A little time later, the group heads to the Hall of Mirrors. Briar, Sereia, Grim, and Trinket are familiar with the place since they arrive when they try to find Ace, and haven't had time to look around. Jasper and Tanzanite are amazed to see the mirrors.
"Wow. The place is amazing," Tanzanite says.
"Yeah. There are a lot of mirrors. How many dorms are there?" Jasper replies.
"Seven," Deuce answers.
"So which mirror will lead us to the Heartslabyul Dorm?" Sereia asks.
"It's this way," Deuce says, and heads towards the hall to the mirror.
The group arrives at the mirror and sees the design of the mirror. The mirror frame design is of playing cards with hearts on it, and roses. On top it has the Heartslabyul symbol in the shape of a heart and a small crown on top. There are also two spears in the shape of a heart. There is a light on each wall glowing a little each side of the mirror, there is a red rug with mushrooms. In front is a book.
"Ready everyone?" Ace asks.
"We're ready," Briar says.
Deduce and Ace fist walk through the mirror. Briar, Sereia, Grim, Trinket, and the twins follow after them.
Soon, the group steps out of the mirror on the other side of the mirror to see the Heartslabyul dorm.
Briar and the others are amazed to see the Heartslabyul Dorm, and how different the dorm is from their own. The building is red with some white and black, and the entrance is shaped like a heart. There are some flags on light poles that have the dorm symbol on it. There's also a water fountain, and so many rose bushes in the shape of hearts with red flowers.
"Wow," Briar says.
"It's so pretty," Sereia happily says.
Trinket flies to the bush and sniffs one of the flowers.
"Dang this place is swank! This is nothing like our dumpster of a dorm," Grim says.
"Our dorm is still a work-in-progress," Briar replies.
"If you say so," Grim replies.
"Don't worry, I'm sure it will be more homey once we get the place cleaned up," Briar says.
"So which way do we go now?" Jasper asks.
"We head this way," Ace says.
The group continues to follow Ace and Deuce across the dorm, and soon walk around a maze that is made of Rose bushes, and large hedges.
Suddenly, they hear someone say, "Aww yeah, I am getting my paint on!"
"Ah, someone's here," Grim replies.
The group soon walks around to an area in the maze that is full of rose bushes. They notice some red paint cans and paintbrushes.
They notice a boy painting one of the bushes. He's a fair-skinned young man with a height that is a bit taller than average. He has light orange, mid-length hair, and has the top portion of his hair and bangs pulled back into a short ponytail. A few stray strands of hair fall loosely at the sides of his face, and the rest is tucked back behind his ears. His eyes are green, and on his right cheek is a small, red marking shaped like a diamond. He is also wearing a school uniform like the Ace and Deuce.
The boy continues to brush and says, "They all gotta be red, or it's 'off with my head'!"
Hearing what the boy says, Briar suddenly has a strange sense of deja vu.
"Why do I have a sudden sensation of deja dv. It feels like I've seen this somewhere before..." Briar says to herself, confused.
Grim notices Briar's expression and asks, "Hey Briar, what's up?"
"Oh sorry, I was a little distracted," Briar says.
Just then, the boy stops painting and turns to see the group, "Huh...? You guys need something?"
Ace asks, "What are you doing there?"
"Are you blind? I'm painting the roses red, duh," The boy replies.
This catches the group by surprise,
"What? Why?!" Deuce asks, surprised.
The boy laughs, "Ah ha ha. So naive, you put the 'n' in newb."
"Newb?" Sereia says, confused.
"It's another way of calling us new students, which is pretty accurate," Briar says.
Looking at the group, the boy says, "Hold the phone, I know you! You're the ones who broke a billion-thaumark chandelier and nearly got expelled for itm yeah?"
Ace sighs, "That chandelier is gonna haunt us till the day we graduate, isn't it?"
Then the boy turns to Ace, "And you! You're the one who ate the housewarden's tart that same night!"
This makes Ace feel even more deflated remembering the trouble he's in.
The boy then says, "You guys are THE hot topic around campus! I've gotta get in one this fleeting fame."
