I thank KatherineOzawa of Wattpad for helping me.

The image of a mirror was seen by Niho, its glass warping like ripples on water. Bright light filled the area.

A tall hedge maze stood proud and lush. One tree in the shape of a heart, decorated with white roses stood among others. But three soldiers, paintbrushes in hand, dripping with crimson paint, ran frantically around, muttering to themselves, "Hurry up and paint those roses red! Slather them quickly, as aforesaid!"

"Hurry, hurry! There are still roses left to paint!" The Ace of Clubs demanded, with worry etching his voice.

"They're painting…roses?" Niho raised an eyebrow in confusion.

A small girl appeared by the maze's archway. She had long blonde hair pushed back with a black ribbon, and wore a sky-blue dress with a crisp white apron on top. Matching tights and black mary jane shoes. Alice was her name.

"Why are you painting these white roses red?" she asked.

The cards looked at her as if she was talking gibberish.

The Two of Clubs was kind enough to answer, "Why you ask? It's quite simple. We planted the wrong color, you see."

"The Queen likes her roses red. If they're white, we'll lose our heads!" The Ace finished, shaking in his spot.

"Goodness." Alice walked around the area to see that they were telling the truth: red paint was slathered onto the white petals, and dripping onto the green grass.

"And so, we're painting the roses red." The Three of Clubs claimed and got back to work.

The scene faded to black as Niho mumbled, "By the way, where am I?"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Knock knock!

Those two thumps immediately woke Niho up. Her pajamas were rumpled as was her hair during her toss around in her sleep.

"I feel like I was having the strangest dream… was I in Wonderland?" she put a hand to her head in confusion over the dream that happened.

"Myaaah… Hey, Niho… I know it's the middle of the night, but I think we've got a visitor." Grim, lying at the foot of her bed, mumbled in his sleep.

But two more knocks after, it woke up the Creature.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he starts griping, "Maybe it's those pesky ghosts again? They just don't know when to quit."

Niho got up from the bed and fixed her hair so it was down and out of her messy ponytail. She made her way to her bedroom door and to the foyer to see who or what it was.

"Who would be here at this hour?" Niho muttered under her breath as she went to the front doors and opened it a crack.

"What?" she raised an eyebrow at whom she saw.

"It's me, Ace! Just let me in, all right?" He stood on the porch, shivering slightly.

She didn't since Grim peeked behind her leg and outside to see who it was for himself. "Ace? It's the middle of the night! B-bwah! That collar!"

True to his word, locked around Ace's neck was a black, red and gold heart-shaped collar. And by the look on his face, he seemed not so pleased about having it on. He started growling, "I can't go back to Heartslabyul House. I'm joining your dorm. For good."

"Myah?! Come again?!"

Niho was also taken back by his decree. "Get in here and explain." she waved him inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Out in the lounge, Niho sat on the couch as Ace took the chair.

"I'd recognize that collar anywhere. It's the same one that psycho stuck on me at orientation! What'd you do to get shackled with that?" Grim paced around on the top of the coffee table.

Ace looked away, embarrassed, and spat out, "I ate a tart."

"You…ate a tart?" Niho shook her head as if she didn't hear him clearly.

"Yeah, that's it! That's all I did! I was a little hungry, see, so I went down to the dorm kitchen and found some tarts in the fridge. Three whole tarts! Big ones, too!" Ace recounted his story.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

-flashback-

In the Heartslabyul kitchen, the glass cupboards were locked up, the fine china snuggled inside, the lights shut off, and all the utensils put in their places.

Ace cracked his neck as he walked to the fridge. "Man, I'm still tired from our little adventure. I missed dinner, too, and now I'm starving!" he opened it and scanned the shelves for anything to devour. "Got anything for me, fridge? …Whoa, score! Tarts! Those look amazing!" he held up a cake platter full of flaky and savory tarts, the red jelly gooey inside and glistened, even in the darkness. "And plenty to go around, too! No one would notice if I snagged one teeeeensy little slice, right? Of course not." He plucked the first one off the top and took a bite. His eyes widened at the taste in his mouth. "Mmph… SO good! I'm in pastry paradise right now!"

"Of course they're good. Trey made them. His tarts are always exceptional." a voice said behind him.

