They say that life is what happens when you're busy making other pns.

  And that's certainly true for me.

  One minute, I was just an ordinary high school student starting over in Kaleidoscope City with my childhood best friend. We were excited about our new adventure, eager to explore and discover all the wonders and opportuhis new city had to offer.

  The , well...

  Let's get back to that ter.

  "Siennnaaa ?" an increasingly familiar sing-song voice came from behind me.

  I bristled, my whole body tensing up as I dug my hands into my pockets.

  "No makeup for orientation today, girly?" anirl quipped, her tone dripping with mock sympathy.

  I forced a tight smile and shrugged, "I guess my kit went up in the fire whehing happened. Yirl here's had a rough go of it."

  Truth be told, I wasn't the type to wear much makeup or care about appearao begin with.

  I was from a neighborhood and culture where people didn't really care about that sort of stuff much. So to say I was going through culture shock was an uatement.

  Kaleidoscope Academy was a world-famous mag school that enerous schorships, with over half its students receiving some kind of aid.

  However, most of the kids I'd run into in the dorms were from much more privileged backgrounds. Every other kid seemed to have designer clothes, top-notch smartphones and tablets, and from the looks of things, they eveheir weekends at trendy pces around town before the Cataclysm.

  That definitely wasn't my cup of tea.

  My taste in clothes retty standard and simple, ranging from fortable hoodies and joggers to old t-shirts and jeans.

  I didn't own a lot of stuff, mostly thrifted eneriade clothes I'd sewn with my mother. My best friend Al was the same way, being more id bad unassuming. He also didn't care for luxury brand names or the test trends.

  "We've got to get you out of those shoes, hun," the first voice said, ing into my field of vision.

  It was Madison — a thin, curvy girl from the dorm up the hall with thick eyeshes, green eyes, and straight blonde hair that hung down to her waist. She wore a knee-length pleated skirt and a cropped sweater that atuated her toned abs. She looked like a model, with a jawlihat could cut gss and perfect skin that glowed in the sunlight.

  She gave me a faux smile that reeked of dession, "Those Nikes are sooo st season. We've got to get you a new pair."

  Again... I wasn't the type to care about brands or that nonsense.

  I had practical white vas shat had seeer days, but they were fortable and could survive a trip around the world if necessary. Al had gotten them for me after the trek through the city and ht for our lives destroyed the pair I came into the city with, and they more than did the job.

  Plus, the supply shocks after the cataclysm had also immediately sent prices s, making it even harder to find affordable footwear.

  Just how out-of-toud spoiled was this girl?

  But instead of expining all that, I just gave her a simple nod and genuine smile, "Okay! Well... thanks!"

  To her, I probably seemed disied and oblivious. I heard her sroup of girls, who followed her lead with giggles of their own.

  You could say I was used to it. I'd dealt with my fair share of mean girls time to time, and they were all the same at the end of the day. Frustratingly enough, there seemed to be more of them here than at my inner city public school back at home.

  I sighed, joining the flow of kids p out of the auditorium into the hallways.

  The tour of the grounds had already been brief and quick. We didn't get to see much except for the main building, the cafeteria, and the grounds outside. Even two weeks after the i, everyone was still on edge and o, with security measures tightened up siderably all across the city.

  Csses didn't seem to be starting anytime soon with the actual school year still on hold for another week or so.

  It was no wonder Al and I hadn't had a ce to catch up yet.

  His mother had flown over immediately when she'd learned about his injuries, and whisked him away to family friends in the suburbs with a home garden until he healed up.

  And so, I was stuck living in the dorms with some entitled airheads while I waited for the city to stabilize enough to have a sembnce of a normal life.

  Not like my life would ever be really normal again.

  I gnced up at a row of television monitors hanging above the main hall, and for a brief moment, I was transfixed.

  On the s, a glowing figure floated over the early evening skyline of an all-too familiar city. She was a bd dark blue outfit with a full cloak that whipped behind her as she fronted a colossal tentacled monster with a twisted human-like face.

