There was a long, dark corridor that was eerily familiar to Evergreen. There were small rodents dashing this way and that and the only light came from a weak torch that was set into the walls filthy with dirt and with soot every few feet. The sound of dripping water came from somewhere and there was also the sound of a woman's voice humming. A few yards ahead was a large, black, metal gate. It had a gargantuan padlock about the size of a man's head off to the side of it.

As he traveled through the drafty corridor, Evergreen found himself passing through the gate. On the other side of the gate was a stone room. It was dark, quite dark, but there was a beautiful woman there in the midst of it. She may have had companions there with her, but it was impossible to tell in the dim light. She had intense, fire-red, curly hair that fell about her shoulders, and she wore a white dress that was gray with grime. It was Glinda, the Good Witch, Evergreen's mom.

She was pacing in the entire area that was exposed to the dim torch light and seemed like she was eagerly awaiting something or someone. She was talking to herself, and the message was something to the effect of "I hope he's alright", "I should have heard news by now." And the like.

It was then that there was a small tapping sound heard in the small window that was just above Mom's eye-level. She went silent and turned toward it. The window was only about six inches tall and 12 inches wide, with a metal bar embedded into the stone every four inches. Obviously, there was no way for this prisoner to escape her cell. However, on this night in particular, it seemed that she had a visitor.

"Who's there?" Mom asked the window.

"It's best not to speak so loudly, ma'am." Came an odd voice from the window.

The witch made her way to the window and stood on her toes, balancing both of her hands on the lip of the sill. When she looked through the bars, Evergreen too saw a curious sight. It was a very fat and yellow hen. There were no people around so the voice must have come from the hen. She had with her an envelope with some gorgeous cursive lettering.

"I've come with a letter. Please take it so I can be on my way." The hen whispered.

Mom reached through the bars as far as she could and got a hold of the corner of the envelope. She pulled it back and when her arm cleared Evergreen's view of the window, the hen was gone. She shook her head briefly and then opened the envelope. Looking over her shoulder, Evergreen read:

Glinda,

We are getting close to finding Boq and Brr. We have entered the Land of the Banished, but there are more foes than friends I'm afraid.

You can guarantee that we will soon return with reinforcements and will break you out and save you from our enemy.

We love you and will see you soon!

-Fieyro, your Scarecrow

"They've almost found the Tin Man and the Lion? That's the best news I've heard in years!" she mused to herself.

Just then there was a large crashing sound from the outside corridor. Mom nearly jumped out of her skin while Evergreen's eyes opened, finding himself in bed in his school dorm bright and early in the morning.

The sun was barely rising and the Summerhills had just started their sunrise prayer. Evergreen had to see Beatrice. If anyone would know anything about what he saw in his dream, it would be her. He immediately jumped out of bed and started stripping out of his pajamas on the way to the bathroom. After a quick shower and a brush of his teeth and hair, he got into his uniform, grabbed his book bag, and flew down the stairs to the Nest. There weren't many other people there at that hour. He did see Apollo, however, over at the large window twirling his wand in his fingers the way that kids at Evergreen's old elementary school would do with pencils. A trail of red sparks cascaded against the window, causing no damage, but it was still an interesting thing to see first thing in the morning.

He left the Nest without much ado and didn't even make very much conversation with the King Arthur portrait. The portrait didn't seem put off, which was good. Evergreen would hate to upset anyone, especially someone he would have to see every day of his academic career. He got down to the third floor when he realized, if he wanted to talk to Beatrice, he would have to wait for breakfast. Either that, or he would need to find the Wampus common area and catch her there. The thing was, he had no idea where to look.

Wandering about the corridors, he passed a few unused classrooms and found himself entering a large, dark room with a stage on one end and a series of round tables on the other end. He pulled his wand out of his holster and cast a lumos charm. The whole room lit up and he just noticed Seta at his left foot. Part of him felt like Seta had just joined him, he had, after all left the Nest in a major hurry. However, Seta was always with him, so he dismissed that thought promptly.

"What is this place?" Evergreen voiced, looking around at the massive, seemingly polished floor.

"Evergreen, look." Seta said, pointing at the center of the room's ceiling.

It was there that Evergreen saw what was unmistakably a disco ball. Did Ilvermorny have school dances? If so, how come he never heard about them. Not that he would go, as the thought alone petrified him. He wasn't a dancer at all, so he'd never get this close to the dancefloor at an actual dance night.

"We should get out of here, Seta. We need to find someone to help us find the Wampus dorms." Evergreen said, bowing slightly so Seta could leap upon his shoulder.

