What is the purpose of this place? Kalli asked me curiously as we rode the It’s a Small World ride.

Entertainment.

She gasped as we watched the various automated children all singing together.Watching Kalli reminded me of the first time I ever visited a theme park.It was magical for a 5-year-old.

After the ride, we came across Ariel from The Little Mermaid as we walked through Adventureland. Kalliphae gave me a critical look. Why are all of those people gathered around that girl over there?

She’s a Disney Princess. People come here to meet her and take pictures.

Kalli looked at me in surprise. They have royalty here?

Well, they have fairy tales here that have royalty. These are actresses. I think they call them cast members.

Kalliphae was watching the line of children waiting to meet Ariel as a little girl approached us and tugged on her dress. Kalli was wearing the phoenix outfit as a flowing blue dress. The girl looked up at her and asked, “Are you a princess too?”

I watched as Kalli looked down at the little girl. She stammered, “Um, no. Actually, I’m not even nobility. I’m just a commoner.”

I laughed and informed the child, “She’s just being modest. Of course, she’s a princess. Did you want a picture with her?”

Kalli gave me a look of horror. What are you doing?

The kid shook her head, “No. I want an autograph. Can I have an autograph?”

Kalliphae froze. What do I do?

Just sign your name in her book. It’ll be fine.

She looked down at the offered book in confusion for a moment. Fortunately, the kid had already gotten several autographs for Kalli to use as a reference. Realizing she needed something to sign with, I decided to go for a little flare.

Item:

Magical Quill (Edited)

Components

Feather, Mana, Blue Sparkles

Item Rank:

B

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Murphy

The quill that I handed to Kalli emitted blue sparks in her hand. She drew a small crowd as she stared at it for a moment. Then she smiled at me and made her mark in the little girl’s book.

Kalliphae

I looked over her shoulder.

No last name?

She stuck her tongue out at me. I don’t like my last name.

The little girl squeaked out a thank you to Kalli and ran back to her mother. Her mother glanced at the signature and asked, “I don’t recognize that name. What movie are you from?”

I laughed and announced, “It’s not out yet. I can’t tell you what it’s called, but it’s about a girl summoned from another world to save ours.”

“From what?”, somebody else asked.

I said the first thing that came to mind, “Bad guys.”

Someone else laughed, “Bad guys? Really. This movie must be top secret.”

The mom pointed at the quill in Kalli’s hand, “Where can I get one of those quills? That’s nifty.”

I was on a roll, “I think they sell them in Star Wars land.”

The man asked, “Isn’t that called Galaxy’s Edge?”

That was when we got hauled off by security.

“You can’t just go around impersonating a Disney Princess”, an exasperated official attempted to explain to us.

Kalli looked down at the table, “I told them I was a commoner.”

The official continued, “Then why did you sign the book?”

Kalli scowled at me. Why did you have to egg me on?

The man sighed and asked, “Where did you get that quill? Those kinds of pyrotechnic effects are not allowed.”

Kalli glared at me. I sighed, “It was me. I got that at a gag shop and thought it would be cool. I didn’t tell her what it did. It was just glitter. Nothing flammable. She didn’t know it was going to do that.”

The man left us in a special room for a long time while they tried to decide what to do with us. I could tell that Kalli was sad. We didn’t get to go on all of the rides.

I’m sorry.

She sighed. It’s fine. I had fun while it lasted.

I had a sudden idea.

Hey, Kalli. How good are you at crying on demand?

A group of park officials crowded around Kalliphae trying to comfort the poor girl. She continued through a storm of tears, “It was my first time ever going to Disneyland. I didn’t know about that rule. I just wanted to make the little girl happy. I wasn’t trying to impersonate royalty.”

One lady offered Kalli a tissue while another patted her on the shoulder, “There there now. It’s going to be okay. We think we have come up with a solution that will make everyone happy. While we will be removing you from the park today, I was able to get you a pair of passes to return at a later date. Please read the theme park rules thoroughly before you return.”

Kalli sniffled, so I responded, “Thank you very much. We will behave ourselves in the future.”

The original person who questioned us replied, “Great. Now that that’s settled, I have to go tell some nice people that there isn’t going to be a Disney movie starring this young lady.”

Kalli looked up at him with watery eyes, “I’m sorry.”

He looked away, “It’s really no problem miss. I sincerely hope your next visit is truly magical.”

So we cut our Disney vacation a little short. Even though she was faking her tears, she was still a little upset that we got kicked out. I tried to cheer the crestfallen girl up.

On the bright side, we get to check out our new school a little sooner.

She brightened a bit. That will be fun. You have to promise me that we will come back here though. I want to see the rest of it.

It’s a promise.

The city of Los Angeles was a sprawling basin crammed with thousands of different housing communities. A series of high-rise buildings formed the heart amidst intertwined highways locked in eternal gridlock. I could feel Kalli’s awe as we passed over the endless sea of houses. I think this is bigger than the entire country I live in.

How big is your country?

I could see it in her mind’s eye. The wide-open countryside was littered with the occasional village here and there. It was nothing at all like the California coast where every usable piece of land was fully developed.

Did your world have castles with bigger cities?

She nodded in front of me. They do exist, but I’ve never been to one. The biggest town I’ve been to was lucky to have two noble families.

