When Adrianna reached her class, she saw that all the students were talking to each other excitedly. There was something that she must have missed. Some students had surrounded Zephyr and looked pretty enthusiastic. Adrianna went and sat in the side of the first row on a chair that was empty and right next to some boys who were in Nefasky's group. Shay was also present there. He looked at her and smiled, "Hello Adrianna."

She nodded back with a smile. Although she took her notebooks out, and pretended to browse through them, her entire attention was on what they were talking around.

​​

Zephyr had noticed her and his eyes followed her.

The third stage of the competition will soon be announced," said Nefasky. "It is going to be extremely exciting."

"Yes, this time they will be choosing only the top few students to participate," said Lenny in excitement.

"But this is just not correct. Why are they trying to tell the weak students that they are weak?"

"Absolutely! They should have told us earlier that they were going to give points in each stage of the competition so that we would have worked harder to achieve those points earlier on," lamented a boy.

Two girls started laughing. "As if by telling you, you would have caught ten neotides in the first stage of the competition!"

The boy shrank as he turned to look at Adrianna who was seeing her notebook as though she was going to bore a hole through it.

"Well, we could have recovered in the second stage," he replied.

"Trust me, you wouldn't have fared well in the second stage too!" said Nefasky and everyone started laughing at him.

"Do you know that in the past all our seniors had to mandatorily participate in all the stages of the competition and until now only one senior has ever passed all three stages and that senior is none other than Zephyr?" said Lenny who looked at Zephyr with charm in her eyes.

Understanding her lewd thoughts, Nefasky smacked her head, "First go and reduce your weight!" All others again started laughing.

Lenny's lips curved downwards as she went to sit on her chair. Soon the entire class was called to order.

Zephyr looked at the class and said, "Today, I am going to tell you how to make someone a prisoner in cell of their mind. You can take them to their deepest fears and leave them their forever. The person will never be able to come out of the cell of their mind. In outer world this is also known as insanity. People call it schizophrenia in the human realm. You must see the way I am going to pronounce this spell. Its pronunciation is important."

"Professor Zephyr, if this is a spell then there must be a way of coming out of it or someone can break the spell too," asked a girl sitting in the front. All students were actually looking scared. They were thankful that they were not subject to this cruel spell.

"Of course there is!" replied Zephyr.

Zephyr looked at Adrianna and said, "Adrianna, would you be my subject today for the next spell that I am going to teach you all."

Adrianna looked at him with surprise. She stood up from her chair and said, "Sure." She didn't know what this cousin of hers was cooking but she had to show her courage on the façade.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes," she said narrowing her eyes.

"Come in the front before me," he said as he pointed to a chair in front of him.

Adrianna walked there. "Remember, if it becomes too much to bear, you just have to press the middle of your palm and say "De" and you will come out, okay?"

"Yes," replied Adrianna as she sat on the chair in front of looking confident. Inside she was nervous. Why would he choose her out of so many to be the subject for this spell?

Zephyr pointed his wand towards her and out came the words, "Aanimi Arcaa."

In the next second, Adrianna found herself surrounded by a place, which didn't have an opening or an end. Everywhere it was white – the floors, the walls, the ceiling – everything was white. She was alone. Her breathing became ragged as she looked around for people. She walked a little further in that place. Was it a room or was it a world? Was that her mind that she was in? She walked a little more in this unending place. Suddenly she saw a speck, which became larger as he came near her. He looked shocked.

"Tell me why have you called me in here," asked Adrianna with scorn on her face.

"Adrianna, you are clever," he replied, hearing her question. He came straight to the point, "There was no other way I could talk to you. Outside everywhere in the academy they are watching me and I had to tell you something. My method is a little unconventional but trust me now no one would be able to hear us," said Zephyr with a hint of a smile in his eyes.

"After the third stage of the competition, you will be invited for crowning irrespective of the fact whether you win or not," continued Zephyr with a smirk. He sounded as though she was less capable than him. "However, I will also stake claim to the crown because I think I am more capable of handling the crown."

Adrianna narrowed her eyes. "Being capable of handling the crown? What does that mean? One should be capable of handling the wizard kingdom and not the crown. Crown is just a means of helping you in the administration of the kingdom."

Zephyr was shocked to hear those words from Adrianna. She sounded wise but he was definitely far more brilliant than she was. His mother had always encouraged him saying that ruling the kingdom was in their blood. In fact she had come close to getting him crowned on a number of occasions but sometimes it was Mihr who wouldn't let this happen. All his hopes dashed when Adrianna came in the scene.

"Adrianna, I don't care what you are saying but all I wanted to say was that I will also stake claim. Now the thing is whether you would allow me to go first or would you go first to that throne to put the crown on head?"