Bella stared at their group picture that was placed on the mantle under the television. She watched as the versions of themselves from yesterday posed for the camera in an endless loop. Bella looked at Harley and Urma as they hugged her, and how their faces broke into large grins. She couldn't help but smile at the joy that emitted from the captured moment in time.

"Jeez Bella, you've been staring at that thing religiously since we took the picture," Urma joked.

"Well, I- it's just nice to look at is all," Bella explained, still lost in the image.

"In my opinion, presents are more fun to look at," Harley commented, "you know, the reason why we rushed down the stairs in the first place. To open them."

Urma rolled her eyes. "Not everyone is materialistic like you Harley."

Harley gasped dramatically, feigning offense as she comically took a step back. "How dare you insinuate that I'm shallow!"

Bella shook her head as the two argued and continued to stare at the picture. She gazed into her own brown eyes that shone with happiness. She let her eyes wander over the photo until purple irises caught her attention. The same ones that lured her into that mysterious room last night and showed her a very vague depiction of her future. Scenes of the previous night flashed through her mind.

"It's all a web, Bellatheibus, a large, inky, black web."

But what did that mean?

Despite how hard she wanted to brush it off, the idea that her future might matter more than she once thought was a pretty nice concept to think about. Margo didn't seem like the type of person to do anything unnecessarily, so why? Why did Bella matter? Why did the dice need her, of all people, to be on the right path? Wouldn't someone like Harley be more useful? I guess I'll just have to do as the dice said and keep trying my best to find out. She could do that. She had to anyway, if she wanted to pass her Final Exam to stay at the Academy.

The Final Exam. She had almost forgotten about it. Henri claimed that it was easy if one was prepared, but she was the least ready out of them all, which was extremely embarrassing as an Imagin. She shook her head to remove herself from those thoughts. Bella decided to stop looking at the picture so much before she spiralled into a purple void of confusion of despair.

Still ignoring Harley and Urma's frivolous banter, she observed the room. The Christmas tree was now missing its stump, the green thistles brushing against the floor. It also reverted to its average height, albeit a little shorter without its stump. The Créturae on the ceiling sang "Féliz Navidad," adding to the Christmas ambiance. The snow fell gently outside and the Christmas lights were all red and green today. All of their Caretakers were in the room as well, silently watching over them. Well, most of them were. May and Fay were bickering like Harley and Urma. Bella noticed that the closer people were, the more they playfully (or not) argued over little things.

The sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs interrupted Bella's thoughts. Just then, three girls rushed into the room and apologised to the Matrons for being late. Ally, Pollymora and Isadorathia, she thought their names were. Then, they sat next to their friends who surrounded the tree, awaiting...something. They still hadn't told Bella what was going to happen. She assumed presents, since that was what they all rushed down for, but how, she didn't know. Bella's eyes skirted over Margo, who was sitting in a relatively dark corner. She hesitantly smiled at her. The Murasaki girl returned it, with her usual ominous twist.

"Alright, since everyone is here now, it's time to open presents!" Madame Oracle announced, a small smile creeping onto her ancient face.

She reminded Bella of Grimm, just less prim and proper.

"But...there aren't any presents under the tree," pointed out a perplexed Bella.

Everyone else laughed at her statement, causing Bella to feel even more bewildered. Were the gifts invisible or something? Did she not get any so she was unable to see anyone else's? She would really be a Walking Misfortune if that was the reason. Or, ExtraOrdinary was much crueller than she first thought.

May giggled, amused. "Are you sure about that?"

"What-?"

May then pulled on one of the homemade ornaments. It was pink and decorated with butterflies and had "Iridescent" scrawled on it in a young child's handwriting. The seven-year-old girl, Iridescent, perked up excitedly, orange eyes beaming with glee. When May tugged on the decoration, it pulled the branch it was on like a lever, causing the Christmas tree to rise, revealing the stump that apparently had just been hidden. Bella was mystified when she saw three gifts in front of the stump. Iridescent reached out for them and they all watched as she unwrapped them one by one. She received a pretty, pink dress, a basket full of blush coloured flowers and a white teddy bear.

Awed, Bella asked, "But, how?"