"Yeah, but I mean… These are CRAZY good! Like, he could sell these at-wait, Housewarden?!" Ace whirled around to see whom the voice belonged to, only to stop in his tracks when his eyes landed on the sovereign himself. In nothing but mussed up hair and silken pjs skewed.

Riddle crossed his arms, eyes narrowed into slits at the first year. "That you would think to touch something of MINE… Well, I'm impressed with your audacity, at least. But the Queen of Hearts's rule 89 is quite clear. "Never eat a tart without the Queen's permission." The theft of tarts is a serious crime! Off With Your Head!"

"Bwaaaaah!" the collar snapped around his neck as Ace screeched in pain.

-flashback end-

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"And…here I am."

Grim merely stayed silent as Niho let out a sigh.

"So..The point is that you're both terrible?" the weasel spoke up after a while.

Ace shot him a look. "You don't think that it's insane for my magic to get sealed away for eating ONE slice of tart?! For a mage, that's like having your arms and legs bound and shackled! And there were three whole tarts! THREE! It's not like he could eat 'em all himself! C'mon, you KNOW this is messed up!"

Niho nodded to humor him. "I guess…?"

That reaction didn't suit Ace, though… "What kinda wish-washy answer is that?!"

Grim tapped his chin with his paw in thought. "Yeah, but… I mean, if there were three of 'em, they were probably for a party. Maybe it was someone's birthday or somethin'? Lookit that! I'm, like, a master detective too!"

"A birthday party, huh…?"

"That would explain it."

"Man… I thought you'd be more sympathetic, Niho! I'm a victim of the housewarden's tyranny here!"

The girl shrugged subtly. "He may have been a little extreme…"

Grim finished for her, "But you stole food! That ain't cool!"

"Tomorrow, go and apologize." she ordered, staring Ace down.

"You don't go messin' with another man's meal… Hey, wait a minute! I just realized I never got those cans of tuna the headmage promised me!"

Ace sighed out, "All right, all right. Fine. I get that I should apologize. But you're coming with me, Niho. This was your idea, after all."

Niho nodded. "Fair enough."

The first year stood up and arched his back in a stretch. "Anyway, you got a place for me to crash tonight?"

Grim looked at him. "You were serious about that? Outside of the bedroom me and Niho use, this entire dump is buried under a foot of dust. So if you wanna crash, you better start cleanin'!"

Ace stuck out his tongue. "Dude, no way! I hate cleaning!" Then he flashed Niho a charming smile. "Just let me stay with you, Niho. I'm real slim. I won't take up much space."

But our heroine knew better than to trust a guy whom she just met. She stood her ground and chided in a nice tone, "Allow me to introduce you to the lounge sofa."

Ace's suave smile fell. "Tch. You're about as flexible as a brick. Well, fine. The sofa it is. Night!" he rolled his eyes and flopped onto the couch, curling up against himself for warmth. Niho just sighed to herself and made her way back to her room with Grim.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Niho woke up to find a neatly folded uniform on the armchair, with a pair of shoes and a hoodie, and a few supplies: pens and pencils, two notebooks and folder all tucked into a brown leather messenger bag, along with a small note from the headmage. She proceeded to get ready for the day.

Downstairs, pounding sounded on the front door, rousing Ace from his slumber.

"Duuude… Who is pounding on the door at this hour?!" he blew his hair out of his face, only to find that it wasn't hair: it was actually dust bunnies. "Bleah! Every hit kicks up a dust storm!" he spit off the dust in his mouth as more knocking was heard. He scrambled for the door, "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

He wrenched open the foyer's door to see his "buddy".

"I figured I'd find you here."

"Ugh. Deuce…"

The mentioned let himself in. "So, you ate the housewarden's tart. You really are an idiot, Ace."

Ace glared at him, "Oh, shut up! Like you're one to talk! Anyway, uh… Is he still mad?"

Deuce bit his lip as he shut the door politely. "Not at all. Maybe a touch irritated, if anything. A few of our dorm mates overslept this morning… But only three of 'em got your treatment."

That just made the ginger more pissed. "You call that 'not at all' mad?! Sounds like he's still on the rampage, to me."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

After exchanging their good mornings with one another, the two boys, Grim and Niho made their way into the school grounds. Niho had kept the black shirt from yesterday, and dressed in the grey hoodie for a bit more warmth, as well as to hide her real gender from prying eyes. She had the standard black and gold uniform on (making a mental note later to get her jeans washed after getting dirt and mud on them from last night in the forest), black combat boots, and her hair was slicked back up into the usual ponytail.

