“W-what’s wrong, Mena?” May asked, pulling her nose from the romance novel she was reading.

Janus also looked up from what she was doing (painting the nails on her skeletal hand jet black) to face Mena with a concerned expression.

“You guys promise not to tell anyone about this?”

“Do we look like the Tessellations? Janus asked with a wry expression.

“That’s true,” Mena said. “Ok, so Professor Caligari helped me with the poise lesson yesterday with Electra. She possessed me so I could walk across the floor without messing up.”

May gasped and Janus widened her skeletal eyes. Feeling a bit guilty, Mena quickly cried, “I’m sorry I cheated. I know it’s bad.”

“Are you kidding me?” May responded. “Can you tell Caligari to possess me too? And give me a less lumpy head to balance the books on?”

“No judgement here either,” Janus responded. “Personally, I think the poise lesson is a waste of time. We all embarrass ourselves at the homecoming whether we know how to stand up straight or not.”

Mena breathed out a sigh of relief. “That’s not the problem though. The problem is, she expected a favor in return…”

“Oh?” Janus and May both said with their lips pursed.

Mena raised her thick eyebrows with an uneasy expression. “She wanted me to ask Gemini to the homecoming for her.”

“Ooh…” Janus said, twinkling her fingers with black polish. “I know where this is going…”

“You do?” Mena asked.

Janus’ spoke in a harrowing tone for such a high wavery voice. “One does not back out of a deal with a phantom. For they await certain doom.”

Mena’s heart sped up and she held it to hear an ever-present thumping. “I didn’t back out, Janus. I asked Gemini, but I stupidly played coy and said, ‘a certain special teacher wants to ask him out’ and he thought I meant Stellaris!”

“That’s even worse,” Janus responded with a head nod. “When wronged, ghost-folk will haunt the wrong doer for the rest of their lives! They’re petty like that.”

Mena let out a cry, and May quickly shouted, “Janus, you’re not helping! You should just tell Caligari you made a mistake. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

Mena rocked back and forth. “But Caligari, really, really, really likes Gemini. He saved her life. I don’t know how lightly she’ll take it.”

“You should still tell her,” May said with a firm expression, before Janus added,

“Don’t worry, unless my daddy shows up, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Thanks guys,” Mena said, “I’m going to sleep on it and decide in the morning.”

There was an orange burst of light followed by a loud cough from the dream deposit box, and Mena hung her head. “I didn’t even ask Gemini about liberating Sir Rocksworth. I’ve really mucked up this time.”

The young witch closed her eyes on yet another exhausting day. Unfortunately for her, it continued in her dreams.

Scratchy, tattered old covers bristled Mena’s skin the next day. They were quite the opposite of the pristine sheets prepared daily by the Lollypop Laundry Service. She was awoken by what sounded like a loud, whooping, screaming sound coming from the ceiling. Mena groaned as she slid out of bed. Her back was paining her more than anything, and when touched the floor, she wished May could give her another backrub to straighten her vertebrae. Slipping on a pair of grey slippers, she realized she was no longer in the Dream Academy, but rather a termite infested cabin made of old plywood. The stairs creaked and croaked as she walked down them into the kitchen, which consisted of nothing but a table, a water pump, a few cupboards with the handles hanging off the hinges and an old cauldron.

Mena fetched the porridge mix from the cupboard and poured it into the cauldron. She added some freshly pumped water and began to stir it. As she stirred it with a giant spoon, her back clicked loudly. At last, she grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and poured some nasty old porridge into her bowl. She sat at the table gagging on it, until there came a knock at the door from across the room. “Get the door yourself!” Mena rasped in a craggy old voice.

“Mail for Phenomena Willow, the insane 87-year-old crone who lives by the seaside,” a voice called out.

The door opened and a mail courier came in, but without warning, the horrible, whooping sounding rose from the porridge. A pair of pale hands levitated the bowl and chucked the hot steaming bowl of porridge at the mail man who screamed and ran.

“Wait a minute,” Mena said, feeling cold and clammy suddenly. “87 year old crone?”

