�����The loud ringing of an alarm clock woke Chanse and Alaska up from their slumber.

�����"Mmmm... just five more minutes," Alaska mumbled, hitting the snooze button.

�����At first, Chanse felt a bit disoriented, waking up in a new setting for the first time. She stayed in bed with her eyes open, gathering her thoughts and listening to the sounds around her.

�����"Yum... all the cheesecake I can eat." Alaska was murmuring, having fallen back to sleep.

�����In the suite next to theirs, Chanse could hear the sound of a shower running. There were sounds coming from the bathroom they shared with the Mystic sisters, as well.

�����She yawned and sat up in bed, turning on her desk lamp. Alaska's eyes fluttered when the light came on, but she remained asleep. Her alarm clock read 6:30 AM.

�����Back at home, Chanse had done a few warm-up stretches every morning, to help wake herself up. Sometimes, she would even go on a morning jog. Although she didn't feel like jogging this morning, she decided she might as well do the exercises. She got up and started stretching.

�����A couple minutes into her routine, the alarm clock beeped again. Alaska sat bolt upright in bed, startled from her dream.

�����"Wha..." She mumbled, dazed. "Oh... Darn. I should have known it was just a dream." She rubbed her eyes tiredly. I hate mornings, she thought.

�����"Good morning, Alaska." Chanse said, still stretching.

�����"Are you... exercising?" Alaska asked, stunned. "Wish I had that much energy in the mornings."

�����"I don't really," Chanse explained. "This just helps wake me up. It's better than coffee."

�����"Whatever you say..." Alaska replied, skeptically. According to her philosophy, any exercise before around noontime was dangerous to your health.

�����There was a soft knock on the door to the bathroom that connected their room to the Mystic sisters' room.

�����"We're awake. Come on in." Alaska said, still rubbing sleep from her eyes.

�����Serenity peeked her head in, her hair wrapped in a towel. "The shower's free, if either of you need it."

�����"You go ahead and go first, Alaska," Chanse offered. "I'm not quite done stretching yet."

�����"Thanks. I'll try not to take too long," she replied, getting out of bed.

...

�����About an hour later, Alaska and Chanse were finished getting ready, so they made their way to the cafeteria for breakfast. There weren't too many other students in line yet, and most that were looked like they were still tired.

�����"After what happened yesterday, it would probably be best if we sat as far away from Pyra and the others as possible," Alaska said, holding her tray.

�����The "battle area" from dinner yesterday had been barricaded off, Chanse noticed. Quite a few tables and chairs had been knocked over, and several had scorch marks on them from Pyra's fireballs. One table had been completely smashed, and a few of the plastic chairs looked a bit melted on the edges.

�����Alaska sighed, looking at the mess. "I didn't realize we had done so much damage. Looks like Pyra and I have a lot of cleanup work to do after classes today..."

�����They took their trays to a secluded corner, away from the mess.

�����"Isn't that Jacob Whitewind over there?" Chanse asked, pointing to the opposite end of the room. The figure was dressed in black, and was all by himself. If she concentrated, she could sense a familiar aura, as well.

�����"Mmm, hmmmn," Alaska nodded, chewing on a bagel.

�����"I'm going to go talk to him," She announced, standing up. Something about him made her curious, but she wasn't sure what. If she talked to him, maybe she could figure it out.

�����"What?!" Alaska cried, spewing milk out of her mouth in surprise. "You're going to talk to gloomy old Jacob?! Why?"

�����"I donno. I just feel like talking to him. I've never really met a shadow mage before..."

�����"Are you sure you want to? He isn't exactly the most sociable person in the world..."

�����Chanse nodded, and started walking towards his table.

�����"Hey... Wait for me!" Alaska called after her. This she had to see.

�����Chanse was about halfway to Jacob's table when a loud scream rung out from the lunch line.

�����"EEEEEEK!!! What is that!!!??" A girl with dark hair screamed, pointing to a bagel that was floating a few inches off of the ground.

�����"Ghosts!!!" A boy yelled.

�����Alaska glared at the bagel. "Ghosts? Yeah, right. Cut it out, Jinx Masamune, I know it's you!" Jinx and his stupid practical jokes, she thought. He might be able to fool some of the other students with his invisibility tricks, but he couldn't fool her.

�����"Cut what out?" Jinx asked from behind them.

�����Alaska turned to face him. "But... if you're here... then how?"

�����"Who or whatever it was, it's gone now," Chanse observed. All that was left were a few bagel crumbs.

