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Chapter Text

Hiro woke up on Sunday morning to find the infirmary blazing with winter sunlight and his body back to human again, but very stiff. He sat up quickly and looked over at Andrea’s bed, but it was blocked from view by the high curtains Hiro had changed behind yesterday. Seeing that he was awake, Flora came bustling over with a breakfast tray and then began bending and stretching his arms and fingers. 

“All in order,” she said, as he spooned porridge in his mouth. “When you’ve finished eating, you may leave.”

Hiro dressed as quickly as he could and hurried off to Mus Tower, desperate to tell Wart, Peter and Wendy about Andrea and King, but they weren’t there. Hiro left to look for them, wondering where they could have got to and feeling slightly hurt that they weren’t interested in whether he was human again or not.

As Hiro passed the library, Anne strolled out of it, looking in far better spirits than yesterday.

“Oh hey, Hiro,” she said. “Great job yesterday, you put Mus in the lead for the House Cup again!”

“You haven’t seen Peter or Wendy, have you?” said Hiro. “Or even Wart?”

“No, I haven’t,” said Anne, “though I think I heard Hunter mention something about them in a “gay room”? No idea what that is. Might have to check that out with Marcy later…”

Hiro forced a laugh, watched Anne walk out of sight and then headed straight for Vanellope’s game room. He couldn’t see why they would be in there again, but after making sure that neither O’Dell nor any of the professors were around, he opened the door.

“It’s me,” he said. Luz, Wendy, Peter, Willow and Wart were sitting cross-legged on the floor, while Gus concentrated on making a spell circle.

“Hey Hiro, didn’t recognize you without your overbite,” Peter joked.

“How is your arm?” asked Wendy.

“Fine.” Hiro squeezed in, closing the door behind him.

“We would have come to get you, but Gus wanted to get started practicing the illusions,” Wart explained. “Peter and Wendy told me this was the safest place to do it.”

“And Gus told me what was happening, so I asked if I could help,” said Willow.

Hiro started to tell them about Andrea, but Wendy interrupted.

“We already know, we heard Professor Eda telling Professor Plantar this morning. That’s why we decided we’d better get going –”

“The sooner we get a confession out of Boscha and Kay, the better,” snarled Peter. “D’you know what I think? They were so sore about losing the Questing match, they took it out on Andrea.”

“There’s something else,” said Hiro. “I got a certain visitor in the middle of the night.”

Everyone looked up, amazed. Hiro told them everything King had told him – or hadn’t told him. Peter and Wart listened with their mouths open.

“The way to the Cave of Wonders has been opened before?” said Wendy.

“That settles it,” remarked Peter in a triumphant voice. “Sir Ector must’ve opened the Cave when he was at school here, and now he’s told dear old Kay how to do it.”

“But that’s impossible,” said Wart. “Sir Ector’s never been to the Magic Kingdom. He’s a human without any magic. I grew up around him when he was training Kay, and he never said anything about the Cave of Wonders or trying to hurt any human-born witches.”

They had to admit Wart had a point.

“But that doesn’t mean Kay’s not in cahoots with Boscha,” Peter insisted. “It’s obvious. Wish King had told you what kind of monster’s in there, though. I want to know how come nobody’s noticed it sneaking around the school.”

“Maybe it can make itself invisible,” said Wendy. “Or maybe it can disguise itself – pretend to be a suit of armor or hide among the students. I’ve read about basilisks…”

“You read too much, Wendy,” said Peter. He looked round at Hiro. “So, King stopped us from getting on the train and broke your arm…” He shook his head. “You know what, Hiro? If he doesn’t stop trying to save your life he’s going to kill you.”

The news that Andrea Davenport had been attacked and was now lying comatose in the hospital wing had spread through the entire school by Monday morning. The air was suddenly thick with rumor and suspicion. The first-years were now moving around the castle in tight-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they ventured forth alone.

Luz, who had found something of a kindred spirit in Andrea and Molly’s unwavering optimism, was distraught, but Hiro felt that Edric and Emira were going the wrong way about cheering her and everyone else up. They were taking turns covering themselves with fur or boils and jumping out at students from behind statues, or pretending to zombify the other and “commanding” them to attack the first years. They only stopped when Hunter, apoplectic with rage, told them he was going to write to Odalia and inform her they were acting up again.

Even worse, word about the attacks had leaked to the outside world thanks to Andrea’s sudden disappearance from social media. Her father, who ran a big department store called Davenport’s, made a huge fuss about what happened to his daughter on the news. Several of the human members of the Magic Coalition Council who weren’t subtle in their bias against magic began using the attack to bolster their arguments against children learning to be enchanters. People began wondering if the Magic Kingdom was really as safe as they had once believed, with some parents considering taking their kids out of school. This only contributed to the tense climate around the castle.

Meanwhile, hidden from the teachers, a roaring trade in talismans, amulets and other protective devices was sweeping the school. Milo Murphy bought a garlic wreath he wore around his neck, along with some “healing” crystals, X-ray specs, and a rotting rat tail before his friends pointed out that he would still be in danger anyway, on account of Murphy’s Law.

“Yeah, I suppose,” Milo said, his eyebrows wrinkling in the middle, “but that would prove whether or not these charms are phonies, and save everyone else from getting scammed!”

In the second week of December, Professor Eda collected the names of those who planned to stay at school for the winter holidays. It took Aunt Cass a lot of convincing on Hiro’s part to allow him to stay at the castle again for Christmas. She relented when he expressed concern for his friends, though he had to promise to visit during spring break. Peter, Wendy, Wart, Luz, Willow and Gus also signed the list; they heard that Kay and Boscha were staying, which struck them as very suspicious. The vacation would be the perfect time to use Gus’ illusions to try to worm a confession out of them.

Unfortunately, progress was going very slowly for Gus. Though his stamina was increasing bit by bit, his illusions didn’t cover all the bases. Wendy found that out when Gus practiced illusioning her as a Felinus boy and her voice came out when “he” spoke.

“If I could figure out how to rope the voice into the illusion, it shouldn’t be a problem,” he said, wiping sweat from his brow.

Luckily, Wendy had held on to Metamor-Potions, and there was a potion recipe for changing one’s voice that was fairly easy to brew.

The difficulty lay in procuring the ingredients – the only place they were going to get them was from Yzma’s private stores. Hiro privately thought he’d rather face the Serpentine Sleeper than have the wizened potions mistress catch him robbing her.

“What we need,” said Wendy briskly, as Thursday afternoon’s double Potions lesson loomed nearer, “is a diversion. Then one of us can sneak into Yzma’s office and take what we need.”

Hiro, Peter and Wart looked at her nervously.

“I think I’d better do the actual stealing,” Wendy continued, in a matter-of-fact tone. “You two will be expelled if you get in any more trouble, Wart could be punished by his stepfather and I’ve got a clean record. All you need to do is cause enough mayhem to keep her busy for five minutes or so.”

Hiro smiled feebly. Deliberately causing mayhem in Yzma’s potions class was about as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.

Potions lessons took place in one of the dungeons. Thursday afternoon’s lesson proceeded in the usual way. Rows of miniature cauldrons stood steaming over small portable flames, along with brass scales and jars of ingredients on the desks. Yzma prowled through the fumes, making waspish remarks about everyone’s work.

Hiro’s youth potion was far too runny, but he had his mind on more important things. He was waiting for Wendy’s signal, and he hardly listened as Yzma paused to sneer at his watery potion. When she turned and walked off to bully Milo, Wendy caught Hiro’s eye and nodded.

Hiro ducked swiftly down behind his desk, pulled one of Peter’s Fantasy in the Sky fireworks out of his pocket, made a tiny circle with his wand and shot a flame spell through it. The firework began to fizz and sputter. Knowing he had only seconds, Hiro straightened up, took aim, and lobbed it into the air; it landed right on target in Boscha’s cauldron.

