I woke up Sunday morning wishing I could go back in time. Not far. Around forty-eight hours. Long enough to interrupt the terrible decision making of my awful, awful Towermates.

But the sun was up.

I was awake.

And I had to go to a meeting.

Noooooo….

Someone was going to suffer for this. I wasn't sure who, and I wasn't sure when.

Vivian Hearth was already downstairs seated in the main area with a red bundle of something neatly folded.

It took me a few seconds to realize what I was looking at.

"My uniform, I assume?" I commented as I approached.

"Yes. New coat, tie, and gloves. All in Dragon Red." She stood and held the bundle out to me.

This was my first time seeing a Dragon uniform in person. One of the first made in a century.

It felt…surprisingly light in my hands.

I was already wearing the black pants, black vest and white shirt that went underneath it.

I unfolded the coat and put it on.

It's funny. Despite weighing the exact same the coat felt lighter around me than the pink one ever did. Maybe it was the lack of searing pink making me hyper-aware of its presence. The red color felt far closer to being me than that horrific color ever had.

I felt a soft smile on my face as I examined it.

Then I noticed the shield-shaped badge with a red dragon on a black background. It was on the coat and sat on the left side of my chest.

I yanked the gloves on tightly. They fit the same and between them and the sleeves on the coat there was no way anyone was seeing my scars.

Perfect.

I was in the middle of tying the tie when a pair of blue hands suddenly swatted my hands away.

Where had Celica come from?

"You're about to go meet with the other representatives to show them what Dragon Tower is like and I am going to make sure you make the correct impression."

"You don't get to complain about this now. This was your idea."

"I know exactly what I'm doing."

"I don't believe you."

Celica scoffed at me while 'accidentally' tying the red tie too tightly.

She stepped back and then walked in a circle around me.

"You're not a total disaster. You really should grow out your hair though. I don't know how you can stand it so short."

And I didn't understand her braids.

Seriously, how was it every time I saw her she had ridiculously over-done princess braids?

Did she sleep with her hair like that?

Vivian Hearth let out a chuckle.

Celica looked mortified as she turned to face the professor. Her cheeks had darkened a little.

"If you two are done we really should get going," Vivian Hearth commented.

Celica put her hands on her hips. "You'll do great. Just talk to them the way you talked Gorgon on the first day."

I let out a sigh. "Is it too late to send someone else? Literally anyone else?"

"A little bit. Besides, it let you open the door for some reason, that can't be an accident." Vivian Hearth was not reassuring as she started walking towards the door.

"Here I go, off to be sacrificed so you four can cause trouble or something."

Celica's eyes were practically twinkling with something that I was certain was mischief.

Why were my friends the worst?

I followed after Vivian Hearth.

I fidgeted as we made our way through the halls of the school.

After several moments I plucked up the courage to ask, "Is there…anything I should know about this whole representative council thing?"

Vivian looked sideways at me as we walked. "You'll be fine."

"You say that like it's supposed to instantly make the nerves go away. But I'm the one who has to go in there and convince people three to four years older than me to take me seriously as an equal. I'll be lucky if they even bother talking to me."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"It won't be that bad."

I tensed. There was a quip on my tongue about the last time I spoke to a student council and how badly that ended.

There was a reason I chose a school nearly three thousand miles away.

"Be yourself. This will be fine."

This was not going to be fine.

The council room was in another well-hidden part of the school. Lots of awkward corners and paths. I had no idea if I could get here on my own. Probably not.

Vivian Hearth stopped outside a large wooden set of doors. There was a helpful plaque above our heads that read: Representative Council.

"One last time to get it out of my system, I don't want to do this."

"It will be fine. I'll be right behind you."

I doubted that was going to help me.

I opened the right door with a gentle push.

Inside there were six unfamiliar faces and two familiar ones. Gregory Set was in his Pixie uniform sitting and chatting with Lodewick Thoth. The others were scattered about the room. Luckily everyone was in uniforms. Kelpie, Kraken and Banshee were talking to each other in a small circle, Basilisk was by himself with what looked like a stack of notes and Sylphid and Salamander were playing cards with each other.

I swallowed once and held up my hand in a slight wave, "Hi?" Gods, could my voice sound any more pathetic?

Basilisk looked up at me. "New girl's here," he announced.

"And you owe me five drakes Ra," Sylphid muttered to Salamander.

Gregory Set spoke up, "Serafina! I'm surprised you're here."

You and me both, Set. You and me both.

"Was this one yours Set? I'll admit I'm disappointed Nightcall wasn't selected," Kelpie commented while not even bothering to look at me. I stood there in the doorway, there were chairs but I didn't know what kind of seating arrangements they had with each other.

"Shy for a Pixie, isn't she?" Kraken asked Set. I only knew that because she too was looking at him.

"Please sit down, you're a little early so tell us about yourself." Basilisk pointed to the seat nearest to the door. "I'm Blayze Bastet," he held out his hand across the table.

"Serafina, Serafina Stewart," I shook his hand once and then immediately let go.

"Gale Maat of Banshee Tower."

"Stewart…" Kraken drifted off, "I think I remember seeing you in the school paper. Your family must be proud, managing to attend despite your circumstances."

Ah. There it is. The reason I did not want to do this. I grit my teeth to hold back saying something that would just cause me more trouble later.

Kelpie did not introduce himself. He didn't speak to me or look at me.

"Hey I'm not the youngest person here anymore, Helena Osiris, third year." She waved at me with a big grin. I waved back awkwardly.

"Fallon Ra," Salamander waved apathetically.

"Well that's everyone who's going to bless you with their names, more importantly how were the ghosts?" Thoth asked.

