Reina felt the water devour her, her eyes tightly shut and her body sank deeper and deeper into the lake. Suddenly her excitement turned into a moment of panic and she jumped, gasping for air. The sun shone brightly, not a cloud in sight. The trees brushed from side to side and the wind seemed to be much louder. But apart from that nothing had changed. The lake, the forest, the bridge in the distance, it all looked the same. Her panic grew as she looked around for Gloria who was not there.

'Is this another trick?' she thought to herself, until two people jumped right out of the lake, gasping for air and laughing. She gave out a sigh of relief.

"Well I believe we haven't met," the strange creature was nearly twice her size, with beautiful long hair and muscular features. He looked down on her and must have sensed her discomfort as he tried to gave out a warm smile, "I'm Montgomery."

"I-I am Reina. It's nice to meet you!" She said, rather abruptly, trying her best not to stare.

At that moment another boy came out of the lake, shaking his hair left and right. Almost giving her a fright.

"We doing introductions?" his voice sounded familiar.

"Arthur. Arthur Rayland." He gave a quick nod and started walking out of the water before she could give any response. His name sounded familiar too.

"Oh, um...Nice to meet you," she replied, still in shock. Although he didn't seem to take any notice.

'Arthur...Rayland. Arthur-"

The cat?

"Come on, I'm so tired of this, let's get out of here," Arthur gave out a groan and floated up into the air like it was the most normal thing to do, "I'm not waiting for you lot."

The cat.

Gloria let out a groan of annoyance and yelled at him from the top of her lungs. Reina gasped and nearly tripped back out of surprise from the sudden explosion.

THE CAT?!

He looked down and was gone in a flash. Her head was spinning from all the mess she found herself in and started to feel sick. Her cheeks turned red and there was only one thing that she could think of throughout their whole journey. He was a bloody cat.

"See, that wasn't so bad was it?" Gloria winked when they seemed to have reached their destination. 

She looked around there was a group of little children screaming at the sight and ran towards Gloria, who jumped from joy by seeing them. Meanwhile, Montgomery instructed her to follow him. She felt a little nervous to go but Gloria was having so much fun with the children that she couldn't ask her to go with them. 

She walked slowly behind him, looking at the little houses and the children playing. It seemed to be a playground for children. Nothing seemed odd. Well, for the most part. She was shocked to see Gloria's toyshop as well, where the centaur was leading her. 

She had never felt more awkward or embarrassed in her life. She didn't know how to react, what to say. Her anxiety was peaking and her introverted self was beyond exhausted.

The Gremlin's Toyshop.

Reina realised she couldn't remember the name of the other shop. There were certain things out of place, while others were normal. Every time her brain wanted to deny it, she would remind herself that she was walking next to a centaur. That was definitely something.

"How much do you know?" Montgomery asked.

"About what?" She asked back.

"I guess not a lot then," Montgomery sighed and slightly raise his eyebrows out of concern, "Come on, go get changed."

He pointed at the pile of towels in the corner when Gloria came running into the shop, panting for air.

"You shouldn't have left without me. And you!" She glared at Montgomery and pointed at Reina's face who stood still as a statue, "you're not going to ask questions or run away or do anything until you get changed. You have been soaking wet for the whole entire time so unless you want to get sick you better listen or else-"

"We'll leave you to it," Montgomery pushed her out of the door and left the shop, slamming the door shut.

Well that was that.

It wasn't before long until Reina was sitting in a bed upstairs from the shop which turned out to have a few other rooms as well. She was finally changed in a new pair of clothes. Tucked in, food placed on her lap, bowl of soup, some bread, drink and snacks. A pile of clothes in the wardrobe which Gloria threw them in while frantically moving up and down the stairs like a crazy woman. 

She clearly wasn't expecting any guests. All this was good, but she still had no idea what was going on. And as if Gloria read her mind, she sat down next to her and sighed.

"Okay shoot."

"Huh?"

"Question time!" she sang in a tune, "Go ahead and ask me anything."

Reina didn't realise how over the top Gloria was, she was friendly and all but her personality and watching her become so hectic was making her tired, "Well, I don't know where I am and-"

"You're still on Earth if that's what you're wondering, you're just somewhere most people can't see. Or have access to. Unless you have me. Because I can make portals that connect between Azelrya and the Otherworld," Gloria cupped her hands on her face, blinking and grinning like a puppy.

"Otherworld?"

"Earth. That's what we call it here. But anyway, I wanted to ask you," Gloria clapped her hands twice, to which a little pixie-like figure rushed into the room, carrying a massive bag of...

"What's that?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go on a mission with us," Gloria smiled, ignoring her question.

"What? I still don't know who you are or why I'm here."

"Just leave that there please!" Gloria turned her attention to the bright floating light for a short moment as it dropped the massive bags on the floor and a loud crashing noise that followed soon after, "You will be overwhelmed if I give you all the details but I run an orphanage, and we teach magic to the children there."

Reina nodded as she listened.

"We are training these individuals to become the world's best witches and wizards, to preserve magic, because it's dying out you see."

Reina continued to nod slowly.

"And...We want you to join us. You don't have to decide now, of course."

"You're going to teach me magic?"

"Yes."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Gloria nodded, "well for the most part. Anyway, these are just some gifts for the trouble we put you through. Also because I'm trying to bribe you."

Gloria gave her another smile as she stared at the bags and nodded again. This conversation was making her head hurt but at the same time, she was fascinated by everything that was happening. 

This was not the world or the people she was used to. It's the type of thing that would only happen in her head without all the fear and stress that came along with it. But despite all this uncertainty, she felt at peace somehow. She was almost scared that it would all be over.

"But why me?" she asked, "why did you pick me?"

"Because you asked for help."

"I did? When?"

"In the lake. When you nearly drowned. You know you still haven't told me what happened there."

Reina bit her lips and looked away.

"Well never mind, but Arthur found you first so you should really thank him."

"I need to know what happened to my mum," said Reina, trying to change the subject. Now was not the time she wanted to think about Clary. Or what happened in the lake. Besides, the strange occurrence with her mother was the most puzzling. Reina looked down to her knees, her heart beating fast again, "I think...Well...I'm not really sure who that was."

"That was a goblin," she replied.

"A goblin?"

"Yes. One that can shapeshift probably."

"So why was it there? What happened to my mum?"

"It most likely knew you were coming home and tried to trick you by pretending to be your mother. Not sure how it happened, but one thing for sure is that you weren't safe." When Gloria noticed Reina's eyes drooping low, almost about to fall asleep, she placed the bags in the corner of the room and started tucking her into bed, "We'll try and find her at some point so don't worry about it too much. Just get some rest."

"When you say magic," Reina whispered quietly, "...Does it really exist?"

Reina's heart had calmed down a little, things were starting to make a little more sense and she was starting to trust the things that were happening around her. So when Gloria made the jug on the table to move on its own, pour down water from it through a gentle stream and made a little bear float out of the bag, all through the simple motion of her hands, she had no doubt that it was real.

"It's as real as you and I."

And for the first time in her life, there was a small crack within the walls she was trapped inside.