It would be two more days before I finally got to see Pixie Tower in person. I was following next to Gregory Set, dressed in the most garish shade of pink I had ever seen and felt a pit in my stomach at the thought of me having to wear it in the very near future.

  “Since you missed out on the placements test, they’ve given you a schedule based on how you did on the entrance exams,” he was explaining. “Don’t worry about missing the grand tour. All of your classes should have at least one other fellow Pixie in it, so just follow them for now. The others are excited to meet you.” He had a big dumb cheery grin on his face that I didn’t have the heart to return.

  I fought back a sigh. “This has just been one huge mess. I’m just glad the worst is behind me.”

  He laughed. “That’s the spirit! We’ll be far better company than those spiders. And it would be lonely having a big old Tower with just the five of you.”

  I don’t think the idea that some people might prefer smaller groups ever occurred to him.

  “That place must have been so scary. No one blames you for seeing things.”

  For whatever reason, no one had taken my tale of ghosts seriously. If this was a school for human teenagers, I might have understood that. But it wasn’t. Everyone here practiced magic. They were studying it. Ghosts shouldn’t be that far-fetched!

  “Didn’t see things,” I muttered more to myself than to him. And peace and quiet wasn’t that bad of a thing. Hopefully, the people weren’t as bad as the color scheme.

  He laughed, loud and obnoxious. I silently prayed to Hecate that he was not the benchmark for Pixie behavior. “It’s okay, Pixies aren’t the type to talk about you. Must have been rough, locked in a dusty old Tower with Aranea Imigifalso. I don’t think I’d be handling it better.”

  Of course the spider that bit me was famous for making people see things. But I saw the student pre-envenomation. I know what I saw. I ground my teeth to hold back the arguments churning in my brain.

  “Don’t look so tense,” he teased with a grin. “News happens quickly around here. Give it a week or two and everyone will forget all about your ghost story.” His voice was full of the most obnoxious condescension I had ever heard in my life. The worst part? I don’t think he was doing it on purpose.

  I let out a shaky, heaving breath. Part of me almost understood. No one else saw what I’d seen. The spider venom had hallucinogenic properties. I’d been in distress and scared.

  It still made me furious to be so completely written off by everyone.

  I forced myself to let go of the tension. Maybe once class started, I would have better things to focus on.

  “Your things are in your room already, as is your Pixie uniform. On school days you have to wear it until after dinner at seven. But on Saturdays and Sundays we don’t have to wear it at all!”

  At least I would have two more days of reprieve before donning the vomit inducing nightmare he was wearing.

  “And here we are!” he shouted, despite standing all of five feet away. In a poor attempt to save my hearing, I leaned back as he continued to shout. “Pixie Tower! The bestest most awesomest Tower out of the Nine!”

  The door was made of stone. A lot like Dragon Tower’s. Only this one was surrounded by the forms of dozens of small pixies all pointing towards the door.

  Gregory Set, in his horrifically ugly pink uniform, sauntered up tothe door while I stood where I was. The door opened and I got my first glimpse into Pixie Tower.

  Oh no.

  The uniform was a warning.

  The Tower itself was much worse.

  “Come on in and meet everyone!”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Was it too late to go back to spider-infested haunted Tower?

  In the simplest terms possible Pixie Tower was a very polarizing tower. You either loved it, like the residents did, or you hated it, like I did. The first thing I noticed was how pink it was. There was almost every shade of pink on the spectrum. From the floor, which was a very pale pastel wood with a bright rug down the center, to the walls, which had a three-tone wallpaper with a pink oakleaf design, to the furniture, which was predominantly hot pink, to even the window, which was a multi-toned rose-tinted mural of an oak tree.

  Admittedly, these elements by themselves might have been tasteful. All together however, it was a nightmare my poor wounded psyche could just barely handle.

  And the actual tower was not the worst part.

  No. Because there were twelve first-year Pixie students cheering and clapping with pink confetti raining down with seemingly no origin.

  I wanted to vomit. Violently.

  The leader of this travesty was a girl already decked out in the full uniform. She was somehow both walking towards me and jumping up and down.

  Oh no. Oh please no.

  “Hi there!” Her eyes literally sparkled and she took my hands in hers. I was too stunned by the sensory assault to protest. “My name is Angelina Farsee. It’s really nice to meet you!”

  I blinked rapidly and opted for polite, “I’m Serafina Stewart. Nice to meet you too?”

  She giggled and pulled me into the crowd and all but physically forced me into a chair. She sat down across from me on a pastel pink wooden coffee table, placed her hands under her head and gave me wide bright blue eyes. Expectant.

  “Tell us everything!” a girl exclaimed.

  “About what?” I asked still dazed and confused. Maybe I left the Healer too early and should go back.

  “Dragon Tower!” Angelina clarified.

  I blinked some more. Okay. Sure. “Where would you like me to start?”

  There were honest to the gods squeals of excitement from the girls and eager looks from the boys. I wanted to find a dark cave to hide in until this all blew over.

