Alexis tells her story, and explains why Alex was dragged back down to Earth.

Possession Doll

Part 2: Alexis’s Story

By Grishnax

Please note that my characters are not made to have any resemblance to any real living person, and I don’t mean to rip off another story, so all similarities are coincidental. My knowledge of certain subjects in this may be slightly limited, so don’t expect me to be perfect with this.

From part 1:

Then with a sigh, she said, [Well, I better get to explaining.]

[Explaining what?] I asked her.

[Why we’re in a sorceress school, of course.] She said, as if it was obvious.

[Oh.] Was all I could come up with.

[Anyways, here’s how it happened...]

***
Past
***

“Alexis, we’re going to be late!” Stacy yelled.

“I know!” Alexis yelled back. Alexis and Stacy were biking to school, which at that point was just the town’s Junior High. However, Stacy slept in, and Alexis had to wake her up. Stacy was normally on time, but she was exhausted from last night’s party. Stacy and Alexis were born on the same day, so they celebrated their birthdays together. They invited the few friends they had, and stayed up till 1:00 in the morning.

When they finally got to school, Alexis and Stacy went their separate ways. They were usually in the same class, but this year all their classes were different. Alexis thought that it wasn’t a coincidence, and that the teachers wanted to separate them. Stacy’s opinion on this changed a lot, but she usually stuck with Alexis’s logic. Alexis was just about to make it to class on time, but a teacher in the hallway stopped her.

“Alexis, someone wanted you in the principal’s office.” He said.

“Do you know what it’s about?” Alexis asked.

“All I’ve heard is it’s something about a boarding school. Oh, and Stacy was called down too.”

“Thanks for telling me.” Alexis said, and began to walk towards the principal’s office. When she got there, she saw that Stacy was already there.

“Hi Alexis!” Stacy said in her usual perky manner. “I wonder what this is about? We don’t usually get called down here together, do we? Wait, maybe we’re in trouble for being late! What are we going to do?” Stacy looked worried, and Alexis almost burst out laughing.

“Don’t worry, they wouldn’t send us down here if we were late. I asked the teacher, and he said it had something to do with a transfer to a boarding school.” Alexis said, and saw Stacy calm down.

“Whew, that’s good. Maybe we’ll get to go to somewhere really cool, like a magic school. That would be awesome! We could learn spells, turn things into toads and cute little mice...” Stacy blabbered on for a while. This time, Alexis did laugh.

“Stacy, you know that there’s no such thing as magic. You’ve been reading too many fantasy novels again, haven’t you?” Alexis said. Stacy had been very into magic stuff since she saw a magic show when she was little. It was before Alexis moved to Stacy’s town, so Alexis didn’t see the show. Stacy often claimed that it was real magic, but Alexis never believed her. After some heated debate about if magic was real, they were called inside the ‘inner sanctum’ which was the nickname for the inner part of the principal’s office. When they got in, they gasped. Instead of the inner sanctum, they were inside a beautiful garden.

The garden had many types of flowers, and surrounded by inaccurately trimmed hedges. In the middle of the garden, there was a gazebo. On one of the benches in the gazebo, there was a young girl. She looked out of place in this garden, as she was wearing ragged clothes and had frizzled hair. The only memorable feature on her was her eyes, which were a shining purple.

“What took you so long? You’re so slow, I could have run to the other side of the world and back again.” The girl asked impatiently. “Well? What are you waiting for? Come on up and sit with me? Or are you to chicken?” The girl started making chicken noises and flapping her arms together, and then broke down giggling. Alexis and Stacy nervously looked around, and then approached the gazebo. When they sat down, the girl began to regain her composure.

“Okay, here’s the deal. I’m offering you a scholarship to a magic school. It’s completely free, so don’t worry about the costs. I’ll need a yes or no answer by the end of the week. If you say yes, you’ll have to stay at the school until you graduate. That means no vacations out of school. You still get vacations, but they’re in the school. I can’t let anyone who isn’t a sorceress know about it, can I?” She winked at them, and then continued talking. “If you say no, you’ll forget this meeting ever happened. You don’t have a second chance at this, so once you decide, you can’t go back. I’ll accept any decision that you make, but you can guess which one I want you to do. Now off with you, I’ve got some more appointments to make today. Bye-bye!” She finished, and the next thing they knew, they were walking out the door of the inner sanctum.

“Well, that certainly was weird.” Alexis said to Stacy.

“Can you believe our luck? We can become...”
Alexis cut Stacy off. “Shh! If we let anyone know, who knows what she might do to us! We’re better off not to talk about it in public.”

“Fine, fine...” Stacy mumbled to herself, and trudged to her next class.

***

After school, Alexis and Stacy biked to Stacy’s house. Stacy’s parents worked late, so they usually didn’t get home until 8:00. As for Alexis’s parents, they knew that if she didn’t come home, she was probably at Stacy’s house. The first time it happened, they called the police to look for Alexis. They found her at Stacy’s house, playing go fish with Stacy. After that, Alexis’s parents didn’t mind her going to Stacy’s house after school, as long as she called saying that she was there.

After calling her parents, Alexis went to the living room, where Stacy was impatiently waiting. “Okay, let’s get down to business.” Alexis said as she flopped down into a chair. “Here’s what we know: One, we’ve been offered a scholarship to a magic school, which I admit is real. Two, if we say no, we forget that we were offered the scholarship. Three, if we say yes, we’re not allowed out of the school till we graduate. Four, we’d have to get our parent’s permission. I think that’s it. So what’s your opinion about this?”

