Alex watched the new girl climb into the car. She had curly red hair, pale skin covered with freckles, and soft brown eyes. She seemed nice.

Nicer than the other girl, Juliette, at least.

From the moment the dark-haired, tan-skinned girl first walked into Ms. Proditor's minivan like she owned the place and sat down without a word to Alex, he knew she was going to be trouble. It was her attitude that bugged him.

She was smart. In advanced science and math classes, teacher's pet... Juliette was smart, and she knew it. Alex knew it. Everyone knew it.

And that was her problem. It was like she thought herself "above" everyone else. It had gone to her head, made her arrogant.

Alex hated people who were arrogant.

Pushing Juliette from his mind, Alex watched the new girl as she carfully squeezed past Juliette, who barely looked at the new girl, and awkwardly sat down in between the two of them.

"Hi, I'm Penny," she said in a quiet voice. "Do you know what's going on?"

Alex was about to answer that, no, he didn't, when Ms. Proditor sat down in the driver's seat. "Goodness! Your mother was harder to convince than I expected! Well, it doesn't matter now. You're here. To think, all three of the Fabulosa in one place! This is exciting!"

She stared, beaming at the three in the crowded backseat, as if expecting them to share in her excitement. Penny managed a weak smile in return, but Alex could tell she was confused.

Of course she was confused. She didn't even know about the Fabulosa, Magicae, about anything! Heck, Alex knew about all that and he was still confused!

Juliette felt the same way, apparently. She burst out at Ms. Proditor.

"What on earth is a Fabulosa? Why did I have those dreams about a unicorn, then turn into one, then pass out and talk to some lady who says that she's 'my future,' and yet she lived a long time ago? Nothing makes sense anymore! The laws of science are going haywire! Logic has flown out the window! And who even are you? How do you know about any of this? Where are we going? Would someone please tell me what the heck is going on here?"

Penny nodded agreement. Privately, Alex felt the same, but he didn't want to agree with Juliette, so he kept his mouth tightly shut.

Ms. Proditor stared at Juliette, stern-faced. Then her face creased into a smile. "I know what you mean, dear. I'm sure you're confused. So now I'll answer any questions you have."

Juliette wasted no time. "Okay then. Why did I turn into a unicorn thing?"

"The unicorn is your animal of the Fabulosa. Alex and Penny experienced the same thing, only Alex with a dragon and Penny with a pheonix. The Fabulosa experience the image of their mythical creature around them in the place of a regular Coming."

Juliette looked surprised that the others had been through the same thing. "The lady in my dream, after the unicorn thing, called me a Fabulosa too. What does that mean?"

Ms. Proditor sounded as if she was reciting this from memory. "The Fabulosa are three legendary Magicae whose powers include transforming, each into one of the three mythical creatures: pheonix, dragon, and unicorn. They only come in times of great need for the Magicae community. They have only come once before, when the Malum was first created, and defeated them. Now, as the Malum has come again, so have the Fabulosa."

Penny piped up. "When I had the dream with the Pheonix lady in it, she talked about people who were called Magicae. Are you one?" She paused. "Are we?"

Alex was slightly surprised. Living in the same neighborhood as Juliette, he knew that she didn't come from a Magicae family. But he hadn't known that Penny didn't either. Alex supposed he had a bit of an unfair advantage over the girls, already knowing about the Fabulosa, where they were going, and about Magicae in general. The only thing he didn't know is why he was supposed to be a Fabulosa, and what he was supposed to do, about what would happen next, and about what being a Fabulosa even meant. The others were pretty much clueless.

Ms. Proditor smiled at Penny. She seemed to have developed a fondness for the girl. "Yes, you indeed are. All of you. I am, as well. And right now, we are going to the Academy of Magicae, where you will learn to train and develop your powers."

"But..." Penny was confused. "I thought we were going to a school for those good in certain subjects?"

Ms. Proditor nodded. "Unfortunately, I had to tell your mother that. Your father as well, Juliette. It's too risky to tell non-Magicae about the real reason behind the school. You will be taking advanced classes in certain subjects, as well as other normal classes, in the mornings. Afternoons are devoted to magic classes."

"It seems impossible, yet it makes sense." Juliette muttered. Everone turned to stare, so she clarified. "Magic, that is. It's crazy, but it's the only thing that fits."

"But what about the Malum? In the dream, Pheonix said a little bit about it, but I'm still confused."

Juliette piped up as well. "Same here. Unicorn mentioned it, but didn't say much about it or go into much detail on the subject."

Juliette struck Alex as then kind of person who has to have all the details, all the answers. And needless to say, that bugged Alex.

Ms. Proditor hesitated, and Alex understood why. The Malum wasn't something people took lightly, something that most tried not to talk about or remember. Finally she spoke.

"As you probably learned in your dream, the Malum are a secret society dedicated to learning evil arts. Arts that could be considered magic, but not at all like ours."

Juliette interrupted. "How are they different?"

"Our magic is natural, as it has been here since the world was created. It is a part of every human being, but some have the ability to channel it into a power. That is what Magicae, what we, are.

"But the Malum, their magic isn't natural. They get it from dark things. Using that kind of magic drains them of their souls, of their very selves, eventually leaving their bodies without the soul, in a sort of vegetative state. But until that happens, they are powerful. Very powerful. And some have trained themselves to monitor theirselves, so that they can do what they wish, but carefully, so they don't lose too much of themselves. " Ms. Proditor's voice sounded a bit weird. Alex put it down to just being nervous talking about the Malum.

Alex, of course, knew all about the Malum. They were what parents told their children to get them to be good. "Eat your veggies, or the Malum will get you and take away your soul! Go to bed, or the Malum will come for you!" They had always been there, but now, in modern times, they were so few that no one thought of them as much of a threat.

Ms. Proditor continued. "Recently we realized that their numbers have been growing, and then we heard something horrible." She lowered her voice. "We recieved word, from a source that will remain unnamed, that they are currently developing something that will allow them to still get their dark magic, but keep their souls."

Alex gasped. He couldn't help himself. If what Ms. Proditor said was true...

Then the entire Magicae community was pretty much doomed.