It was shortly after Kyle, Aoife, and Asim's journey that missions were temporarily halted, and several emergency courses - including a potions course, which began immediately with identifying plants that could be used as antidote for a wide range of ailments - were ordered to the students. Some students' schedules were already so full that they could not add a class, and so their existing teachers were trained in potions. Many were unhappy with this, worried that the pressure and homework would become too great, and one student's mother even came to the school to complain.

"It's never happened before and it only happened this once," she snapped.

"And it will only ever happen once," Mr. Connolly assured her.

"Exactly," she continued. "So why are you making them take another course if it'll never happen again?"

"Well," Mr. Connolly retorted, "would you rather they be trained and prepared for something that likely will never happen again but by all means could, or they be unprepared and untrained for a situation that could easily arise without warning? Would you rather your child be prepared for a disaster or would you rather they be lost and clueless? Is this all really such a big inconvenience to you, that you would rather your child die than do fifteen more minutes of homework to ensure that they understand how to protect themselves against any and all threats?"

The mother's face became less tense. Then, she simply nodded, and left.

Kyle spent as much time as he could with his friends. He feared for everyone's well-being, and worried that at any moment, the old man could reappear and steal him or his friends away, never to be seen again. He was afraid to be alone, and he was afraid to leave them alone.

They told him not to worry, and that he really had no reason to be worried. The school was isolated, teachers and staff were on high alert, there were literal hundreds of places to hide and be safe, and, best of all, their Familiars (and Akora's pet) were all fully grown. There was no reason to be afraid, and yet he was.

"I understand what you mean," Elvia assured him one day as they sketched in the courtyard. "I find that I'm afraid even when there's nothing to be afraid of. I worry that so many things can go wrong, and no matter how much I tell myself everything's okay, I still worry." She took a moment to think about what she said, then followed it with, "I see now that, that probably wasn't much help."

At dinner that same day, the three sat together as was the norm, but Nixie unveiled some interesting news. "So Asim and I have a class together," she began, "and we sit next to each other and sometimes talk when we get the chance." She took a sip of water and continued, "So yeah, nothing weird about that. But today, he said that his 'romantic endeavor' or whatever with Aoife wasn't working out. I thought, 'Well yeah, because you're weird' but of course I didn't tell him that. So anyway, he starts rambling about his love life or lack thereof and at some point I kinda started tuning him out, then he asks me a question. I tell him I didn't quite catch what he said, so I asked him to repeat it. He says, 'What do you think about me pursuing someone else?' and I tell him to go for it. At the time I figured that was the best thing to say, since it would get him off Aoife's back for a bit, but then he started talking about all the people he could set his sights on. Normally I don't like to shame someone's romantic attractions, but oh boy, his list of crushes is long."

"I think I get that," Elvia replied. "I mean, it's normal to have multiple crushes. Plus, it helps if one rejects you, because then it helps to narrow your options down." She giggled nervously, suggesting that the poor thing had problems with this time and time again. Then, she started to take a drink of her juice.

"It's a long list," Nixie repeated. "Elvia, you were on the list."

Elvia spat her juice out, coughing on some that had been half-way down her throat at the time, and gasped, "What?"

Kyle took a napkin and started to wipe his face off, then turned his attention to the now messy table. "I mean you're a nice girl, so I'm not all that surprised."

"I'd love to date someone like you," Nixie added.

Elvia's face went red, though part of that was attributed to her mad coughing. "Well thank you," she choked. She managed to take a breath, held it for a moment, then exhaled slowly. "Better," she sighed. "Anyway, would it help if I told him I wasn't interested?" she asked.

Nixie clenched her teeth and glanced away. "Um, I don't think so... Number one I'm not sure, hell I'm even positive he didn't want me telling anyone. Two, Aoife was clearly not interested for forever, so I don't think that deters him."

"Tell him I like somebody else?" Elvia suggested. "You could tell him that I just happened to talk about that last night at dinner, so that way he's less suspicious."

"I said that in response to a few people," Nixie admitted. "Even though it's one-hundred percent true, I'm pretty sure it'd be fishy if I said the same exact thing about multiple people." She shook her head. "Anyway, it's no big deal, we'll think of something."

