Villainous Instructor at the Academy

By the time we got back to the academy grounds, I regretted two things: letting Felix talk too much, and not pushing him into a fountain when I had the chance.

"Well, I think we should do something traditional," Felix said, puffing out his chest like an idea was about to fall out. "Like... a haunted house! Every festival needs one!"

I stared at him. "Felix. You’re already living proof of a failed summoning ritual. We don’t need to replicate it."

"I’m serious!"

"That’s the problem."

We’d barely reached the dorm entrance when we saw them—Mira, Wallace, and Leo—clustered around a table like a cabal of over-caffeinated goblins. Which, knowing Wallace, was a real possibility.

"There you are!" Mira waved us over, her grin wicked. "Just in time. We’re submitting the festival proposal."

"Oh no," Felix muttered. "They’ve already started scheming."

"You say that like you aren’t about to get dragged in feet first," I said, elbowing him forward.

Wallace slapped down a parchment like it was a war map. "We present: Class C’s festival attraction—The Maze of Mayhem."

Leo crossed his arms. "It’s half illusion trap, half combat trial, and one hundred percent designed to make people scream."