Over the course of the day I went through class after class that I had dreamed about my entire life. First there was the history of magic and magical animal studies, then offensive magic, then the mental arts. The whole thing felt like I was living a fairytale and I sucked up each and every bit of information I could.

The only downside was that it was becoming increasingly clearer to me that I had absolutely no fucking idea what I was doing.

Luckily the professors were mostly concerned with the syllabus that day (with the exception of professor Drokav apparently) so no one seemed to notice I couldn’t seem to figure out how to cast a single spell.

The real question was how I was going to keep this facade up when I was pretty sure I was incapable of casting to begin with. This fear became even more realized as the first part of the day came to a close and the evening began. Evening classes were special intensive classes designed specifically for the magical art (offensive, alchemic or mental) each student was sorted into.

As I made my way down the hallway a girl suddenly stepped out from a corridor. She was blond with a face full of freckles, her hair pulled into a bun so tight her face looked like it was constantly in pain. I squinted at her, I definitely knew this character even if she wasn’t a lead. Her name was Susan Nubs I think?

“Um, excuse me,” she said nervously. “You’re Chester Price. Right?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

Her gaze darted to the floor. “Uh...t-the headmaster asked me to tell you he wants to see you in his office.”

“The headmaster? What for-”

before I could even finish my sentence the girl scurried off.

“Wha! Hey!” I called after her. “Where the hell is the headmaster’s office? I’ve only been here a day!” My words were unfortunately met by silence, she was gone. Shit. I had read these books a million times. It shouldn’t be too hard to find my way around, right? I shut my eyes, trying to remember where the hell Banecliff’s office was. Possibly the east wing? That sounded kinda right. I looked around. I was now facing a new problem which was the fact that I had no idea which direction east actually was. I noticed a corridor to my right. Maybe luck was with me and I just needed to go this way.

I figured it was worth a shot.

I made my way through the dark corridor which led down a flight of stairs. I walked down them which led to yet another flight of stairs, this time slightly narrower. I went down this flight as well, making sure to cling on to the railing which was shaped like a serpent (like 90% of this school’s decor). Seriously thought? Why did Hemlock hire a dude to design the school with such a hard on for snakes?

Anyways, this second flight of stairs led to...you guessed it...a THIRD flight of stairs, even narrower than the last. I reluctantly made my way down these steps all the while thinking ‘I swear to God if there is one more flight of these Goddamn stairs I’m going to SCREAM’ and thank the lord once I reached the bottom I found a little room. The room was dark and dusty and I could hardly see a thing.

“Hello!” A voice suddenly said behind me in a thick cockney accent. I spun around in surprise. In the corner of the room was a large cage and sitting in it appeared to be a figure. “You can come closer,” the figure said. “I promise I don’t bite.” The figure finished this sentence off with a bone chilling laugh which I wasn’t quite sure helped his case.

“W-Who are you?” I stammered.

The figure laughed again. “Why don’t you come over and find out?”

Taking a deep breath I stepped closer to the cage. My eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness so I could make out the person inside. He appeared to be a young man. He was caked in dirt and his shoulder length hair was so dirty that I had no idea if it was blond or black. The most notable thing about him were his eyes. They were green but not the way a human’s eyes are. They were bright and glowing. Like, literally glowing in the dark. The eyes weren’t the only thing that color, his skin was a pale olive green.

My eyes widened in shock. “You’re a goblin?”

The caged creature snickered which was probably even more terrifying than the laugh. “Yep. You probably have heard all stories about how we eat children. Are you scared kid?”

I swallowed hard. The answer was obviously yes. I raked through my mind trying to remember any mention of this guy in the books. I think I could faintly remember a line or two about him in book one.

I gritted my teeth, trying to put on a brave face. “I’m not scared.”

He clearly didn’t buy it but the goblin simply shrugged. “Not like you need to be.”

I blinked. “What?”

“I said not like you need to be!” The goblin opened his mouth, pointing to his teeth. “See, they ground my teeth down when they captured me, I can’t even eat meat anymore.” He laughed again but this time it didn’t sound the least bit threatening. “Sorry if I freaked you out love. Sometimes I like to mess with people that get lost and wander down here. That’s usually the only time people come down here at all. My name’s Salamander by the way but you can call me Sal.”

“I’m Chester.”

Sal stuck a dirty hand through the bars and not wanting to seem rude I cautiously shook it. My hand came back extremely dirty and I fought the urge to wipe it on my uniform.

“How did you get here Sal?” I asked.

The goblin grinned. “Oh my! I do love sharing my story! It’s quite the ice breaker! Well you see I’ve been here since the time the school was first built. As I’m sure you’re aware above ground near the lake is the forest where the goblins reside. Knowing fresh meat was close by was just too tempting for us so when the school was finished and the first batch of students moved in we sent in a raid to the school. Unfortunately I got captured during said raid.” Sal gave me a little wink. “It might not look it from how dirty I am now love, but I’m a pretty big deal with my fellow goblins. I’m…….kinda a prince.” I stared at him in disbelief. Sal laughed. “I know, I know love. I promise I look waaaaay handsomer when I haven’t been sitting in a cage for 700 years. Anyway, they kept me here as leverage to make sure no goblins ever raided the school again. If they try to invade they’ll kill me. Thus I’ve been stuck here for a really long time.”

I honestly would probably have felt bad for him if he hadn’t wound up here from going on a raid to try and eat children.

“Speaking of being lost, I kind of have to leave. I’m supposed to be meeting with the headmaster. I don’t want to be late.”

“Oooh! The headmaster! I can help you with that!” Sal said, perking up. “You just take the stairs back up to the main floor. Take two lefts, a right and then go up one more flight of stairs and you’ll be there.”

“How would you know that if you’ve been locked here for 700 years?” I asked, slightly in disbelief.

Sal chuckled. “Goblin’s have photographic memories. That was the floor plan I remembered from when we planned the raid. As long as they didn’t move the office it should still be the same. Of course,” His large green hands twisted around the bars and he leaned closer, “I expect payment for that information.”

I blinked, confused. “What?”

“Well, I’m awfully lonely down here. The least you could do is visit me as a thank you. Just once, that’s all I ask.”

I gave him a small nod. “Okay, sure.”

“Pinky promise?” Sal stuck his dirty hand back through the bars. I REALLY didn’t want to touch it but I supposed I had no choice.

Sighing heavily I entwined my finger with his. “Pinky Promise.”

-------

I followed Sal’s instructions and by some miracle I actually I arrived at the large golden door that housed the headmaster. Above the door was a golden owl with the same kind of real looking eyes as the ones at front of the gate. It kept its gaze on me as I lifted my hand to knock. As I went to do so however the golden doors suddenly swung open. Cautiously I stepped inside.

Leaning against his desk was Banecliff, his ice blue eyes staring at me intently.

I swallowed hard. “You wanted to see me sir?” I asked meekly.

Banecliff nodded. He had an unusually serious expression on his face and it made me even more nervous.

“Yes, thank you for coming mister Price.” The headmaster said, turning to face a large glass window that made up the back wall of his office. He gazed out at the bright lights of the city of Mageteria as he continued speaking. “You would want me to be straight with you? Wouldn’t you mister Price?”

I bit my lip. “Err...I suppose I would sir.”

“Then I shall be blunt. I felt that I needed to inform you that I’ve known from the beginning that you were not a transfer student at this school and in fact should not be in Mageteria at all.”

I was glad Banecliff couldn’t see me because my entire face paled and I felt like fainting again.

This was bad.

This was very, very bad.