The others nodded. Then Kyle asked, "So, Elvia, who do you like?"

Once again, the girl's face went bright red, and she fought to hold back a grin that was too powerful to handle. She hid her face behind her hands and squealed. "Kyle, why do you do this to me!" she laughed.

The others laughed. "Because you're adorable," Nixie answered.

"I think I know who you like," Kyle teased.

"Well I think I know who you like," Nixie jeered with a grin. "In fact, you're swimmin' in women."

Kyle went red and laughed at this. "That's just ridiculous."

Nixie started on her dessert. "I can guarantee it, you're gonna have a busy Valentine's Day."

The laughs of the conversation helped Kyle feel better about the recent events.

With no missions on the horizon, and an anxious calm settled on the school, some students found themselves time to explore. The teachers decided to allow it, as long as the students went in groups and stayed on school property.

Kyle was hesitant to leave at first, but after some convincing, he and his friends decided to take a walk in the woods.

"After all," Akora reasoned, "what're we gonna stumble across? Another tower?"

So the seven set off into the woods. While the Academy only took up a slim portion of the massive forest that existed in and beyond the iron gate, its share of wood was still impressive. At the time, in the mid of autumn, the cool green had been replaced by an inferno of warmth, fronds of blood red and foliage of orange. Animals, familiar but with some noticeable variations, roamed about, scampering the roots that drank the water from the earth, flying through the roots that drank the light from the sky. The flaming petals waltzed through the air and met with the other dancers at the base of the forest. A breath filled the woods, carrying with it a fresh fragrance. The crisp carpet crinkled beneath their feet. The world was at peace.

Akora, very unusual for her, hung at the back of the group with her Familiar and her pet. She caught a falling leaf, and took a closer look at it. She ran her fingers over the veins, held the leaf to the light, smelled it, even tasted it.

Sean peered over his shoulder and witnessed her ritual. "It's a leaf, Akora," he explained.

"They don't look like this where I come from," she said slowly.

Elvia looked up at the canopy of color above them. "So you've never seen fall before?"

Akora looked up as well. She pointed to a falling leaf and announced, "I understand why you call it that."

"Some call it autumn," Asim chimed.

"Autumn," Akora echoed.

Joy flew above the group. She hopped from branch to branch, and each time she paused, she vanished. Her crimson feathers blended in seamlessly with the warm hues, and the same could be said for Aoife and her fiery tresses. "Like a chameleon," Aoife chuckled.

"You're not at all nervous?" Kyle asked. He remembered the last time she and Joy were apart, and was worried she would snap at any moment.

However, Aoife shook her head. "I can see her, and we're both safe. I'll be okay."

The other Familiars stuck close by the Family's side. Fledermaus, as usual, hung around Kyle's neck like a scaly scarf. The others walked side-by-side. It was impressive to see how large they had all grown in such a short amount of time. Skitter-Scamp, Marissa, Drake, and Akora's Familiar especially impressed him. Skitter-Scamp was now the size of a deer, and looked quite like a deer until one realized he had a rabbit's face and hind legs. Marissa was the size of a Clydesdale horse, though she was rarely allowed to roam full-size (now was an exception, as they had plenty of space), and had mastered balancing on two legs while only occasionally using her tail for support. Drake was short, but long, like a Komodo dragon scaled up to the size of an alligator (maybe even larger). Akora's Familiar - did he even have a name? - he finally realized was the wolf, and a dire wolf at that. Her pet, the feline-looking creature, was massive, a bit bigger than Leonidas, and made him wonder what other mammoth beasts roamed her home country. The only Familiar who was still small all the time was Fledermaus.

"Hey, Akora?" Kyle called. "What's your Familiar's name?"

"I call him Runt," she replied. "Didn't I tell you?"

Kyle shook his head. "Don't recall."

Nixie, who had been fairly quiet until that point, turned as she walked and asked, "What about your pet?"

Akora ran her fingers through the beast's coarse white fur. "Haven't decided."