Lilith entered the classroom. “Excuse me, Professor, could I trouble you for –“

Boscha’s potion exploded, showering the whole class. Lilith threw up a blue bubble around herself. Students shrieked as splashes of the potion hit them. Boscha got a face full and began to shrink; soon there was a small pink three-eyed baby on the floor wailing hysterically. Kay blundered around as he grew smaller and his cheeks chubbier, while Yzma tried in vain to restore calm and find out what had happened. Through the confusion, Hiro saw Wendy slip quietly out of the door.

“Silence! SILENCE!!” Lilith roared. She slammed her staff on the floor, and a hush fell over the room. Even baby Boscha stopped crying. Lilith picked up the twisted remains of the firework and sneered. “Anyone who has been splashed, line up outside and I will escort you to the infirmary. When I find out who did this, I will personally ensure their expulsion.”

Hiro arranged his face into what he hoped was a puzzled expression. Lilith was looking right at him. He tried not to laugh as he watched Kay hurry forward, his oversized robes flopping about him. As half the class waddled to the door, Hiro saw Wendy slide back into the dungeon behind Lilith, the front of her robes bulging. He couldn’t have been more grateful for the bell ringing ten minutes later.

“She knew it was me,” Hiro told his friends after they hurried back to Vanellope’s game room. “I could tell.”

Wendy threw the ingredients into her cauldron and began to stir feverishly. “It’ll be ready in a fortnight,” she said happily. “Lilith can’t prove it was you,” said Wart reassuringly to Hiro. “What can she do?”

“Knowing Lilith, something awful,” said Hiro, as the potion frothed and bubbled.

A week later, Hiro, Peter and Wendy were walking across the Entrance Hall when they saw a small knot of people gathered around the noticeboard, reading a piece of paper that had just been pinned up. Penny Proud beckoned them over, looking excited.

“They’re starting a Wizard’s Duel Club!” said Penny. “The first meeting’s tonight! I wouldn’t mind dueling lessons, a girl’s gotta learn to defend herself these days…”

“What, you think the Serpentine Sleeper can duel?” said Peter, but he too read the sign with interest.

“Could come in handy,” Wart said to Hiro and Wendy as they went into dinner. “Wanna go?”

They were all for it, so at eight o’clock that evening they hurried back to the Great Hall. The dining tables had vanished and a huge golden circle was painted in the center of the room. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and staffs and looking excited.

“I wonder who’ll be teaching us?” said Wart, as they edged into the chattering crowd. “Someone told me Merlin was a master at wizard duels, maybe it’ll be him.”

“As long as it’s not –” Hiro began, but he ended on a groan: Maui made his way into the center of the circle accompanied by none other than Lilith and Eda.

Maui waved an arm for silence and called, “Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Great! Now, Professor Merlin has granted me permission to start this little Dueling Club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions – for full details, see my published works. Let me introduce my assistants, Professors Eda and Lilith Clawthorne.”

“I am your colleague, not your assistant,” Lilith hissed. But Maui ignored her.

“Now traditional wizard duels have the wizards change into different animals to outsmart and overpower each other. For example, one of them could turn into a bug to escape the other’s attacks –”

He held his hook in front of him. It flashed, and where Maui once stood there skittered a tiny brown insect. In another flash, he changed back again.

“But his opponent could turn into something to catch the bug –”

Maui flashed into a bright green iguana and shot out a long, sticky tongue to the oohs and ahhs of the crowd. As he reverted to his human form, he continued, “But our first wizard could transform into another creature that’s bigger than him and faster!”

He gave his hook another flourish and became a large brown eagle that soared above everyone in the hall. They all applauded as he transformed again midair and made a spectacular landing in the center of the circle. Maui was clearly pleased with the response to his demonstration.

“Thank you, thank you. Everyone got that? Great! Now I know most of you can’t transform yourselves yet, but don’t worry. Lilypad here has agreed to share some concealment stones that will let you try your hand at appearing as animals.”

“And be sure to return the stones you use at the end of this lesson,” said Lilith with an intimidating glower. “I’ve counted them.”

“Since not every enchanter can transform themselves, most duels these days involve casting whatever spells you can to get one over your opponent. Lily, would you care to demonstrate with me?” asked Eda.

“I’d be happy to, Edalyn,” Lilith replied, with more than a hint of smugness.

“Don’t worry, I’ll have Lily back in one piece when I’m done with her,” Eda bragged to the assembly.

Lilith’s upper lip curled. Hiro wondered why Eda was still smiling. If Lilith looked at him like that, he’d have run as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

Everyone could feel the tension in the air as Eda and Lilith walked to opposing ends of the circle and prepared for their demonstration. 

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine –

It’s the Wizard Duel Commandments!

It’s the Wizard Duel Commandments!”

Lilith banged her staff on the floor for attention:

“Number One –

The challenge: demand satisfaction.

If they apologize, no need for further action.”

Eda pulled Maui to her side.

“Number Two –

If they don’t, grab a friend, that’s your Second,

Your lieutenant when there’s reckoning to be reckoned.”

Maui joined in, addressing the assembled.

“Number Three –

Have your seconds meet face to face.

Negotiate a peace, or negotiate a time and place.

This is commonplace, these feuds rarely last:

Most disputes die and no one casts.”

Lilith took up the next part:

“Number Four –

If they don’t reach a peace, that’s all right

Time to prep your spells, get a healer on sight.

You pay them in advance, you treat them with civility –”

Eda butted in:

“You have them turn around so they can have deniability.”

“Five –

Duel while the sun is clear and bright,

It’s better you don’t die in the dark of night –”

Lilith took over:

“Number Six –

Leave a note for your next of kin,

Tell them where you’ve been,

Pray that hell or heaven lets you in.”

Maui, eager to be back in the spotlight, jumped back in:

“Seven –

Confess your sins

Ready for the moment of adrenaline

When you finally face your opponent.”

Eda and Lilith chimed in:

“Number Eight –

Your last chance to negotiate.

Send in your seconds,

See if they can set the record straight.”

Maui stepped up to Lilith, who had no seconds with her.

“Lilith Clawthorne.”

“Professor Maui, sir.”

“Don’t you think this quarrel with your sister’s immature?”

“Sure, but Edalayn ought to answer for her words, sir.”

“Just do what’s right, we still need a Defense teacher –”

“Now wait, how many here will suffer ‘cause Edalyn’s a showboater and ruinous?”

Maui called back to Eda:

“Okay, so we’re doing this!”

Lilith prepared her staff. It glowed ominously in her tight grip. 

“Number Nine –

Look her in the eye, aim no higher,

Summon all the courage you require,

And count –”

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,

Ten paces – FIRE!”

Eda and Lilith’s staffs spun circles of fire – Lilith’s was a bright blue, Eda’s was yellow and white. Both shot beams through the circles that met in the center of the room. The witches pushed back against the opposing spells, gaining and losing little more than a few inches at a time.

Lilith eventually pulled back her spell, sidestepping Eda’s and shooting another from her fingertips. Eda drew another spell circle on the ground and ducked behind it. Seconds before Lilith’s spell could hit her, a pillar shot up from the floor, taking the brunt of the force. Eda slammed the butt of her staff on the ground, and the floor tiles rippled out like waves, knocking Lilith off her feet and out of the circle.

Eda waved to the cheering students. Wendy danced on her tiptoes. “Do you think she’s all right?” she squealed through her fingers.

“Who cares?” said Hiro and Peter together.

Lilith, disheveled and growling, picked herself up. She glared at Eda, and prepared to fire one more spell at her sister while her back was turned. 

Fortunately, Maui stepped between them saying loudly “How about that, huh? Was that a duel or what? Let’s give them a big hand.”

Lilith quickly smoothed back her hair and awkwardly smiled at the applause. She cleared her throat.

“We will divide into two groups, one for animal transformation duels, and the other for offensive and defensive spellcasting. If you’re in the former group – only in the former group – please take a concealment stone from the box in the corner. Edalyn and I will come around to put you all into pairs.”

