Author's Note: My dreams have been weird lately, which helps in this story…

Chapter Five: Meanwhile

Claire of Espero walked the halls of her school, trying to find her next class- Basic Offensive Spells. It was a class she hoped would suit her, one that wasn't too much like the rest of the school's crazy subjects. She never wanted to go here, where her looks and her realm and even her name were subject of ridicule.

It was only the first day of college, and already it sucked.

Of course, what more had she expected from Cloud Tower?

She couldn't find the class, maybe because of those damn shifting towers and hallways, so she went to the dorm she shared with Dionne of Whisperia, who was (thank Dragon) probably in some class that she found without incident. Claire took out her cell phone, pushed it underneath her layers of strawberry-colored hair, and called her boyfriend back home.

It rang about three times before he picked up. "Hey, baby," he answered, his voice already calming her. At least until she added, "How's school?"

"Oh, it's totally awesome," she lied. "I made some serious waves in my potions class," They weren't exactly popular, but I made them, she tacked on in her head. "And hexes was really fun!" For everyone except me. Glad the teacher took away the donkey ears at the end of the class… "Plus, you should have seen the lunch. Everyone wanted to sit at my table!" After they kicked me out of the cafeteria and forced me to eat in the archives.

"I knew you'd like it there," Rei said, sounding self-satisfied. "Much better than that fairy school you wanted to attend, isn't it? See, this is why we should get married when you're out of school. I make better decisions than you do, you need me. And I love you, Clarissa. You are going by Clarissa, aren't you? Your real name sounds so…"

"Fairy-tale, I know. But, um, Zarathustra called me out on it. Claire of Espero… the witch of dreams."

"The witch of nightmares, Claire," Rei chided.

"Yep," she sighed, hoping she could somehow get the courage she needed to break up with him. "Claire, the witch of nightmares."

Dafne stared gloomily at the wall as she waited for Faragonda to call her in. She had already spent an hour with Griselda, being yelled at for "how much of a disappointment" she was to her mother.

She wanted to scream. How in the Shadowhaunt could she ever live up to her perfect mother? How many times had Mom saved the universe again? Psyche, guess what, Dafne didn't care. She'd never save the world. For one, her mom was still in the "biz," still rescuing the helpless with her awesome Dragon's Flame that Dafne didn't get. She told everyone she did, but she only had normal fire.

The girl fidgeted a little in her seat, tucking her skirt in a little bit. She may have been a disappointment to her mother already, just for being a weak, normal fairy, someone who would never be remembered as one of the great Guardian Fairies (it was why she was taking up the mantle of Eraklyon and not Domino). But she was not a liar.

Story had spelled her. One. Single. Word. And that loser fairy upstart who was more pathetic than she was had spelled the daughter of the most powerful woman in existence.

Dafne was going to learn that trick, and she was going to learn it soon. Or Story of Romula was going to pay very, very dearly.

Rainier of Melody was taking notes like a madwoman.

Her moms had almost not been able to send her away to college, and she knew that it would seriously help them out if she could get a scholarship for the next semester. It also might help if her deadbeat daddy would send in child support once in a while, but Mama (her step mother as opposed to Mom, her birth mother) always told her not to complain because if he didn't send in support, she didn't ever have to go see him.

A little part of Rainier wanted to. She looked mainly like her mom, she got her air powers from her mom, and she got her name from her mom honoring her mama. But there were the little twinges of things that she was curious about- her dark, dark purple hair that she kept up in a high ponytail, and her less-slanted eyes. She knew he had a family… she had a real, non-adopted sister (okay, okay, half-sister) and a little half-brother.

But Mom said he was a deadbeat, they hadn't even gotten along when they were married, that it was almost a relief when he cheated on her with her own best friend. Mama told her he would never understand the mission that they all had, the reason she was going to school in the first place.

Rainier had to become the top of the class at Cloud Tower, had to master the hexes and the levels of evil. She had to help purify this universe with her moms and her sisters… to get rid of all the people who would abandon their daughters, and any other deadbeats in this world.

Story walked into the cafeteria and found Morgan, Grace, and Lara at a table in the middle of the room. "Hey, guys," she said.

"Hey, Story," Morgan replied. "You get your schedule changed?"

"Yep." After some discussion with her grandmother, Story had managed to get into freshman-level everything. Everything except Spells and Comp. But it was a compromise. "I'm good now, for the most part."

"Cool, I'm glad. Oh, before I forget, you missed an announcement. Griselda said that because it was the first day, classes were cancelled for the rest of the day. Weird, huh?"

"Why's it weird?" Lara asked between bites of sandwich. "Maybe it's a usual thing. You know, save the sanity of the students."

"It's weird because they didn't do it last year, it's not on the schedule, and it might just have something to do with the Teacher that Wasn't last period," Morgan answered, leaning over the table and motioning the others in. "I'm a huge fan of mysteries, and let me tell you- this is screaming sinister."

"She can find something sinister in anything," Grace commented.

"Grace!"

"It's true. It's why I told you to leave your Nancy Drew collection at home."

"But honestly, doesn't this seem weird to anyone else? Maybe the professor was kidnapped by some evil syndicate."

"Maybe the professor got sick," Grace said firmly. "Now, lets stop with the paranoia and think about what we're going to do with our afternoon off."

"What about walking around Magix? I heard there are some great cafes and boutiques and even this awesome mini-golf place… we could all go together, check out the nightlife, and the early-afternoon-life, it'd be awesome!" Lara looked expectantly at everyone as she suggested the outing.

Morgan shrugged. "Well, it sounds pretty fun. Why not?"

"Yes!"

"What's the uber-excitement about?"

Lara smiled. "I don't like Alfea so far, it seriously sucks. But I never expected to already have two relatively-non-frilly friends… and Grace… who were okay with me by the end of the first day. I'm just a little happy for it, that's all."

Grace frowned, not sure whether that was insult or compliment, and Morgan smiled. "Hey. What are freaks for?" she asked as the new group got up to leave.

Character Review:

Claire of Espero: the witch of dreams. Her boyfriend made her choose Cloud Tower over Alfea, threatening to break up with her if she became a fairy. She doesn't fit in at Cloud Tower and is very uncomfortable with reinventing herself as a witch.

Rainier of Melody: the witch of air. Daughter of Musa and Riven, has an unknown stepmother. Her mother is gay and has a grudge against Riven that goes far beyond the norm.