"Move it! Outta the way! Night Raven College student comin' through! Oh? Did my collar catch your eye? It is way better than the one you're stuck with." Grims started flashing off the grape-colored gem around his neck and made a sarcastic stink-eye at Ace. "You know, the one that makes it so you can't use magic? But hey, the school could always use another janitor! Bwahahaha!"

Niho shot him an unimpressed look, "Way to take the high road, Grim… So pathetic."

Ace clenched his hands into fists at the torment he got from a cat no less. "Grrrrr! Trust me Grim, when I get my magic back, your hide is first up on the chopping block!"

Deuce held him back by his arm. "Didn't the headmage JUST tell you yesterday, no more incidents? Regardless, you're not going to be able to participate in class if you can't use magic. So why not just apologize to the housewarden? It's a small price to pay for having the collar removed."

Red eyes widen at the realization. "Aaaaargh! I hate this so! SO! Much!"

"Hmm. Ya know, we do still have some time to kill before class starts. And I am kinda curious about the other dorms. Guess I'll go along and scope out the place while you make with the groveling."

"Since when did this become a field trip?!" Ace spat, walking ahead of the others in a fit.

Through the Mirror Hall they went: through a large mirror-like portal. Playing cards surrounded the rim with two lances crossed at the top, Bright orange lights with red crowns lit the pocket, a storybook with its pages open stood at the bottom surrounded by small mushrooms.

In a flash, the group was outside a tall castle colored ruby red and eggshell white, with the roofs black. A marble path led towards the castle, heart-shaped rose bushes planted on the green beside it, and a small fountain laid ahead of the path and open archway.

Grim gawked at the sight. "Dang, this place is swank! This is nothing like our dumpster of a dorm."

"Our dorm is a work-in-progress!" Niho scoffed, as she made a note to plant flowers and new trees to spruce up her dorm.

The group walked under the archway and into a green garden. A hedge maze stood in front of them, cleanly cut and spruced up. But what was most prominent were the hundreds of trees with familiar roses popped up and around. Some were still white while others were red, their proof of color change were several paint buckets of crimson liquid, their paint fumes wafting into the open air. And who should be running around with one paint can and a brush than another guy. He was taller than Deuce and Ace, but he had orange toned hair reaching his jawline, and the top portion tied back into a short ponytail, revealing leaf-green eyes, and a small diamond-shaped mark under his right eye. Like the boys, he had the school uniform on, except he was lacking the vest and had white keds for shoes.

He was muttering to himself, "Aww yeah, Iam getting my paint on!"

"Ah, someone's here." Grim walked forward.

"They all gotta be red, or it's 'off with my head'!" the new guy whispered as he ran from one rose tree to the other.

'I've seen this somewhere before… oh, right. From Alice in Wonderland.' Niho thought in her head, watching him carefully.

As if he sensed their presence for the first time, the guy turned to see the group. "Huh…? You guys need something?"

Ace pointed to what the newcomer was doing. "What are you doing here?"

The carrot-head guy followed what he was saying and answered, "Are you blind? I'm painting these roses red, duh."

Deuce gasped, "What? Why?!"

But the new guy walked closer to the two and inspected them carefully as a smile lit up his face. "Ah ha ha. So naive, you put the 'n' in newb. Hold the phone, I know you! You're the ones who broke a billion-thaumark chandelier and nearly got expelled for it, yeah?"

Ace dragge his hand down his face in anger. "That chandelier is gonna haunt us till the day we graduate, isn't it?"

But the guy's gaze lingered on Ace more. "And you! You're the one who ate the housewarden's tart that same night! You guys are THE hot topic around campus! I've gotta get in on this fleeting fame. I'm just gonna grab a selfie real quick…" Before any of them could process what was going on, the guy whipped out his phone and snapped a picture fast as lightning. "It's cool if I post this on Magicam, right? Gimme your names so I can tag you."

"I'm Deuce Spade."

"Ace."

"I'm Grim, and that's my henchman, Niho."

"I'm not his henchman. My name is Niho Shimoba."

A few taps at his keys and he was done. "Uploaded! Sweet. Oh, I'm Cater Diamond, by the way. I'm a junior here at Heartslabyul. But Cater is fine. Or Cay-Cay if you're cray-cray! Soooo nice to meetcha."