Stacy squealed and said, “Definitely! It’s been one of my dreams to become a sorceress! How about you?”

Alexis pondered this for a while. She knew what Stacy’s reaction would be, but she wasn’t sure about herself. “Well, I guess it would be interesting. I mean, magic would be pretty cool. But how are we going to explain it to our parents?”

Suddenly, a voice came into their heads. It sounded like the little girl from the garden. [So you’ve decided yes? If so, press 1.] The voice giggled, and said, [Just kidding. But if you say yes, I’ll make sure you’re parents won’t oppose you.]

Stacy looked nervous. “Did you hear that?” She said quietly to Alexis.

“Yeah.” Alexis responded just as quietly.

[So what’s your answer?] The voice asked.

“Yes, I want to go to magic school!” Stacy said without a second thought.

[Great! But for future reference, it’s called sorceress school. And how about you, Alexis?]

Alexis wasn’t as sure as Stacy. It sounded great, but not being able to see anyone outside the school till they graduated was just... tough. But if Stacy was going, so was she. “I’ll go.” She said.

[And that’s two! If you reach into your pockets, you should find the bus tickets to the school in there. Your stuff will be at the school when you get there, so there’s no need to pack. Your bus leaves tomorrow at 11:00 A.M. so make sure you’re there!] The voice giggled again, and then disappeared. Alexis and Stacy reached into their pockets, and sure enough, there was a bus ticket in each of them.

“Well, I guess I better get home and tell my parents about the sorceress school.” Alexis said, and turned to leave.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to tell my parents that I’m going to become a sorceress!” Stacy said cheerfully.

“No!” Alexis said, spinning around. “We’ve got to keep it a secret! If they find out, who knows what will happen? Just pretend that it’s a boarding school for really smart people, or something.”

“I guess I shouldn’t tell them...” Stacy looked a little sad, but then snapped out of it. “I can’t wait to go! Well, see you tomorrow Alexis!”

***

“Thanks for the ride, mom!” Alexis said.

“Any time, sweetie. Have fun at your new school, and remember to write!” Her mother replied.

“I will. Hey look, there’s Stacy. Well, I better get going. See you later!” Alexis shouted as she ran off to meet Stacy.

“Hi Alexis!” Stacy said, putting more cheer into her voice than most people would find physically possible. “Can you wait till we get to sorc...”

“Stacy, don’t talk about that here!” Alexis hissed, and Stacy stopped midsentence.

“Well, I can’t wait! What do you think that it will be like?” Stacy asked Alexis.

“Oh, I don’t know, but I bet it’ll be pretty fun. I mean, how many other people get to go to schools like this?” At this moment, a bus pulled up. It was probably the strangest looking bus that either of them had seen. It looked like a school bus, but the windows were so tinted that it was impossible to see through them. Even the front window was tinted. On the side, someone had spray painted, “Da Magik Bus”.

“Well, I guess this is our bus.” Stacy said nervously. Alexis felt just as nervous, but didn’t show it.

The bus driver opened the door to the bus, and called, “Hey! Are you two Alexis and Stacy?”

“Yes, we are.” Alexis replied.

“Well, you better get on. This is our last stop.” Alexis and Stacy hurried onto the bus. When they got on, instead of a normal bus setup, there was a wall with a door on it. It was blocking the way to the other seats, so they had no choice but to go through it. And when they went through it, they were amazed at the sight.

Instead of the bus, there was a huge room that looked like a lounge. It had pale pink wallpaper, and a white ceiling. There were couches, tables, and chairs scattered around, and a buffet in the corner. There were rooms with names labeled on them in pure gold. Alexis saw one with her name on it, and another with Stacy’s. “Wow.” Is all Alexis could say.

“Wow is right! Look at this! This is amazing! This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen! Magic is awesome!” Stacy was ecstatic about the whole situation. For her, it was a dream come true. “I’m going to go check out my room. You should check out yours, too, so we can compare them! I think mine’s going to be way better.” And with that, Stacy dashed off into her room.

“Figures...” Muttered Alexis, and went into her room. When she got in, she saw it was just like her room at home. It even smelled like her room. It wasn’t necessarily a good or bad smell, just a smell. Alexis flopped down on her bed, and noticed that there was a speaker on her ceiling. Just then, the speaker buzzed.

*Attention, attention. We should be arriving at the Academy shortly. Please change into your school clothes. They are located in the dresser of your room.* Alexis looked in the dresser, and saw that there was a uniform in it. It was a maroon skirt, and a white blouse, and a maroon vest that was made of some soft unidentifiable material. She got changed into them, and put her other clothes back in the dresser.

When Alexis stepped out of her room, she saw that most of the other people were already there. They were all in the same uniforms as she was, but she didn’t see Stacy in the crowd. Suddenly, Stacy’s door burst open and she ran out, turning to shut the door, then ran straight to Alexis. “Ohmygod this is the coolest thing I have ever done! I wonder what magic is next...?” Stacy realized that everyone was staring at them, and she blushed. “Oops, sorry...” She said quietly.

The door to the driver’s seat opened, and the bus driver stepped in. “Alright, line up.” She said, “And be quick about it. The Master wants to give you her personal welcome.” When everyone was in line, she gave a satisfactory nod, and said, “Okay, let’s go. If you have any questions, ask them after the speech. There will also be refreshments after the speech. Any time after the speech, you can approach Helen and ask about getting your room number. That will be all. Any other questions can be saved for the Master. Let’s go.” She motioned us to follow, then left.