They moved through the two crowds, matching up partners. Eda teamed Wendy up with Jeremy, but Lilith reached Hiro and Peter first.

“Time to split up the dream team, I think,” she sneered. “Mr. Pan, you can partner with Miss Proud. And you…”

Hiro moved automatically towards Willow, Luz and Gus.

“I don’t think so,” said Lilith, smiling coldly. “Miss Hieron, come over here. Let’s see what you make of the famous Mr. Hamada without his flying robot. And you, Miss Park – you can partner with Miss Ashbury.”

Boscha strutted over, smirking. Aggressively walking behind her was a fashionable-looking tall Felinus girl with dark skin, brown hair and a gold necklace. She could have been a pre-teen magazine model, had it not been for the scowl marring her face as she looked Willow up and down critically. Willow gave her a weak smile which she did not return. Luz and Gus ducked out of Lilith’s line of sight before she could split them up, but remained close to keep an eye on Willow.

Meanwhile, Wart joined the group for animal transformation duels. He was paired with Amanda Lopez, a nervous-looking Anatis girl who kept fiddling with her concealment stone. Eda and Lilith soon split off from each other to supervise their respective groups. Maui stood a comfortable distance from the perimeter, keeping an eye on students who looked like they could use a friendly tip or two.

“All right,” Eda addressed the students using wands, “the goal for today is to practice disarming your opponents. Stick to using spells in your grade level. Second years, remember the grabbing spell from last week’s class, “Canaza”? See if you can snatch their wand right out of their hands!”

“And ONLY their wands!” Lilith shouted from the animal transformation group. “The last thing we need is another class stealing each other’s pants all at once…”

Peter found himself face to face with Penny Proud. She was shorter than him, and her curly black pigtails made her appear even younger than she really was. Peter glanced at his wand and gulped.

“Hey, um, no offense or anything if I hit you, right?” he said. “I know there’s no right way to hit a girl…”

But Penny only smirked.

“Then do it the wrong way.”

She waved her wand and sent some minor blasting spells his way. Peter narrowly avoided them thanks to his skillful flying. As soon as the shock wore off, he looked back at Penny, impressed.

“Not bad,” he replied, daring to fire a spell or two back, “for a girl!”

“Hey, I wasn’t the only girl on my old school’s football team for nuthin’!” Penny laughed as she dodged and retaliated.

Nearby, Wendy was trying to focus on disarming Melissa when she overheard Peter and Penny’s laughter. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t help but keep an eye on their duel. Something about the way Peter was having fun with Penny instead of her didn’t feel right…

Suddenly, her wand went flying from her hand into Melissa’s!

“Check, and mate,” Melissa said smugly.

Wendy fumed, “That’s not fair, I was…I was…oh, best two out of three!”

Melissa handed back her wand and the two duelled each other again. Wendy tried even harder not to think of Peter, or of pushing Penny out of the way so they would be paired together.

Little did she know Tinkerbell, who Peter had completely forgotten, was sitting on a sconce watching him and thinking those very thoughts as well. The dueling club was yet another event Peter had left her out of this year, as he attended the Questing match and Swinging Wake and was brewing up secret potions with his friends - and from her point of view, that Wendy girl clinging on to him every moment.  Her usual pale yellow complexion instead glowed a red so hot that if one saw her from a distance, one might think she was an ember burning free from the torch on the wall.

Things weren’t going so well for Wart, either. All around him he could see students changing into a variety of different-colored animals and attempting to outdo each other in speed, strength and size. He, on the other hand, was still waiting for Amanda to make a move. She kept muttering about what to turn into under her breath; her eyes scanned the room as if Wart weren’t there, taking in the overwhelming amount of choices before her and analyzing every possible outcome.

“Um, Amanda?” Wart called to her after what felt like an eternity of standing there. “How about I go first, okay? Watch me now.”

He whispered a spell and clutched the stone. In a whirl of stars, he became a little yellow and orange bird.

“Now it’s your turn,” he said encouragingly.

Amanda took a deep breath. “Okay, a variation on a cardinal or sparrow, I can work with this…maybe a common housecat? No, a larger bird of prey! There’s hawks and falcons, but those are to be expected. Plus I remember the whole thing that happened with you the hawk last year and I don’t want to reawaken any trauma, sorry. Is it too early to become an owl? Most species are nocturnal but how many come out to hunt after eight o’clock –”

“Yes, an owl, change into an owl!” cried Wart.

“All right, all right!” Amanda snapped. She held her concealment stone aloft…and then she froze.

“But what kind of owl? Snowy? Tawny? Barn? Eagle? Screech? Ferruginous pygmy…”

Wart slumped over and sighed. This was going to take a while…

Hiro and Boscha didn’t stop staring each other down since the moment Lilith paired them together. Eda, sensing the tension between the two, was smart not to take her eyes off of them, even as she ignored the other duels starting up around her.

“Okay, on my signal, you two take your paces, turn, then fire. Ready?”

“Scared, Hiro?” Boscha sneered beneath her breath.

Hiro merely smirked back.

“You wish.”

They turned and marched to Eda’s countdown.

“...three…two –”

“VETZILI!”

Boscha fired a beam of light at Hiro while his back was still turned. The blow sent him tumbling head over heels to the edge of the perimeter. Her callous laughter stung Hiro more than the scrapes and bruises, however. He shot to his feet and yelled, his wand pointed at Boscha, “BLAZE!”

A streak of fiery yellow light shot from Hiro’s wand at Boscha. She sidestepped it, though the spell singed the strands of hair framing her face as it wooshed past. It struck one of the support beams, leaving a deep, crumbling gouge in the stone column.

“Hold it, hold it! I said disarm only!” Eda yelled over the clamor.

“To hell with this!” screeched Boscha. She shoved her wand in her pocket, produced a flaming grudgby ball, and hurled it towards Hiro. He winced and instinctively threw his hands out to block the ball…but it didn’t hit him.

When Hiro opened his eyes, he saw the ball hovering in midair before him. It was twitching in place, as if it were a dog on a tight leash eager to run free. Hiro’s heart was pounding, his breaths came in and out quickly. He saw Boscha standing there, flabbergasted. But Hiro felt nothing but anger towards her. He thrust his hands in her direction and the ball instantly reversed course, zooming towards Boscha far too fast for her to even attempt to defend herself.

Luckily for her, a golden translucent shield formed between Boscha and the ball a split-second before it could smash into her face. Hiro glanced to his left; Eda held her staff out, its eyes glowing ominously. As she lowered it, so too did the shield until it disappeared completely. Eda turned to Hiro, who immediately began to panic.

“Professor, I-I didn’t mean…I mean she was gonna…”

Eda placed a soft hand on Hiro’s shoulder.

“Woah, it’s okay. Deep breaths, kid. Don’t let the emotional magic drive you crazier than it has already,” she said with a warm smile.

Hiro was confused, but he did as he was told. A few deep, slow breaths later, and he didn’t feel quite as upset as before.

“Um…emotional magic, professor?” he asked.

Eda nodded, as if she were expecting this question.

“All young enchanters are born with an incredible affinity for magic that builds up inside of them. It binds to their very heart and soul. That magic tends to come out in unexpected ways, usually when the enchanter is under stress or their emotions are high. That’s how those weird, supposedly unexplainable things happen to future students before they get enrolled here. Over time, that emotional magic dwindles due to age and learning how to control it. And those who never learn how or try to suppress it instead…well, Elsa can tell you a thing or two about that.”

Eda then noticed Willow had also foregone her wand by this point and was chasing Ashbury around in circles with vines ripping through the floor.

“Case in point,” she muttered.

She wasn’t the only one who realized the duels were getting out of hand by now. Lilith and Maui were trying to grab the attention of the animal duellers, who – thanks to one transformed student stepping on another and causing a ripple of retaliation and roars of pain all around – had turned all on each other in a frenzy of fur and feathers.

The only ones doing nothing were Wart, who was lying near-comatose face-down on the floor, and a still-untransformed Amanda.

