In the week following their recent adventure, Julian couldn't stop thinking about what had happened to them. He'd gone back to that corridor on the third floor many times, risking raised eyebrows from older students. But there was no secret door in sight. Julian couldn't even find an entrance down in the basement, where they had exited the maze. It was simply a series of corridors and storage rooms, that eventually looped back to where you started. Strange for sure, but nothing close to what they had experienced. It seemed to defy what was possible with magic, according to Ellie at least.

'Teleporting someone around the castle like that, it's just impossible.' She explained one recess, they were sitting in in the central courtyard in between the blocks. An area that had become a usual hangout for their group. Even Yuko.

'Aren't there are ways of teleporting with magic though?' He had already read about magical teleportation at the first chance he had. 'Apparating, Floo-powder, Portk-'

'You think Apparating works here? You want to let just anyone in?' Ellie pointed out. 'They have charms placed all around the castle. Been there forever. Plus, Floo-powder only works if the fireplace is allowed.'

'Alright,' Julian admitted. 'Could you teleport somewhere else if you're inside?'

'No.' Yuko asserted. 'Charm applies for within too.'

'Obviously, it's not impossible.' Julian stated. 'How else did we get from the third floor to our level?'

'That's what I'm saying.' Ellie said, 'it doesn't make any sense.'

'But it did happen. Some kind of portal you think? Surely people have made those with magic.'

Ellie shrugged but then shivered. A cooler wind blew into the courtyard. The days had been growing colder. 'Let's go inside.' Yuko agreed. 'Yes, people have, but that's more advanced. Probably look at charm or transfiguration journals for that.'

'You're telling me it's only in academic journals and studies? No one has made a portal with magic?' Julian asked.

Ellie shrugged.

It was kind of baffling, whenever he thought of magic or superpowers in the past one of the first ideas that came to his mind was to teleport. Creating a portal seemed well along those lines. Before researching, he thought it must be somewhere in the wizarding world. Surely, anything was possible with magic?

The realisation that it didn't exist was disappointing to him. He briefly considered the possibility that if muggles learned about magic, they would have probably come up with something.

'What about Japan, Yuko?' He asked as they walked back inside the castle, the cold having picked up now, it had also started to rain. 'Is there anything different there?'

'I'm here, not in Japan.' Yuko said blandly.

Ellie laughed suddenly.

'Sorry, that caught me off guard, Yuko. That's the first joke I've heard from you.'

Julian knew for a fact that Yuko wasn't joking. But Ellie's comment seemed to be completely earnest.

Yuko frowned, confused. But after a moment, she didn't look so annoyed by her comments anymore.

After a weeks passed and they found their way into late May, Ellie and Yuko had grown more accustomed to each other's presence. Ever since helping with Ellie's essay, Yuko had taken to spending time with the two of them. She no longer scoffed at Ellie's comments and speech, at least not outwardly. Though Julian could tell that it wasn't something that she was used to. Typically, during lunch or in one of their practical lessons, Yuko would sometimes respond non-committedly after hearing one of them talk. At first, Julian wondered if she was keeping them at bay, like before. But this thought that went away, when one day Julian noticed an English dictionary poking out of her bag. He was glad at least they had stopped fighting about little things.

Julian's schoolwork had taken a backseat to a new interest however, that of Ancient Runes. Prompted by the strange door from the maze. He had to know what it meant. He'd been spending much more time in the library researching different rune types and attempting to translate. His lack of general knowledge in the subject made this process slow-going and almost impossible to understand. Even a book he found that appeared to be an introduction, seemed to require a basic knowledge in certain charms and principles that he had no idea about. He considered one day asking one of the Rune teachers when they passed him in the corridors but he knew he would have to explain where he found them. In the end, he felt he had not made any progress.

The part that was difficult for Julian was just how many runes there could be. There were as many types of runes are there were languages in the world. The worst part being that each runic language could be viable and combined in enough ways to create a customised array.

He wished Yuko would help, he'd read that Chinese and Japanese characters were the same as their runic counterparts. Which meant that she may have a leg up on understanding runes more than the rest of them. Not to mention, that she seemed to know more than the entire cohort combined. But unfortunately, his efforts at asking for her help were in vain.

As was clear from the start, Yuko wanted no part in reliving the excursion into the maze. Either out of a fear of the dark or being caught by teachers he wasn't sure. Her usual response being:

'It has nothing to do with us.'

'How could it not?'

'No one can get in. If anyone tries to get in through the basement, they have to go past, and get caught. Either by us or a teacher. If they get out, they have to come back the way they came. If not Terrascale, they will be caught. It's impossible.'

'You're not the least bit interested?' Julian asked.

'No.' Yuko said.

After an uncomfortable silence between the three of them, Ellie yawned. 'Which game you want? I'm feeling Exploding Snap.'

