else,” Joshua chuckled at Alice as he patted the ginger’s twin on the back, “I would almost feel bad for Rozalia if you weren’t so hilarious.”

            “I told you to stop calling me Rozalia!”

            Alice pushed her dinner plate of gourmet delicacies across the mahogany table as Tobi tackled Joshua and the two fell down upon the cold marble floor of the dining car.

            “Ooo, dinner and a show,” Zack and Teddie mused, “That’s nice.”

            Alice tugged at the twin’s sleeves while the spirit waiters tried separate Tobi from Joshua, and two sets of ocean blue eyes addressed her with a twinkle of amusement.

            “Yes, Alice?” Teddie smirked.

            “Pranksters?” Alice smiled hopefully.

            “Gee Alice, how’d you know?” Zack grinned and ruffled the little girl’s ginger mop.

            “After all, it’s not as if Joshua hadn’t already given us away this morning,” Teddie added.

            “Up to a bit of mischief of your own, are you?” they grinned together.

            “I suppose you boys work fancy and together, that right, loves?” Alice picked Zack’s hand off of her head and poked his extended fingers down one by one. “Mind if I have a go at helping out?”

            “How idiotic would we have to be to refuse your offer?” the twins grinned.

            “Absolutely daft,” Alice giggled, “Now how long before dessert begins?”

            “Will you please refrain from filling up on sweets?” Tobi groaned as she returned to her seat, “and I expect you to behave for at least the first week of school.”

            “Out of the question, love,” Alice smirked defiantly, “I already have plans. Try not to be such a damper on them, won’t you?”

            “Why do I bother trying?”

            “I couldn’t tell you, sis, ‘cause honestly I’ve been trying to understand it myself.”

            “So what are your plans, little Miss Alice?” Joshua chimed in.

            Alice looked over to Joshua as dusk finally fell off the edge of the train and twilight began to wrap the dark night around itself. “A co-op, for starters,” she stared blankly, “And a permanent little grouping, but best keep that hush hush.”

            “And how is this ‘permanent little grouping’ going to remain hidden from Markyl?” Tobi raised an eyebrow.

            “It isn’t,” Alice grinned, “but he won’t do a thing about it. I made him pinky swear it.”

            “That’s quite sound right there, I’m sure we have nothing to fear.”

            “And then had him sign a written contract. Complete with the Pendragon seal,” Alice added. Alice let loose a toothy grin as the eyes of her three companions widened immensely.

            “You got goody two shoes Markyl to agree to turn a blind eye to us?” Teddie confirmed.

            “As a prefect?” Zack added.

            “You are joking, right?” they said together.

            “No, I got him to agree that he wouldn’t reprimand us if we weren’t caught in the act,” Alice smiled, “and we won’t be, I can promise that.”

            “You can promise?” Zack repeated with an air of skepticism.

            Alice glanced over the auburn haired boy next to her and grinned; she knew for sure she could convince him, all she needed was one word. Alice inched over to Zack’s ear, her childish beam still plastered across her face.

            “Prankmaster,” she whispered, pulling away just fast enough to see the look on Zack’s face change from skepticism to excitement.

            “You serious?” he grinned.

            “Well if I’m not, then I suppose you can be skeptical,” Alice pronounced as a long awaited dessert tray arrived at their table, “contrariwise, if I am serious, care to take a swing at it?”

            “Which would be more daft?” Zach murmured, “refusing you or refusing The Prankmaster?”

            At this point, the three remaining table members froze as Zach revealed what Alice told him.

            “Ah… so you had him sign over The Prankmaster…” Tobi contemplated quietly.

            “Hold on, her claiming that she’s The Prankmaster is one thing,” Joshua mumbled, “but are you seriously claiming that goody two shoes Markyl was The Prankmaster before her? That can’t possibly be true.”

            “That boy’s never been in trouble,” Teddie pointed out, “or attempted to make any for himself.”

            “The Prankmaster is a Pendragon tradition, of course he played the role for a while. Of course, I’m sure he would’ve played it longer if it weren’t for Alice and her smugness.”

            Alice looked up from the pudding she was devouring and interpreted the tired expression of her sister. “I only begged him a little,” she admitted meekly.

            “I’m sure,” Tobi replied and turned back to the boys, “And it’s never only one person, Pendragon tradition or not. There’s usually a group behind The Prankmaster. Which is why Alice asked, I’m assuming. She’s recruiting you.”

            “So whaddya say?” Alice pronounced as she finished off her pudding.

            “Hmm… work with Alice Pendragon…” Joshua started.

            “Future queen of Hallow’s End…” Teddie continued.

            “And also The Prankmaster, the most legendary phantom prankster of the school who’s been around for a thousand years and has never been seen or caught?” Zach finished.

            Joshua shot his twinkling hazel eyes towards Alice and spread a simple smirk across his face. “How idiotic would we be?”

            Alice grinned as nightfall finally settled in across the train car. “Absolutely daft.”

12: Friends for a Spell: Ethil

            Ethil had since given up her search for the Pendragon twins as the train reached Jaspal Academy. Even in the cramped dining car, it seemed she could not sense their auras any longer; she knew not whether this was caused by the ifrit watching over them or Lucien’s incessant enthusiasm about the incident. She could’ve sworn the boy hadn’t taken a breath since she told him about them.

            “Do you think we’ll meet them in school? I’ve always fancied the idea of meeting royalty! How should I address them? Am I supposed to bow or salute or something else? Ethil are you listening?”

            “Considering that the train has stopped and nothing else can block you out anymore, I guess I am,” Ethil murmured.