"While Ordinary has their belief in Santa Claus, we have our enchanted Christmas trees," Fay started to explain, "special trees believed to be blessed by Imagination itself to grant three wishes to anyone, appearing as gifts the next day under it."

"Long ago, before the Ordins came up with Christmas and the Miracles brought it over here, it was done anytime of the year, whenever good will was highest in homes," May continued, "the trees feeding off of jubilancy. You would place strips of paper of what you wanted on the trees, and one day, you would just wake up and find presents there. But if you were bad all year, you would get nothing but coal. It definitely improved children's behaviours, that's for sure."

"So, when Christmas eventually came to ExtraOrdinary, how did the trees stop handing out gifts whenever?" Bella inquired. "Like, we have a tree in school, and it never gave out presents once."

Fay shrugged. "No one really knows when the behaviour of the trees actually shifted, but 'The Ordre ed Miélure' likes to say that Imagination, in its infinite wisdom, made the trees only act like that on Christmas Eve. But to be safe, we only put it up during Christmas. Just like Ordins and Mircales do! Does it...make sense?"

"Not really, but nothing in this world ever really does, so it's okay!"

Everyone laughed at that and they continued to give out gifts. The younger ones got new toys or story books, while the older ones got new gadgets, clothes, lipgloss or even food. Harley got two, new pairs of shoes ("I can crush my enemies with these!") and a huge book full of French literature ("I try my best to commit to the pretentious, intellectual lifestyle," she had explained. "Oh brother," was Urma's reply.) Urma received a new game for her game console ("Lightning Pegasus: The Game. Yes!") and new clothes. Margo even cracked a smile when she was gifted with an unmarked, small, black box. She didn't open it, much to everyone's vocal disappointment, but she seemed to know what was inside.

Bella was a little anxious when it was her turn to get a gift, her heart pounding in her chest. She looked on nervously as May pulled on her yellow ornament. When they had asked her to write what she wanted or liked on the inside, she wrote yellow, books, clothes, typical teenage things. But, she had also written that she would like to get better with her school work, her magical ones in particular. Although Bella had been wrapped up in her new friendships, she had not forgotten her blunders at the Academy, and she still refused to say this to Harley or Urma, in fear that they might mock her like everyone else at school did. Bella didn't think she could handle that in another environment that was supposed to be a safe space. And even if she could, she didn't want to.

Bella stopped plummeting into her anxious thoughts, electing to wonder about what would await her under the tree.

Like everyone else, there were three gift boxes, wrapped neatly in yellow wrapping paper. May handed them to her, and slowly, she opened them. The first box had a fantasy book in it on some orphan kid being whisked away to a fantastical, new world to attend some magical school. The irony, Bella thought. I wonder how he's going to handle it.

The second box had a simple yellow sweater with the phrase "You are my sunshine" on it. The third box was what stunned her. It had a spell book in it. She picked it up and flipped through it. The first two pages were full of spells she had already learnt in school, both in Simple SpellCasting and Shadow Blocking. It also had spells that seemed to be for future classes at the Academy. It even had a section on Elemental Projections! Every spell had detailed instructions and even different ways to achieve the outcome the spellcaster was looking for, something her own textbooks didn't have, making this book much more useful. She hugged the book to her chest and whispered a quiet thank you to the Christmas tree and hoped to Imagination that this would work.

"Ooh, a spell book? You must like learning magic a lot," remarked Urma, "to request a spell book."

Harley sat next to her and peaked at the book over Bella's shoulder. "Ooh you should try that one!"

"A...wing spell? To give objects or people wings?"

"Yeah! Make me fly like the angel I am!"

"The only angel around here is Nebella," Bella snickered, nodding at a winged eight-year-old with white hair and cerulean, blue eyes.

Harley scowled while Urma howled with laughter. Bella shook her head, fighting back a smile. She read over the wing spell.

"Susdes lesai: level one spell. A wing spell that can make objects or persons fly. To acheive this spell, one must have conquered at least twenty spells which would demonstrate the spellcaster's ability to do the most basic magic-"

She stopped reading after that.

"You need to master twenty spells though," Urma mentioned.

