“Anaconda’s pick will be followed by Woolly House, Macaw House, and Jaguar House,” declared Principal Absencia, the heavy double-chinned wizard in gleaming purple robe.  Each group applauded as its name was announced by his magically loudened voice.

“My dear first-years,” Absencia continued.  “Your house selection decides not merely where you sleep, but also who you attend classes with, who you become closest friends with, and who you will cheer when the Quaffle is battled for.  In short, for the years you attend Witness Stone, your house is your team and your family.”

Marissa listened intently and understood now why everyone was so anxious about houses.  The principal wasn’t going to just divide the hundred or more new students into four groups as simply as Mr. Argiletum had divided them into rows.  It really was going to be like teams.  Like when Sport Club da Luz played soccer with other groups and Pipio and another captain would take turns picking players for a game.  Only here they were choosing more teams than two and each boy or girl would be on that team for always.

Marissa had always read books when the boys played soccer because some kids didn’t like girls playing.  Sometimes when teams were even and little Paulinho hadn’t been picked, she would take him pretend flying with the swallows so he wouldn’t feel sad from being left out.  She wondered if houses had to have even sides.

“Each house has a fine heritage,” Principal Absencia declared.  “Woolly is known for its Healers and Shapemasters, Macaw for Magizoologists and Seers, Jaguar for Herbologists and Aurors.  And of course Brazil’s finest professional Quidditch players come from Anaconda House.  May you each bring honor to the house you join.”

Vice Principal Katupya nodded to the first House Leaders.  “Solinho Braganza and Cecelia Bella de Barros, you may begin.”

“Anaconda House picks Cristiano Ferreira,” called the brawny Quidditch captain.  A young boy in the front row, the Quidditch player’s son from the train, leapt up and rushed down the steps to the Great Hall as the Anaconda section applauded.  Marissa realized that attendance had been for House Leaders to compare all the first-years and decide which ones they would pick.  And maybe which ones they wouldn’t.

“Ah, the famous Keeper’s boy,”  Principal Absencia remarked.  “We expect great things from you, my young man.”

Cecelia Bella de Barros touched her wand to the shoulder of Cristiano’s robe.  “Pinxi murinus,” she said.  Slowly the dark grey fabric of its collar and cuffs transformed to a deep green scaled design, the colors of the huge snake on the Anaconda banner.  He joined his group as the next House Leaders stepped forward.

“Woolly House picks Caspar Varnhagen,” called Baltazar, the nice teen who had said Marissa was tough.  Another young first-year rushed down the steps as the Woolly section clapped and yelled.

“A third Varnhagen boy,” Principal Absencia stated.  “Another fine Quidditch prospect.”

Tania de Feiticeiros’ wand touched Caspar’s shoulder and his robe trim turned the tannish-brown color of woolly monkey fur as she stated “Pinxi lagotricha.”

“Macaw House picks Jaci Erasmi,” called Milo Timbira.

“Game warden’s grandson,” noted Absencia.  “There’s a Creatures student for you, Domador.”  A scarfaced man with shaggy lion’s-mane hair nodded beside him as Alika Escuro’s wand turned Jaci’s collar and cuffs a feathered pattern of bright red, orange, green and blue with a command of “Pinxi macao.”

“Marissa,” whispered Tiquinho from beside Potira, “don’t get sad if you are not picked right away.”

“I won’t,” she replied.  “I know I’ll be last because I’m the new kid.  The Muggle-born.”  It was also because the Bella de Barros girls had told everyone she was a thief and smelled like a dumpster.  But she was strong and would ignore them so they would learn nothing could hurt her.

“Jaguar House picks Tiquinho Katupya,” called the House Leader who was an Indian teen named Jaci Juruna.  Tiquinho stood and walked down the staircase.

“Tiquinho’s last name is the same as the Vice Principal man?” Marissa asked Potira.

“Ubiratan him uncle,” Potira replied as he stopped in front of Araci Uirapuru, the girl House Leader.  “Pinxi onca,” she said as her wand touched Tiquinho’s robe.  His thin collar and cuffs turned yellow-orange with the black rosette spots of Jaguar fur.

“Why, Merlin’s beard!” said Principal Absencia as he saw Tiquinho’s glossy black robe.  “Is that really a…”

“Passed down from his great-great-grandfather,” remarked Vice Principal Katupya.

“And he actually killed the thing?” Absencia asked, forgetting for a moment that his loud voice could be heard throughout the hall.

“It was a rite of passage for chief’s sons in those times,” Katupya stated.

“Another young man to expect great things of,” the Principal said nodding at Tiquinho, who then turned and took his place with Jaguar House.  “And now…”

A speeding whirlwind appeared and suddenly a little black one-legged boy stood beside Sol Braganza, who was coughing from the dust he had inhaled.

“SACI HOUSE PICKS…” the dark as night boy said in a loud and important voice, then whirlwinded to the front row of first-years, “…round boy with Lumos Lollipop!”  He pulled the shining candy from the surprised chubby boy’s mouth as the Great Hall erupted with laughter.

“Noooo…” spoke the calm slow voice of Vice Principal Katupya.

“Wavy-hair girl with puffystringtongue?” Saci asked Katupya, as if a different pick might be approved.  He kissed the borrowed Puffskein, then spit out fur.  “Or pink bag girl with matches, yes?”  Saci glanced around the hundred or more first-years looking for Marissa.

