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DOTS IN THE MIST — A vault of poetic memory where debut author Michele Mistica cross-stitches legacy, line by line. This is no mere story. It's a manuscript in motion; a script of intention, threaded not for passive reading but for fierce living. A call to pupils not merely to learn or drift by default, but to plan, act, and live with mythic resolve.

You are invited to witness; and to weave. Your own thread belongs within this 280-page tapestry of poetry and prose, orbiting a constellation of quirky characters and legacy-threaded motifs.

To walk the grounds of The M is to step inside the story itself. Begin with our signature Lantern-Lit Landmark, where mythic map and thread entwine. This is not a story you choose. It is a story that chooses you.

And so, dear reader, the landmarks await your arrival.

The house of mystery

TENNESSEE — SIGNAL MOUNTAIN

MAISON MISTICA — Where shipping heiress Elizabeth Mercy turned grief into geometry, crafting her golden refuge in her later years. In the late 1800s, Mercy commissioned a singular, hexagonal residence, a structure that Tennessee locals soon began calling Maison Mistica. Locals may have named it the House of Mystery, but in time, Elizabeth Mercy began referring to the estate as Maison Mistica; a name later found inscribed on property deeds and letters, as if sealing the myth with her own thread.

SHAPE & SILHOUETTE — Built around a perfect hexagon, its walls converge toward a central atrium housing a spiraling, crème‑filigreed staircase. It radiates like a candlewick. From the mist‑shrouded ridges of the Appalachians, the structure appears as a black lantern silhouette against the sky; a stark, elegant beacon of light. Captivating in its oversized silhouette, the dwelling resembles a black handheld lantern; as if left behind by a sleeping giant, nestled in the mountain's mist.

LIGHT & ATMOSPHERE — At night, the lantern‑shaped roof glows faintly. Suspended above the spiraled staircase, an oversized chandelier adorned with elegant crystals drifts above the second floor, casting a soft halo that pulses with the rhythm of the surrounding forest.

LEGACY — As the sands of time sift onward, we revisit Elizabeth Mercy’s untimely passing, after which the Maison Mistica estate lay dormant upon the mountain. Decades later, Crane Holdings acquired the property, transforming the black lantern home into the pulse of Maison Mistica Middle School.Through the passing of eras, significant upgrades were made. The first: a 360-degree wraparound fireplace installed at the tiptop of the winding crème staircase. This dual-sided paned hearth was designed to evoke, in modern tone, the essence of a lit candle above a filigree candlestick; the very heart of the Old Lantern Homestead.The second major overhaul: floor-to-ceiling smart glass now panels four walls, shifting to frosted opacity with the click of a button. White brick remains exposed along key corridors of the two-story administration building; a hexagonal structure measuring 1,776 square feet on the first floor and 740 on the second. The exposed brick is a deliberate choice: a shield against strong seasonal winds and a nod to the home’s original architectural bones.Yet each year, the nextgen of 5th grade minds climbs those spiraled steps on Signal Mountain, etching destinies into the mist, each step a stitch within the story's unfolding thread.

LANTERN-LIT LANDMARKS

Step into the mist: a guided journey through Maison Mistica Middle School’s portals of memory, mystery, and belonging.

OUR WELCOME MAT THRESHOLD

GATEKEEPERS' WELCOME: GOLDILOCKS & NOIR EDITION
Amidst the fog-kissed gates of Golden Gate Campus Point, you'll be greeted by GOLDILOCKS, our ever-curious Optimus bot. She retina-scans vehicles and guests for seamless clearance, her systems attuned to "just right." Feel free to ask her what's cold or hot today, she's always ready to opine. Parents, faculty, and staff glide through with 100% resonance. But for those not listed; those whose calibration falls just shy of "just right," Goldilocks gently redirects them to SHADOW PATH, where NOIR awaits.

NOIR is our backup Optimus Sentinel, stationed along the Inner Watch. Precise. Unflinching. Matter-of-fact. No small talk. No mist. Just clearance or denial. Think of it as the reject line, but with mythic flair. Goldilocks is the velvet glove. NOIR is the iron gate. Together, they keep the academic hub entrance tuned and true.

maison mistica middle school

Your Mythic Compass

STUDENT BODY — Designed to feel mythic yet intimate, Maison Mistica welcomes 160 students, evenly divided into four vibrant cohorts; 40 futures taking root in 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Within each cohort, close-knit circles of ten engage in interplay like the calendar's four seasons in rotation: Fall's harvest of ideas (with a side of apple-cider brainstorming), Winter's forge of resolve, Spring's bloom of discovery, and Summer's radiant reflection beneath firefly-lit skies.

CLASS SCHEDULE — These seasonal pods echo through our immersive 10-hour days, Monday through Thursday. Friday becomes sacred pause; a three-day weekend interwoven for family firesides, a walk through the woods to grandparents' house you go, or simply a fresh outlook toward horizons ahead. Each subject meets for two hours per session, unfolding in two-day increments: Monday & Wednesday, then Tuesday & Thursday. In sum, four days of class instruction with Fridays off. This scheduling format offers consistency and a logical rhythm while preserving the itinerary's architecture of a 10‑hour day, every moment tuned to customized curriculum and cohort resonance.

OLD LANTERN HOMESTEAD

Here, discipline, grit, and humility are woven into daily ritual. Each child is closely mentored from the moment they step up the spiraling candlewick staircase into the administration building, affectionately known as the Old Lantern Homestead, and is welcomed into an intimate 10:1 student orientation and a personal greeting with Principal Lyon.

