Simon was mostly done unpacking his folded laundry when a knock was heard on the door. Jesse was already completely done unpacking and was chatting with Ricky, but Simon hadn’t altogether finished even with his folded laundry yet - and hadn’t started on his hanging laundry or anything else he had to unpack.

  “Hey there,” said the voice on the other side of the door. “It’s me, Amy. Can I come in?”

  “Yes,” said Simon, somewhat drearily. He was eager to see Amy, but somewhat ashamed that he was nowhere near done unpacking yet.

  Jesse got up, went to the door, and opened it. Simon now felt doubly bad - as he hadn’t thought of the fact that Amy, not having a key clip for this room, would not be able to enter without someone else opening the door - something that Jesse clearly thought of instinctively.

  “Not done unpacking yet?” asked Amy.

  “No,” Simon hung his head in shame.

  “Well that’s okay,” she said, sitting down on the chair before the only vacant desk. “You’ve got plenty of time.”

  “Jesse got here at the same time I did,” he insisted, “and he’s all done.”

  “There’s a good chance that a lot more of this is new to you than to him,” she reminded.

  “Yes,” he said with a smile, knowing that Amy was correct. “I never before saw paintings that seem like windows.” He continued unpacking, her words of encouragement somehow making it a bit easier.

  “And you’ve probably never been on a flying carpet before,” added Amy.

  Simon nodded. He never had been on a flying carpet before - or even been to the fourth-and-a-half floor of the Sunsphere.

  “And,” continued Amy, “there’s lots of things you haven’t seen before that you’re going to see real soon.”

  “I wonder what I will see next,” noted Simon, now nearly done unpacking his hanging laundry.

  “Well,” said Amy, “there’s some stuff I’d like to go over with you after the welcome ceremony.”

  “What?” asked Simon.

  “It’s about the magic you asked about,” answered Amy.

  “Oh yeah,” said Simon, taking the hint that this was not something to discuss in front of the others in the room.

  “What magic?” asked Ricky.

  “Oh, just some stuff Simon needs help with,” said Amy. “I mean, he’s new to the magical world.”

  Simon looked up at Amy, almost in a panic, to ask her what about the help she had promised with somamorphy - but as he looked up, he saw her smile at him in a way that reassured him that he had nothing to be concerned about - but Ricky just didn’t need to know any details.

  By now, he had finished unpacking his clothes and was putting his textbooks in the shelf above his desk. After finishing that, he sheepishly pulled out his copy of “The Body Transformed”. He brought it to Amy and showed it to her.

  “You know about the safe under your bed?” she asked, quietly.

  Simon looked at the side of his bed and saw what looked like a drawer that took up a third of the side of the bed - the third that was closest to his head. Just under the handle was a tiny plaque bearing the words “Simon Corbin - private storage”.

  “I see a drawer,” he said, slowly pulling it open.

  “It’s a safe,” she explained. “You wouldn’t be able to open it without your key clip.”

  Simon opened the safe and could immediately see that this was one more thing that had a space augmentation charm. He put the book in a narrow compartment near the side. Then, after putting his stationery on his desk, he closed his bags, and placed them in the safe as well.

  And just as Simon closed the safe, the door to the room opened again. This time another boy about the same age as the other three in the room stepped in.

  “Hey there, roomies,” said the boy, looking around. He went to the only vacant bed and threw his bags on it. “So,” he said. “I’m Tom Reynolds. Who are you?”

  “Ricky McGhee,” said Ricky.

  “Jesse Davenport,” replied Jesse.

  “I am Simon Corbin,” said Simon.

  “Nice to meet you, Simon Corbin,” said Tom, shaking Simon’s hand and then Jesse’s and Ricky’s.

  “Anyway,” said Amy, getting up off of the chair and heading to the door, “I’ll find you after the ceremony, and then we can talk.”

  “See you,” said Simon.

  “So what’s that about?” asked Tom, as soon as Amy was out of the room.

  “Amy’s helping me with some magic,” said Simon, careful not to reveal too much to Tom.

  “Hey, we’ve all got a lot to learn about magic,” said Tom. “That’s why we’re here.”

  “Simon more so,” said Jesse. “He’s from a mundie family.”

  “Oh, I see,” acknowledged Tom.