Niho was the first to greet him back out of politeness. "It's a pleasure."

Cater's eyes widened after seeing her. "Ah, you're the prefect of that so-called Ramshackle House dorm, right? Like, I can't believe you actually live there! It's all gloomy and looks like hot garage on Magicam. No filter could salvage THAT dump." He gave her a pat on the back.

Grim muttered, "Y'know, you've done nothin' but diss us here, pal!"

"It's a work in progress. If you hate it so much, maybe you can help me make it better." Niho glared at the third year.

"Gah, what am I doing? I don't have time to chat! The party's tomorrow. If we're not ready, it's 'off with my head'! Hey, you kids wanna help me paint some roses?"

"Yeah, uh… Why are you doing that exactly?" Ace still pushed.

"Because red roses are so much more photogenic! Or…something…? And after that, I've gotta start getting things ready for the big croquet tournament. And that means coloring all the flamingos." Cater brushed off and pulled the others to his work area.

"You're colorin' flamingos now? Isn't anything the right color around here?!" Grim mumbled again.

"Now it's coming into focus, Ace. That tart you ate must have been for the housewarden's birthday. That explains his reaction!"

"Hm? Oh, no, it's not Riddle's birthday."

"It's not? Then whose birthday is it?"

"It isn't anyone's birthday. Tomorrow is our dorm's traditional unbirthday party. It's a special tea party we throw when no one has a birthday-if the housewarden feels like it." Cater finally answered.

But that just made Ace all the more confused. "And why would you do that?"

Niho summarized, "It's basically this: every person born has one day: their birthday. That leaves three hundred sixty four unbirthdays, or the day's that are NOT their birthday, and every day is a party and you get presents and cake."

Cater seemed impressed by her knowledge, but was still frantic over the workload dumped on him. "Listen, I need these roses to be red. Like, yesterday. Can't you guys help out with magic or something? Oh, but Ace is on magical house arrest and Niho is a total normie, so you two better stick to paint." he handed them cleaned brushes and full paint cans of red paint.

"Recolor the roses with magic…" Deuce looked at his pen.

"Can't say I've ever done this before."

"Relaxing, it'll be fine. You got this! But maybe do it before I lose my head? K-thanx!"

Cater pushed two per tree. Ace and Niho at one, and he led Grim and Deuce to one a little aways from them.

"Time to paint these roses! Not pink! Not green! Not aquamarine! It's rose red or nothing!"

"I'm sure we can bang this out in no time flat, yeah?" Ace sighed and started working, Niho following him.

Deuce was still a worrywart. "I don't know if I'm much of a painter, but I'll give it my best shot!"

"With me on the case, this'll be a piece of cake! You! No slacking off, okay?" Grim chortled.

Niho muttered, "You do too, furbrain."

After several minutes, Deuce stumbled a bit at the start, but then he seemed to get the hang of it halfway through. "I think I'm getting the hang of this."

"Lookit me! I can get all of 'em at once! MYAAAH! …Myah?" Grim thought he had it under control, but ended up splattering the wrong color.

Cater took over and with one swish of his pen, the last of the roses, including Grim's mistake, were cherry red. "Nope! Gotta do it more like this!"

Niho, who had watched from afar, smiled slightly. "Color me impressed…."

"Nice one! Guess being a junior does count for Something." Ace gaped, nearly dropping his tools in the process.

"Thanks! Keep this up and we'll be done before you know it."

Later on, Ace and Niho were just about finishing their tree. Grim, who had learnt from his mistakes, finally made a few roses the perfect red color. "Did you see?! I got it red in one shot!"

"Yeah! Same here." Deuce showed off his work.

Cater gave a lil clap. "Lookin' good! Just smooth it out a little more and you'll be golden! The trick is to picture a real red rose in your head when casting."

"That really helps? Thanks. Red rose… Red rose…" Deuce cracked his neck.

Ace sighed with jealousy, "Maaan! I wanna use magiiic!"

"Red… Red… BAM! Wh-whoa! It turned blue!"

"Change, o foul color! Change! AHA! BWAH! The rose caught on fire!"

"Wow. You're even less competent than I thought." Cater chuckled.

"Yo, maybe you should just leave the roses white! They look perfectly pretty 'n stuff to me." Ace intervened.