Ah yes, reason number three hundred and twenty-four why I didn't want to be here.

"Ghosts?" Maat muttered quietly. "Oh right! I forgot about that!"

"You mean the clearly fake story she told the staff? Please tell me you are not indulging in this nonsense Thoth. We have an example to set," Kraken reprimanded.

I clenched my fists tight. There was a dull ache in the curse.

"Don't you think you're being a bit harsh Anubis?" Gregory Set asked with a frown.

"She's a liar who likely only got in on a fluke and I will treat her as such," Kraken, who I guess was called Anubis, sneered.

"That's a lot of talk for someone who wasn't there," I said flatly.

There was silence for a very long second.

Then Thoth started laughing.

The ache in my wrist sharpened.

I needed to calm down. Getting irritated wasn't going to solve anything.

But if Anubis was expecting an apology from me…She was going to be disappointed.

"Excuse you?" Anubis prompted.

"You weren't there, therefore you don't get to judge me for what happened or what I saw."

"You didn't see anything, stop pretending you did."

The others really should have picked someone else.

"Last I checked making a judgement without all the facts was against what being a Kraken stood for," I told her.

"Please don't fight," Bastet pleaded with his hands up.

"Then tell this mannerless little-"

"Enough Anubis," Kelpie cut in. I was quiet while he shifted in his seat, just a hint straighter and folded his hands under his chin. "I don't like that she's here either, but we do have a responsibility to be civil."

The ache in my hand dulled just a little. Cold indifference I could handle.

She sighed, "Fine."

"Miss Stewart, I hope you're happy with yourself."

So formal. I hated it. "I'm thrilled."

Fallon Ra leaned over to Gregory Set, "What was she doing in Pixie Tower?"

"Not fitting in well," I told him.

Thoth kept laughing.

The pain sharpened again.

"Everyone please stay on track, we do have business to get to today," Gale Maat said.

He groaned, "Why? It's just a dance."

"That 'dance' is a time-honored tradition and a fundamental building block of the school culture and you should take your duties as a Tower Representative far more seriously Thoth," Anubis reprimanded.

Helena Osiris added, "Oh don't be such a spoilsport, where's your student pride?"

"If I had pride Osiris, I wouldn't bother with the Newspaper club."

Why was I not surprised?

"Uh guys?" Blayze Bastet interrupted, "New girl probably has no idea what we're talking about."

"I really don't. I was just going to let you all argue in circles until someone said something important," I admitted.

Gregory Set sighed, "We need to pick a theme for the Fall Harvest Celebration. We've got it down to 'Starlit Night' and 'Flames of Love'."

Well I knew which one I was picking already.

"I'm comfortable with voting for my pick, how do we do this?" I asked.

"You don't want to hear arguments for either first?" Fallon Ra asked.

"I think the names tell me everything I need to know," I shrugged. "And the sooner we get it over with the better."

"Seconded," Gale Maat added.

"All in favor for Flames of Love?" The Kelpie representative started.

Maat, Set, Osiris and Ra all raised their hands.

"All in favor for Starlit Night?"

I raised my hand along with Anubis, Bastet, Thoth and the Kelpie.

"Majority wins," Kelpie announced.

Yay I survived my first voting round as a representative. I just had to get through this one Sunday at a time. And then at the end of the year I was going to make one of the others do it. Maybe Celica.

"Anything else we need to do today or can we adjourn this waste of time?" Ra asked.

"Will you please take this seriously?" Maat asked him.

"Are you going to answer my question?" Ra pressed.

"We still have to figure out what to do about the sprites," Osiris commented.

Sprites? What sprites?

"Thirty-five square miles of forest and we can't just leave one or two for sprites?" Gregory Set offered.

Forest… Oh right. "Is this about the section of the woods with a barrier around it?"

"Do you have any idea what is happening in this school?" Anubis demanded.

"No. I don't. I've been a bit busy." Between nearly dying and the whole curse fiasco I wasn't exactly up to date on school gossip.

"There's an infestation of sprites and the first and second year students might not be equipped to fend them off. We warded off the area but there's a concern that some students might break in anyway," Bastet explained.

"Getting through wards and barriers isn't easy. Most students at that level can barely cast Flare and Hover. And you're worried they'll break through a barrier?" I asked. "Has there been any incidents?"

"Not yet, but we can't exactly leave a potential risk around campus," Maat pointed out.

"Why not leave the barrier and just put up signs that say; 'Caution: Sprite Territory'?" I asked.

"That's not going to work," Thoth said.

"Better than a barrier and nothing. There's going to be people who break rules," I tried to not think about my own Tower in that regard. Because if anyone in my year was going to do something reckless like that…

"Speaking from experience Stewart?" Thoth taunted. Because he wanted to get zapped.

"I've broken no rules. I've only gotten unlucky," I fought down a sneer. "But the barrier is meant to prevent an accident and I think clear warnings are the best option."

"The last thing we want is for anyone to get too curious. Miss Stewart isn't entirely wrong with her suggestion," Kelpie added.

Wait really?

"Clear warnings and some monitoring enchantments nearby. It won't stop everyone, but sprite colonies don't stay in one place for very long. A month or two and the problem will clear itself out," Maat nodded to herself as she spoke.

Kelpie looked at her and then at the rest of the table, "Any objections?"

Silence.

"I'll pass the plan along and we'll all let our Towers know to stay clear," Anubis announced.

I let out a small sigh of relief, if nothing else I hadn't made a total idiot out of myself.

Small wins Serafina, small wins.

I could just maybe get through this after all.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.