As Mena mounted the broomstick, it wiggled beneath her. It was jinxed to fly, and as her auntie told her, jinxed objects had a mind of their own. “Ok, Broomy,” she whispered, trying to get it to settle down. “We’re going to fly through this course in a way that doesn’t end up clobbering both our butts.”

The broom made a slight squeaking sound and moved up and down, signaling a sort of nod. “Good broom,” Mena said, and her face eased into a casual, but uneven grin. “Good Broomy…AHHH”

The broom shot into the sky, heading up towards the high ceiling of the gymnasium. Mena screamed, holding on to the wooden handle for dear life. The broom started a loop-de-loop, causing Mena to drop off, but she helplessly clutched the bottom of the broom to avoid dropping off. With all of her strength in her skinny, yet undefined arms, she slowly hoisted herself back up onto the broomstick. “I never thought I’d wish this,” Mena said, straining her non-existent muscles, “But I wish I were actually doing pull-ups right now.”

She panted hard and pulled herself back on to the top of the broomstick as it continued to fly erratically over the course. As soon as it passed the two trolls, Mena said frantically. “Ok Broomy, we cleared it. Now you can land.”

Suddenly, the broom took a complete nose-dive. Mena screamed as loud as her vocal cords would allow. “PULL UP, PULL UP,” she screamed so she wouldn’t be splattered on the concrete floor. Right before the broom touched down it quickly flew smack into the wall. Fortunately for Mena, the wall was insulated for similar accidents, though it didn’t prevent the whiplash from stopping so suddenly.

“Owie zowie,” Mena moaned with her face pressed into the padding. She took a step back, wobbled back and forth before falling backward onto the gym floor.

As Mena squinted her eyes and the double Nebulas standing over her merged into one, her gym teacher asked her in a boastful voice. “So, what do you think of my Bone Cracking, Face Crunching, Rump Bumper course?”

Mena sighed wearily. “Meh…I’m over it.”

Mena stepped out of the infirmary with a relieved expression on her face. Much to her relief, Nebula took her to the infirmary to make sure her head wasn’t scrambled. Once she got over her vertigo, she was allowed to leave. She headed towards her next period: Dream Divination with Stellaris.

Unlike her sister, Nebula, Mena knew Stellaris wasn’t the forgetful sort, and she would have to apologize for brainwashing her teacher. Mena headed to the top of the stairs to the Sun Tower, and even if they were tiring, they had nothing on the “BCFCRB Course II Nebula Boogaloo,” which, come to think of it, Mena didn’t get to experience the first version of the obstacle course.

As she walked into the class, the usual suspects either frowned and turned up their noses, in the Tessellations’ case, or managed a nervous smile, in Ashlan’s case. Mena sat away from all of them to be safe.

A spiral of flames appeared at the center of the room, and their teacher burst into existence like a new-born phoenix. Only this phoenix still held grudges from her previous life. Stellaris coolly dismissed a wave from Mena.

“I’ve decided,” Stellaris said, raising her finger upwards with a scowl on her face. “After recent events in and out of the classroom that…”

Mena tried to catch Stellaris’ attention with another wave. Stellaris turned her head, causing her blond pompadour and sun-orb earrings to swing. “I’ve decided I don’t give a flip about what this class or anyone thinks about me. I’m doing this simply to get paid, and considering I’ve been teaching for a hundred years, I’m getting one smokin’ hot pension.”

Stellaris made a dramatic fist in the air. “Bye bye, Nice Stella. Hello Stella of Steel.”

“But teacher…” Mena squeaked. She really wanted to tell Stellaris how sorry she was and that the Tessellations were lying about everyone liking Nebula.

In fact, Mena overheard in the dining hall that the biggest cause of nightmares in the Dream Castle lately were from girls who were dreading gym class.

“Did I tell you that you could speak?” Stella asked with a fieriness that seemed unusual for her.

“Well no…” Mena muttered and looked away sheepishly.

“Zip your lip,” Stellaris commanded, cocking her head and pointing an incendiary finger at Mena. “Button your lip or stich your lip. I don’t care what kind of embroidery you choose as long as you shut your mouth.”

Mena turned pink, causing the Tesselation to burst into snickers. But soon, they had to duck as a fireball that sizzled over their heads. “I don’t want to hear a peep out of any of you,” Stellaris said with her hand steaming.

Class began and not surprisingly, nobody spoke. Not even Stellaris’ biggest detractors, the Tessellations managed their usual barbs, realizing it wasn’t worth getting a fireball to the face. Stellaris called on no one, answering her own questions, and continued to lecture in a dry tone, quite the opposite of her normally vivacious and bubbly voice. The only noise aside from Stellaris’ voice and her pacing was the relieving ding of the school bell. Stellaris, in response, immediately walked back to her teacher’s desk and sat down, wordlessly.

“At last,” the dark-haired Marie cried, walking to the front of the room, “Zis hippie’s awful period is over.”

But another fireball blasted at her rear caused her to exclaim “Guess eet’s not,” and run off screaming out of the room.

As everyone departed quickly, Mena approached her teacher’s desk, her hands behind her back.

“Professor I…” she started.

“Leave Mena,” Stellaris growled glaring behind two hands that were folded in front of her face. “I’m sick of being laughed at, lied to and manipulated…even by a student I once cherished as much as you.”

“But Professor,” Mena implored, “I simply wanted to tell you that Ashlan and the Tessellations were lying to you.”

“What?” Stella’s eyes widened from behind her hands. “About what?”

About Nebula,” Mena exclaimed, throwing her hands forward. “I know they told you that everyone loves her gym class, but really, it’s a living smell. And I mean that both in it’s pure torture and we sweat so hard that sometimes showers and destinking spells don’t even remove the reeking stench.”

Stellaris gave a quiet squeak. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

Mena shuddered nervously. Her mind couldn’t even find an excuse. She had to come clean. “I didn’t want…Nebula to think badly of me.”

Stellaris silently stood up, towering over the short Mena. “That’s the problem, Mena. You only thought about yourself rather than the feelings of others like myself.”

Mena’s eyes watered over her professor’s subtemperate glare. “Stella…I’m so sorry. You know I wasn’t in the right mind. I’ve hurt so many people and caused so much damage, and I don’t know how I’m going to be able to live with myself.”

“Oh honey,” Stellaris said, her frozen glare somewhat melting. “Look I can’t get rid of the pain I feel inside, but time will help with that. Both for you and me.”

Mena wiped her eyes. “So, I should give you some time?”

Stella nodded. “Yes dear. Give me time and I can finally come to terms with everything that happened. You will too, and perhaps you will grow from it.”

“Thank you, professor,” Mena sighed and turned to leave. Stellaris called after her. “Honey, I’m happy you’ve finally recovered.”

Mena nodded. “Thank you.”

As Mena got to her dinner cloud with May and Janus, May was smiling. Her dimples were wide from ear to ear. “Mena, guess what?”

“What?”

“I submitted my writing sample to Melina Penwell’s company in Wormwood. Now all we gotta do is wait six weeks.”

“Six weeks?” Mena buried her face in the cloud and blew cumulous puffs everywhere. “Miserable magicaps. I’m going to be feeling every one of them.”

But Mena had no choice. If they were to finally get to the bottom of the mystery of the Marisou, they would have to wait for May to get accepted…if she ever did.