'Sure.' He rolled his eyes. It was becoming clearer that he would only be able to rely on himself to figure it out. He knew that there was a very low chance of Peckering finding whatever it was that he was looking for, but that didn't make it any less of a problem. Most likely, it was going to have to be up to him to stop it.

Every class, Julian tried to spend a little more attention on Peckering, hoping to find out some clue that would give it all away. Lunchtimes and every Friday, at dinner in the main hall with the other houses. But it was no good, it was either too hard to see them from his table and even if they were being as suspicious as possible it was impossible to hear.

'Having fun?' Ellie poked him. Julian snapped out of it on one such evening.

'What are you trying to do? Burn a hole in his back?'

'He'll give himself away eventually.'

'That's true, but you're forgetting.' She took a drink. 'He's not going to wait for hundreds of witnesses. We're at dinner, mate.'

'So, you want me to follow him?'

'No, I don't. That would be a waste of time. Though, I'd personally love to get them caught.' A dangerous smirk appearing on her face. But it looked less mischievous and more calculating.

'Are you saying that you'll help me?'

'Maybe.'

'Help me find some stuff about the maze then.'

'Nah, I'm too tired for that.' She yawned.

'I'll help write your essays for a month.' Julian offered.

'Deal.' Ellie immediately replied, a satisfied grin on her face.

Julian sighed, even without a board or cards between them she was too good at playing him.

The library was quiet on Sundays. Only the very studious types would be in at this time. Julian could understand why though. If he could help it, he'd rather avoid the place for the entire weekend. It only made sense that most of the school felt the same way. But it was for this reason that he and Ellie were there to begin with. They knew Yuko would be busy working in the common room that day. The two of them lying about going to meet some of the other Terrascale boys out on the grounds.

With most students and teachers away from it, there was no one to question why they were rifling through completely different sections. He was honestly not sure where to look, so he and Ellie split to go to different sections. He got the sense she didn't want to rifle through older books and tomes. From the history of the school to stories about ancient wizards. He briefly wondered if maybe Merlin had built the maze, before mentally slapping himself for thinking something so stupid.

All he learned was from a book, Mornington, the school of Australia, a title that wasn't arrogant at all, Julian remarked to himself. The castle had been built for its inherent magical properties and remote location, somewhere off the coast between the mainland and Tasmania. Or at least, that's where it had stayed. The founders had recorded that it had been observed to have moved to multiple locations around different parts of the coast of the entire country. Sometimes in Queensland, Western Australia, it was even close to Indonesia once. But as soon as wizards had settled it, it had stayed at the same position for around two hundred years. But there was no mention of a maze in the island at this time. It was only mentioned briefly in a footnote about the size of the castle, calling it a basement. It was no good.

'Hey, Julian, check this one.' 'Ellie was waving him over from the other end of the aisle.

She was holding an old print of State of the Sun, a wizard newspaper that he'd seen older students reading at breakfast. This paper was from three years ago, the front-page reading:

Expulsion at Mornington

by Jim Glasslight.

Several Students at Mornington School of Sorcery are currently being investigated for partaking in unsanctioned duelling at this prestigious school. On the 10th of November, only a week before the term was scheduled to end, six students were caught out of bed past curfew, and duelling with a rival house. Resulting in severe injuries for the students involved and the expulsion of a student. For their privacy, the names of those involved have not been released.

Ms Janice Silverstem, a teacher, who was first on the scene reports that, 'It was closer to a battle than a duel. I could hear the sounds of spells coming from the maze. Once, I identified what it was, I summoned the other teachers and put a stop to it. Unfortunately, the damage had been done, there were school yard jinxes, curses and even muggle fighting happening down there. The wreckage was far above what I imagined that age capable of.''

The maze, being the colloquial term for the labyrinth of tunnels beneath Mornington castle that defy explanation, I am sure many alumni from the school have fond memories of wanting to explore its secrets. I myself even wrote about it in a previous apprenticeship at the charms guild. That being said, there is a fine difference between respectable curiosity and what transpired that night on the 10th of November.

Readers may ask why this article is being written at all. As many students have been punished by this school in the past, it is what schools do. However, in this writer's opinion this situation became out of control. Students letting a childish rivalry going unresolved until it erupts in a violent duel with most of the students severely injured and an expulsion cannot go unnoticed.

It begs many questions, do students not have a proper outlet for friendly rivalry? Where is our money going if it cannot prevent events like this happening? The mention of muggle fighting by Ms Silverstem is alarming to say the least. How much influence does muggle culture have on our children that it results in their brand of fighting permeating into our culture?

As parents, we should be demanding these questions to the school and put a stop to-

This article continues on page 8.

After this point the article dropped discussing the event almost entirely and instead dwelled on the influence of muggle culture on young witches and wizards. Julian looked at the newspaper in disgust, wishing he could crumple it up and burn it.

'What do you think?' Ellie asked.

