Mara woke to the sound of birds chirping outside her window, she sighed glad that her nightmare had finally come to an end again. Her hand went to her throat, touching the scars left behind by the Nightshade that had attacked her.

She pulled her long hair over her shoulder, hiding the marks behind her golden curtain before getting dressed to attend her meeting with the High Council. Despite their reluctance, they had allowed her to go back to visit her friends for a week on the condition that she meet with them on her return to Shadow's Edge.

She looked over to Trixle's bed, seeing her friend still fast asleep. She tiptoed out of the room making sure to shut the door silently behind her before running down the stairs afraid of being late. She couldn't transport herself to the room because she wasn't entirely sure where she was going.

Mara looked down at the piece of paper in her hands with the instructions she had received from Torlak before she went back to Earth. She squinted at the words wishing Trixle's father had better handwriting when she ran into something.

Mara squeaked and stepped back, looking up into the face of none other than Torlak Scantlen himself. Mara let out a sigh and smiled at the friendly face.

"Boy am I glad I ran into you... Not literally of course." She paused trying to gather her words. "I mean I can't understand a single thing on here that you wrote. You really should work on your penmanship."

Torlak feigned hurt. "My writing is just fine." He said before smiling. "I figured you might have some trouble so I was coming to meet you. I just happened to find you more suddenly than I had thought."

"Well then, lead the way." Mara said sweeping down into an exaggerated bow.

The fae king made some remark that Mara didn't quite catch before leading her down the maze of hallways. Mara found it hard to believe that the school could have so many twists and turns, it seemed like one giant square. Then again, it could just be a magical illusion, the High Council wouldn't want anyone to stumble upon one of their meetings.

If it weren't for Mara, they wouldn't even hold their meetings at the institution, but they made an arrangement with Headmistress Varkov to let them use a room in exchange for not calling Mara off campus every time they called a meeting.

"Are you ready for your first official meeting as a Council Member?" Torlak asked with a sideways glance.

"You mean all those meetings over the summer weren't official ones?"

"Nope, today you take the oath of the Council and become a member in full."

Mara suddenly became nervous, she bit her lip as she felt her stomach do flips. She was going to take an oath, swear her loyalty to the Council and the people of this world. There would be no chance for second guessing her decision, after this meeting it would be final.

All too soon they stopped in front of the door, and Torlak rapped his knuckles on the wooden door in what sounded like a pattern. The door swung open freely and he stepped through the threshold with Mara right behind him.

The thick curtains were drawn on the large windows, and the room was lit only with an array of candles. Torlak turned, halting Mara where she stood before going off towards the wall on her left. She could see him moving about, but she couldn't tell what he was doing exactly.

When she looked around the room, she could see the faces of each Council Member lit by a candle in front of each of their faces.

Suddenly the door closed behind her.

"We have assembled here today as one to bring forth our newest initiate of our organization. It comes after the passing of one of our own, and although it is a sad time, it is also a time to rejoice in the future of the High Council." A deep voice rang out from in front of Mara, and although she strained her eyes, she was unable to find the source of the words.

"We do not live forever, but our legacies do, the High Council has worked for thousands of years to protect our world from ourselves, as well as those who turn against their kind. We stand for a fair representation of all who inhabit these lands, and today we complete our circle once again.

"Initiate, if you would, please step forward."

Mara swallowed loudly and her shaking body slowly put one foot in front of the other until she was standing in the middle of the room in front of a podium encased in candle light.

"We ask that you place your right fist over your heart, and read the oath of the High Council placed before you." She could now see glimpses of the face behind the words, and she thought it was Makortax.

Mara placed her fist over her heart and looked down at the book in front of her with elegant scrawl across the worn pages. She cleared her throat before beginning.

"I, Mara Elizabeth Crowland, swear on this day to do everything in my power to defend the people of this world. I will bring with me the knowledge I have gained and my individual experiences to advance our ways." She paused with a shaky breath.

