Simon followed Lacy up to the ground level of Hemlock Tower. Once they reached that level, and he no longer depended on her for the orb of light to see his way, he took off, skipping with enthusiasm. When he got to his room, he found a tiny drawer in his safe where he could place the trait imprint stone and be able to find it later. He placed the stone there in its new place, and returned his copy of ‘The Body Transformed’ back to the safe as well. For once, he felt like enjoying the state of being transformed rather than just reading about the magic needed to achieve it.

  “Aren’t we in a good mood,” he heard Tom say.

  Tom had been sitting at his desk the whole time, but Simon had been too elated to notice him.

  “Oh hi, Tom,” he said.

  “So, what’s got you so overjoyed, my friend?” Tom asked.

  “I just had a very good morning,” answered Simon.

  “It sure seems like it,” responded Tom.

  Simon skipped down to the Common Room and all the way out into the hallway when he realized that he had no idea what to do while enjoying the state of being transformed. He stopped for a moment to think, and then decided that he wouldn’t let this get him down. He realized that he had been at Misty Peaks a number of days, but hadn’t really explored it much beyond trying to figure out immediately where he needed to go. He decided that now would be as good a time as any to do some exploring, so onward he skipped.

  On and on he wandered the halls, trying to see if he could get together a mental map of the place. He tried to see if he could find his way to the different classes he had without the need for a guide-star to take him there.

  When he reached Miller Tower, he headed up the stairs. When he got near the top floor, he saw Professor Pendleton heading to the staircase. He was wheeling a cart full of beakers, test tubes, and other delicate lab equipment. “Watch out!” Simon called, when it was clear that the Professor wasn’t going to avoid the stairs.

  “What for?” asked the Professor. He wheeled his cart onto the staircase. Simon expected the cart to lose control and fall, breaking everything on it. Instead, however, the front wheels just descended and rested themselves on the stairs below without issue. Professor Pendleton kept wheeling the cart on the stairways toward Simon, seemingly as easily as he had previously wheeled it on a flat floor.

  “So, Simon,” he asked as he got close, “what do I need to watch out for?”

  “You got to the stairs,” said Simon, “and I thought you were going to fall.”

  “Now why would that happen?” he asked.

  “Because you’re wheeling a - thing on wheels,” said Simon.

  “I am,” affirmed the Professor, “but it has a stair navigation charm.”

  “A what?” asked Simon.

  “It’s an enchantment that allows something on wheels to navigate the stairs almost as easily as flat ground,” explained the Professor. “Every cart on campus has one. As a matter of fact, anything on wheels that is brought on campus gets one put on it.”

  “Anything on wheels?” asked Simon, bewildered.

  “Yes,” said Professor Pendleton. “Supply carts, wheelchairs - everything.”

  “Sorry,” said Simon. “I didn’t know.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about,” said the Professor. “You said your parents are both mundies, didn’t you? There’s going to be lots of stuff that’s new to you around here.”

  “I suppose so,” agreed Simon.

  “But what are you doing wandering around here?” asked the Professor.

  “I’m trying to learn to find my way around,” explained Simon.

  “Don’t worry,” said the Professor. “You’ll figure it out in time.”

  “I also never got a chance to explore the place,” said Simon.

  “Well, you’ve been to all your classes by now,” he said. “What, specifically, would you like to find?”

  “I don’t know,” answered Simon.

  “Come walk with me,” said the Professor, continuing to wheel the cart. “You’ve always had magic as a part of you - but I’m guessing that until recently, you weren’t really exposed to the magic world at all, were you?”

  “Not until last summer,” agreed Simon.

  “So yeah, as I said,” continued the Professor, “a lot’s going to be new to you. So, do you like to read?”

  “Depends what,” answered Simon. He had spent countless hours poring over his copy of ‘The Body Transformed’. Even before he got that book, he had spent untold hours upstairs at his home in Oak Ridge with his nose buried behind an encyclopedia, a science magazine, or anything else from which he thought he could learn something he was interested in. He even enjoyed reading Shakespeare plays with his father - and there were even some novels he enjoyed. But there were others that he simply couldn’t get himself to read.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “There’s a reason I’m asking,” said the Professor. “If you like reading, there’s a lot of things you can learn about the magical world in the library. I’ve got to get this equipment down to the supply room — but after I do that, I’d be able to help you find your way there. You interested?”

  “Yes!” Simon nodded, enthusiastically. “What should I read about there first?” he asked, after a few moments.

  “Oh, Madam Harvey’ll be able to help you with that a lot better than I,” explained the Professor.

  Simon continued to follow Professor Pendleton down to the basement of Miller Tower. But instead of going several levels down, they only went to the first basement level — and there was no need for the Professor to summon an orb of light, as that basement level was fully lit.

  As soon as they got there, the Professor opened the door to the supply room, wheeled the cart in, and carefully yet swiftly put all the lab equipment in its place. When he was done doing that, he reached down to the bottom of the cart and pulled a red tab all the way from the bottom to the top. It took less than twenty seconds for the cart to then collapse itself into something the size of a matchbook. The Professor took that object, put it in a pocket in his robe near the hip, and came out closing the door behind him.

