chapter six | witch university

Levana smiled, looking around her room with a nostalgic glint in her eyes. The conjured room was almost bare, the only remnants being a box of clothes she was going to donate; her smile faltered slightly, looking at the year and a half old rose. It looked preserved, trapped in a thin layer of resin, but its petals were still as soft as velvet.

Memories of she and Ethan danced through her mind, tap dancing on her frontal lobe as she slowly approached the single-flowered vase; when the other roses began to die, she dried them out and placed them in between specific pages of her scrapbook.

The thorns on the rose hadn't even dulled, and the garnet shade of its petals was still as saturated as ever. She wondered what Ethan had done to the rose to prevent it dying, when her mind drifted back to the note.

"I'll stop loving you once all of these roses die."

She shook the memory from her head, grabbing the small vase and placing it in her bottomless trunk; Gwen was aware that she'd be leaving for college in Halloweentown, and it comforted the woman to know that Dylan and Marnie would not be alone.

Levana sighed, walking through the hall that had grown abandoned after their junior year in high school. Even though everyone lived in peace after Edgar was killed, all of Levana's friends missed their lives in Halloweentown; they said they'd only be gone for the summer, but it was already September and they were no where to be seen.

As her matte black pumps clicked against the stairs, she'd begun to wonder who she would be reunited with at Witch U, if she were to be reunited with anyone at all. Her mind thought about Chester, Natalie, and Pete, and had begun to spin up different possibilities of where they were at in that moment in time.

Reluctantly, she'd also allowed her mind to drift back to Ethan. The kiss they shared still warmed her soul every moment she thought of it, despite what he'd done merely days afterwards; she hoped that he was okay, wherever he was. Maybe he was in Paris, pursuing theater like he'd always wanted to?

"Vana! Come on, the portal's opened!" Dylan called, snapping the ravenette from her thoughts. She gave Gwen a quick hug, pecking the woman on the cheek, before sprinting over to her friends with her trunk levitating behind her.

"You guys sure you're ready for this?" She chuckled, helping Dylan out by grabbing one of the bags from him. The brunette blushed, before nodding hesitantly.

"No turning back now." Marnie smiled, before stepping through the portal.

Dylan took a deep breath, smiling slightly at the reassuring nod Levana had sent him; he stepped through, quickly followed by the fiery eyed girl and her levitating luggage. Halloweentown was as lively as ever, the large pumpkin in front of them still radiating the same neon orange color from it's paint; people passed by, enjoying their days, and that's when Levana noticed the banners celebrating Halloweentown's 1,000th birthday.

"Hey, kids!" Benny exclaimed from his cab, causing Levana to smile as she followed behind Dylan and Marnie.

"Hey, Benny." Dylan called, smiling genuinely at the sight of their goofy skeleton friend.

"We're not kids anymore, Benny." Marnie said.

"Sister, to me everyone's a kid."

...

Levana was seated in the passenger seat of Benny's cab, her amber eyes glowing with excitement as the castle came into view; towers upon towers, topped with a coral blue shade of paint, and some of the most beautifully architected balconies she'd ever seen.

Despite her love for music, the wavy haired teen wanted to become a witch architect, to bring beautiful buildings to both dimensions. No one in Halloweentown truly struggled with money, but she promised herself that she would make some of the most beautiful houses in the human world with some of the cheapest prices possible.

The cab drove down the light rose colored path that lead to the school, the trees on each side of them shading their eyes from the painful kiss of the sun. The closer they got to the large fountain that flowed in front of the school, the more Benny was building up to another bone-themed joke.

"This road is really... marrow."

Levana laughed, taking Benny's hat from his head and placing it on top of her midnight hair. The skeleton began to protest, before an exact replica of his hat appeared in her hand; she smiled at him, placing the original back onto his skull, and putting the replica in its place on her head.

"This way I'll have your jokes playing through my head every time I look in the mirror." She shrugged, and if Benny had the muscles to smile, he would have. When the car stopped, she placed a friendly kiss on his cheekbone before exiting and heading to the trunk.

She, Marnie, and Dylan grabbed their things and waved Benny goodbye. Marnie ran off, excited to look around the campus, causing the others to chase after her; Levana was the first to reach the brunette, having an advantage due to her levitating bag. Dylan sighed, finally placing his bag onto Levana's, which levitated his stuff effortlessly.

"Marnie, boobear, I love you - but you cannot just run off like that. If you run into the wrong people, you're fucked."

"I'll be fine, Vana. It's Halloweentown!"

"That's my point." She sighed, placing her index fingers on her temples, "I'm gonna help Dylan unpack, you be careful and don't run into anybody."

"Don't be such a worrywart."

...

After helping Dylan unpack, Levana made her way to her own room, widening her eyes when she saw a large fluff of hot pink hair.

"No way... Natalie?"

The troll spun, smiling brightly when her friend came into her view; Natalie rushed toward her, hugging the witch tightly. Levana returned the gesture, a joyful smile on her lips as she held Benny's hat in place on her head.

"Are we dormmates?"

"Looks like it," Natalie cheered, ushering the ravenette further into the room. "How've you been? I haven't seen you in, what? A year?"

The troll was one of many to return to Halloweentown due to homesickness; Dylan and Levana were sad to see her go, but the 4'11" witch understood better than Dylan did.

"I've been awesome! I met this guy a couple months ago, and holy shit he's amazing!"

The pink haired troll chuckled, eyes glancing to the scar on Levana's shoulder every now and then. Vana acted like she hadn't noticed, continuing the conversation as if the memory of Ethan slashing her shoulder open hadn't haunted her nightmares.

They caught up on everything and anything, laughing at memories of them in the human world; Natalie knew better than to bring up Ethan, and Levana knew better than to bring up Dylan. They had that understanding of each other, knowing that neither of them truly wanted to talk about it.

"I can't believe there's no magic allowed on campus." Levana groaned, throwing herself onto her bed after placing the vase on her nightstand, "I'm lucky as hell that I didn't get caught taking our bags around."

"Our?"

"The Cromwells, Marnie's been accepted on a full scholarship, and Geek Charming was forced to tag along by Gwen."

"Where's Sophie?"

"She's training with Aggie."

"Jeez. It must've been hell to deal with those two on the way here." Natalie said, eyes wide as she fought to hold back a laugh.

Levana rolled her eyes, lifting her head to send her friend a smile. "They actually didn't fight."

"Wow."

The girl nodded, before hopping up from her bed, "Let's go see what's for lunch, I'm starving."

author's note: how the FUCK does this have over 300 reads? damn, thanks guys! hope you enjoyed the chapter :)