            “Oh, the train has stopped hasn’t it?”

            Ethil smiled a little as Lucien began bouncing around the compartment to retrieve his carry-ons and hers. “Lucien, calm yourself,” she sighed as she stood and reached for her carry-on, “I told you, I can do it myself.”

            “But—”

            “Being a blind mage doesn’t make you a helpless mage,” Ethil spoke lightly, “I simply have my own way of ‘seeing’. For example, I know you have blonde hair, I simply have no idea what blonde hair looks like.”

            “How does that work out?” Lucien asked for what must’ve been the fiftieth time.

            “Call it a strange sort of premonition. It’s sort of like clairvoyance.”

            “Isn’t that sort of magic illegal?”

            Ethil glared at Lucien with her useless eyes. “Consider my options, Lucien. I’d rather be an illegal psychic than a weak mage.”

            “Point taken.”

            Ethil frowned and exited the compartment with Lucien close on her tail.

            “I didn’t mean to upset you, sorry.”

            “You didn’t upset me,” Ethil explained, “We’re supposed to go to the plaza for the Entrance Ceremony.”

            “Oh.”

            For the first time since supper, Lucien stopped talking and simply stumbled out of the train cars behind Ethil. She was quite grateful for that, as they were soon met with the cacophonous chatter of every other student in Jaspal Academy. It became hard for Ethil to “see” in crowds like these, everyone became so muddled together that she could only sense the larger groups. Ethil grabbed Lucien by the wrist on instinct, and the boy stumbled forward, his confusion made clear from his aura.

            “I thought you said you didn’t need help…” Lucien mumbled into her ear.

            “It’s hard to sense things when it’s this crowded and loud,” Ethil mumbled, her brow furrowed with embarrassment.

            “Do you want me to help you get to the plaza?”

            “Please.”

            Ethil could feel Lucien’s aura brighten up. “Very well, fair maiden, I shall assist you in these endeavors. Take my hand!”

            Ethil smiled and clasped her fingers around Lucien’s. “You’re awfully strange at times,” she commented as they continued walking.

            “You are too, you know. I’d say you’re probably just as strange as I am, actually.”

            “How so?”

            “Well, you’re blind but don’t have a walking stick, you never speak above a murmur, and most importantly, your carry-on was filled with sewing kits and voodoo dolls. You’re just a different kind of strange.”

            “What kind?”

            “You’re a quiet one…” Lucien chuckled, “Of course, your appearance in itself is also quite strange…wow!”

            “What?” Ethil halted as her friend stopped dead in his tracks in awe.

            “Look at that building! It’s beautiful!”

            “Oh, I’m sure,” Ethil frowned.

            “Look at it!”

            “Lucien, have you really forgotten that quickly that I’m blind?” Ethil waved her hand in front of her face to demonstrate.

            “You can’t ‘see’ it with your auras?”

            “I can only see the rough outline. I have no idea what it looks like.”

            “Oh. Hold on, I’m gonna go ask a prefect something, I’ll be right back.” Lucien let go of Ethil’s hand abruptly, causing the girl to find herself lost in the crowd once more and wishing she’d remembered to take her staff out of her carry-on. She did her best to say still in the smaller group of what was now presumably all first years, but it seemed that her stillness caused her to be bumped into from every direction until she finally got knocked over by a boy as he aggressively strode by.

            “Watch where you’re going,” he hissed as he recovered from his own stumble.

            “Typical Blynder,” she sighed, recognizing his aura at once, “No manners whatsoever.”

            “Maybe you shouldn’t be standing in the way.”

            A hand came from behind the blind girl and shoved her over again. She winced when her knees scraped against the stones beneath her; her hands were now bleeding a little from the second impact.

            “That was more than unnecessary, Mary,” the young Blynder said to the girl that pushed her.

            “She was being rude,” Mary scoffed, “It’s her fault for not noticing me.”

            “My apologies, Miss,” a voice sprung up next to the boy, “I’m afraid neither of these two have enough class to recognize a blind mage when they see one.”

            “She’s blind?” Mary laughed, “How’d you even manage to learn magic then?”

            “I suggest you don’t taunt me, Mary Trytte,” Ethil warned, “You either, Leviathan Blynder. You don’t want to get on my bad side.”

            “What happens when we get on your bad side?” Leviathan asked.

            “I happen!”

            Ethil could barely contain her shock when Lucien came up next to Leviathan, his arm likely over the other boy’s shoulder as he took in their surprise with pleasure.

            “You happen?” the voice beside Leviathan asked.

            “Yesss…” Lucien spoke in an eerie tone.

            “Are we supposed to be intimidated?” Mary sneered.

            “I want you to meet my friend, guys! Let me introduce you!” Lucien’s aura brightened and Ethil smiled as he produced the tool of his strange trade. “This is Mr. Firecracker. He really likes making big noises, being colorful, and most importantly, he likes being lit on fire! He doesn’t like it when people pick on his friends, and neither do I!” Lucien paused for a second and his aura became much more threatening. “You should know that, if you ever pick on Ethil again, I will stick Mr. Firecracker up your butt and light him on fire. Are we clear?”

            “Sorry,” Leviathan mumbled, “It won’t happen again.”

            Ethil smiled as the two scampered away and Lucien came over to hug her.

            “You alright?”

            “I could’ve handled it,” she murmured, “you didn’t have to help.”

            “Silly Ethil!”

            “What?”

            “Of course I have to help! What sort of friend would I be otherwise?”

            “Hmm…maybe you’d be a little less clingy.”

            “Hey!”

            Ethil laughed as Lucien began complaining; she was glad she had a friend like him.