  “Okay,” he said to Simon. “Let’s help you find the library.”

  * * *

  The library was in the main keep, just above the Great Hall — and the staircase to it was right between the Great Hall and the auditorium. As soon as Simon climbed up the stairs and went through the library door, he was amazed at what he saw. At the front, he saw the librarian’s station - a large desk that surrounded the person behind it on all four sides so that the woman sitting behind it could face the front or the back while sitting at it just as easily. At the moment, a woman in her sixties who seemed to be Native American sat facing the direction to Simon’s right. She had a slightly tan complexion, long straight black hair with a few grey strands mixed in, and a brown robe with golden images of lions embroidered on it. On her left on the desk was a stack of books, and on her right a translucent grey crystal ball on a brass mount.

  Beyond the desk where several open tables, something which Simon already knew to recognize as a card catalog, and several shelves full of books, books, and books. As Simon looked up, he could see the second floor of the library. This second floor only covered the perimeter, though, as the rest of the floor was a huge opening guarded by a railing, which made it in a sense part of the same room as the entrance floor. This openness was broken only by two bridges from one side of the room to the other. And though this second floor mostly only covered the perimeter, its wall, as one would expect in a library, was covered with books. Simon could not see the third floor as clearly - as it was only visible through two moderately-sized openings in the ceiling. But from what he could see, it too was full of books.

  Back down at the entrance floor, the woman behind the desk took one book off of the stack next to her, tapped her wand on the crystal ball, on the book, and on the crystal ball again. A rope of brown and grey light briefly shone between the two objects before fading out, at which point she placed the book with a pile of others on a crate behind her. Simon watched her do this a few more times before timidly approaching.

  “Can I help you?” the woman asked, turning to Simon.

  “Yes,” he said. “Where can I find Madam Harvey?”

  “You just found her,” answered the woman. “It’s me.”

  “Oh,” said Simon. “I have a question.”

  “What is it?” asked Madam Harvey.

  “My parents are both mundies,” explained Simon, “and I only learned this summer that magic is real.”

  “Okay?” prodded Madam Harvey.

  “And Professor Pendleton says that if I like to read, there are things I can learn in the library about the magical world,” he continued.

  “Well,” she said, fetching up a writing pad from a drawer, “If you tell me what kind of stuff you were interested in before you learned about magic being real, maybe I can find some good books for you to read now that you know about magic. Does that sound good to you?”

  Simon nodded.

  “Okay, come with me,” she said, and led Simon to the nearest study table where she motioned to him to take a seat opposite her. “So - surely there were things that interested you before you found out about magic. Right?”

  “Yes,” said Simon. “I read a lot about evolution.”

  “That’s a start,” said the librarian. “You’ve probably by now already been to Professor Sinclair’s class and know that magic opens up a lot there.”

  “Yes,” affirmed Simon.

  “So what else?” asked Madam Harvey.

  “I also read a lot about mythology,” answered Simon. “Especially Greek mythology.”

  “Oh, that’s a good one,” noted Madam Harvey. “A lot of myths that are told in the mundie world — the version told in the magical world is often slightly different. That goes for myths from all over the world. And there’s plenty of books on that.”

  “Like what?” asked Simon, beaming with excitement.

  “Well, there’s one series of books I’m thinking of,” said Madam Harvey, “that really gives emphasis to the areas of difference. Difference between the mundie version and the magical version.”

  “There’s other things I’m interested,” continued Simon.

  “I’m sure there are,” said Madam Harvey, “but I think we’ve got enough to start out with. If you come back here next week, I’ll have ready a few books to start you out.”

  “And what should I do now?” asked Simon.

  “Well,” said Madam Harvey, “I’d say you should be headed downstairs to the Great Hall. It’s just about time for lunch. You wouldn’t want to miss it.”

  * * *

  After lunch, Simon went back to his dorm room to get his books for Study Hall. The new feeling of being in the kind of body he wanted — even if only temporarily, and not dressed to match — was giving him a feeling of calm he had never felt before.

  “What books should I bring with me?” he thought to himself as he placed his copy of ‘The Body Transformed’ back in its place in his safe. He made a mental note to ask Ethan later if he could also use his locker to hold his books, so he could have an easier time switching them out in the middle of the day — and so that he could even switch books in Study Hall if needed. But for now, he had to decide which books to put in his satchel for Study Hall.

  After thinking for a few minutes, he decided the first book he would take was his volume of ‘Magical World History for Young Witches and Wizards’. He had a hard time understanding Professor Whitfield’s lectures, but maybe he might be able to make up for it by reading the textbook with extra diligence.

  He thought for a moment about what other book to take with him — before finally deciding on ‘The Amazing World of Enchantment’. He was now only temporarily in a body he felt comfortable in and wanted to do everything he could to hasten the day when he would be in it permanently.

  Having made his selection, he pulled his satchel on his shoulder and headed out the door to make his way to Professor Hathaway’s classroom for Study Hall.