  The caption at the bottom read: "Nightingale Eclipse — A Ghost from the Past?"

  A lump formed in my throat, and I suddenly felt like I was six years old again.

  The Nightmare of Nox wasn't one of the many things we talked about often growing up. Mortifera Nox and her chief enforcer, the rogue Dark Magical Girl Nightingale Eclipse, had been a story and an infamous symbol of fear and terror to much of the world.

  But my mother had always avoided any questions I had when it came up in school, dang around the subject.

  She always avoided any questions I had like the pgue, stantly ging the subject or ing up with excuses to leave.

  Now I knew why.

  But I couldn't deny my curiosity.

  There were hundreds, if not thousands of images of Nightingale Eclipse online, all depig the legendary fallen hero in battle or locked in bat with the very person who caused her to fall from gra the first pce: Arcadia Vox.

  Some of the stories about them were so unbelievable, I couldn't tell what was true and what was exaggerated.

  Either way, the image of Nightingale Eclipse as I knew her was shattered in an instant on the day of the Cataclysm.

  Suddenly, I uood why my mother had spent so much time passed out at a bar dowreet. Why she never spoke about my family history, and why she kept me so close to her side before we started growing apart.

  I thought back tuments and the st words I'd spoken to her before I left for Kaleidoscope... I wished I could take them back.

  I blinked away tears that threateo fall, turning away from the TV ss as kids streamed past me. I pulled out my phone a a message to Albert, the ache in my chest growing as the time stamped below it tio tick.

  Me: Hey Al! Any ce we meet up for lunch this week?

  I paused, typing away before erasing the message and starting over.

  Me: Hope you're alright bud. Any ce we catch up before csses start?

  I sent it, before I scrolled to my mother's name in my tacts. She had been gone for over a week now, disappearing... just like the legendary Nightingale Eclipse on the day of the Cataclysm.

  I let out a soft sigh, my lips trembling as I reread the st few messages we exged before I left.

  I hoped that wherever she was, she was safe and sound.

  And that maybe someday, we could finally talk about all of this.

  Whether it was too te or not, I had to try.

  I was her daughter, and I'd be damned if I didn't give her the space to expin herself. Maybe even listen and uand for once.

  Or maybe I was being too hopeful and naive.

  After all, she had lied to me a all of this from me for years. And knowing where she was and what she'd been up to before she had me wasn't even my problem. It didn't involve me.

  Yet, here I was, lost and stu a tangle of emotions I couldn't quite begin to unravel.

  All I could do was wait.

  I shoved my phone bato my pocket, shaking my head in frustration. "Ah, fuck it," I mumbled, st off toward a side hall.

  In an ideal world, I wouldn't be the new kid anymore. Everyone else would be the new kid, and I'd just blend in like every other middle schooler at their first sleepover.

  But this wasn't an ideal world.

  I pulled out a paper map I'd been given by my mentor, Twilight Aster, and headed up a stairwell that led to a secluded wing I'd noticed oour.

  There were only a few s in the area, and at the end of the hall was a small door leading to a set of stairs that looked like they hadn't been used in years.

  I g the paper, then up at the door. There was a curious glow ing from it, like the energy of a forcefield. I'd been told by Twilight Aster that only someoh a map would be able to see it.

  So, without hesitation, I stepped forward and opehe door.

  The spell was cast, and before I k, I was teleported to airely different part of the campus. I was in some sort htly-lit ging room stall with a fancy mirror on the wall, a sink, and an air filled with a tingle of magic. There was a bag on a bench with the name "Sienna" scrawled on it, which caused me to smile a genuine smile for the first time today.

  I stretched my arms and shoulders, feeling my body tih anticipation. It was almost like a familiar warmth, like a feeling I'd lost and only just rediscovered.

  I briefly checked on my refle in the mirror, before setting my backpack down on the bench. Then, I grabbed a towel to freshen up a bit by the sink.

  My face had seeer days, with light freckles on my nose and cheeks. My hair was a a deep dark brown, almost bck, and frizzled at the ends from my shower. I ran a brush through it, w out the knots and smoothing it back.

