The moment I crossed through the iron gates with Precept Seram, Lun Arcancil appeared.

  It did not fade into my sight slowly. Some fog or cloud had not been obscuring it.

  It simply was not there and then it was.

  I could not take it in all at once.

  Pieces and sections fought over my attention and my mind tried to fit them together.

  Two windowed wings built of greyscale stone jutted out from the structure. They ran down either side of the tapered courtyard and closed it off with the surrounding wall. It stood tall from the ground and the shape of a tower adorned the top of it. Trails of white smoke drifted up from the unseen roofs and snow dusted its stones like morning frost. There were more wings, some higher and some partially concealed, and I got the impression that I was only seeing a small sliver of Lun.

  The sight of it made my heart thump heavy in my chest. The way it loomed above me, the way it reached out for me with the wings of the courtyard, I had never felt quite so small.

  The square bricks beneath my boots formed the beginnings of an intricate pattern. The trampled snow that blanketed the open space kept me from being able to make out what that pattern was. Three massive tents ran lengthwise across the court yard and blocked my view of the entrance behind them. They were solid blue and there was no snow in a small area at their bases.

  Something as massive as the school could not just appear.

  I could not keep myself from giving in to the impulse of stepping back through the gates. Lun Arcancil vanished from my sight like it had been a bubble that had suddenly popped. I stepped back through and it flashed back into reality like lightning. Back and forth, I swayed over the threshold and watched come and go like the blinking of an eye.

  It's a glamor. I thought to myself, knowing that it had to be true. There was no other explanation.

  "It is impressive," Precept Seram laughed in response to my obvious wonder. "And it keeps all of us safe and free from prying eyes. Come along, Maiden Ire."

  I did as I was told.

  The other maidens had gathered again in front of a severe looking woman that was standing guard before the tents.

  Her blue black hair hung from her head in a short jagged mess. She wore the same icy blue cloak as Precept Seram, but it was not long, straight, or wrinkleless. Hanging over her shoulders, it wrapped around both sides of her equally. and ended just above the crook of her arms. It was just short enough to show that the end of her right sleeve was folded up and pinned to the grey fabric of her shirt.

  Her arm. I thought, unable to stop myself from staring at the place her hand should have been. It did not make sense. Sorceresses could heal. I had seen someone whose body had been reduced to cinders come away from it unharmed. There had been a time that I had no longer had all of my skin. What had happened that had kept her from being healed?

  "I don't have time to stand around and watch you little shits stroll about like you don't have anywhere to be," She yelled. Her voice was low and raspy, like she had spent the night before screaming until her throat had become raw. "To me, now, before I lose my temper."

  "So vulgar, always so vulgar." Precept Seram shook her head and pressed her lips into a tight line as she pulled on her new set of gloves.

  The power in her voice, the command and demand it carried, brought the maidens and myself shoulder to shoulder in front of her in a matter of moments.

  Again, I found myself at the back of the gathering. Without the walls to halt me, I walked around the side and found a place at the front without crossing paths with Maiden Tana again.

  "I'm Precept Zetta. I'll be teaching the ones that have enough spine to make it through the trial how to not die when you run into bastards that want you to," She nodded her head to her right and pointed her hand out to her left. "If your name starts with any letter between A and G, you're on the left with me. H through P, in the middle. Everyone else, on the right. If you aren't supposed to be here, leave. Any questions? Good. Line up!"

  I took two steps to the left before I shook my head and went to the back of the line in front of the middle tent. When the maidens in front of me passed through the tent and my turn came, whoever was inside would discover that the face I wore was not my own. They would cast me out.

  A shiver ran through me and the hairs on the nape of my neck stood on end once again. I could not deny it like I had within the evergreens. There had been no gust of wind and I was already so cold that most of me was beginning to numb.

  I was being watched.

  My eyes went to Maiden Tana to see if she was giving me another of her smirks, but she was nowhere to be seen. The other maidens, the iron gates behind me, I looked everywhere I could.

  Through the arched windows that gave a long view of what lay within the wall of the school on my right, I found a monster. Coiled against the clear glass from end to as far as I could see was an uncountable length of tightly packed bones. Thin and stemming down from a thick spine, the skeleton cascaded down in rows and filled the windows completely. It was a great serpent, the greatest I had ever seen, but it was not what was watching me. It was dead, an unmoving remainder, and what was dead could not see.

  There was no one, no thing I could find, nothing but the vulnerable feeling remained.

  "Hey, lost girl!" The chocolate eyed maiden yelled from the front of the line on my right.

  Maiden Reese. I repeated her name in my mind.

  "Yes?" I answered as I stepped forward and came closer to being discovered.

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  "I saw you hit her," She called as she moved to enter the tent she stood in front of. She mimicked the way I had elbowed Maiden Tana and winked at me. "You should have done it harder."

  She went into the tent and I did not see her again for the rest of the short time that I waited in line. What she had said had brought a small smile to my face that persisted until there was nothing between the tent and I but cold air and fear.

  "Next!" A voice called from inside it.

  I could not move. No matter how hard I tried, I could not force my boots to leave the snow and step onto the uncovered stone.

  Precept Mon Zetta came striding out of the tent to my left. She turned on her heels and walked straight towards me.

  Still, I could not make myself move.

  "Next!" The voice from inside called again.

  You should have stayed in the snow. Freezing to death would have been better than this. I thought, any warmth and excitement I had felt when I had woken that morning long dead and cold.

  Precept Zetta reached me and pushed me as she passed. "In you go."

