"Told you I aced the Magical Formulae exam," I grinned as me and Candi started on our lunch. "And I didn't do too bad on our Foundations of Sorcery exam either."

Candice rolled her eyes, "Abby you aced all your exams. I bet you're top of the honour roll by the end of the year."

I blushed, "I doubt it. And we won't know till this afternoon how we did on Magical Languages or Alchemy. And honestly, I barely got through Magical Languages. I'm not too confident about my Alchemy score either."

She looked unconvinced, so I grinned and suggested "How about a bet? Stakes are six hours under a Control spell. I think your Magical Languages grade will be higher than mine."

Candi gave me a skeptical look, "Wait what are the terms of this bet?"

"One of us spends six hours under a Control spell at the beck and call of the other. Whichever of the two of us has the higher grade in Magical Languages gets to decide who Controls whom."

"Hmm," she looked thoughtful. "Six hours of Control, plus I can keep the Transformation spell going for five hours now... That could be a lot of fun. Ok, deal!"

She grinned, then a moment later her smile faded and she sighed. "Except why do I feel like I just got suckered into something?"

I giggled, "Because whichever of us has the higher grade, we're both still going to win?"

She rolled her eyes again, but she was smiling as she focused on her lunch for now.

Today was the last day of first semester. It was also my ninetieth day here. Three full months since I died and got reincarnated into this wild afterlife. In a way I'd almost forgotten about that.

I'd certainly forgotten almost everything about my old life. I knew I used to be a human man and I lived in a world where there wasn't any magic or systems or stats. It really didn't make any difference to my new existence though. Here I was a girl, a half-sprite, and a student at an all-girls school for sorcery.

Over the past few days we'd written all our mid-term exams, today we were getting the results back and finding out our grades for the first semester. And tomorrow would be the start of our mid-year break. Four whole weeks without classes. It was like winter break and spring break rolled into one.

And almost everyone else in the dining hall was talking about it. It had been the subject of almost all the conversations around the dining hall for the last few weeks in fact. And just about everyone was saying the same things. Packing up. Going home. Four weeks with their families.

"Abby?" my girlfriend asked quietly. "Are you ok? You look sad."

I sighed as I turned to look at her again. "I've avoided talking about this, and you haven't said anything yet either, but um... I guess you'll be heading home as well? I'm sure your folks are dying to see you again, probably excited to find out how sorcery school is going."

She looked confused for a moment, then her expression softened. "Oh Abby. You're worried about being lonely over the break? You don't have anywhere to go, nobody waiting to see you again..."

"I'll be fine," I replied with a shrug. "It'll give me time to jump ahead in our studies. Or catch up to you in Magical Languages anyways. And I did miss the first month, right? This'll give me an extra month to focus on the academic stuff."

Candi reached out and took my hand in hers. She was still giving me a soft, sad look.

"Abby," she said as she gently squeezed my hand. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here with you over the break. I'm sure we won't be completely alone, though the school will be an awful lot quieter for a while. But you won't be all by yourself. I'm staying here with you."

I frowned at her, "What? But why? What about your family?"

She shook her head slightly and leaned close as she whispered, "I lied about my background. I'm like you, I don't have a family. It's a system thing. One of those secrets that we all have to keep, right? I'm sorry I never got around to telling you the truth."

I stared at her for a few seconds then asked softly, "Are you ok? Is it... Is everything ok?"

Candice nodded, "It's fine. I'm fine. Maybe someday we can talk about it more? Right now all that matters is we're both here, together."

"Ok Candi," I leaned closer and gave her a kiss. "I'm sorry you don't have anywhere to go either, but I'm glad we'll be spending the time together."

She smiled but said "Let's just finish lunch then get our last two classes over with ok?"

I nodded, and we both finished our midday meals. Then it was back to class for a few more hours, before we were free for nearly a month.

My grade in Magical Languages was actually a lot higher than I was expecting, but Candi's score still beat me by three points. I did all right in Alchemy too. I wasn't top of the class, but I was in the top five, alongside my brilliant girlfriend.

