I didn't want to do this. I didn't. But I knew that there was no way I was going to get sleep tonight if I didn't.

"Lucinda Stewart," I told the mirror.

The reflection rippled like water that has just had something dropped into it. The ripples continued for a few seconds before my mother's face appeared behind the glass.

"Serafina? What's wrong?"

I don't know what my face looked like in that moment, but Mom always had a way of knowing when I was upset.

She looked worried.

I held up the curse marked and scarred wrist. "Did you know?" I asked.

Mom sighed and looked down for a moment. "They told me it was most likely a curse the day you got hurt."

"And you didn't tell me. Why?" I tried to keep my voice even. Something hot and hurt boiled in my stomach.

"I hoped they were wrong."

"Do you know what this symbol is?" I asked.

"I've seen it before. A long time ago. Back when I was taking History classes," Mom explained. "It was used by a…we'll call it a militia-like faction of people who called themselves the 'Mists of Hecate'. They've been inactive for a while and I genuinely don't know how that mark got on your wrist."

"What did they want?"

"To put it simply? For families like ours to not exist."

I let out a shaky breath. "So that explains the 'why'…"

"But we still don't know the 'when'. That's part of why we agreed to call the curse specialist."

"That's my only hope of breaking it, isn't it?"

Mom nodded. "At the very least we'll have more information about it than we have now. Which I'm sure will make you feel better."

I nodded. "It will. Just…frustrated I guess."

"I know. Believe me, I know."

"This isn't how this was supposed to go," I complained. "I was supposed to get picked by a Tower, make a few friends, and learn about magic."

"I would argue that you've done those things."

"I got picked by a Tower I can't go in. I've nearly died. Nearly lost a hand. Learned that not only can I not cast spells, I'm cursed. Ninety-nine percent of the school thinks I'm crazy. And a large portion thinks I don't belong here." And maybe they were right. Maybe this was a mistake.

"Serafina?" She sounded so worried. I hated how soft her voice was in that moment.

No.

Screw that.

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"I'm okay. I just needed to vent. A lot of things have happened." I let out a long sigh, "I'm better now. This has been a lot."

"If you're having doubts…"

"No." I stopped that thought in its tracks. "I'm staying. I'm seeing this through to the end. Whatever that looks like."

Mom had a soft fond smile on her face. "Of course you will. You get that from your father."

I chuckled. "I guess you could call it the same kind of determination to make a man propose twice in a twenty-four-hour period."

Mom threw back her head and let out wild, untamed laughter. "It really is. I'm sure the world is grateful you don't have his intensity."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"I'm serious! I take him lunch sometimes and his students are all quaking in fear. One time a kid nearly fainted from shock at me kissing him on the cheek!"

"He was in the middle of a lecture Mom."

"He always is! He's lucky he's so handsome when he's serious."

Ugh. Why did they do this? Even when apart?

I was so glad I was never going to be like this.

"You could look a little less horrified by your parents showing affection you know."

Never. "No."

She laughed again. "Please never change."

"I can't stay a child forever."

"No! You'll always be twelve to me!" Mom cried in false despair. Anyone else might have believed the act of her wishing to will me into being younger forever.

I rolled my eyes.

"I should probably go," I told her. "Schedules to keep, homework to do, you know how it is."

She frowned, "Okay. Be careful for me, okay? If you feel the urge to cause trouble find less dangerous ways to do it!"

"Like you did?"

She grinned. "No. You'll find your own way."

I hope so.

(*********)

Monday morning came with no news on the Dragon Tower front. I wasn't surprised. I suspected they would wait until the last possible moment to tell us what the results of their voting was.

I hated waiting like this.

Why couldn't they just tell us? At this point I barely cared what the answer was.

I just wanted to know. Whichever fate I'd been dealt I would make work for me.

The image of the student in red flashed in my mind.

Right. No Dragon Tower, no answers.

And sneaking in was out of the question. It was still being watched even if staff wasn't seen around the door. Every hallway of the campus was monitored to know when students skipped class. I was confident that they would notice us.

Ugh. Listen to me. Planning to sneak around campus.

I couldn't tell if it was me being Mom's daughter or something I picked up from the other Dragons.

I could almost hear the discussion about it.

I needed to relax.

We still don't know what the decision was yet. I needed to keep calm until I knew for sure.

(*********)

Fethris and I were headed towards the library after Monsters.

"Are you all right? You've been quiet all day," Fethris commented quietly. Swarms of students were surrounding us.

"Just…processing. Did Celica tell you guys about my appointment with the healer?"

Fethris shook his head. "No. She said it wasn't her place to talk about."

"Tell her I appreciate that. I'll tell the rest of you later. I just want a little time to think about it."

"Okay. That's your choice to make."

Then why did I feel weird not talking about it?

"Do you think they'll let us in Dragon Tower soon?" I asked. It would have been a poor deflection, but he already knew I wasn't going to talk about it yet.

"They'd better. I'm pretty sure if they don't, the others are going to break in and get themselves expelled."

I burst out laughing. "I was thinking that same thing earlier. We're all going to be nothing but trouble for the next five years, aren't we?"

The others were waiting for us at our usual spot.

Jarec was messing with a deck of tarot cards. Pulling some out and setting them aside.

"Pages are worth eleven!" Celica was insisting way too loudly for a library. "Knights are twelve."

Russel didn't respond. Verbally at least.

"How about both of you draw a card. The higher card gets to use their rules," Jarec held out a handful of cards face down.

"Three of Swords," Russel sighed.

"Six of Cups," Celica declared, as Fethris and I sat down. "Pages are eleven. Knights are twelve."

"Hey you two." Russel was ignoring her. "I've been talked into playing Dubium. Want to join?"

I think I may have heard of that game. "Why not?"

"I'll pass," Fethris responded. "I've never played this before."

"The Krakens won't because they're boring," Celica complained.

"Full disclosure," I began. "I know nothing about this game."

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