Time has passed, and one night, Briar and the others are sleeping in their bedroom. And soon enough, Briar is starting to have another dream. Briar soon opens her eyes and looks around to notice that it's night time to where she is.

Briar looks around and says, "Wow. The night looks beautiful, but I have to wonder where I'm at right now."

Briar soon begins to walk and feels something under her feet.

"It feels so dry..." Briar says to herself.

Briar kneels down and lifts the stuff from the ground and they fall off her hand.

"This... this is sand.... Am I in some kind of desert?" Briar wonders.

Suddenly, Briar hears around and turns her head to see a man riding on a horse. Then another man arrives, but is shorter and his clothes seem old and worn.

The man says, "You... are late."

The short man says, "A thousand apologies, O patient one. But I got it!"

Then the man says, "Trust me, my pungent friend. You'll get what's coming to you."

Whatever it was, the taller man takes what looks like two halves of some golden scarab beetle. He then places the two halves together, and it begins to glow and becomes one. Then the golden scarab beetle flies off into the desert.

The man shouts, "Quickly! Follow the train!"

The two men get on their horses and across the desert.

Soon enough, the scenes change and the scarab splits in half and each piece is placed on different sides of the sand dune to look like eyes. And then the sand dune rises from the sand and transforms into a large head of a tiger.

Soon, two men appear in front of the cave. Briar quickly recognizes the tall man is another Great Seven from the Statue, and the short man is revealed to be named Gazeem. On Jafar's shoulder is a red macaw parrot, who is named Iago.

Jafar says in astonishment, "At last, after all my years of searching... The Cave of Wonders."

"Awk! Cave of Wonders!" Iago squawks.

Jafar says to Gazeem, "Now, remember - bring me the lamp!"

Gazeem then begins to approach the cave.

Suddenly, the Cave of Wonders begins to move.

The cave says, "Who disturbs my slumber?"

Briar gasps in surprise to see the Cave has suddenly begun to move.

Soon enough, Briar's dream disappears before he can see more of what happened.

The next day, Briar soon begins to wake up and feels more sleepy.

Briar yawns and says, "My dreams are getting weirder and weirder. Now I'm dreaming of the desert. And this Cave of Wonders..."

Briar then gets out of bed, gets dressed, and walks down the stairs. Grim and the others join soon after, and notice the sleep Briar still has in her eyes.

Soon, Patrick appears in front of her and asks, "Hey, Briar.. Why so bleary-eyed?

"You look like you've seen a ghost. Heh heh heh," Albert says, appearing soon after.

Then John appears and says, "Today's the last day of the fall semester. Look sharp and don't bungle the landing."

"Oh yeah, tomorrow's the first day of the winter holiday. Have you two decided what you'll be doing?" Patrick says.

"Huh? What's a win-ter holly-day?" Grim asks.

Patrick explains, "It's when school lets out for the season. Most students go home to celebrate the new year with their family. They have fancy dinners, too."

"Wait, there's FOOD?!" Grim asks, surprised with glee.

"And plenty of it. Roast turkey, pie, a ham as big as your head, you name it... Not that us ghosts can eat, of course," John says.

Then Patrick says, "Some ghosts head home to the netherworld to spend holidays with the family too, y'know."

"Yeah, and some of 'em never come back! Heh heh heh!" Albert says with a giggle.

"Spendin' time with the family while gettin' your grub on sounds nice..." Grim says.

Then Sereia asks, "By the way Grim, what's your family like?"

"My family? Hmm... I don't remember 'em," Grim answers.

"You don't... remember them?" Briar asks, starting to feel sad.

"No. Not at all. I'm not sure I even have one," Grim says.

"I remember wakin' up hungry and was real cold. I was waitin' out there for someone to come get me for ages. What happened after that again? It's all so foggy... But hey, I'm a forward-facin' kinda guy anyway! The future's way cooler than the past! Especially 'cause I'm gonna be a rich and powerful sorcerer! Gah ha ha!

Then turns to Sereia, "What about you?"

"Well, to be honest, I don't remember much either. All I remember was waking up in a small old store that looked like it had gone out of business. There were a few toys, games and clocks in there, Sereia says.

"So you don't know who made you?" Jasper asks.

"No," Sereia answers.