�����"Okay... I give up. How did you rig that bagel?" Alaska demanded.

�����"What bagel?" Jinx asked, confused. "We have bagels for breakfast? Good, I'm starving!"

�����"Never mind," Alaska sighed. Maybe it wasn't him, after all. "All right, who here has levitation powers?" She asked, facing the other students in line.

�����"Not me, I'm a water elemental!" A young boy with blue hair said. He looked like he was in the elementary school.

�����"Don't look at me, I'm majoring in magical weaponry!" An older boy said.

�����"I do, but it wasn't me! Practical jokes are so immature!"

�����All the other students in the area denied it as well.

�����"Maybe... it really was a ghost?" Alaska said.

�����"Maybe..." Chanse shrugged. Stranger things had happened. She looked over at Jacob's table, but he too had disappeared.

...

�����At precisely 8:00 AM, Magnus Dragonflight took the podium for the morning assembly.

�����"Good morning, students. Since this is the first day of classes..."

�����"I heard there was a ghost in the cafeteria this morning," A girl with brown pigtails and glasses whispered to the green-haired girl next to her.

�����"A ghost? How scary!" Her friend replied.

�����"I don't expect that those of you who are new know your way around yet..." Magnus continued.

�����"Hey, did you see that fight between Alaska and Pyra last night?" A boy with black hair asked his friend.

�����"Are you kidding? That was the best one yet!" The other boy replied.

�����"There will be maps posted throughout the school to help you, and any of the faculty will be happy to direct you to your classes. Also, if any of you have problems with your schedules, please come to the main office to have them corrected. Now... You are dismissed," Magnus concluded.

�����"Glad it was short this morning." Jinx commented. As usual, his clothes were horribly mismatched. He had on a garish floral tourist shirt, and cutoffs with blue and orange stripes.

�����"Me too!" Candy agreed. "I wanna see who else is in my class!"

�����"I'll walk you there, Candy," Serenity offered.

�����"Yay! Let's go!" The two of them headed for the building that contained the elementary school.

�����"Will you walk me to my first class, Fiore-honey?" Pyra asked.

�����Unable to think of an acceptable excuse, especially because his first class was right across the hall from Pyra's, Fiore agreed.

�����Chanse and Alaska were standing on the other side of the assembly hall.

�����"What's your first class, Chanse?" Alaska asked, looking at her schedule.

�����"I have 'Magic Through the Ages' with professor Stonehinge. What about you?"

�����Alaska made a face. "Math in Magic. Yuck. With professor Archamedies. Double yuck."

�����"Math's not that bad, if the teacher is good," Chanse shrugged. From Alaska's tone, though, it sounded like she got a boring one. "So... where's the history building?"

�����"Right across from the math and science building, where I'm going. Follow me, I'll show you."

�����The two girls started walking towards their classes. Along the way, they compared their schedules.

�����"Looks like we have the same class for fourth period." Chanse noticed.

�����"Cool! I thought that 'Questing 101' sounded like it would be a fun class."

�����"Me too," Chanse agreed.

�����"EEEEEEEK!!! Ghosts!!!" Someone yelled, suddenly.

�����"Not again!" Alaska grumbled.

�����This time, a bag of potato chips was hovering just over the ground.

�����"If it really is a ghost, it's kinda short," Chanse said, staring at the bag.

�����"Well, whatever, we're gonna be late if we worry about it now," Alaska said, looking at the time.

�����The girls hurried to their first classes.

...

�����Such a beautiful day outside, Jinx thought, gazing out the window, longingly. Too bad I gotta stay cooped up in this dumb old math class.

�����"If you carry the 'x' and take the square root of 'y'..." His teacher, Professor Archamedies, was rambling.

�����It was third period. Jinx had lunch next. His stomach growled in anticipation. I hope they have hamburgers today, he thought. Or pizza. I could really go for some pizza right now...

�����Professor Archamedies was still rambling, as he drew out equations on the chalkboard. "...and that, students, is the algebraic formula for flight. Next, we will review the mathematical formula for the pyrokenetic principle..."

�����Booooring!!! Jinx thought, staring at the clock. Only two more minutes. After lunch he had 'Questing 101', which sounded like it would be fun, at least.

�����Jinx's mind continued to wander. C'mon, how long can two minutes last? He thought, frustrated. One more minute to go.

�����"As you see, when the inverse is squared, you get the same result."

�����Thirty seconds...

�����"For the next class, you should read over pages 12 through 15, and complete problems one through ten on page 16."

