Julia woke up at about six a.m. after having a dream she couldn’t remember. This made little sense to her since she was a fragment of a dream before. Her mind went blank as her stomach growled.

  She realized she had gone to sleep wearing her regular clothes. Julia needed to take a shower and change her clothes.

  There was some sort of paper on the ground below her desk. It must have fallen over.

  “Instructions

  The hidden door shall contain your wardrobe where you may find your clothes, your basic materials, a safe for your valuables, and mysterious items. Find and unlock the hidden door by casting a spell.

  If you are on a scholarship, it heavily depends on your grades and conduct…”

  She stopped reading.

  She got a hold of the book, which was now brown leather instead of black.

  I must be so sleepy that I forgot what color the book was…

  The index told her to skip to page 22.

  “Spell for uncovering the secret dorm door.”

  “The door where witches keep their thoughts and belongings, it shall now be a part of my many findings,” read Julia, aloud

  She looked around, and nothing happened. Julia looked down, shuffled her feet, and was about to head to the bathroom when there was a sound that one would expect from a music box. The door was behind her, as Julia turned and saw. It opened by itself. She entered, and it was the same cottage from before, with the mirror. However, now there was a wardrobe and a small partition where the kitchen was. The furniture was all white, and there was a fridge, a cupboard, a microwave, and a tiny oven. As for utensils, there was a set of spoons and forks. She saw there was a note taped on the fridge door.

  “Please take these items as my apology.

  ~ Patricia”

  There wasn’t much she could do. Perhaps if Julia was independent, she could refuse the help.

  She opened the fridge. There were a dozen eggs and some other basics. But she didn’t know how to cook an egg without a stove. There was bread in the fridge, as well as a few bottles of water. Since there was no butter, she had a slice of bread with nothing. Julia craved peanut butter, but she had no choice. She finished the slice somehow and drank some water.

  There were some clothes in the wardrobe. They were all the same robes and dresses in gray. She took all the clothing she needed and went back inside. As soon as she left, the door closed behind her.

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  She took her book and recited the spell that might change her clothes to her style.

  “Creative vision, enter this world and exit my mind!” said Julia.

  They changed at once, into pastel, dark or light colors. After brushing her teeth, she went to the small shower area and splashed water on herself, which was cold. Julia used a small unused bar of waxy soap from the cabinet. There was only one small towel, with which she dried herself and wore her clothes. A lightweight coffee-colored blouse, with a black midi skirt. She got out of the bathroom and wore the only pair of shoes she had, a pair of black loafers. She got the belongings from her pant pockets and put them in her skirt pockets.

  Julia yawned until they announced the speaker in the room.

  “Classes begin in thirty minutes. Please don’t forget your guidebook for your respective major.”

  Julia realized she had no book bag, but she didn’t bother. She lugged the heavy book and locked the door, putting the key in her pocket, which was almost full. Julia then ran across to the end of the hall and then realized that she didn’t have any clue about where to go for class. She opened her guidebook and saw the map. The schedule portion that was taped on one page said that WC101 was first, and the classroom number was WCB002.

  Julia exited the dorm and set off to go to Building no. 3. She walked for a long time until she encountered a map. Everything was fine. She just needed to take a right turn. The grass was a shade of dark green and the sky was an intense blue with the sun peeking out from the white clouds. There was a concrete pathway in the middle of the grass. A plain yellow butterfly was fluttering about. She arrived in front of Building No. 3 at last. And it was an eyesore to see such an immense building that looked like it belonged to medieval times and hadn’t been repaired since. It looked more like ancient ruins than a proper building. It was gray, layered with dust and the windows had cracks. The light was shining through a few of the windows. The gate wouldn’t open.

  “Insert your ID to enter,” said a masculine voice.

  She looked behind her and saw a slightly muscular guy with black skin and spiky hair the same color as a dove feather, a matte white. He was as tall as Cole and wore a white striped button-up shirt with a pair of black trousers. He wore an emotionless expression, as his gaze focused on the sky next to her.

  “Thank you,” said Julia.

  “Excuse me, miss. Would you happen to know where Building No. 4 is? I don’t know why I can’t find numbers on any of these buildings,” he said.

  “This is building No. 3. There ought to be a map left to us,” said Julia.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  Julia nodded as she put her ID in the gate’s space. The gate made a chime-like sound.

  “Excuse me, this is the building for witches… oh, the gate has accepted your ID. You must be a witch then, I didn’t mean to assume,” he said, waving goodbye.

  Julia entered and took her ID with her. It didn’t take her long to find her classroom, which was on the first floor. As she entered, she saw there were two students inside, Cole and a woman with ash hair cut into a bob. They were talking about something that Julia couldn’t discern. The desks were plain wood, with a whiteboard and a giant cauldron in the corner that looked out of place. The woman was talking with a lot of energy, and she had her desk littered with sticky notes. Julia stood in the middle of the classroom until Cole told her to sit with them. At that moment, the third person crumpled up a sticky note and threw it in the trash can, which was inches away from Julia. She sat in front of Cole, tore all the notes, and threw them near the trash can, one by one.

  “Lindsey… you should really stop making a mess out of the classroom,” said Cole.