Just as Mena was about to enter, Gemini extended his hand, blocking her entry. “But first,” he said, “the proper attire!”

He positioned his hand to his head, and Mena watched as her school robes transformed into a party dress made of purple fabric. Her hair was neatly tied back in a pony-tail and she sported a purple butterfly mask with sparkles to match her outfit.

“Wowie zowie, Mena exclaimed. “This is perfect!”

“I am second to none in magic,” Gemini said, raising his hand dramatically. “And fashion!”

He allowed Mena inside and the young witch could not believe her eyes. The overhead ambiance in Gemini’s room was an enormous solar system with a giant pink cloud hovering over it. Party guests stood on a tiled floor of stars and moon shapes, and each wore a glowing mask representing something different. Mena saw animal masks, harlequin masks and even stars and planets. Gemini skipped across the floor and Mena carried her dress quickly to catch up. “So many people for you to meet, so much to do in one night!” Gemini sang.

Gemini arrived at an enormous blond woman in a light green dress who chatted with a pale, silver haired skinny elven woman in black and purple gown. The blond woman wore a bright yellow lion mask and had a huge mane of hair to match it. “Toyah,” Gemini said, “I proudly present your daughter’s roommate and the future guardian of Autolycus’ dreams.”

Mena’s eyes widened. “Ashlan’s mom!”

“Mena!” The woman exclaimed in husky, yet refined voice, and before Mena knew it, she was being smothered in the woman’s bosom. “I’ve already heard so much about you from Ashlan!”—the woman’s big voice quickly changed to a sob. “I’m so sorry to hear about Arabella.”

“Mmph mmmmph!” Mena exclaimed.

“What?” said Toyah still a hint of sorrow in her voice.

“That’s Suffocation for ‘I can’t breath!’” Gemini said with a smile.

“Oh, sorry,” Toyah said, releasing a dazed Mena from her lion hug.

Mena gasped for breath and shook her head. “It’s—ah—nice to meet you! How did Ashlan tell you about me?”

“Dream Telepathy,” Toyah responded, wiping her eyes. “We of Dula have that ability!”

“How does the future guardian of Autolycus not know something as simple as Dream Telepathy?” the pale elven woman asked with a sneer. “Gemini, I already have questions about your judgement.”

“Patience Tali,” Gemini said with a clever grin. “I’d expect someone with your lifespan to have more of it.”

The elven woman turned up her nose at Gemini’s joke and Mena knew immediately this was the Tessellation twins’ mother. All their snootiness and harsh judgement seemed to trickle down from her being.

“I’m all out of lunar wine!” Tali Tesselation grimaced. “Gemini call your servant up here.”

“Oh Cere?” Gemini said, and right before their eyes Cere Caligari appeared before them with a corked bottle of Crater De Autolycus. Mena was surprised that it was Professor Caligari who was waiting on people. The young witch could have sworn it would be the other way around. The professor even had an uneasy look on her face and a trembling mouth as she looked up at the headmaster. Her voice wasn’t sharp at all, it was quite meek. “Yes headmaster?”

“Help these two ladies to some more wine!”

“Very well, headmaster,” and she quickly poured Tali more wine.

“A phantom?!” Tali exclaimed, her nostrils flaring. “What kind of other crazy riff-raff do you employ in this reputed school, Gemini? Children here don’t need to witness a creature from the Nightmare Void.”

Caligari’s hand shook, and the wine spilled out onto Tali’s shoes. She let a howl. “Get this thing out of my sight.”

With sorrow in her bright green eyes, Caligari vanished immediately in a veil of shadow. “Now Tali, that was uncalled for,” Gemini said, wagging his finger. “She’s extremely accomplished. She just gets shy sometimes. I haven’t figured out why yet.”

Mena gave a wide, brace-faced grin. Having read so many romance novels, she knew the shy and submissive way Caligari was acting probably had to do with Gemini. Even terrifying phantom teachers could have crushes it seemed.

“I’ll leave you ladies to your drinks,” Gemini said. “I’m about to make a great announcement about Mena.”

“Goodbye Mena!” Toyah said in a boisterous voice. “Don’t be a stranger! A friend of my daughter and the daughter of my best friend is always welcome at our mansion in Dula.”

Mena waved back, and after saying goodbye to Toyah, Mena asked Gemini curiously, “Why are you having Professor Caligari wait on people?”

“Oh ho,” Gemini said. “I mentioned it casually in the staff room that I needed someone from the Lollypop Labour Union who could teleport drinks for the guests in other dimensions and dear Cere volunteered herself. She’s quite a funny phantom. Very stern and serious, but with a heart of pure gold. Quite a worthy rescue from the Nightmare Void.”

Mena put her hand to her chin and her eyes glinted mischievously as Gemini led her to the center of the room. So, Gemini had rescued Professor Caligari, and it was that kind of crush—a life debt. A bit messed up, but Mena understood it, having been rescued by Gemini herself.

Gemini led Mena to the center of the floor where the sun and moon tiles circled around her in motion. Gemini raised his hand to his head and snapped his fingers so loud it sounded like a cannon blast. He let the sleeves of his robe hang open and loud trumpets extended from them blasting a triumphant fanfare. Everyone turned their heads so quickly some of the guests spilled their beverages or dropped their food. “Ladies and gentlemen, the brightest star in our sky shines before us tonight. With no further udo but my own, I give you: Phenomena Willow!”

