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"Welcome, First Years!"

Gladian stood amongst the first years in the auditorium of Hacate's school of magic. She was the youngest out of her sisters so she was the last to begin her magical education. Being last meant nothing to her, she sat on the bench with the other first years and smiled widely. She wore her uniform with pride which was a black knee length skirt, black polished shoes, a black tie, and a white blouse. A few rows down, a boy with wings caught her eye since he kept bouncing in his seat. She looked to see he had pointed ears, fangs, and wings with a blue hue to them. His skin was a bit hairy specifically around his face, fur to be exact. She blushed, looking away. He was cute.

"Welcome, First Years!" Repeated the head master. He seemed young himself, probably about in his forties. His hair lacked any trace of gray or white. He wore a blue robe along with a blue hat. "My name is Headmaster Fanu. I've been the headmaster for five years now, one of the youngest to hold this position. We are excited for you all to be starting your education here at Hacate where we have a notorious reputation." He looked around the auditorium, seeing all the young faces and a mixture of different species ranging from witches and wizards, vampires, wolves, elves, warlocks, pixies, and fairies. Seeing all these people made him smile. It was a giddy feeling and something they strived for. "Whether you're studying spell casting, alchemy, herbology, linguistics, or general studies, we are here to guide you in the right direction. Congratulations to you First Years. Let's us have a good year!"

The auditorium erupted into applause and cheers. Headmaster Fanu bowed and stepped to the side so the dormitory mistress could lead the students to their rooms and common areas.

The dormitory mistress clapped her hands and with that a piece of paper appeared into every first year student's hands. Gladian opened the letter to see which house she was to stay in. There were twelve houses in total and it seemed she was in the House of Self.

"I wonder how they split us up?" Gladian looked over to see a girl who appeared to be half wolf and she assumed half witch. She appeared about the same age as Gladian, twelve. She looked at Gladian and smiled widely. "My name is Monica, what's your name?"

Gladian stared blankly at the girl for a bit then smiled as well. She nodded her head to Monica. "I'm Gladian. Nice to meet you. What house are you in?"

"House of Communication. I don't care about languages so I wonder how they split us up. What house are you?"

"House of Self."

"Hmm," Monica let escape from her throat. "Maybe there's more to the houses then we think."

Gladian lowered her head down the row to see the boy with the wings. He seemed lost and perplexed about his house as well. He was quiet though and didn't seem to engage with anyone. His eyes met hers and Gladian found herself blushing once more. He continued to stare at her until she looked away.

Monica noticed Gladian looking at the boy. "His name is Puimo. He and I are from the same place, Red Woods Springs in Canas." She turned to Gladian. "He's cute, uh?" Gladian flushed some more.

While Gladian walked with her group to their dormitories toward the far side of the institution, she managed to catch sight of her older sister, Glinda, who was thirteen. Glinda came over with her broom in her hand. She pushed past the kids, some of whom even moaned and groaned as she did so. Glinda hugged onto her sister, the broom smacking some of the first years.

"Glinda!"

"What are you embarrassed by your older sister?"

"No, but you're hitting the kids with your broom," Gladian exclaimed.

"Ooops, sorry, brats-"

"Glinda!"

Gladian and Glinda looked at the centaur who was leading the group. "Glinda, go to class!" He scorned.

"I'm the best flyer in this whole school. I can afford to skip class!"

"GLINDA!"

"Bye, sis!" Glinda kissed her sister on the cheek and with a flick of her wand, she transformed into an owl and flew away, impressing the First Years as she did so, including her sister.

"Wow, she's no older than us and knows how to do a transformation spell already." Said one of the boys, the other kids joining in on the conversations. The centaur tried to get them to settle down but it took a while for them to get focus, and not crowd around Gladian asking questions Gladian didn't know the answers too.

They reached their dorms first stopping by the common area. There were books, board games, a television, and gaming consoles humans were notorious for interacting.

Gladian walked over to the windows and saw they looked out toward the fields and mountains that led to the Valley of Trey. It was a beautiful view.

"Hi! Do you want a cookie? My mom baked a bunch and I have more than enough."

Gladian looked over to see a boy with the features of a vampire and wolf. One eye was red while the other pupil was golden. One half of his face had fur patches and the other half was smooth. He had a slick of white hair while the other was light brown and gray.