It was a bunch of nonsense. It was bad enough what happened on his first day of school but to know it wasn't the first time. He knew it wasn't every wizard, but he'd been foolish to assume that Halliday was a rarity.

'I kind of hate it,' Julian admitted.

'Yeah, I thought you might. But it's about the maze right? And it was recent, I reckon there's people still at the school.'

'How so?'

'It was only three years ago. Unless those students were old enough to graduate before this year, they could still be here. I reckon we could find them.'

She was right, if they could find out more information from them, they could maybe learn more about the maze itself.

It was a lot to do and at this point, only Ellie was helping him, but it was a start. But first, he had to find that article. Anything he could learn about the maze, the better. If those students had been down there, that would be a lead to figuring out those runes, but mainly why Defanon was interested in it. But first.

'Let's see if we can find that article about the maze by this guy.'

Their search from that point on yielded no results, it seemed that the school library did not list academic papers that weren't published in journals. The librarian, Mr Lining, suggested to simply contact the guild in question.

After some convincing, Ellie agreed to contact them. He'd never used an owl before, and he would never admit it, but he felt uncomfortable going near one.

Days later, Ellie tapped Julian on the shoulder at breakfast, dropping a thick journal and a letter next to his toast. Luckily, Yuko wasn't there at the table with them, having gone on ahead to class, he felt there would be a fight if she started asking questions about it.

It wasn't until lunch that they had a spare moment to actually read the article. The two found an empty corridor on the north block, and sat reading the journal about the maze. It was mostly written in a much more elaborate way than he expected and Julian felt that it was easy to read several paragraphs and not absorb any of the information in the text. From what Julian did understand, the information was gathered from asking past and current students. Some of the past accounts even sounded familiar. The maze was near impossible to get into, just walking into it from the basement seemed to lead into a mess of tunnels that looped you back to that entrance. In other cases, students had found entrances in random parts of the school that couldn't be further from the maze, some entrances were even found outside in the grounds. But all of these entrances had, like the third floor had disappeared afterwards.

Those had had gone through reported the same experience as Julian, having appeared in a different location in the castle or grounds afterwards, the maze having taken them exactly where they were originally headed to.

'So, it makes passages to where people want to go?' Ellie asked. 'How does it know?'

'Magic, I guess.' Julian shrugged. He ignored Ellie rolling her eyes and kept reading.

Many students in the past have considered the maze a quirk of the castle. As have experts who have investigated it in the past. Could it simply be just that? A side effect from the constant occurrence of magical energy? Or something more?

It wouldn't be the first time that old locations steeped in magic have had their unexplainable secrets, such as Hogwarts Castle in Britain. But Mornington Castle has not been around for nearly as long, dating back only two centuries. Its more recent founding allows us more knowledge about its history and creators. This is all to say, details about them are known, both good and bad.

It goes without saying that Morington Castle's history is controversial. The Founders Rebellion, as it has been colloquially named, has led to much debate over the fate of their school.

'The what?' Julian asked.

Ellie tilted her head. 'I don't know a lot about it personally, the founders of the school tried to take over the country after several years.' She fidgeted. 'I think, they tried to use the students for it.'

Julian couldn't believe it. A story like that seemed outlandish, especially given how little kids would listen to teachers. But what did he know? It must have been almost two hundred years before. He went back to reading.

Their subsequent arrest along with testimonies by the students they attempted to indoctrinate revealed much about their plans and goals. Despite this, no new details about the maze were brought to light as a result of these events. The only knowledge about the origins and purpose of the maze comes from rumours from the Mornington students passed down through multiple generations.

For this paper students and alumni were interviewed in order to investigate these rumours. Many asserted that the maze was a dungeon designed to lock away students for punishment in the early days of the school, never to be seen again. Some records have supported the claims of a dungeon, but to create a sprawling maze for this purpose seems unlikely.

'Good to know we're sleeping on bones.' Julian muttered sarcastically.

Ellie waved it off, 'Nah, that didn't happen. There's no way the founders could get away with that.'

'Well, it didn't exactly work out for them, did it? Who's to say that didn't get them caught?'

Ellie shrugged.

Other rumours are more outlandish, one about a hidden monster in the maze that would target whoever the founders wished. The source of the Enigmatic sorter of Mornington itself. An artefact that can bestow magical power hidden inside. The soul of one of the deceased founders living after all these years. A relic, tracing back from Solomon himself, that sends out waves to increase the obedience of stude-

The bell rang, at the perfect time it seemed, the rumours only increased in stupidity in the brief glance Julian had of the rest. It must not have been a good study.

'Ok that's enough conspiracy theories for now.' Julian folded up the journal. 'No wonder that guy went into writing for the tabloids.'

'Glasslight's been writing that stuff for years. My dad's been hit a little hard by him too.' Ellie looked glum as they left the room.

'He targets your dad?'

'Sometimes, mainly the group in the Wizengamot he's a part of. The news tries to make light of a lot of the issues they're campaigning for. It suits their interests, I guess.'