"It's a matter of tradition. You can't have an unbirthday party without the roses being red. And you can't play croquet without seven-colored flamingos as mallets and a hedgehog for a ball. Oh, but of course, the roses need to be white when the garden flowers put on their spring concert. That's absolutely crucial."

"All your rules are completely insane!"

Cater turned to Grim, "They say the Queen of Hearts made up these rules herself-she was one of the Great Seven, you know. And Riddle is all about tradition. Probably more than previous housewarden's, T-B-H. I'll admit that he's, well…a bit extra."

Ace remembered why he was here in the first place. "Yeah, no kidding. I sure don't have time for this nonsense. Is Riddle here? I gotta talk to him." he dropped his things.

"Yeah, probably. But are you sure that's wise? Did you even bring an apology tart to replace the one you ate?"

Ace stopped before he could walk inside. "Uh, no…? I came here first thing in the morning!"

Cater's smile widened. "Ah ah ah… That could be a problem. Have you forgotten rule 53? "Stolen items must be replaced." If you're not in compliance, I can't let you in."

Ace spun around to look at him. "Are you serious?!"

"All dorm residents must obey the rules. If I let you slide, it would be off with my head next! I hate to say it, Ace, but I'm gonna need you to leave before Riddle spots you. Thanx."

"I…think this guy is for real. You guys, do something!" Ace begged.

"Why should WE do anything?" Deuce scoffed.

"C'mon, please! I can't use magic! Hurry, he's-"

Niho watched silently the battle that went down, and she didn't know if it was a trick of the light but she thought she saw more than one copy of Cater appear here and there. It went by her eyes too fast for her to see that the guys lost and were dragged out.

"Do make sure you bring that tart next time, m'kay? Buh-bye now!" Cater saluted and left.

Ace stood up in a huff. "Was that guy for real?!"

"We hit him over and over, but he just kept coming. Maybe he was using some kind of illusion magic?"

"So lemme get this straight: we walked in there, totally tartless, but this dude still made us do that whole song and dance before throwing us out? He just wanted to make us paint his stupid roses!"

"We sure look like a bunch of chumps." Grim nodded.

"I guess we'll just have to get an apology tart and come back. Maybe after class, we can- Oh no!" Deuce froze.

"What's wrong?" Niho asked.

"We already missed the first bell! We're gonna be late for class!" Deuce wavered and ran back to the portal, dragging Niho behind him.

"Myah! I don't wanna get a blemish on the first day of my glorious Night Raven education! Shake a leg, chumps! To the classroom, pronto!"

"Hey, so what class are you guys in, anyway? You're freshmen too, right?" Ace asked as they approached the portal.

"The headmage said we're in Class 1-A!"

"Hey, that's the same one I'm in. We got Potionology for first period." Deuce recalled his schedule by heart.

"Oh ho, yeah! That sounds awesome!"

"M-maybe I don't need magic for that?"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Period 1: Potionology

The first class of the day. In a science room, shelves lined full of beakers. Vials and jars filled with strange liquids and herbs and objects galore. Niho had on a long white lab coat over her uniform, black gloves and black-rimmed safety goggles on.

The Alchemy teacher, a young man who seemed to be in his late twenties to early thirties walks in. His hair dyed back on the right, white on the left, and he wore a fur coat and vest in the same scheme but inverted. Black dress pants and shoes, light skinned with silvery-blue eyes, which slammed the room. He dotted his name down on the chalkboard, which read, "Prof. Divus Crewel."

"Ah. You must be my new students. Hm, that's quite the unusual coat of fur. Do make sure that you arrive properly groomed. My name is Divus Crewel. You may call me Master Crewel. Now, take your seats. Class is about to begin. We're going to start with the basics. And by that, I mean beating the names and distinguishing characteristics of one hundred herbs and poisons into your tiny brains. The mycelia are another matter. But eventually, I'm hopeful you'll be able to take a walk without putting anything poisonous into your gaping maws. For now, I realize you have all the self-control of voracious hounds. But I will not abide a single student failing this class. Expect to be drilled accordingly."

Ace and Deuce took the lab table by Niho's. "Huh. So…does anyone know what a mycelia is?" Deuce asked.

Niho answered for him. "They're spore-producing organisms that feed on organic matter. One of them is mushrooms."

"Correct, Shimoba!" Crewel praised with a small smile.

"I've never been one for like, memorizing what things are, ya know?" Ace gagged.

