The halls were busy with youths running to and fro to their destinations. Eary paused as the bustling commons filled him with a sense of dread.

"What is it, half-pint?" Mitchell asked from amongst the group.

Eary smiled awkwardly. Shaking his head, he replied, "Nothing."

"Don't do that." Delia swiftly advised her son. "What's bothering you, sweetie?"

"It's just that..." eary sighed, expressing his melancholy. "What does everyone think happened to me?"

"Well, half-pint, nobody really knew what happened." Mitchell replied, his eyes filled with understanding. "But you don't have to say anything, one way or another."

Eary flashed his father an awkward smile.

Mei bounced forward, "Don't worry about them, we'll all be here with you today!" She said enthusiastically, consoling her friend.

"Thanks, Mei." Eary replied somberly.

Mrs. Olson glanced around suspiciously, "Mote, could you show Ben around by chance? I assume you must be pretty familiar with the school." She asked quietly.

"Sure thing, Dee!" The moteling replied from Ben's shoulders. "Hey, Ben. I'll show ya which vending machines give out free prizes if ya hit 'em right."

Eary was about to interject when the group of teens surrounded him as his parents, Ben and Mote, made their way to their respective routes.

Guiding the group across the school, Eary was pleased to see he had classes with each of his friends.

The first class of the day was English. He would normally read quietly to himself, but Maggie's presence gave the same activity a new appeal.

His next class was Math. He had only ever been okay at it, but Hannah's constant asking for help boosted his confidence a bit.

Gym class became loads better with the addition of Calvin. Not only was he a jock that made Eary look good, but he was also a nerd to geek out with.

Art was with Mei, and what an experience it was. They talked and laughed the whole hour. Eary didn't want it to end when the bell rang for his next class.

He walked bravely into the science room. The room was filled with tired teenagers and sharp overhead lighting. He scanned the area for a familiar face.

Quickly spotting Ephraim, he quickly made his way to his long-time friends side.

"Hey man, thanks for saving me a seat." He whispered to Ephraim as class began.

"Oh. No problem, Eary." Ephraim replied, barely glancing up from the elaborate pencil drawing that seemed to consume him.

"What ya drawing there?" Eary asked, curiously leaning over his gaze.

"It's from that dream I had before." He replied bluntly.

Eary examined his friends' drawing. He had almost completely filled the page with various shading.

As his eyes fixated more, he noticed the darkness was almost swirling. Dark faces manifested in the drawings shadows as Eary pulled away in concern.

"That must have been some nightmare." Eary stated as he fixed his attention to the teacher.

"Good afternoon, students." Mr. Reaves greeted his students.

He gave his introductory lecture on the geology chapter of the textbook.

"More rocks." Eary thought to himself as the class was given small samples to pass around.

"This is just like Bright Hope." He whispered to Ephraim.

"How so?" He replied, voice brimming with curiosity.

"There are a ton of magic rocks in Bright Hope." Eary stated, matter of fact. "We practiced with them. They boost our powers."

"Interesting." Ephraim replied, his voice almost distant.

"What's gotten into you?" Eary asked bluntly.

"I'm just preoccupied, that's all." He dismissively replied.

As the hour came to a close, Eary couldn't help but feel a bit put off by the exchange.

He wasn't going to let that get him down, however. As his favorite class, music, was last.

Entering the music room, he was surprised to see Decan waiving from the center of the room.

Looking perplexed, Eary quickly made his way over and sat next to the young man.

"Hey." He stated his voice a light with curiosity.

"Hey." Decan replied, his lips curved into a light smile.

"You took music?" Eary asked, tilting his head his mouth in a wide grin.

"I figured it had been too long since we jammed together. So I asked your mom." He replied coyly.

"What about Josh?" Eary asked softly.

"He hates music." Decan replied, locking eyes in steamy intensity.

The two lost the moment to the mesmerizing color of each other's eyes.

"Hello, class!" Delia announced to her pupils.

Eary and Decan slowly broke from each other's stare to engage in the lesson.