"She goes to the Academy." Harley made sure to emphasize "the Academy" with a haughty accent. "She can probably do all twenty-five."

I know twenty-five, but I can only do like five. "You...don't?"

"Yeah, but I've only mastered fifteen. Urma has thirteen down, I think. Right?"

Urma nodded.

Wow, they could do a lot.

And for some reason, they thought she could do more. She hoped they never found out the truth.

"I think I would rather...um...just stick to the original set and revise them."

Her friends seemed satisfied with her request and didn't push her on it.

She was glad.

They changed the subject and let their conversation shift focus several times. They were all then served breakfast which consisted of pastele, scrambled eggs, turkey, ham and sorrel to drink. The best part was that they were allowed to eat in the living room so that they could watch Christmas specials. The girls and their Caretakers feasted and indulged in merriment as cheesy Christmas shows played on the mirror screen.

This was probably her best Christmas in years.

∞

During their second movie, Bella went upstairs to use the bathroom. The movie so far had a recycled plot that most Christmas films seemed to posses. Cliché and saturated, with a jerk who hated Christmas but changed their heart when they found true love.

Ridiculously stupid, if she thought about it.

Bella looked at her hands as she washed them after using the bathroom. She liked to watch the foam form all over her hands. It was fun, although extremely mundane, considering the new world she now lived in. She turned off the pipe and wiped off her hands in the fluffy towel. Bella was so focused on the little things that she hadn't noticed the golden eyes that were staring at her.

She jumped when she finally saw them.

Two halos of gold that pierced into her soul full of intense venom and hatred.

Of course something just had to ruin her day.

She stepped back quickly, not wanting what happened to her in her first week to occur again. She remembered the harsh grip it had on her neck, and the water that was flowing into her lungs, forcing out the oxygen torturously slow.

She tried to breathe.

Bella cursed herself for letting her guard down around the mirror. She may not be a Walking Misfortune in the Home since her bad luck hadn't tracked her there (yet), but she still had a malevolent Lyte Self following her every move in the mirror.

Hurriedly, she walked away towards the door, ignoring the reflection's glare.

"Scared of me?" it spoke as soon as she touched the door handle.

Gripping it tightly, she stopped moving. Of course she was scared of it. It tried to kill her. And it knew that. But, she was far from Alleb. It couldn't reach her if she stayed six feet away, she assumed. So, against her better judgement, she cautiously approached the bathroom mirror and looked into the eyes of herself. It wore a venomous smirk as it observed her, relishing in her fear.

"You tried to kill me, Alleb," she finally said, forcing herself not to stammer. "So yes, I'm not too keen on your presence."

Its smile grew, resembling the Cheshire Cat's grin. "My bad."

Bella balled her hands into fists. "What do you want?"

It didn't answer right away, a tense silence hanging in the air. All Bella could hear was the drip, drip, drip of the leaky faucet. "I just find it funny."

"Find what funny, Alleb?"

"That you think you're going to pass your Final Exam, that you have a chance? It's hilarious that you think that if you try, something awaits you at the end? Because of what Margo said, you want to think maybe you're not a failure, that you're not a Walking Misfortune. It's as funny as your whole situation."

"Shut up," Bella mumbled.

"It's also quite amusing how you think that your friends would want to stay friends with you, even after they realise how far behind you are. You think that this Christmas joy is eternal? That your bad luck disappeared? Don't forget that the next school term is still ticking towards you as the clock winds down."

"I said shut up," Bella said, louder this time.

"You want me to shut up? I'm only saying what you're thinking, Bellatheibus."

"I don't think- why are you here?!" Bella tried not to yell as to not draw attention to her situation in case someone passed by.

"Because it seems that you have forgotten that you don't belong here. Because it seems that you're becoming way to sure of yourself. Don't forget that they don't know who you're parents are, or that you're so powerful but oh so weak. Don't forget that your existence is still a mystery with darkness looming over it-"

"Shut up!" Bella cried out, almost punching the mirror, but by then, Alleb was gone, and all she saw were two tearful brown eyes staring back at her.

It seemed that Bella could never catch a break from herself. Even on Christmas, when catching a break was the whole point of it.

Most unfortunate.