Rachael was practicing the spell she learned earlier with Tim in her bedroom. She linked her fingers and pulled them apart to find threadlike resin in between them. "Rethina."

Another wave of nausea ran through her, the resin turning to water from her loss of concentration. She held her head for a moment before her bedroom door swung open revealing a smiling Shreya.

"Clear out your schedule tonight, Rachael! We've got a date with the deep dark forest, and we can't miss it." Shreya smiles. "I was just in Penn Square where I ran into Griffin, who told me about the rave in the woods tonight to celebrate the December solstice! It's super exclusive, as in underclassmen aren't invited. But if we can find the rave on our own, we can get in like he did last year!"

"You want to trample through the forest in the middle of the night for a rave we might not even find?" Rachael asks.

"What's with that glass half empty outlook?" Shreya gasps dramatically. "Zeph's already on board, and I waylaid Smartypants outside the library and got him to promise to come along too."

"In that case, we'll find it for sure. And a party sounds fun after all the studying I've been doing." Rachael says, smiling at her. Shreya squealed in excitement, full aware that getting Beckett to come along was one of the only reasons Rachael had agreed to and she has never been prouder of herself as a finesser.

"Great! I'll let the others know you'll be ready in ten! And no dawdling." Shreya smiles excitedly.

—

About thirty minutes later, the small group of freshmen mutually agreed that they were lost in the woods looking for the rave.

"I'd like it to be known that I will not tramp around all night long when I could be studying." Beckett grumbles, as they trudge through the woods.

"Beckett, I hate to be the judgmental one, but like... What did you do as a kid?" Zeph asks, looking at him like he was crazy.

"You could study the trees and bugs, if it makes you feel better." Rachael teases.

"Pend Pals, shush! We won't be able to hear the party over your bickering!" Shreya scolds. Everyone went silent and they continued on like that for a few minutes before breaking the silence. "Okay, I'll be the first to say it. I'm kinda over not being there yet."

"What's that sound?" Rachael asks, hearing a rustling sound nearby, everyone stepped back from it except Beckett.

"Who goes there? I'll have you know I'm armed with the power of Metal magick and rage!" Beckett grumbles, putting his hands out in front of him defensively ready to cast a spell if needed.

"Calm down, Harrington. It's just me." Griffin says stepping out of the bushes. "If I knew you guys would have ended up so far off track, I'd have started my search an hour ago. You missed the moon gate."

"The what now?" Zeph asks.

"The moon gate. It let's you relive a few minutes of your past, but it's magick won't be active again until next year." Griffin sighs. "Come on, party's this way. I can sneak you in and make it look like you found the place all by yourselves."

They could see the glow of the party as they got closer and they could feel the base of the music in the ground even when they couldn't hear it. They camd into a clearing full of floating lights and people dancing to the music pulsing around them.

"Enjoy the party I recommend getting in one of the light shows. You can do lots of cool magick with the solstice's energy powering you up." Griffin says.

"Everyone except me, cause my magicks been acting up today. And I almost fainted earlier in class." Rachael says. "I'm like pretty sure I'm dying."

"Melodrama doesn't suit you." Beckett says, shaking his head.

"I was kidding." Rachael rolls her eyes at him.

"It's the solstice, obviously. The days have been getting shorter. Tonight is the longest night of the year, one of heightened magickal energy." Beckett sighs.

"That doesn't explain why I'm going through the exact opposite." Rachael says.

"Because you must also deal with the drain if night upon your Sun powers. Basically it sucks to be a Sun-Att tonight." Beckett explains.

"Why didn't you say that when I collapsed in class earlier? If you know so much about tonight." Rachael scoffs at him.

"I-I-..." Beckett stutters embarrassedly looking away.

"Damn. So everyone gets the power-up except Rachael? That sucks, man." Zeph sighs.

"She naturally has a power-up everyday. It's finally our turn for a change." Shreya says. "Plus you don't need magick to have fun at a party."

"No magick at a solstice rave? What are you, Tuneless?" One of the upperclassmen scoffs at them.

"No, I'm a fucking Sun-Att what are you? Tier one magick?" Rachael fires back at her, the girl looked taken back by that before her friend spoke up.

"It's not that big of a deal, is it? Tonight's about celebrating the natural energy all around us! Just feeling it is enough." Another upperclassman says.

The first girl snorted looking Rachael up and down. "You could've at least tried to make up for being practically Attuneless by dressing to impress. Freshmen are so clueless."

"Who the fuck are you to talk, black scoop neck. At least I dressed like a cute hoe and not just a bitch." Rachael spitfires.

The girl scoffed, at her. "A solstice rave is about contributing to the magick, not just standing around and leeching off of everybody else's."

"A raves also about having fun and not having a stick made of insecurities and white privilege up your ass!" Rachael glares, taking a step forward. Beckett put his hand on her arm to keep her from doing anything stupid. "Too bad I can't contribute to the magick since I brought this, but if I'm not welcome here I'll just-"

"What is that?" She asks, as Rachael pulls out a small vile with gold liquid in it.

"A daydream potion, I may have stole from class." Rachael smirks.

"Ooh, Rachael you're bad." Zeph smiles.

"You stole? From class?" Beckett gasps, looking like he was going to have a heart attack over just the thought.

"But is it stealing if she made it herself? Experts say no. And by experts I mean me." Shreya smiles.

The upperclassman looked at her curiously. "Daydream potion, huh? And what's to prove that that's the real thing? First years are notorious for botching their first batch of daydream potion."

"Only one way to find out." Rachael smirks.

"I'm a bit concerned about how the magickal amplification of the solstice may interfere with the potion's effects." Beckett says worried.

"Interfere...or enhance! Pass it around, Rachael. I can't wait to see what kind of magick I can do with some daydream potion helping!" Zeph says with excitement.

Rachael passed the vile around to everyone before downing the last bit herself. It burnt her throat as it went down, but with almost immediate effected the world around them, it looked like she was watching an at home 3D movie without the glasses. "Oh, I am feeling that amplification thing you were talking about, Beckett."

The effects of the potion messed with Rachael's thought process and her magickal abilities for the moment. So much so that she wanted it to be day and it happened as soon as she lifted a hand. Everyone looked around in awe at how the morning sun glew in the dead of night.

"I can't believe you actually just made it daytime! Not any Sun-Att can do that, Rachael!" Shreya praises.

The sunlight slowly faded away as the effects of the potion wore off.

"Okay, I'm convinced. You've gotta he acing Potions if you can brew a daydream potion that strong." The upperclassman smiles.

"Thanks, But I didn't need your approval." Rachael retorts.

"Try not to get in anyone's way the rest of the night." She scoffed at the younger girl, strutting away.

There small friend group dispersed amongst the party and she debated on who to hang out with ultimately deciding on checking on her loser. Who was standing on the very outskirts of the clearing observing a tree with a look of intrigue.