“A bird dog? No, bird dogs don’t go after birds of the Order Passeriformes…of course if I really wanted to be the biggest danger to a bird, I’d become some form of pesticide or pollution or climate change. Or maybe something that could destroy their habitat. A giant bulldozer, perhaps? Oh, there’s so many directions I could go…”

“All right, new plan!” shouted Eda. “Maui, think you can cool down these kids real quick?”

“On it!” With a twirl of his hook, Maui flashed into a blue whale nearly as high as the ceiling. He aimed his blowhole at the group, and –

FWOOOOSH!!

A blast of water hit the stunned animals; they forgot all about their fighting as they rolled with and struggled against the sudden tide. The students – some still animals, some having lost their concealment stones in the deluge – washed up, coughing and soaked to the bone, against the opposite wall.

An orange banana-shaped beak popped out of one lion’s mouth. “Phw! Good timing, professor!” it said. The lion spat out a parrot onto the floor. The parrot released a concealment stone tucked under its wing, and it changed back into a drool-drenched Milo Murphy. A little yellow and brown-spotted dog waddled up to Milo and began to lick away at him.

“Diogee, go home,” Milo said warmly but firmly, pointing to the door. “He’s not supposed to be at the dueling club.”

“Thanks, Maui,” Eda said, before turning to the students. “Now that I have everyone’s attention, here’s how it’s gonna go down. If you want a new partner, line up in front of me –”

Everyone was quick to line up before Eda and get a new dueling partner before the words had left her mouth.

Luz was shuffled back and forth amid the throng when she bumped into none other than Amity.

“Hey, watch where you – oh, it’s you,” Amity said with a hint of annoyance.

“Uh, hey Amity,” said Luz shyly. “I know we haven’t really had a chance to talk after the whole wand incident...thing...but I hope you’re doing okay. Do you think maybe we could start over?”

She held out her hand but Amity smacked it away.

“Ugh, put that away! You got me in trouble, and I never get in trouble.”

“Well, to be fair, you did try to zap me after I accidentally turned your hair pink in Charms class –”

“I don’t even know what you’re doing here,” Amity interrupted. “This club is for witches to learn to defend themselves, and you can hardly call yourself one if you can’t even hold a wand without something exploding.”

“Well, I'm still learning how to be a witch. I’m receiving personal magic lessons from a very powerful witch. She even trusts me enough to help her with some very special tasks,” Luz replied proudly.

Amity raised an eyebrow. “Like?”

“W-well,” Luz stammered, “she has me sorting and carrying rare artifacts around the castle, and mailing them out to, um, important witches and wizards she consorts with. It’s educational, and it builds my body strength so it can go to making my bile sac stronger.”

Amity wasn’t convinced.

“That’s not how your bile sac works, human.”

“Her name is Luz, and she’s twice the witch you are because she works twice as hard to be one!”

Gus and Willow stormed through the other students to stand beside Luz. Amity stuck her foot out as Gus approached and tripped him over.

“Oops, that was an accident,” she sneered, voice dripping with insincerity.

Luz glowered at her. “Why are you being so mean?”

“Because you and your friends are giving witches in training a bad name.”

“It’s one thing to say I’m not a witch, but it’s another thing to bully my friends!”

Their argument, however, was just part of the hall’s growing cacophony as students jockeyed for space and begged to be paired with students by name. 

“Perhaps,” Lilith’s voice rang out over the noise, “we ought to teach our students how to properly block spells before they practice their offense – that is, if our beloved Defense teacher hasn’t taught them that already.”

Eda’s eyes popped open wide as the message made its way to her ears.

“Oh…yeah…I was gonna get around to that…once I found where I left my syllabus…”

Lilith pinched the bridge of her nose.

“And Merlin wonders why I keep asking to replace Edalyn every year,” she muttered to herself.

“Not to worry,” Eda addressed the students. “It’s as simple as Clausanda!”

She waved her staff in an arc, and a translucent gold shield bubble formed before her. The students oohed and murmured in admiration.

“Now remember, it’s Clau-san-DA, not Clau-san-DRA. Don’t want to accidentally summon some poor schmuck from Zootopia,” Eda joked. “So, which group wants to try it out first?”

“Actually, I suggest we put on a proper singular duel demonstration between two students, instead of setting them all upon each other again,” Lilith said in a tone that made it clear she wasn’t suggesting so much as insisting that they follow her. “I even have the perfect candidate in mind. Amity Blight, would you come here, please?”

The crowd of students parted, and Amity proudly made her way to Lilith’s side. The students fell into hushed whispers; Amity’s reputation as a powerful up-and-coming witch had been well established by now, despite the mishaps on the first day of term.

“Amity has already made her way to the top of her class, with my personal guidance, of course,” Lilith purred. “She’ll make a fine apprentice, and an excellent duelist. Would anyone care to test their skills against hers? Anyone at all?”

Nobody volunteered. No one wanted to have Lilith’s prized pupil kick their butts in front of the whole school.

But one hand unexpectedly shot up.

“Amity Blight, I challenge you to a witches’ duel!”

The entire hall turned as one to gape at the challenger – Luz. She stepped forward, determination on her face.

“I am a witch’s apprentice. I am being taught by the greatest witch on the Boiling Isles. As The Good Witch Azura said when facing down her rival Hecate in the Bog of Immediate Regret, “Accept my challenge, or be branded a coward!””

Everyone gasped. Lilith merely sniffed.

“Ah, so you’re Edalyn’s special student. I hope the wand you brought today is yours and no one else’s. It’d be dreadful to have you sent to the infirmary in a matchbox,” she said with a hint of scorn.

“What’s the matter, Lily? Afraid my student will wipe the floor with your prissy little blue-blood protege?” Eda drawled back at her.

Lilith glared at her sister. “Your arrogance has always blinded you, Edalyn. While you’re boasting about your gory days and hustling human junk on the side, I’M mentoring the next generation of powerful witch students.”

“Just ‘cuz I don’t teach by the book doesn’t mean my apprentice’s not getting an education. She’s made of tough stuff, and she’ll kick you precious Blight’s butt from here to the Southern Isles.”

“Is that a challenge?” Lilith asked.

Eda grinned. “It’s a promise.”

Lilith’s eyes flashed. She turned to her student.

“Do you agree to this, Amity?”

Amity nodded. 

“Very well,” Lilith answered with a note of finality. “Everyone clear the dueling area and stay behind the lines. This could get messy.”

Students began making room for the duel. Eda and Lilith soon stood on opposite ends of the ring. Luz stopped Amity before they left to join their mentors

“One more thing, Amity,” she said. “If I win, you apologize to my friends, and admit that I am a real witch.”

“Fine by me,” Amity replied. “But if I win, you have to tell everyone here that you’re not a real witch, and…and you have to stop your training with Professor Edalyn.”

Luz paused. The stakes were high, to be sure. She was tempted to back down…then she saw the looks on her friends’ faces: Gus and Willow, joined by Wart, Hiro, Peter and Wendy, all watched in growing concern and hope.

“Fine. I accept,” she answered. “Let’s shake on it.”

She held out her hand, but this time, Amity drew a spell circle around it before shaking. The spell faded away, leaving a faint pale circle around Amity and Luz’s wrists. 

“The everlasting oath has been sealed. Let’s see what kind of a witch you are.”

A pit formed in Luz’s stomach as Amity walked off.

“You guys think I can do this, right?” she asked her friends.

“Of course you can, Luz,” said Hiro.

“Yeah, you go and kick her butt like Eda said!” Peter encouraged her.

“Just remember everything she’s taught you in your lessons so far,” Hiro continued.

Luz gulped. “About that….”

Eda pushed her way over to them. “All right kid, let’s run through some training exercises. Now, I’m comin’ at you with a fireball. What do you do?”

Luz shrunk down to the floor and tipped over on her side, curling up before them in the fetal position.

