Before he could grab me, I ran for the hills. "Little Ivy, please come back!" I loved giving him a hard time. Despite my childish behavior, my uncle never grew tired of me. His long, wavy hair was sprawled in all directions as he chased me through the endless halls of this wing of the house. But out of nowhere, I stopped. I couldn't help it. My senses were hit by something thick in the air. Dinner. I closed my eyes and lifted my nose in the air. "Mmmm, yummy." Then I yelped out as two hands grabbed me from behind. "Okay, okay! I surrender!" I pleaded as my uncle became the infamous tickle monster. Eventually, he stopped tickling me and carried me on his shoulders, and we descended the millions of steps towards the dining hall. When we finally reached the kitchen, we found Inna helping mother prepare desert. But it was more like desert preparing Inna. I laughed as Inna and my mother threw flour at each other in a ruthless battle of fun. They were a mess. A happy, flour faced mess. My mother's long, dark hair was barely visible through the white disaster on top of her head. Uncle Serrano and I just laughed as we watched them declare a truce. They make me so happy, I thought. Then the sound of the large chamber doors in the front hall slamming shut entered my ears. Flour fell from Inna's hands, my uncle's smile faded away, and my mother brought her thumb and middle finger together, snapping them hastily. The mess that brought us happiness just a second before vanished in thin air. He was home... I broke out of my daydream as soon as I heard the screeching brakes of the creaky bus jolt us to a halt. Inna tapped my shoulder. "Ivy, come on." I huffed and forced myself up, grabbing our bags before exiting. Inna and I looked at each other in confusion as we realized we were standing in the middle of nowhere. Literally. No houses, no buildings, no cars, no people. We were at the edge of a deep forest, and it was darker than dark. I readjusted my bag strap hanging from my shoulder. "Damn bus driver said the last stop would bring us to the school." Inna didn't respond. She was too busy scanning the area. The scariest part about it all was the absence of street lights. Although it was forbidden, I summoned the little energy I had left to release a decent size ball of light to act as a lantern. Inna helped keep it aglow. "I think I saw a path back that way." Inna pointed towards a few strangely shaped trees. Yeah, don't worry. We're just stranded on the side of the creepiest road on Earth. Let's just go into the dark forest. No red flags there. We traced back to that point and pushed our way through some curvy, thick branches that resembled arms reaching out for you. They looked creepy to say the least. But she was right. It wasn't very prominent, but you could tell that we weren't the only ones to come upon this trail. There were deep tracks embedded in the dirt path that welcomed our own as we pushed forward into the darkness. Inna grabbed my hand with her free one. "Maybe, this was a mistake. Maybe, the bus driver heard us wrong. We should go back, Ivy. I feel like the Blair Witch is gonna pop out from behind a tree and chop me up for dinner." As funny as she sounded, the thought didn't seem impossible. The trees towering over us paired with the immense darkness of the night would make a bunny stop me in my tracks at that point. Goosebumps spread across my body as her imagination became a possibility in my mind. Then we heard it. Laughter? In the middle of the forest? We walked a bit more cautiously down the hidden path. It grew louder and closer. Not just laughter now but full on conversations. Music filled the air as we grew closer to what felt like a huge party. The smell of food caused my stomach to rumble. If it wasn't for the blaring music, I was pretty sure I would have heard Inna's stomach growl in unison with mine. Then the trail abruptly ended. I held the little orb of light against a big wall of hanging leaves infront of us. We peeked through the brush and were surprised to see not dozens but hundreds of people who seemed around our age. Low and behold, on a big banner above them, it read, "Welcome to Excellency! School of the gifted." I guess the bus driver didn't make a mistake after all. We peered in amazement at the abundance of lights, food, and buildings in the middle of what we thought was our mistaken path into a mysterious forest. Maybe now, we could finally settle in and rest after what felt like a never-ending day. In shock, I quickly disintegrated our ball of light that safely led us to the path's abrupt end. Not from excitement of this beautiful, chaotic party scene welcoming this years students. No, I froze in realization that this wasn't a normal school filled with normal people. I bit my lip when I finally got a good look at the lights scattered above the large crowd. They were large orbs of light suspended in mid-air. Magic? But magic is forbidden.