Yeri had lost count of the many hours they had been driving through the underwater tunnel. She was bored, and everyone knew when she was bored, disasters tended to occur.

“Oh no, I know that look. Don’t even think about pulling something,” Irene said, seeing a that familiar look of boredom on Yeri’s face.

Yeri feigned a look of offense. “I wasn’t thinking of doing anything! We’re god knows how many feet underwater and I sure as hell don’t want to die by drowning.”

“That’s fair, I really don’t want to drown either, if we’re being honest.” Wendy said.

Irene shot Yeri a suspicious look but decided to change the subject. “It hadn’t occurred to me but, is it possible that the school’s . . . underwater?”

The girls looked at each other. Before anyone could say anything, the water around them began to get lighter, even though they’d definitely not gone any higher towards the top. Slowly, they approached another of the strange disks that had opened the tunnel. From there, they could see a magnificent underwater castle. The best way any of them could describe it was if some wanna-be artist had dropped a gigantic diamond down to the bottom of the ocean and carved it into a castle. Even though it was underwater, it glowed galliantly, and was completely clear, though they couldn’t see anything inside. And strangest of all, at least to Yeri, none of the marine life seemed to acknowledge its existence. She decided it was just magic, along with the strange translucency.

“Wow, it’s so pretty!” Yeri exclaimed.

As the tunnel ended, and the carriage passed through the disk, they entered a huge domed room, if you could call it that. It mimicked the outside even though it was in the water. In the centre of the area was a large and quite fancy fountain. It was quite tall, and had many encrusted jewels.Though, that wasn’t the strangest part about it. Instead of water, it was cycling a pure golden liquid; something the three friends had never seen before. Around the fountain, were pools of various shapes and sizes, but they ultimately made a hexagonal shape. Eash pool was lined with bushes that seemed to be growing various precious gemstones as well as flowers including chrysanthemums, ferns, hydrangeas, irises, and much more. Cobblestones circled the hexagonal arrangement, and at the far end of the cobblestone path was the entrance to the castle.

The carriage stopped at the entrance, and the girls hopped out, gathering their bags and hat boxes. If the outside was glorious, it was nothing compared to the inside. From the inside, they could see through to the water like glass. The light emanating from the castle illuminated the surrounding waters so they could once again see all the marine life around them. In the centre of the great room they had entered into was a huge spiraling staircase. The floors were a pale rose coloured marble with hints of gold, and the various seating areas littered around the outside of the room were all made of gold gilded chairs with rose coloured silk upholstery. The staircase stretched to the very top of the castle and branched off into bridges onto the various floors. Each floor was protected by a golden railing, like a huge circular balcony that wrapped around the great room. The banisters of the railings on the edges of the room and stairs were also decorated with shining garlands.

The girls decided to just sit and wait at one of the sitting areas. As they sat, a silver platter with tea and petit fours zoomed in and floated down onto the table.

“Wow, talk about good service,” Wendy said, eyes wide. Yeri and Irene agreed.

The three girls snacked and chatted for about fifteen minutes before anything notable happened. After a while, a woman in a rather eye-catching lavender and tangerine ruffled dress approached them from god-knows-where. While Yeri didn’t say anything, the woman’s dress seemed to be radiating an amber light. She figured she had just missed an up and coming trend, and didn’t realize that neither Wendy nor Irene saw this strange light.

“Welcome, ladies, to Umbra Academy for Enchantresses!” the woman said, sweeping her arms and gesturing to the room around them. “I am Alice, the headmistress!”

The three girls stood and curtsied.

“Now, before you will be shown to your rooms, you must be assessed so we may get a feel for your current skill level.” Alice said. “We will begin with Wendy.” with that, Wendy and Alice disappeared into a room on the other side of the staircase.

Yeri paled. “An assessment?! I have no skills whatsoever!”

“Maybe it’s not only about magic, though?” Irene tried to comfort her friend, but in truth, she just as worried.

It was quite a while before Alice returned, and when she did, Wendy was nowhere to be seen. This time, it was Irene’s turn, leaving Yeri in the great room by herself. Without her friends’ presence to calm her, she started thinking about the worst. That was a bad habit of hers, but she prefered to blame it on her weakness. Yeri liked to think that if only she could have magic, she could be strong. She knew that she could have the potential to do so many amazing things. But no. Heaven forbid anything come to her easily.

It seemed like an eternity before Alice returned, once again, Irene was nowhere in sight.

“Right this way,” Alice gestured to the door that she disappeared into before. Yeri picked up her luggage and followed the headmistress into the door. Might as well’ve been the door to Yeri’s nightmares as far as she was concerned. Behind the door was a small room with only another door.

“Well, good luck! I’ll take your luggage to your room while you take your assessment,” Alice smiled, taking Yeri’s luggage from her.

Gulping, Yeri walked over to the door. Behind that door was her fate. Would she pull through even without the use of magic?