"You could always look for a pukwudgie." Seta suggested.

"That's right. I think we should."

After extinguishing his illuminated wand, Evergreen turned to leave the room. He started rushing about throughout the corridors and then remembered that Swab Capital, a member of the staff who had given him a bit of a hard time that prior year, was the Pukwudgie Minder on staff. He would know where the pukwudgies were. The only issue was that Swab didn't like Evergreen, not at all. For that reason, Evergreen didn't so much like him either. It would be difficult to get that information from him, but Swab did sometimes have pukwudgies nearby.

This sucks, thought Evergreen, as he walked quickly down the stairs. He knew that he had to find Beatrice soon. Swab was probably in the commons at the moment. His size suggested that he was never late for a meal, Evergreen thought, considering Swab's large girth. That was probably a rude thought, but it was too early to rein in unspoken judgements about others.

Just as the duo made their way to the ground floor, Evergreen started toward the commons. Just before he did, though, he ran into someone he didn't expect. It was Headmaster Washington-Frost. He was wearing another one of his matching robe and pointed hat sets. This one was a glowy magenta color. It was quite dashing, Evergreen thought.

"Good morning, Mr. Quandary." He began, his greyish white beard quivering with the sentence. "What are you doing here at such an hour?"

"I-I was looking for a-a—" Evergreen found himself flustered and took a few deep breaths.

"For a pukwudgie, sir." Seta finished.

The old wizard looked almost surprised at the words of the bunny, but quickly regained his composure.

"You're looking for a pukwudgie? Like a member of the house or an actual pukwudgie?" he inquired, tilting his head to the side.

"An actual one, sir." Evergreen replied.

"Is there a particular reason, or is it just curiosity from a young man who wasn't raised around such creatures?"

He knew that he shouldn't lie to the headmaster, nor could he, now that he thought about it. He decided to answer in a safe manner, hoping that the old wizard wouldn't pry too much. If he knew that Evergreen was trying to get into another house's common area this early in the morning to see a girl, he would probably have a few opinions on that.

"I'm looking for something that I know that they got a hold of. It's nothing to bother you with, sir."

"Oh, I'm sure." The headmaster said with a smirk that only deepened his already quite wrinkled countenance.

"I taught your mother. Whenever I look into your eyes, Evergreen Quandary, I see her. I know the look of someone on some sort of quest."

Evergreen tensed at the words. He was going to be followed around by the headmaster, sent back to the Nest or held hostage in the commons. He just knew it!

"But I won't pretend that I am not curious to see what kind of magic you're able to eventually execute this year. Do you think you'll be able to top last year's curse-reversal?"

A wide smile crept across Headmaster Washington-Frost's face. It was quite warm and genuine. In fact, the admiration that Evergreen remembered seeing in the old wizard's expression in the medical station last spring was in his expression now. Perhaps, he was wrong about getting in trouble for doing nothing particularly wrong.

"I don't know sir." Was Evergreen's simple response.

"Just do us all a favor and don't blow up a room like you did last year. Change things up. Find something new."

"Yessir."

"Very well. You'll find the pukwudgies down in the first basement level on the other side of the corridor from Professor Shadowmend's classroom."

The sound of Miss Agatha's name made Evergreen flinch just a little bit. The headmaster gave a noncommittal wave of his hand, dismissing Evergreen and Evergreen took his leave. He did turn around after a few moments before headmaster Washington-Frost entered the commons.

"Headmaster Washington-Frost, sir?"

"Yes Mr. Quandary?"

"Does Ilvermorny have school dances?"

"Yes and no. You'll be able to attend when you're high school aged."

"Okay. Thank you, sir."

Quickly taking his leave, Evergreen made his way to the basement stairs that were located at the other side of the annex from the doors to the commons. He quickly descended into the comparatively dark corridor and turned left instead of right. Miss Agatha's classroom was at the far-right end of the corridor. He would be sure to avoid that place if he could. He would really hate to burden Miss Agatha anymore with his childishness.

When he got to the end of the hall, he came upon a green door. It wasn't made of wood, or metal, or rock. He wasn't sure what it was made of. He raised his fist to knock on the door, but before he did, the door swung inward. Gazing inside, Evergreen squinted his eyes, for despite being in the dark basement, this room was brightly illuminated. He looked to the ceiling and saw maybe hundreds of little fairies using their fancy, glowy magic. Down at his feet, a pukwudgie was opening the door.

"What do you want?" the small creature asked. Evergreen could tell, due to bone structure, and voice that she was a female pukwudgie.