  My hazel eyes were still a bit bloodshot, but that was just par for the course after the harrowing hell I'd gohrough not too long ago. Thankfully, it wouldn't matter in a minute.

  I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. Magi through me, humming and pulsing with a familiar strength.

  And then, I transformed.

  There were no cute kittens or sparkles. No unis or rainbows.

  Instead, I felt a jolt of energy running through my veins, a fizzliion that swept over my body.

  In a fsh of energy, I ged, my hair turning into a vibrant, wavy, and luscious shoulder-length strawberry blonde. My eyes took on the color of molten gold, glowing with a fierce I'd only dreamed of.

  Suddenly, I felt stronger, more capable of anything. And I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, who I was.

  Cadets of my experience level were incapable of summoning a battle regalia, so my partial transformation still left me in my hoodie and jeans. But that didn't matter. I felt ready to take on the world, and that's all that mattered.

  I reached for the bag with my name on it, opening it to find a set of shimmering garments. It was a stunning dress, a sunny e and e-gold that plemented my new c beautifully.

  I took off my hoodie and jeans, barely fling in the cooler air of the dressing room. I paused for a moment, taking in my now-unblemished skin and full, healthy body. I was still the same height, of course, but my frame had filled out siderably.

  My history of malnutrition as a child had definitely been a factor in how thin I'd always been, but the subtle shift in my physical appearance was a wele ge. The face that stared back at me was undeniably me, but unreizable with the magic flowing through me.

  I slipped on the dress and pced my hoodie and jeans bato my backpack. The, I took a sed to admire the craftsmanship.

  The skirt ruffled at the knees and fell softly to my feet, with a nee that hugged my shoulders and dipped gracefully in the back. There were long sheer sleeves that fred out at the wrists, and a small yer e-gold ruffles at the bottom of the fabric that gave the dress ahereal, dreamlike quality.

  I giggled with excitement, twirling in the mirror as I tucked a stray strand of strawberry blonde hair behind my ear.

  "Wow," I breathed, uo tain my excitement. "This is really me, isn't it?"

  I lingered a moment lohen gnced up at the clo the wall.

  Twilight Aster was expeg me in the "ference ter" in two minutes. I hurried out of the stall, and the door locked itself behind me. I turned around, noting the "HL" initials scrawled on my stall. Then, I walked towards the door, passing by a row of ging stalls with simirly marked letters.

  The hallway was brilliantly lit with modern neon lights, and I couldn't help but gasp i the grandeur of it all. It was like a se from a dream, like something out of a sci-fi movie.

  Before long, I came to a set of double doors that were opened wide and inviting, with a sign on the front that read "Orientation fical Knights: EC".

  I gulped, irely sure what to expe the other side.

  I wiped the palms of my hands on my skirt, trying to soothe the butterflies in my stomach as I stepped through the entrance.

  It was a simple, small lecture hall with about 13 or so students. I looked around nervously, taking in the equally colorful and unique hairstyles and attire.

  There was a girl with flowing pink pigtails that drifted to her feet, and a headband of sparkling flowers on her head. Another boy had jet-bck hair that fanned out like a sea of spiky onyx, and his outfit was adorned with silver studs and spikes.

  Someone else had long, curly red hair that spiraled to her waist, and a striking gold and white Roman-style dress that atuated her fair features and milky white skin.

  Their curious eyes turo me as I made my way inside, and I noticed the smiling face of Twilight Aster up front, giving me a wave. She was transformed, but wore a simple muted green pantsuit and had her purple hair tied up in a bun.

  "Ah, our final student has arrived. Care to introduce yourself?"

  She motioo me, and I grinned shyly, stepping forward with my head bowed.

  "Hello there!" I managed.

  I was nervous as hell, but somehow, I was keenly aware I came off instead as unphased and cool as a cucumber.

  "Pleased to meet you all," I said, dipping my head in a slight bow. "My name... is Magical Girl Harmonia Lux. Please call me Lux!"