“To Stella, Jenna and Crumble,
the Black Raven won’t let me go.
Not sure what will happen. Might need your help. Jenna, please explain to Stella.
Be careful.
Clemens”

This was the true message below the illusion. Everyone except for Jenna looked puzzled. She sighed. “This had to happen one day, I suppose.” Jenna turned the postcard to the picture side and laid the paperweight on it; the photo transformed and showed a different landscape with a cloudy sky. It was a mainly flat countryside with much green.

There were several strange things about the postcard: the way he wrote his name, that he forgot to mention Crumble and Jenna and the fact he used the terms ‘student and master’ which he had never said before. Also, it wasn’t clear at all what the ‘Artifact of the Manticore’ was supposed to be.
They all sat in Stella’s and Crumble’s living room and contemplated what this might mean. The magic spells they tried using on the card didn’t show any effect (these spells kind of made them frustrated – remembering nothing had worked at the White Library’s doors either).
Stella was looking around in the room and tried to find a clue somewhere. Suddenly she got an idea and picked up the paperweight she had gotten from Clemens after successfully finishing a hard magical task. This gift could also be used as a magnifier and she laid it on the postcard to find something hidden maybe.
After a short while the letters began to change and be replaced by others! A different message appeared below the paperweight.

They got a postcard from Clemens. It showed a white-sanded beach and the following was written on its back:
“Dear student Stella,
I am having a nice time here. Might take a bit longer to find the Artifact of the Manticore, so don’t worry. Make sure to keep practising.
Your master
Clemens K.”
Everyone agreed: this postcard was the sign of something terrible having happened! Either Clemens needed their help now or… did he even write the card himself?

When Clemens took a few weeks vacation, Stella found the time to train / play with Crumble and visit Mira more often. Since Mira was very interested in what was happening outside the staff, Stella showed her photos and told stories about her world. The spirit was thankful for all the images Stella was sending her and they enjoyed picknicks and relaxing times listening to music together. With the time they got to know each other very well and sometimes Stella even heard in her mind what Mira would say in certain situations.
Also, Mira loved little surprises; so whenever Stella found the possibility, she brought her a Kinderüberraschung and hid it in the girl’s house so she would find it later. The spirit was thankful for the sweet gestures Stella showed her.

But now to Stella. She learned how to ‘cover’ her reality in such a way that even if the other person was a magician, it wouldn’t be totally obvious and easy to see through her second, magic layer. In case the other one was a powerful magician, he might still look under the cover though.
Just like everything else, she trained using this even with her eyes shut which was hard because she needed to use her imagination much more. She first had to imagine her real self and then ‘draw’ the new layer above it. With a mirror, she only had to draw the magic. In dangerous situations, you might not always have a mirror though.
There was also something strange these days. In the evening, when she was sitting on the sofa with Crumble, he sometimes seemed to emit a white light. She tried turning off the lamp but then it was totally dark. Turning it on, there was a white glow again. Stella was wondering about this and the cat thought the intense magic training might not have been too good for her mind. He decided she should have more rest, laid on her lap and purred.