“You want us to what?” May said, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

“I want you to sneak out to the garden with me,” Mena started. “Help me find the mythical Moonchild and do it while avoiding the psychotic lord of the phantoms who murdered all of Prince Tal’s friends and family.”

“Sounds fun to me,” Janus said wistfully.

Mena looked at May who shook in her spot. “What’s your biggest problem, May?”

“We’re going to break curfew!” May said. “My mummy wants my school record to be clean or else I’m going to have extra chores during the summer. And plus, Caligari is going to kill us! She scares me more than the Phantom Lord.”

Mena walked over and placed her hands on May’s shoulder. “You gotta think bigger, May. You can’t have detention if there is no school!”

“Well, uh,” May said, “You’re right about that.”

“Exactly!” Mena said. “But if we save the school, we’ll be thought of as heroes rather than zeroes!”

Mena turned aside and balled up her fist. “And…I promised Tal I would help him.”

“Well,” May began with starstruck eyes and a big round smile. “I did want to stop being Kumquat May to everyone. Perhaps Melina Penwell would even feature us in her next romantic novel!”

Mena giggled. “I didn’t even think of that, but you gotta dream big, May. That’s how I managed to get here in the first place!”

Mena stuck her hand out. “So, who’s in?”

May quickly placed her hand on top. “Count me in, Mena.”

Janus followed suit, placing her cold bony hand at the top of the pile. “Me too. I have a feeling there will be a lot of dramatic deaths.”

May and Mena’s eyes bulged as they looked at their friend, who quietly added. “But hopefully, on the side of evil!”

Mena swallowed hard, taking Janus’ truthful words into account. “Let’s do this!”

***

Mena and her friends had barely taken one step out of their room when they heard voices. “Gemini really lost it over this Phantom guy, eh?” said a high-pitched voice echoing back up the wall.

Mena looked down from the side of the Cloud Wall. There were three lanterns glinting at the foot of the tunnel. Three short figures stood clutching them, each wearing pointed helmets. “I’m surprised,” another high voice replied. “Gemini has taken on Anguish herself, but he seems to be quaking in his clown shoes over this monster.”

“Oh no! The Lollypop Security is out,” May whispered Mena and Janus. “How are we gonna get past them?”

“Leave this to me,” Janus said, and she brandished her custom-made, pink-metal scythe. “Willy-Wisp.”

A cute pink ember emerged from the tip of the scythe with large, coal-black eyes. It zoomed down the cloud wall towards the guards. “Ah!” One of the Lollypop security cried. “What is that?!”

“That’s ghostfire, Larry,” another replied. “That kind of stuff only exists in the Nightmare Void. The Phantom must be nearby!”

The Willy-Wisp zoomed into the tunnel. Mena’s eyes brightened in the darkness. “Now how about we knock em out and get ourselves some new disguises!”

Mena chanted with her hand at her head. “Magic, send some fireworks to daze those jerks!”

Her mind shot colorful, pinstriped party rockets zooming straight towards the tunnel and there was a colorful explosion of reds, greens and blues. Loud screaming was quickly followed by some unconscious moaning. “Quick,” Mena said. “Before they wake up!”

Mena, Janus and May dashed down the Cloud Wall and into the tunnel. They saw more lanterns and figures at the far end of the tunnel where the dining hall was. “Oh shoot, reinforcements,” Mena shouted. “Get these uniforms on and hide the bodies.”

“M-m-Mena?” May stammered. “There’s only one problem…”

**

Mena, May and Janus knelt on their knees. The uniforms they had donned barely covered their larger frames. They had carefully put the boots of the guards beneath their knees to make themselves look short. It was extremely awkward, and they hoped dearly that when the guards showed up, they wouldn’t notice how poorly dressed they were.

Three more guards arrived, dressed in the same exact fashion. “What happened over here?” the guard in front asked, surveying the three girls in their odd getup.

“Uhm…” Mena said, her eyes nervously darting around. “There was a magic malfunction. Yeah…”

May quickly cut in, “We uh…lost control of our imagicnation. They were really running wild, but everything’s okay now.”