Then at long last classes were over. There was a huge urge to cheer and run for the exit, but everybody knew that would be unbecoming for a young sorceress. So we all just filed quietly out of the class and out of the building.

Candi and I were among the first ones out of the door, and my happy cheerful mood came to a screeching halt as I nearly walked straight into the tall gleaming figure of Lady Grace. The knight was standing directly in my path, clad in her brilliant shining armour, with her huge sword across her back.

"Absinthe Borealis," she stated in a firm voice as she stared down at me. "You are to accompany me to Headmistress Siusaidh's office."

My heart skipped a beat and I glanced at Candi. Her eyes were wide and she looked pale as she stared at me. She looked like she wanted to say something, and I definitely wanted to say something to her. I didn't know what though, I had no idea what was going to happen or what to expect.

"Now," the tall impressive knight stated. "Get moving."

"Yes ma'am," I replied.

She turned and started marching towards the mansion while I hurried along after her, trying to keep up.

I glanced back over my shoulder at Candi. She was standing still, she hadn't moved yet. She was still staring at me with that look of shock and fear and worry on her face.

After a few seconds I had to turn away and run to catch up to Lady Grace, who wasn't waiting for me.

My heart was racing and I had no idea what was going to happen. I'd never seen anyone else get called to the headmistress like this. From the look on Candi's face, she hadn't either.

Just like on that very first day, Lady Grace led me to the mansion, then up to the second floor, and finally down the hall to the door of the headmistress's office.

No sooner had we reached the door then I heard that voice from within as she stated "Enter."

I followed the knight inside, and together we approached the large mahogany desk. There was a single chair in front of the desk, it was made of wood and looked uncomfortable, with a hard seat and a straight back.

Siusaidh was sitting behind her desk just like I remembered from three months ago. Except this time there was a small pile of parchments on the desk before her, which she was looking through.

The headmistress's eyes flicked to Grace and she stated, "Grace, you may leave us to continue your assignment."

The knight bowed then exited the room, closing the door behind her.

Then she looked at me and stated, "Sit."

I sat down, though the seat was a little big for me and I actually had to pull myself up to get my behind onto it. And it was just as uncomfortable as it looked.

The headmistress got straight to the point. "Your teachers tell me you've done well, Absinthe. Your grades are among the highest in year one."

She shuffled some of the parchment in front of her as she continued, "And your extracurricular activities have not gone unnoticed either. It seems you have quite a knack for magic."

Siusaidh looked at one of the sheets in particular, "I understand you've even been able to teach some of the year-two students a thing or two."

I stayed quiet as she spoke. I had no idea where she was going with this, but her mention of year-two students made my heart skip a beat. Did she know I had four of them under my control? Evelynn told me that was allowed, even encouraged. What if that was a lie? What if my roommate set me up and now I was about to pay the price...

The headmistress looked up at me and her eyes locked on mine. My heart skipped another beat as I felt like a mouse who just caught the cat's attention.

"Absinthe, do you know why I accepted you into my school?"

I shook my head, "Not really headmistress."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, "You suspect something."

I gulped again, "The scholarship money made it worth your while?"

Siusaidh smiled, "That was part of the reason, yes. Do you know why I had Elizabeth assign you to share a room with Evelynn?"

My heart was racing even quicker as I nodded, "I think... My guess was I was meant to be fodder for her?"

The headmistress smiled again, but it was the sort of smile I'd imagine a shark wore when it spotted its next meal. "Correct. Evelynn's progress had stalled, and I thought sticking her with a non-human first-year roommate might inspire her to the same sort of advances she'd made by the end of her first year here."

I nodded slightly, but I wasn't sure if I was meant to say anything else about that. Obviously things didn't work out the way the headmistress planned, and I couldn't help feeling like she was going to blame me for that.

Instead she kept talking about my roommate.

"Did you know that Evelynn is the daughter of a Baron? And her friend Becky is the child of a Duke?" The headmistress kept her eyes on mine as she continued, "Like most of my students, Evelynn and Becky are both going home to their families now that the semester has ended. What do you think they'll tell their parents, Barons and Dukes, about this semester at Sappho's School of Sorcery?"