'That's horrible.' Julian said.

Ellie walked in silence.

'I had no idea about the founders, though.' Julian switched topics, as they walked to their next class. 'How come I'm only hearing about it now?'

'Most people already know it, I think. Who knows, maybe they'll talk about it in history.'

Julian theorized that maybe they were just too young to know about it, but the more time passed it seemed more likely it was a thing for wizards to know and muggleborns to find out.

The next week saw Julian restless, wondering about the article they'd read. He also was completely lost with the matter of how to find the students. He just didn't know who they could ask, older students seemed a little intimidating to him, assuming they would even tell him. The same applied to other houses but as Ellie theorised that those people were less likely to give them the time of day. Julian at one point even considered asking Hannah, before reminding himself how dumb that idea was.

There was one thing they hadn't tired yet. He waited until lunch, thinking it was the easiest to have them both in one place.

He watched Ellie munching on a sandwich, looking like she didn't have a care in the world. But he did, he was trying to come up with different ways that he could ask her. He had no idea why, but she had some disagreement with her sister in Owlsight. But was it enough of a problem that Ellie couldn't ask her sister for help? They were family after all.

He eventually settled on asking straight out.

'Ellie, you think your sister would know?'

'No.' Her carefree expression dropped completely.

'She's old enough right? Maybe she was here during all of that.'

'No.'

'Why not? If she knows nothing then what's the big deal?'

'I'm not asking Helena anything.' She growled, her nostrils flaring as if she would start ranting. But only too quickly, she'd dropped the glare and become stone-faced. 'I just don't think she'd know anything. She's too busy with her head in a book, she wouldn't even notice if you went starkers in front of her.'

'Um sure.' Julian felt embarrassed from the comment. Which must have shown on his face, because she chuckled at his reaction.

He didn't really push it after that.

Although, it could have been from the colder weather but when they were sitting in class, Julian had spent a lot of time bouncing his leg. It was happening often enough that Yuko, kept giving him looks in the hope that he would stop it, having already expressed her dislike of it. He understood, but he found he couldn't help it.

One day, in transfiguration, he was approached by Jack Pip. 'Hey, you alright mate?' He asked, overtly looking down at his leg.

Julian stopped the movement; he hadn't even realised he'd been doing it. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Yuko sigh, not saying anything.

'Yeah. Just a bit restless about some of these essays.' Julian lied.

'Fair, History's giving me grief right now. Just feels a bit irrelevant you know?'

Julian nodded. He agreed with that statement a lot more than he would have thought. History had been mainly focusing on explaining events that had happened several centuries ago. In recent days, Julian felt that he'd rather hear about more recent history.

'Congrats on the sports day, by the way. Heard you two did pretty well.' He pointed to Julian and Yuko.

'Thanks. Didn't win much but I got to take Defanon down a peg, though.'

Jack grinned. 'Always worth it for that isn't it?' He turned to Ellie 'How'd you go, Idle?'

Ellie went red, 'Not good. Kind of wiped it.'

Jack nodded, 'That sucks, but you'll get them next time'

Jack and Ellie engaged in small talk for a little longer. Julian found that he did appreciate Jack, he seemed to be one of the only people outside of Terrascale who'd give him the time of day. Despite how little regard the school seemed to give to Terrascale, he was glad that Jack and the rest of Imphorn didn't seem to mind talking to them. At that moment, however it occurred to Julian that he may have found the perfect person to help with their problem.

'Hey Jack, how much do you talk to older students?' Julian asked suddenly.

Jack and Ellie stopped talking, he shrugged, 'little bit here and there.' He leaned in, 'This one guy Berker from fourth year, I helped him charm a bench to change your hair colour randomly if you sit on it. It's outside, next to the North block.' He winked. 'Anyway, why do you ask?'

'We're trying to find out about something that happened here a few years ago.' Julian whispered. Despite how quiet he was trying to be, he noticed Yuko stop writing and look up from her work. 'A bunch of students had a fight and one got expelled.'

Jack nodded slowly.

'You've heard about it?' Julian pressed.

'A little.' He leaned in close. 'One of the guys from sixth year was involved in something like that. Never talked to him though.'

Julian lit up, even Ellie sat up to pay attention.

'Yeah, his name is-'

'Students, class is starting.' Mr Bottler announced from the back, 'to your seats please. That means you Pip.'

'Yes, sir.' Jack did with a salute for emphasis, the rest of the class laughed. 'Tell you after.' He said quietly.

Julian, Ellie and Yuko sat with Jack outside on the Lawn as it was named by other students. The large grass area between the school buildings. They had picked a bench up against the Central block, which had a convenient view of the victims of Jack's prank. They watched one Defanon sit and gradually her hair changed to become a bright yellow. She seemed engrossed in whatever book she was reading, as it took her an embarrassingly long time to realise her hair was completely changed.