  * * *

  The four boys continued to get to know one another. Tom turned out to be from Tennessee - just like Simon and Jesse. Only instead of being from East Tennessee, he was from Nashville, all the way in Middle Tennessee. Ricky, on the other hand, was from a middle class family in Lexington, Kentucky. But everyone in the room except for Simon was from a magical family.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  As the conversation went on, though, Simon gradually disengaged. He sat there as Jesse and Ricky talked - not entirely following the conversation. As they talked, Tom unpacked, interjecting occasionally - joining fully only after he was done unpacking. Simon, however, found himself zoning in and out - sometimes noticing interesting words, other times completely lost in his own mind, pondering what other wonders Misty Peaks might hold, and all the interesting things magic might be able to do.

  Eventually, he got his copy of “The Body Transformed” out of his safe, went to his desk, and started to read it. He focused on it so heavily that he no longer noticed the other boys talking.

  “Hey there,” he eventually heard one of his roommates saying. It was Tom. “Earth to Simon.”

  “What?” asked Simon, trying to hide his impatience at having had his concentration disrupted.

  “What’cha reading there?” asked Tom.

  “The Body Transformed,” he held his book up to show his roommate the cover.

  “What’s that about?” he asked.

  “Somamorphy,” answered Simon.

  “What?” asked Tom. “Trying to grow wings?”

  Right then, a knock was heard on the door.

  “Who’s there?” called Tom.

  “It’s me, Ethan,” said Ethan’s voice on the other side of the door. “Are you ready for me to come in?”

  “No,” said Tom. “Simon just turned into a girl, and we’re trying to stop him from kissing any of us.”

  Simon tensed up. “I would not kiss you,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “But you’d turn into a chick?” taunted Tom.

  “Seriously,” said Ethan, “can I come in?”

  “Yeah, sure,” said Jesse, going to the door and opening it.

  As soon as the door was open, Ethan stepped in. “Okay,” he said, “who’s brought a familiar with them?”

  “I did,” said Simon.

  “What kind?” asked Ethan.

  “A cat,” responded Simon.

  Ethan: “Domestic?”

  Simon: “Yes.”

  “Anyone else?” asked Ethan.

  “I brought an owl,” said Ricky.

  “I’ve got a raccoon,” added Jesse.

  Ethan looked at Tom.

  “You think I need a familiar?” asked Tom, boastfully.

  “Alrightie - three familiars then,” said Ethan. “So let’s start with Simon. did you find the safe under your bed?”

  “You mean the drawer that says ‘private storage’?” asked Simon.

  “Yes,” affirmed Ethan.

  Simon nodded.

  “Okay,” continued Ethan, “on the same side of the bed, half-way between the safe and the foot of the bed, you should find a square hole for you to put the traveling form of your carrier. Do you see it?”

  Simon looked where Ethan told him to. Surely enough, half-way between the safe and the foot of the bed, at the center of the panel, there was exactly such a hole labeled “Simon Corbin - familiar.”

  “Yes, I see it,” affirmed Simon.

  “Good,” instructed Ethan. “Then stick the carrier in there, turn it ninety degrees clockwise, and pull out the key.”

  Simon did as Ethan instructed, and immediately the keyhole began moving toward the top of the panel along with its label. As soon as it reached there, a cat door appeared near the foot of the bed - and a shelf appeared at the bottom half of the rest of the panel.

  “Okay, now what?” asked Simon.

  “Once the cat door and feeding port appear,” explained Ethan, “you can put your key in the safe. You probably won’t need it again until you go home for vacation.”

  “I won’t?’ asked Simon.

  “No,” affirmed Ethan. “It’s your key clip that lets you access the feeding port - and the anti-allergen collar paired to the carrier that allows access to the cat door.”

  “And what if I need to get inside the cat house?” asked Simon.

  “Human access to the familiar’s housing is available at Familiar Services. That’s also controlled by your key clip. Oh, and Familiar Services is also where you should go if you need a refill of your supply of cat food - which you also should keep in your safe.”

