After an unplanned stop at the bathroom, Mena made her way back to her dormitory. She was greeted by May and Janus. Janus was as chipper as ever, but May was ‘ho-humming’ on the bed, her thoughts no doubt, consumed with how she was treated by Leo. Before they could chat about anything, there was a knock at their door,

“Come in,” Mena called, and Stellaris entered, carrying what seemed to be a large, antique trunk. It was spray painted purple and read, “My Ol’ Theater Fol-De-Rol.”

There were two scripts piled on top of the trunk, laminated copies of Romulus and Julianna. Immediately, all eyes focused on Stellaris. “Hello, you three,” the Dream Divination teacher said. “We’re handing out scripts to everyone interested in our presentation, and I thought I’d start with our Dream Ambassador and her friends.

With her mind, Stellaris telepathically caused two scripts to float over to May and Janus, prompting Mena to ask the question, “What about me?”

“Ah yes,” Stellaris responded. “You’re a very special case. It seems theatrics are part of your lineage.”

Mena’s eyes widened. “Is that…?” she squeaked, eyeing the trunk.

“Why yes,” Stellaris said, plopping the trunk on Mena’s bed. “It is your mother’s belongings.”

Mena immediately placed her hand to her temple and assumed battle position, waiting for some evil goblin to jump out of the trunk. Stellaris merely chuckled. “Don’t worry dear. This was Arabella’s before she descended into wickedness. It’s simply a regular old case of school belongings.”

Mena gave a sigh of relief, but still, she didn’t want to gaze upon the belongings of her wicked mother…Well, maybe a glance was worth it.

Mena’s hand trembled as it reached for the latch. Stellaris placed her hand on Mena’s back. “Don’t worry, I’ve already scanned it trice for wicked magic. There is nothing of the sort. Arabella and Anguish were very different people.”

Mena crossed her arms. She found it hard to believe, but then reached for the latch anyway and unhooked it. May and Janus both gathered around the bed and together they all opened their mouths in awe.

There were a bunch of old photos before technocolor magic was invented to color them. Most featured a beautiful young woman who was the spitting image of Mena, minus the braces and goofy mannerisms. On the stage of Nightdream’s auditory, Arabella Willow headlined performances of MacWitch, We Three Witches, Witchard the Third, A Walpurgis Night On The Town, Season of the Witch and lastly, but most importantly, Romulus and Julianna.

Mena’s eyes were aglow as she saw young Arabella dressed in robes, rags and witchy accessories, performing before entire audiences. They burst into laughter at the sight of Arabella with a false warty nose strapped around her head.

There was even an image of teenage Arabella and Grizabella standing together, a bright grin on Arabella’s face and a shy, uncertain expression on Grizabella’s. Mena noticed the paint can and brush in Grizabella’s hand. She remembered hearing how her auntie was part of the stage crew, while Arabella was the showstopper.

Mena looked out the window at the planet consumed from the Nightmare Calamity and had no idea how her mother could have caused that.

“Arabella was such a bright young witch,” Stellaris said wistfully. “Perhaps too bright for her own good. She always wanted to be the center of attention, and she found that whenever she entered the spotlight.”

Mena turned to face Stellaris. The ultimate question burning at the tip of her tongue. “Stella…do you know why my mother went wicked…”

A look of shock came over Stellaris before she eased into a solemn look. “That I don’t know dear. I was in the Andromeda Kingdom when it happened. Only Gemini knows I’m afraid.”

Mena sighed. “That’s fine. I suppose I’ll ask him one day…if we ever see him again.”

Stellaris placed a consoling hand on Mena’s back. “We will. If there’s anything to learn about the male members of Gemini’s family, it’s that they’re notoriously hard to kill.”

Janus beamed. “My daddy can testify. Gemini’s been avoiding his meetings of death for years.”

“I must be off now,” Stellaris said, as she headed for the door. “But I thought you’d enjoy that, Mena.”

“Professor…er…Headmaster? What about my copy of the play?”

Stellaris turned around and laughed. “It’s at the bottom of the trunk. I thought I’d give you a very special copy. Arabella’s own.”

Mena’s pursed her thin lips into a perplexed face. What was so special about her mother’s own copy? Other than it belonged to her mother. But before she could ask, Stellaris had departed.

After retrieving her tattered copy of the script, Mena’s scanned her mother’s doodle laden cover. At the bottom, there was a printed phrase reading, “This Particular Piece of Parchment Belongs To:” and it was signed “Ary-Belly Bookwitch” with a heart dotting the I.

It made Mena greener than Anguish’s hench-witches to know she possessed items belonging to her wicked mother. She chose to put it aside for the time being. “So girls,” Mena sked. “What roles do you aspire to?”

May ho-hummed again. She gave a deep exhale. “Have you seen me, Mena? I’m either going to end up as the stagehand or if I’m lucky, some girthy comedy relief character.”

“Besides,” May sighed. “I’m kinda going through my own romantic tragedy right now.”

“Forget about him,” Mena snapped. “The only reason he’s only got meat on the brains is because he HAS meat for brains.”

“Easier said then done,” May said, resting a hand on her pudgy cheek as she turned a page.

“Janus?” Mena questioned. “What about you?”

With exuberance, Janus responded, “I’d like to audition for the Reverend with his thin vial of deadlock poison.”

The pixie-reaper gave a dreamy sigh. “It’s always been my dream to be the cause of some accidental, yet romantic death between two lovers. This role is tailored to me.”

Mena nodded and opened her copy of the script. There was something that nearly made her eyes pop. Printed on the second page was the word: “Role:” and written in her mother’s handwriting was “Julianna Cabernet.”

Suddenly, the young witch’s desire to be Julianna was somewhat cooled by the fact that she’d be playing the same role as her mother…from exactly the same playbook. Once and for all, she elected to leave her play practicing for tomorrow. She wanted to sleep on the fact that she and Anguish the Blood Siren were on a star crossed path when it came to theater productions.