  “The beginning! How did you know how to open the door?” Angelina pressed.

  I sighed and took a deep inhale. “I didn’t. I let the others go first and when nothing they did worked, I decided to try and have a laugh. I made a reference to an old story my father introduced me to, and I was as shocked as everyone else when it actually worked.”

  They all were staring at me, expectant and eager. Like children or puppies.

  I relaxed a little and continued. “After the door opened, by itself mind you, something pulled me in. I’m not sure what.” I shrugged at them.

  “And once you were inside?”

  “The door closed itself behind me. Slamming shut on its own and locked me in.”

  There were gasps.

  “That’s when I heard a voice. I turned around and saw a student. She was wearing a red uniform. Just like yours but in Dragon Red. But she looked surprised to see me, and I could see through her. And she glowed blue.”

  Gregory Set was now leaning in, listening intently like my future classmates.

  “Then she vanished. That’s when the spiders started crawling out of the woodwork.”

  “How many were there?” Angelina asked.

  “So many. Dozens. It was pretty dark and dusty so I couldn’t tell you exactly how many. The small ones were like this big.” I made a shape with my hand to demonstrate they were the size of my hand. “But the big ones were like this,” I held my hands about a foot and a half apart to give them an idea.

  “EEP!” One of the girls clung to a boy and partially hid behind him.

  “So I started running but they chased me, and I ended up running in a circle and found myself staring at the door again. It still wasn’t opening. That’s when I got bit.” I wasn’t comfortable telling them the details about the spell I cast. I wasn’t sure why but I felt the urge to blur the truth a bit. “I don’t remember much after that. It’s a little too hazy. The venom, probably.”

  Angelina nodded. “So cool…”

  “Not really. But hey, at least it can’t get worse. And if the worst day of my school career is already behind me then that has to be a good thing, right?”

  Angelina gave a wistful sigh, “Do you know if they’ll reopen Dragon Tower?”

  “I have no idea. Professor Hearth said that won’t even be a discussion until they get it into a state fit for people to live in. And who knows how long that will take.” The horror had faded for now. While I wasn’t sure if this was going to work out I no longer felt the urge to jump out of the window.

  There was a knock nearby.

  “How is everyone settling in? I heard the last minute addition was finally free of Healer Sealie’s care.” I turned towards the voice. It was Dellik.

  I gave him a flat even look. Why was he here?

  “Ah! I forgot to mention. Along with my teaching and coaching duties, I am also the Pixie Tower Head. We are delighted to have you here with us. No matter if your stay is temporary or if you become a permanent member of our hollow.”

  I ground my teeth in an effort to not say something unpleasant.

  “I also have your schedule.” He made a movement with his hand a rapid twitch of multiple fingers my eyes couldn’t follow. Then a sheet of paper popped into my lap.

  “Thank you, Professor,” I told him politely.

  I picked it up but didn’t look at it. I stood up and tried not to think about all the eyes following my movement. “It was nice to meet all of you but I’m a little tired and still kind of drowsy from the past few days. Can I get shown my room so I can rest for a bit?” It wasn’t untrue. I did feel exhausted and there were too many people staring at me out here.

  Angelina, who had deflated a little, perked back up. “Sure. Come with me.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

  We went up a spiral staircase, past two floors and into a curved hallway that spiraled outwards. Most of the doors were decorated with all kinds of stickers and bright sparkly things. She stopped in front of the one door that had no such thing.

  “This one is yours.” She opened the door and the room was as bad as the rest of the tower.

  Frills. Pink and frilly. And that was my luggage at the foot of the bed. A dark brown suitcase that clashed with everything in the room and a weathered green trunk that fit just as poorly.

  It was comforting.

  “I’ll come get you in a few hours for dinner. Don’t forget to try on your uniform to make sure it fits!” She waved enthusiastically and closed the door behind her.

  I let out a slow exhale and slumped back against the door.

  “Okay Serafina. You can get through this. This is not the worst thing that could have happened. What did Mom say about Pixies?” I thought out loud. “Optimistic and endless energy? Class should be fine and I’ll just limit my time in the Tower to mandatory things. I can do this.”

  But even as I spoke my mind flashed back to the dusty eeriness of Dragon Tower. The student in red. What had it looked like, before the death spiders and the century of neglect?

  I patted my face and stood up straight.

  I finally looked at my schedule. Breakfast was at Seven. Then I had Practical Spellcraft at eight-thirty. History was at ten. Advanced Alchemy, which was a pleasant surprise, at eleven thirty. Lunch started at one. At Two thirty I had Basics on Monsters. From four to six I had a free study period and Dinner at six.

  Okay. That wasn’t a bad schedule.

  I wasn’t expecting to take any advanced courses but Alchemy promised to be an interesting subject.

  Though really, when a chemistry professor and a witch decided to have a baby, that baby liking alchemy was an outcome anyone could have anticipated.

  “I can do this,” I repeated to myself, though this I actually meant it as opposed to trying to blindly convince myself that this was going to be okay. “Nothing can stop me now.”