�����Jinx scribbled down the assignment. Dang, homework already.

�����The bell rang, and Jinx leaped from his seat. Several other students were startled awake by the sound.

�����"YES!!!" Jinx cried, running out the door for the cafeteria.

...

�����"So first you saw a bagel floating at breakfast, and then you saw a bag of chips fly by on you way to class?" Jinx asked, after stuffing a third piece of pizza in his mouth.

�����"Yep. At first I thought it was you playing another one of your stupid tricks, but now I think it's something else," Alaska said. She took another bite of her taco.

�����Chanse finished chewing her chicken sandwich. "Everyone was talking about it in the hallway today. They all seem convinced that the school is haunted, but I'm not so sure..."

�����The three of them were seated at the same table. Pyra and Fiore were on the other side of the cafeteria, along with Ren and Candy.

�����"Well, if it is a ghost, it seems like it's a hungry ghost," Jinx said, starting on a fourth slice.

�����"That's my point. Whatever it is, it seems to like food. No ghost that I ever heard of needs to eat," Chanse reasoned.

�����"Oh no!" Alaska exclaimed. "Maybe it's a gremlin! They can turn invisible, and they do like food!"

�����"It could be," Chanse nodded, "but gremlins are also known to cause a lot of trouble. This one seems to only want food."

�����"Kinda like someone else we know," Alaska joked, looking at Jinx as he reached for yet another piece of pizza.

�����Before Jinx could take a bite, something whizzed by, stealing the pizza right out of his hand.

�����"HEY!!!" he protested, staring after it as it hovered a few inches off the ground.

�����"Let's follow it!" Chanse yelled, jumping out of her seat.

�����"You bet I will, that's MY pizza!" Jinx agreed, running after her.

�����"Wait up!!" Alaska called, following them.

�����"What's going on over there?" Ren wondered, noticing the commotion on the other side of the room.

�����"Sounds like trouble," Fiore said, getting out of his seat. People were screaming, and his brother was chasing after something. I hope he hasn't started playing his practical jokes again, he thought.

�����"I better go see what it is," Fiore sighed, heading for the screams.

�����"Oh boy! I'm going too!!!" Candy cried, bouncing after him.

�����"Me too," Ren said, following them.

�����"But..." Pyra protested. Things like this always seemed to happen when she wanted to spend some quality time with Fiore. "HEY! wait for me!!!"

�����When Fiore reached the source of the commotion, he noticed his brother was yelling frantically as he chased after a slice of pizza that was hovering a few inches off the ground. Chanse and Alaska were following it around the room as well.

�����"COME BACK WITH MY PIZZA!!!" Jinx yelled.

�����"What's going on?" Fiore asked, running alongside Chanse and Alaska.

�����"We're trying to catch a ghost, or a gremlin or whatever it is," Alaska answered, pointing at the pizza.

�����"I heard the rumors, but I didn't think they were true," Ren said, following them.

�����Candy giggled, joining what was rapidly becoming a parade of sorts. "Hey, that pizza's flying! Neat!"

�����"Eww, eww, eww, ewww!!" Pyra complained. "What is that?"

�����"GIVE ME BACK MY LUNCH!" Jinx yelled.

�����The seven of them continued to run back and forth across the room, following the 'ghost'. The other students watched them, in various stages of either confusion or fear.

�����"This is getting ridiculous..." Chanse complained, as the pizza slice led them through yet another loop around the cafeteria. Whatever it was, it was pretty fast.

�����"I'll stop it!" Pyra yelled, getting a fireball ready.

�����"No, Pyra!" Serenity warned, "You might hit someone else by mistake!"

�����"Maybe I can stop it!" Candy giggled, pulling out an oversized pink lollipop. "SUGAR RUSH ATTACK!!!"

�����A shower of cotton candy shot out from Candy's lollipop, spraying the area in front of them with a mass of pink goo. Unfortunately, that area contained other students, rather than her intended target.

�����"HEY!" one of them complained.

�����"EWW! I'm all sticky!" another yelled.

�����"Whoopsies!" Candy exclaimed. "Sorry!"

�����"You really need to work on your aim a bit, Candy," Ren commented.

�����"I've had just about all I can take of this nonsense," Chanse said. She stopped running, and pulled out her flute.

�����Not only were there different types of magic, there were also different methods used to control it. For example, spoken spells were one possible way, and written runes another. In addition, people blessed with the talent of magic couldn't actually "choose" what type they wanted. It was more like the magic chose you, depending on what your strengths and weaknesses were. Chanse was one of the few individuals blessed with a double talent. Using music, she could harness the elements of water and wind.