"I'm Shadow, Shadow Gune. Funny because I like guns."

"What's a gun?"

"Its a weapon humans created. Humans are really good at technology even better than the elves." Shadow placed his hand in the bag with the cookies. He took one out and began to eat it.

"Yes," Gladian answered. "I'd like a cookie." Shadow smiled and handed her the bag.

It became apparent the three sisters were turning out to be some of the stronger students in the school. They excelled in all their courses. There wasn't much they didn't have an affinity for. Even still, the teachers noticed the girls were experimenting with spells that were often on the dark end. Black magic and the dark arts were only available for the university students and yet these girls were managing to get equipment and learn spells they shouldn't have been learning.

Headmaster Fanu was given a note about needing to check in on Gortrius that apparently she had a pet with her when pets were forbidden. He sighed, shaking his head and couldn't help but laugh. It was one thing or another with these sisters. He closed his folder and got up from his chair to stretch, already thinking of a speech he was going to tell Gortrius.

Gortrius heard the door knock to her dorm room which housed four other girls. She was the only one in her room at that time since she didn't have any classes at that time of day.

"Are you decent?" Headmaster asked. When he heard the reply, he opened the door. A horrible smell came over him and he instantly covered his nose. He looked around trying to find the source. His eyes caught the sight of a cat lying on one of the beds. Gortrius watched as the headmaster walked to the cat, appalled to see the cat was filled with dirt, blood, and was decaying, with some bones even exposed, and maggots feasting on it. The cat lifted up its head and meowed then went back to closing its eyes.

"She doesn't feel any pain," Gortrius said. She was so proud of herself while Fanu was completely alarmed.

"What did you do, Gortrius?"

She shrugged. "I brought her back to life."

"Where did-how did you learn this spell?"

"A book..." was all she said.

"From where, Gortrius?"

She paused and then answered as she leaned back in her chair, "The University's library."

That library was forbidden by secondary students. It wasn't even a library that was on this campus, the university although near was still a distance away. He didn't have to ask how she got there. The entire faculty and staff was aware she knew a few transportation methods.

All students are curious about the dark arts and magic but she was the first student to actively perform such a spell. He left her room telling her they would talk later. He immediately ran to the other side of the dormitories to go to Glinda. She was on lunch, her roommate told him, and he searched through the campus until he saw Glinda in the park that was on campus.

He slowed down, seeing that Glinda was sitting on a bench and before her were three boys who were on their knees, bowing to her.

"Glinda..." she looked at him with a small smile on her face. "Glinda, what is this?"

"My servants," she said with such calmness that it scared him.

"Undo the spell, Glinda."

She uncrossed her legs and shrugged her shoulders, something the sisters were starting to be known for. "Since you asked so nicely," she said sarcastically. She snapped her fingers, her wand appearing. With a light switch of her wrist, the spell was undone. It didn't go unnoticed that she was able to perform a spell without saying the word. Glinda giggled a little as the boys were instructed to go to class. Dazed and lost, they walked off. "Did you like Gortrius' pet?"

Fanu gasped- she knew he had visited her sister. She laughed at seeing his frighten expression.

"We're just having fun." She crossed her legs and looked outward to the scenery of the park, taking no notice of the headmaster leaving towards campus.

Gladian came into her room excited to be done with classes. She ran to her bed and saw all of her voodoo dolls were gone. They were made in the image of many of the students and she had collected hair samples from the said students as well. She looked around her room and under her bed.

"The headmaster came and got them," her roommate said. Gladian had spent two weeks making those dolls, playing with them, but nothing too spiteful and they were all gone. He had no right.

"Tsk," she smacked her lips. Now she had to start all over and worst, she had to go back to the library to get the book she had borrowed in the first place. Glinda had told her to copy the pages but she didn't. She just didn't think she needed too. Lesson learned on her end.

She took out her wand from her school bag and pointed it toward the ceiling-

Gladian found herself standing next to her sisters in the court yard of the university. They laughed at one another upon seeing each other, not planning to meet.

"Oh," Glinda smirked. "Did the Headmaster visit you too?"

"He took all my dolls."

The three sisters walked toward the entrance of the campus while the college students were completely oblivious to their presence.