We were all pretty much frozen. My mind refused to accept what I had just seen. It was impossible. Mythical creatures did not exist and certainly weren't surrounding me.

I take it back. I could sort of believe the really muscular armored people. I didn't know how they changed, but that was the one I could most accept.

Suddenly, Talia burst out laughing. "See, when you told me I was insane before, I sort of believed it. Now I'm totally convinced."

I nodded. "I didn't even think about that." Suddenly, I was extremely relieved. My mind didn't have to accept the impossible. I was crazy. That was all there was to it.

Mrs. Simone smiled. "Oh girls, but if what you just saw was a vision in your head, how come you all saw the same thing?"

My mouth opened, and then closed. I didn't have an answer for that.

"Hey," Audrey said, "those visions we saw before, when we fainted. They were all the same. I talked to Sierra about it."

Mrs. Simone nodded. "And that's a good place to start." She and the other girls pulled their table over to ours. Then Mrs. Simone pulled a chair over and sat. "To start, I'll just tell you what you are: you are a Myth, which is a creature. A Myth can transform into five different forms, which you just saw: warrior, unicorn, mermaid, fairy and phoenix. You can also change into derivatives of that, such as a fairy with different wings, or a pegasus instead of a unicorn."

I was dumbstruck. Here was an adult, telling me I was a unicorn like she was discussing lunch plans.

"Now those visions you saw when you fainted were your body recognizing what you are and trying to tell you. Remember them, because they'll help when you're trying to transform later."

Just then, a floating platter came up to our table. I gawked. I checked underneath it. Yep, it was actually floating.

Invisible hands began spooning good onto my plate. Mrs. Simone chuckled at our faces. "We have an alliance with a sorcerer's guild up north. They enchanted our platters. Now, back to explaining. The first vision that you should've seen was the one with the river. That was reaching towards your mermaid qualities. Mermaids are based on the feelings of peace, freedom, and free flow." I nodded. It made sense I guess.

"The second one you should've seen, though occasionally it's out of order, was about your unicorn or pegasus form. If you dreamed of the unicorn, you should have walked up to someone and healed them. A pegasus would have simply run and flew into the sky." I guess I had seen the pegasus, because I definitely hadn't healed anyone. Mrs. Simone continued. "Either way, you should have felt an almost overwhelming sense of purity and goodwill." I looked around and saw everyone nodding. This was too weird.

"The third one was the warrior. Some argue that they aren't really mythical creatures, but once you transform into one, you'll agree that they definitely are. The warrior is based on strength, bravery, and truth." Truth, I thought. Now that I looked back on my vision I could believe that.

"The fourth is the phoenix," Mrs. Simone continued. "Phoenixes are full of majesty, beauty, and most importantly, hope." I nodded harder at that. "Phoenixes were used in battles to give heart to troops back in the day when the magical world still had wars.

"And finally, there is the fairy," Mrs. Simone said smiling. "Fairies, at least for Myths, can be human size or small, what we call pixie size. Fairies are full of many good things, light, life, but most importantly, joy. I think you all remember laughing when you woke up from that particular episode. That's because the level of joy was so high you're body couldn't help it." She smiled. "It's a wonderful feeling, is it not?"

We all nodded happily, remembering. I love being happy. I love it when others are happy. Being a fairy sounded amazing.

I almost laughed aloud at the ridiculous statement I just thought. If I hadn't just seen it with my own eyes, I would've disowned my own brain...can one do that? Hm.

Mrs. Simone continued. "Our dining hall is adjusted so that you can dine in whichever form you like. We ask our students not to dine or walk around school in phoenix form," she said laughing. "Then we would have scorch marks all over our walls, and we can't have that," she said, her eyes twinkling.

Ashlyn's jaw was practically touching the floor. "So you're telling me...us... that you...I mean, we...are magical?"

Mrs. Simone laughed. "That's one way if putting it, yes." Then she turned serious. "And you are also forbidden."

There was silence. "What do you mean?" Taylor whispered.

"There was a disagreement between the magical world and the human world a long time ago, when I was a little girl," she began sadly. "Eventually, The Elder Council, our government, decided that Myths can no longer exist, for the safety of the humans."

We were silent.

"I couldn't stand it," she continued miserably. "So I started this school, to protect Myths. You see, the visions are only the first sign. Eventually your body would start to try to change all on it's own, with no help from your mind." She cringed. "Not only can it be fatal, but it sends out a powerful magical signal. The Elders sense it, and they come and..." --she hesitated--"...put you to sleep, as they say."

I was frozen in horror and shock.

Mrs. Simone clapped her hands together. "But now you're here, and you're safe, so there's nothing to be afraid of. In fact," she said checking her watch, "dinner should be about over, so I'll have a teacher show you to your rooms."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ms. Catalona showed us to our rooms. It wasn't particularly fascinating. We went up some stairs and turned into a corridor. The hallways were big and there were lots of huge windows that opened up to the courtyards, which were everywhere. Suddenly, Ms. Catalona stopped in front of a wooden door that had a butterfly carved into it.

"This is your room," she said. Remember where it is, because this will be your home base for a while." She then knocked twice, the door swung open, and we walked in.

There was a big open room with a fire place and a circular white table in the middle. There were twelve seats around it, also white. Ms. Catalona stopped in the middle of the room and turned to look at us. "This is your common area, your living room you might say, a den. Now, this table here is very important," she said turning and patting it. "Everyone will eventually choose their own chair and the chair will decorate itself to the owner's desires."

I blinked in surprise. What did she just say?

"Here you make decisions, the most important being your room password. How the password works is, once you decide, everyone must be seated in their chairs, you must all place your hands on the table crossed with your neighbor's. Then you must all speak the password simultaneously. That is the only way to change the password, so everyone will have know it."

That was probably good. I didn't want Tess randomly changing the password on us.

"To open your door you knock twice and speak the password. Now," she continued, gesturing to two hallways branching off on the other end of the room, "these go to your dorms. There are six beds in each, so you will be splitting half and half. You won't be choosing your own dorm mates," she said. We deflated and she laughed. "I think you'll survive. Each semester it changes, so don't worry. In this dorm," she said, waving her hand to the right, "we have Sierra, Amy, Sophie, Anna, Talia, and Audrey, and in the other we have Lynn, Tess, Lee, Taylor, Ashlyn, and Lydia."

I beamed. Audrey and Sophie were with me! Not to mention Talia, who I liked more with every minute. Also, Tess and Audrey weren't in the same room, which would have probably caused a nuclear reaction.

Ms. Catalona left with instructions to be ready by 7:35 tomorrow morning. We went to our rooms. I was so exhausted I didn't even pay much attention to the room. I wandered until I found a bed that said Sierra on it.

I'm not sure when I fell asleep exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was fast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night, I dreamt of the mirror again. It was showing me an image of the ground below, grassy and wet. It was raining, but there was light everywhere. The air glistened.

Suddenly, a brilliant whirl of color caught my eye.

I turned, and it was there, shining, dancing, and pure.