My heart was racing again and there was a cold heavy feeling in my stomach. I gulped, "I don't know, headmistress."

She kept her eyes on mine as she pushed the parchment off to the side of her desk.

"What do you think might happen Absinthe, if Evelynn or Becky or Trina or Rosie or even Alice were to return to their high-ranking wealthy noble families and tell their important parents that they'd been made the thrall of a tiny first-year half-sprite peasant? What do you think that would do to this school's reputation? What do you think that would do to my reputation as Headmistress?"

My blood felt like ice water and my stomach was full of frozen lead. I gulped once more, but I kept quiet. I knew she wasn't actually expecting me to answer, she was just leading up to whatever final bomb she was planning to drop on me.

Headmistress Siusaidh paused dramatically as she fixed that gaze on me again. It felt like she was about to pass judgement, but just as she opened her mouth to decide my fate there was a shudder then a blink, and finally a flicker.

I felt a wave of disorientation and dizziness, that settled down into nausea as my surroundings seemed to melt then resolidify.

The hard-backed wooden chair I'd been sitting in was now a flimsy grey plastic thing. The spacious wood-panelled office had contracted into a smaller room with industrial off-white walls and aged ceiling tiles complete with mysterious brown stains. A single florescent light buzzed overhead as it illuminated the room, including the not-motivational posters on the walls.

There were a couple dusty plastic plants in the corner. There was still a desk in front of me, but instead of the headmistress I found myself sitting across from Natasha, complete with her low-cut revealing cherry red dress.

And being back in that room I suddenly remembered everything about my old life. I remembered my name, what it was like being a guy. I remembered being twenty-five years old and unemployed. I remembered being flattened by a truck because my stupid mask broke. I remembered the pandemic, which was the reason I was out of work in the first place.

I wasn't rich or famous, I didn't die doing anything heroic. I was a lonely boring nobody who passed my time online reading TG/TF isekai stories and fantasizing about something like that happening to me.

A feeling of panic gripped me as I looked down at myself, but the fear was immediately replaced with relief. I was still me. I was still a cute tiny half-sprite girl named Abby.

My attention finally turned back to the hot brunette sitting behind the desk. Natasha had finished examining that thick file folder, and there was another one of those predatory smiles on her face as she looked at me.

"Well well little Absinthe," she commented in an amused voice. "You have been up to all sorts of mischief, haven't you?"

I rolled my eyes and frowned as I responded, "I hope I've kept you entertained?"

"Oh gosh yes!" she exclaimed. "Honestly, I was supposed to follow up with you after a week but I was having way too much fun for that."

Her expression became more serious as she continued, "Sadly though, we've hit the three-month mark and I can't put this off any longer."

That cold heavy feeling settled into my stomach yet again. First I got called before the headmistress, now I was called before... Whatever Natasha was. My angel? Demon? I had no idea.

"Put what off?" I asked nervously. "What's going on?"

She rolled her eyes, "Unfortunately part of my job means I have to make sure you're happy with the afterlife you were assigned. Now that you've had time to sample the goods, I'm contractually obligated to give you a choice."

Her smile was back as she gestured to the left, "If you're happy with the afterlife you were assigned, just step through that door and you'll be right back in Headmistress Siusaidh's office to hear whatever the hell she was about to lay down on you."

To my left a simple pressboard door appeared in the otherwise empty wall, with a big '#1' scrawled on it in sloppy blue paint.

"Or you can trade it all in for the brand new afterlife that's behind door number two!"

To my right another cheap door appeared, this one had a big '#2' slapped on in messy red paint.

Natasha had that wide predatory grin on her face again as she added, "Fair warning though. If you take door number one, there's no more second chances. You're stuck with whatever happens there. If you take door number two, you'll start over in a brand-new afterlife with another trial period to see if you like it. But..."

She paused dramatically.

"If you try door number two, you can never return through door number one again. So choose wisely Absinthe, because one way or another, whatever decision you make, door number one will close forever."

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