Asim turned his attention back to her. "It's been months, you've had ample time. Are there any names that at least catch your fancy?"

"You need to learn to speak like a normal being!" Akora demanded. She continued, "But there is a girl in one of my classes with a name I really like. It's Sasha."

"I like the sound of that," Nixie hummed. "Sasha... sounds good."

Then Elvia changed the subject entirely. "Guys, what's that?"

They looked to her, and saw her finger pointing to something off in the distance. They traced her arm and saw a door. Around it was a crumbling threshold, much like the doors of Kyle's first mission, with no walls or roof to go with it. The door seemed to have a symbol on it, though they were too far to be able to distinguish it. With a silent agreement, they all started for the door.

"Perhaps it is a tower," Asim speculated, "and the protective field around it gave out?"

"That's not how fields work," Akora said, dismissing the theory in its entirety. "It's just the door."

"Maybe there's a hall connected to it," Sean suggested. "It could just lead to a tunnel beneath us."

"Maybe," Kyle whispered.

The whispers caught on, and the closer they got to the door, the quieter they all became. Their theories died down to mere mumbles, then to thoughts they kept to themselves. By the time they arrived at the door, they barely breathed.

They peered around the door, and saw nothing behind it. There did seem to be the remains of a symbol on the wood, but it was faded, and the only component they could positively identify was the circle that encompassed the details. If it led anywhere, it was a magic door; if it led nowhere, it was a simple wooden door. The only way to know for sure was to open it.

Sean reached for the doorknob first, and realized that there was a note on it. He retrieved the note and unfolded it, revealing a near endless wall of characters both vaguely familiar and entirely foreign. The first ten sentences were highlighted in different colors, and the eleventh started again with the first color (whoever had written the note must have run out of different colors). He skimmed through the colors until he found one that contained English. "'Do not open. Signed, Vince'." He folded the note again and replaced it. "Well that was a lot of skimming for absolutely no payoff."

Elvia peered on the other side of the door once again. "There's another note back here. Probably says the same thing."

Sean disregarded the note and tried to twist the knob. It stopped turning a fraction of a millisecond after it started; the door was locked. "Locked. Damn."

"Adventure denied," Asim sighed.

Nixie came forward, and started to examine the lock. "Shouldn't be too hard to pick," she noted.

"Maybe we shouldn't!" Elvia squeaked. "We could get in a lot of trouble!"

Akora shook her head. "You lot sure let trouble dictate what you do."

Kyle raised his hands, as though surrendering to a force. "I have had enough trouble for one semester. I don't want to get roped into anything else."

"Then Gruber and I will go!" Akora declared.

Nixie's eyes went wide, and she took a step back. "I don't know about that."

Akora turned to face her "All your interest is gone now? What happened to, 'shouldn't be hard to pick'?"

"It was just an observation!" Nixie replied in one quick breath.

Akora folded her arms crossly. "Well I am not well-versed in lock-picking, so I will need someone to go with me."

Everyone answered at once.

"Count me out," Kyle replied.

"I have homework," Asim and Aoife sighed.

"I'm afraid of dying," Elvia explained.

"I can't get busted again!" Nixie spat.

"I'm getting hungry," Sean groaned.

Akora's eyes darted from classmate to classmate. Their eyes, in response, looked away and avoided making contact. She growled and descented. "Fine, we'll be cowards. We'll let what lies beyond be a mystery."

"You're coming back tonight, anyway," Kyle reasoned.

Akora stuck her chin in the air. "That's quite the accusation, Akfernen."

She may as well have said yes.

At some point during the day, right before his free time, Kyle and Vince's paths crossed. The demicorn seemed to be dawdling, and in no big hurry to be anywhere in particular, so Kyle figured it would be a good time to ask about the door. He approached Vince, and, not paying much attention to his presentation, simply asked, "So what's up with that door in the woods?"

Vince narrowed his eyes and kept his voice low. "You didn't open it, did you?"

Kyle shook his head. "No, it was locked."

"And we want to keep it that way," Vince stated. "It's highly dangerous."