“Remember our talk, Saci,” Katupya stated sternly.

“Oh…hmmph!” stomped the boy with his one foot.  “Saci House kicks them all out.  We has no more beds anyway.”  Saci tossed the Puffskein into the air where the girl jumped to catch it. He poked the lollipop back into the boy’s mouth, then spun and disappeared from the spot.  A moment later Marissa felt a dusty breeze behind her.

“House selection will continue with young ladies this round,”  declared the Principal from the center of the Great Hall.

“No pranks during ceremonies..” Saci grumbled quietly behind Marissa, imitating Katupya’s stern deep voice as he sat in the shadowed corner.  “Oh… hmmph!”

“Anaconda House picks Celestia Bella de Barros,” called her golden-blonde older sister.  Celestia walked gracefully down the steps as all Anaconda applauded and some boys even whistled.  Her robe colors were transformed and she proudly took her seat.

“Daughter of one of  our finest families,” Principal Absencia said.  “Another lovely addition to Anaconda.”

Trixibelle Torres was picked by Woolly House, and Serafina Palmeiro by Macaw House.  Then Potira was picked by Jaguar House and waved goodbye to Marissa as she stood up.  Marissa heard that her last name was Arating, just like Gran Arating whom she had met at the wizards market.

“I see soon,” Potira told her.

The selection continued with rounds of boys then rounds of girls.  Principal Absencia’s comments ceased after the first dozen children and the turns went by faster.  In the fifth round of girls, Rosaria Castilhos was chosen by Anaconda and Sakura Miyashiro by Woolly.  Anna Yamazaki joined Sakura on the next girls pick and another Indian girl beside Marissa went to Jaguar House.

Maybe it was because first-years mostly went to the same house that older brothers and sisters or parents had went to, but to Marissa it seemed there were still the different groups that Mr. Argiletum had described with the four hundred years ago wizards.  Most all of the Anaconda picks seemed to be like Sol Braganza and the Bella de Barros sisters, light-skinned European wizardings from the cities.  Most all of the Jaguar picks were Indian children from the rainforest, even though some were from the train.  Marissa recalled the basket backpacks left by boulders near the path to the Jaguar building and saw that the native wizardings had all known they would be chosen by Jaguar House.

But Macaw House and Woolly House were a mix of everyone.  There were blacks like Alika Escuro, brown mixed-race like Milo Timbira,  Japanese like Sakura and Anna, and whites like Baltazar Varnhagen.  Those many-colored faces showed Marissa that the giant wizards on the stone had always kept their promise to let any child with magic come to witch school.

Jaguar House picked another Indian boy and the round ended.  Only nine first-years remained sitting on the floor above the staircase.  Marissa knew that meant there was one extra.  If the rules were like soccer and the sides all had to be even, Marissa would not get picked.  She thought if the house buildings were all full maybe she could sleep here in a hallway corner.  It would be nicer than her place in the alley, except she would be alone without the boys.

If one house did get to pick an extra first-year, Marissa knew which one it would be.  Cecelia Bella de Barros had figured it out too, because after Anaconda’s pick she had stepped up to talk to the purple-robed Principal Absencia.  Marissa could imagine her words.  “We don’t have to pick her, do we?  She’s a gutter girl and steals from people.”  The principal said something back to Cecelia, then the golden-blonde teen stepped over beside Sol Braganza and whispered to him.  Behind the principal Marissa saw Professor Merrythought, whose eyes met hers as she turned from speaking to an older lady in a sparkling pastel pink robe with tall cone-shaped hat wrapped in sparkly veils.

The next two rounds finished and Marissa sat alone.  No matter what happened next she wouldn’t let anyone see her feel upset or sad if she had no house to sleep in.

Cecilia stepped forward with a cruel smirk.  “Anaconda House abstai-“

“MACAW HOUSE picks Marissa of Sao Paulo,” called the lady in sparkling pink, drowning out Cecelia’s words.  “Special selection by Head of House.”

“Noooo!” came a boy’s mournful wail.  “How will Saci House light its pipe?”

“The troublemaker wanted an assistant thief,” said Cecelia clearly enough to insure that everyone heard.  A ripple of laughter passed among Anaconda’s tables.  Marissa walked past with a cool direct look into Cecelia’s eyes to show that the words hadn’t touched her.  Feathery Macaw colors spread across her collar and cuffs as Alika Escuro’s wand touched her robe.

“Thank you,” said Marissa as she turned to take her place.  There was polite applause from the Macaws and a teen girl directed her to a seat.  Marissa recognized her face.

“I’m Tatiane,” she said.  “Do you remember me?”

“Yes,” Marissa smiled.  “You helped me buy my robes.”

“They look so much nicer with scarlet than with snaky dark green, don’t you think?”

“Yes,” Marissa agreed as she slid her backpack under the bench.  But all of the first-years who had been nice to her were picked by other houses.  It was good that she was strong and didn’t need friends.

“And look how shiny your new shoes still are.”

“They’re tight!” Marissa replied without thinking.

“Sometimes new ones hurt until you wear them in,”  the older girl remarked.

“I didn’t say they hurt,” she protested.  “Just they’re tight.”