He then approaches them, "I'm gonna grab a selfie real quick..."
"Selfie?" The twins reply, confused.
Before the group can react, the boy takes out his cellphone and begins to take selfies of himself with Ace, Deuce, Briar, and the others.
As he says, "Yay!"
Then the boy says, "It's cool if I post this on Magicam, right? Gimme your names so I can tag you."
Deduce introduces himself, "Deuce Spades."
Ace groans and says his name, "Ace."
"I'm Grim, and these are my henchmen," Grim says.
But Briar sternly says, "Don't call us henchmen."
Trinket tingles in anger and pulls on Grim's ear.
Grim reacts in pain, "Meow! Knock it off!"
Briar then says, "My name is Briar. And the little fairy is Trinket."
"I'm Sereia," Sereia says.
"I'm Jasper," Jasper says.
Then Tanzanite says, "And I'm his twin brother, Tanzanite."
The boy then types on his phone and says, "Uploaded! Sweet."
"Um right. So who are you?" Briar replies.
Then the boy introduces himself, "Oh, I'm Cater Diamond, by the way. I'm a junior here at Hearthslabyul. But Cater is fine. Or Cay-Cay if you're cray-cray. Sooooo nice to meetcha."
"It's nice to meet you, Cater," Briar says.
Jasper whispers to Tanzanite, "He seems... superficial."
Tanzanite nods his head in reply.
Then Cater says to Briar, "Ah, you're the perfect of that so-called Ramshackle House Dorm, right. Like, I can't believe you actually live there!"
He then says with a big smile, "It's all gloomy and looks like hot garbage of Magicam. No filter could salvage THAT dump."
This makes the group irritated, especially Grim.
Grim crosses his arms and angrily says, "Y'know, you've done nothin' but diss us here, pal!"
Suddenly, Cater says, "Gah, what am I doing? I don't have time to chat! The party's tomorrow. If we're not ready, it's "off with my head"!"
"Hey, you kids wanna help me paint some roses?" Cater asks out of nowhere.
"Yeah, um..." Ace says, confused and crosses his arms, "Why are you doing that exactly?"
"Yeah. Why are you painting the roses red?" Briar asks.
"Because red roses are so much more photogenic! Or... something...?" Cater answers. "And after that, I've gotta start getting things ready for the big croquet tournament. And that means coloring all the flamingos." and sighs.
"You're colorin' flamingos now? Isn't anything the right color around here?!" Grim asks, confused and dumbfounded.
"Still, now it's starting to make sense to what's going on," Briar says.
"I believe Briar is right, Ace," Deuce says and turns to Ace, "That tart you ate must have been for the housewarden's birthday. That explains his reaction.
But Cater says, "Hm? Oh, no, it's not Riddle's birthday."
"It's not? Then whose birthday is it?" Ace asks, surprised.
"It isn't anyone's birthday. Tomorrow is our dorm's traditional unbirthday party," Cater explains.
"Unbirthday? What's that?" Sereia asks.
"It's a special tea party we throw when no one has a birthday - if the housewarden feels like it," Cater answers.
"And why would you do that?" Ace asks.
"Again with the questions!" Cater says with a smile.
"But still, it's understandable why Riddle was upset, the tart was made for the unbirthday party," Briar says.
"Exactly," Cater says.
Then says, "Listen, I need these roses to be red. Like, yesterday. Can't you guys help out with magic or something."
Then Cater turns to Save, "Oh but Ace is on magical house arrest."
Then turns to Briar, "And Briar is not very experienced with magic, something about it being sealed up. Yet, you're still a normie. So you two better stick to painting."
"Recolor the roses with magic..." Deuce replies, surprised.
Grim replies with a frown, "Can't say I've gone this before."
"Neither have I," Sereia replies.
Jasper Tanzanite, and Trinket shake their heads in reply.
"Relax, it'll be fine. You got this! But maybe do it before I lose my head," Cater says. He waves his hand and says, "K-thanx!"
Briar is becoming more confused, and feels that she has heard this statement before, and this place seems all too familiar.
"Briar, are you alright?" Grim's voice replies.
