I stared up at the white ceiling of Pixie Tower. I couldn't sleep. And it wasn't the nauseating spinning of Pixie Tower. Limited moonlight was coming in through the window, for now at least. What time was it? It was strange, not having a way to tell time available. For anyone else it would be fine. they could just cast a spell that would tell them. But not me.

The curse prevented that.

I turned over to my other side and stared at the mark.

The scars were never going to go away, but they revealed the truth. Was that why my magic lashed out that day? Was it trying to make me see the curse?

My magic was a part of me. Mom had said it was somewhere between a muscle and a sense, feeding her information and as vital to her as her heartbeat.

Was mine like that? Was my magic gathering information, and wanting to be used? Like getting the urge to stretch your legs after sitting for too long?

The only way to find out for sure was remove the curse.

But that's why they called a Curse Breaker, right?

And there went the moonlight. The rotation of the Tower cloaked the room in complete darkness.

The curse was hidden again.

But maybe not for much longer. Just a few more days and then I would be rid of it.

And maybe by then I'd really be a Dragon.

Memories of the dust and cobwebs filled my mind. Dark wood and soft light filtered through stale air. It was so close. I tried to imagine myself in the red uniform, just like that student from Dragon Tower.

The ghost, or echo of the past, or whatever she was. Or had been.

I really needed to find answers about that.

(*********)

"Good Morning class!" Dellik was in a good mood. As usual. Or he was the embodiment of Pixie Tower's over enthusiasm. Which would not surprise me.

"And suddenly I am filled with dread," Russel muttered next to me.

I nodded slowly.

"Most of you should have your papers done by now. Yes, I am aware that the due date is not until Friday, and don't worry none of you are getting score deductions. However, I wanted to try something. Those of you who have your papers complete, will you please raise your hand?"

I did have it done. But it was in my room at Pixie Tower.

Whatever he wanted, I couldn't do without going and getting it, and that felt like too much work. Also rumor fuel. Hard pass.

Angelina and a handful of Pixies raised their hands. I was oddly proud of my temporary pink brethren. Good on them. I was not getting involved in whatever Dellik was planning.

Russel also raised his hand. And so did some Salamanders. There were even fewer of them than the Pixies.

A rush of pride that my temporary placement did better than Russel's. Petty things.

Ultimately though, that meant less than a quarter of the class had their paper ready to go. Or three quarters didn't want to indulge Dellik's nonsense.

Valid, to be perfectly honest.

"Mr. Kingsley! You've never raised your hand before, come on up here. And summon your paper if you don't have it on you."

Really glad I didn't raise my hand.

Angelina turned around and looked at me with a questioning head tilt. 'Didn't you finish?' she mouthed.

I nodded. 'No spells,' I mouthed back.

She nodded and turned back around.

I've already made an embarrassment out of myself in Spellcraft. No need to add History to the list.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Alchemy next. I could handle this.

Russel rolled his eyes when Dellik wasn't looking at him.

"Why don't you read your paper for the class?" Dellik suggested.

He might be the head of Pixie Tower, but he scared me far more than stone cold Gorgon ever would.

In front of the whole class? Why? Why was he being so cruel?

Worst part was he still had that well-meaning smile on his face, like the idea that this was torture never occurred to him. "Start with telling the class which Tower you got," he said as he moved to the back of the class.

"If I must," Russel cleared his throat. "To the shock of none of you, I hope, I was assigned Dragon Tower." First sentence and he already sounded entirely over it.

I gave him a thumbs up.

He snapped his fingers, and in a small puff of orange smoke, his paper appeared in his hands. He then placed it on Dellik's pedestal and sighed. "My paper is titled: Memories That Still Walk."

He didn't…

"In this paper I wish to examine records of the phenomenon within Dragon Tower Miss Serafina Stewart observed in her few moments within the Tower."

He did.

I shrank down in my chair. Et tu Russel? Hephaestus give me strength.

"It is well known and documented that when they built the Tower of Nine, the five founders left a powerful enchantment in each one, making all of them unique."

I fought down a smile. Of course, he did this.

"For example, what we now call Banshee Tower was once called the Tower of Light. It was named this since the spell used on it make it glow with a bright light. Pegasus was the Tower of Storms, Slyphid was the Tower of Vines, the list goes on. But then we get to Dragon Tower. Or as it was originally known, the Tower of Memories."