“I’m glad Professor Galaxia overruled snobby Cece,” Tatiane smiled.  “You’re too tough to live with pampered baby Conda girls.”  Marissa smiled and nodded as all of the glowworm sconces suddenly darkened and the only light in the Great Hall was from the thousands of unreal stars in the unreal night sky enchanted upon the ceiling.

“Now, let the welcoming banquet begin!” declared Principal Absencia as a stream of light flew from his raised wand.  Everyone looked upward as bursts of fireflies swarmed in flashing trails across the sky and around the house banners, then flew to the walls to relight the sconces.  When she looked down again, Marissa was stunned to see all the polished tabletops that had been empty were now full to overflowing with food.  Enormous serving trays held steaming fish fillets on beds of white rice, grilled beef slices surrounded by sweet manioc, and chicken breasts simmering in aromatic juices.  Wide bowls of feijoada and soup sat near trays of farofa, breads and cheeses.  Before each student was a setting of fine china plates and gleaming silverware.

“Everybody is eating again?” Marissa whispered to herself in amazement.  She thought the huge half sandwich she had on the old train a few hours ago was dinner.  It was more than she usually got to eat in a day and she had seen some boys eat two whole ones.  Now there had appeared by magic more food than she had seen in her entire lifetime.  Boys and girls filled plates with heaping piles of every item within reach.  There was so much of everything that no one would need to share or have just one piece.

Marissa thought of Pipio, Nino, Tomas and Paulinho.  Had they collected enough change today to buy a meal of bread or beans and rice?  Or had older gangs run them off from the good begging spots like sometimes happened, and left them unable to get food tonight?  It didn’t feel right to fill herself again if the boys might be sleeping with empty stomachs.

“Go ahead,” Tatiane encouraged.  “You can have all you want.”

“Um… I’m not very hungry,” Marissa replied.  “Maybe just bread.”  The swallows were snuggled in her backpack and would sleep until tomorrow.  She could save them bread in case she couldn’t let them out to find bugs right away in the morning.

“Okay.  I’ll be back with Alika after dinner to show all the first-year girls their rooms.”

After Tatiane went to sit with the older Macaws, Marissa took a few bites of the warm bread slice then put all the rest in her robe pocket.  She was going to say hello to the girls next to her, but they were talking together about vacations and hardly noticed Marissa.  Vacations meant they had gone to faraway places and done exciting things.  Marissa had no experiences like that to share, but quietly listened as she reached for an empty glass.  She quickly saw why the table had no pitchers of water or juice, for the tall glass simply filled itself with a glittering liquid as her hand touched it.  It tasted very good and Marissa took sips as she looked around the Great Hall.  Each time she took her lips away, the juice rose back up to the top of the glass.

“This is enough, thank you. I don’t need more,” Marissa whispered to the glass, hoping it would stop magically refilling.  But twenty minutes later, after continuous sipping, it was still full.  Marissa didn’t want to waste a whole glass of juice when she saw the girls beside her had finished theirs, so she tried the only other way she could think of to stop it from refilling.  Taking a deep breath, she tipped the glass back and gulped and gulped until all the juice was gone.  Then she quickly set the glass upside-down on the table, where luckily it stayed empty.  Marissa got up from her seat and walked over to a table where older boys and girls sat.

“Tatiane,” she said urgently, interupting her conversation with another girl, “do they have restrooms here?”

“Did you drink too much glitter juice?” Tatiane smiled.

“It wouldn’t stop filling more!”

“You just place your hand over the top when you’ve had enough,” the girl beside Tatiane explained.  Marissa thought it would be nice if someone had told her that before.

“The girls room is at the top of the staircase to your right,” Tatiane said.  “Do you want me to come with you?”

“No,” Marissa stated strongly.  “I can find it .  I don’t need help.”

She rushed up the steps and across the hall to a stone archway that had no real door, just another layer of stone.  Marissa touched a little stone relief of a girl and the wall slid away as she ran into the restroom.

When she came out a few minutes later, a joyful brown-haired girl grabbed her arm.

“Oh, there you are!” she said as if she had been looking for Marissa.  “Isn't it exciting?”

“Um… what’s exciting?” Marissa asked.  The shiny, flowery-smelling restroom with all the marble sinks and toilets and tall framed mirrors was very wonderful, but she didn’t think the girl meant that.

“Didn’t they tell you?” she asked with astonishment.  “Oh, of course they didn’t!  It’s supposed to be a secret until tomorrow.  But my House Leaders couldn’t wait to tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“We’ve been chosen to serve the professor’s table at the first breakast!” the brown-haired girl exclaimed.  “It’s such an honor.”

“It is?” Marissa asked.  She had no idea what the girl was talking about.

“Oh, yes!” she confirmed.  “Each year one first-year pureblood and one mudbl…  one Muggle-born, are chosen to serve fresh milk for Principal Absencia and all the teachers.  We even get to milk the ducks ourselves!”

“I’m not stupid,” Marissa replied.  “Milk comes from cows.”

“Well, in the Muggle world, yes,” the girl laughed.  “But how do you think we could graze those huge beasts here in the forest?  Wizards have magic ducks for our milk.”

Marissa didn’t answer.  With all the incredible magic things here it must be true.

