Dani headed into the backroom to relieve Morgana. The faintly feline witch wished that she had a cat tail swishing behind her as she walked, and also a pelt of sleek fur to coat her caramel-colored skin, but she could work on that later. Right now, the portal to Japan was what mattered.
Dani saw Morgana make a grand gestured as the thin, insubstantial veil between Stokerville and Kyūri's heya faded away completely, opening an easy path between these two distant points. The runes surrounding the portal shone blindingly as the veil vanished. Dani approached her exhausted mentor. "Is it done?" Dani asked.
"Yes, it is," Morgana said to the cat-eared Mexican-American girl. "All you need to do is hold it open until Selena brings hir group of exchange students here."
"That's muy comforting," Dani said as she stepped in front of the portal and began to concentrate on the magic. "I hope you have enough pociones de comprensión for all of them."
"You mean Potions of Understranding?" Morgana asked. Dani nodded. "Yes, Dani, I do. All of them will be able to speak perfect Japanese by the time they step through the portal. I also have enough to give to the Japanese students that Kyūri's sending over for his half of the exchange."
"Muy bien," Dani smiled. "Everyone should be able to get into the swing of things muy easier that way. I can hardly wait to meet the yokai estudiantes!"
"I have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot of them," Morgana remarked. "Kyūri says that there's an oni girl among them called Hōkō Jigokumoto who will expect me to continue her magical training. It's more work for me, but I could hardly refuse. You and Vivienne will be learning alongside an oni."
"ˇMaravilloso!" Dani cheered. "I can't wait to tell Vivi!" The portal suddenly began to close again, causing Dani to gasp in horror.
"Concentrate on the spell, for Mother Night's sake!" Morgana shouted.
Dani focused all her mental energy on maintaining Morgana's spell. To her relief, the closing portal slowly opened back up.
"Phew!" Morgana sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow. "I thought I was going to have to start the ritual over from scratch. That would've delayed, Ellie, Harper, Beck, Brianna, Kristi, and Joelle another two or three days. Well, I'd better go and see if Selena's brought them here yet." The witch then headed to the front room to wait for Selena and hir charges.