All of the students followed, but on the way out were greeted by 6 girls. They were all grinning like they had evil intent, and most of the students began to look nervous. “Okay, here’s how it works. We are allowed torture you in any non-magical way we can think of, and we will. This means doing our laundry, getting us food, tidying our rooms, et cetra. There are only two rules: One, you can’t use magic while doing these chores. Two, you’re not allowed to tell any staff about this. Got it?”

One student was brave enough to stand up for herself. “What if we don’t want to?” She asked sarcastically.

“We will pummel you to the ground, until you’re screaming for your mommy. And if you don’t like that, we’ll frame you for trying to do something off limits. And god knows how many of those can get you killed.” The sarcastic girl was quieted by these remarks, and all who weren’t nervous became nervous. All, that was, except for Alexis.

“How do you know that the framing will work? Wouldn’t someone else who’s heard this stand up for the framed person?” Asked Alexis. She never had liked bullies, and these were some of the worst bullies that she had ever seen.

“Nobody else will stand up for that person, because if they do, they’ll get the beating of their lifetime.” None of the students had anything to say about that, and Alexis thought it would be wise to stop talking in risk of a beating. She did hate bullies, but she hated being attacked even more.

“Okay, we’re finished here. Let’s go find the next bus.” Said one of the bullies, and they left to go let the next group of students know that they would be in a living hell. The students from Alexis’s bus began to walk towards the place where the opening ceremony was. When they arrived, there were about 20 other people there. There was a wooden stage, and on that stage there was a leather arm-chair. There was one person standing bellow the stage, and she was sitting on a small bench. Nobody seemed to notice her, even though she was sitting in plain sight.

Once the last group of people arrived, there was a poof of smoke on stage. Now in the armchair, there was the girl who had given the invitation for Alexis and Stacy to come to the school. “Welcome one and welcome all, to the Sorceress Academy!” She said, and heard a rousing cheer from the crowd. Once the cheer stopped, she continued her speech.

“Allow me to explain the rules. I am the Master, and I’m the one who built this school. This school has been open since man gained knowledge. I have been called a goddess, a saint, a figure of infinite power. I am none of those things. I am immortal, and I have much power, but do not, or ever, consider my power to be infinite. I am as bound by reality as we all are, and cannot alter fates. I can only provide you with knowledge that fate has led me to give.”

“But no matter how much you must not overestimate me, you must never, never, never underestimate me. I once was but mortal, but now I can warp dimensions, I can see though the eyes of others, and I can never die. You can never be too careful, and careful is exactly what you should be around me. You have been warned, so do not say I didn’t tell you.”

“This appearance is not my choice. It was given to me when I became immortal, as it reflects my innermost personality. I do not recommend becoming immortal, as it is a very painful trial.” The Master grimaced, and continued. “The next thing I have to say may or may not surprise you, depending on the information that I gave you before you came here. There is no set date when you will graduate. You could be here for a year, or your entire lifetime. It all depends on how you progress, and how few punishments you get. When you graduate, you shall return to the human world, and most likely have a happy and successful life there.”

“However, on the subject of punishments, we have a very low tolerance for crime, theft, practical jokes, et cetra. Punishments can be whatever the punisher chooses, but the punishment will fit the level of crime done. There are 10 levels of crime, the most drastic being death, or some other eternal punishment. You will get a warning if your crime is level five or under, and a second warning if you do another crime three or under. However, anything above that needs no warning. If the crime is level seven or below, you will be punished there and then. But if the level is eight or above, you will be sent to me. These punishments are extremely severe, so don’t expect to get out of jail free. The level of your punishment will not always be told to you, sometimes it will be obvious, and sometimes it will not.”

“On a more pleasant note, we don’t discourage learning of any kind. You can even learn from your punishments, so you don’t do them again. We are very freeform, so you can pick most of your classes. But remember, you can only pick classes that you can actually do. If you pick a class that is too high for your level, you may spontaneously combust. This is because magic is like a muscle. You have to exercise it to make it stronger.”

“If you have any questions, you can ask them now.” The Master finished.

“I have a question. Why are you acting so mature right now while you were acting so immature at our first meeting?” Asked a girl.

“I try to keep a professional look around my fellow staff, or they lose respect for me. However, I can treat my students however I want. It’s not like they have the power to do anything to me. Even if you rallied every single student in the school against me, you could barely leave a scratch. Does that answer your question?” The student gulped, and nodded. “Good. Any more questions?” Nobody spoke up. “Well, now that the speech is over, it’s time for refreshments.”

There was a poof of smoke in front of the stage, and a huge table piled with food appeared. It had all the normal stuff, and then it had some very exotic stuff thrown into the mix. All the new students went over to the table, and began to get some food. Meanwhile, Stacy was chattering away happily to Alexis. “Isn’t this just amazing?” Stacy was bouncing from foot to foot, to happy to keep still. “I mean, we’re in a magic school! This is just amazing! I can’t wait to see what spells we can learn! Maybe we can grow wings and fly around, or maybe we could just fly around using our minds! This is all just so awesome! I’m going to go get some food, I’m starving. Do you want anything?”

“I think I’ll get my own food.” Alexis replied. Stacy was a great person, but sometimes she got too exited about things. Today she had a good reason, and Alexis didn’t want to spoil her fun by saying that it was probably to early to do stuff like that. Alexis turned around to go to the food table, but the Master was in her way. “Oh, hello Master.” Alexis said, and began to feel nervous. After the speech about having a huge amount of power, Alexis had the right to feel nervous.

