"Come on, Krel, it's time for PE," I skipped to the gymnasium. He lagged behind me, nervously fiddling with his shirt sleeves.

Krel had been acting strangely for two weeks now: sweating and flushing pink whenever I accidentally touched him, stuttering whenever we spoke alone, even going so far as to abruptly end the conversation whenever I came up in it. I chalked it up to Douxie, Archie and Nari's unfruitful attempts to find a spell to undo Eclipse's curse.

The more they searched the bookstore, the more they came up empty-handed, which did nothing to fuel the confidence of the others. Every day, when they said they had nothing, Eclipse took the time to reinforce the fact that they would never find a spell for her curse. And every day, it got harder and harder to shut her up.

"Come on, we're gonna be late," I groaned, grabbing his hands and tugging them with me for emphasis. I had grown accustomed to the schedule of human 'high school', and I knew the consequences for being late to arrive to class.

The school alpha, with his eyes like the sky and skin like milk, would descend upon unsuspecting humans and give them the dreaded yellow Detention Slip. Those who received it would disappear, and would never be seen until the next morning. And when they came back, they would tell horrible tales of their traumatic experiences with their punishments, such as Scraping Gum From Under Desks, or Erasing Textbook Answers. Wisely, I had been quick to adapt to the strict laws of Passing Period.

The moment I touched Krel, his face lit up crimson and he yanked his hands back. "I get it, I get it," he snapped. "I will try to go faster."
"Come on, Krel," Toby chimed in from behind us. "There's some kind of special announcement happening right before Gym class. I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with the Spring Fling!"

"TP, the Spring Fling won't happen for another month," a girl with brown hair like dandelion fluff chimed in. "Why would people be worried about it now?"
"Duh," another girl with a mouse-like face chimed in. "The Spring Fling is the most important day in the Arcadia Oaks High school year! If we can't have our prom, then life has no meaning!"

"What is a Spring Fling?" I asked, confused. Both girls instantly froze, and turned to me with mouths wide open. "New Girl, do you mean to tell me you have absolutely no idea what the most amazing day of the year in Arcadia is?!" Mouse Face asked incredulously.
"Um...no?"

"The Spring Fling is basically a really important event here at Arcadia Oaks High," the girl with poofy hair explained before Mouse Face could lose her temper. "It's a dance, and then, at the end of the night, one girl and one boy are crowned Spring Fling King and Queen. Not to brag, but I ended up with the title of Queen last year."

"Yeah, but I was in a close second," Mouse Face countered.
"Anyways, my name's Darci," the fluffy haired girl, who now had a name, extended her hand towards me. "And that's Mary. Stick with us, and we can give you all the tips and tricks to get to the top of the high school pyramid."

"She already has friends," Krel stopped them, putting a hand on my shoulder. The look on his face was a combination of anger and...jealousy? "Who asked you, Karl?" Mary the Mouse Faced glared at him. "I've told you, my name is Krel," he groaned. Apparently, this wasn't the first time Mary had gotten his name wrong. "Whatever, Kevin," she scoffed, before sashaying away with Darci at her side.

Krel stomped off before I could say anything to cool his temper. "Just ignore them," Jim advised, coming up beside Toby and I. "Mary and Darci mean well, but sometimes they can be a bit....intense."

"Yeah," Toby agreed. "One time, I accidentally forgot I had a date with Darci, and she went totally nuts!"
"Tobes, that was last week."
"Exactly! High school women can be bloodthirsty sharks."

I left them to their debate and wandered into the gymnasium. I had gotten a few looks from the kids around me as I passed them by, some of respect and admiration, and others of fear. One kid with orange hair and a black shirt pointed at me and clicked his tongue. I replied with a confused wave before taking a seat next to Krel. A few moments later, the teachers arrived.

"Hello, Moles!" Coach Lawrence shouted into the same bulb I had seen from the Battle of The Bands (I learned it was called a microphone). Instantly, everyone got up and cheered. "The Spring Fling dance is almost here, and we've got a lot of work to do if we want it to be a good one. I-I'll hand it over to Lenora for the rest of it."

He passed off the microphone to a tall, lanky woman with black, frizzy hair and narrow eyes who also somewhat reminded me of a rodent. "Hello, Arcadia Oaks High School students," she called out enthusiastically. Not a whole lot of people cheered. Awkwardly clearing her throat, she continued. "As you know, each year we have our nominees for this year's Spring Fling King and Queen, and I'd like to tell all of you who made it to the final cut!"

That got everyone excited and sparked a wildfire of small conversations over who it could be and hopeful shrieks of excitement. "As always, we'll do ladies first. Our first nominee is none other than our victor of last year, Miss Darci Scott!" Darci squealed when her name was called.

"Our next nominee is Miss Holly Arborvine!" A girl with corn-silk white hair and brown eyes giggled excitedly along with her pack of fellow females. "And, a very last-minute entry, Miss Shannon Longhannon!" The girl with pigtails and red glasses I scared my first day jumped up and down with happiness.

"Now for the boys! Our first nominee is Mr. Seamus Johnson!" The boy with the orange hair and black shirt from before stood up and welcomed the cheers and slaps on the back he got from other guys. "Our second nominee is Mr. Tobias Domzalski!" Toby whooped and cheered and started dancing around, though the crowd didn't reciprocate his energy. "And our final nominee for Spring Fling King is none other than...Mr. Krel Tarron!"