“House Leaders are supposed to wake up their chosen first-year at 5 a.m. to milk the ducks.  That way it’s a surprise.  But mine told me now because they thought I could start earlier and get twice as much milk as the other first-year,” she explained.  “But that’s not really fair, is it?”

“No,” agreed Marissa.

“If we both go early at 4 a.m. then we’ll both have time to get plenty of milk.  Maybe you could even get back by five and surprise your House Leaders that you’re already done!  That would be great, right?”

“Yes,” Marissa agreed hesitantly.  She would like to do something to thank the wizards for letting her come to witch school.  “But… I don’t know how to milk ducks.”

“Oh, that’s okay.  Neither do I,” the brown-haired girl said.  “The little ones will show us how, and show us the way to the duck coop.  So is it a deal?  Can we go together?”

“We can go together,” Marissa agreed.  The girl seemed to like her and want to be friends, so Marissa thought it would be good for them to help each other.

“Meet me at the bottom of the back stairs outside,” the girl instructed.  “And please don’t let anyone know that I told you already.  I don’t want to get in trouble.”

Then the brown-haired girl rushed into the bathroom, leaving Marissa alone in the hall.  As she walked back down the wide staircase Marissa realized that she had not even asked the girl her name.  But she knew she was wearing a Woolly House robe.  Marissa wished it had been Sakura or Anna picked to milk ducks with her.

In the Great Hall, Marissa saw the dinner trays had been replaced by trays of layered chocolate cakes, strawberry meringues, pies, puddings and fruit filled pastries.  It all made her think of the boys again and how they had been so happy to get one little pastry each on the day Pipio had earned the ten Reias.  One day she would learn to make magic food and let the boys eat so many desserts that they couldn’t eat any more.

“Here she is,” Tatiane said as Marissa returned.  “We thought the ghosts had led you away.”

“I was just… seeing how nice the restroom is,” Marissa replied.  She watched as everyone continued eating, and thought about  milking ducks.  It would still be dark early in the morning, so maybe she should bring a glowworm or matches to light a stick.  She hoped she would do a good job.  Ducks were birds and most birds liked her, except maybe not if she was milking them.  Soon a loud voice interrupted her thoughts.

“SACI IS FULL!”

The black one-legged boy with a red cap made his declaration and followed it with a long, loud burp that echoed through the Great Hall.  The students cheered as they all turned their attention to Saci, who stood on the staircase with wisps of smoke drifting from the pipe tucked behind his ear.

“Are fat snakies all full?”

“YES!” came the loud reply from all the students under the Anaconda banner.  Marissa saw that the Vice Principal man didn’t scold Saci for interrupting ceremonies now, but allowed him to check that everyone was done with dinner.

“Are scary kitties all full?”

“YES!” yelled those under the Jaguar banner.

“Are swingy longtails all full?”

“YES!” yelled those under the Woolly banner.

“Are big beak birdies all full?”

That meant it was her group’s turn to reply and Marissa joined all of Macaw House with a loud “YEESSSSS!”

“La, la, la, la,” Saci called out as he spun down the steps and danced along the aisles.  He jumped upon a table right where Sol Braganza and Cecelia Bella de Barros sat and began to sing:

His whirlwind sucked up Cecelia’s perfect long hair and turned it to a tangled mess.  Marissa could not help but laugh with everyone as he spun away and reappeared on the professor’s tables, where he slurped down Professor Merrythought’s drink and unwrapped a sparkly veil from Professor Galaxia’s cone-shaped hat as he continued singing:

“If you say Mars is just a star,
Galaxia may smacks ya.
She reads the night, your future's bright,
But she can't boss me, Saci.”

He jumped from the second table to the first, tugging the shaggy beard of the scarfaced professor and dancing a samba upon the principal’s large belly as he sang:

“Don't make trouble, he'll make double,
They'll send you to his offy.
Absencia suspendses ya,
But he can't boss me, Saci.”

He spun and landed a one-footed stance upon the shoulder of Vice Principal Katupya, who cracked a slight smile and calmly accepted his antics as the Great Hall roared with laughter.

“It wasn’t me, just ‘cuz you see,
There's something that you've losty.
You can race me, curse and chase me,
But you can't boss me, Saci.”

“When choosing’s done, I have my fun,
Till he gets mean and crossy.
Ubiritaaaaan..., can make me goooone..”

His drawn out words must have told everyone that his song was ending, for Marissa listened as almost every voice in the room joined deafeningly in his last line:

“BUT YOU CAN'T BOSS ME, SACI!”

All the students laughed as his speeding whirlwind swirled along every table in the hall, swooshing robes and sucking in clattering circles of silverware.  When Saci disappeared, forks and knives lay neatly at their settings, but every spoon in the Great Hall was gone.  Random shouts and curses were heard as students found items missing from their robe pockets.  Two first-year girls near Marissa had lost a hairbrush and Jelly Slugs, but were still in a happy mood from the one-legged boy’s performance.

“Is he going to do that every time we eat?” asked one girl.  Alika and Tatiane were now lining them up to lead them to Macaw House.

“Only tonight,” Alika Escuro replied.  “Saci’s song always ends the welcoming banquet.”

“A scrumptious meal. Scrumptious!” Principal Absencia declared from the raised level.  “Off to bed with us now.”  He floated his chair to a stone fireplace behind the professor’s tables and lifted his rotund body to the hearth.  With a toss of Floo powder he whooshed away in flames.