“Yeah, hello, welcome to Sorceress Academy, blah blah blah blah. Let’s get on with business. I want you to help me with something. After you get your room key, there should be a letter on your dresser. Open the envelope, and read what it says in it. Then come find me at the library at midnight.” The Master left it at that and returned to the crowd, leaving Alexis to ponder what was in the letter.

***

Later in her room, Alexis saw the letter on the dresser. It was a plain white envelope, a ridiculous amount of red string wrapped around it. Alexis tore off the string, and opened the envelope. There was a cloud of smoke, and Alexis coughed. When the smoke cleared, the envelope had turned into a paper bird. It looked very well made; it even had black dots for eyes. “Hello Alexis, this is the Master speaking.” The bird said. “This is a recording, so don’t bother trying to talk back. Here’s the deal. I want to show you something in the library, something that you should never tell anyone about. I sent you this message to make sure that you remembered to come. This paper bird will wake you up at midnight. See you then!” The paper bird stopped talking, and went still. When Alexis tried to pick it up, it stayed firmly on the dresser. It felt as though it was made of something much heavier than paper, although it did not look it.

Alexis yawned, and decided it was time for bed. She undressed and got into her nightgown, and slid under the covers. It was probably the softest bed that she had ever slept in, and she was glad of it.

***

“Squawk! Squawk! Time to get up!” The bird said loudly, and Alexis fell out of her bed in surprise.

“Stupid bird...” Alexis muttered to herself as she got dressed. As soon as she was dressed, the bird stopped squawking. Alexis creeped out of the dormitory, and got outside. As soon as she was outside, she sprinted to the library.

“Well, it’s about time you got here.” The Master appeared out of nowhere, shocking Alexis. “Come on, I better show you this before the librarian finds out we’re here after hours.” Alexis wondered why it would be bad if the librarian found out about them if the Master was by far the strongest sorceress in the school. The Master began to walk away, so Alexis had to hurry to catch up with her.

“So Master, where are we going?” Alexis said.

“You’ll see.” The Master replied. Alexis tried to get more information out of the Master, but the Master stayed silent. In the middle of a hallway, they suddenly stopped. “We’re here.” The Master said. Alexis looked around, but there was nothing in the hallway. “Remember, sometimes not all is as it seems.” The Master said, and then began to chant. When the chant was over, the wall began to glow. The glow grew so bright that Alexis had to avert her eyes. And just as quickly as it came, it disappeared. When Alexis turned her head back, she saw that there was a door where there wasn’t one before. “Come on, we haven’t got all day.” The Master said impatiently.

The Master opened the door, and motioned Alexis to come in. Alexis walked into the room, and looked around. It was a black room, with a white pedestal in the center. On the pedestal was a square glass case, and within that was a book. The book didn’t look that amazing, just an average book. It didn’t have any fancy designs, just a plain black cover. On the side, it said, ‘Book of the Ancients’ in silver writing. “What is it?” Alexis asked.

“It’s the Book of the Ancients, duh.” Said the Master as if it was obvious.

“What’s it for?” Asked Alexis.

“You’ll see in time. I just wanted to show you this for future reference. Now let’s get out of here, this place gives me the creeps.” The Master said, and shivered. Alexis thought of what might scare the Master, and shivered as well.

When they were out of the library, the Master let out a sigh of relief. “Well, now that that’s over, you can go back to your room and get some rest. You have a big day tomorrow, so get some sleep!” And with that, the Master walked towards a small log cabin that Alexis assumed was her house. Alexis decided to go back to her dorm, and follow the Master’s advice. It was going to be a long day tomorrow, so she had better rest up.

***

“Hey Alexis! Get up! It’s time for classes!” Alexis heard Stacy yelling and knocking on her door. At first, Alexis wondered why Stacy was knocking on her door; normally it was her mom who woke her up. Suddenly, it all came back to her. She was at a magic school, and it was the first day.

“Coming, coming...” Alexis mumbled, and began to get dressed.

“Well hurry up! Breakfast is starting in 15 minutes, and we have to get there!” Stacy was acting very impatient today. It was probably because she wanted to get to the magic classes. Alexis went outside, to see that a lot of other people were coming out of there doors as well. Stacy must have woken them up with all her yelling. Sometimes when Stacy gets exited, she forgets that there are other people around. “Come on! Breakfast is downstairs! I’ll race you there. On your mark, get set, go!” Stacy darted down the stairs, and Alexis didn’t even try to keep up.

“Your friend’s pretty energetic this morning.” One of the girls said. “Is she always this hyper?”

“Almost always.” Alexis said.

“Well, can you tell her not to do that again? I really don’t like being woken up like that.”

“I’ll tell her.” Alexis said. And with that, the girls started to file down towards breakfast.

At breakfast, Alexis found Stacy sitting at one of the tables. “Hey Alexis, I’m over here!” Stacy shouted to Alexis. A lot of people turned to look at them, and Alexis blushed.

“Stacy, do you always have to be so loud?” Alexis asked Stacy.

Now it was Stacy’s turn to blush. “Sorry, but when I get exited, I just... Well, you know. Hey, do you know where the food is?” After Stacy made the comment about food, one of the napkins on the table folded itself into a little bird. It looked a lot like the one in Alexis’s room, only it was bigger, and a light tan color. Alexis looked around, and saw that every table had a napkin-bird-thing on them.