"I'm looking for someone." Evergreen answered quickly.

"Well. You found someone. Are you satisfied?" she asked with a seriously annoyed twinge to her words.

"No. A student in the Wampus house."

"Why are you bothering us for, then?"

"Because I don't know where they are."

"The Wampus Hollow is under the armory across from the Thunderbird spiral stairway. Now, off with ya!" she provided, as she shut the door and sprinted down the corridor, up the stairs, and out of sight.

"And I thought I wasn't a morning person." He mused, Seta nodding his head.

They made their way to the center of the corridor where the stone stairs led up to what looked like a glowing, airborne rectangle, just showing how much of a difference of light the basement was from the main floor. Evergreen thought he heard Miss Agatha's voice, so he took off running up the stairs taking two at a time. She couldn't see him. He knew that it would just ruin her day.

He got to the main floor and looked for the Thunderbird spiral staircase. He then passed below a variety of other staircases that were sliding across the floor, floating up into the air, or moving out of view entirely. They eventually came upon a small hallway with suits of armor lining it. Each suit was different, as if they came from different nations. There was a classic British suit of armor, a few Asian styles, and even what looked kind of like a baseball umpire outfit with more steps. At the end of that hallway was a room with a metal plaque that read "Ilvermorny Armory". They entered.

"Wow. This is my kind of room." Seta whispered.

The room was gargantuan. It was like a warehouse of war. There were swords and spears as far as the eye could see. Mighty shields lined the walls and fireworks, and small hand weapons covered the inner shelves. There also appeared to be a fleet of chariots off to the side. The whole room was glowing from the gentle sunrise that was quite apparent through the eastern windows.

They worked through the shelves, finding their way to the back wall. Once there, Evergreen noticed an image of a Wampus cat above a door. He reached out for the door handle and that was when a sword had sliced down in front of him. He retracted his hand as quickly as possible, only getting a superficial graze on the hem of his robe sleeve. He could easily fix that later. The sword was connected to an arm, connected to some kind of metallic mannequin.

"If you so desire to go in, a fight with me, you must win." The mannequin somehow said, as it swung its sword about like a Samurai in old Karate movies.

"I guess we have to fight it?" Evergreen voiced.

"You're out of your element." Seta replied, "I can make quick work of this thing."

"Are you sure?"

"You can't always be the hero, Evergreen." Seta responded with a toothy grin.

It was at that moment that Seta leapt down from Evergreen's shoulder. The bunny pulled out his short sword and grabbed a small shield in the process. It was probably a shin guard or something from a full suit of armor, but Evergreen couldn't tell. The bunny and the mannequin started circling one another slowly. The mannequin had a broadsword, so both of its hands were busy grasping the hilt of its weapon. By the looks of things, they didn't appear to be very fairly matched, but Evergreen learned that prior year that Seta must not be underestimated.

One moment, they were staring each other down, the next moment, they stopped, and the mannequin started swinging its sword again. Seta just had enough time to leap out of the way before the gleaming edge of the weapon got him. He kept leaping and blocking what he could with his small shield. He didn't do very much offensive moves, so Evergreen wasn't sure how Seta could win. If he couldn't get closer, he would just tire out and lose the fight.

The sword came down and banged on Seta's shield which ended up buckling back and smashing him in the forehead. He let go of his shield and fell on his backside, apparently dazed. Evergreen called out to him while the mannequin's sword came straight down, attempting a clean slice down the middle of the bunny. Evergreen grabbed his wand, but at the last moment, Seta ducked under the long blade and nicked at the wrist holding the sword. The whole hand popped clean off. The mannequin made a motion to grab the sword with its other hand, but Seta didn't give it the opportunity. He leapt around with dizzying speed and stabbed at its legs, causing it to fall to the floor, and then ultimately stabbing the mannequin through its neck. With a creaking sound, the mannequin fell to the floor and stopped moving. Seta had won.

It was an amazing thing, to see Seta in action. Evergreen hadn't yet had the opportunity to see the bunny's training in motion and it was a sight to behold. The bunny was quick and merciless. The mannequin never stood a chance. A clean cut of the sword hand, a series of jabs in the legs to prevent the adversary from bolting, and a stab to the neck to seal its fate. Looking at his friend, Evergreen's face broke out in a huge smile.

"Dude, you're a badass." Evergreen whispered, awed.

"I'm glad you can see that. If you didn't think so after all that, what was the point?"

"That's a good point."

"Yes, it was."