  With that, Ethan went on to helping Jesse get his raccoon’s habitation connected - and then helped Ricky get his owl settled in. Simon placed the necklace with his key to Luna’s housing on a special peg in his safe. He then got back to reading. When he finally had reached a good breaking point and was ready to return the book to the safe, he turned and saw Luna slowly and cautiously emerge from the cat door into the room and begin exploring it while Simon put the book back in its place in the safe. After a few minutes, she approached Simon for a few minutes of pampering. This pampering focused on scratches behind the ear, to which Simon happily got down on his knees and obliged.

  After a few minutes of this bliss, she then returned to her cat house. Simon got up and went out the door, headed for the common room. Within minutes he was there, sitting at one of the tables next to the oramasynthic painting, staring “out” at Drippidy Falls. As he sat there, waiting for the welcome ceremony, he began to worry. How would he know when it was time for the welcome ceremony? Was he even sure where the welcome ceremony would be, or how to get there?

  As he worried, he began to feel a restlessness that even the sound of the fictional waterfall couldn’t quell. He turned away from the painting and saw Amy at a round table not far away with a young Black woman her own age, both of who were chatting with two girls about Simon’s age. One of those girls was a redhead with a ponytail, the other a blond with long wavy hair.

  Slowly and cautiously, he got out of his chair and walked toward the table where they were all sitting.

  “Oh, hi Simon!” said Amy as he got close. “I’d like you to meet my friend, Lacy Walker. Lacy, this is Simon Corbin - first year. We met over summer break.”

  “Nice to meet you,” said the other young woman, extending her hand for Simon to shake. He shook it and looked in her eyes. They weren’t purple, but brown - and the pupils were not slits like those of a cat, but round just like those of any other human.

  “Is this the same Lacy you told me about?” asked Simon.

  “It is,” assured Amy. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  “Her eyes,” explained Simon, sheepishly.

  “Yeah,” said Amy, “She can only have them like that in the summer. Just like my hair.”

  “You told him about my eyes?” asked Lacy, in feigned shock.

  “He was curious about my hair,” explained Amy. “Anyway,” she continued, turning back to Simon, “Here are also two other first-years I’d like you to meet. Here’s Lilith Collins.”

  “Charmed,” said the blonde, extending her hand and looking Simon over with intense green eyes.

  “Charmed,” replied Simon. He shook her hand despite being a little bit shocked. She had only met him. What was she judging him for?

  “And Samantha Rogers,” continued Amy.

  “Nice to meet you,” said the redhead, extending her hand.

  “Nice to meet you too,” reciprocated Simon.

  “Have a seat,” said Amy.

  Simon sat down in one of the two empty seats, right between Amy and Samantha, right across from the other empty seat between Lacy and Lilith.

  “So, when do we go to the welcome ceremony,” he asked.

  “Not too long,” she answered. “As soon as everyone’s settled, they’ll send the Student Council to round us all up. Don’t sweat it. Just sit here. Chill with us! By the way, Samantha’s from the mundie world - just like you!”

  “So your parents are also mundies?” Simon asked Samantha.

  “Well, my mom is,” she said. “My dad’s a wizard - but I haven’t seen him since I was three.”

  “Both of my parents are mundies,” explained Simon. “I only learned this summer that magic is real.”

  “Well,” answered Samantha, “I grew up knowing it was real, but didn’t really know much more about it than that.”

  “So, Simon,” asked Lilith. “Where are you from?”

  “Oak Ridge, Tennessee,” he answered. “And you?”

  “Charlotte, North Carolina,” responded Lilith.

  Everyone turned to Samantha. “Fayetteville, Arkansas,” she finally blurted out.

  “And where are you from?” Simon asked Amy.

  “Oh,” answered Amy, “Lacy and I grew up together in Athens, Georgia.”

  “Is that far from Atlanta?” asked Simon.

  “Not really far if you’re good on a broomstick,” said Amy, “but I wouldn’t want to walk.”

  Simon sat there, confused. Why would anyone want to walk from one city to another? In truth, though, he was curious about whether the two places were close-by like Oak Ridge and Knoxville, on opposite sides of the state, or anywhere in between. As he didn’t know how fast a broomstick could travel, Amy’s answer wasn’t particularly helpful in that regard.

  Finally, Simon noticed Amy look up as Ethan approached the table.

  “Hey ladies,” said Ethan in his jovial voice, “it’s time to head to the Great Hall for the welcome ceremony.”