"This semester, we will be continuing to grow with our instruments." She instructed dutifully. "But I do have a big suprise for us all."

She went behind her desk and removed a large poster, tapped to a large, thick piece of construction paper.

"This semester, we will be holding audtions for a little play I wrote. It's called, 'Through Mists.'" Delia proudly announced to her class.

"We should do that." Decan said, nudging his beloved.

"Um, yeah. That sounds fun." Eary replied, the memory of Mei informing him of cheer tryouts later.

"It would be a lot of fun." Decan replied jovially. "And we'd get to do things together."

Eary smiled, yet his skin went cold. His mother posted the sign up flyer, and no sooner did Decan happily corral him from his chair to the sign up sheet.

He filled with dread as the idea of performing in a play, being a cheerleader, going to magic school, and fighting the Scions began to weigh on the lad as he quickly signed his name.

After class, he made his way back to the commons only to be ambushed by a bubbly stalker.

"Found you!" Mei said, tapping Eary's shoulder.

Turning to face his cheery execution, he was met by the faces of Mei, Hannah, and Maggie.

"Hey girls." Eary replied nervously.

"Are you ready to get your cheer on?" Mei asked as she demonstrated a varied display of cheering moves.

"About that." Eary replied somberly.

"Uh-ah. If I have to, you have to." Hannah groaned.

"I kinda signed up to do a play with Decan." He replied bluntly.

"And?" Mei asked in annoyance.

"And what? Cheer would be a lit to add in. That's all." He stated nervously.

"That's not too much." Mei dismissively reassured the boy.

"That and the Nocopo stuff. I think it's a bit much, Mei." Eary softly explained.

"That's bull! I fill up my schedule to the max every year." She explained. "Just to prove it to you, I will sign up for the play, too. Now let's go!" Mei ordered as she pushed the young man from behind.

He reluctantly agreed as he was pulled outside to the school's field. To his suprise, it looked strangely bleak.

"Very few students showed up for this." He said as the four friends made their way to the squad.

They took their seats amongst the meager turn out. There was already half a squad, a fact that made Eary hopeful for dismissal.

Standing at the front of the group was none other than Decan's ex, Laura.

Eary’s heart sank as she began talking.

"Hey everyone. I'm Laura, the team captain." She said in annoying chipper fashion. "I see a few people I don't recognize. Would you like to introduce yourselves?" She asked kindly.

Hannah and Maggie gave a brief intro, while Mei disclosed her many years of gymnastics.

"Excellent! Someone with experience." She replied, taking note of Mei.

She shifted her focus in Earharts direction. "Eary, I'm so glad to see you here." Laura said, beaming. "I talked to your brother, and there is someone I'd like you to meet."

A chunky young man, covered in acne, wearing the school's cheerleaders uniform, approached.

"Hi! Im Lloyd, " the teen flamboyantly said, examining Eary up and down.

"Uh, hi." He awkwardly replied.

"I was thinking that maybe you too could hit it off." She stated, filled with pep.

The girls all giggled and flashed glances back and forth between the two.

"How so?" Eary asked, his brow raised in suspicion.

"Well, you know. You have things in common. That's all I'm gonna say." She giggled as she continued on.

"I won't be participating in cheer this year due to a medical issue." She recounted to the youths.

"What?" Eary thought apprehensively in his mind.

"So we will be having tryouts for a new captain." She glanced coyly to Mei as she had the students rise.

Laura gave a few basic cheers for them to practice.

As the group of hopefuls practiced, Eary observed as Laura took special interest in Mei.

It wasn't long before Laura pulled the girl aside. Eary watched as Mei pulled out an impressive array of skill as she tumbled and flipped every which way.

By the end of the class, Eary, Hannah, and Maggie had made the squad. New queen bee Mei had made captain. And Lloyd had made several passes, much to Eary's disgust.

The ride home was filled with Mei and Maggie's peppy banter, and Hannah and Eary's drained looks.

Eary pulled into the safe houses lot. He sighed in exhaustion as he entered his home to prepare for the Rathok ruins.