The echoes of the past.

"The pattern for the other eight is clear as the stars, named after the enchantments. Why would the last one be any different?"

If she wasn't a ghost, then what else could she have been?

"Of course to test this theory I needed to find out what Dragon Tower's enchantment was. Very few texts from students chosen by the Tower speak of the Tower itself. Letters from eras during which it was open reference something they all called 'echoes of the past'."

This theory made the most sense until we could get in there. But knowing she was wearing a modern uniform, when no ever had before, didn't support it. But something told me that those parts of the story weren't in Russel's agenda.

Angelina gasped and turned around to look at me.

Right. She got a glimpse of her too. If she's was curious she could ask me herself.

I shrugged at her while trying not to smirk.

She smiled at me before turning back around and straightening out.

"Descriptions of these 'Echoes' all say the same thing: that Dragon Tower has the ability to project images of the past."

I was getting stares. Blessed Fates Russel, why did you name me?

"My sources all describe the images as being of students from all previous eras of our fine school." Russel was continuing, either not seeing or not caring about the heatless glare I was sending his way.

Dellik was also on my list, but he was a professor. I couldn't yell at him later.

At least I wouldn't have to sit through the others doing this.

It then occurred to me that I had no idea what the others did their papers on.

Gods above please don't have coordinated…

Where was a sinkhole when you need one?

There was a glint in Russel's eyes that I did not trust.

"Given the evidence at hand, it is only fair to come the conclusion that what Miss Serafina Stewart saw that day was in fact an Echo being played by Dragon Tower."

He was done. Thank the Fates it was over.

I was going to have words with you Kingsley.

(*********)

Class was over. Thank the gods.

I pulled Russel by him arm out of his chair. Everyone was already whispering amongst themselves anyway. What harm was it going to do to my reputation? That was in tatters regardless of what came next.

"What was that?!" I nearly yelled once we were outside the room. I wasn't loud enough to disturb the horde of passing students but it was enough to amuse Russel.

"What?" he asked with the fakest sounding innocence I had ever heard.

"You know what Kingsley!"

He rolled his eyes. "Professor Dellik gave me an assignment to do on Dragon Tower. How could I have known he was going to make me read it in front of the whole class?"

I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

He patted my shoulder. "I wasn't trying to embarrass you. Mom and I watch a lot of crime shows and if there's one thing I learned, is that if you propose a good enough alternate answer you can make an audience believe anything."

I shook my head. "I just wanted this to go away…" I complained. The rumor mill was just going to restart…

"Full disclosure time? The others chose the same topic. I don't know if they are going up in front of the class like I did though."

Please move me to Dragon Tower. Please. I'll put up with these four at their worst all the time.

"I'm not mad," I told him. "It's just been a long few days."

His eyes glanced at my left wrist. Covered by the gloves and the coat, you wouldn't know about the scars or the curse mark they made visible.

I cradled the spot and rubbed at it with my other hand.

"Does it…hurt?"

"Not right now. It flares up sometimes. When I'm actually angry and not waiting for Gaea to swallow me whole."

"I'm sorry if-"

I shook my head to interrupt him. "It didn't. You're fine. We're fine. I'm sorry for yelling."

"Nah. It was a cool idea two weeks ago, but this is not what I imagined."

"I know I definitely didn't sign up for this when I took that entrance exam. That was what, three months ago now?"

Russel nodded, "Feels like a lifetime. A good one though, despite…whatever your deal is."

"A few more days until we know for sure about Dragon Tower." I let out a deep breath.

"A few more days in the wrong colors. Then we all get to be students in red."

Red. Soon. Please, please. Free me from my pink nightmare. If I was ever going to know the truth I couldn't be in Pixie.

"They have to let us move in." I was mostly trying to convince myself. "The rules say five. There's five of us."

"And then we can do that seance. I haven't forgotten that."

I nodded. "I did promise, no spiders and no expulsions. That qualifies."

"We're getting into that Tower. And then we are getting to the bottom of the Red situation."

What? "Red?"

"It's…what we've been calling her. In the group chat. Which we're going to take turns telling you about things. We're going to get better at that."

"You won't have to if they can break this curse. Now we both really need to get to class. See you later Russel!" I called after him as I left.

Just a little closer.

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