“Oh, that’s right. I haven’t taught you that many spells yet, have I?” said Eda. “It’s hard to get some proper spells done when there’s no bile sac and the wands aren’t responding to you…well, at least you didn’t make an everlasting oath to stop learning magic or anything. Then you’d be toast.”

Luz sat up quickly.

“I-Is there a glowy thing that happens, or…”

Eda sighed, “Ooh boy.”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to Amity, who was showing off her abomination magic to the other students while Lilith watched with pride. Luz groaned.

“Nooo, I can’t believe I’m gonna have to stop learning magic with you, Eda!”

Eda picked Luz up off the floor and put her arm around her.

“Listen to me, Luz. We’re not gonna let those snobs win that easily. We’re not gonna let them win at ALL! I've got an idea. Come with me.”

She ushered Luz to the other side of the circle.

“Good luck!” Willow called out nervously.

“Show her who’s boss!” yelled Peter.

“Do be careful!” added Wendy.

Gus performed a quick illusion spell and some sparkling blue words hovered above him: “Better Luck Next Time!”

“Sorry, I’ll get the hang of it! You know what I mean!” he said with an embarrassed smile.

Luz stood opposite Amity, her knees shaking.

“Eda, what am I gonna do?” she asked her mentor.

“Calm down,” Eda replied. She pointed to some of the tiles on the floor. “It might be hard, but see the tiles with those little red scuff marks? Get Amity to step on one, and it’ll set off a magic trap.”

“What?!” cried Luz. “That’s cheating!”

“I prefer to call it pragmatism. I planted them before we got started tonight so I could have an edge in duelling Lily. No one will know. To everyone else, it’ll look like you’re performing magic. Trust me.”

“But I’ll know, deep down in my heart,” Luz replied dejectedly. “Even if I win, I’ll still lose.”

“That’s the spirit!”

Eda pushed Luz into the circle. Luz took a deep breath, straightened up, and did her best to appear confident. She waved a little at Amity across the way. Amity looked at her, refusing to show anything other than cool self-assurance.

“She’s…brave. She knows she’s going to lose, but she’s doing this anyway,” she said quietly, reluctant admiration creeping into her voice.

“But bravery isn’t enough to win this duel,” Lilith told her. “You have the skill, the knowledge, the power, and most of all, the proper training. Go show them who the superior witch is.” She patted Amity on the back and sent her on her way.

The hall fell silent. The two girls approached each other: one cold and composed, the other fearful yet resolute. They turned, made their ten paces, then faced each other again.

Amity traced a large spell circle and cast it on the floor.

“Abomination, rise.”

Luz grabbed her old jewel-capped wand with both hands and pointed it at Amity’s circle. She expected one of Amity’s typically put-together gooey creatures to appear from it. 

Nobody – not even Amity, it seemed – could have predicted a gargantuan abomination, one more than twice as tall as Luz herself, to rise up instead, letting out a deep groan as the young witch’s magic brought it to life. The spectators reacted with awe and terror. A surprised gasp escaped Amity’s lips, but she quickly regained her composure.

“Now show me what you’ve got, human!” she taunted.

Luz’s arms shook as she took in the sight.

“I…I’m not good under pressure!!” she screamed. She dropped the wand and ran.

The abomination ripped its own head off with a sickening squelch and hurled it at Luz. By some miracle it missed, splattering those unfortunate enough to be close to where it landed. The onlookers closed in around the perimeter of the ring, leaving Luz cornered. The abomination, having regrown its head, lumbered after her, its footfalls shaking the room.

Luz was certain this was the end. She cowered to the floor, dreading the moment of imminent failure…until she noticed she was kneeling before one of Eda’s secretly marked trap tiles. The abomination took one more giant step forward, right on to the tile.

A towering jet of fire shot up from the floor, burning half the abomination into a howling, bubbling mess. Amity staggered back in surprise.

“How..how did you do that?!” she cried.

“Uh…magic?” Luz grinned, making jazz hands.

Luz’s friends cheered her on.

“Go Luz!”

“Yeah, she can win it all!”

“Keep going, Luz!”

“You got her on the run!”

“Show her who’s boss!”

Luz sidestepped the abomination and ran to another part of the circle. The abomination stepped on another tile in its chase, one that blasted wind strong enough to knock both it and Amity to the floor. Amity squinted at Luz through the raging current.

“I-I saw you that time! You didn’t use your wand OR your hands! What do you think you’re doing?”

“Not dying!” Luz shouted back. The abomination returned to its feet, but no sooner had it resumed the chase than it stepped on a third tile. It set off an explosion which blew one of its legs off. The abomination started to lose its balance. Amity ran forward, whether to catch it or regenerate its missing limb one could only guess.

But Luz screamed, “Amity, STOP!! Don’t move any closer!”

She could see what everyone but Eda couldn’t – that Amity was about to step on one of the trap tiles.

A flicker of realization came over Amity’s face.

“Why, Luz? What happens if I step closer?”

She glanced at her abomination, which was still fighting to maintain stability. With a rush of magic, she moved it in front of her.

Spikes burst from the floor and speared through the abomination, sticking it in place while it growled in pain. Both Amity and Luz stepped back in wide-eyed shock. Luz turned to Eda and mouthed “Spikes?!” Eda merely grinned and shrugged.

Hiro and his friends looked at each other and Luz in confusion. They could hardly believe what was happening. Amity’s cold mask of civility gave way to fury.

“You CHEATED!” she shouted. “I knew it! You were cheating all along!”

Luz begged, “Amity, no! Please listen –”

Lilith inspected the dripping spikes dripping with abomination matter. With no small amount of smugness, she announced, “Well, Eda, I do believe this means you lose.”

Luz continued to plead her case over Eda’s frustrated groans. “It wasn’t my idea, honest. I didn’t want to cheat! I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t –”

But Amity shut her down. “Who could believe anything you say?” she said, disappointment mingling with anger. Luz hung her head in shame. Amity turned to leave the dueling circle, unable to look at her a second longer.

And that’s when Eda saw it.

“Wait just one minute, Miss Protege!”

Eda marched up to Amity and ripped something off the back of her neck. Amity cried out and her hand instinctively flew to the spot.

“OW! What are you –”

At once, her king-sized abomination shrunk and shriveled down until it reached Amity’s knee. With a final gasp, it crumbled into dust.

Eda held up her findings: it looked like a brown temporary tattoo of a mountain range against the sky.

“A power glyph,” she said aloud. “The construction covens used these to boost their magic for complex creation spells. They were outlawed after the coven system was canned.”

The hall rippled with gasps and murmurs.

“She…cheated?” Willow whispered.

Amity’s eyes darted around the room. Her face flushed.

“I…I didn’t know…”

“Did not see that coming,” muttered Maui.

Eda laughed and pointed not at Amity, but Lilith.

“Ha ha! You cheated! Perfect prissy little Lilith cheated!”

“I only did it because I knew YOU would cheat!” Lilith growled back.

“Still cheated! Welcome down to my level!

“You’re making a scene! Stop it!”

But Eda was having too much fun rubbing it in Lilith’s face to stop.

Amity couldn’t take the whispers and stares and teachers’ shouts anymore. She turned and fled into the crowd.

“Amity, wait!” Luz ran after her, which wasn’t easy as students pressed around on all sides.

Hiro and his friends tried to follow her, but Lilith had finally had enough of Eda’s taunting. With one movement of her staff, she blasted a ray of blue energy at her sister. When the dust cleared, Eda was found pushed against the wall with enough force to leave her silhouette in the stonework. To everyone’s surprise, she merely tilted her head and smiled.

“Ah, there she is!”

Eda spun her own staff and sent a retaliating yellow and white burst back at Lilith.

“SPELL FIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!” someone shouted.

“Oh no, I’m not letting this get out of hand again!” Maui yelled back. But before he could intervene, everyone backed away as one to give the dueling witches more room for their sisterly squabble. Maui, swept up in the tide of students, lost grip of his hook. “Hey!” he shouted as it clattered to the floor away from him. Everyone was too caught up in the fight to stop and notice, however. Maui could only watch pinned to the wall opposite Eda and Lilith as they struck at each other with increasing ferocity.