"I pledge to put not only the best interest of witches first, but the interest of all beings in the Realm. I vow to lay my life down for the protection of my people. In my actions I will never waver, I will never falter from the path of the Council."

Mara's eyes drifted to the words below the oath at the same time Torlak approached her at the podium with a dagger in his hand.

"You will now seal your oath with your blood. Please open your right hand." He smiled slightly trying to calm Mara's nerves.

She extended her arm towards Torlak, giving him her hand with the palm facing upward. Torlak brought the blade down to Mara's hand and pressing slightly swiped it across her skin. She could see a dark line appear in the blade's wake, looking black in the absence of light.

The blood pooled in her hand until Torlak turned her hand slightly, allowing drops of blood to fall down onto the object held tightly in Torlak's other hand.

"You have sworn the oath, and by blood you are bound. Should you break your oath, the penalty is death. From this day forth you will sacrifice your needs for those of the Magical Realm. Welcome Sister Crowland to your destiny."

He then set the object down, cleaned off the excess blood on Mara's hand and wrapped it up before Makortax approached, standing beside the fae king. He extended both hands, showing Torlak the bundle he was holding.

Torlak grabbed the fabric from Makortax's hands letting it unfold. He was holding a dark velvet mass in his hands, and before Mara could register what was going on, he tossed it around to her back, fastening a button near her throat.

"Welcome Sister Crowland." The candles blew out at once, and the lights flashed on over their heads.

Mara squinted as her eyes adjusted to the brightness, her fingers finding her way to the soft fabric draped around her. She looked at everyone in the room, noticing they all had what appeared to be an emerald green cape with a silver emblem with an HC over their heart.

She glanced down at the cloth that flowed around her mesmerized by the deep color, and the texture.

"We have just a few more orders of business left Mara." Mara turned to see Lillian, the vampire representative walking towards her.

The rest of the Council assembled in an arch behind Lillian. "You understand that what is talked about within the walls of our meetings stays here correct?"

Mara nodded looking Lillian in the eyes.

"Good. We have made the decision to keep Gretchen on as your guide for your Council knowledge as well as your magic training. We want to make sure you get the most out of your learning years as you can. The more you know, and the stronger you are the better." She stated matter-of-factly.

"We will have our scheduled meetings once every other month, those will be held in our normal facility which will be tuned into the portal here. Just use this code and you will find your way. All unscheduled meetings will be held in this room and you will be notified when they arise."

Mara nodded again trying to absorb all the information being thrown at her.

"Very well Mara, we would just like to welcome you to the High Council, we look forward to your contributions." At that, everyone's eyes were on her as they each put their fist over their heart in a salute to her.

Mara nervously did the same, nodding with respect to them before she was dismissed.

She walked out of the door in a daze, looking both ways down the hallway trying to remember which way she was supposed to go. She finally gave up and transported herself back up to her room and accidently stubbed her toe on the leg of her bed.

Mara grunted trying to hold in the scream bubbling to the surface and flopped onto her bed, finally yelling into the pillow.

Trixle walked back into the room and looked at Mara curiously. "Are you okay?"

"Yup, totally fine."

Mara rolled into a sitting position holding her injured foot. "I didn't know you were up already."

"Of course I'm up, it's almost noon."

Mara looked at her clock in disbelief. She didn't think she had been down gone for four hours, but sure enough it had.

"I just came to see if you were back and wanted to go get lunch."

"As if you even have to ask." Mara jumped up and they went down the stairs.

They met up with Marx and Emmett in line.

"Ladies." Marx said smiling at them as they bounded up.

"Men." Trixle replied with a smirk. "Have you been scoping the place out? Find any weaknesses in the fortress yet?"

"Why would you think we would be looking for weaknesses in the security?" Emmett asked appalled.

Trixle gave him a pointed look. Telling them both she knew better.

"Alright, alright." Emmett held his hands up in surrender. "We were, but we can't find anything. They really finished their job over the summer."

He paused for a moment.

"Hey, what happened to your hand?"