“What would you like to order?” The napkin-bird said, tilting it’s head to the side a bit.

“Well, I’d like...” Alexis started, but was interrupted by Stacy.

“Cool! A talking napkin! Can you turn into other stuff?” Stacy was talking loudly again, and more people turned to look at her. “Oops...” She said, blushing.

“Yes, I can take on other forms, but my main goal here is to serve you breakfast. Is there anything that you’d like to order?”

“Umm... Do you have waffles?” Stacy asked, looking deep in thought.

“Yes, we have waffles. Would you like anything on a waffle?” The napkin-bird said.

“Nah, I’ll have some cereal. What are you going to have Alexis?” Stacy asked.

“I think I’ll have some pancakes with butter, maple syrup, whipped cream, and some ripe strawberries on the side.” Alexis said to the napkin-bird.

“Ooh! I want that too!” Stacy said excitedly.

“Very well. Your meals will be here shortly.” The napkin-bird stood up and flew away towards the window.

“I wonder how our meals will get here?” Stacy said, looking around for more magic. “Will it appear in a poof of smoke? Will it just appear in front of our eyes? Or will it...” The door to the room opened and in came some cooks holding trays of food. “Just be carried in by some cooks.” Stacy glumly finished.

“Oh don’t worry Stacy, it was probably made by magic.” Alexis said, trying to cheer Stacy up. Fortunately, cheering Stacy up wasn’t a hard thing to do.

“Really? Maybe it’ll be magic food then! It might make us fly, or give us extra fingers, or...” A cook set a plate in front of each of them, holding the same dish. “Ooh look, the foods here!” Stacy squealed, and then dug into her pancakes. “Teese are delishish!” She said, letting food fall out of her mouth as she talked.

“I agree.” Said Alexis, who was busy eating her own food. It was some of the best food she had ever tasted, and she bet that all the other meals would be just as good. Once they finished their meals, the napkin-bird came back. This time, it brought two smaller paper-birds with it.

“I trust your meal was satisfactory?” The napkin-bird said.

“Yeah, it was great!” Stacy said energetically.

“Good. These two are your class lists. Fill them out, and then call for me when you finish.” And with that, the napkin-bird flew away.

“Ooh! What classes do you think they have? Advanced Transformation? Levitation 101? What wonders could be inside these wonderful little birds?” Stacy said with the most enthusiasm that Alexis had seen Stacy have all day.

“Ma’am, I think that I should list your classes before you get to energetic.” Said one of the paper-birds.

“Here are the classes that you are currently eligible to take.” Said the other paper-bird. “The following courses are required: Basic Spells, Theory of Magic, Limits of Magic, Magic Tools, Magic in Nature. You must pick one of the following courses: Future Prediction, Magic Tricks for Amusement, Water Art. You will also have courses that will change throughout the year, so be prepared.” The paper-bird finished.

Stacy looked disappointed. “Aww, you mean that we don’t get to fly or transform stuff?” Stacy complained.

“I’m afraid not, ma’am. You have to be at a higher skill level of magic to do those things.” The paper-bird replied. “I believe that you should fill us out now.” And with that, the two paper-birds flattened themselves out into pieces of paper. The paper had little lines to write on, and even came with two pencils. Alexis and Stacy looked at the papers, and began to fill them out.

“So Alexis, what courses are you going to do?” Stacy asked.

“Well, I was thinking of doing Future Prediction, but Water Art sounds pretty interesting too.” Alexis replied.

“Aww, that’s boring! I’m doing Magic Tricks for Amusement. It’ll be fun! Are you sure that you don’t want to do it with me?” Stacy pleaded, and looked very pitiable.

“Sorry Stacy, but I think that I’m going to do Future Prediction.” Alexis said, and Stacy let out a sigh.

“I guess you can if you want.” Stacy said, looking depressed as she filled out the last line. As soon as she filled it out, the paper transformed back into the paper-bird.

“Thank you for filling me out, ma’am.” It said, and flew away. When Alexis’s filled out her sheet, it transformed back into a paper-bird and thanked her in the same way. Shortly after, the paper-birds returned. Apparently, the birds had forgotten to tell Alexis and Stacy that all their school books and things were in their room. If paper could blush, these two birds were doing it. And just as fast as they had arrived, they left.

“Well, I guess that we’d better get our stuff.” Alexis said.

“Yeah. I’ll see you whenever our classes meet up!” Stacy said, and bounded cheerfully towards the stairs. Alexis sighed at the sight that her friend was causing, and walked upstairs to get her school books.

In Alexis’s room, the paper-bird from last night was still sitting on the dresser. “Aren’t you supposed to fly away when you’ve done your duty?” Alexis asked it.

“I’ve not done all of my duty yet, so I cannot leave yet.” It replied. “Oh, by the way, your school books are in the drawer next to your panties.” Alexis blushed. She realized that the paper-bird probably wasn’t even alive, so it probably had no sense of what emotion was. Then she remembered how the paper-bird at the breakfast table had blushed, and realized that it probably had emotions as well. She blushed again, and took her books.

“Please don’t mention where my things are relative to my undergarments.” Alexis said calmly, still blushing. And with that, she walked out the door.