"All I care about is how to tell the yummy plants from the yucky ones." Grim answered.

Niho flipped through the book carefully, scanning its contents and writing down what she needed. Even though she couldn't use magic, she could at least make a decent potion.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Out of their lab gear, next was History of Magic. This teacher was different from the last. He seemed to be in his 50s or 60s. Gray hair with silvery highlights and evergreen eyes sternly look on at the class, scowling and making the wrinkles on his face pop out more. He wears maroon colored robes, white gloves and a matching cravat with a green brooch in the center to pin, and dress shoes.

"I am your History of Magic teacher, Monzus Trein. And this is my familiar, Lucius. You are here to learn the rich history of magic, and how it sculpted the world which you now so easily take for granted."

"Mrrrrooowww…" Lucius, a black with white tipped fur on his chest responded.

"I grade based on classroom behavior as well as the quality of work. Don't let me catch you sleeping. Now, let us open our books to page fifteen. This section concerns the magestones discovered in the Dwarfs' Mine…"

"Mrrrrooowww…"

"As knowledge and awareness of magical energy began to spread across the globe from this point, this year is considered Year One of the Magic Era."

"Mrrrrooowww… *yawn*…"

Ace let out a yawn, feeling his eyes shut, but Deuce was invigorated in the subject. "Fascinating… "Dwarfs' Mine"… Mhm, mhm… "magical energy"…"

"Maaan… When do we get to the classes where we blow stuff up with magic?" Grim muttered, but Niho was reading on as well, carefully listening in on Trein's lecture.

'Their history is interesting.' she thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Third class was P.E. Niho's gear were black leggings, purple sneakers and a gray shirt. And the third teacher was way different than the last two. With dark bronze hair and cobalt blue eyes. Huge muscles ripped underneath a tracksuit of gold and red with red running shoes.

"I'm Coach Vargas, and physically educating your feeble little bodies is my responsibility. Great sorcery begins with a great physique! Behold the muscles you can build with a diet of raw eggs! A great mage needs a great physical constitution! So gimme twenty laps, and a hundred push-ups!" He blew his whistle.

"Bleah. The forced exercise is bad enough, but meatheads like this guy drive me nuts." Ace huffed as he ran alongside the others.

"It's true that pride in just muscles is annoying. That doesn't win over a girl, unless they're airheads and are blind to see what the guy truly is." Niho scoffed.

"Finally! A subject I'm good at!" Deuce offered.

"Explain to me the appeal of runnin' around in circles! Do I look like a hamster?" Grim complained.

"Hurry up, slowpokes!" Niho threw over her shoulder and ran ahead of them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The small break arrived soon after.

"Let's see, our next class is…" Deuce looked over the schedule in his hand.

"This so-called magic academy feels a lot like a lame, ordinary school. It's not exactly what I expected, but at least this collar won't be much of a problem after all." Ace nodded. "You with me on that, Grim? ...Hm?"

Niho looked around but saw no sign of him. "Huh? Where'd Grim go?"

"Oh! Look out the window! I just saw a ball of fur running across the yard!" Deuce looked out the window, pointing at a figure. The other two look out and see that true to his word, Grim was running towards the courtyard like his life depended on it.

"No way am I puttin' up with this boring routine day in and day out. I'm Grim, Sorcerer Prodigy, and I don't need no one to teach me how to blow stuff up!" Grim complained.

"He's cutting class on the first day?! That big baby!" Niho kicked the wall in anger.

"Buy, that guy is not a fast learner." Deuce shook his head.

"Not a good look to lose your only student on your first day as prefect." Ace took a moment to laugh, ignoring her simmering glare. "What help catching him?"

"Please, Ace! Please, Deuce!" she answered. But Ace wasn't done.

"I do love the chocolate croissants at the co-op." he said with a smirk.

"I'd do it for an iced latte at the cafeteria." Deuce joined in the teasing.

Niho wanted to clobber both of them so badly. "Grrrr…"

"Grim's getting away… Do we have a deal, or what?"

She let out a groan, "Done and done!"

"Pleasure doing business. Now, Deuce, shall we clean up the mess made by the worst prefect to ever set foot on campus?"

"I can already taste that latte, Ace."