“First-years will leave the Great Hall first to follow House Leaders to your new quarters,” Vice Principal Katupya stated.  “Older students may stay one more hour.”

Boys and girls from Jaguar and Anaconda were led up the front staircase and Marissa knew they were headed to the entrance under the two giant wizards.  Her group and the Woolly first-years were led up the staircase at the opposite end of the Great Hall.  Sakura and Anna waved when she saw them in the other line of girls.  The lines passed through a glowworm lit hallway then climbed more steps to emerge in the night on another of the endless steep staircases that ran the face of the pyramid.  As the other children marched down ahead of her, Marissa paused to gaze in awe at the millions and millions of stars that filled the night.  In Sao Paulo most were invisible beyond the glare of city lights, but here they were endless.

“In Astronomy you’ll learn the names of them all,” said Tatiane, who followed the end of the first-years line.

“All of them?” Marissa asked unbelievingly.  “I can’t remember that many.”

As they descended the steps, Tatiane conceded that it was only the important brightest ones she would need to learn.  Then Marissa looked over the leafy canopy and saw the dark outlines of the majestic lupuna trees she had seen earlier from the far side of the school.  There were three of the spreading giants off to the left corner of the pyramid and three to the right.  Rainforest grew to the pyramid’s foundation, with branches and vines overflowing the first level of the structure and trailing onto a stone pathway that led south.  Little stone bowls along the walk held glowworms that lit the way as they passed.  Milo Timbira called them all to a halt a hundred feet further, near a glowing diamond shaped sign that read ‘CAUTION: FRUIT CROSSING’.

“Lumos,” called Alika Escuro as her wand illuminated two mangos that lay on the ground beside the stone pathway.

“Leave any fruit that you see in this area,” Milo Timbira stated.  “Never try to pick it up. Never try to kick it out of your way.  It belongs to Mapinguary.”

“To who?” asked one boy as the mangos rolled over unassisted.

“The fearsome mapinguary of native Muggle legend is really the slothish,” Milo Timbira told them.  “It sleeps twenty-three and a half hours a day and hangs ten years in one spot before slumping through the forest to scare Muggles.  It is a magical creature that can weakly summon fallen fruit, then sleeps for ten hours until it comes to him”

“The summoning blends with a powerful sticking charm to protect his meal from other animals,” explained Alika as the mangos rolled a few more inches.  “Touch his fruit and you will be pulled along the ground with it until Mappy wakes up to eat a half day later.”

“That,” said Milo as his wand illuminated a large tree overhead, “is Mappy.  The laziest animal on earth.”  A long-armed furry creature hung from a very thick branch.  Marissa thought it looked just like Potira’s sleepy sloth, only the giant slothish was the size of a car.

“Of course, you can let Condas try to pick up fruit,” added Baltazar Varnhagen from the Woolly boys line.

“Zar!” scolded Tania de Feiticeiros.  “Don’t encourage them.”

“Just trying to help,” he said as the Woolly first-years were led off  a different path into the trees.

Marissa’s group turned left to follow a stone pathway into the dense overhanging foliage.  She could not see the Macaw House building yet, but from the path’s direction she thought that it must be somewhere near the base of the massive lupunas.  In a few minutes they came to a clearing where the thirty feet wide buttress root trunks could be seen.  Marissa and others gasped with surprise because there was no huge stone building like Jaguar or Anaconda.  The majestic lupuna trees did not tower over Macaw House.  They were Macaw House.

Twenty feet above the ground, a wide wooden floor circled the trunk of the nearest tree.  Glass walls and a thatched palm roof enclosed the platform and two more levels were stacked above it.  Two sets of wooden steps with vine railings spiralled around the trunk up to the first level, and thick leafy vines wrapped around and trailed from all the structure.  The two farther away lupunas each had seven round levels piled upon each other like stacks of plates.  Lights from the windowed walls cast an eerie radiance upon the surrounding dark forest.

“Welcome to Macaw House,” said Milo Timbira. Beside him two colorful birds with draping tailfeathers slept atop a tall stone statue of themselves.  Marissa was happy to know there were really macaws at Macaw House.

“This is way cooler place to stay than some old stone temples!” declared one boy as they reached the base of the first monstrous tree.

Alika Escuro led the first-years up the wide plank steps that seemed to grow into the tree.  Marissa and Tatiane were the last to enter the large airy Macaw common room furnished with fat cushiony chairs and couches, small tables and hanging glowworm lights.  Milo Timbira led the boys around the other side of the trunk while Alika and Tatiane took the girls to a nearby doorway in the glass wall.  A long rope bridge with plank floor reached out to the first level of another lupuna.  As they crossed the swaying span, Marissa saw many more bridges stretched between the three towering trees.

“You’ll all sleep on first floor of Girls Tree,” said Alika Escuro.  “Half in one room, half in the other.  Find which bed your trunk was brought to and you can unpack pajamas or nightgowns before we show you the bathrooms.”

“Tatiane,” Marissa said as the girls ran off to find their luggage, “I don’t have a trunk.”

“We’ll just find you a bed,” Tatiane replied, and led her into one of the dorm rooms.  “How about this one near the door?”