THE PULSE OF MAISON MISTICA — Home to the Principal's office, Chief of Staff, Chief of Ops, Tech Support, School Secretary and our Rotating Volunteers; plus a few behind-the-scenes legends (Chief of Grounds, Chief of Security Ops, among others) who keep the lanterns lit and the gears turning. Staff and volunteers are warmly encouraged to bring their pet companions to campus; a gentle solution to the caretaking stress of 10 to 12-hour workdays, and a nod to our sanctuary’s pet-friendly spirit. There's nothing unusual in this education portal where cherished companions and essential members of the Maison Mistica family are a part of the Welcome Committee. Do drop by, and say hello to our gatekeeper of mystery: Middle School Secretary Pearl Hitchcock's Westie, CRAVEN, and her perky black birds perched on driftwood along the front desk. They're dying to greet you! As an aside, should you have any mesmerizing secrets to share with CRAVEN, he's all ears, (and hypoallergenic fluff) for Checkmate confidences.

ADMIN CONSTELLATION

MARIGOLD T. LYON, PhD
Principal
Tea Scholar focused on the global tea trade and its cultural impact; PhD thesis traced Camellia sinensis' influence across empires. Thé (T.) Lyon = “Tea Lion” — fragile teacup vibe, nicknamed “The Lion.”
Shadow: TEACUP, Dobermann

PEARL HITCHCOCK
School Secretary
Alfred Hitchcock’s great-great-niece (known for “Uncle Alfie” stories); formerly a secretary at Universal Pictures. Her desk boasts three black mechanical birds on driftwood, eternally poised mid-flight. Pearl channels A. Hitchcock's spitting-image features: weight, jowls, that piercing gaze; but crowns it daily with an eccentric Kentucky Derby spectacle of a hat, especially notable toward the front door. Her shadowed side-profile greets all who enter: a grand-hatted specter welcoming (or watching) all.
Shadow:CRAVEN, Westie

ROCKWELL LEDGER, CPA
Chief of Staff
SPHR-SCP certified budget wizard who balances ledgers with poetic symmetry. His sidekick, INK, lives in a tiny fishbowl that doubles as a mini abacus. Staff swear the beads wobble before Ledger detects a fiscal tremor, giving him a heads‑up on any off‑balance line item. Beyond budgets, Rockwell is Maison Mistica’s onboarding maestro and payroll timekeeper extraordinaire. (Volunteer timekeeping, of course, remains the domain of Serafina, our admin Optimus bot.)
Shadow: INK, Betta Fish

VICTORIA KNOX
Chief of Ops
Ex-MI5 operative; Swiss Army smarts in spreadsheet form. Renowned for counter‑subversion audits and tactical infiltration. Her wall of Victorinox blades doubles as a memory map of domestic operations, each one a tale of tactical ploy.
Shadow: SWITCHBLADE, African Grey Parrot

RON SPANGLE
Director of Security Operations
U.S. Navy SEAL (ret.) who runs school security with battlefield precision. A veteran of Ross Perot’s rogue 1979 Iran hostage rescue. Stormed Qazvin Prison with Bull Simons’ black-ops crew to extract EDS execs amid revolutionary fire. Shrapnel from the exfil left lasting scars and inspired the naming of SPARK, his loyal Belgian Malinois, a descendant of the original mission dog. SPARK now sports cybernetic front legs, upgraded after a recent perimeter breach, funded by Perot’s legacy grant. Together, they guard the school with unbreakable resolve.
Shadow: SPARK, Belgian Malinois

JUDE BISHOP
IT Director
Speaks fluent algorithm. As Maison Mistica’s digital heartbeat, Jude orchestrates encrypted rituals and holographic reconnaissance. Commander of HOLO, the silent owl drone, Jude scouts, records, and delivers intel with glowing precision. Known affectionately as the Bot Whisperer and self-appointed Patron of Hopeless Hacks.
Shadow: HOLO, Holographic Owl Drone

KENJI SATO
Facilities Director
Kyoto-born landscape architect who once restored ancient tea gardens for imperial estates, blending bonsai discipline with hydroponic hacks to keep Maison Mistica's fog-veiled paths eternally verdant. After a decade curating Singapore's Gardens by the Bay, Kenji later tended florals behind the scenes at Sherman's Library & Botanical Gardens, in Newport Beach, followed by consultancy stints with Roger's Gardens, where quiet imprints of floral memory became daily ritual.
Shadow: YUKI, Platinum Ogon Koi

ORBIT OF MENTORSHIP

MAKE YOUR MOVE

MASCOT + MOTTO  — Known as the Checkmates, our school motto remains as relevant today as ever: Finem Dominamus ("We command the end"), reminds pupils that every move; whether on a chessboard or in life, is a step toward mastery. Make your move, Checkmates, and master the endgame.

Echoes of your mark

YOUR DOT IN THE MIST  —  Students at Maison Mistica are guided through a series of curated lessons, invited to leave a personal mark, and taught to thread legacy with care. Each dot becomes a memory, a stitch in the sanctuary’s unfolding story.

THE COMPASS OF MYSTERY — Every story needs a compass, one that guides through the mist. Ours glows faintly in the fog, pointing not north, but toward memory. It guides each Checkmate through the lantern-lit terrain of Maison Mistica; one breadcrumb, one echo, one move at a time.

NORTH STAR — Where your compass is the map, your North Star is the signal. We, the Checkmates, meet life's challenges with grace, resolve, and resiliency; moving with quiet precision beneath the guiding light of Finem Dominamus. We place our dot into the mist, one legacy (and the occasional mischievous detour) at a time.

FAREWELL IN SONG

IN THREE NOTES: do-re-mi... a legacy lullaby — So long... farewell. As you approach, our lovely Optimus bot LAUREL retina-scans your auto and guests with gentle precision. She hums a familiar tune; part lullaby, part legacy signal, and whispers... "Until next time, dear Checkmate."

The Gate Opens.
A Dot Flickers.
You Exit In Song.