A/N: Revised version of chapter 10. Please enjoy! :)

As Sylvia began to cut the cake into thick pieces, I mused about what Tristan had told me. Dragonspyre Academy … I'd heard of it, but in my eight years in Dragonspyre, I'd never actually seen the place. It was supposed to be one of the most elite schools of magic in the Spiral, harder to get into than any of the others, and one of the best places to study. The school of Death was extremely important there, second only to Fire. I'd heard of two of the teachers: the famous sisters who taught Death and Fire.

Ravina Blackwing was a widow, her husband the victim of the Dragon Titan's rise. Her sister Fyrina Bloodhand, had seen how devastated Ravina was by her husband's death and vowed never to marry. To seal the vow, she wrote it on a piece of paper, cut her hand from the tip of her pointer finger to the middle of her wrist, and signed the paper in her own blood. When the Undead invaded Dragonspyre, the two of them alone had driven the entire Undead army off the mountain, killed the leader, and buried most of the army under a rain of fire and ash. I wondered if Tristan had met either of them … luckily, I didn't have to ask. Donna did it for me.

"Hey, Tristan! If you go to Dragonspyre Academy, have you ever met Fyrina Bloodhand?" She stared at him eagerly.

"Yes. She teaches my strategy classes."

"Wow! That's so cool! You're so lucky! Have you met Ravina Blackwing, too? What's strategy class? What-"

"Give him a chance to answer, Donna!" Ashley laughed. The Pyromancer blushed, and I grinned.

"Professor Blackwing is Necromancy professor. Death is my second schooll. She also teaches solo combat. As for strat class … you do not have it?" We all shook our heads. Tristan looked confused. "Um … I've never had to explain before … Professor Bloodhand teaches how to be good at planning things, and how to arrange a battle in many situations, when we should use strong attacks or weaker attacks, when to heal … those things. I'm guessing you don't know solo, either … it is when we're trained to duel with and without magic when we're alone."

"You learn to fight without magic?" Brooke seemed shocked. "How is that possible? I thought magic was always more effective." She seemed reluctant to speak, although her curiosity clearly overcame her discomfort.

"Not always. If you are against a powerful magician, you don't want to duel with magic. Normally, the stronger someone is with magic, the worse they are at physical fighting."

"Weird …"

"The cake's ready! There's ice cream, too!" Sylvia started passing out plates with slices of cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream each. Brooke refused hers, shaking her head as she tiredly rubbed her eyes.

"Yum! Thanks, Mom," I said, digging my plastic spoon into the ice cream. For a while, we just sat in silence, eating our cake. Suddenly, Donna gasped.

"What is it?" Erica asked.

"We forgot to sing!" Donna shrieked.

"It's fine, really, I don't have a problem-" I started, but Donna shook her head fiercely.

"We have to sing! It's a rule!"

Sylvia smiled. "All right, Donna. You win. We'll sing. Happy birthday to you…" I blushed as they sang, hating being the center of attention. Almost immediately after the song was over, everyone dug back into their cake and ice cream.

-V-

When we had all finished the dessert and Sylvia had begun to clear away the plastic plates and forks, Donna bounced up and down in her seat.

"Can I bring you the presents?" She asked. I nodded, and the Pyromancer's eyes lit up as the smile filled her face. "Yay! Thanks, Alex!" She nearly jumped out of her seat and carefully inspected each present, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"Ooh, pick mine!" Erica laughed, raising her hand jokingly.

"Nope. Yours is next," Donna replied, giggling as she tapped the long, flat box wrapped in silver and black paper. "Ashley's is first." She picked up the large square box and passed it to me carefully. I peeled the white bow off the top and stuck it on my present-passer's head, laughing at her surprise, and then tore off a corner of the paper to peek at the box. It wasn't an average cardboard box, but rather a metal one with a thermometer.

Confused, I peeled off the rest of the wrapping paper and inspected the large, almost cooler-looking box. "Is this … an egg incubator?" I asked, noticing how warm the box's temperature was.