“I get a bed all by myself?” she asked in surprise.  The headboard was carved in bird designs, as were a tall wooden box and little bedside table.

“Well sure, silly,” Tatiane answered as she took Marissa’s backpack and laid it on the fluffy pillows.  “Did you think we would stuff kids into a bed in groups of four like Mr. Argiletum’s lines?”

“Um…no.” Marissa replied.  She wasn’t sure what she had thought.  She had always slept huddled with all the boys in the alley.  In squat houses in Santa Efigenia she knew five or six kids might sleep on one old grimy mattress.  Marissa hoped the other girls wouldn’t know she had never slept on a real bed before, or even inside a building.  She unzipped her pink backpack to get her nightgown and check on the swallows.  Fides and Amor chirped once then snuggled their heads back into a shirt.

When they all returned from the bathrooms, Alika and Tatiane told them about breakfast and class times the next day then left to their own rooms.  The other first-year girls began hanging all their clothes in the wardrobes (that’s what the closet boxes were called) and Marissa followed their example.  After hanging her robes she moved Fides, Spero and Amor into a drawer with her black skirts and frilly white socks.  Now the seven girls whispered together on two beds at the opposite end of the room.  Even though she learned each of their names from house selection or overhearing them, none of the girls had even said hello to Marissa yet.  So she was surprised a few minutes later to see them all standing before her as she closed the wardrobe doors.

“Hi,” she smiled.  “I’m Marissa.”

“We know who you are,” said the girl named Serafina.  “Celly told us about you.”

“You’re the homeless Muggle-born who eats from trash cans,” added Leila.

“If you want to stay in our room,” said Serafina, “we have rules you have to follow.”

All of the other girls nodded their heads in agreement with their elected speaker.

“First,” Serafina told Marissa, “you’re not allowed to steal from any of us.”

“I never steal anything!” Marissa asserted strongly.

“And don’t lie, either,” said Eva Paranhos.  “Everyone knows that homeless Muggles take wallets and purses.  So if any of us are ever missing necklaces, clothes, money or anything, we’ll know it was you.  Alika said Saci doesn’t come in Houses.”

“Second,” Serafina continued, “you’re not allowed to cheat off us in class.”

“Muggle-borns don’t know anything about magic,” Eva told Marissa, “and we don’t want you getting us in trouble by copying from our parchments.”

“Third,” Serafina instructed, “you have to take showers. Every day.”

“With soap,” added Leila.  “We don’t want our room to stink like a dumpster.”

Marissa didn’t even answer.  They all knew she took a shower and was as clean as them.  It wasn’t her fault that all she ever had to wash by before was the faucet in the alley.

“So if you don’t want us to tell the principal and have him make you sleep in the basements with the little ones,” Serafina stated sternly, “those are the rules.”

“I won’t steal, I won’t cheat, and I will take showers every day,” said Marissa calmly as she looked Serafina Palmeiro in the eye.  “But it’s not because of your dumb rules.”

“Whatever,” said Serafina.  “Just behave yourself.  Maybe next semester we’ll trust you.”  The seven girls walked away talking about how bad-mannered Muggles were.  They gathered on Eva’s and Leila’s beds, leaving Marissa by herself again.

Marissa heard the chirp-chirp of a swallow.  Spero squeezed out of the barely open drawer and hopped onto her finger.  She quickly sat down on the floor beside the bed where the girls couldn’t see her.  She didn’t want them to decide she wasn’t allowed to have birds either.

“You still like me, don’t you?” Marissa whispered to the little blue swallow.  “Maybe they’ll be nice to me when they see I got picked to serve milk for the first breakfast.  At least they’re not real mean like Cecilia and Celestia.”

Soon the glowworm lights went out and Marissa heard all the girls climbing into their beds.  She looked at her own bed, reluctant to lay upon the fresh pastel sheets.  In Santa Efigenia right now, the boys were crawling under the rusty old ventilation unit.  While she had a warm, roomy bed all to herself, they would lay cold and hungry on the hard concrete.  They had never had a soft mattress and fluffy pillows to sleep on, and Marissa wished she could share it with all of them.

“I have to get up early, early tomorrow, Spero,” she whispered as she leaned against the wardrobe.  “You can help me check the clock after the girls are asleep.”

Marissa was always a very light sleeper.  She was sure she could take short naps and wake every few hours until she found it was a half hour before four o’clock.  She would talk to Spero a while and get into the soft bed a little later.

--------------------------------------------

“Chirp-chirp.  Chirp-chirp.”  Marissa woke to the sound of the little swallow’s voice as he sat nestled under her chin.  She opened her eyes to find herself laying on the wooden floor.  She had fallen asleep without even getting into the bed.  Marissa wondered how long she had been sleeping.  Quietly she rose and tiptoed along the row of beds so she could see the large clock at the center of the wall.  Four o’clock was just five minutes away!

She rushed to put shoes and socks on, then tucked Spero back into the drawer before she grabbed her robe.  She didn’t have time to change from her nightgown because she would need to hurry to get to the staircase by four o’clock.

“Oh, wait,” she whispered to herself.  Quickly she took the bread from her pocket and crumbled it in the corner of the drawer so the three birds could eat when they woke.