Luz stumbled her way out of the Great Hall. She looked around hoping to catch a glimpse of where Amity might have gone. Luckily, she didn’t have to look far.

Amity was sitting crouched in a shadowy alcove, her head down on her knees and arms wrapped around herself. Luz quietly walked over and kneeled beside her.

“Amity…I’m so sorry.”

The green-haired witch turned her back on her. “Ugh, seriously? Just leave me alone,” she grumbled.

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” Luz replied.

Amity glared at Luz through watery eyes.

“That’s all you ever do!” she snapped back. “First on our first day of classes, and now this!”

“Yeah, but –”

“You made me look like a fool in front of everyone. The school, my professors, my mentor! Think of who else could have seen that! My whole future as a witch could be jeopardized because nobody would believe I’m capable of doing anything without cheating at magic!”

Amity stormed to her feet, her frustration and anger fully unleashed now.

“You think it’s so easy to be a witch! I have been working my whole life to get to the top! Nothing else mattered! NOTHING! And then you came along, all smiles and fake friendliness screwing it all up, even after I tried to help you. Well, I’m through with you!”

Luz quavered beneath Amity’s shadow and her tearful, furious gaze. The witch girl shuddered as she took a breath, and stared into Luz’s eyes once again with a more subdued rage.

“You lost. You cheated. Say it. Say that you’re not a real witch!”

Luz’s eyes turned to the floor. For a moment, the guilt and truth of her situation nearly overwhelmed her.

“...You’re right. I’m not a real witch.”

Amity gently closed her eyes and exhaled, satisfied with the admission.

“...But I’m learning.”

Luz got to her feet and looked Amity straight back in the eye.

“Every day, I’m trying harder and harder to make my own magic. Whether it’s through studying or practice, or even lugging things around for Eda, I’m giving it everything I’ve got. I don’t have a bile sac, or a wand that works. What I do have is a teacher who sees me for who I am and wants to help me, and some good friends who are there to support me. This school is way tougher than I imagined, but for the first time in my whole life, I feel like I belong somewhere. I’m not going to let it slip away or take it for granted. And I am going to earn my witch’s staff the hard way, whatever it takes.”

Amity stared back, awed by Luz’s determination. The two stood there in silence for a time when a crash and a rumble came from the Great Hall.

“Maybe we’d better go make sure Professor Lilith and Eda don’t kill each other,” said Luz.

They hurried back into the Great Hall. A powerful flash nearly blinded them as they approached the center of the room. Lilith and Eda were blown to opposite sides of the ring by their matched blow. Their expressions hadn’t changed – Lilith barely held back her anger and contempt towards her sister, while Eda looked like she was having the time of her life.

Eda spun her staff into a huge spell circle and pushed her hand through it, sending a beam of energy forward. Lilith avoided the spell and cast her own back at Eda. Rather than retaliate, Eda cast another spell circle on the floor. She raised her hand and a massive stone pillar arose, blocking Lilith’s attack as before. The pillar craned down to stare at Lilith with an owl-like face. Its beak stretched open and it struck at her like a snake. Lilith teleported out of its path in the nick of time. She reappeared a few feet away in a fiery blue blaze; the flames burned dangerously close to some of the students, who nearly caused a panic in trying to escape them. Neither Lilith or Eda noticed or cared, and the battle raged on.

One by one, smaller copies of the owl pillar emerged from its side, drawn out by more and more spell circles cast upon it by Eda. Lilith weaved in and out of them as they shot towards her, dodging with an inhuman grace when she could and teleporting away when she couldn’t. Despite her best efforts, she found herself surrounded by the owls on all sides. They all pounced upon her, but she disappeared once more into a blue inferno.

The owls scattered like hornets from a burning nest out into the crowd. One came charging out of control towards Amity.

“Look out!!” Luz shrieked. She tackled Amity and the two tumbled head over heels out of harm’s way. They came to a stop with Luz saddled right on top of Amity. The noise of the duel faded away as they regained their bearings and realized the positions they were in. Amity and Luz froze, their cheeks flooding with color.

“A-are you okay?” asked Luz.

Amity could only squeak.

“Oh sorry, let me help you up,” Luz said. She got to her feet and in one quick movement, brought Amity to hers. “Eda’s, um, “lessons” have made me a little stronger,” she explained. “No more noodle arms, heh.”

It took Amity a small eternity to form words.

“I…I could have shielded myself. I can perform shield spells just like that.”

Luz’s face fell a little.

“Well, it doesn’t come naturally for me like it does for you, so I improvised.”

There was no hint of malice or reproach in her voice, even though Amity fully expected it. It was a simple, factual statement.Moreover, Amity was well aware that Luz had just saved her life, even though she didn’t have to, even after the way she shouted at her and treated her.

Luz watched Eda and Lilith continue their duel, awed by the power and skill on display. It was the kind of magic, Amity knew, that she could never achieve if all roads to it were cut off from her.

Amity traced a small spell circle in the air, took Luz’s hand and pulled it inside. Their hands glowed, and the circle disappeared. Luz stared at her hand. The pale line encircling her wrist, and Amity’s, was gone.

“The oath is unbound,” said Amity. Luz’s eyes widened.

“...I can still learn magic with Eda?” she asked, hardly daring to believe it.

“Humans can’t do magic. It’s a proven fact. But I doubt that will stop you.”

Amity turned and left the hall. Luz watched her go for a long while, stopping only when the battle shook the floor beneath her.

The aftershocks of the latest blow dealt by either Lilith or Eda (nobody could tell who had the upper hand anymore) sent rows of students – including Hiro – tumbling backwards. Hiro tripped over an upturned box that previously held the concealment stones, which now lay scattered all over the floor. His hands nearly slid out from beneath him as he tried to gain purchase due to the stones slipping across the wet surface.

One smooth purple and red stone stuck to Hiro’s sweaty palm, but he hardly registered it as one of Eda’s owls struck the column that he hit earlier. This time, there was a shockingly loud CRACK! – and the column broke in two.

As if in slow-motion, it began to fall.

Students screamed and scattered as the broken beam hurtled towards them. In all the confusion, Jeremy didn’t see that he was directly in its shadow with no time to escape.

“NOOOOO!” Hiro cried, and he hurtled towards him. The world seemed to painfully slow down. Hiro could see Eda and Lilith halt their duel, Maui fighting his way to his hook, and Jeremy, horror dawning on his face as he realized the danger he was in. He willed himself to keep going, shoving everyone in his path out of the way. He clenched his fists, wishing with all his might that he could somehow be faster and strong enough to reach him in time.

Without warning, Hiro was speeding along the ground, weaving around skittish legs across the slick stone floor. In almost no time at all, he reached Jeremy and hurled himself at him. The force of the impact sent them flying out of the column’s path just as it came crashing down. A second later and it would have been too late.

Jeremy landed on the floor with an “Oof!”, and Hiro fell square on his chest. Hiro shook his head. Once he caught his breath, he asked Jeremy “You all right? You look a little dazed.”

Jeremy’s eyes were indeed out of focus. He blinked a few times before looking back at Hiro, then gasped. If he was terrified when he was about to be crushed, he looked utterly petrified now.

“No! Stop looking at me! Stay away!!” he shouted, thrusting his hands in front of him.

Panicked whispers rose from all around them. As Hiro faced the onlookers, most of them avoided his gaze; some shut their eyes and looked away, others hid their faces from view like Jeremy.

“What’s wrong? I-Is he hurt? He seems fine to me,” said Hiro.

Jeremy suddenly flung Hiro aside with one arm and bolted from the hall. Hiro hit the floor by a puddle; the students closest to him edged back in fear. He rose up a bit unsteadily, wavering back and forth.

“Guys, w-what was that a…bout…”

His eyes caught something moving in the puddle. He leaned in for a closer look. The thing moved with him, like a reflection. But it couldn’t be a reflection, because what was staring back at him in equally wide-eyed shock wasn’t his own face, but a purple cobra.

