"You see I told you, this place doesn't hold a candle to the exam centre of Artrovan." declared Maddie in satisfaction that she was right. On the ride here they had sort of argued about how beautiful the Artrovan exam centre was compared to the Castle.
"Yeah, yeah, but you can't compare these two buildings. One is used regularly while the other isn't." said Annie as they got out of the carriage and it drove away.
"That's no excuse, isn't this Castle owned by royalty? At least they could make it breathtaking enough." said Maddie as Annie looked at her with her mouth open.
Just what was Maddie saying right now? She was so unbelievable, just because she had seen a play slightly better than this meant that she forgot all the compliments that had initially gave when they arrived here for the first time.
"You're unbelievable Maddie, do you really care for menial things like looks that bad?" asked Annie as Maddie shot her a knowing look.
"Of course I do." she replied as Annie was about to say something else but Matt quickly chipped in knowing fully well that this could easily escalate into another fight, which he did not want since they had only recovered from the last one just yesterday.
"Alright, alright, enough guys, we don't need to start an argument." said Matt.
"Hello guys!" said Ollie brightly as he walked down the steps from the entrance to the Castle.
"Oh hi Ollie." said Annie as she turned to look at him with a smile.
"What's up dude." said Matt with a smile, meanwhile Maddie just turned and remained looking condescendingly at their surroundings.
"Oh I am so happy that you guys are here." declared Ollie honestly as he gave Annie and hug, while he and Matt bumped fists.
But Ollie was not too overjoyed to accidentally touch Maddie, he let her be as he noticed that she was already looking at him in her usual, angry manner.
"I'm happy that we're here as well." said Annie with a smile. She couldn't help it, happiness was contagious to her, and Ollie was beaming since they were here, and that made her beam as well.
"Why is your hair wet?" asked Maddie as she narrowed her eyes at Ollie and looked at him up and down.
"Oh that, well I had to take a shower a few minutes ago." said Ollie as he smiled sheepishly and waved his hand over his head instantly drying his wet hair.
"You're a weirdo blondie, who the heck takes a shower in the middle of the afternoon?" asked Maddie as Annie shot her a warning look, they had just got here and they hadn't even gone inside yet and already Maddie was being rude to their host.
"I don't usually take showers in the afternoon." explained Ollie simply, he did not seem the slightest bit offended by the tone in which Maddie spoke to him, probably because he was already used to it.
"But I just returned from Oppidum Beastia and I was accidentally doused in brexigram slime." said Ollie frowning as he remembered his unruly encounter with that annoying animal that decided to spray him with his slime.
"What is Oppidum Beastia?" asked Annie in confusion.
"And what in the world is a bexigram?" asked Maddie.
"Well Oppidum Beastia is like the Agricola realm but it's full of animals, it's the state where all the animals in the Witch Realm are bred, of course we do have animals surviving in other states, but if you are looking for a particular animal, you will find it there." explained Ollie.
"And a bexigram, well it's an animal." said Ollie.
"What sort of animal?" asked Matt as Ollie paused for a while and pondered on how he could describe the animal to them.
"Well let's see, it's like a cross between a duck and an elephant." said Ollie as the look on Annie, Maddie and Matt's faces told him that they found it hard to believe and imagine such a creature.
"It has the green colour of a duck, while some are white, but instead of having a beak it has the trunk an elephant." said Ollie as he explained as Annie, Maddie and Matt still had disbelieving looks on their faces.
"Their sizes differ, the really young ones are as small as ducks, while the older ones can be as bug as elephants. Luckily, it was one of the smalls ones that slimed me." said Ollie with a relieved look on his face.
"Or else, I would have smelt like trash." he said with a smile.
"That's such an... interesting animal..." said Annie as she did not know what to say, in this case, seeing was truly believing.
"Not really, they are fairly common, and they are very annoying, especially the young ones, they like throwing slime on people too much." said Ollie with a frown on his face.
"I only have one thing to say to that, and it's I should have never asked." said Maddie as Matt laughed, he could tell that she was disgusted by the thought of slime.
"Oh it's fine, maybe one day I can take you guys to go see all the animals, if you think a bexigram is interesting, wait till you see the loads of other interesting animals there are." said Ollie with a smile.
"Anyway, I'm so glad that you guys are here, come on, let's go inside." said Ollie happily as he walked up the steps and they followed after him as the mighty doors to the Castle opened on their own and closed with a loud thud once they had all entered.
"Oh before I forget, how was your test?" asked Ollie as he smiled and they followed after him.
"Well it was good, better than I expected, although I am sure I did get some questions wrong." said Annie with a smile.
"Oh that's expected, I'm glad that it was good for you though." replied Ollie with a smile.
"And what about you Matt?" asked Ollie as he turned to look at Matt.
"Well it was good as well, a little bit of confusion here and there, but overall, I did my best." said Matt as he smiled and Ollie nodded.
"Maddie, what about you?" asked Ollie as he looked at Maddie.
"Well it was perfect blondie, perfect." said Maddie with a smile.
"Really now? Because I heard that you and Annie were involved in a little feud since you refused to study." said Ollie as he laughed and Maddie frowned.
"Heard from who?" she asked, her eyes instinctively moved to Matt who instantly looked away and was clearly avoiding her.
"Oh from no one in particular, just a little birdie." replied Ollie with a little laugh as he could tell that from the tone of Maddie's voice she was prepared to pounce on whoever had fed him that information and it was none other than poor Matthew.
"Well that little birdie needs to be caught and made into snitch pie." replied Maddie with malevolence.
"Oh relax Maddie, I do not think that we need any snitch pie, besides, out feud wasn't that serious." said Annie with a chuckle.
"That's an understatement, it was badddd." said Matt as Annie laughed.
"Anyway, that is all past and done with, how was the interview part of the test?" asked Ollie with a smile as he seamlessly changed the subject, he didn't need Maddie upset with Matt because of him.
"It was good, but there were some very weird questions that you would wonder why a school needs to know all that." said Annie as Matt agreed with her.
"I agree, but when you consider that this isn't just any Academy but the best of the best in the realm, you will understand why they screen their applicants so much." said Ollie.
"I get that, but Maddie, being herself almost made the supervisor Mrs. Mariweather pull out all her hair." said Matt as he laughed and Annie laughed.
"I can believe that." said Ollie as he laughed, he knew Maddie well enough to predict that her behaviour would not be the most lovely.
"Hey, in my defence, that woman was far from lovely." said Maddie with a frown.
"She wasn't that bad, at least you finally gave her a break by answering the last question correctly." said Annie.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, you can say whatever you want, I don't care." said Maddie with a scoff, she was just relieved that that nightmare of a test was over.
"That test is over and done with, and I don't have to think about it for a week." said Maddie happily as Annie shook her head.
"Whatever you say Maddie, whatever you say." replied Annie as what could she say? She knew her friend well, at this point, half the things her dear Maddie said should no longer surprise her. If anything, she should have been expecting her to say them.