The guard in front continued to gaze at the three girls with complete skepticism and distrust. Janus gave an awkward smile. “Uh… how are you guys?”

“We’re okay but uh…” The guard started. “Excuse me, but why don’t you have nose?”

Janus eyes shifted towards the center of her face, right down to the triangular hole where her nose should have been. She gasped in her sweet, flighty voice. “Ahh! What happened to it?!”

The guard crossed his arms. “You aren’t guards, are you?!”

“Run for it!” Mena screamed and she quickly hopped to her feet, May and Janus followed suit, bowling the three guards aside as they dashed through the tunnel.

As they dashed through the dining hall, Mena laughed spitefully. “Thankfully we’ve got longer legs!”

“I’m not…” May cried as she huffed and panted.

“Make sure to hit em with the Subduing Spells,” the leader of the guards told his men as they gave chase. “I think they’re students.”

The Lollypop soldiers drew truncheons with tips that resembled rainbow swirl lollypops. Colorful blasts ricocheted around Mena and her friends. “Guys,” May gasped as she lagged behind them. “I’m not going to make it…”

“Of course, you are,” Janus said kindly. “Sorry about this May, but looks like I’m going to have to help you out! Oh Willy Wisp!”

The pink ember with eyes emerged from her scythe and like an angry hornet, flew behind May and lit her rear end on fire. May screamed loudly, “Aieeee! Coming through!” as she barreled past Mena and Janus towards the corridor to the left. “Where’s she going?” Mena asked, panting hard to catch up with May.

“Oh, I think I have an idea,” Janus said with a wry expression.

Mena and Janus hung a left just in time to see May run out into the courtyard in hopes to douse her rear in the large fountain. With the grace of a militia cannonball, May plummeted into the water. “That’s perfect!” Mena exclaimed. “We’ll hide in there.”

Mena and Janus sprinted towards the fountain and dove in after their friend. Much to Mena’s relief, the fountain with a nude Gemini on a pedestal was surprisingly deep. Underneath the water, Mena observed the darkened sky shimmering with an orb-like full moon in the sky. As the white light shone down on them, Mena heard voices garbled from over the water. “The ballroom,” one of the soldiers said. “They must be in there.”

30 seconds passed and at last, Mena peeped her above the water to see the soldiers enter the ballroom’s antechamber. She gestured to May and Janus that it was ok to stick their heads above the water.

“Why did you set my butt on fire?” May angrily cried to Janus.

“You tend to think faster under fire!” Janus said with a giggle.

“If your tush wasn’t burning,” Mena remarked. “We would have never found a place to hide.”

“I guess you’re right,” May said. “But don’t ever think of doing it again.”

The pink ember flew by Janus’ head with weary eyes and coughed. “I’m sorry little one,” Janus said softly. “It is smelly down there. There was a lot of seafood at the party.”

A soft white light rose from the top of the hedges across from the fountain. “Enough potty jokes,” Mena said. “Now it’s time to seek out the Moonchild.”

“I wonder if you’ll be able to get in,” Janus asked curiously. “Gemini seals the maze off at this time because it changes form.”

“People have tried to get in?” Mena asked.

“Of course,” Janus said. “There are tons of midnight dares that happen around this place but those who enter are flung back by a force field.”

The three girls emerged from the fountain and walked over to the entryway of the maze. “Do you want us to come with you?” Janus asked.

“It’s probably best if you two stand guard,” Mena responded “To make sure no one else enters. Including Gaia and the Phantom Lord.”

“But what if something happens to you?” May asked, nervously.

“I’ll scream something,” Mena said with a smile. “The safe word is kumquats!”

May and Janus nodded as Mena cautiously proceeded towards the entryway. She stuck her hand into the maze, and surprisingly, it went through the forcefield. Janus gave her a grin and a thumbs up as she moved the rest of her body inside. Upon entering, the entire aura around her changed.

