Sitting down to eat, I couldn't keep my eyes off of Reginald. I wondered what he thought about being surrounded by students from Doom Valley Prep School. He was pointedly ignoring everyone, eating his lightly grilled baby charybdis steak. He hadn't actually looked at me once since he offered to act as my guide, assistant and bodyguard. I still didn't know why Ella had accepted his offer. He would only mess things up.

Dipping my fire shrimp in a sweet sauce that helped make the burning sensation of the meat enjoyable, I turned my attention back to Mrs. Stirling. She was being a very good hostess, now that her son wasn't trying to kill me. She also had a lot of interesting stories of famous heroes and villains from all over the world.

“We had finally reached the sacrificial chamber of the High Priest of C'Hulo, and it was less than a minute to midnight. The cultists had ten blood golems guarding the altar, and at least twenty wraiths, ready to slow us down. There was no chance we could reach the High Priest before he sacrificed your mother, Ella. And the moment her soul was absorbed by the Jewel of Raylei, it would be game over for us and everything within a thousand miles.”

“So what did you do?” Naomi asked.

“As the others fought, I did something a little desperate,” Mrs. Stirling said. “I cast a switch spell. As the sacrificial dagger came down, instead of slicing into Elizabeth's unarmoured chest, it hit my enchanted scale mail. The dagger shattered, ruining the spell, and saving the day. While the High Priest stared at me in surprise, I rolled off the altar and bashed his head in with my mace. Without their leader, clean up was easy. Honestly I wasn't sure if my trick would work, but there wasn't anything else I could think of.”

Ella grinned. “Mom never told me how you two met, except to say you saved her life.”

“I can't blame her for not wanting to talk about it. Getting kidnapped and almost sacrificed isn't nearly as much fun as getting to be the hero. Of course, that unpleasantness was mostly forgotten during the celebration party, that's when she met your father and he swept her off her feet.”

Clarice who had been listening silently with a big smile, asked, “ Did The Immortal Emperor flirt with her?”

“Not really,” the woman said. “When I said he swept her off her feet, I really meant it. He made a wind pick her up, put her on his lap, and asked if she wanted to marry him.”

“That sounds like something Daddy would do,” Ella admitted.

“When he told your mother she could have a laboratory all to herself, with an unlimited budget and staff, she agreed on the spot.”

“And that fits Mom to a T.”

Taking a sip of her wine, Mrs. Stirling smiled at all of us. “Where are my manners, I've done most of the talking tonight. What are you studying at Doom Valley.”

My friends told her, and she made a polite comment to each one. Then it was my turn. “I'm in the general program. My parents wanted a well rounded education.”

Her eyes went wide. “Oh dear. How have you done so far?”

“I've survived, mostly,” I replied.

“I'm surprised they don't have you in the subterfuge. I watched how you worked with my son on the pass or die test. You really did pull off the helpless maiden act. Even I was fooled at first.”

“That... wasn't really a trick,” I admitted, squirming in my seat.

“You actually went into the test without a plan?”

“Yes. I slept in and didn't see the note until the last minute. I just did what I had to, to survive.”

Reginald snorted. “Liar.”

“Reginald,” Mrs. Stirling said, a clear warning in her tone. “Manners.”

“I will not let her lie in our house,” he snarled. “She couldn't possibly have survived long enough to meet me without a plan. And then she managed to fool me.”

Ella cleared her throat. “Actually, Petra didn't have a clue what was going on. My test started an hour before hers, and when I tried to wake her up, she said she just wanted five more minutes and went back to snoring.”

“You're trying to tell me she survived the entire test from dumb luck?” Reginald said, clearly not believing a word of it.

“Well most of it, yes. Once you got to the goblin village, she started getting clever. Her luck is strange.”

My nemesis glared at my best friend. “You saw the test?”

“We all did. The teachers played it at supper for everyone to watch. Since she was the only one to survive and pass, they thought it was a good example for everyone.” My friends nodded in agreement with Ella.

The dishes rattled as he face planted into the table. “I'm a laughing stock. I'll never live this down.”

“Probably not,” Clarice said helpfully.

Mrs. Stirling was looking at me oddly. “Ella, what did you mean that Petra's luck is strange?”

My friend looked confused for a second, clearly not expecting that question. “Um. Well she has terrible luck. Her magic almost always backfires. She somehow manages to attract the worst attention from bullies. If something could go wrong, it usually will in the most humiliating way. But then she'll manage to do something that really shouldn't be possible. The test is a perfect example. She slept in, almost got eaten by slime, got captured by goblins, but then your son just happened to come along and rescue her. She should have died several times, but somehow she managed to avoid the traps, the tunnel dragon nest, the wandering orcs and giant rats. And as soon your son showed up, he had the same luck. He'd had to fight a dozen monsters before they met, and then it was only goblins. That's not normal.”

Scratching her chin, the woman narrowed her eyes. “Petra, would you come with me for a few minutes? The rest of you can start on dessert, we'll be back soon.”

The way she asked, made it clear it wasn't really a question. “OK,” I said, getting up to follow her inside the house.

We went upstairs, passing statues, vases and paintings that looked extremely expensive, and went into a room made of white marble with runes covering almost every surface. This looked to be her workroom, and I was kind of afraid to step inside, some of the runes looked really dangerous. But if she wanted to kill me, she could have let Reginald do it earlier, so I walked with her to the middle of the room.

“Petra, when did your strange luck start happening?” she asked.

“I'd say probably when I first heard I was going to Doom Valley.”

“And when did you first hear that?”

“The day my parents put me on the roc to go to school. They didn't want me worrying, so waited until that morning to tell me.”

Her eyes widened in shock at that. “Do your parents hate you?”

“I think they wanted to be childless. But actively hating me, no,” I admitted.

She waved her arm and a large crystal ball appeared in the air in front of her. “Do you remember anything strange shortly before that?”

“Not really. My life used to be pretty ordinary. It wasn't until I got on the roc, that things went weird.”

“What was the first thing that went... weird?”

I blushed. “I'd really rather not say.”

“You can tell me, I won't tell anyone else without your permission, I swear.”

I really wanted to trust her. She was a hero, and she seemed very nice. But she was also the mother of Reginald. Still she had asked nicely. “I met a boy called Micheal and he's a really smart alchemist. For some reason he decided I would be a good test subject. I was stupid, and he tricked me into trying one of his potions, which he'd put into a chocolate bar.”

“And what did it do?”

“It... it turned me from Peter into Petra.”

“Oh... that was not very nice of him.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered, kicking the floor. “He tried to brainwash me, so I'd be a perfect girlfriend. Luckily that didn't work, it just made me feel lightheaded.”

She stroked her glass ball, causing smoke to fill it. I couldn't see much, but the smoke seemed to take a shape, almost like a head. There was a faint sound of rattling dice. Then the ball cracked and fell to the floor, making us both jump back as it split in half.

Looking at me, obviously shocked at what had just happened, Mrs. Stirling said, “Right. I think we should go back and get our dessert now. That's enough magic for one night.”

I didn't know what had happened or why it had freaked out the hero so much. I wasn't sure I wanted to know. “OK,” I squeaked.