***

[Let’s see here... My last class is Future Prediction.] Alexis thought to herself. It was going to be a good end to a good day. Unlike regular school, this school’s classes were actually fun. Alexis learned many things that she would have never known else wise, and even excelled at all her classes. Normally she was an average student, but in these classes she was, as teachers said, ‘nothing but extraordinary’. When Alexis finally reached the place where the Future Reading building should be, there was no building. Instead, there was a purple tent with a gold rim and silver stars all over. It looked rather cheesy in Alexis’s opinion, but she decided to go with it.

When Alexis went in, there were already a crowd of students inside. The tent was bigger on the inside than the outside, which was no surprise to Alexis. It seemed that most the small buildings were bigger inside than outside. “Come in, we have no time to waste.” Said a voice from the back of the tent. Alexis looked around the crowd of people, to see that there was a lady sitting at the back of the tent. She was dressed in a simple dark purple robe, and had a light purple veil on her head. Clearly, there was a theme of purple around here. “Come here, and I will read your future for you.” The woman said.

Alexis went and sat down in a chair in front of the woman’s table. “So what exactly do I need to do?” Alexis asked. She wasn’t exactly nervous, but wasn’t feeling completely calm, either.

“All you need to do is sit there. I’ll do the rest.” The woman replied. She pulled out a crystal ball, and looked deeply into it. It seemed to Alexis that there was a glimmer of light inside the ball. “Ahh!” The woman screamed, and jumped back from the table. She stared at Alexis with a look of fear. “You... you are to be cursed. Your soul will become locked within yourself, and you shall not be yourself any longer. Get out, before you curse this entire place!” The woman yelled, and Alexis ran out as fast as she could. When Alexis got outside, the Master was leaning against the side of a tree nearby, absentmindedly picking at the bark. When the Master saw Alexis coming out of the tent, she beamed.

“Ah! Alexis! Are you skipping classes?” The Master said in a mock-serious voice, and then broke out laughing. “No, of course not. You were probably sent out of there because you have a cursed future, is that right?” Alexis didn’t know how the Master knew this, the news couldn’t have spread that fast. “Oh, don’t worry, Madame Leona sends away people all the time, always saying that they’re cursed somehow. It happens every year, even to long-time future-reading students. Just last year, someone who had been doing it for three years straight got kicked out. I’m here to make sure that you’re reassigned to another group properly. You were thinking about doing Water Art, yes? Well, that’s your new class. You can have the rest of the day off, seeing as its last period and you haven’t formally registered to the class. See you later!” The Master finished, and disappeared in front of Alexis’s eyes.

[That was odd...] Alexis thought to herself. As she walked back to her dorm, she contemplated the meaning of Madame Leona’s words. How could her soul become locked inside herself? And what did she mean by ‘you shall not be yourself any longer’? Would it be some kind of alteration, like bigger feet or longer ears? Or would it be something more... [Well, I have plenty of time to contemplate about that.] Alexis thought. [It’s probably not going to happen overnight, so why should I worry about it too much yet?]

When Alexis reached her dorm, she headed to her room. On the way to her room, she was stopped by one of the bullies. “Now look at that. Someone’s been skipping classes. Tisk tisk. It seems that I’ll have to punish you. I want something to eat, but dinners to far away. Why don’t you go find something for me to eat. Or will I have to report you to a teacher?” The girl said meanly.

“For your information, I have the Master’s permission to not be in class right now. In fact, you should be in class right now, so I could report you for skipping class.” Alexis said with a small glare. The girl looked at Alexis, looked down the hallway, and then looked back at Alexis.

“I’ll get you, just you wait...” The girl said. And then she ran off, leaving Alexis standing in the hallway.

***
“So Alexish, how wash your day?” Stacy said with her mouth full. She had just finished eating some of the best chicken she had ever had, and was extremely exited because of her action-filled day. She hadn’t been in any of Alexis’s classes, but still had an amazing time learning about magic. Stacy was, however, a bit disappointed that they didn’t get to do any major magic.

“My day was great. I still can’t believe that we’re in a magic school. This seems too weird to be real, but at the same time, it’s awesome.” Alexis said. She didn’t mention the part about Madame Leona, because she didn’t want to freak Stacy out. Stacy would probably go crazy with worry, and maybe even cry. It would be pretty hard to get it off her mind, so it was better that it never got on in the first place. “Well, I guess it’s time to go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow, Stacy.” Alexis said, and stifled a yawn.

“Bye Alexis!” Stacy said cheerfully, and bounded up the stairs.

“Yeah, bye.” Alexis replied, but Stacy was already out of hearing distance. When Alexis got back to her room, there was another paper-bird talking to the one that had been there this morning. As soon as the birds saw her, they stopped talking. The one that hadn’t been there in the morning quickly flew away, and the other stood completely still. “What was that about?” Alexis asked it.

“I can’t tell you.” It replied. It sounded like it wasn't in the mood for verbally fighting her, so she left it alone. “Oh, and by the way, your panties are really plain. Why don’t you get something with more flair?”

“What is it with you and my underwear?” She asked, and blushed extremely hard. The paper-bird didn’t move. It looked just like a regular folded piece of paper, and didn’t make any further rude comments. Alexis sighed, got into her nightgown, and flopped onto her bed. [I wonder what tomorrow will be like...] She thought before drifting off into sleep...

***
Present
***

[So what does this have to do with me getting stuck in your body?] I asked Alexis.

[Just hold on, will you?] She replied, sounding a little insulted. I don’t know how I managed to insult her, but somehow I had.

[Look, I’m sorry. Can you continue with the story already?] I was beginning to get a little annoyed as well.