Jack chuckled, 'that bench is right near their common room, so a lot of Defanon use it.'

Julian smiled a little, it was nice to see them get a little comeuppance. 'So, tell us. Who's the guy you know?'

Jack scratched his sideburn 'Right, so I thought about it.' He paused.

'I'll give you the name, if you help me with something.'

'Mate, really.' Ellie glared at Jack.

Jack laughed, putting up his hands, 'Nothing crazy. Just help me out with a prank that I've been putting it together for a bit. Should be ready in a couple days.'

Ellie turned towards Julian, 'We don't need to do this. Surely, we can find other students.'

Julian sighed, finding them another way seemed too difficult, besides, he didn't know anyone from other houses that he trusted to ask. Jack seemed about the only one he trusted a little bit.

'Alright then. What do you want me to do?'

Jack grinned.

'Actually, gonna need all three of you.'

'Deal.'

'Julian!' Ellie blurted out. Yuko narrowed her eyes.

'Great!' Jack patted him on the shoulder. 'Meet me on this bench on Thursday morning, at six. Make sure you get sleep, don't want to drag a corpse around.'

With that he left the three of them.

Julian hadn't noticed that the entire time they'd been on the bench, Yuko had been sitting with her arms crossed, completely silent.

'What is this about?' She finally asked.

'We need a name.' Julian said.

'For?'

Julian explained the newspaper article and the journal to her.

'I am not helping you.' Yuko said.

'Please. We have to learn more about this. That maze could be important, and we have no way of getting back in. These guys could tell us how to access it.'

'Tell a teacher.' Yuko said, as if the solution was obvious.

'No, they won't believe us anyway.' Julian tried to explain. 'Besides, I'm not letting those bullies get what they want.'

'But what do they want?'

Julian stammered, 'I don't know. But whatever it is, surely, it's past that door.'

'Relics, Souls? It is not true. That boy is not looking for those. If that door was from the founders, then it is gold or money.' Yuko retorted.

'Even more reason. If they want it, I have every right to try and stop them, they treat us like dirt.' His voice was getting heated but he couldn't stop it.

'No, we do no-'

'Think about what they did to me.' Ellie said, quietly.

Yuko opened her mouth but stopped.

'They didn't do it on their own, though Peckering probably would.' She paused, 'it's that teacher too, I think she told them to do it. I can't let them get away with this either.'

Julian slowed down, remembering the last time he raised his voice at Yuko. 'If they're going after something behind that door, I'm getting there before them, simple as that. We have to get there first and stop them. I'm not asking you to get involved with the whole thing Yuko, but just help with this, please?'

Yuko stopped talking, glancing briefly at Ellie's arm.

After some silence, she nodded.

'I will, but only for this.'

On Thursday morning, Julian, Ellie and Yuko were waiting at the same bench just after six in the morning, according to his watch at least. The sky was still dark, Jack having chosen to meet just before sunrise. They were too busy shivering to care however, the mid-April weather was colder than usual. Enough to have him regret not bringing a scarf to warm up. Yuko would probably say no, even if she had one. He wanted to ask Ellie for hers, he guessed he probably could borrow it, or maybe she'd tease him for it. Though the longer he spent in the cold, the less he cared if she did, as long as he was warm.

'How long will he be, you think?' He asked out loud.

'If I knew he'd be this late, I'd still be in the shower.' Ellie remarked.

Yuko glared at her.

Julian groaned, if there was one thing that he'd learned from the dorm Ellie and Yuko were in, it was that Ellie used the showers for too long. When she held up the morning rush, it was enough that the other girls could be annoyed at her.

They stood in silence, none of them feeling up to chatting. Their lack of sleep defeating attempts at conversation. He started watching the sky, it was just beginning to light up, sunrise not too far away.

'What do you think he wants to do?' Ellie asked suddenly.

'Rather, what does he want you to do.' Yuko turned her glare on Julian. He ignored it.

'Who knows. Knowing him, he could have us charge through the hallways in a costume.' Julian suggested. The idea sounding worse the more he thought about it. 'Or worse.' He suddenly felt queasy. 'Maybe, this wasn't a good idea.'

By Yuko's expression, he read her gaze as meaning 'You're saying that now?'

'Yeah, I know.' He replied to it.

She kept staring at him.

'Can you stop that?' He blurted out, a little more embarrassed than he wanted it to sound.

Ellie chuckled. 'I think it'll be funny at least. What costume?' She wondered aloud. 'I'd pay to see you run around dressed as a Unicorn.'

'I don't know… a Vampire.' He threw out.

'You mean, like regular person?' She laughed. 'Vampires don't dress weird. Though, maybe they dress a little old fashioned…' She wondered for a moment.

'A Kappa.' Yuko suggested, pointed at him. 'Maybe a Centaur.'

'Oh, that's good Yuko.' Ellie grinned until she saw Yuko pointing at the two of them.

'I thought we were embarrassing him.' Ellie mock whispered.

