Professor Andromeda shone like a dazzling sunbeam. Everything from her radiant, spikey hairdo to her sun-orb earrings to the sunburst tattoo above her cheek; it was like the sun itself decided to dawn in the classroom. “Welcome, my stars,” she said in her high-pitched, girly voice. “It’s time for us to learn what your dreams are made of! As you may know, my name is Professor Stellaris Andromeda, but you can call me Stella.”

Mena looked towards Ashlan, but the lioness remained fixated on the teacher.

“But first, a little vitamin D,” Professor Andromeda said, and she snapped her fingers and the black sunroof dissolved, revealing a sky of cerulean and a glowing sun positioned high in it.

“I’ve got so many familiar faces this year, but…” Andromeda’s eyes, shining in the sun like sapphires observed the class with a big smile and when she saw Mena, they practically twinkled. “We have a very special admission this year. A Rainborn named Phenomena Willow. I’m honored to be teaching the daughter of one of my all-time favorite students, Arabella Willow.”

Mena blushed; she didn’t like all the attention being drawn to her. Laetitia coughed and whispered in her harsh accent, “At least her motha wasn’t a stinky stinky kumquat lover.”

“But anyway, I’ve lost my train of thought,” Professor Andromeda said in her vaporous voice, not hearing Laetitia’s barbs. “Or in this case, a train of dreams. First question, do any of you know what a dream is?”

Ashlan raised her hand, still not looking at Mena. “A product of your subconscious while your brain is sleeping.”

“Of course,” Andromeda said her voice breathy like she was marveling at her own words, “But that’s the technical definition. Dreams sometimes tell better stories about us than we can. And like each one of us, each dream is an individual.”

“Can’t believe our motha funds this hippie,” Marie muttered.

“Oh, and I won’t tolerate whispering in this class,” Professor Andromeda said, causing both Tessellations to jump. “Anything you mutter under your breath is something you can say loud and proud too! Anyway, where was I…Oh yes, the first thing I’d like to do is use our dream maps. That way you can chart down the feelings in your heart and connect them to your most recent dreams.”

Professor Andromeda put her hands to her cheeks. “Oh my, but it seems I’ve forgotten my dream maps!

Andromeda looked around. For once her voice was serious and not-so-flighty. “I trust that you’ll all be responsible young people if I leave you unattended for a bit. Having known most of you last year, I know you will.”

With a wink, she disappeared into a burst of light, leaving Mena at the mercy of Ashlan and Tesselations. The two Bourgelves were quick to draw their verbal arsenal. “So Rainborn,” Marie said, “‘ow does it feel to be friends with a kumquat and a cadaver?”

Mena was silent, praying Professor Andromeda would hurry, but her silence caused the dark-haired elf to lay into her further. “We should have known someone born on the ground would befriend filthy Groundborns and beasts from the Nightmare Void. It’s in your blood.”

“Please stop,” Mena responded, finally making eye contact with the dark-haired elf whose pupil’s dilated sadistically and a fanged smile came over her face. “May and Janus are nice people. There’s no way I could be mean to them.”

“Oh, but you brought zis on yourself, leetle girl,” Marie said, “You could’ve stuck with us rather than linger with the salt of the ground”—the elven girls pupils shrunk to small dots in her irises. “But what you don’t seem to understand, is zat’s what you truly are! You may have our power, but you will never be one of us!”

Mena’s face turned bright red, and feeling bold she held her hand to her head and chanted:

“Magic magic, if you will. Turn her mouth into a duck bill!”

Mena held out her finger and a blast of rainbow sparkles shot out of her finger right at Marie’s mouth, and sure enough, it turned bright yellow and extended to the length of a large bill. Marie uttered more words, but they came out in loud quacks, causing the whole class to burst into laughter. Marie quickly covered her face and shrank into the corner. Aslan was silent, but she looked at Mena for the first time and nodded.

Marie scampered out of the room, holding her mouth and quacking randomly. A few minutes passed and the door burst open. Professor Andromeda had kicked it open with her foot because her hands were full of maps of the astral plane.

“I forgot,” the teacher said, rolling her large eyes and smiling. “I can’t Phoenix Burst when I’ve got parchment in my hand or else it incinerates. Doy-ee.”

Her face changed from a nonchalant smile to a frown. “On the way up, I passed Marie Tessellation with a duck bill”—the teacher’s crystal blue eyes darkened like ocean water during a storm—“Does anyone know why she was like that? I’m pretty sure elves don’t normally have duck-bills. I assume you were all well-behaved while I was gone…”

Mena swallowed hard, but much to her surprised, nobody told on her about her shady use of magic. Perhaps they all despised the Tessellations too Mena thought. Even Laetitia and Ashlan were strangely silent. Andromeda’s dark glare ceased into a smile.

“Fortunately,” the teacher remarked, her spunky voice returning. “She was heading to the infirmary, so we’ll get this sorted out soon enough. Until then…”

Andromeda cast out the charts to every single person in the room. “Partner with the person next to you and chart your dreams. Then when you’re finished, discuss them.”