She walked into the living room where a circular mirror hung from the wall. Mena let out a horrifying scream when she saw her visage. In the mirror was an ancient woman with liver-spot-stained skin, thin, wispy white hair, a pointed nose, large grey eyebrows and braces. As Mena’s bloodshot eyes bulged and she screamed in her old hag voice, it merged with the loud whooping shrieks and before her eyes, Caligari emerged from the mirror. “Yoooouuuu!” She shrieked, pointing an accusatory finger at Mena. “You kept me apart from my one true love! I will haunt you until you die!”

Mena screamed until she passed out and awoke the next day in the Nightdream Academy. Holding her cheeks and realizing they were still smooth, she thought to herself, “I can’t let Caligari know, or she won’t leave me alone until I’m old and miserable!”

“You know,” Janus said, teasing her enormous, spikey head of hair. “You could call GCM.”

“GCM?” Mena asked, attempting to straighten her straggly bed hair.

“Ghost Counseling Mediums,” Janus said, her voice reaching high pitches before lowering with sudden realization. “They only work in the Nightmare Void thought.”

“Drat rats!” Mena cursed. “I’m doomed.”

“Might as well enjoy your last meal then,” Janus said with a wink. “I hear it’s green liccan eggs and purple boar sausage today!”

Mena pulled the covers up over her head. “Thanks…”

Mena refused to eat any of the food served at breakfast, even if she always enjoyed a good sausage. “What’s the point of eating when you’re going to barf it up later from fear?” she asked her friends.

The young witch did not want to admit it, but Caligari scared her more than even a twin headed monster version of Laetitia and Marie ever could. She would have to lie to save her skin, or perhaps, simply make the truth sound not so painful.

As she walked with her friends through the promenade to the stained-glass ballroom, she looked back and forth nervously, keeping her eyes peeled for Caligari. She had almost made it to the ballroom when a pale hand reached from the hedges and pulled her through the leaves.

Mena screamed and held her hands over her head. “Please don’t haunt me for all eternity! Please I…”

“Willow,” Caligari said, a stern expression on her face. “It’s only me. Snap out of it.”

Mena shook her head and looked back at Caligari. There was no sizzling anger in her green eyes, only a sparkle of hope. She was dressed differently too. No pants or straight-jacket-looking grey suit. Instead, she wore a white and black plaid skirt. There was even an odd looking, bedsheet ghost hair-clip in her short dark hair. Rather than making her look terrifying, Mena thought Caligari was trying to look like a regular human.

“How did it go?” she asked softly. “Did you ask him?”

“Yes!” Mena nodded frantically. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

Caligari held her hands together in a surprisingly girly manner and the whole gesture made Mena stop in her tracks. “What exactly did you tell him?” the half-phantom asked, her glowing green eyes grew large and shiny.

Mena swallowed. If she timed this just right, she might be able to succeed. “I told him a very special teacher wanted to ask him to homecoming.”

Caligari put her finger to her chin with curiosity. “And…” she asked.

“He dressed himself in a dapper suit and said, I better get ready!”

“Willow!” Caligari exclaimed, and Mena flinched, but soon found herself embraced in a bone-chilling phantom hug.

Mena didn’t know whether to freak out or embrace Caligari back, but it felt like someone rubbed dry ice against her bare skin. Her teeth chattered, and she prayed it would end soon.

“A-a-a-are teachers supposed to do this at s-s-s-school?” Mena’s said through her teeth.

Caligari immediately let go, but Mena could still see a warm fondness brightening her face. “Sorry, I was just so happy.”

A bell chimed and Caligari said to Mena, “It’s practice time. I better get ready so I can keep you balanced up on that horse!”

Caligari dashed through the bushes, leaving Mena standing all alone. “I pray she doesn’t drop me if this goes south!”

As the female students filed into the ballroom, there were many “oohs” and “ahs” at the horse that stood before them. It was a proud white mare with a sparkling rainbow mane, a diamond horn, and a brilliant sky-blue colored eyeball. Two members of the Lollypop Equestrian Society kept the horse in place, but the mare already seemed quite well behaved.

Electra stood out in front of the horse, this time in lightning yellow boots with thunderbolt spurs and the kind of sunhat that Deidre liked, even if this one was a garish, pinstriped light-green-and-yellow.

“Welcome to your first riding lesson,” Electra said in a fake-drawl, “Hope y’all ready to saddle up and ride the open…ceiling.”

