Twisted Wonderland: A New Dawn

Chapter 2

When Rhyme opened her eyes again, she had to blink a few times in order to determine that she really was awake. The darkness was thick, but the walls surrounding her were velvety and Rhyme relaxed. So this was how you got to Night Raven College. A bit creepy, considering it felt like a coffin, but not too bad.
  There was a scrape then nothing and Rhyme froze, tense again. Now what? She flexed her fingers. She could try casting a spell, but it would be wild and uncontrolled because she didn't have a magestone yet. No. She'd wait to see what was happening before she used magic.
  "Rhyme. You can open the door now," Riddle said, his soft voice penetrating through the wood. "It was just unlocked by Headmage Crowley."
  'Riddle?' Rhyme wondered. Normally, he would have started off stating a rule that she would have unknowingly just violated or even firing off his signature spell, but this was a different side to Riddle that she hadn't seen before.
  "Come along Miss Roseheart. You're the only one left." A polished voice said, probably the Headmage.
  Rhyme pushed out, the front of the coffin peeling away and towards the right on its hinges, letting the light of the room in.
  Riddle, wearing black and purple robes, was standing nearby, beside a tall man with a crow mask over his eyes.
  'Headmage Crowley,' Rhyme figured. 'I wonder why he wears the mask?'
  "There. Now everyone is here," Crowley said, looking around. A good handful of other students in the black and purple robes were gathered here as well, some who looked around in awe and others who looked more experienced.
  'Housewardens,' Rhyme thought. 'I bet there aren't any already enrolled students here except them.'
  One of the housewardens stood out to Rhyme, not for any exceptional detail, but for the lack of detail. His face was so hidden in the long hood of his robe that any detail was lost. On his shoulder stood a black cat with blue-flaming ears.
  Rhyme wondered which dorm he looked over. He didn't seem exceptionally suited for any of the Great Seven.
  "All new students will now approach the Mirror to be placed in their dorm," Headmage Crowley was saying, breaking through Rhyme's thoughts. "Form a line and everyone will get a turn."
  Rhyme quickly found herself at the back of the line and shrugged inwardly. She was used to being last so it didn't bug her.
  Besides, this gave her more time to look over the Housewardens. Rhyme let her eyes slide over them all.
  There was the housewarden of Savanaclaw, Leona Kingscholar. He was a tall young man with tan skin and fairly defined muscles. He had thick, dark-brown hair that went down to his mid-torso, with long, side-parted bangs that fell over his eyes. Two sections of hair on both sides of his face were braided and tied at the ends with yellow bands. His emerald green eyes were looking over the freshmen almost in a bored way, and a thin scar over his left eye went from his eyebrow to his cheek.
  A pair of brown lion ears on the top of his head, through his hair and Rhyme noticed a long lion's tail of the same color, with a dark-brown tuft of fur at the end was lazily moving up and down.
  Riddle didn't think very highly of Leona, mostly because of him being a bit of a laze.
  'Little chance of being placed in Savanaclaw," Rhyme thought. 'So I should be able to avoid him till I understand how he works.'
  Next was the Octavinelle housewarden, Azul Ashengrotto. He was fair-skinned and average height. He had short, wavy hair that's a cool light-gray color. His hair parted on his right side and flipped up at the ends, with one long lock of hair framing the left side of his face. His eyes were the same color as his hair, but a bit darker. A small beauty mark rested below his lip on the left side of his face. He was wearing rectangular, half-rim glasses with a gray frame and had a modest smile and calculating gaze as he watched the students.
  Riddle thought he was too smart and avoided Octavinelle to the best of his ability.
  As Rhyme was looking, Azul suddenly looked over at her and winked, making her blush slightly and look away quickly. Yep. Avoid Octavinelle and definitely don't get sweet-talked by Azul.
  The line moved forward and Rhyme looked at the next housewarden, who was accompanied by his vice-housewarden.
  Kalim Al-Asim, housewarden of Scarabia. He was definitely the youngest looking next to Riddle and by far the most friendly looking.
  Kalim was shorter-than-average and had tan skin. He had very short, white hair that was a bit choppy in appearance, as well as short eyebrows. His orange-red eyes were alight with excitement as new students joined Scarabia, and he was wearing subtle, brown eyeshadow and dark eyeliner with rounded edges.
  The vice-housewarden standing next to him was Jamil Viper, a tan-skinned boy of average height. His eyes were a very dark olive color that Rhyme nearly got lost in, and like Kalim, he was wearing subtle, brown eyeshadow and dark eyeliner with rounded edges. His hair was dark-brown and reached above his waist in length. He had most of his hair tied in a low ponytail, with some locks in tight braids and tied with small gold clips. The hair on the left half of his head was braided near the scalp, and one large lock of hair fell beside his face on his right side. Hanging from one braid near his hairline were three small, gold discs. The hairband for his low ponytail was dark red, with a magenta-red gem on it. Hanging from the gem was a large, red feather. While Rhyme saw he had a neutral expression commonly on his face, she noticed he occasionally had a devious smirk on his lips.
  Riddle thought Kalim was too-friendly and had never really gotten to know Jamil enough to fully say what he thought of the vice-housewarden.
  Rhyme was getting closer to the mirror so she quickly filed the rest of the housewardens faces into her head to reflect on later.
  Vil Schoenheit, housewarden of Pomefiore. A blue screened tablet was standing in for the Ignihyde headwarden and the vice-headwarden for Diasomnia, Lilia Vanrouge, was here, which meant the headwarden for Diasomnia wasn't.
  "Miss Rosehearts. If you're going to pause for everything important, your PE record isn't going to be very impressive." Headmage Crowley said, snapping Rhyme out of her thoughts.
  Everyone else had already been sorted, leaving her the only student in line to face the mirror.
  Blushing more furiously, Rhyme stepped up to the mirror and took a deep breath.
  The surface of the mirror rippled, then a green mask appeared in the center of the glass.
  Rhyme closed her eyes and whispered a silent plea to be put into Heartslabyul with Riddle.
  "Rhyme Rosehearts' soul fits into no dorm."