Mena wasn’t sure if it was just her vision but everything was tinted in an icy blue light. A chill rushed over her body as an eerie flute played solemnly. Was it the Phantom Orchestrator? Mena though, but soon her questions were answered by a high-pitched, child-like voice that accompanied the flute.

“Welcome to my maze

An ever-perpetual haze

May you forever wander in a pit of delusion

For…”

The voice stopped. Mena had a good feeling it was the Moonchild singing, but why they had stopped, she was not sure.

She carefully crept forward. Already there was a fork in the maze and the leafy brambles were way too lofty to see over. “I guess I should go right,” Mena said to herself.

As she walked along the circular pathway, she shivered. A fog as thick as dry ice hung low over the ground. “M-m-miserable magicaps,” Mena stuttered. “W-w-w-wish I dressed for the occasion.”

Mena watched as ice crystal began to intertwine with the branches and leaves, leaving a crystalized film over everything. The ice crystal sparkled in rainbow patterns, shining brightly in the darkness. At last, Mena arrived at a dead end, a wall of ice. “Well,” Mena muttered. “So much for that, I better…”

A low growl cut through the air and bristled the hairs on Mena’s skin. She turned around and screamed. A wolf made entirely out of frozen crystal emerged from the wall. The wolves’ mouth was jagged stalactites and stalagmites of blue ice, and the patterns on its fur were just as sharp and pointed. Its eyes, two green ice crystals glared at Mena as she held up her hands and quickly screamed, “Kumquats kumquats!”

Her voice echoed hollowly in the air. “I don’t think they’ve got time to reach me!”

Mena quickly placed her hand to face. “Wait a minute. What did Caligari teach me?”

Her mind immediately flashed back to her first lesson with Caligari, back to when she first fought the night creeper. “Of course, gotta use my imagicnation.”

“Magic magic on the double, give this stupid beast a muzzle!”

Leather straps appeared from her mind and bound the beasts jaws tightly. “Now,” Mena responded with a wink. “What’s better than roasting an ice wolf on an open fire?!”

She summoned a fire ball from her mind and shot it at the wolf, blasting it across the ground. The wolf let out a yelp and tumbled on the stone pavement. Steam sizzled from its body as Mena did a happy dance. The dance ceased however, as the wolf rose up from the ground. “You’re, uh, supposed to be a puddle!” Mena exclaimed as a loud cracking sound came behind her.

Mena turned around to see the ice wall was now sprouting large icicles from the wall, sharp enough to puncture her body. Slowly, it loomed forward, aiming to puncture the young witch. “Drat rats!” she shouted “I’m stuck between an ice wolf and a sharp place!”

Mena was ready to give in and accept her fate when her mind returned to what the Moonchild had sung. “May you forever wander in a pit of delusion…for it’s…just an illusion!”

“Miraculous magicaps,” Mena exclaimed. “What if it is? Well, I’m about to find out!”

The ice wall closed in on Mena, but the sharped stalactites stopped an inch away from her face. Mena tentatively raised her hand to one of them, and with the lightest tap, she attempted to prick her finger. Her hand traveled through the icicle instead. “Wowie zowie!” she said. “It is an illusion!”

Mena walked slowly towards the ice wolf, and much to her surprise, she walked right through it too. “What if these walls are invisible too?” she asked.

She slowly approached the frozen hedges and soon enough, she was walking through walls in the maze. When Mena reached the center, she gasped. There, at the center of stone altar was an androgynous child with silver hair and a white night gown, dancing to the sound of a flute.

“Um…excuse me?” Mena asked, realizing the child’s eyes were closed.

The flute playing ceased, and the child stopped twirling in a somnambulistic manner. Their eyes opened, and Mena gasped in shock. The child’s eyes resembled colorful marbles that young children often played with.

“I see you’ve made it past my illusion,” the moonchild said, sounding quite pleased.

“Yes,” Mena said, bowing her head nervously. “I’ve come to ask you about a dream where I keep witnessing something unobtainable.”

“Since you’ve reached me,” the Moonchild said, a small smile curling on their lips. “Perhaps it is time to teach someone like you the difference between a dream and an illusion.”