"As for me and Jasper, our parents died in an incident, so we've been living in that cottage for at least three years now," Tanzanite says.

"But we managed fine until that monster attacked us in the mines," Jasper says.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Briar says.

Then Jasper asks, "So Briar, what's your story? I remember you telling us that you were from another world."

"Um yeah. This is going to sound weird but I actually don't remember a few things. My three aunts found me in the woods when I was seven years old, and we lived in a house as a family until they passed away. And I've been living in the house for a year on my own. And for some reason, I ended up finding myself here," Briar explains.

"Sounds rough," Jasper says.

"It sounds kind of lonely," Sereia says.

"I know, but I'm glad that we're not alone here," Briar says.

"I guess," Grim says.

Then asks the fairy, "So what's your story?"

Trinket soon begins to talk a bit.

"I don't have any idea of what you're saying," Grim replies.

Trinket huffs and turns away with her arms crossed.

"Speaking of which, I wonder if the hedge are looking for ways to get you back to your home world," Jasper replies to Briar.

Grim answers, "If I know Crowley, he's totally forgotten about it by better stay on his case about it, Briar."

Patrick begins to sniffle and shed tears, "Awww, poor little Grimmy had it rough! You all had it rough!"

"How'd you like to spend the holidays sitting around the fireplace with us?" John asks.

That makes Grim happy, "Myah ha ha! If there's good food to be had, consider me ready for some holiday cheer!"

"Oh Grim," Briar happily says.

Then Grim says, "Hey Briar, I know it will be weird to ask, but are you really planning on going back to your world?"

"Well, I'm still thinking of getting back home. Sure, it will be kind of lonely with you guys, but I still have a life there. Why do you ask?" Briar replies.

"Well, it's because well, since you don't have a family, and from what we come to understand that it's possible you or possible family might be from here. So then, maybe it will be better for you to stay, you got us, and Ramshackle Dorm, and you can use magic," Grim says.

"It's mainly up to Briar if she wants to stay," Tanzanite says.

"Yeah, but... we will miss her if she does decide to head back home," Jasper says.

Sereia sadly says, "Yeah. And we'll miss you too."

Hearing her friends talking has Briar thinking. Sure, she does have a life, a few people she's acquainted with, and her home. However, Briar has made so many good friends and had a good school year, even if it is a boys only school. So Briar ends up with a bigger thought in mind: Does she even want to go back home anymore?"

Later on in class, Briar's and the others are in class and wait as Crewel is teaching.

After that, Crewel says, "Listen up, whelps. Your holiday vacation starts tomorrow. I'm sure all of you are foaming at the mouth to get back home. But every year, there's always some foolish pup who forgets about his homework and spends the whole break goofing off. Just remember that I have a severe punishment in store for any such slackers out there. Are we clear? You have permission to use the Dark Mirror to return home for the holidays. Report to your dorm mirror once you've packed your things!"

"Yes, Professor!" All the students answer, "Yes, Professor!"

After class, everyone talks among themselves of the plans they're going to have.

Ace isn't relieved, "Ugh, finally! A break from this cramped dorm life!

Good grief. Night Raven College doesn't kid around with holiday homework. Look at all this," Deuce says.

"Speaking of going home, I guess you haven't found a way back yet, Briar?" Ace asks.

"No. Not yet, so I'm going to be here for a while longer," Briar says.

Then Deuce asks, "Will you all be spending the holidays in your dorm?"

"Yup. We've made plans to have ourselves a feast with the ghosts!" Grim happily says.

"Oh, right. There're plenty of ghosts on campus to keep you company, so it won't be just the six of you," Ace says.

Then Deuce says, "But when school lets out, don't the cafeteria and school store shut down too?"

Grim becomes shocked, "Mrow! I didn't even think about that. Where'm I supposed to get the food for my feast?!"

"Surely the headmage's planned for this... I hope," Briar says, sounding a little unsure.

"Sounds like you'd better check in with the headmage soon," Deuce replies.

Then Ace says, "You need Crowley's permission to use the Dark Mirror, so my guess is he's probably there right now. Let's find out."

"Alright then, let's go," Briar says.

And with that, the group take their leave from class and head to the Mirror Chamber to ask the headmage about their current situation.