  I stumbled forward and broke through the heavy fabric. I barely managed to keep my balance on the damp stones. Warm air washed over me like a hug from my mother and I let out an involuntary sigh of relief. It burned against my numbed skin dully, but it was the best pain I had ever felt.

  "-hope none of them are admitted. I haven't seen a single maiden worth-" The girl that had been calling for me to come in stopped what she was saying at my sudden entrance. She had her back turned to me. Her hair was light, almost white and pulled tightly behind her head. The pure blue cloak she wore bore the shape of a full moon on its back. She had been talking to a blonde haired girl whose moon was not nearly as full.

  "Name?" She demanded.

  "Uhm," I started, feeling my panic creep back into me despite the comfortable warmth. "Ire Ap Viven."

  "Another? Write this one, I've done the rest." She said to her counterpart as she turned around to look at me. Her expression looked annoyed, and she had a small crook in her nose that distracted from the rest of what was a very pretty face.

  "Hello." I said, trying to greet her, but she did not return the pleasantry

  "Long black hair. Neither tall nor short, average. Muddy brown eyes, no prominent features," Her bright blue eyes passed over me as she spoke. There was such an annoyed disinterest that I don't think she would have noticed if I left. She grabbed my upper arm, my hips, and then my thigh in quick succession. "Skinny, almost gaunt, physically weak and underdeveloped."

  I'm not underdeveloped. I thought, beginning to feel insulted.

  "This is what happens when they let motherless maidens come from whatever backwater hamlet they grew up in. They rarely amount to much and if they do, they require much more assistance than someone born in Zenithcidel," She said to the other girl in the tent. Stepping back from me, bright blue light that was not quite as pale as the precept's cloaks, came to light at her navel. "I would ask you if you were wearing glamor, but it is best to be thorough with your kind. Palms out."

  Maybe she was having a bad day, maybe she had been late as well, there were many reasons that her rudeness could have been an unfortunate circumstance.

  "Are you deaf as well? Palms out, Maiden Ire" She commanded.

  If I ran, neither of my two possible paths would bring me any help . One would lead me to the closed gate and the other would lead me further towards the school. If I did not let her inspect me for glamor and I ran further into the school, I would be taken for one of those evil sorcerers or demons.

  Maybe she knew, maybe arrangements had been made for me without my knowledge. I didn't believe that to be true, but I couldn't accept that I was about to be turned away if she found my glamor.

  I would have to charm her. Even if it was against one of the three rules Precept Seram had given us, I had already broken one, a second would be easy. I focused my aura and brought it to my left palm, thinking of every pleasant thing that I could imagine.

  "About time." I heard Precept Mon Zetta rasp from somewhere beyond the tent.

  "It could not be helped. How are you not frozen? You've been out here since dawn." A voice called from outside of the tent.

  Just before my inspector touched my hands, she snapped her head towards the new voice and her face twisted into a vicious scowl. "What is she doing here?"

  The front of the tent parted.

  The Mother in Blue stepped through with a gust of blustery wind beating at her back.

  she gave a violent shake that sent all of the loose snow that had caught in her hair to the ground.

  Nami. Her name appeared in the front of my mind and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.

  She wore a too thin dress and sandals that looked like they belonged on a sunny beach instead of the frigid grounds of Lun Arcanicil. Her arms wrapped around herself, she gave a great shake that sent most of the snow falling down from her blue gradient hair. The small flakes that held against her melted in the warmth of the tent and gave her dark skin a beautiful glow.

  "Nami." The girl that had been about to discover my illusion said, the light of her aura deepening her sneer.

  "Underwitch Maletta," Nami replied with an unbothered smile. "While we are on school grounds, you will address me properly."

  "Namiana." Underwitch Maletta said ruefully

  Tension filled the room, a heavy mixture of Underwitch Maletta's obvious disdain and Nami's willful pleasantness.

  "That is as close as I will get with you I suppose," Nami said and turned her attention to me. "Maiden Ire, you will come with me."

  "Why? I have not checked her yet." Underwitch Maletta demanded as she stepped in front of the back flap of the tent.

  "The only why you need to concern yourself with is why you are questioning me." Nami said, the ocean of strength that I knew lay within her coming to the surface of her eyes.

  Without another word, she took me by my outstretched hands and pulled me through the back of the tent. My charm no longer needed, I released my hold on my aura and let it dissipate inside of me.

  Just as she had once before, Mother Nami had come to save me again. The panic and worry of being discovered had left me immediately once she had taken me. I was grateful, but it had returned my focus to the pain in my foot and the aching in my bones. The rest of the maidens were scattered through the back half of the courtyard, most of them holding and opening small white parcels. The ones who weren't were lined up in front of a wide table that was piled high with unopened boxes.

  "Damn I hate the cold." Nami said as snow started crunching under our feet.

  I cleared my throat. "Are the underwitchs here usually so rude to you?"

  There had been many times that I had not given The Mothers the respect they expected or deserved. Underwitch Maletta had done nothing to hide what appeared to be full on hatred.

  "It is usual for her." Nami shrugged.

  "Why? You are a Mother." I asked, hoping that she would be able to answer.

  Just before we reached the end of the line of maidens, she gave me my answer. "You wouldn't know it, but Maletta is the most powerful underwitch amongst all of Lun's moons. She is rude because she hates me. If it was up to her, the closest I would ever be to being a Mother would be being sent to the medery in Hymneth."

  She stopped when we reached the back of the line and another great shiver ran through her.

  "She hates you openly?" I asked her, confused. There was another Mother I knew that would not be so accepting of the way the underwitch had been to Nami.

  Nami laughed. "It's not that hard to imagine. I would think that you of all people would understand that."