Gemini looked nervous at the prospect of a bunch of young girls riding around in an age-old ballroom full of stained glass, but Electra quickly snapped her hand in his face. “I want you to introduce the horse, Gemmy baby.”

“This is Iris,” Gemini said with a sigh.

“Inde-he-he-heed I am,” the Unicornea responded with a proud whiney. “I can’t wait to get this over with.”

“See, I’m not the only one,” Gemini said, but Stellaris put her hand on his shoulder.

“Relax Gemini,” Stellaris said in a cool voice. “I’m sure it’s every one of these girls’ dreams to ride a magical horse.”

Gemini gave a lovelorn sigh with his head in his hands. “You really do have a way of phrasing things, Stellaris.”

Caligari grimaced and her glowing green eyes shifted to Mena, but Electra quickly broke their stare. “Mena, since you effectively demonstrated poise, tact and grace last time, how about you go first?”

Mena didn’t have time to swallow nervously; Electra grabbed her with her strangely large hands and led her over to the Lollypop Equestrian Society who helped get her situated in the saddle. Mena breathed deeply as they fit boots with spurs onto her feet. She gripped onto the horse’s mane for dear life, but Electra leaned in. “Uh uh uh,” the bold woman said, “You will be balancing without holding on. And now, for the pies de resistance!”

Electra placed three books on Mena’s head. They wobbled precariously, causing Mena to freeze like she had turned to stone.

As Electra turned to face the crowd, Iris apologized to Mena. “Sorry about my ma-ha-ha-haster! She’s quite the grandstander!”

“You’re telling me,” Mena said, beads of sweat dripping down her neck.

Mena looked to Caligari who stood there with her bright green eyes focused on the young witch. “Any day now,” Mena said, and Caligari blew a ghost bubble that spiraled right towards Mena’s head.

A resounding calm fell over Mena’s body as her consciousness was pushed out by Caligari’s. “And without further ado,” Electra announced, and she produced a cattle prod from some unseen part of her body and whipped Iris’ back.

“My boo-hoo-hooty!” The horse shrieked, raising her front two hoofs in the air and soaring into the air. Much to everyone’s surprise, Mena did not scream, or fall, she remained glued to the horse, defying gravity and reason.

Mena through vacant eyes observed as the crowd shrank and the enormous painting of Gemini and the Lollypop Angels grew closer. The books were perfectly balanced on her head as Iris flapped her mighty wings and began to glide. People were stupefied, but Mena remained deathly calm on top of the horse.

“Still alive up there, dea-he-hear?” Iris asked, but Mena remained silent. The young witch was calm, but voices started penetrating her brain.

“So, Stellaris,” Gemini’s voice asked. “I know it’s been about a century, but when I heard what you told little witchy poo last night, I couldn’t believe my ears.”

“Oh?” Stellaris’ voice asked. “And that was?”

Gemini’s voice grew excited and theatrical. “The answer is yes, a thousand times yes! Of course I will take you to the homecoming.”

Suddenly, Mena’s heart seized up and immediate dread consumed her. The young witch realized she was on the ceiling riding a magical horse. She looked down and saw Gemini on his knees before Stellaris, with a pale faced Caligari trembling beside them. Gemini had broken Caligari’s concentration.

Whinnying loud, Iris bucked Mena and she toppled out of the saddle, toward the ground below. Everyone gasped in horror as her body somersaulted through the air. Still feeling dizzy from breaking Caligari’s trance, Mena didn’t even have time to think about the happiest moments of her life. She was going to hit the ground in a dreadful splatter. Students ran everywhere; some teachers were preparing fluffy white cloud spells, while others were preparing anti-gravity tricks, but neither caught Mena. In between a tremendous crash and a hazy purple fog, the young witch was caught in the arms of someone else riding a Unicornea. They had smashed through a stained-glass portrait of one of the Royal Clowns on a noble stallion. Mena looked up, and in total silence, she was astounded.

Flowing locks of golden hair, magnificent blue eyes and a kissable pair of pouting lips, the man before her was something out of her fondest dreams. “Fabias?” Mena exclaimed, still hyperventilating.

“Shh,” the man said, putting a finger in front of his luscious lips. “You’re safe now.”

“My hero,” Mena slurred, and she closed her eyes, fainting into a deep sleep from the adrenaline rush.