This was the moment Mena had been waiting for all day, but now, it was something she dreaded more than anything else.

Ashlan was giving her the cold shoulder for some reason, and Mena had a feeling this would not be the heart to heart with her bestie that she yearned for. The clusters of stars on the chart swirled around Mena’s hand and she decided she would lie about her recent dream. Instead, when she placed her hand on the chart, she imprinted the dream she had at her auntie’s cabin—the one where Fabius swept her off her feet. She made sure to cover up in her heart about his transformation into Bubbel so it was a dream of pure romance.

Sure enough, the clusters of stars formed the shape of a heart and Mena breathed out a sigh of relief.

On the board, she looked up and saw that the heart constellation signified you were a romantic. Mena rolled her eyes. She did not need a magical astral chart to tell her the most obvious thing in the world.

Mena looked to Ashlan’s chart. The stars were in the shape of an A. “What did you dream about,” Mena asked, trying to be cordial.

“I dreamed I was the Valor Sorceress of the academy. My grades were even higher than Mary Osborne, the highest scoring sorceress in the history of Nightdream.”

Mena looked to the black board. An A meant you were ambitious.

Again, Mena felt the astral planes were telling her stuff that went without saying.

“What did you dream about?” Ashlan asked flatly.

“That a handsome wizard fellow swept me off my feet.”

“Oh…that’s nice,” was all Aslan said.

A volcano could have erupted behind Mena’s eyes. Why was her supposed best friend acting so cold to her? She wanted to shake Ashlan so hard and scream, “What gives?!”

But she resisted. That was all Ashlan said all period and when the bell rang, Mena got up and left the room alone.

She headed down the stairwell when suddenly, she felt magic grab her by the throat and throw her up against the wall.

She watched helplessly as the silver-haired Laetitia held out her hand with dilated pupils.

“After dinner tonight, you are dead, Rainborn!”

Mena struggled but against the full power of a Lunaborn, she was powerless.

Tonight, we’re meeting in the Dream Sorting Hall once the Lollypop staff leaves. Then I’ll sort you out for what you did to my sista!”

Mena twitched hesitantly but the Bourgelf bared her fangs and shoved her face closer.

“And don’t think of liccaning out or we’ll tell zat pathetic clown in charge what you did to Marie.”

Mena looked helplessly at Ashlan, but the lioness refused to meet her gaze. Though, Mena could see sorrow in her emerald eyes.

“You will now see,” Laetitia hissed. “Why it is our blood and our heritage that is so magnifique!”

The magical chokehold on Mena’s body loosened and the elf and the lioness stormed off, leaving Mena alone in tears.

For dinner, Mena sat alone at her new cloud table. The Tessellations and Ashlan were now at a table far away from her. Marie had gotten her mouth fixed, but she still quacked at odd times.

Mena solemnly made a fort out of her mashed potatoes. She never thought there would come a time where she’d rather be inside a mash potato fort than the Dream Castle itself. She was finishing crafting the fourth tower when she heard a deep voice speak to her, “I see you’re not sitting with your friends, Mena.”

Mena looked up and saw May and Janus, both with empathetic looks on their faces. Mena nodded sadly. “Mind if we join you?” May asked and thrust a small brown fruit in her face. “Kumquat? I hear it’s good for your skin.”

Mena could hardly refuse. She wished to wallow in her misery, but more important to her, her misery loved company. She took the kumquat and gave a tiny smile.

As the cloud tables merged, Mena explained to May and Janus what happened, both retained a look of kindness in their eyes. After hearing how Laetitia had shoved Mena up against the wall, Janus nodded affirmatively. A soft smile was on her face, but her raccoon eyes were strangely hollow. “You know my daddy could pay them a visit in the dead of night.”

Mena laughed for the first time that day though it was in a cruel way. “That’s very tempting.”

May shook her head frantically. “No… no my mummy said you should tell a teacher no matter if they threatened you. That’s why they’re there.”

Mena grimaced. Though May had a point, she knew she’d get in trouble for what she did to Marie if she brought it up. Mena sighed. “I think I’ll have to go to the Dream Sorting Room. Perhaps we can sort it out without violence.”

“Nice pun,” Janus remarked wistfully. “Perhaps humor isn’t truly dead.”

Mena laughed happily this time, and as May’s round face also flopped into a smile, the large girl said, “We’ll come with you, Mena. I want to look out for you. I’ve never had a popular girl stick up for me before.”

“I’m not a popular girl,” Mena said. “Just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.”

After dinner, Mena headed up to the second floor where the Dream Sorting Hall was located. She was feeling more confident now that she had real friends to stand behind her. Still, she desperately prayed things would not come to this.

Mena held her breath as she entered the room. But as she stepped inside, she realized the room was full of students.

All of them surrounded the Tessellation Twins and Ashlan. Laetitia’s eyes glinted with cruelty at Mena. The silver-haired Bourgelf was ready to lay a magical smackdown on Mena.