The Thaumaturge grinned and nodded. "You probably shouldn't open it, since the hot air would get out, but it's a ghost. I'm not sure what type; I just asked Tennant Wastelander; he was a Death student for a while, right? I kinda figured he'd know what kind of pet you'd like." She shrugged, and I laughed.

"I know Tennant, and you're right- he was a Necromancer until he dropped out about three years ago. He made a good choice- I love ghosts!" I smiled and hugged the box, wondering what kind of ghost it was. "I'm going to name her Blackhope."

"How do you know it's a she?" Brooke inquired, staring thoughtfully at the box.

"I just know. This is Blackhope. Thanks, Ashley!"

"Why Blackhope?" Erica asked curiously.

I grinned. "It's the name of a Grizzlehemain queen I've been reading about lately- actually, her name is Svarthå, which basically translates to Blackhope. She was this really awesome queen who led her army in war and actually fought alongside her- the first female warrior in Grizzleheim."

"That's pretty awesome."

"Isn't it?" Reluctantly, I set my ghost's incubator down at the foot of my chair and accepted Erica's package from Donna. I wasn't quite so careful with the paper this time, eagerly ripping it away as I figured out what it was. My friends all jumped in surprise as I drew the long silver blade from the black scabbard. The sword had a silver basket hilt, and it was engraved with elegant swirls.

"What kind of sword is that?" Tristan asked curiously.

"A Cutlass of Catastrophe," I answered, grinning. "It's one of the best Death swords out there, and completely to my taste. I've been wanting to get one since I was a Magus. Thank you, Erica! This is awesome!"

The scholar grinned, pushing her glasses up higher on her nose. "I also, uh, talked to Diego; he says he's willing to teach you how to duel with it, if you want." She awkwardly ducked her head.

"That would be awesome! I'll have to thank him later." I carefully re-sheathed the sword and propped it up against the side of the armchair.

The next present was an autographed copy of Dark Thoughts from Marcia; I also received a dark sprite pet from Destiny. I immediately guessed that the sprite was also a girl, and named her Lunetta, after one of the first Marleybonian Necromancers.

Evan and Tristan had worked together to get a present for me; Tristan had lent his friend some gold, and the Pyromancer had given me a custom-made amulet. "Oh, Evan …" I could feel tears starting to well up in my eyes. The amulet in the box was an exact replica of the Firesong Family seal- a dragon encircled by a ring of flames and musical notes- and it looked just like the one my mother had always worn. "Thank you." I immediately put on the amulet and hugged my friend.

In a small rectangular box was a set of 12 Death treasure cards bearing a note:

You and me, Marleybone Dueling Arena, 6:00 p.m. tomorrow.

-Sabrina Jadeleaf

"Wow. That was almost nice of her," I joked, receiving several laughs from my guests.

Malistaire and Sylvia had gotten me something I had been daydreaming about ever since I was old enough to buy a castle of my own: the Death House. Well, the actual house wasn't wrapped in paper, but the key was, an old black skeleton key that matched the spooky mansion perfectly.

"You'll have to furnish it yourself, though," Malistaire reminded me as I stood to hug him and Sylvia. I nodded, too busy smiling to say anything. It would be easy to earn enough gold to purchase a few things for my new house, but first I had to get my mount.

It turned out that I didn't even have to worry about that: standing just outside the front door, poking her head in through the window and biting on to a card that said "From Brooke, Donna and Heather," was the beautiful black dragon I had seen in the mount shop so many times.

"Oh my gosh … you guys are too nice to me!" I laughed, giving each of the three girls a hug.

"Hey, what are friends for?" Donna giggled.

"What will you c-call her?" Heather asked, turning her gaze from me to the onyx colored eyes of the dragon mount.

I paused for a moment before answering. "Bat."I pointed at the dragon's batlike wings and nodded. "Definitely Bat." My two hatched pets, Nightshade and Midnight, joined us in the living room.

"Hey, there's my special boys! You're going to have some company soon. That's Bat, and the two eggs that haven't hatched are Lunetta and Blackhope. I'm sure you'll all get along great."

I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day.