Mara looked up realizing he was talking to her. She remembered what Lillian said about the goings on inside the High Council meetings were to be kept silent, they probably wouldn't appreciate her talking about the ritual.

She turned around grabbing a tray and putting her full attention on what she was grabbing. "I uh... Tripped on the stairs this morning. I cut my hand on something sharp."

She could feel Emmett's questioning gaze on the back of her head.

"Mara's always tripping on those stairs, she's so klutzy, isn't she Trix?" Marx said with a forced laugh.

"Yeah she is. What are we going to do with her?" Mara glared at the ground mentally noting to use his remark at their first meeting against him later.

She then turned to see the knowing look in their eyes. Of course if anyone else would know about the rituals it would be the sons and daughters of the High Council. They most likely didn't go in blind like Mara had.

Emmett dropped the subject until they sat down at the table.

"So why didn't you just do some witch magic to heal your hand?"

"Well that would require me knowing more witches, and I sort of have a problem with meeting people if you haven't noticed. Healing magic doesn't really work when you try to use it on yourself."

Emmett looked down at his tray as if he were embarrassed for not knowing that, Marx and Trixle tried to hide their smiles.

Trixle, being her usual self, was already chattering on about the Fall Formal that was still a ways out. She had decided to join the committee that planned the entire dance, and she had ways of making people see her way. 

She was going into great detail about how she had gotten the committee to agree to a murder mystery theme when she was suddenly cut short.

A girl with red-orange hair walked up behind Emmett, slinking her arm around his shoulder. 

"Hey there big guy."

"Bethany." He acknowledged her.

"I was just wondering if you were busy later." The girl, Bethany, winked a pale blue eye at Emmett.

Trixle glared at the girl, she couldn't believe how open she was being. How she had just walked right up to Emmett in the dining room being as blunt as a baseball bat.

The girl ran her hands over Emmett's tense shoulders and bit her lip in a seductive way waiting for his answer.

"Actually I am busy." He replied with a blank face.

Bethany leaned in close to Emmett's ear smiling slyly.

"Well, maybe another time then."

She got up from the table strutting back to her friends, each one of them gawking at her as she made her way back to them.

"You werewolf men just can't keep the ladies away can you?" Trixle asked, cynicism in her voice.

Mara glanced at her friend curiously.

"What can we say, we are just irresistible. Isn't that right Mara?" Marx said sarcastically, adding a wink for good measure. 

Both Trixle and Mara rolled their eyes before getting up to leave. 

"What? Leaving so soon?" He called after them.

"We wouldn't want to scare off your female suitors your highness." Trixle said turning back to the boys before turning and following a snickering Mara up the stairs. 

Once they were on their way up, Mara turned her head back. 

"What was that about?"

"What was what about?"

Mara raised her eyebrow. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Well I don't think I do." Trixle raised hers back.

Mara sighed facing forward again. "Fine, don't tell me then. We're only best friends after all, we only share everything with each other."

"Oh come on, don't be like that."

They were still talking about Trixle's reaction down at the table when they got to their room. Both girls stopped dead in their tracks when they saw a figure standing in their room. 

They relaxed with they realized it was only Torlak, Trixle's father. 

"Sorry to pop in unannounced girls, but I forgot to give you something earlier Mara."

He stepped to the side and Sasha came into her sight.

"Sasha! Thanks so much for watching her while I was back home."

"It was no trouble. I would do anything for one of my children, and I consider you part of the family Mara."

She smiled and ran over to her cat, petting her behind the ears, her favorite spot. 

Sasha purred. "It's good to see you again, he is absolutely clueless as to how to take care of a cat."

Torlak frowned at the feline.

"Well Sasha, I know for a fact you are not dependent on others." Mara said with a knowing look.

"That is beside the point!"

"That one really has a mouth on her, doesn't she?" Torlak asked.

"Tell me about it."

Mara rolled her eyes and turned back to the fae king.

"Thank you again. For everything, I really mean it. You've been like a father to me these past couple months. I don't think I could have done half the things I did over the summer if it weren't for you."