Kyle had no intentions of opening the door, but his curiosity peaked. "What's so dangerous about it?"

Vince glanced around, making sure no one else was within earshot. Then, he leaned in closer and whispered, "It's unpredictable. It's chaotic. Something happened and now we have no way of knowing what will happen once it's opened. Sometimes it opens to a known planet, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it opens to a different time. Sometimes it isn't even bound by available doorways, and it just opens to an open field or even the vacuum of space."

Kyle shivered.

Vince took a breath and continued, "We don't know why it's doing this. We don't know what happened to start it. Why don't we just destroy it, and get it out of the way? Because we don't know what will happen if we do. Just stay away, and make sure all your little friends stay away."

Kyle nodded his head slowly, and took a few moments to digest the information. He was unsure what, but something triggered a thought of the old man, and so he asked, "Can anything come through the door?"

Vince shook his head, but did admit, "We don't know. As far as we understand, it's never happened, so probably not. As long as it stays locked, we know it can't. Try not to worry."

That bit of advice, "Try not to worry", proved to be completely useless.

When dinnertime came around, Kyle was still preoccupied with his conversation from earlier. It turns out that food for thought was incredibly difficult to digest, and some of the pieces had become caught in his teeth. What if the old man and Turncoat could come through the door? Could the lock be picked from either side? What if some monster elsewhere could come through the door? If the lock was picked, and the door was opened to space, could some horrible space alien soaring through the cosmos accidentally come through? No, the door is locked, he told himself. He tried to rest assured, knowing that the universe was of inconceivable girth, and so the likelihood of anything of that magnitude happening was so small that it made a one-in-a-million chance seem like good odds. It would be more likely to be struck by lightning. And a meteor. While winning the lottery. On a Friday the 13. On a leap year! The long and the short of it was that he had no reason to worry and yet, as was the case with the rest of his life, he did.

"...so that's when I said, 'Maybe you should back off and give her some space,' but he didn't want to hear it. So anyway - hey Kyle, you don't look any better."

"Just keep talking," he assured Nixie. "I'll snap out of it eventually."

"Yeah, go on!" Elvia urged, though for a different reason: she was enjoying the gossip.

Nixie started to gnaw on a bone, peeling the remaining meat from it. "As I was saying, he didn't want to hear it. Funny thing: he's got a cousin somewhere in the school, and she's been on dates so he's constantly pestering her for advice. Her advice: slow it down. So he's been getting the same advice but still doesn't want to hear it."

"Gosh," Elvia sighed.

"That reminds me," Nixie began, "you should watch out. He said he thinks he's going to ask you out."

Elvia groaned uncomfortably. "I had a feeling it would be coming. I don't want to hurt his feelings."

"You should be paying more attention to your feelings, though," Kyle recommended. "I mean yeah it would hurt his feelings, but he's got a long list of interests. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want someone to get into a relationship with me if they weren't interested."

"Believe me, it's not fun," Nixie added.

Elvia hung her head. "Yeah, but, I don't want to hurt his feelings."

Then Nixie placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want me to help you let him down gently?"

Without hesitation, Elvia nodded. "Yes, please."

Kyle nodded. "Then next chance we get, we'll tell him."

Kyle decided to take a walk before bed that night. It was, as he understood, one of the final pleasant nights before the temperature got to be too cold, thus he decided to make the most of it. On his way back to his tower, he noticed three figures run across the pathway before him: one humanoid, two beastial. He knew at once who it was, and what she was up to, but rather than ignore her like a rational person would, he decided to follow her and attempt to put a stop to her shenanigans. He ventured off the path and called for Akora in a hoarse whisper. "Akora!" he called. "Akora stop!"

Up ahead, Akora hesitated, but then kept going.

Kyle felt a knot in his gut. He put a hand on Fledermaus to calm himself, then pushed onward. "Stop that, it's dangerous!" He followed her all the way to the door, never earning a successful reply from her. He began to worry, at some point, that this was not Akora, and instead some malevolent being intent on leading him astray, or perhaps opening the door of chaos for some invading force, but then she replied at last.

"Keep your voice down!" she warned.