[Fine, fine. But you’re being really mean, you know that?] Alexis said, and began telling her story again...

***
Past
***

Alexis walked into the Water Arts class, not knowing what to expect. It was in the basement of an old brick building, with evenly spaced out tanks of water. The tanks of water had black sides, and the top part was completely open. The room itself was dark and damp, and had a ocean-like smell to it. Standing in the middle of the room was the person who Alexis had seen sitting on the small bench where they had heard the Master’s speech.

“Welcome to Water Art, Alexis. My name is Helen, and I’m going to be your teacher. The rest of you know the basics, but Alexis doesn’t. So I’ll have to explain them again. Water art is the act of manipulating water to form shapes of art. The beginners will learn how to manipulate ripples in water, and more advanced students will even be able to form water into objects. But for now, you will just manipulate ripples.” Helen finished, and let the students disperse to their various water tanks.

“Umm... What am I supposed to do?” Alexis asked. Helen had given a very general description, and didn’t go into very much detail about it.

“Good question. You can use this tank.” Said Helen, motioning to a tank. “This is going to be yours for the rest of your time in this class. You will manipulate water ripples by using your mind. To get the ripples, you can toss a stone into the water. When you get skilled enough, you will be able to use your mind to create ripples, but for now, you will use stones. I cannot tell you how to do this, because it can only be learned by yourself.” And with that, Helen walked away to help someone else.

Alexis walked over to her tank, and saw that there was an attached tray with small round pebbles in it. She picked one up and tossed it into the water. It created a ripple, which Alexis focused on. The ripples turned into a square, then a triangle, then a star. Alexis was amazed that she could manipulate the ripples to whatever form she desired, and decided to try something more complicated. The ripples moved in a complicated pattern, and began to form a picture. It somewhat resembled the Mona Liza, but had less fine detail. Suddenly, Helen appeared at Alexis’s side.

“It appears that you can manipulate ripples quite well.” Said Helen, obviously impressed. “Maybe you should try to levitate a small amount of water. It’s the same process as manipulating ripples, just use your mind. ” Helen stood there, waiting to see what Alexis would do next.

“Umm... Okay.” Alexis said, and focused on a small amount of water, causing it to rise. Unfortunately, she also caused the rest of the water in the tank to rise as well. Helen looked stunned. Not only had Alexis gone beyond Helen’s expectations, she had done something that had taken Helen years to do. And it was only her first day. She might even become on caliber with the master, if she got powerful enough...

“Okay Alexis, you can put the water back in the tank.” Helen said, and Alexis slowly dropped the water into the tank. “Now, can you form shapes with the water?”

“I can try.” Alexis replied. She lifted her hands, and moved them in strange patterns. As she did, a small ball of water rose from the tank. And then what appeared to be thousands of tiny threads of water formed a ring around the ball of water, causing it to look a lot like Saturn. The tiny threads began slowly revolving around the ball of water, all at different speeds and directions. When Helen looked at Alexis, she saw that Alexis had had her eyes closed the entire time.

“Amazing...” Helen whispered. The rest of the class looked towards their direction, and all gasped. It wasn’t just beautiful, it went beyond that. There was no word for it’s brilliance. Suddenly, Helen began to feel woozy. “Alexis, you better put that away.” She said. Alexis looked at it for a moment, and then dropped it with a plop. But instead of just joining the other water, the water art remained intact. It was as if it wasn’t made of water anymore, but something more solid. Whatever it was, it was far beyond Helen’s level of magic. “Alexis, I have to talk to you.” Helen said, and began to walk outside. Alexis followed, wondering what was wrong. When Alexis got outside, she saw a blinding flash of light. She fainted, and fell over.

***

“How is her condition?”

“She is now stable, Master. However, I would not recommend waking her up...”

“Nurse, would you mind stepping out of the office for a second?”

“No, that would be no problem at all.”

“Good.” Alexis heard footsteps going away from their direction, and then heard a door close. As soon as the door closed, she was shaken with a huge force. “Wake up!” Said someone, who from the previous conversation Alexis assumed was the Master.

“Wha-what’s going on?” Alexis stuttered nervously. That was odd. She didn’t normally stutter, so why was she stuttering now?

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. You’ve just been unconscious for about a year.” The Master said, as if it was no big deal.

“A year? What happened?” Alexis sounded very scared now, but normally she would be just slightly nervous instead of... this.

“Oh, nothing. You were just knocked unconscious and in a coma for a year. We had a golem made to be and act exactly like you, so you don’t have to worry about people missing you. Oh, and you’ll have to eat this.” The Master forcefully opened Alexis’s mouth, and shoved a pill down it. Suddenly, memories came flooding into Alexis’s head. Memories that were from her perspective, but memories she had never had. The memories sped by, yet let her spend a moment to analyze each of them. She noticed that there was a gradual transformation in her personality. It became more and more emotional, more gullible, and even slightly more stupid than she had been when she was knocked unconscious.

“What’s going on?” Alexis began to cry, and the Master hugged her.

“Shh. Don’t worry, soon your personality will be completely altered, and you will lose all of your old one. It won’t be painful, so don’t worry about that. I’ll be here for you.” The Master said, and Alexis began crying with renewed vigor.