'Your plan too.' Yuko quickly fired back.

Ellie looked sheepish. 'I mean…'

'Hopefully, none of you three get caught, unless you deserve it.'

Jack appeared behind them, waiting for the opportune moment.

They all stopped talking.

'Sorry, I'm late.' Jack started. 'Had to get some last-minute charms on this.' He raised up a small cylinder slightly smaller than his palm with rounded edges.

'What is it?' Julian asked.

'This is the prank. It can link up with your voice and make it come out from the device instead of your body.'

Julian tilted his head. 'You mean, like a speaker?'

'What's that?' Jack asked.

'You're serious?'

Jack's silence answered for him.

'It's a muggle device. They've had them for a while.' Julian answered.

'Oh… right.' Jack glanced down at the ground for a second.

'That's ok, though!' Julian said quickly, trying to fix it. 'Tell us more about it.'

'Just joking, mate. But hey, good on the muggles.' Jack shook it off, 'We're gonna put four of these around the castle and we'll alternate talking through them. Surprising people or maybe insulting them, laughing. Whatever you want, I'll leave it up to you.'

'How does it work though?' Ellie asked. 'You're saying I can speak and my voice will come out of that, even if it's on the other side of the castle?'

'Basically.'

'But, how do we 'link up'? Yuko asked. She looked like she wanted to get it over with.

'Glad you asked.' He walked over to her and dropped the device in her hands. The three of them waited with bated breath for a sign that it worked, a glow of light or a sound. But nothing happened.

'To link with you, you have to talk, yell, laugh, scream. Anything you feel like. It's got to get used to your voice. Just keep talking until you see it light up. No whispering.' He pointed. 'If that's what you do, then the only thing you'll hear from it is whispering.'

Yuko looked like she wanted to die right then and there.

'Take your time, not too long though.' He passed other devices out to Julian and Ellie and sat down on the bench.

Julian spent the next several minutes pacing around, having absolutely no idea what to do or say that wasn't embarrassing.

'What do even I say?' He looked at Ellie.

'No idea. Say something funny.'

Julian glared at her, 'Cause that's how it works. I'm so funny when I try to be.' He responded sarcastically.

'Definitely not, no. You don't do funny; stuff just happens to you. You can't even float fizzing whizzbees without falling on your face.' She laughed.

'Muggleborn.' He reminded her.

'Nah mate, I think you just suck at it. Have you tried since?'

'Ok then, get me some right now. Let's go.' He knew she was teasing him, but now he felt he wanted to prove it.

'Alright then.'

Ellie started rifling through the pockets in her robes. She took her sweet time, pushing her hands deep. He wondered how much she had in them, for it to take this long.

'Here.'

Suddenly, she removed her hand quickly, revealing nothing but a rude gesture at him.

The four children stood in silence for a moment. Julian glared at Ellie's outstretched arm annoyed that he had fallen for a trick like that.

Ellie burst into laughter. It was probably the hardest he'd ever heard her laugh, which was saying a lot considering she sounded like a hyena on a daily basis.

'Your… faces.' Ellie could barely get out. 'You really believed it.'

'What?' Yuko asked, she seemed completely confused.

'No, I didn't.' He lied. He didn't' want to admit that he had believed her act. But the more time past the more stupid he felt about it. But he wasn't particularly angry, more annoyed he'd fallen for it.

'Maybe a little.' He admitted, with a chuckle.

This set her off again, causing her to stumble a little. At that moment, her speaker lit up, it was a light purple colour, signifying it had paired with her. 'Oh, too easy.'

'Nice one.' Jack said from the bench, chuckling a little himself. 'Just got two more.'

Ellie's laughter died down as she went to sit on the bench, lazily waiting for the other two to link up with the speaker. Briefly, Julian wondered how on earth Yuko was going to get hers to work, she was pretty quiet and soft spoken as it was. But first, he had to worry about his own.

He didn't feel like he could link with his speaker like Ellie could. He couldn't just laugh uncontrollably like Ellie could. Even if it was infectious. Could he scream, shout? That seemed a bit far-fetched. Maybe he could just keep talking. It was probably enough that the speaker would work.

'You need any help there?' He heard Jack ask. It took a moment to realise Jack hadn't been talking to him. He turned towards Yuko, noticing her beathing get faster.

Soon after, he heard a growl. He was sure he had imagined it at first, but he was disproven by what followed.

Yuko suddenly started ranting quickly, her words flowing so fast it was impossible to interpret. He realised that he wouldn't be able to understand her anyway because she was speaking in Japanese.

Her indignance seemed to cross the barrier between languages. But she didn't seem entirely angry, just irritated. In the same way that one would rant about a movie they hated. It was easy to let them run their course because once they started there was no stopping it.

She started gesturing towards Jack, her face becoming redder as she ran out of breath. Eventually, she stopped, appearing to be satisfied.