They then heard a grinding sound and that was when they noticed the Wampus cat symbol glow and the door swing open. The duo entered the doorway and Evergreen took one last look at the mangled metallic mannequin. Man, he was glad that he only needed a password to get into the Nest.

There was a short, yet wide hallway that they made their way through which was lined with various painted images of wildlife that were moving of course. When they got to the end, they were greeted with a very curious room. It looked like a carved-out cave on the one side and it was lined with small fir trees on the other side. It had a fireplace and various sitting areas with a few other places to sit and do some homework. It was amazing. It was just like being in a cave within a forested area. Evergreen briefly thought back to his dream he had many times the prior year and before then about he and his dad finding refuge in a cave because they were running from some sort of dark magic. With a shiver, he looked around the room and found there were only a few people there, all he recognized to wear the Wampus symbol.

"What the hell are you doing here?" came an unwelcome voice from the tree side of the room.

It was Flax, Denyen's older brother. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

"I-I'm, uh–" Evergreen attempted, suddenly flustered.

"I fail to see how that's any of your business." Seta grumbled.

"What? Did that thing just talk to me?" Flax replied, pointing at the bunny with some fear in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm a skinwalker. If you get too close, you fall under my spell and then I eat your entrails while you sleep."

Flax looked positively horrified at this thought. The purple eyes with gold halos within plus a symbol on his forehead really spoke to a certain scary factor that the bunny was capable of, despite being so otherwise cuddly. He pulled out his wand just in time for a familiar and only recently friendly voice to break up the encounter.

"Flax, let me take over from here." Beatrice said, coming down the stairs that were located at the dividing line between cave and timberline in the room.

Both boy and bunny were visibly grateful for the appearance of the little country gal. She developed the most amused smile on her face when she realized that Flax was seemingly deathly afraid of the little white bunny. Big people being scared of cute little animals was funny.

"Welcome to the Wampus Hollow." Beatrice said with a yawn. "I can see that you all got past Georgie."

"Georgie?" Evergreen asked.

"The mannequin. Georgie." She replied with a straight face.

"I was the one to get past him, actually." Seta corrected.

Beatrice got a laugh out of this, and she explained that Georgie typically had some sort of warrior challenge and he must be defeated every time the door to the Hollow was supposed to be opened from the outside. That was probably a major pain at the end of the night when people would be exhausted. Perhaps a disarming charm would be a good a win as any on such a night? Evergreen was more of a lover than a fighter though, so he wondered why the Wampus carving roared for him when he was sorted. Everyone else in the room was a warrior, a fighter. He was just a kid who cried whenever he watched the Fox and the Hound or listened to Dance With My Father. He was no warrior. That was for sure. It's no wonder that Seta was sent to look out for him.

After a few moments, Beatrice motioned for them to take a seat, so the three of them did at a couch amongst the fir trees. She asked what was going on and why he of all people was seeking her out this early in the morning. Looking at the clock, it wasn't even 7:30 yet. According to Beatrice, she always gets up at five. Her ma and pa had her doing chores first thing in the morning every day, sometimes she collected eggs, sometimes she milked one of their cows, sometimes she made butter, and sometimes she was tasked to repair various things on their property. Evergreen was suddenly quite intimidated. Beatrice was an early riser, a hard worker, and a warrior indeed. He was so glad they were friends.

"It's just that I had a dream about my mom. I saw her prison again. This time a talking hen gave her a note."

"A talking hen? Did she look a few hushpuppies past plus-size? And was she as yella' as a dog on the Fourth of July?"

"Yeah, Beatrice. She was."

She sat back on the couch and managed a little smile.

"It seems ol' Billie gave Glinda a visit."

"Billie?"

"Yeah. My ma met her upon another accidental trip to Oz. She was a normal hen from the Midwest, but gained the ability to talk and reason when they passed through the gateway. As a kid, I'd sometimes see her on our land. It's been a hot minute since."

They continued talking for a little while and soon enough, they up and left the Hollow. It was breakfast time after all. Evergreen was feeling actually quite hungry after that morning's events. It's an interesting thing how exciting things happening around oneself can really cause them to stop thinking about themselves and live in the moment.

Once they got to the commons, Evergreen looked up to the head table and saw the headmaster. They briefly made eye contact and the old wizard chuckled deeply and shook his head. I guess the headmaster has some kind of idea what was going on, Evergreen thought, as a blush crept across his face. Soon enough, the two separated and took their seats at their respective tables. Link took one look at Evergreen, then at Beatrice and he then let out a displeased sigh, likely due to whatever bad blood they still had. Link will get over it. Hopefully.