Hiro looked down and saw that he had no arms and no legs, just a long, thin body covered in purple, red and black scales. Somehow, he had turned into a snake without realizing it. He writhed in panic, gasping for air. The other students backed further away; some even screamed.

“No, no! What do I do?! HELP –”

Something coiled tight within him loosened, and with a flash, Hiro found himself laying flat on his back. He wriggled around for a moment before realizing he had become human again. He would have kissed his missing limbs if it weren’t for everyone there gawking at him in abject terror.

Thankfully, Eda stepped in.

“Okay, show’s over folks. We’re calling this a night…and a clean-up crew, while we’re at it. Next meeting to be scheduled for…whenever.”

Peter and Wart picked up Hiro by the arms, and they, along with Wendy, led him out of the Great Hall as quickly as they could. Hiro felt something fall from his hands as they went, but they were moving too fast for him to see what it was. As they went through the doors, the people on either side drew away as though they were afraid of catching something. Hiro didn’t have a clue what was going on, and neither Wendy, Wart or Peter explained anything until they dragged him all the way up to the empty Mus common room. There, Peter pushed Hiro into an armchair and said, “What the heck was that about?!”

“What?” asked Hiro, still trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened.

“That!” Peter replied. “The whole snake thing with Jeremy!”

“Don’t ask me, I didn’t even know I was a snake until a few minutes ago!” Hiro said.

“How did you do that?” said Wart. “I didn’t think Lilith was teaching anyone else self-transformation, especially on that scale – sorry.”

“I don’t know, I was just running towards Jeremy trying to save him and…the stone!”

“Huh?” came the reply all around. Hiro tried to explain even as his thoughts kept rearranging themselves in his head.

“I fell on top of the box of concealment stones and I think one of them got stuck to my hand. Then I was charging at Jeremy, wishing I could reach him in time, and then the stone changed me into a snake. That’s how I was able to go so fast and push him out of the way.”

“So that’s what you were doing!” said Peter. “It looked like you were attacking him at first. And then you were on top of him, staring him down…”

“Do you still have the concealment stone with you?” Wendy asked. “I hate to say it, but it would be easier to prove your intentions to other people if you did.”

Hiro turned over his palm. There was a fading red indent there in a perfect oval shape, but no stone. Hiro’s heart fell as he realized that was what he dropped as he left the hall.

“Well, so what?” he said, trying to convince himself that things were still fine. “It’s not the first time someone in this school changed into a snake, right?”

There was a very deep pause.

“Well, that’s the thing with snakes,” said Wart. “Profesor Lilith told me that most enchanters avoid taking that form because they’re really, really…bad.”

“Bad how?” asked Hiro.

“They’re vile, awful creatures,” Wendy continued. “There have been plenty of snakes infamous for their ability to hypnotize people. Oftentimes they would entrance their victims into a deep sleep so they could…eat them.” She shuddered at the thought. “It got even worse when Maleficent and the Villains were in power. They used those snakes as weapons, or symbols to spread fear. I believe there was even one Villain who could change into a snake like that. Nobody has ever trusted a snake since.”

“Yeah, and now everyone’s gonna think you’re the one going around hypnotizing people! ‘Serpent’, ‘sleep’? ‘Serpentine Sleeper’? Hm?” said Peter.

Hiro gaped at them.

“But…but I didn’t mean to…I was just trying to save him…This is ridiculous!  How could anyone think I’m the Serpentine Sleeper? I helped save the school last year! My parents fought the Villains while they were alive, and they would never –”

But a horrible thought struck him. No one really knew what happened the night Hiro’s parents died. All he had to go by was Zhan Tiri’s admission that they were trying to unleash something dark and powerful in the moments leading up to their deaths. But those were the words of a Villain. His parents were good people, and he knew that was part of what made him a good person, too. And if that was the case, then surely it was a coincidence that he changed into a creature with an evil reputation…right?

“I…I can’t anymore, you guys. I’m going to bed.” He pushed himself off the chair and hurried upstairs before they could stop him.

Despite his insistence that he was tired, Hiro lay awake for hours that night. Through a gap in the hangings around his four-poster, he watched the first snow of winter drift past the tower window, and wondered. Were his parents really up to something terrible before they were killed? Could he be a descendant of one of the Villains? He didn’t know anything about his mother’s family, after all. Aunt Cass couldn’t answer any questions about his wizarding relatives.

Then he remembered all the nasty thoughts and wishes he had this year; of how he wanted Bony and O’Dell to suffer and it wound up happening; of how Boscha made him angry enough to try to blast her with a spell hard enough to break stone and attack her with her own grudby ball; of how he could feel and hear evil things others couldn’t through his scars from Maleficent. Those were all things a Villain would do and think. His mind ran in circles trying to justify everything, but he always returned to the same conclusion: if he felt all these bad feelings and did all these bad things, did that make him a bad person? Could he somehow be responsible for everything happening in the Magic Kingdom?

Quietly, Hiro went to the boys’ bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror, trying hard not to blink. His eyes didn’t turn red and swirly. He didn’t feel hypnotized. Maybe he had to be a snake or use one in order to put someone in a trance.

‘But I’m in Mus’, Hiro thought. ‘The Sorcerer’s Hat wouldn’t have put me in here if I was meant to be bad…’

‘Ah’, said a nasty little voice in his brain, ‘but the Sorcerer’s Hat wanted to put you in Felinus, don’t you remember?’ 

Hiro slumped back into bed. He’d see Jeremy the next day in Venebotany and he’d explain that he changed into a snake to save him, not attack him, which (he thought angrily, pummeling his pillow) anyone with the brains of a flea should have realized.

By next morning, however, the snow that had begun in the night had turned into a blizzard so thick that the last Venebotany lesson of the term was canceled: Professor Plantar wanted to fit socks and scarves on the root vegetables, a tricky operation he would entrust to no one else, now that it was so important to find a cure and revive Boney and Andrea.

Hiro fretted about this next to the fire in the Mus common room, while Peter and Wendy used their lesson off to play a game of Maelstrom.

“For heaven’s sake, Hiro,” said Wendy, exasperated, as one of Peter’s ships blasted hers with tiny cannons. “Go and find Jeremy if it’s so important to you.”

Hiro got up and left through the portrait hole, wondering where Jeremy might be. The castle was darker than it usually was in daytime because of the thick, swirling gray snow at every window. Shivering, Hiro walked past classrooms where lessons were taking place, catching snatches of what was happening within. Professor Lillith was shouting at someone who, by the sound of it, had turned his friend into a badger. Resisting the urge to take a look, Hiro walked on by, thinking that Jeremy might be using his free lesson to catch up on some work, and deciding to check the library first.

A group of students from his Venebotany class were indeed sitting at the back of the library, but they didn’t seem to be working. Between the long lines of high bookshelves, Hiro could see that their heads were close together in an absorbing conversation. He couldn’t tell if Jeremy was among them. He was walking towards them when some of what they were saying met his ears, and he paused to listen, hidden in the Invisibility section. 

“So anyway,” Candace was saying, “I told Jeremy he could hide in our dormitory when he wasn’t in class. He’s not gonna spill the password, he’s no rat. If Hiro’s marked him down as his next victim, it’s best if he keeps a low profile for a while. Jeremy’s been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let slip to Hiro that he comes from a human family. That’s not the kind of thing you blab with the Serpentine Sleeper on the loose, right?”

“Then, you really think it IS Hiro, Candace?” said Stacy. 

“Stacy,” said Candace solemnly, “he turned into a snake! Everyone saw him staring at Jeremy right in his eyes. Remember what was written on the wall? ‘Keep your eyes open for the Serpentine Sleeper’. Have you ever heard of a snake who didn’t hypnotize people? Kaa, Sir Hiss, history’s full of them.”