They all were silent, the only thing audible being the distant waves and the wind. The sun had risen part way by now. The light almost preventing them from noticing the lit speaker in Yuko's hands.

Jack leaned over to Ellie, 'Is she done?' he whispered.

Ellie nodded.

Yuko walked over to the bench and plopped on the other end from Jack and Ellie. The silence between the two halves of the bench uncomfortable.

'Uh… What did you say?' Ellie asked. 'I think that's the most I've heard you talk Yuko.'

Yuko crossed her arms and huffed. Probably annoyed that she would even be asked the question. Ellie gave up pretty quick, not feeling like she wanted to continue poking the beast. Jack had scrunched up his face, like he was embarrassed. He must have assumed Yuko was ranting about being forced to help him. He was probably right.

But they still had one left, now all Julian had to do was his speaker.

He didn't have it in him to laugh like Ellie or rant like Yuko. At least not now. Though, he could definitely lean towards either given the time. But he didn't feel strongly about either of those directions at the moment.

'Maybe, I could try humming?' he wondered. Even though the thought of it, made his face bright red.

Ellie and Jack shrugged. 'Go for it.'

Julian turned around; he didn't want to watch the others as he did it. He settled on a song he'd been hearing on the radio whenever he'd been in the car with mum. At first, he'd felt it was annoying because he'd heard it so much, but his mum seemed to like it enough to turn it up every time. He hummed it, it strangely reminded him of home, before all of this.

It was dawning on him how much his life had changed in the last four months. Ever since he'd gone to the Guild with Hannah and John the world had just become more complicated. His new life had taken over so much that he hadn't even thought about anything before that day in weeks.

It was strange, but he now had other things to worry about. He had to stop Peckering from finding whatever was behind that door in the maze, anything to beat them was good in his book. Even if the only thing behind that door was as useless as a rock. Beating them and letting them know that it was him who did it was all he wanted.

Hopefully, in the process, Ellie could get some hits in, she deserved that much, at least on the one who dislocated her arm. But first, they had to find out how to get inside, which meant finding those older students.

He finished humming when he looked down saw the speaker lit up. He wasn't even sure for how long it had been.

Ellie whooped. 'Not half bad. To be honest, I was expecting Mermish.'

Julian stuck his tongue at her, she replied in kind.

'Nah, good stuff mate.' Jack commented. 'I liked it.'

'Even if it's a muggle song?' Julian asked.

'I guessed that it was. But whatever, good music is good music.' Jack replied.

Julian didn't have much reason to think otherwise before that moment. But as dumb as it sounded, that one sentence was enough to realise he quite liked the guy.

Jack took out his speaker 'Anyway, show's over. Let's set these up.'

A few hours later, Julian, Ellie and Yuko were sitting in Theory. Trying their hardest not to draw attention to themselves. Each had split off to hide their respective speakers around the school. But right before going to hide the speakers. Jack had left them with a warning.

'I'll start talking first, when you hear me stop for a few minutes, that's your queue.'

He walked a step before turning back.

'By the way, once you turn yours on, everything you say will come out the speaker and only out of the speaker. So be careful. Don't talk to anyone.'

He'd run off quickly after that. Knowing they'd probably hex him for not telling them beforehand. He and Yuko definitely felt tempted to.

The three of them had managed to make it in time for their first class. Thankfully, they only had theory and history for the day. With PE at the end, the three of them should be able to get away with not speaking for the whole day.

Which gave each of them plenty of opportunity to use the speakers.

During a lull in the lesson, they heard a whistling sound. Then, a voice started saying 'Testing, Testing.' But it wasn't Jack's voice exactly, it was distorted. Probably a spell on each speaker to avoid giving away who they were.

The class stopped focusing and started looking around the room. When it continued, Mr Sleight, looked around the room. 'Whoever's is doing that, stop it now.' He drawled. The whistling continued, slowly becoming more high-pitched.

At the students' blank expressions he realised and lack of open mouths, he looked puzzled.

'Keep copying from the board. I'll be right back.'

With that he left the room.

The other students all immediately stopped working and started chatting among themselves, some of them laughing at the voice over the speaker but most happy to take a break.

The whistling continued, changing into a song. Julian recognised it as the same song that he'd been humming earlier. A fact that was enough to make him smile.

After some time, it was Ellie's turn. She had chosen to keep in character and make badly done, spooky ghost noises. Before laughing at how bad it sounded.

Watching Ellie do it was enough to unnerve him slightly. Her mouth was opening and closing but no sound was coming out. Instead, it was coming from further away in the castle, from wherever she'd hidden the speaker. She eventually settled on rambling about whatever was on her mind, the weather, foods she hated. Not enough to not give herself away.

When it was his turn, it felt even weirder, hearing your voice come from somewhere completely different from your body. He'd settled on randomly screaming, trying to make it sound funny by timing it at weird intervals. He noticed when the time between him talking had been long enough other students had gotten used to the silence only for them to be surprised by the next thing he said. The randomness of it seemed to make them laugh. Even Yuko was surprised by one and laughed out loud. Only to put her hand over her mouth to stop it.