“Didn’t I say ‘Shh’? Isn’t that a universal term for shut up?” The Master looked annoyed, and Alexis immediately quieted up to a small sniffling. “That’s better. Now, as I was saying, once your personality is replaced, you will be sent back into the world. The memories you got will blend into your own memories, so you don’t have to worry about missing people. You’ll feel like you saw them just the other day. Also, you should never talk about this meeting, so don’t mention it. Ever. Got it?” Alexis nodded. “Good. Now off to your room. There’s a visitor coming, and you don’t want to be missing when they arrive. Now be gone with you!” The Master had an evil gleam in her eye as she said this, but it disappeared when she began to laugh. “Man, I’ve always wanted to say that. Well, bye-bye!”

Suddenly, Alexis was back in her room. She heard a knock on the door, and she knocked over to open it. “Hey, what’s taking so long? We don’t have all night.” Said a voice behind the door. Alexis scanned her new memories for what was going on. Apparently, she had decided to work with the bullies to get the Book of the Ancients. They were going to use someone as a ‘possession doll’ so they could summon a great spirit to grant their wishes. After that, Alexis would be very popular and be able to do great magic. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem to be a bad idea to her. She decided to go along with it for now.

“Coming, coming.” Alexis said. She hurried to the door and went outside. The bully (her new memories classified this person as Lizzie, the leader) was tapping her foot impatiently.

“Are you sure you know where the Book of the Ancients is?” Lizzie said, looking annoyed at having to work with Alexis.

“I’m sure. The Master herself showed me!” Alexis said eagerly.

“Good, because we have a lot of work to do.”

***

When they reached the hallway where the door to the Book of the Ancients was, Alexis said, “Here’s where the Master started chanting. Do you know the chant?”

“Of course I do.” Lizzie said as if it was obvious. She began chanting, and the wall began to glow just like last time. When the glowing finished, the door appeared. “Come on, what are you waiting for?” Lizzie said, and opened the door. Alexis followed her in, and looked around. It looked exactly like the last time she had been there. Same black room, same white pedestal.

“S-So what do we d-do now?” Alexis said, so nervous that she began to stutter.

“We take the book, that’s what.” Lizzie said, and picked up the glass box. Surprisingly, there was no alarm. “You would think that it would be better guarded than that.” Lizzie said, and took the book. “Okay, let’s get out of here before someone notices us.” Lizzie sprinted towards the door, and opened it. The hallway was completely empty.

“Is there anyone there?” Alexis said, and was immediately shushed by Lizzie.

“No, but who knows who could be just beyond the corner? Let’s go.” Lizzie said, and ran towards the main library. Alexis ran after her, and just barely managed to keep up. When they got outside, Lizzie said, “I’ll tell you when it’s time for us to perform the spell. In the meanwhile, you can’t tell anyone about this, or you’ll be beaten to a pulp. Got it?” Alexis nodded with a scared look in her eye. “Good.” And with that, Lizzie dashed across the courtyard to her dorm. Alexis went back to her dorm, and tiredly got into bed. It was going to be a nerve-wracking time waiting for the spell.

***
Present
***
[And you know the rest.] Alexis finished. It was quite an interesting story, and explained a lot of questions that I had.

[So you weren’t always this way?] I didn’t want to say a whiney little brat, but she might burst into tears again.

[No, I wasn’t. I was much cooler, much calmer, and much better at everything. I miss the old me...] Alexis began to cry.

[Don’t worry, we’ll figure out a way to change your personality back. Maybe the Master can help us.] I tried to calm her down, and thankfully it worked.

“Hey, how long are you going to keep up that mental conversation?” Said a voice. I looked around, but there was nobody there. “Over here, dumb@#$%.” I looked at the source of the voice, and it was the paper-bird.

“What do you want?” I asked it. It had only said two sentences, and it was already getting on my nerves.

“I’m here to train you in ‘the ways of the spirit’. Or whatever. @#$%ing Master, binding me to this @#$%ing paper-bird...” It began to mumble to itself, and I looked at it like it was crazy. “Don’t give me that @#$%ing look, you @#$%ing @#$%^&*.” It said. It appeared to be trying to move it’s feet, but it seemed it couldn’t. “@#$%ing Master, sticking me to this @#$%ing dresser...” It muttered.

“Umm... Who exactly are you?” I asked it. It looked like it wasn’t going anywhere for a while, so I decided that I may as well know it’s name.

“What? The ‘all mighty’ Master didn’t tell you? I’m Erick the Sage. Since I’m trapped in the body of this @#$%ing paper-bird, I can’t exactly perform magic, but I can tell you about the basics of being a spirit.” It said, and then swore again at the Master. “First of all, I may as well give you the bad news. Your soul has fused with Alexis’s body, so you can never permanently escape it. You can, however, temporarily get out of it. That’ll be our first lesson.”

[So I can never have my body back?] Alexis began to cry loudly.

[He said that I could temporarily get out of it, so I guess that means that you can get your body back for a few times.] I tried to make her feel better, and it seemed to calm her down.

[You mean I can have control of my body again? That’s great! But wait, only for a short while? Oh well, at least I get it back a bit.] She said.

Erick coughed, and my attention turned to him. “Okay, let’s get this over with. Now here’s what you have to do...”

Notes:
Sorry that this story came two days late, it turned out it had to be about 3000 words longer than I expected. I’m not going to put a deadline on the next release, seeing as this one gave me too much stress. If you think that me censoring swears is bad, well, that’s your opinion. It is for general audiences, you know. I hope this explained enough, and please tell me if it didn’t. You may have noticed a few small things that are different than the first part, like the uniform, but it doesn’t really matter. As always, comments are appreciated.