The map to our new school pointed us downtown. We weaved through the buildings as we honed in on the marker on the map. When we got close, we were directed by a wizard holding what appeared to be a flare to the roof of a parking structure.

We were greeted by an attendant when we landed. Kalli collected the phoenix onto her dress as the teen instructed us, “Right this way. Your audition will take place in conference room C.”

The building for the interview was across the street from the parking structure. The title on the wall read Los Angeles Times. I looked at the attendant, “Isn’t this a newspaper?”

Kalli turned to me. What is a newspaper?

It’s a company that sends reporters out to find out what’s going on in the world and collects it to a single place so that the average person can know what’s going on.

The boy grinned back at us, “On the front, sure it is. This building is one of the oldest structures in Los Angeles. It only makes sense that the magical community makes use of it. Inside, you will find that it contains a full academy along with a functional newspaper. The Marriott hotel down the road doubles as a dormitory for live-in students.”

The Los Angeles Times building was a maze of corridors. I was completely lost by the time we arrived at the second elevator. The teen explained, “This is the only elevator that goes up to the 6th floor. The other one stops at the 4th. Both elevators and the cargo elevator go to the sub-basement.”

The 6th floor was a straight shot to the conference rooms. On the way there, we passed by a tiny restaurant with delicious-smelling food. I looked at the various conference rooms as we passed them and asked, “Why are there so many conference rooms on this floor?”

Our guide informed us, “This floor used to be the grand office of the Chandler family who owned the newspaper. Each room has a living quarter in the back complete with a shower. Over the years the company has been sold several times. With the new corporate structure, the large offices have been converted into conference rooms. Hollywood occasionally leases them for movies though.”

We were ushered into a room with a large hollow round table. The guide informed us, “This is called the Round Table Room. Similar to King Arthur’s round table, it has no head so every attendee has an equal place at the table.”

Kalli beamed. The legend of the round table is real after all.

I don’t think this is the round table from the legend.

The guide looked back and forth between us, “If that will be all, your administrator will be here with your entrance exam shortly.”

He promptly spun on his heels and left us alone in the room. Kalli gave me an inquisitive look. What do you think the test is going to be like?

I took a seat at the round table.

I don’t know. They will probably want us to demonstrate our magical abilities somehow.

We sat in silence for a while. 5 minutes turned into 10 minutes. Before we knew it, half an hour had gone by.

Do you think they know we’re here?

Kalliphae stood near the window, marveling at the city life in the streets below. I don’t know. The view is amazing. You should come check it out.

I don’t need to. I can see it all from your eyes just fine.

She snickered at me. You’re so lazy.

About an hour after that, Kalli and I started to think that we needed to do something to initiate the test.

This delay must be a part of the entrance exam somehow.

Kalli felt alarmed. What should we do?

I was about to answer when the girl screamed. I turned in time to watch Lady Carmilla Shaw stride into the room. Kalli was one step ahead of me.

“Pvruzth”

The changes to her mana were immediately obvious. Tongues of flame emanated off of the girl in a ten-foot radius. She clapped her hands together and the flames slammed into the vampire. Lady Shaw shimmered in the fire but didn’t appear to take any damage.

I ran an inventory of my skills through my brain to see how I could help. Lavender specifically told me not to edit anything as part of my school work, but she didn’t tell me that ancient vampires were going to come back from the grave to take another shot at killing me. I decided to inspect her.

Name

Construct

Class

Illusion

Level

1

Affection Level

Indifferent

It’s fake. It’s a level 1 construct.

Kalli pulled the flame back into herself. It still covered her body in a fine layer of flames that shimmered across her skin. I pushed mana into my artifact to transform it into armor that covered my vital points. Kalliphae looked at me. Now what?

I looked at the Shaw clone and spoke loudly, “Who made this thing? We know it’s a fake.”

We both stood on guard as Carmilla Shaw stood idly in front of us. Our standoff was ended when we heard clapping from outside of the room. An old man wearing a leather cloak slowly made his way in. As he passed Carmilla, the construct melted into a pile of soot at his feet.

He smiled at us and bowed, “Very good. You both reacted admirably. You, my lady, demonstrated excellent control of a mid-level fire technique. You, young man, saw through my ruse without having to cast a single spell. You both exhibit the fundamentals required to begin your training here.”

I raised a hand, “How did you know to attack us with Lady Shaw?”

The man raised an eyebrow and said, “Do not underestimate us lad. We do comprehensive background checks of all potential students. The recent events in San Diego have not gone unnoticed by the magical community.”

I asked the question that had been weighing on my mind since that night, “Is she dead?”

The old man sighed, “When it comes to one as old as Carmilla was, death is not quite so simple as you might think. She has died in a manner of speaking. At least in the way that you understand death. If you look deep enough, you will discover that she carries on. You have nothing to fear from her. Her clan has fled back to the old world. She poses no threat to either of you.”

I sat quietly and tried to make sense of what the man was telling me. Kalliphae had other thoughts as she asked, “Um, you never did say. Who are you mister?”

He laughed jovially and bowed again, “Ah yes. How terribly rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Mortimer Ramsey. I am the headmaster of The Academy.”