By the time the party wrapped up last week, Geniva and her friends decided to follow me. Of course, that is only due to the fact that I am the youngest ever by two years to attend the Sorena Royal Academy. Geniva herself seems very nice—or at least, she’s a genuine person—and she promised to look after Grace, but they won’t be in the same school as me, not to mention the same grade.

I stare at the door of the classroom, feeling a faint sense of foreboding.

My previous life ended in disaster, but that was mainly because I was lazy. I have already formed hard-working habits over these past five years, and I am most definitely not the uninterested person of my past life.

Though I keep telling myself these things, I can’t stop the butterflies from flying around in my stomach. I hear the teacher call me in and I slowly reach out to the door handle. Taking a deep breath, I open the door and walk in.

Immediately, I can feel all the eyes in the room turn to me. “Please close the door behind you and introduce yourself.” The teacher, Professor Brinehard, smiles at me with wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes.

Following his directions, I walk up to the front of the class and turn to the class. “H-hello,” I stutter in a voice much higher than usual, garnering a few giggles. Feeling my ears burn, I clear my throat and try again. “Hello.” Much better. “My name is Nova Allandis.” I can feel my face burning. Why can’t I have the same confidence I had when I was facing that wicked woman Kalista or that girl Lacey? “I am ten years old as of a week ago. Please take care of me.”

Professor Brinehard slaps his stick against the podium to silence the burst of whispers that starts up. “Good, good. Jennis, stand up.” A boy next to the window near the back stands up. Turning to me, the teacher says, “You may sit next to him for the rest of this term. If you have any questions, I am always in my office during break.”

“Thank you, Professor.” I half-curtsey and make my way to the boy. When I reach my seat, he sits down and turns to stare out the window.

Ignoring him, I pull out a few books as the teacher begins his lecture and flip open my notebook. Pointing my finger towards the teacher, I whisper, , and then point to my open page. Words begin appearing on the page as the teacher says them, and I open another book and begin reading. The spell that Teacher Broffenberg taught me sure does come in handy.

Opening another notebook, I take my own notes from my own research. Around a half hour later, the teacher calls on me. “Nova?”

Glancing back at my other notebook, I quickly read over the last few lines. What allowed humans to be able to fend off the demons, despite not having enough power to fight them head on? Before the teacher can call me again, I look up and open my mouth. “Humans have imagination. Demons have raw power, but because of this, they did not think of tricks but merely powered through everything. Thus, we humans could utilize our imagination and ensnare the demons in various traps that depleted their power, allowing us to win the war.”

“Exactly. The demons had no imagination. How to use magic is what we humans excel in. This is how we have expanded the use of magic…”

Tuning out, I return to my research. As I reach to turn the page of my book, a folded note drops onto it. Picking it up, I open it and read,

Meet me on the rooftop after class. -J

I glance over at my deskmate, who continues to stare out the window as if nothing happened. Sighing, I return back to my work. Whatever he wants from me, I will know after class ends.