Briar breaks from her thoughts and looks down towards Grim.
"What?" Briar asks.
"You okay? You spaced out for a minute," Grim replies.
"Oh sorry, I was deep in thought," Briar says.
"Whatever, come on let's go," Grim says.
And so, everyone begins to help Cater with the rose bushes. Ace and Briar, along with Trinket grab the paint brushes and paint buckets, the rest are using their magestone pens.
"Time to paint these roses!" Cater says.
Then says, "No pink! No green! No aquamarine! It's rose red or nothing!"
"I'm sure we can bang this out in no time flat, yeah?" Ace replies with a sigh.
"I don't know if I'm much of a painter, but I'll give it my best shot!" Deuce says, determined.
Then Grim says with a grin, "With me on the case, this'll be a piece of cake!"
Then calls out to everyone, "You guys! No slacking off, okay?"
And so, the group begins to work on painting the roses red. Ace and Briar paint with paint brushes, while the others begin to paint with their magic. It's proven that some have become a struggle, but Jasper and Tanzanite are able to use their pens to change the white roses red. Deuce and Sereia have been struggling to paint the roses red, but are able to get the hang of it.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this!" Deuce says.
Then Grim says, "Lookit me! I can get all of 'em at once!" Then cries out, "MYAAH!"
He then uses his magic as hard as he can. But instead, he made the roses pink, green, and blue.
Grim becomes confused, "...Myah?"
"Those aren't red roses, Grim," Jasper sternly says.
"But the pink roses look pretty," Sereia says.
Cater shakes his head, "Nope! Gotta do it more like this!"
Cater then waves his pen and casts the spell on the roses, turning them all red. The others applaud with smiles on their faces.
"Nice one! Guess being a junior does count for something," Ace says.
"Thanks! Keep this up and we'll be done before you know it," Cater says.
Briar looks on as Cater waves his magestone pen.
Briar walks over and brings out her pen, "You mind if I give it a whirl?"
"Are you sure? You never used magic before, and you only started awakening the magic you were supposed to possess," Deuce asks, concerned.
"Well, I have to learn how to use magic eventually so why not," Briar says.
"She has a point, Deuce," Ace says.
"I suppose, but remember to be careful," Deuce says.
"Okay," Briar replies with a nod.
She holds out her pen and says, "Here I go."
Briar concentrates on the white rose and thinks of changing it to red. She waves her magestone stick and performs a little bit of magic and hits the red rose. However, when the magic takes effect, the rose on the bush has become a light red color, not completely red.
Briar says in disappointment, "I guess I'm not strong enough."
"No, but it's actually a good job for your first effort," Ace says.
Sereia then uses her magestone pen to cast a spell on the rose, making it red.
"Look, I turn the rose red," Sereia says, very pleased.
"Good job," Briar says.
"Alright, let's continue," Cater says.
The group then continues to paint the roses red. Briar decides to take this opportunity to practice casting her magic. It shows that Briar can use magic, but it's very weak at this time, so the roses are turning into a light red color, almost pink even.
Grim then casts a spell on the rose and it turns red.
Grim is very happy, "Did you see?! I got it red in one shot!"
"Good work, Grim," Briar says happily.
"Yeah! Same here," Deuce says.
Briar then uses her magestone pen once more and casts the spell on the rose. This time, it turns into a perfect rose red color.
Briar happily says, "I did it. I turn the rose red."
"Alright Briar!" Jasper cheers.
"You use your magic well, even though this is the first time using it," Tanzanite says.
"Lookin' good! Just smooth it out a little and you'll be golden!" Cater says, "The trick is to picture a real red rose in your head when casting."
"That really helps?" Deuce asks.
Cater nods his head in reply.
"Thanks," Deuce says.
He then thinks, "Red rose... Red rose..."
Ace sighs and says in frustration, "Maaaan! I wanna use magiiic!"
"Don't worry Ace, I'm sure once we talk to Riddle you'll get that collar off in no time," Briar says.
Ace sighs and says, "If you say so."
The group then continues to paint the roses red until the job is done.