Twisted Wonderland Book 1: The Rose-Red Tyrant

Chapter 4: Student Multiplication

Ace practically begs, "C'mon, please! I can't use magic! Hurry, he's—"

Suddenly, Ace yelps to see Cater has his magestone pen out. Then Cater fires some Flora Magic at them.

Sereia panics and screams, "Stay away!"and fires some of her Water Magic at them.

However, Sereia's magic doesn't seem to have an effect on him.

"Huh? What just..." Tanzanite asks, confused.

Decide then tries to perform some magic, but again, Cater doesn't seem to be affected.

"I'll take care of this guy!" Grim says.

And let out a cry, "MWAH!"

And fires his fire magic at Cater, but once more, Cater isn't affected, and is still coming toward them.

"What's the deal with this guy?!" Ace asks.

"Let's get out of here!" Briar cries out.

Everyone quickly turns back and begins to make a run out of the Rose Maze. The group continues to run away as Cater chases after them. They also try to use their magic to stop it, but the magic doesn't seem to work on it. It's like Cater is immune to every magic they fire at him. Soon, the group runs out of the Rose Maze entrance the way they came, and end up falling to the ground with a thud. Trinket flies down to check on them.

"Don't worry Trinket, I think we're all okay," Briar says.

Ace mutters, "Speak for yourself.

"Here he comes!" Sereia panics.

The group sits up and looks to see Cater arrive at the entryway. Instead, he grabs hold of the gate

Cater waves and says, "Do make sure you bring that tart next time, m'kay? Buh-bye now!"

And closes the gate to the Rose Maze on them. The group has no choice, but to head back. They walk away from the maze and are soon in front of the dorm where the Mirror is.

Ace questions, "Was that guy for real?!

"We hit him over and over, but he just kept coming," Deuce says.

"I can't believe that guy chased us out," Briar says.

Decide then begins to wonder, "Maybe he was using some kind of illusion magic?"

"It seems like it," Briar says.

"But what kind of magic did he use? No matter what we used, nothing seems to work on him," Jasper questions.

"Hmm, it must be a very unique spell," Tanzanite says.

"So lemme get this straight: we walked in there, totally tartless, but this dude still made us do that whole song and dance before throwing us out? He just wanted to make us paint his stupid roses!" Ace questions and gets very annoyed.

"We sure look like a bunch of chumps," Grim comments.

"It seems that the only way for you to talk to Riddle is to bring a tart to replace the one you are," Sereia says, turning to Ace.

Trinket nods her head.

"I guess it kind of makes sense when you think about it," Briar says.

"Eh? And why's that?" Ace questions.

"It's kind of like when you break something from the store or damage something that is someone else's property. 'You break it you buy it' or in this case 'you break it, you remake it,'" Briar says.

Trinket tilts her head with a confused look.

"It just means that if you damage something, you have to pay for the damages. In Ace's case, since he ate the tart, he needs to make a new one," Briar replies.

"I'm not sure if it means the same, but it does make sense," Deuce says.

Then adds, "I guess we'll just have to get an apology tart and come back. Maybe after class, we can-"

Suddenly Deuce panics, "Oh no!"

"What's wrong?" Briar asks, confused.

"We already missed the first bell! We're gonna be late for class!" Deuce cries out.

This causes them to react in shock, "EH?!

Grim freaks out, "Myah! I don't wanna get a blemish on the first day of my glorious Night Raven education! Shake a leg, chumps! To the classroom, pronto!"

But Ace quickly asks, "Hey, so what class are you guys in, anyway? You're freshmen too, right?"

Briar then says, "I remember the headmage had the ghosts of our dorm give us a schedule. And apparently, all of us have to go to the same class.

"Yeah. The headmage said we're in Class 1-A!" Grim adds.

Then Decide says, "Hey, that's the same one I'm in. We got Potionology for first period."

"Oh ho, yeah! That sounds awesome!" Grim cheers.

Ace thinks a bit and says, "M-maybe I don't need magic for that?"

"I don't think it matters, we don't want to be late on the first day," Jasper says.

"You're right, we need to go now!" Sereia says.

"We'll make it if we run for it!" Briar says.

"Then let's hurry!" Deuce says.

And with that, Briar and the others hurry to the mirror to get to their first class before they end up being late on the first day to school.