"It is quite alright. I mean it Mara, you are like one of my children."

Mara gave the man a hug, as did Trixle before he left to go back to his kingdom.

"You girls be safe, and behave." He said with suspicious glances between the both of them.

"Promise!" They shouted in unison, both smiling.

Torlak chuckled before walking out the door.

No more than a couple minutes after Trixle's father left, there was a knock at the door. Trixle opened it, revealing none other than their two favorite boys.

"And just why are you here?" 

"Well," Emmett started. "You sort of left suddenly, and didn't we agree to do stuff together more often?"

"It's game night." Marx said holding up a deck of cards.

She stepped to the side allowing the two boys to enter the room. They sat up their game on the floor between the two beds.

They introduced the game to Mara as Krouldt. As they went over the rules, teaching her how to play, she realized the game sounded similar to the one she had played a couple times before called I Doubt It.

Out of everyone, Marx was the worst liar. Mara noticed his tell almost right away, it was a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth and she thought it was adorable. 

Adorable? Come on just focus on the game, not how cute he is when his mouth twitches. Mara mentally slapped her self and laid down three cards. 

"Three nines."

"Krouldt!" Marx called, looking at her with a smirk.

Mara groaned and picked up the massive pile of cards in the middle of them.

Trixle giggled and laid down one card.

"One ten. I win!" She jumped up and did a victory dance before sitting back down on the ground. 

"Does she always win?" Emmett asked. 

"Pretty much." Mara said rolling her eyes with a smile.

Trixle looked between the three.

"So, what should we play now?"

"How about something where there isn't a loser?" Emmett suggested jokingly.

"Hm. I've got it, how about we play truth or dare?" Trixle asked clapping her hands together.

"You play guys play truth or dare here?"

"Of course we do. We have access to your other world's movies and shows too you know. And it's a game, so why not play it?" 

Mara laughed. "I haven't played that since I was young, it wasn't really a popular game once we got older."

"Well that's your problem, you don't just dump a game once you get older. You enhance it." Trixle said. "So, truth or dare?"

"Why not?" Emmett said.

"Excellent! Mara you start." 

"Alright. Um Marx, truth or dare?"

He thought about it for a moment before his brown eyes flashed up to hers. "Dare."

Mara tapped her finger on her chin until her face lit up. "I dare you to belly dance for us in the middle of the circle." 

Marx stood up and turned his back to the rest of them. Mara could see him lifting his shirt up, but couldn't see what he was doing.

When he finally turned back around, she could see he had his shirt tied up around his chest, and his wonderful abs were showing. She had a hard time pulling her eyes away from his body long enough to watch him try, and fail miserably at belly dancing. 

He tried making undulations with his stomach and chest. The three couldn't hide their laughter as they watched Marx, looking clumsy for the first time ever.

He blew them an air kiss and winked before he sat back down. "Oh you know you want this." 

Mara and Trixle rolled their eyes at him as he leaned back, still showing his exposed stomach. "Trix, truth or dare?"

"Dare of course!"

"Hm, alright. I dare you to say the creepiest thing you can think of in the ear of the person sitting to your left." Marx said with a smirk.

Trixle looked to her left at Emmett and wrinkled her eyebrows for a moment before a scary smile spread across her lips. She leaned over to Emmett, and reached out her arms pulling him to her as she put her mouth close to his ear. 

"I want to wear your skin." She whispered quietly in his ear with the tone of a crazed serial killer.

Emmett actually pulled back quickly and stared at her with wide eyes. 

"Holy shit Trix. You are scary sometimes."

"What did she say?" Marx asked.

Emmett just shook his head like he wanted to forget about it, and Trixle smiled pleased with herself. Mara felt a temporary fear for her safety, little Trixle had managed to scare the big bad wolf, which had to be an accomplishment.

"Now, where were we?" Trixle asked in a singsong voice. "Ah right, Mara."

Her eyes flicked over to Mara and with a devilish face she asked the question. "Truth or dare?"