Their victory was short lived when Niho got up in their faces, a deadly look in her eyes. "I'll show you who's the worst. Grim, you're gonna PAY!" She ran off, not waiting for the others.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

They had made it outside to see Grim sitting down on the concrete to catch his breath.

"Better head to class and be a good lil' Grim-lin if you know what's good for you." the creature leapt up and turned to see the three standing feet aways.

"Myah?! You're not really gonna haul me back, are ya?!"

"For freebie? I'd haul you back twice!" Deuce answered.

"What does that even MEAN?! No way I'm goin' back to those dumb, boring classes! You can't make me!"

Niho cracked her knuckles, ending him with a deadly look, "Oh, yes we will…"

They tried all they could to corner the creature, but just like the day before, Grim kept popping up in different places, making it more difficult to catch him. However, a few spells thrown had made him pretty tuckered out.

"Have you finally come back to your senses now?"

Grim panted out with a frown, "I said….I don't wanna!" he shot a fireball at them for emphasis.

Ace flew to the ground, covering his head as the fireball sailed over him. "Whoa, close call!"

"I'm sure I already said this before, but what an absurd personality…!"

After several more minutes of chasing him, they finally had him cornered. "Got ya!"

"Come forth, cauldron!"

However, to Grim's surprise, Niho leapt from the cauldron into the air and sucker-punched the cat in his face.

"BWAH!" he skidded across the ground, seeing stars from the attack. But once he regained sight, the only thing he saw was a foot on top of him, Niho shooting deadly lasers from her eyes.

"Alright! Our lunch is secured now!" the two shared a high five with one another.

"Now, Grim. Behave and go back to class."

"Mrrrah! I've had it with these boring classes!" Grim was stubborn as he tried to break free from Niho's iron grip on him.

"Then you'll never become a great mage!" she spat at him.

"UGH! When did you get all bossy?"

Niho's aura became increasingly menacing. "Since just now! Because of you, I have to pay lunch for Ace and Deuce. And for that, you have to pay me ten times the amount! And until you do, you won't get any tuna cans."

Grim shook at her aura and stayed obediently silent, not to invoke her hidden rage.

Ace and Deuce whisper to themselves as they follow behind her to their next destination.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The group made it to the cafeteria.

"Wooo! Lunchtime at last! Whoa! They got some good-lookin' grub!"

"Ooh, a buffet. That's fancy." Niho nodded approvingly.

"Look how fluffy those omelets are! Ooh, grilled chicken! And a bacon-and-egg tart!"

Ace covered his ears at the shrieking by him. "Shhh! Dude, inside voices! Where was this energy earlier today?"

Grim immediately started popping up all over, grabbing certain things he deemed edible. "Niho, grab me the grilled chicken! There's only one left! And an omelet too. And that jelly-filled bread. Just fill your whole tray with 'em! Ow!" But then he crashed into someone, who was sliding their tray forward, only to get jolted suddenly and nearly mess up their food.

"Hey! Watch where you're goin'! M-my carbonara! You broke the yolk!" the guy turned around and snapped at Grim.

"Whoa, that's messed up! Pokin' the egg is the best part! You better make this right, pal!" his friend sneered.

"I'm gonna need that grilled chicken of yours as consolation." the first guy smirked. Grim stood protectively in front of his food.

"Myah?! No way! Hands off the bird, chump! I need my protein, because I am HANGRY!"

"Hey! That's no way to speak to an upperclassman! Catch me outside and I'll teach you some respect!" the second guy spat.

"Um, excuse me, sir, but it said in the handbook that fighting with magic was prohibited…" Deuce reminded. But the two paid him no mind.

"Fighting? You got it all wrong. This is just me helpin' an ignorant freshman know his place."

"Now, let's see just how many ways there are to skin a cat, heh!"

However, the two were no match for Grim and Niho, fire based spells and a few rough and tumble strikes here and there made them back down.

"Whoa, didn't know you had that in you…"

"Look, I'm gonna let you off the hook this time, but only 'cuz I don't want my pasta gettin' cold." with that, they walked away.

"Pffft! I knew you were all talk! You better hope I never see you again!" Grim taunted.

"What happened to "no more incidents"?" Niho grumbled and left to get food for herself, as well as for Ace and Deuce.

"Can we just get some lunch already? I missed breakfast, and I'm about to collapse." Ace fanned himself.

"I can't believe this. Textbook bullies at an academy that's supposed to be famous for producing exceptional mages…" Deuce sighed.