During history it was Yuko's turn. Their history teacher groaned and walked out of the classroom to help with the search for the voice. Even though her voice was distorted, for a moment Julian was slightly worried that her accent might come through. Yuko must have thought the same, looking hesitant at first but started to make high pitched sounds with her voice. It didn't take long for them to become familiar. Soon enough, Julian realised he recognised it, they were laser sounds from a movie he'd watched, a muggle film.

It was surprising, he wouldn't have thought she'd have much to do with muggles. When had she seen a movie of all things?

He wasn't sure of the reason but he was compelled, he started joining in with her. Trying to replicate sounds from the movie. Saying random quotes from them he could remember, just for the fun of it. Almost immediately, her eyebrows raised. Surprised that he had caught on. The two caught each other's eyes for a moment before the teacher returned. Forcing the two of them to appear as focused on early wizarding history as possible.

Once Yuko's turn was done, Jack had taken over once again, making eating noises. Julian wouldn't have been surprised if he was actually eating. Yuko spent the rest of the History class hiding her face behind a book, a stupid smile on her face that lasted all the way through lunch.

On Thursdays, the whole first year had PE, taught by Mr Hodge on the lawn. Despite being wizards, the school felt they still needed to exercise regularly. Julian actually agreed with this but he'd never admit it. Mainly because he didn't like Hodge very much.

It was a strange class; it was the one class where the entire year shared with each other. Which usually meant having to organise multiple games at once in order for there to not be too many people in one game. Or running laps around the school.

Today, however, the teachers had other pressing matters, finding whoever was disrupting the school with their voices. Hodge was no exception, they'd all been left there, with free time. None of them had even changed into their PE uniforms. Letting them all just sit around the lawn, split off into their own friend groups.

Some of the other Terrascales waved for Julian and Ellie to come join them but they had to refuse, at risk of being caught. Not that their house would give them away, but Julian wasn't sure he wanted any trace of their involvement.

Jack came up behind them, tapping them on the shoulder. He pulled the speakers out of his pockets. He checked no one was watching them and tapped his wand on his own one underneath his robes.

'Ok you do it now.' He said.

He passed the speakers to each of them.

They all breathed a sigh of relief when once they severed the link. Julian felt good to have his voice come from his own body again.

'You can keep the speakers by the way.' Jack said, sitting down next to them. 'Seems like whatever you're up to, you might need them.'

'Thanks… Uh'

Julian didn't want to demand the name immediately. It felt a little rude.

'Oh right!' Jack realised. 'His name is Isaac Liu. He actually helped me out with setting the prank up. I could tell him you guys want to talk to him.'

'That'd be great. Thanks, Jack.'

'You're welcome, man. Really helped me out here today.' Jack tapped Julian on the shoulder.

'So why did you do it?' Ellie asked.

Jack looked a bit sheepish. 'I wish I could say, no particular reason. That I thought it'd be funny or whatever.'

He looked around. 'But it's for rep, if you can pull off something big, then people remember you.'

'But nobody knows you did it.' Julian was confused.

'Isaac knows, maybe later this year, next year maybe, word will get out. He's not a snitch but after a while no one minds a rumour or two. Also, people appreciate it when you give them a day off.'

'What do you mean?' Yuko asked him.

'Did you do any work today?' Jack asked them. 'What are you guys doing right now? Lazing around instead of doing PE, teachers can't even get annoyed if you don't do work here.'

Yuko's brow furrowed.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Ellie's face lit up. 'Oh, that's good.'

'I try.' Jack grinned.

Julian couldn't help but agree. 'Thanks for the help. Let me know if you need help with anything sometime. But…' He paused. 'If you make us do one of these agai-'

Jack grinned. 'You'll prank me back?'

Julian groaned. 'Nah, I'm just not gonna stop Yuko from hexing you.'

Jack patted him on the shoulder again, looking down at Yuko's glare. 'Yeah… deal.'

They waved him off.

Julian lay back on the ground. Even with the cold, it wasn't too bad.

'Hex him, really? Was it really that bad Yuko?' Ellie asked.

'No.' She smiled.

'So, what did you say this morning?'

'I was complaining that I was out there instead of in bed.' Yuko admitted. 'It was his fault; I had less time to finish my work because I got up early. And it was really cold.'

Ellie's mouth curved into a smile.

'It was freezing. Wasn't it?'

'I know! It is cold back home but, on this island, it's worse than when my house was covered in snow.'

It was surprising, hearing Yuko talk about her home, he was sure he had never heard her talk about it before.

In a strange way, it brought his mind back to Jack. Maybe that was why he did these pranks, stupid as they were.

It gave them the chance to think about something other than school for a moment, even for someone like Yuko.