Silently she moved out the door, across the swaying rope bridge, through the Macaw common room and down the winding steps to the rainforest floor.  In the darkness she could barely make out the stone pathway, for all the glowworm lights had faded out.  But Marissa was used to the unlit alleys of Santa Efigenia and running through the night did not trouble her at all.  She did hope there would be lights at the duck coop though.

Marissa arrived at the base of the pyramid and looked about for the brown-haired girl from Woolly House.  She did not see her anywhere but in a moment noticed a metal pail on the first step of the staircase.  A tiny white light flickered inside it and Marissa looked in to find a folded paper.  As she took the note from the pail, the flickering light rose to hover above her head.

The little ones wouldn’t wait.  Bring your milking pail and follow the wisp.  It will lead you to us.

The tiny light began floating away along a narrow trail.  Marissa grabbed the metal pail and ran after as it swirled into the dense foliage.  Her flickering guide led the way up staircases through stone-walled terraces, then down other steps and back into the thick forest on winding trails.  After quite a while Marissa became unsure if the light was taking her somewhere or just trying to get her lost.  Then it flickered away and was gone, leaving her in total blackness.  Rustling leaves told her there was something large moving about her in the trees.

Other children might be terrified, but Marissa was too strong to let herself feel afraid.  In her pocket she found the matches she had used to light Saci’s pipe.  She twisted up the paper of the note and lit the end.  She walked a few minutes with the small torch until the paper burned away and it was dark again.  She thought of lighting a stick, then spied a clearing ahead and walked until she emerged in a field beside a large stone building.  It smelled like animals and Marissa thought maybe this was where the ducks were.

“Hello,” she called as she walked through a wide arched doorway.  “Is anyone here?”

No one answered except a tall black animal that neighed as it lifted its head over the gate of a stall.  Marissa had never seen a live horse before, but she thought that was what it was.  It looked very hungry though, because its black fur clung to it ribs and showed every bone.  She stepped closer to see that it had pure white eyes and big black leathery wings.

“You’re a magic horse, aren’t you?” she said, and cautiously petted its bony head.  It neighed again as something behind her brightened the dark room.

“Little missies never see Thestrals,” said a voice.  Marissa turned instantly to see who was there and a frightened transparent body raised its arms and cowered down before her.  The misty silver ghost was only a skinny boy, thin as the bony horse.

“Please don’t hurt boy,” he said meekly, shielding his face like little kids in the slums did when older gangs beat them.

“I… I won’t hurt you,” Marissa said.  She didn’t think someone even could hit a ghost.

“Why has miss come to stables at night?” asked the boy as he slowly stood up.  He kept his eyes on the ground as he addressed her.

“I’m looking for the other girl,” Marissa said.  “We came to milk the ducks.”

“No other girl,” he replied.  “Shame, shame, bad girl.”

“I’m not being bad.  I’m supposed to…”

“Not little miss.  Girl who lies to miss.  No ducks.  No milk.  Shame, bad girl.”

Marissa realized with frustration what the ghost boy was telling her.  The brown-haired girl had never come there ahead of her.  She hadn’t been chosen to serve duck milk at the first breakfast.  The girl had tricked her so she would get lost in the dark!  Now Marissa felt foolish that she had let herself be led there.

She was completely lost.  The flickering light had led her in such a twisting, turning way that she could not tell the direction she came from.  It was too dark to go back into the forest without a light, and sticks she found were too wet to burn.  If she waited for sunrise in an hour to find her way back she would be late for her very first classes.  The only good thing at the moment was that the glow of the ghostly boy let her see in the dark stables.

“Could you… help me?” Marissa reluctantly asked the silvery boy who was petting the skeletal winged horse.

“Yes, miss,” he replied, bowing his head.

“I’m lost,” she told him.

“Miss cannot lose self.  Boy finds you right here.”

“But I don’t know how to get back in the dark.”

“What lost thing can boy find for miss?”

“The house,” she replied as she understood his thought.  “I lost Macaw House. Can you help me find it?”

“Miss please follow boy,” he said.  He turned to walk along the line of stalls.

“Ooohh!” Marissa cried out as she saw the ghost boy’s back.  Beneath his tattered shirt his skin was slashed with scores of deep bleeding cuts.  “What happened to you?”

“Master whipped boy to punish him for losing master’s best horses.  Boy very bad.”

“But you need bandages or…” Marissa paused.  Maybe ghosts couldn’t use bandages.  Maybe he needed magic like Professor Merrythought had used on her scraped hands.

Silently the boy led Marissa out of the stables,  past shadowy forms of more bony horses.  She followed him along another trail into the dark forest.  After some time they reached the clearing of Macaw House and Marissa saw lights in the windowed levels of the massive lupuna trees.  Girls were waking up and they would see she was gone.  She turned to the poor whipped boy who wouldn’t look up to see her.

“Thank you, um…” Marissa hesitated.  “What is your name?”

“Boy has no name.  Master only calls boy,” he said sadly as he faded away.

“Wait!  I have to…” she called, but he was gone.  Marissa ran to the first tree, up the steps and through the common room.  As she raced across the bridge to Girls Tree she saw Alika Escuro at the other end.

“Where have you been!?” yelled the House Leader.  “I almost called the professors to start searching the forest for you!  Weren’t you told you can't just go…”

“She tricked me!” Marissa interrupted loudly.  “A girl at dinner.  She said we were milking ducks and she even left a pail and said follow the light and she made me get lost in the dark and… and…”

“I’m going to kill those Condas,” Alika said.