Much to Mena’s surprise, everyone who circled around her gave a hearty applause. As their claps filled her ears, her self-esteem was no longer at sub-levels; everybody wanted her… for some strange reason. As the suns and moons danced in her eyes, she grinned starstruck and the floor began to rise. But as they got higher and higher towards the solar system and the weirdly ominous pink cloud, Mena’s thoughts changed to ones of dismay. What was she doing up here?

Like he was reading her mind, Gemini asked her, “I bet you’re wondering what a tiny, seemingly-insignificant witchy girl is doing here? What could you possibly do to benefit a whole planet of people…”

Mena’s brown eyes focused firmly on Gemini’s rainbow eyes. She bit her lip in anticipation.

“Well,” Gemini said, as his eyes changed from rainbow to a blazing bright orange. “Now that we’re safely away from everyone else. I can tell you.”

A small moon flew over Mena’s head. It was a colorful marble of chartreuse and cerulean, marking the water and land. “You live on the humble little planetoid of Autolycus, Mena,” Gemini said. “But did you know that it’s directly connected to the land of Dula?”

“It is?” Mena asked as Gemini held his hand out and the pink cloud swirled over Autolycus revealing a tiny pink brain. “To use a bodily metaphor, Autolycus is the body, but Dula is the mind, the unconscious of the Groundborns and magicless.”

“Whoa,” Mena said, her mind already blown by this revelation. “The people of Autolycus depend on that province of Dula for their wildest dreams and fantasies, but that piece of Dula depends on the Groundborns for their physical form. But as of recent…”

Mena gasped as a dark miasma with a singular white eyeball and an orange iris moved over the tiny brain. “Anguish the Blood Siren has escaped her prison and with the power of the Nightmare Void, she is hoping to consume that tiny piece of Dula and with it, the sanity, hopes and dreams of all of Autolycus!”

“Oh my,” Mena said, holding her hands to her cheeks. “That’s not good.”

“Understatement of the millennium,” Gemini said his light green eyes glowing confidently, “But that’s why I have chosen you to be the conduit between Autolycus and Dula.”

“But…what can I do?” Mena asked.

“Why…” Gemini said, his arms outstretched with a winsome smile. “Everything. For you, Mena, have the body of a Groundborn, but the imagicnation of a Dulaborn! And most of all, like my good friend Lol Pops said, ‘Your heart is almost entirely without darkness!’”

Mena smiled nervously. She already knew this and waited for Gemini to say more. “If you tether yourself to the land of Dula, I can guide you in your dreams to the sacred sanctuaries that have been stolen and pilfered by Anguish’s most trusted night creepers. With the hidden strength and fortitude of your mind, you can liberate them and with it, the hopes and dreams of Autolycus!

Gemini’s eyes changed back to rainbow. The colorful irises beamed at Mena with the hope of thousands. “You can save us all!”

Mena’s head felt a powerful buzz from the undertaking. It sounded too fantastical to be true. For the longest time, she felt she was a simple, basic witch. “But what if I fail?” Mena asked.

Without warning, Gemini grabbed Mena’s shoulders with a manic look, his irises becoming light green again and he shook her hard and frantically. “We’ll all be DOOMED! DOOMED I tell you! Everyone will succumb to endless nightmares, and we will live in desolation forever!”

Mena cried out from being shaken so much. She felt she had no choice. “O-okay. I’ll do it!”

Gemini stopped immediately. His charming smile and rainbow irises returned. “Perfect. I know you can do it, Mena. I have faith in you.”

Gemini held his hands out and a beam of pink electricity shot out of the cloud and extended to Mena, filling her with an energy she had never felt before. The planets in the solar system were orbiting her like the universe itself was revolving around her. It made her dizzy and a bit nauseous, but immensely powerful at the same. She had a feeling that she would never be able to go back to how she was before, the power was vested in her body and spirited. Once the electricity had finished, Gemini said proudly. “Mena, you are now forever tethered to the land of Dula, you will be Autolycus’ own Warrior of Dreams."

“O-okay!” Mena said, still dizzy and not feeling that confident. Gemini snapped his fingers and the pedestal slowly lowered to the ground.

“Phenomena Willow is now officially part of Dula!” Gemini cried out and once again, Mena was met with a powerful applause and cheers. Regardless of how she felt being tethered to Dula, she always enjoyed adoration and attention she received from the people from Dula and the other planets. It was quite the opposite of the witch hatred she received in Growden.

“I’m so happy,” said Gemini with a gleaming white smile, “And now, it’s jig time! Music please.” The musicians in the corner started playing their violins merrily, and Gemini proceeded to do a very enthusiastic jig up on the pedestal, until suddenly, he grunted. Mena turned her head and screamed in horror as Gemini toppled onto the pedestal face first onto the ground. Everyone screamed in horror as the music ground to a stop.

Mena held her hands in front of her face. What had happened to Gemini? Professor Caligari appeared out of the shadows, and scooped Gemini’s limp body into her hands. “D-don’t worry,” she said, trying not to panic. “He just overexcited himself from this party.”

“Ohh,” Gemini moaned. “I hope Professor Andromeda doesn’t see me like this.”

Caligari’s blazing green eyes turned to Mena, trying to reassure her. She held her hand to her head, and snapped her fingers and Mena was enveloped in shadows and returned to her room.

Fraught with worries over Gemini, and feeling her head burn hot like she had a fever, Mena collapsed and slipped into unconsciousness.

The party continued in her dreams. Only this time. It was a party from hell.