There were large gasps of confusion when my friend's name was called. Even Jim and Claire looked confused, and Steve was especially angry. Krel was frozen in shock, eyes widened, mouth opening and closing like a fish, but no sound came out. "Congratulations," I smiled, giving his shoulder a small squeeze. "You have a chance to be the alpha of your school!"

"I....I-" he faltered. "I..I think I need some time to think about this." And with that, he got up and ran out of the gym. "What's wrong with him?" I asked Toby and Jim.
"What's wrong is he stole my spot as Spring Fling King!" Steve yelled angrily, stamping his foot on the bleachers.

"No, I mean, why did he act like that? He looked like he'd seen a Proditorus tearing his ribcage open."
"That's....disgusting," Jim said slowly.

"I think it has something to do with his life before he came to Arcadia," Toby answered my question. "He came here from a far-off land called Cantaloupia during an attack on his country. It shook him up pretty bad. His parents were killed, and he was expected to lead. When the tyrant was overthrown, his sister went back to rule, but he ended up staying here."

"Poor Krel," I murmured, thinking over how alike our situations were. We both had lost our parents. Our siblings. We were both forced to come to a strange land and pressured into living a life we knew nothing about. What a predicament we were in. I thought over what Toby had told me as the teachers kept at it with the announcements. Until a tiny, golden speck of light suddenly appeared in front of my face.

Instantly, my senses were heightened and curious as the bobbing light danced and twirled, occasionally giggling when I curiously batted at the light. Then, it veered around the right side of my head and dove into my ear. Instantly, darkness fell.

The cold surrounded me, suffocating me in its icy grasp. "Lunalis?" I could hear the voices of my friends, though they were distant and echoed around the otherwise silent chamber I was in. They were calling to me; searching for me. "I'm over here," I cried, trying to run to them. But no matter how hard I tried, no matter how fast I ran, their voices seemed to become more and more distant.

"Lunalis!"
"I'm right here," I wailed, grasping at the darkness, at anything, to bring me back to them. "Lunalis!"
"Lunalis, are you okay!"
"Get a grip, Wolf Lady!"
"Lunalis?"

Gasping and turning, I immediately burst into tears at the sight of my sister's mangled body. The scars from my claws on her face had opened up again, and were running red all down her face and frail body that was nothing more than skin and bone. Her eye was white, and rolled around loose in its socket. "Lunalis," Raven whispered, terrified. "Why did you hurt me?"

"No," I gasped, trying to reach for her. I tried to run to her, but the farther I went the further away she grew. "No, Raven, come back!" I screamed, chasing after her.
"Why did you kill me?!" Another voice, masculine, chimed in.

"Scorpio, please!" I cried as my deceased brother loomed over me.
"You gave me no mercy. Why should I show it to you?!" he yelled angrily, raising a fist over my head. "No..." I whispered, curling up into a ball. "Please-"
"Lunalis? Lunalis?! LUNALIS!"

A sharp sting erupting on the side of my face snapped me out of my nightmare, only to emerge into another.

Douxie was gripping my shoulders, presumably the one who slapped me. "Lunalis, are you there mate?!" he shouted into my face while digging his nails into my skin.
"I'm fine," I tore away from him. "What's happening?!"

People were running around the gymnasium, acting schizophrenic and screaming or cowering in fear from invisible monsters. The golden light from before had multiplied into hundreds of golden specks zipping around and diving into people. It was only when one shot into Archie's ear and made him shriek in alarm did I make the connection that they had caused my illusion.

"I hate these things," Claire yelled, blasting them away with shadow magic.
"Wasn't last year enough pixies for one lifetime?!" Toby yelled, swinging at them with his hammer. "Put these in your ears," Douxie tossed me a pair of strange, spongey cones. "They won't let the pixies in." Popping them in like Douxie instructed, I immediately zeroed in on Archie, who was rolling on the floor of the gym, trying to get something off of him.

Sprinting over, I grabbed him and shook him senseless, making sure to thoroughly rattle the pixie in his brain. After all, I wasn't about to slap a cat, even if he was technically a dragon. "Archie, you need to wake up," I yelled, shaking him. After some more rough jerking, the light flew away and Archie was back.

"Stay close to me," I ordered, and he complied, wrapping himself around my neck like a furry snake. "I'll put up a shield to keep us safe. You take them down with your fire." Archie nodded, and we started our decimation of the pixies.

I ran at full crowds of them, leaping and slashing and even climbing the ropes hanging from the ceiling to get close to them. Archie would then launch himself from my shoulders, burn them to a crisp, come back to me and we would continue. Whenever one came too close, I would put up a shield of purple magic to keep them away. We made quick work of them, and in mere minutes the gymnasium was clear of pixies.

"Creeps....slayed," Steve panted, having been taken over by pixies and snapped out of his stupor via Claire's slap at least six times. "Good. Now to wake up everyone else," Archie started, but I stopped him. "Wait a second. Where's Krel?"

We all froze as we realized he wasn't there. The pixies could be anywhere, and Krel would have no idea. "Everyone, split up. If we work fast, we'll be able to find him before the pixies do," Douxie ordered, but I was gone before he could even finish his sentence. Crashing through the gymnasium doors, I ran faster than I had ever ran in my life, heart pounding with fear for my friend.