“Milo says she’s nowhere in… oh, you found her,” said Tatiane as she rushed down from the level above.

“It wasn’t a Conda,” Marissa told Alika.  “Her robe had Woolly colors.”

“Oh, it was Condas.  They’re the only ones that… what is that smell?”

“Um… “ Marissa said as she lifted her shoe to see the brown matter squished on her sole.  “I think I stepped in magic horse poop.”

“Magic horse poop?” questioned Alika.  “How is poop…”

“Not the poop, the horse.” Marissa said.  “It has wings.”

“Wings?” she said with a puzzled look.  “You mean Domador’s Thestrals no one can see?  You got lost in the dark and made it all the way to the stables?”

Marissa nodded.

“How did you find the way back?”

“A ghost boy showed me,” Marissa said.  “But he’s bleeding and we need to help him.”

Tatiane smiled kindly.  “So you met negrinho do pastoreio.”

“The stable boy’s wounds can’t hurt him anymore, Marissa,” Alika assured her.  “Only his memories cause him pain.”

The doors of the dorm rooms opened.  All the first-year girls were dressed and ready to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast.  Marissa stepped away from the bridge so they could walk by.

“Wait for us in the common room, girls,” directed Alika.  “We’ll be right there.”

“Ewww!” sniffed Leila Semedo.  “I knew she would stink up our room.”

“Don’t be mean,” Alika said as Leila passed.  “You’ll all be shovelling dung piles soon.”

“Scourgify,” Tatiane said as she pointed her wand.  Marissa’s shoe was clean again.

“Now follow the other girls and let’s get to breakfast,” Alika ordered.

“But I’m not dressed yet,” Marissa replied.  “I just have my nightgown on.”

“I’ll wait while she changes, Alika,” said Tatiane.  “Take the others and we’ll catch up.”

In the dorm room Marissa quickly put on a new shirt and skirt and grabbed her varnished black wand.  She wondered where the swallows had gone, then saw them safely perched on a ceiling beam.  She rushed to rejoin Tatiane in the common room and they hurried down the spiral stairs together.

“Is Alika going to detention me for leaving by myself?” Marissa asked Tatiane.  That was what Sakura had told her happened when you did something wrong in school.

“No. It wasn’t your fault,” Tatiane replied.  “She just didn’t want a firstie eaten by a wild animal in her first week as House Leader.”

“I won’t let anything eat me.”

“Right,” Tatiane smiled.  “So what exactly happened?”

As they ran along the stone pathway and up the pyramid staircase, Marissa related the events with the brown-haired girl, the flickering light, the winged horse and the stable boy.  Tatiane told Marissa that a first-year couldn’t cast a will-o-the-wisp and someone else must have helped trick her.

“I didn’t know there wasn’t really magic ducks,” she admitted as she rushed down the hallway just in time to collide with a very solid dustcloud.  Tatiane fell too, and for the second time in less than a day Marissa tumbled to the floor with two people she had knocked over.

“Pink bag girl!” Saci called out happily, sitting on his head where he had landed.  “Got a light?”

“Oh, Saci,” said Tatiane as she stood up.  “You should quit smoking.”

“Oh, Ta-ta-ta,” he copied.  “You should quit… pooping!”

“Here, Saci,” Marissa said.  She held a lighted match to his pipe.  “Sorry I knocked you down.”

“Lastie firstie is late for breakfast,” he said before sucking on the pipe.

“’Cuz I was trying to find stupid duck milk!”

“Poor firstie,” Saci laughed.  “Doesn’t know milk comes from cows.”  Then he spun around to disappear with another whirlwind.  Marissa and Tatiane continued to the Great Hall and took their seats under the Macaw House banner.  Marissa had just a slice of toast and some orange juice, which she made stop at half a glass.

“Oh, Boca da Lixo girl,” came a voice purposefully loud so that everyone could hear, “where is our duck milk?”

Marissa looked to see who had spoken.  There was Cecelia Bella de Barros, smiling smugly as the Anaconda House tables erupted with laughter.  There was the brown-haired girl laughing beside Celestia.  It was Anacondas who tricked her, and Marissa just knew it was Cecelia who had planned it all.  Now Cecelia taunted her to let everyone know Marissa had been their victim.

Marissa had tried to show them she was too strong to be hurt, too strong to be teased.  But at witch school everyone else knew about magic things while she didn’t, and that was how they fooled her.  Marissa ignored the laughter and tried to feel nothing, but inside she was angry.  She was angry that she had let Cecelia Bella de Barros trick her and make her look weak.

“Quaaack!” came a distressed call overhead.  “Qua-quack.”

Everyone in the Great Hall looked up to the enchanted ceiling.  Hanging by his foot from a whirlwind was the one-legged black boy.  Held under his left arm was a very frantic duck, and in his right hand was a silver pitcher.  As he tipped the pitcher, a long stream of white flowed out and spilled down onto the tabletop where the Bella de Barros sisters sat.   The liquid splattered wildly and soaked the clothing of everyone near, especially the fine silk dresses of the two beautiful golden-blonde girls.

“BREAKFAST IS SERVED!” called Saci Pererê as the milk poured endlessly.