There was some heavy murmuring at this, and Candace went on, “Hiro had some kind of run-in with O’Dell. Next thing we know, his dog was attacked. That streamer Andrea was annoying him at the Questing match and showed the whole world he got changed into a shark. Next thing we know, she was attacked. Heck, I’m surprised he didn’t go after Boscha after she kicked his butt in front of everyone last night.”

“He always seems so nice, though,” said Stacy uncertainly, “and, well, he’s the one who made Maleficent disappear. He can’t be all bad, can he?”

Candace lowered her voice mysteriously. The students bent closer, and Hiro edged nearer so that he could catch her words.

“No one knows how he survived Maleficent. No one even knows what his parents were doing at Bald Mountain. He was only a baby when it happened. He should have been blasted into smithereens. Only a really powerful evil enchanter could have survived a curse like that. That’s probably why Maleficent wanted to kill him in the first place. She was trying to destroy the competition. Wonder what else Hiro’s been hiding…”

Hiro couldn’t take any more. Clearing his throat loudly, he stepped out from behind the bookshelves. If he hadn’t been feeling so angry, he would have found the sight that greeted him funny: every one of the students looked as though they had been petrified by the sight of him, and the color was draining out of Candace’s face.

“Hi,” said Hiro. “I’m looking for Jeremy.”

Their worst fears had clearly been confirmed. They all looked fearfully at Candace.

“What do you want with him?” said Candace, in a quavering voice.

“I wanted to tell him what really happened at the Dueling Club,” said Hiro.

Candace bit her lips and then, taking a deep breath, said, “We were all there. We saw what happened.”

“Then you noticed that, after I changed into a snake, I saved Jeremy’s life?” said Hiro.

“All I saw,” said Candace stubbornly, “was you chasing Jeremy and staring straight at him.” 

“I didn’t chase him!” Hiro said, his voice shaking with anger. “I hardly even touched him!” 

“Yeah, right”, said Candace. “And in case you’re getting any ideas, I’ll be there to bust you the next time you attack someone. Just try to get away with it again. You’ll see.”

Hiro turned on his heel and stormed out of the library. He blundered up the corridor in such a fury that he barely noticed where he was going. The result was that he walked into something very large and solid, which knocked him backwards onto the floor.

“Oh, hi, Ralph,” Hiro said, looking up.

It couldn’t possibly be anyone else, as Ralph filled most of the corridor in his thick overcoat. A cluster of wilted, singed vines hung from one of his massive, gloved hands.

“All right, Hiro?” he said, pulling him up to his feet. “Why aren’t you in class?”

“Canceled,” said Hiro, getting up. “What’re you doing in here?”

Ralph held up the limp vines.

“I found another bunch of these vines on the grounds, dead like this,” he explained. “I know most plants are dead this time of year, but this isn’t natural. Either the winter fairies are too good at their job or it’s a sign of an incoming Firebird attack. I need Merlin’s permission to put up some charms around the greenhouses with Professor Plantar.”

He peered more closely at Hiro from under his thick, snow-flecked eyebrows.

“You sure you’re all right?”

Hiro couldn’t bring himself to repeat what Candace and her friends had been saying about him.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “I’d better get going, Ralph, it’s Transformation next and I’ve got to pick up my books.”

He walked off, his mind still full of what Candace had said about him.

“Jeremy’s been waiting for something like this to happen ever since he let slip to Hiro that he comes from a human family…”

Hiro stamped up the stairs and turned along another corridor, which was particularly dark; most of the lighting was out. He was halfway down the passage when he tripped headlong over something lying on the floor.

He turned to squint at what he’d fallen over, and felt as though his stomach had dissolved.

Jeremy was lying on the floor, rigid and cold, his eyes red and swirling, staring blankly at the ceiling. And that wasn’t all. In front of him was another figure – Scratch. He floated immobile, midway in the air. His jaw was slack, and his eyes were identical to Jeremy’s.

Hiro got to his feet, his breathing fast and shallow, his heart pounding against his ribs. He looked wildly up and down the deserted corridor and saw some hanging vines that normally covered these windows shrinking down into the darkness outside. The only sounds were the muffled voices of teachers from the classrooms surrounding him.

He could run, and no one would ever know he had been there. But he couldn’t just leave them lying here…he had to get help. But would anyone believe he didn’t have anything to do with this?

As he stood there panicking, a wide grin and a pair of rolling yellow eyes appeared over a gargoyle on the wall.

“And the momeraths outgraaaabe…”

The Cheshire Cat fully materialized on the gargoyle’s head.

“Why, it’s Hiro Hamada,” he said cheerfully. “Whatever are you doing out –“

He stopped with a startled gasp as he spotted Jeremy and Scratch. But Hiro caught a dangerous, mischievous glint in his eyes.

“You know, we could make everyone really angry about this…” pondered the Cheshire Cat. “Shall we try?”

Hiro shook his head. “No no no no –“

“Oh, but it’s loads of fun!”

Hiro ran to stop him, but the Cat dove over his shoulder, weaving in and out of the classrooms loudly saying “Attention, attention one and all! Hiro Hamada has a WONDERFUL surprise for you in the corridor! You won’t want to miss it, students and ghosts especially!”

And he disappeared cackling as door after door crashed open and people flooded out. At first it was just the teachers demanding the Cheshire Cat cease his tomfoolery, but the students’ curiosity had gotten the better of them and they turned out to see what was going on.

For several long minutes, there was a scene of such confusion that Jeremy was in danger of being squashed and people kept stepping through Scratch. Hiro found himself pinned against the wall as the teachers shouted for quiet. Professor Eda came running, followed by her own class. She whistled as loud as she could, which restored silence.

Molly rushed forward and tugged on Scratch’s arm.

“Scratch? Scratch, ol’ buddy o’ mine? You okay?”

Not an inch of Scratch’s blank stare twitched as she shook him. Molly’s grin tightened and tears filled her eyes.

“This isn’t funny, Scratch! I need you to wake up and answer me! Me, your pal, Molly!”

She collapsed into a fit of tears.

“Can we get some vital signs??”

“How?! He’s a ghost!” someone rudely shouted back.

A Canis girl holding a turtle gently guided the sobbing Molly away.

Molly wasn’t the only one horrified by the victims – at that moment, Candace shoved her way through the masses and, upon seeing Jeremy lying on the floor, screamed at the top of her lungs.

“NO!! Jeremy! Not you too! He was too young! Too cute! Oh, how did this happen, why did this happen…YOU!!”

She pointed with a furious glare at Hiro.

“Gotcha in the act, Hiro! Busted at last!”

“Quiet, Flynn!” said Eda sharply.

But Candace was still crowing over supposedly solving the mystery. “I knew it! The criminal always gets too cocky eventually and slips up! Someone call the police, the Magic Coalition Council, the FBI, the CIA, the MMC –”

“I said that’s enough!” barked Eda, and Candace stopped, though she still sent an acidic glare at Hiro.

Professor Plantar and Professor Lottie, the Astronomy teacher, carried Jeremy up to the infirmary but nobody seemed to know what to do for Scratch. In the end, Eda conjured a large fan out of thin air, which she gave to Candace with instructions to waft him up the stairs. This left Hiro and Eda alone together.

“Professor,” said Hiro at once, “I swear I didn’t –”

“Sorry kid, this is out of my hands,” said Eda sadly.

They marched in silence around a corner and she stopped before three goofy looking gargoyles.

“Man is in the forest!” she said. This was evidently a password, because the gargoyles sprang suddenly to life, and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two. Even full of dread for what was coming, Hiro couldn’t fail to be amazed. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase which was moving smoothly upwards, like an escalator. Eda ushered him onto it. “Thanks Victor. Hugo. Laverne.”

“No problem, Eda,” one of the gargoyles with goat horns said, much to Hiro’s surprise.

Before he could ask about that, Hiro heard the wall thud closed behind him. He rose upwards in circles, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy, he could see a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a lion’s head.

Hiro knew where he was being taken. This must be where Merlin lived.