Niho came back and resisted dumping the croissant and coffee onto both of them, but refrained from more trouble. She placed them beside them and took her spot at the table.

"Aw, get over it already. It's time to chow like the wind!" Grim started bulldozing through his food. "This omelet is as fluffy as a cloud, and practically burstin' with cheese!"

Niho focused on her calzone in front of her. The smell of melted mozzarella filled her nose as she cut into it, met with a warm wave to her face and the pungent smell of spinach, olives and pepperoni blended perfectly together. She took a bite and the flavors melted on her tongue in an instant: spicy pepperoni, softened spinach and olives and stretchy cheese all incorporated on her taste buds. She sighed through her nose and smiled with content.

"So I saw your guys' dorm, but what are the other ones like?" Grim spoke up from his food, chunks flying from his mouth onto the wood surface.

"I'm sure you're familiar with statues of the Great Seven? Night Raven College has a dorm themed after each one." Cater appeared with another guy beside him. He was a bit taller than him, except he had ivy green short hair, mustard-colored eyes and a small black clover symbol painted under his left eye. And had the standard uniform on him with brown loafers.

"Bwah! You're that guy from this morning!"

"You tricked us into paintin' those dumb roses!" Ace and Grim glared at Cater.

""Tricked" is such an ugly word. Do you think I wanted to spend MY morning painting roses? It's a dorm policy! I was just following orders." Cater corrected.

"And grinning like a fiend all the while." Deuce muttered.

"Now, now, Deucey. Outside of the dorm, I don't care what rules you follow. Here, I'm just a friendly mentor figure!" Cater winked.

"Please. Do NOT call me Deucey." the bluenette stuttered.

"Ah ha ha. That's how Cater shows he cares." the green haired guy laughed all the while.

"And who are you?"

"Ah, I should introduce myself. The name's Trey. Trey Clover. I'm a junior at Heartslabyul, like Cater here." he introduced himself and turned to Niho. "And you must be Niho, the new prefect from that dump of a-ah," he coughed to cover himself. "I mean, the "rustic" dorm. I heard the whole story from Cater. Thanks for looking out for our boys yesterday."

"Believe me: I've dealt with dunderheads like these before and they're the worst of the bunch." she rolled her eyes and shook his head.

"I'm sitting right here…" Ace scoffed at her backhanded remark.

"Hey now, we're all from the same dorm, right? Let's try to get along. Here, gimme your digits." Cater sat between the two first years with enthusiasm.

"I don't have a smartphone." Niho pointed out.

"For real? I've read about luddites like you, but never imagined I'd meet one in the wild! I know a place that sells the latest models, cheap. How about you and I go on a phone-shopping date?" Cater smiled cooly and placed his hand over hers in a suave manner, sending her a wink.

Niho slowly cept her hand away from his, freaking out a bit on the inside. 'Does he know I'm a girl?' she shared a look of worry between Ace and Deuce, who couldn't help but share their concern with her.

"Cater. You're freaking out the freshmen. Maybe take it down a notch?" Trey stepped in to calm her down and make Cater back off.

Cater caught on and held his hands up in mock-surrender. "Ha! Sorry! I can get a little extra sometimes. What were we talking about… The dorms, yeah? Ah, what fun to mentor new students! Go ahead, A-M-A."

"Before you get into the other dorms, I wouldn't mind learning a bit more about ours. Like, what's the deal with all this "Queen of Hearts rule number whatever" junk?" Ace started.

"I'm sure you're familiar with the legendary Queen of Hearts already? She had to rule over a kingdom of weirdos, and did it by emphasizing order and making strict rules." Trey sat next to Niho.

"Our dorm, Heartslabyul, is an homage to her. By tradition, we wear armbands with the red and black of the Queen's dress. And we live by the rules she created." Cater turned to the side to show off the striped ribbon and crest with it.

"Pfft. Can you make me any more bored?"

Niho didn't say anything, but continued to eat and listen simultaneously.

"Now, the degree to which we adhere to the rules depends on the sitting housewarden." Cater scoffed at the next part. "Past wardens have been much more lax."

"Riddle though? He doesn't mess around. Basically, you could say that we're honoring that tradition to the utmost extent possible." Trey added.

Ace gagged, "Bleah. Just my luck…"

Grim was invested in the topic. "So what are the other dorms like, then?"