Magical Menagerie

“Oh my god, this class is going to be the death of me,” Kendra whispered as she and Gwydion ran into class. Late, yet again. “We’re never gonna get everything we need to ace this test.” They quickly and quietly found their seats.

“No worries,” Gwydion whispered as they pulled their supplies out of their backpacks for their English class. “I have a plan, and it’s already in progress.” He nodded towards their buddy near the front of the class who was sliding some paper into the front cover of his book.

After an hour of studying and listening to their professor discuss the finer details of Shakespeare’s poetry and it’s influence on the modern culture, they packed up their belongings, keeping an eye on their friend from across the room. They were supposed to meet in the library after class, in the fantasy section, as no one at their school ever hangs in that corner of the library. They just hoped that Loki would stick to his word and not bail on them with the test answers, as he was notorious for playing those pranks. “Come on,” Gwydion said to Kendra as they walked out of the room into the hallway, just in time to see Loki turn the corner. Following at a safe distance, they turn the corner as well.

Arriving in the library, they paused for a moment at the front counter, dropping off a few books to return, as to not raise suspicion. Wandering over to the fantasy section, they stopped and picked up a few books to flip through, before settling in on the corner couches next to Loki. “Y’all aren’t suspicious at all,” he said laughing.

“Yeah well, it's not like they’re not always keeping eyes on us or anything,” Kendra replied, flipping through the dragon novel she picked up. “At least this way, I actually get to read halfway decent books while they are over there being all nosy and crap.”

Sitting cross-legged in the chair with the books stacked on the table in front of him, Gwydion looked at Loki. “Where’s the paper with the answers Loki?” Loki reluctantly handed it over. “Thank you,” he said as he slid into a folder in his backpack. “We’ll check back in with you soon. Have you made yourself a copy?”

“Yes. I managed to get myself a copy as I swiped it originally,” Loki replied smiling, as he held up a second copy that the others didn’t see before. “If you hadn’t been late to class again, you wouldn’t have missed my amazing sleight of hand.”

“On that note, it’s time for us to head to Chemistry, before we find ourselves late and having to do this for that class too,” Kendra said looking at her watch and laughing. Laughing, they all stood, gathered their belongings, and checked out the books they had chosen, and wandered to class. Upon arriving at their next class, they all pulled out their books for Chemistry, but also the sheets they just had received from Loki. “Ah, the answer key. This can come in handy.”

After school, the three of them met Garret and Charlotte at the cafe. “Got the answer key?” Charlotte asked as they got settled.

“Yes,” replied Gwyndion, as he passed out the sheet. “I made a few copies and it definitely looks like it could get interesting quickly.” They all began to flip through their books looking to the chapters they knew would be included.

“What is this?” Charlotte asked as she glanced at the sheet to figure out the first set of answers to learn.

“What do you mean?” Kendra asked as she looked closer as well. “Well snap,” she proclaimed as she looked over her sheet. “This isn’t the answer key, this an application. Where did Loki get this?”

“Who knows. He was supposed to hijack the answer key from the teacher, not whatever this application is,” Gwyndion replied.

Garrett looked over Gwyndion’s shoulder. “What the heck, Do you think Loki did this on purpose. He is our resident trickster after all.”

“It can go either way,” Gwyndion and Kendra agreed.

“Actually, I knew it wasn’t what it seemed, but I couldn’t place why. So I swiped it anyway, because I knew you four would pick up on it and figure it out,” Loki proclaimed defending himself, as he wandered in late. “Look at the fine print there and see if you can figure this out.”

“Loki. You were supposed to get us the answer key for the test, not clues to the next great adventure.” Garrett proclaimed exasperated. Charlotte and Kendra sat quietly thoroughly reading over what they once believed to be the answer key, but now know was an application for… something.

“Hey, does that look like it says ‘Oflorerth, Academy of Magical Studies’?” asked Charlotte.

“It sure does. I wonder what that means...” Garrett asked skeptically. “Where is it, and do any of us really believe that magic really exists?”

“Yes!” the others all proclaimed at the same time.

Garrett looked flabbergasted at all of them responding at the same time. “Well okay then. That still doesn’t answer where it is, and what we’re going to do with this information.”

“The map seems to point towards the north side of town, but I don’t see an address, and all that I know of in that area is forest,” Charlotte said.

“Based on what I can tell from the information on the sheets, it looks like it could be an exciting adventure, whether we attend as students, or investigate to see what’s really going on. So, I vote that we fill them out, and then after we finish studying for this test, we return to this and explore how exactly we’re supposed to turn them in,” Gwydion suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” Kendra and Loki told him, and the others nodded in agreement. They all sat in silence as they proceeded to fill the applications out, mainly out of curiosity. Occasionally one would pipe up and ask for input on a question or two, but then they returned to silent focus. About an hour later, they had all finished up their applications, and agreed to figure out how to turn them in after they finished with their studying. They all retrieved the remainder of the tools they needed to study out of their bookbags, and when they looked back up to set up their spots, all of their applications had vanished.

“What the hell? What happened to them?” Gwydion asked flabbergasted.

“I guess that answers how we turn in our application,” Loki stated in awe.