�����"What are you doing?" Alaska asked, stopping as well. She was starting to run out of breath, anyway.

�����"Just watch..." Fiore said. It looked like she was about to cast a spell.

�����Chanse began to play. The tune was reminiscent of bubbling water. A soap bubble formed, heading straight for the slice of pizza and trapping it inside.

�����"WOW! COOL!!!" Candy exclaimed.

�����"Nice catch!" Alaska complemented.

�����"Now, we can finally find out what that thing is." Serenity said.

�����"And I can get my pizza back!" Jinx rejoiced.

�����"Are you sure you still want it, after it's been dragged all over the room by who knows what?" Pyra asked.

�����Chanse played a few more notes of music, and the bubble hovered over to them.

�����The seven of them surrounded the bubble, staring at it. There was definitely something moving in there, but it was invisible, so they couldn't tell what it was.

�����"It's small, whatever it is..." Fiore commented. "Perhaps one of your spells, Ren?"

�����"Light of truth!" Ren chanted, her hands clasped in prayer. As a wielder of light, one of her powers was the ability to banish illusions, and reveal the unseen.

�����A small, furry shape appeared within the bubble. It squeaked in protest, and took a bite of the pizza it was holding.

�����"...A squirrel?!" Chanse said, looking at it.

�����It was just what Fiore had feared it would be. "Oh, no, not..."

�����"SQUINKY!!!!" Jinx yelled, joyfully. "After the incident last semester, I thought you were gone for sure!"

�����"One could only have hoped," Pyra muttered. Stupid squirrel.

�����"Huh?" Chanse blinked, completely confused.

�����"It's kind of his pet," Alaska said. "But it's a very annoying one..."

�����"You see, last semester Jinx found Squinky on one of his missions, and sort of adopted him," Ren explained. "Unfortunately, a bunch of other invisible squirrels followed him home, as well."

�����"The boy's dorm was infested with them for weeks..." Fiore sighed, remembering the mess and the chaos they had caused.

�����"It was funny!!!" Candy laughed.

�����Pyra scowled. "Not really. Those dumb squirrels got into everything! They chewed holes in two of my favorite outfits!"

�����"Yeah," Alaska agreed. "The headmaster finally had to call in an exterminator, to trap them all and take them back to the woods where they belonged."

�����"I had hoped we had seen the last of them," Fiore said.

�����"Aww, he's not that much trouble," Jinx insisted. "You didn't invite any of your buddies, this time, did you, Squink?"

�����The squirrel chattered inside the bubble, and shook his head.

�����"See?" Jinx said. "It'll be fine this time!"

�����Pyra growled. "It had better be! If that squirrel causes any more trouble, I'll burn it to a crisp!"

�����Squinky squeaked, fearfully.

�����"Pyra!" Ren scolded, "He's a living creature! It wouldn't be right to just kill him like that."

�����"All right, then instead of killing it, we'll take it to the farthest place we can possibly think of and let it go," Alaska said.

�����"Agreed," Fiore nodded. "No more trouble, or he goes back to the forest, where he belongs."

�����Jinx sighed. "All right. No more trouble. You got that, Squinky?"

�����Squinky squeaked in agreement.

�����"You can let him go now, Chanse," Fiore said.

�����"Ummm... Okay, whatever you say." This was even weirder than ghosts! She touched the bubble, and it popped.

�����Squinky squeaked with joy, and scampered up to perch on Jinx's shoulder.

�����The other students, seeing that the odd situation had been resolved, went back to their tables and finished eating.

�����"There's only a few minutes left until lunch is over." Serenity said, looking at the clock. "We had better hurry and finish eating."

�����"Hey, what classes do you guys have next?" Alaska asked, curiously.

�����"Fiore-pookums and I have Questing 101," Pyra said, latching onto his arm.

�����"Me too," Ren said.

�����"Hey, so do I!" Jinx added.

�����"We're all in the same class, then, because Alaska and I have it too," Chanse said.

�����"Everyone except me!" Candy said, jealously. In Dragonflight's elementary school, the students stayed with the same teacher almost all day. It wasn't until junior high that they started changing classes.

�����The bell rang, loudly.

�����"I'm going to walk Candy back to her class. I'll see you all in a little while."

�����"Okay, Ren!" Alaska waved. They all headed for class.

...

This story and its characters are � Chibi Ningyo (Cara V.), 2000.

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